Bad Situation a brewin

That's right.  We are about to have a bad situation.  Stephen Sayre is about to leave the 843.  The above picture is about the time we became friends.  I'm sorry, but it still makes me laugh.  Let me rewind. Take note this will be long and probably not that interesting to you.  Sorry.  One day if any of you move away you could possibly have a dedication.  I will now chronicle our friendship..I met this young lad early on freshmen year in the dorm.  Our friendship took a while to stick.  Me being so nice/encouraging/up-beat and him-not so much.  I will spare you the details.  Moving on. This about when I was allowed by Stephen and Cody to play Halo.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but after many hours I got pretty darn good.  Then one time we once ate lunch in Craig cafe with Amanda Oneal(old school CofC) and ended up staying for dinner.  I mean who doesn't do that...Here is a shot of 1/2 of Smith St's finest.

Lets talk about Smith St right quick.  It wasn't glamorous or clean, or even remotely clean, it smelled, I may or may not have been scared of it, a plethora of state flags, my old couch, a ginormous TV, every type of gaming system on the planet, a seat from a van that was converted to a computer chair, 1,000 bikes, tobacco pipes, musical instruments and pretty much anything else you can imagine.  It was a staple of my college experience.  It was a staple of many good people's college experience.  Courtney and I also lived on Smith St at the same time..Just a lil bit nicer area...

This would be my 21st bday.  A hair style I am not proud of.  Cody and Stephen loved me anyways...

Courtney Reed's 21st birthday.  Yeah there is not a lot to add except that it was a lot of flippin fun.  Just think.  Kareoke.  Weird guy hitting on Courtney.  It's funny, I can pretty much remember this whole night.  I sang Salt N Peppa's "push it " and squirrel sang some Journey.  Please don't be jealous.

This was during my fleece vest stage...Don't we look awesome. And super cool...I think so too.  Some of my favorite people right there.  

Another bday.  Much better hair style...So we may be graduated.  Post graduation.  Something I was majorly terrified of.  However this is also when I learned that several of my favorite people would be staying in Charleston.  Wahoo.  

Just your standard pic...with Stein and Zoolander.  Now lets fast forward.  At some point in these next few years Stephen moved onto Sullivan's to join the other really cool islanders: M Crane, Ryan B, Anna Stewart, CBReed, Ashton, Barclay, Newman, and ME.  I think Sullivan's then became a staple.  Kind of like Smith St. I guess, bit a little nicer.  So Sully's is a bit of a time warp for me.  Not sure all that happened (except I went on an 18 month sabbatical, Stephen went into the wilderness and CH is cool and got on TV.

Honestly I could go on forever.  My lunch buddy, my dinner buddy, my boat buddy, my fishing buddy.  We almost died once.  Fishing.  The day of the bridge run.  Absolutely miserable. I turned purple and had to wear a Mexican blanket..I can't explain how much I will miss getting kicked, or pinched or laughed at.  I am holding replacement interviews next month...Just kidding..In all seriousness-one of the best people I know.  I shall leave you with these..

Random Ramblings

I drove 123 miles today.  In Charleston.  I get 12 miles to the gallon.  Awesome.  I'd like to dedicate this posting to Biz.  I don't know how to make her name a cool link like she can do.  But if I could I would.  Then you would realize how much cooler her blog is than mine and you would become a Biz follower.  You would then learn about the art of making the perfect sandwich.  Which I would like to say is very important.  I personally like a good ham n cheese or grilled tomato and cheese.  We went to the John Mark McMillan concert tonight. For my 1st christian concert I have to say that it was pretty darn good.  What I wouldn't give to be a rock star.  For like a month.  It would rock.  No pun intended.  Did I mention I am going to see Ray Lamontagne.  It is true.  I am.  I am overjoyed and don't know if I can wait 3 more weeks.    So pumped.  Caroline Wagner-Happy Birthday.  Hope NYC is treating you well on your bday.  I also got to thinking about the future.  The future as in Megan getting married. (She is currently in the room next to me.  I think listening to the same music as me too...)  I couldn't be more excited for her to marry her asian.  But I am just not ready for her to leave the Girl Palace nest.  It makes me really sad.  In a good way, but sad none the less.(See below)  Moving on.  Logan is soon to be back in this beautiful state.  I can't wait.  Thank you.  This weekend one of my favorite people in the whole world is departing this beautiful town.  Don't worry Stephen-you will be getting a really good blog dedication coming soon:)  Tomorrow I have a mandatory office meeting that could be anywhere from 1 hr to 3.  Oh joy.  Can't wait... Dear friends I hope you have a delightful night.

