He Put A Ring On It....Royal Edition...

Ding. New Text Message. I looked at my phone. Who on earth could be texting me this early? (6:04 AM) : Prince William And Kate Middleton are engaged. I was still half asleep and my day was ruined. Thanks Dad. No actually thanks Prince William. Scratch that. Thanks Kate Middleton. Being half asleep I wasn't about to check my three sources to find if this was true. I was in the middle of my two weeks of paper writing and I valued every second of sleep that I could. It was time for my already ruined day to begin. I had checked my sources. And all three sources were correct. So much for becoming the wife of the internationally well known arm candy. 

     I know somewhere in my scrap books upon scrap books of Prince William, I have the collectors edition of the April 14th 2007 Daily Mail newpaper headline that read "PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE SPLIT" gave me hopes in becoming Her Royal Highness Sara Princess Of Whales. To the people of Great Britian, it was a headline of depressing and grim news, but to the millions of girls who were vying for the Most Eligible Bachelor in Europe, its the best headline they could ever read. 

     Before I continue, I must ask. How do you keep the worlds most well awaited engagement a SECRET FOR OVER A MONTH?? I mean seriously, when people tell me secrets, they tell me maybe three weeks out and that even wears me out. BUT A MONTH? And you carried your deceased mother's gorgeous sentimentally priceless sapphire and diamond ring for THREE WEEKS? In your POCKET? IN KENYA? And didn't tell a SOUL? Are you nuts? And I quote your beautiful fiancee, "I'll be in big trouble if I lose this." Yea you will. So don't. 

    Now that the initial hype has somewhat calmed down, there is one final question to be asked? Is this ring cursed? At the ring being valued at £30,000 when originally purchased by Prince Charles for Diana Spencer in 1980, the ring would become a symbol of a royal marriage... or so we thought. So by passing down an engagement ring, are you passing down an unsuccessful marriage? Also on the subject of the beauty of the ring, I was checking my daily blogs, and saw that an unnamed Home Shopping channel, coughcoughQVCcoughcough, has had the honors of debuting a knock off of Kate's engagement ring. Soapbox time. Excuse me. First off, it's tacky to duplicate something. Second off, it's horrible that you would sell something like this. Third off, you might as well go to Chuck E. Cheese and go spend $1.00 and get one in the robot toy picker. 

    Kate, as much as I have been sitting here blogging about my jealously that you are marrying my William, congratulations are in order as you have found your prince charming. I'll be like a kid on Christmas waiting for my invitation in the mail sometime soon. 

-Sara-  

Guess Who's Back...

I'm back!!!! And I'm back for good!! And I'm pumped. And with the holidays coming up, expect some blogs to come. "You can not possibly compare yourself to surgical interns. It took you five hours to write two sentences." Maybe that should be the slogan for the procrastination poster that I will be posing in. When I had to leave the wonderful world of blogs, I entered the slowly killing trees one tree at a time world. Three, how many more days till Thanksgiving break papers later, I have successfully returned to the place where I belong. And boy does it feel good to be back. Because there were some times where I was tired of writing in MLA format and wanted to write the way I write and not write about boring classic literature books.
     A little background on these papers. (I promise I won't bore you). Paper one was our weekly paper that we are assigned every week on the book we are currently reading. The selection? The number one New York Times Best Seller list chart topper Don Quixote. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be bored. Because I was. I was able to whip paper one out in 2 hours. One paper down, two to go. Just how long could I put off the dreaded " Which Book Is Faster To Learn A Moral? Aesop's Fables or Everyman?" I'll save you the time and effort of reading the books to find out for yourself. Spoiler Alert: Aesop's Fables. You wanna know why Aesop's Fables are faster? "Looking through some of Aesop’s fables and seeing how short they were, I came across fable 147, “The Dancing Camel” and after a letter count, I counted a total of 97 letters.  Putting Aesop’s “The Dancing Camel” in social media terms, this fable has fewer characters than a regular tweet from Twitter, which has a count of 140 letters or less." Yep. I win. I mentioned twitter in my final essay. I'd like to see Topanga's face when she reads this essay.  When I have papers like this, I like to have a plan in mind. Do I stick them? Not exactly. I talk a good story, and then it never happens.  After coming home from the horribly called UL-USF overtime had the refs been better, we would have been going shopping for a bowl game,  I decided that I would write from 7pm to 11:35 pm. Bahahahahaha. Two sentences down, a tons more to go. I had set my alarm for  8:00 the following morning to get this paper out of my life. Two hours later, I was not allowed to go anywhere until I finished this paper. Let's just say it's finished and turned in. And I don't have to look at it until November 30th. Two papers completed. And one more to go. 
     I had categorized the three papers into categories. Paper one was strep throat, Paper two was heart surgery, and paper three was a walk in the park. Well I thought the last one was a walk in the park. For my final paper, we were to write a features story. Any topic of our choosing. Having to interview three sources, and not wanting to track people down, I did a story on the record enrollment on my higher education. Once again, it's turned in. Finished. 
     Do I have plans for my Thankgiving/Sorry We Care About Your Education And There For You Don't Get A Fall Break Break?? Heck yes I do have plans. Sleep. Working the best day of the entire calendar work year/day before Thanksgiving Shenanigans. And grubbing on turkey skin. 


