I'm Grateful to You.

Over the past four months I've been very blessed to have a certian friend who has stepped up to help me through a really tough patch in my life.

He has let me bend his ear for many hours and in the end only encouraged me. He came when I asked, even for the smallest and trivial things and never complained to me, never waivered.

So tonight I want to thank him again. You know who you are and you need to know ANY time you need a friend you know who you can call. Because your tab is very long with me.

Have a very safe trip tomorrow my friend.

Genius, pure genius

He's no madman!

So I went to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg this weekend. I have lived in Pinellas County since I was 5 and this is the first time I had ever been there. What was I thinking?

In my head I had images of melting clocks and other shocking paintings. That is only one small part of Dali's repertoire. He painted stunning pieces, some vibrant in color, and others very subtle, all complex in detail and stunning in his mastery.

Some of his larger works which stood from ceiling to floor had me amazed. I know at times my mouth just hung open in wonder as to how one person could do such paintings.

So if you're in St. Petersburg, take time out and go see this museum, it will be worth your time and money to get to glimpse inside of the mind of a genius.

Summer Sure Is Something

Smile, It's Almost Summer

So what is about the eve of the Summer Solstice that makes me want to clean? I can't figure it out myself. First it started innocently with some light dusting and picking up and laundry. Next thing you know, I'm mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, and enjoying it. Is it cosmic forces coming together at 2:40 something this morning that marks the beginning of summer that set me off? What has encouraged me to turn up the CD player and to gleefully clean my house on a Monday night? To breath deeply the orange-scented fumes of Mr. Clean as they cleanse the kitchen floors? I don't know what it was, but it had to be something not of this world. Because my house is now a little cleaner, brighter and I didn't mind it.

Happy Summer everyone. Get out there and enjoy the longer days. Enjoy whatever it is that brings you joy today. Even if it is mopping.

I'm waiting for the same thing to strike me in regards to pulling weeds. Never know what the great cosmic forces will have me doing next.

Do These Guys Ever Work?

Tribune Biz Team

So I get this picture e-mailed to me yesterday with the subject: See What You're Missing? and from another "If this doesn't make you home sick I don't know what will."

It's good to see they're taking the new guy in my job out and making him feel welcome AND having a good time while they are at it. As you can see there are reasons why I do miss those guys, they always knew how to have a good time, no matter how stupid/funny they looked.

Hats off to you the Business Staff & two Baylifers that came along for the fun. I do miss you, but a girl's gotta make a living too!

Weeds, Be Gone!

Ok, it's hot this week in Central Florida and dry. So every day I have to water the plants outside to make sure they don't die.

So why is it that they plants wilt and the weeds flourish? They look healthier than the day before when I didn't water them. And how do they grow so fast? I just don't get it. In addition, how is it possible that I mowed the lawn Saturday afternoon and it needs to be mowed again, like yesterday? This crazy Florida weather brings even crazier gardening!

I'm Not Scared..Maybe.

So what is about scary movies that people love and make them want to watch more of them? I just don't understand it. I caught myself watching a movie on Lifetime Movies that was a horror flick and I couldn't stop watching it. Something about tensing up while expecting something bad to happen and then the release when it does. And trying to figure out why something is happening and who is causing it. And that feeling afterwards that the movie left a creepy feeling with you that the bad guy could be lurking around the corner in your house.

Why do we do it? And since it's supernatural week on Lifetime if the movie catches my fancy tomorrow night again, I'll be asking that to myself again.

I'm Living in A Corporate World!

Whew!
Week one of working in the corporate world has come and gone. And what a week it was. I think I can get used to this kind of corporate culture. One where I get taken out to the Columbia Restaurant (swanky Spanish/Cuban restaurant) on the first night and had every thing paid for, even drinks and desert is I wanted it. And I already have 2 company shirts, which is helpful in building this new wardrobe.

But it is hard work. Being at work on time and there at 8 a.m., meetings, scheduled, re-scheduled and re-scheduled again (I do a lot of that), invoices and yes fans, I, Sarah, will be balancing the department BUDGET at the end of the year. Thank God an accounting rep is given to me, or I should fear the outcome. I don't balance the family checkbook, and there is a reason for it.

Did I mention a corp. credit card and a cell phone? Yes, all of those will soon be mine. Sounds pretty fancy...it's not, but it's a step up for me. Now I just have to turn my body's clock around and become used to getting up at 6:30...will that ever happen?

So Sarah Says has gone to the dark side...and I'm not looking back.

I'm still young at heart

So I took this dumb little Internet quiz and found out that my mental age is 29! I'm OK with this since I am 30. For some reason I was afraid I would be pegged at 50 or something, to go along with the ever increasing number of gray hairs I keep getting. Here's what the quiz said about me:

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Fricken' Nervous!

Okay, so the new job starts tomorrow. I have orientation in the morning for 8-11:30, into work, more orientation and then DINNER with my new team, boss and her new boss! OYE! I haven't been this nervous, well in a long time or longer. I was actually pacing yesterday. PACING. I told a good friend it was lucky I had very little alcohol in my house because I would have been stinking drunk Saturday night just so I could shut my brain up. This is like actually a REAL job, one I'm going to have to work hard at. What the heck was I thinking? Say a little prayer for me this week, I'm surely going to need it!

My New Favorite Workout Name

I was flipping through the channels a few evenings ago and I came across this new workout: Yoga Booty Ballet. The name just cracked me up. It's a mix of yoga, "booty sculpting" and dance. You have to see the commercial at sometime, the moves are so funny. You can read about the program by clicking the link.