Please listen to:
Sarah McMillan: "Bright Wings"
John Mark McMillan: "Ten Thousand" and "Breaking Down"

No joke.  It will make you feel good.  Well it worked for me.

This is nerdy, but its who I am..

Alright- I do not normally do this.  But I came across this quote.  I like it.  So I shall share it.

May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born  of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.'

Now that wasn't so bad was it?

So mom got a new puppy.  Have not met her yet.  I asked mom how she was.  Her reply was this:  
"cute, lively, demonic, reminds me of Lili as a toddler."


Yeah.  I'm liking that.  No need for my comments...

My Adventures from the Wild...

You can just refer to me as Survivorsass now.  Mother nature has been conquered...Okay okay.  So my trip was not as extreme or dangerous as my previous post may have portrayed, but it was for sure a heck of a good time.  I won't bore you with the complete play by play, but I will give you the lowdown on my camping extravaganza.  It started on Fri. I had been running about town gathering supplies and what not for the trip.  PS-I got a kick butt air mattress for like 20 bucks and an awesome spork. Oh and a good ol pack of Zebra Cakes.  Sonny D picked me up and we headed for Pisgah.  I really wasn't sure what to expect.  My camping experience has been limited(once accidently in high school, Logan's backyard, and good ol Table Rock...).  But I really really wanted to like it.  No matter what.  We rolled in to camp a little later than expected, but just in time for supper.  So as we are pulling into the lower meadow I see all the cute tents all set up.  Thankfully Shawn had come up early and set up camp.  So I see their tent and then to the right of it was a tiny little midget dwarf tent.  Probably like 3.5 ft high.  No I am not exaggerating.  I immediately starting praying that it was not my tent.  Well what do ya know.  The midget tent was mine. Ha.  So I told myself, self: you can live in this tiny cocoon for a few days.  Even if you have to army crawl into it and learn to change clothes laying down....So I was bound and determined to make nice with the tent.  We stuffed my air mattress and bag into it and the camping began.  I hung a disco ball from the top just to make it a little more homey...Now that you know the living arrangements I will move on to my favorite moments of the trip.

1) Playing golf: This may sound wierd, but strangely enough it was awesome/hilarious.  Gervais and I starting playing and probably played like 5 times a day.  No this isn't your fancy lil golf.  This is backcountry golf at its finest.  More like Bocci with golf balls.  Then we partake in some Zebra Cakes.  Not gonna lie-it could be one of my new favorite sports.  So basically anything Gervais and I do ends up being based on some type of bet.  Who doesn't love a little friendly competition...So the loser of one of our tournaments had to lick a crawdad right out of the stream.  Well I don't know how (being that it was my first golfing experience and there were only right handed clubs..), but I got extremely lucky and barely squeeked by with a win.  So poor G had to lick one of those things.  Well actually someone upped the anty and he had to bite it. Live.  Ew.     Man was I glad I didn't have to do it.  I will do a lot of things, but I don't know if I was ready for that.

2) Slipping. This is hard for me to explain, but I have not laughed this hard in a good while.  So as most of you know I will do just about anything.  So on Sat morning we walked down to Whale Rock (sounds cool huh).  And we were jumping off this rock thing into the arcticly freezing water.  So all is well until we have to get back out.  Everyone is just going right on up the rocks.  I get to the top and BAM.  Down  I go.  Hilarious.  That one didn't really hurt.  Well Shawn is right in front of me.  Laughing.  Well 2 seconds later she goes down.  By now I am just laying in a puddle cracking up.  So I get back up, carefully plotting my way of travel across the rocks.  What do ya know- down I go again.  So basically I crawled back across.  OK.  fast forward a few hours.  I am nice and dry.  Still nursing my lil wounds, but  playing it cool.  Shawn and I decide to go down to this nice calm part of the stream...Well I secretly told myself I was going to remain dry and let Shawn do all the floating in the ice cold water. So we get there and the water just looks too good to ignore.  So I start making my way in and not 5 seconds later I busted it like no other.  I am talking major wipeout.  The kind that hurts so bad, but you still laugh.  You don't really know how bad it is until later.  Well trying to play it cool, I got back up secretly cussing inside.  Now I have to give Shawn some props here because she did not bust out laughing at me (I don't think...) which is opposite of what I would have done had it been the other way around.  So basically I vowed to not ever go near the slippery rocks ever ever again...Well until next year I guess