-Sara- 

 

87 Hours And Counting....

Mission Accomplished! Almost. As of November 15th, I have successfully completed two out of three papers. I promise I have not forgotten my bloggy blog blog. This may be one of the most stressful weeks I've endured since... well a long time. I will go into details when I make my triumphant return, but in some of my papers, I wanted to bust out the writing of my blogs. Miss Me!!! 

-Sara- 

Pardon This Interruption...

My Fellow Readers... 

It is with great sadness that I must abandon saraspills.blogspot.com until November 19th. I promise you I will be back, but I must take a blog vacation until then. I use vacation loosely. Here's what's on my agenda until then: Just this week alone, I have 78 pages of reading, a paper on those 78 pages of reading, three interviews for my final paper in another class, research for my final paper in my Literature class, "A Christmas Story" night at the theater, work, and the annual dad can't use his ticket, so I'll go instead football game against USF. The following week : A.K.A freakout week/I'll be back before you know it: Turning in the final draft of my literature final essay, reading only the best book ever, "The Tempest" turning in a first draft for my other essay in my second class, finding somewhere in there to breathe, and starting the best week of the entire year at work/Thanksgiving week! I promise you I will be back with the latest breaking Hollywood news, but for now, higher education is my best friend. Sinara blog world. Hello Sara doesn't have a life until Thanksgiving World. 

-Sara- 

Happy Birthday Ya Wild Animal...

The girl's name Sara \s(a)-ra\ is a variant of Sarah (Hebrew), and the meaning of Sara is "princess".   And yes, that's exactly what I was on my wonderful day of birth. For those who were unable to participate in my festivities, you were extremely missed, but it's a good thing you have your handy dandy sara spills birthday blog to fill you in. 

    12:01 AM: New Text Message. 12:05 A.M. New Text Message. 2:15 AM: New Text Message. 4:15 AM. New Text Message. Oh the joys of Facebook Mobile. I had prepared myself for the notifications of the obligatory Happy Birthday wall posts, but having to get up super early because of attending higher education, I would need to put my phone on silent. Okay, if you put your phone on silent, how did you know you got all those text messages? Don't you leave your phone in the kitchen plugged into the wall where it belongs? Sadly no. I am one of those Generation Y'ers who sleep with their phone next to their head. And don't try to tell me that if I sleep with my phone by my head I'll loose brain cells. Because it doesn't work. Oh wait. If I turn my phone on silent I'm going to miss the first Happy Birthday 7 AM phone call. Set my "It's T-Shirt Time" alarm for 6 AM and turn phone on to ring. Go back to bed. Problem solved. 7:02 AM. "Happy Birthday To You..." phone call. I normally have to get up for school at 7:30 but heck, it's my day of birth, so why not get up 28 minutes earlier and enjoy the day? In order for me to get to class on time, I like to leave the house at 8:30ish which gives me time to get there, park and get to class, and not speed. It took me everything to get out of bed at 8:15 to attend class. I went to class on my birthday. I won't be making that mistake next year. If I went to class on my birthday does that qualify me for student of the year award? Yea, I thought so. Coming out of class, it began to rain. The big guy upstairs must have listened to what I wanted for my birthday because I wanted it cold and rainy for my day. High of 53 and rainy to be exact. With school, taking a birthday nap, and getting ready to debut my killer and I mean killer birthday outfit and family celebrations, my schedule was beginning to fill up.
     On a normal school day, I just head home, but as this was the this world would be boring with out Sara, thank goodness she was born day, it was only appropriate that I celebrate with a birthday lunch with the Dove Chocolate Fairy :),  in a cute little adorable cafe in the back of a party store. In the back of a party store? Yes. And it's absolutely adorable. Wanting to save plenty of room for dinner and the homemade cake I got to watch being made, Mom joined me in splitting a Ham and Brie sandwich dressed with pepper jelly and spicy mustard on Orange Cranberry bread.

