Clear Eyes

Friday Night Lights.  This is one of the best, most high quality, realistic, inspiring TV series that I have ever watched and completed.  It is a show that nailed it.  Football, love stories, drama, action, and really cute boys.  What more could you possibly ask for?  Seriously.  I hate to sound all weird and say that I totally related or felt like it was real and I grew to love the characters... Yes.  Yes I did.  Have you seen it?  Watch this if you need a refresher.  If the show was real life, I would totally be friends with these people.  Hopefully I would be married to Coach Taylor

or Tim Riggins

My crush on Coach Taylor is because I just plain love him as a person.  He is a flipping awesome coach.  He is funny.  He is extremely stubborn.  And he loves his family.  Plus he gives the most motivational speeches ever:
" But there are some who do still believe in you, a few who'd never give up on you. When you take that field, those are the people I want in your minds. Those are the people I want in your hearts. Every man at some point is gonna lose a battle. He's gonna fight and he's gonna lose. But what makes him a man, is that in the midst of that battle he does not lose himself. This game is not over, this battle is not over. So let's hear it one more time, together. Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN'T LOSE!"

 Tim Riggins is the best bad boy.  Stellar football player who occasionally plays dirty.  May have a drinking problem and recently went to jail to save his brother.  That's heart right there people.  I love the entire FNL family.  I love Tammy too.  She is an independent woman my friends.  Exactly a year ago is when I decided to watch seasons 1-4 in exactly 1 month.  I lived and breathed FNL.  I discovered the 5th and final season on netflix Thanksgiving break.  Watched the whole thing in 3 days.  After the final episode I cried like a little baby.  I cried because it was the end.  Because the Taylor's moved from Texas to Philly.  Because I wouldn't see Tim Riggins anymore.  And because it was over.  Is it bad that I prayed they would start another one??  No.  Just watch the farewell video.  It still makes me cry.  So here's to you FNL.  Thanks for being awesome.

Clear eyes.  Full hearts.  Can't lose.

Amen.

The Office Diaries: Lunch Shun 2.0 and mild depression

I'm writing to you from my office nook.  Ben Rector/Mumford and Sons/Zac Brown Band Pandora rolling strong in the background.  And I'm about to get real up in here.  On a scale of 1-10 (1 being utterly terrible and 10 being ultra radical) today is about a 1.25.  Yeah.  That sounds about right.  It started out alright.  Walked my 3 miles and enjoyed some oatmeal.  Then I went to the office.  I knew I should have stopped and got my iced coffee.  Could, shoulda, woulda.  Things were going well until I faced the lunch shunning 2.0.  I can't decide if this is intentional or not.  It normally doesn't bother me if it is just the boys, but when the one other girl gets to go... I'm just not sure.  Sometimes I know it is because I am in the nook and nobody knows that I am there.  But, today I got some shunnage.  But, its okay.  I got to eat lunch with Herb.  At the East Bay Deli.  Yummy.  I asked him if knew any details about the shunning.  "No.  You think it's intentional?  Maybe it's because if they ask you then they would have to ask me.  And they may not want to have to eat with me."  Yeah right.  They like eating with you Herb.  Is it because I'm annoying?  Or a girl?  Or uncool?  "Uh.  You don't seem annoying.  I don't know about coolness."  Oh well.  Here is where my day went from a 10 and dropped 8.75 points to 1.25.  Today was payday.  Now let it be known that I have been tearing it up production wise.  I have 41 appraisals backlogged.  Baller.  So I was pretty excited for payday.  Like most people.  WRONG.  A whopping 4 appraisal payments came in.  Not good.  Especially since it is Christmas time.  Needless to say, I immediately became emotional and very irritable.  No payday=STRESSED, EMOTIONAL, DEPRESSED, NO CHRISTMAS PRESENT BUYING, NO ADVENTURE HAVING, NON SOCIABLE SARAH.  IN A NUTSHELL.  It was touch and go for a while in the nook.  I almost punched the wall and I almost cried.  Neither were good for the situation.The banking world has 2 weeks to fix this mam o jamma or its going to be a hard candy Christmas for mi amigos.  Sorry friends.  We may have to celebrate Christmas in January people.  Who doesn't love a nice extended holiday?  Ok.  Great.  Glad we have that one settled...

I need a Dt. Mt. Dew like non other.  But I am 29 days soda free... What do to do?  Ah.  Any suggestions?  Today is one of those "emergency days."  But I just can't bring myself to do it...  Help.

It's non year team Tuesday.  So at least I will get some hang time with Tyler Sophia the real McCoy.

On the plus side I have been taking lots of pictures.  It has been fun.  If only I could be a photographer.  Now that would be splendid.

Ok.  Enough pity party.  I am out.

SRS

PS- Bug Lady are you out there?

PSS- Princess Katie Wagner is back in the USA.  Thank God.