3) The twilight zone of time: Basically after we arrived I lost all concept of time.  Besides being dark and light.  I have no idea what time it was at any point of the day.  I don't know why I think this is so funny, but we would just go to sleep, wake up, eat, or whatever and I would have no idea what the dang time was.

4) Campfire: Someone (I will let them remain anonymous..) brought their own fire pit so we could have our own fires.  This is one of my favorite times of the day.  Some solar powered party lights would come on and we would chill by the fire.  We had our guitars so we would have a lil night time jam session.  As  you know I love a good jam sesh...We learned a new Eagles song and then would play our "regulars."  Some of us apparently stayed up a little too late laughing.  One of my favorite past times...

5) Midget tent: This one is a double edged sword.  I both hated and loved it.  The only time I loved it was when everyone came and got in it (See above).....I did so well until the last night.  I got cold, but had never unpacked my sleeping bag.  I could not find my flashlight or bag.  You would think it wouldn't be that hard in such a tiny space, but it was a black abyss in there.  I found my sleeping back but had rolled off of my air mattress and got stuck between the mattress and the tent in a puddle of water.  I was so delirious/pissed that I just decided to lay there.  Hours later I woke up wet to the sound of a flippin crows.  Mr. Kirk decided it would be cool to call every crow in the Pisgah forest....hahah

6) School of Rock quoting and PBR:  At least once every 10 min someone says a quote from School of Rock.  Standard. And it is said at all times going down sliding rock.  I guess you just had to be there.  But is is hilarious.  Let me move on to the PBR.  Here is where I shall defend my beer dignity.  I DO NOT DRINK PBR ON A REGULAR BASIS.  Woo.  I feel so much better.  I just happened to have some during the month of July.  Well I did purchase a 24 oz PBR in Brevard.  Just for the fun of it....I think I am good with out it for a while...

So there you have it.  In a lil nutshell.  All in all a great experience. I think I like camping.  Well it probably has a lot to do with the who you are with.  I was in awesome company with awesome people.  I sure did laugh a lot... Hopefully next year I will get invited back...

This is survivorsass signing out-
Until next time which is most likely going to be July 2011 (don't want to re enter the wilderness too early....),

Sarah

**Ok I forgot something that has nothing to do with camping.  I got tickets to Ray Lamontagne and David Gray with Megan and Lulie.  Ray is my favorite person.  Tied with Van.  Anyways I called mom to tell her.  Just in case my ticket got sent there.  I want her to like Ray too.  So she kinda shrugs off my push for Ray and says: "Well Sarah.  I am actually kind of more into rap right now. You know.  Like some Black Eyed Peas and stuff."  I died laughing.  Basically my mom is very in tune with the current music scene and is probably cooler than your mom....ahahahah.

Sass vs Wild

Tonight I sit here on the eve of my descent into the wild.  Me and the earth.  One on one.  Mano y mano.  I am taking on nature.  Well camping.  In a meadow...So maybe not as extreme as I have perceived it to be...I am going with a lovely group to Pisgah.  Not positive where it is, but it's somewhere near Brevard, NC.  I have just finished packing the bare necessities: guitar, 2 books, waters, beers, multiple headlamps, air mattress, a disco ball to hang in my tent (who doesn't love a good disco ball?), more beers, diet mtn dews, Crystal Lights, granola, a knife,camera, maybe a people magazine crossword puzzle book, nuts and berries, multiple chacos, peanut butter, 2 pillows, my fish sheet, a spork, about 20,000 tshirts and most importantly Zebra Cakes.  You never know when you may need a zebra cake and they were only a buck at Wally World. Let me pause- I am now shopping for groceries at Wally World.  Holy Moly its so much cheaper.  And they even sell beer at Walmart. Crazy. Things have definitely come full circle people.  I say this, but my heart is really still a Publix.  Moving on.  I am actually a bit nervous about this weekend.  I mean I don't have a whole lot of camping experience logged in the books.  Once in Logan's backyard and once a few years ago in table rock.  I didn't make it through the night at Logan's and I had no choice, but to stay at Table Rock.  So this is my genuine go at it.  I want to like it so bad.  I am also going to give hiking a try.  Hopefully since I am going with a happy attitude, the tides will turn and I will have a new love.....Wait. Will there be bears? Stink.  Ok now I am a tid bit scared...Is it bad to take a taser?  Ugh.  So with that- I bid you farewell.  I Sarah Sass/Betty Bridesmaid am immersing myself in nature.  Hopefully I will get a good story out of it.  Don't miss me too too much.
Over and Out,
Sassquatch
(Doesn't that sound like a super cool wilderness name...)