     Between driving to classes, attending classes, and lunch, the birthday girl did need her beauty sleep. Well so I thought. As dinner reservations were at 6:15, I figured that if I got my beauty sleep from 3:00-4:30, I would have plenty to get ready. Call the Guinness Book of World Records. I took the shortest nap in history. With birthday calls and MORE birthday texts, I took an all of a two minute nap. Not that I loved all the calls, because I did, but I could have used a nap of what I was about to face at dinner. 

     The day had come for me to debut my boots that would accompany my jeggings, the classic J-Crew white long sleeved shirt and a vest. I can't go into details. We'll just say I like to go shopping in a relative's closet. Dinner. If you know me, you know how family dinners go. A nice time had by all. 

     Next thing you know it was time for the delicious home made chocolate on chocolate on chocolate cake to be presented. Ruh Ro. So did the ice cream. My family must have read my blog on my phobia, because ladies and gentlemen, we have made a great stride with this phobia. My peppermint ice cream was served in a bowl. No not with the cake on the plate, but in a totally separate BOWL. But because ice cream melts, I still felt the need to scarf it down before I ate my cake. The cake was ready to go, and so were the candles. Most people can blow out candles in one breath. After last years nightmare of blowing out candles, I was determined to blow out my candles in one breath this year. As my wise sister commented, "not a chance." Bingo. It took not one, not two but THREE tries to blow them out. And it's only gonna get harder. 

     We have a routine when it comes to birthdays, chit chat a little, and then presents. I took my first bite and was handed my first present. "Okay Sara, in order for you to get your first part to your present, name all nine American Idol winners in order." I named the first three, but struggled. I was handed a crossword puzzle. Okay...  I was slightly confused. "In order for you to get a pencil, name all your vowels."  "A,E,I,O,U and sometimes Y." And so began "Sara's Epic Birthday Crossword Puzzle." Being the oh so wise sister she is, she created a crossword puzzle that had the answers to my birthday presents. Included? iTunes, Target, and Heine Brothers for those upcoming, way too cold for winter, 7 AM's days at work. Shout-out to The. Best. Sister. In. The. World. Holla. The family celebration concluded with funny and cards and a sophisticated Lilly Pulitzer phone cover for a very sophisticated adult.
     With the birthday coming to an end, it was time to come home to watch my Thursday night tradition with an episode of Grey's accompanied by presents from Mom and Dad."Uhhh. Is this what I think this is?" I saw the infamous little red box with white letters. As. Seen. On. TV.  "This is halarious." Yep. I am a proud owner of a Snuggie.
    Okay, so I do enjoy birthday's, but what I don't enjoy is getting another year older. But what I didn't forget to do on my special day? "And don't lose the way that you dance around in your pj's getting ready for school."

-Sara- 

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu Childhood...