Beachbody Fitness, Nutrition, Diet and Weight Loss Programs, Products & Videos

I'm So Flattered

Yesterday was the last day for me at the Tampa Tribune. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the nice things people did for me and said. Gave me a big head by the end. I mean wow. There was a dozen pink roses from the boss, a nice lunch, a $50 gift card to any Outback branded restaurant, a lovely bottle of wine, a page (more on that some other time) and more hugs than I may have ever had in 1 day. All over me leaving a job? There'll be photos later, once Skippy and Jeff from Side Salad fame gets them over to me.

Wow, it's over, and at the new job I'll have to really work hard...I'll miss those guys from the paper. Good co-workers are hard to come by. I'm just so flattered.

A Haiku for Everything

This is the Haiku Dave sent me at 5:30 this afternoon:

Oh Saddam Hussein:
I LOVE those tighty whiteys!
As Paris says: HOT!

Just proof that there is a Haiku for every reason and season.

On another note, quitting this job has been kinda surreal. I am really starting to appreciate the people I get the opportunity to work with. There are some real class acts, some not so, but mostly great. I will miss them and the banter that is associated working here. But on the flip side, 12 paid holidays and a nice pay raise. I'll just have to hang out with my friends on the weekend.

A Little Toilet Humor

Can this cause a shy bladder?

So I had to get a drug test for the new job. And there's this time frame they give you, three days from the day you receive the packet with your acceptance, so that day was Monday (I didn't count Monday, I didn't get it till like 7:30 at night because). So I tried Wed. to go, well the center had moved and I couldn't find it. So it was Thursday, I HAD to get the damn test.

So I got up and started drinking water, I had two enormous glasses. Off to the place by 9:30, that's when the testing could begin. In by 9:40, and it happened. My bladder was shy (or stressed, don't know which) but I couldn't fill the damn cup. Soon the lady is knocking on the door telling me my time is up. But I didn't have enough, barely any. So out I came with my pathetic offering. I would have to try again. There was a water fountain in the lobby. So I gulped, and gulped and gulped some more. For almost 10 minutes. With each mouth-full of water I thought of running water, babbling brooks, waterfalls. And then I drank some more. The old lady in the waiting room must have thought I was nuts, well she was looking at me that way. So at 10:10 I'm back in the bathroom. I BARELY make the line. Where all this water I have been drinking has gone to is beyond me.

Off to work I go and half way there, I have to pee. And for the rest of the day, I was running to the bathroom. Bladder wasn't shy there, obviously it feels comfortable there.

I've Resigned to Resign...

So, today I officially resigned from my position at the paper. I've been there for more than eight years and it was time. I'm going to work for a large Fortune 250 company in St. Petersburg. Not going to reveal it here for now. Being careful.

It was terrifying for me. I have never resigned a real job before. Besides, I like the people I work with, I just got tired of the job. But everyone was kind and many people are excited for me. So in celebration, a Haiku is in store!

Bye bye first real job
Hours of typing and of fun.
New one lights me up.

Can't Stop

Today Dave Simanoff and I decided we would write all messages in Haiku today. Here's some of his:

If you can't say it
in seventeen syllables,
it ain't worth saying!

Three poetry lines:
five, seven and five syllables.
Haiku forever!

Mullins did chuckle.
He says he likes your haiku
It hits close to home.

Miller time, you say?
If I look directly left
It is Mullins time.

So very boring
At four-twenty on Friday.
Where is the weekend?

Once you write Haiku
It's very hard to stop.
Haiku forever!
- Sarah

Soo Yummy

Mmmm..Peanut Butter Oreos!

The person at Nabisco who thought up Peanut Butter Double Stuff Oreos should be given a HUGE raise. What a genius and why did it take this dang long to come up with? I mean come one, peanut butter and chocolate just go together. Just thought I would put my two cents in. And by the way, they are SOOOOO yummy.

Go to http://www.nabiscoworld.com/oreo to read more about Oreos and take the personality quiz to see what kind of eater of Oreos you are...It said I am a twister...which is wrong, I believe you should just eat the cookie as it, then you get all the flavors together. But it is fun anyways.

My Pet Fat...Ew!

So you're trying to lose weight? This company will ship you a plastic blob shaped and colored to look like fat. You can get the 1 oz., 1 pound or 5 pound blob. I guess they figure when you look at the disguesting blob you won't be as hungry. Check out the link below.

My Pet Fat

Daily Bushism...

President Bush isn't exactly the wordsmith. Take a moment to read some of his gems at the link below. Here's a good example:

"We look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make—it would hope—put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't see."
—Washington, D.C., April 14, 2005


Bushism of the Day By Jacob�Weisberg

High tech Pope

I just thought this was an interesting story. Pope Benedict now has an e-mail address. benedictxvi@vatican.va. So if you have a prayer request or just want to drop the guy a line it is simple as a few key strokes away. I guess Pope John Paul II was the first high tech Pope and was seen typing away on a laptop. It's good to see that trend continued.

You can read the story by clicking below.

Yahoo! News - Pope Benedict XVI Gets E-Mail Address

Why Do They Need Nipples?

Is this necessary?

So I was shopping this evening and I noticed in JcPenny that all the women mannequins had nipples. Why I'm not sure. Was it really cold in the store or is it just that mannequin manufactures need to throw more sex into the mix because sex sells? As if the overwhelming majority of clothing wasn't sexy enough, you have to sell it this way? I don't know why this bothered me so much today...maybe I'm a little older or maybe my morality has caught up with me. Either way, is there any place it's safe to go without being assaulted with sexual images such as this?