Humps

Humps (I know you decided to read this bc of it's title...)  Speed humps.  I started thinking about these the other day.  My car only like them when you go at least 30 mph.  I am dead serious.  You can ask Megan.  She always panics when I mash the gas down to hit the bumps.  If I go slow it hurts more, so I just got fast.  Anyways.  I saw something very disturbing last week on my way home from work.  So I have been going out of town a lot this month and have been working as hard as I can on the days I am there.  That being said, I haven't gotten to do a lot of my signature Betty Bridesmaid exercise routine..yet.  So I am going over the big hump on the bridge and what do I see?  So crazy freak exercise tyrant doing lunges stright up the bridge.  All of a sudden a sickening/panicked feeling came over me.  She was a stage 10 over-achiever and it made me feel bad.  I should have waited for her at Whole Foods (I bet she was going to head there for a snack) and given her a piece of my mind.  You can't be doing stuff like that at random in public.  Other people have feelings man.....HAHA.  I'm just kidding.  And by kidding I mean 67% serious.
Ok. I'm out,
Sass

Second times a charm

Thanks to all who are praying for Team Shirley.  You are awesome.  Ok so I have been on the go for a while now.  Since Memorial Day I think I have spent less than 10 days in my own bed (between some awesome vacays and many a nights housesitting).  I am back.  Well until Friday.  I am embarking on a wilderness camping trip.  Into the wild I go.....Ok.  I am being a tad dramatic.  I am going on a church camping trip near Brevard.  Hopefully I will survive.  I am not really one for camping, but we shall see...At least I will be in great company.  And you can have beer.  So it can't be that bad.

Moving on.  This week I busted it and I don't think I have ever worked as hard as I did this past week.  I had a little encouragement.  If I finished all my appraisals I could head back out to Bailey Island on Thurs evening.  Well you know I couldn't pass it up.  The only bad thing is-now dad knows I can do it.  I don't want him getting the wrong idea.  Anyways, I made it back out to Edisto.  Once again, as soon as I got on the Dawhoo bridge I felt so good.  So So So happy to be back out there.  Plus the Dupre's rock it.  On Friday I must have sat in a float with a beer for about 3 hours.  GLORIOUS.  Plus there was tomato pie.  Oh and midnight golf cart rides always add a little fun to the mix. And school of rock.  Nough said.   I really can't describe how fun it is out there.  You will just have to see for yourself my friends.

So I realized we are about 3 months out from the Simon-Hensley wedding extraveganza.  The Betty Bridesmaid regime is about to begin.  Betty has been on a vacation.  Got a good tan going though...And while talking this weekend I realized I need to learn a few things about the real world.  Like dry-cleaning.  Never done it.  Shawn informed me that I should probably get my bridesmaid dress dry cleaned instead of washing it myself.  Good idea.  You know, just learning some of the basics.  We've got a lot of work to do.  I mean being #1 bridesmaid is serious work.  Shake and Bake baby.  I'm thinking I should learn a special dance for the big day?  I'm just hoping the bridal anxietyness surpasses me this go around....ha.  It's ok.  I secretly like my bridesmaiden tribulations.  Makes for a good story.  Plus I haven't been to the alteration shop in a while and they are probably really missing me by now.  Alright.  I am on the hunt for some wilderness gear.

Oh and Phil Wickam's "Divine Romance" is pretty stellar.  It's definitely getting over played in my car.  I love it.  Oh.  And who knows who Warren Zevon is?  Ha.
Love ya longtime,
SRS

                                                   Maybe one of my fav pics this summer:

This pretty much describes Hamlin in a nutshell.  Love it.