In the spirit of the Halloween Holiday, I'd like to take a moment to mourn the loss of my youth.  I never really had to worry about filling my pillowcase full of candy. I always knew that the Candy Queen would pull through with the annual eight pounds of sugar. Oh yes. Eight pounds of halloween candy. Not for my family, not for my friends, not for my distant relatives, but all for ME. Well, maybe I can't eat eight pounds of chocolate goodness by myself, but as of October 29,2010, I received my final bag of candy.
     I have always looked forward to the day I would receive my candy especially post the glory days of Trick Or Treating. Receiving this candy, was a highlight of my year. If I wanted candy, I had to be on my best behavior. This event only came once a year, and every time I got it, I knew it was one year closer to not receiving the sugary goodness. As the years went on the candy queen always knew what kind of candy I liked and what I didn't like, including my favorites of Twix, Kit-Kats, and Reese Cups.  After receiving my candy, I was to follow tradition and dump it all out and sort it into three groups. The don't even think about touching it pile included, Reese Cups, Twixs, Kit Kats, and Milky Ways. The you can touch it pile but you have to ask, three musketeers, hershey bars, skittles, and starburst. And the go ahead you don't even have to ask pile/I stuck those in for your mother and father almond joys, whoppers, and some years, those nasty mary jane's sticky peanut butter chews.
     I usually get my candy some where in the middle of October. If I remember correctly, I would usually get it somewhere around the 15th of October. It was perfect timing, just enough to hold me until the actual holiday, when I was fortunate and young enough to trick or treat, I would have more to add to my collection. While celebrating the candy queens's birthday, I started to wonder? Where was my candy? I hope she hadn't forgotten. The last year I get candy she forgets? This can not be happening. "Did you forget about candy this year?" "Is it already Halloween? Whoops." Hahahahaha. Real funny.  "No I did not forget." Crisis Adverted.
     "But what if I go to grad school next year?" "Sara you're not going to grad school next year." Thank you captain obvious. I am/was determined to make this candy tradition go farther than just my undergraduate career. "No Sara. We've gone over this before. You only get candy through your four years of college." The breezy cool fall October days went by and still no sign of candy. It hadn't been mentioned since the birthday celebrations, and there were no traces of empty wrappers in trash cans to be found. The weekend of Halloween had rolled around. This was starting to worry me. Being the problem solver I am, I took it upon myself to solve this trick (I'm so clever) and invite myself over for Taco Night. We all knew there was an elephant in the room that needed to be discussed. WHERE'S. MY. CANDY?!  I could taste the Reese's in my mouth. What a perfect dessert after a delicious dinner. "If you stick around for dessert...." My dream had come true. I had solved this mystery. Case closed. "You can have a piece of Coconut Cake." Who wants Coconut Cake for dessert when you have a whole bag of sugary goodness waiting for you? I began the lonesome walk to my car in hopes of having a front seat filled with unhealthy candy bars. 
     "I forgot last night. What time do you get off work?" Can you come by the house after work?!" It's about time I be reunited with my candy. And for the last time, I slowly dumped my candy out into the piles. In the words of the great philosopher Taylor Swift, "Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older."
-Sara-

Brumotactillophobia....

There's about a gajillion perks to living in the South. Sweet tea, SEC football, home cooked southern food, girls always have an excuse to wear cute dresses for something, and my personal favorite Peppermint Ice Cream. You think it'd be something easy to find somewhere up North, but it takes twice as long to find this treat (if you're lucky). I promise you I'm getting somewhere with this. Peppermint ice cream is only available starting November 1st and goes out of production December 24th. This is a staple in my family. If you don't like it, then something must be wrong with your taste buds, because it's kinda sorta ridiculously delicious. I can remember as a young chillen eating this at birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners for dessert. Has your mouth watered yet?

     With the birthday a week away, :) the question has entered my mind? What kind of ice cream is to accompany the it's too good to describe and I don't want my mouth to water while I think about it, and I don't like the Cheap cake and it's my day of birth, so  yes I would like a home made chocolate cake with home made hot fudge in between the two layers of chocolate and mini chocolate chips in the mix cake batter birthday cake? Having grown up eating peppermint ice cream for virtually every holiday, I decided to go with tradition and have peppermint stick ice cream with my cake.  I served my piece of cake, and was served my ice cream. Slight problem. The cold ice cream is touching my warm cake, which is making my ice cream melt. And that's no bueno. When you eat your cake and ice cream, you should be able to enjoy it. Savor it. Not have to rush eating it, because it's melting into ice cream soup. Your birthday only comes once a year. Here's where my phobia comes in. I don't like cold things touching hot things, or hot things touching cold things. Well there is only one thing that is not included in this phobia. I don't mind dipping fries in room temperature ketchup. I know this is beyond weird, but it's a challenge that I am forced to face daily. Yea, that's right, when people get hot fudge sundaes, I don't have hot fudge on my ice cream unless it's cold, and usually it's not, because it melts my ice cream faster. Here's a perfect example, one morning last week, I was indulging in delicious Pumpkin pancakes. I was asked if I wanted whipped cream. Uh, no thank you. See there it is. Cold touching hot. I like to look at this phobia this way, why would you want something as cold as 32 degrees touching something that you could probably cook in the dead of summer's heat?
     Just this week, I came across another problem. The in house chef :) fixed stir fry for dinner, and added pineapple. Then cooked it. HOT PINEAPPLE?! How do I say gross? Hot pineapple. Pineapple is supposed to be a refreshing fruit that you can turn to during those hot summer days, not throw it in a pan with peppers and snap peas and duck sauce and then eat it are you? Didn't think so.
     I'm sure this is something that not a lot of you think about, but this phobia is slowly crushing birthday celebrations one birthday at a time.

-Sara-