The Clayton Clan

Today was a solid day my friends.  I woke up.  Still basking in victory.  Just for the record-  GO COCKS!!  Whew.  I feel much better...  After church I trekked it on out to North Mt. Perfect to take some pics of the Clayton girls.  They turned out better than I thought.  Brace yourself.  I'm about to bombard you with some pics.  Seriously.  I really like them.  The people.  The pictures.  And the dog.  I think the dog may actually think he is a human.  He's a bit of a priss, but he did well.  Here are some of my favorite shots from today.

 Here is the star of today's show...

 She loves him the most.  FACT.  So regal.

I love taking pictures of fun people.  Seriously.  I mean let's be real- having someone take glamour shots of you can be awkward.  I always love taking pictures of people that I know.  Mostly because it's funny, but you also get to know people better.  That being said.  The Clayton Clan is one of my favorites.  Triptastic, Trick n Trina, Nightmere, Caroline and Louie are some of my favs.  Some mean ham biscuits come out of that house too:)

Over and out,

SRS

The Day of the Big Turkey

I'm about to drop the play by play of the Sass family Thanksgiving.  Keep in mind, this is coming from my perspective.  And perspective alone..  Sorry, I like to have a dramatic build up.

I woke up late.  Because I stayed up until 3 am watching Friday Night Lights Season 5. Holy Awesome.  I will post on this later on.  But, let it be known that my crush on Tim Riggins and Coach Taylor is definitely still alive and well.  So I woke up.  Burned a delightful Christmas mix full of NTB, Ben Rector, Mariah, Aaron Neville and Bruce Springsteen.  I pit stopped at Starbucks for a venti iced coffee and hit the open road.  I was headed to Brick House on beautiful Edisto.  If you didn't know, I am completely in love with Edisto.  No question about it.  I took the dirt road way once I got to Ravenel.  Made my first pit stop here:

I love a good train track.  Something super countrified about them.  I pushed on.  And then pit stopped once again here:

 These fields were on the way into Brick House and they were really pretty.  I finally arrived at the compound.  At Brick House you never know who and what is going to be there.  But, you know there will be a table 17 miles long full of comfort food. True story.  I snapped a few dock/creek pics pre-food coma.

 Alright.  Let me begin.  I arrived.  I immediately didn't make eye contact really with anyone until I could located the Herb Sass branch of the fam. ( I get a lil shy in large crowds)  I found them.  We said our hellos and took some pics of the fam:)

 Sometimes I like to refer to mom and aunt Vickey as the blond nuggets.  So there they are.  They brought their own champagne flutes.  Totally normal. Right?

 Here we are.  All together.  Smiling.  I mean, I kind of love us.  Hobbits in the middle, Giants round the outside.

I told dad to throw up his best gang sign.  Unfortunately he threw up some Star Trek symbol.  Man oh man do we have some work to do...

Here comes my favorite part of the day.  So after like 30 minutes I notice this guy kind of hanging around our little cluster.  He seemed nice.  But I really had never seen him before.  But he was in our territory.  He was pretty chummy with the fam.  So I whisper over to Lili; "Do we know this dude?"  I received a typical Lili look. ( In case you haven't received one, here is a small visual)

She answers; "That is my boyfriend.  Of 4 months.  His name is Robert.  Yes, he is older."  Insert dramatic pause here.  Plus a minor jaw drop.  I mean hello?  4 months??  No one cared to fill me in that my little tiny baby sister has a man friend??  Well Happy Thanksgiving to you too...  I tried to play it cool.  When I really wanted to ask her 1,009,832 questions.  But I kept my smooth composure.  Naturally.  I even managed to take a picture of the lil couple..

Then came the time we had all been waiting for.  The food.  Yes, the food.  It is so so so so good.

The gnats came out.  So one of the nuggets put her head piece on....

 The Green Egg.  It cooks nothing, but yummy yummy goodness... all day long.

 Luckily, I was introduced to moonshine.  And moonshine cherries.  Did I steal a few for the ride home?  Maybe.  I can't confirm or deny.  Do I want to learn how to make them?  Yes.

 We then went and did some exploring....  And took some ding a ling pics.  I always wanted to be a tree hugger of sorts...

 I love a good dance party.  Even if no one will join me...  So sad.  But look at dem moves..

 Just working of the 2nds and 3rds...

 On the way home I stopped by the Smythes.  These are some of my favorite people in the whole wide world.  No lie. They are good people.  All around.  They have a place called Dawhoo.  Here are a few pics.

 Uncle George, me and Edwin.  Seriously.  They are great!

My boy Edwin is basically a grown up now.  Hes rockin it at the Citadel.  

Made my annual pass of the Christmas Tree farm:)

I made it home after a wonderful jam sesh.  And then headed out to visit some of my other all time favorite people.  The Senf fam.  We watched some James Bond, A Walk to Remember and did some arts and crafting.  Seriously I love them.  A lot.  All in all I'd say it was a pretty stellar Turkey Day!

I'm out.  And Thankful!

SRS