Team Shirley

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/teamshirley

This goes out to Mrs. Shirley.  Mrs. Shirley is Beth's mom.  Beth is one of my very dear friends from high school.  You may know her as Beth the Shit or Beaffreywaan.  Her mom, Shirley, is an honorary "Charleston Chick." (I do not like to use that nickname, but this calls for it.)  Mrs. Shirley is one of my all time favorite people and if you don't know her than you are missing out.  She can cook a mean Christmas dinner and she has the best family in the world.  Recently she found out that she has cancer.  Please Please Please pray for her, her family and the doctors.  Thank you!  Below are some of my favorite pics and Beaffrey just happens to be in them...

Thank You America

First off, America, I love you.  I am so glad/appreciative/proud to live here.  That being said, I just had the best 5 days I have had in a very long time.  That is saying a lot because, as you know, I like to have fun.  About 2 weeks ago I was starting to get a little bummed that I am no longer in college/after college sabbatical and can't just go in the boat everyday.  Just when I thought I was down on my luck things picked up.  Cassie (my fav little miniature..) called and invited my to partake in part of the Dodd's vacay 2010 for a night or two.  Who would want to pass that up.  So my spirits began to lift. I had it planned perfectly.  I had done a ton of work the last week so I had a lighter load during the vacay week.  Can I pause and say this is my favorite part of my job (besides getting to work with Herb:).  My schedule is awesome.  So flexible.  If I finish all of my work I can leave.  You better believe I finish quick...Anyways, I busted tale getting all of my work done by Tuesday night.  It just so happens I got another awesome call on Tuesday evening from my friend Shawn.  Shawn is awesome.  Don't know how else to describe.  Moving on.  She said I could come out to Bailey Island and hang.  Bailey Island is on Edisto so it worked out PERFECT.  I landed on Bailey Island Wednesday afternoon.   As soon as I got on the island I got so so excited.  Edisto is amazing.  Hands down one of the most beautiful places I have been to.  I have been going there my whole life and each time I go I love it more and more.  So for the 1st two days I hung with the Dupre's at Bailey Island.  I had so much fun.  I can't tell you how nice it is to have no cell phone, no computer and no schedule.  Plus the Dupre's rock.  Boat, crabs, guitar, XBOX, beer, pancakes, laughing, boat, fishing, boat and awesome company pretty much describes my time at Bailey Island.  I should add that they have dos ninos.  Gervais and Hamlin.  Hilarious.  I pick on them, they pick on me.  Love it.
On Fri morning I headed to Edisto beach to see the Dodd's. I also made a pit stop at the Sasser's to say hello.  The crowd had thinned out so it was just Mattie, Casserole, Karen and I at the beach.  Perfect combination.  I laughed so hard that night that my stomach  was hurting so bad.  We had happy hour or hours...then went out to supper.  Then we got in the car and cruised around listening to some Gap Band and Hall and Oats...You know I love a good sing session in the car.  I cannot even describe how much fun we had.  The next day we went to the dock on Russell Creek to float around, tan and read.  Some of my favorite activities...After a few PBR's and diet cokes later we headed back to the house.  Mattie cooked us a stellar supper.  After supper I headed back to Bailey Island.  For another awesome 2 days and 4th of July.  We rode in the boat all day and it was so great.  Then we lit off a ton of fireworks.  Who doesn't love fire and blowing things up.  I can't believe I'm saying this because I am such a snob about the low country, but the waterways/creeks at Edisto blow the socks off of Charleston's.  There. I said it.  See above pic for a small glimpse.  Hopefully the Dupre's still like me after having to spend so much time with me...hahah. So today I packed up and headed north back to Chucktown.  I stopped by the office to make sure I still had a job..and headed to Mt. Perfect.  I ended the day at the Carmody's dock with some of my favs, which is always delightful.
Being at Edisto was so good.  So beautiful and so relaxing.  I am so glad that I got to go.  I'm going to get a little gushy here, but we live in an incredible place.  Every time I looked out over the marsh at Bailey Island I couldn't help, but thank God for creating such a beautiful place.  I am so thankful to see it so often.  Okay. Sorry this is so long, but it was definitely worth the words.  To me at least.
Love you longtime,
SRS