SaranoH

I love my name. Don't get me wrong. But it's given me more than a few headaches in my life. Who knew a 4 letter word could do so wrong. My parents obviously picked my name. I'm named after my grandma, whose name was Phyllis. She told my mom to never name a daughter Phyllis, but she loved the name Sara. So, here I am. My parents thought they made life easy for me when they named me Sara. My dad likes to tell the story that he contemplated naming me Sandy, if you know my last name, well then you know why that's funny.

Why, is a name such as Sara, so hard? Because of the other spelling of Sara, the one with the H - you know what I'm talking about..

For as long as I can remember, I have received the following responses (true stories) when I tell someone my name -

"Is that Sara with an H or without?"

"Oh, your name is Sara(h), how do you spell that?" Me: "No H", "Oh, well my aunts second cousin's mom's name has an H on the end...and she's kind of weird, so its a good thing you have no H" or "Oh my boyfriend's mom's sister has no H and she's awesome". Me: "well thanks?"

"So, your name is Saranoh"...? Me: "Sure" ... ten seconds later receive a piece of paper with my name spelled as "Saranoh", go figure.

In any case, I love my name. Like I said. But I'll forever be "Sara - no - H", and well I guess I'm fine with that, because I am named after Phyllis, who I've been told was an amazing person. And, well atleast it gave me an inspiration for a title for my blog..

FNL

I have a new obsession - Friday Night Lights, the tv show, not the movie. It is currently streaming on netflix. I watched the first three seasons in less than a week. I'm horribly addicted to this show. I love the characters, that its set in Texas and deals with our obssessions with football in this great state, and is very relatable. I know I am about 4 years late on the bandwagon, and I'm not sure why I was hesitant to watch it before. Because all I can say is that it is by far my favorite show on tv right now. Period.

I pulled a Julia Child

Last night, I made my first Julia Child recipe soup ever. It was easy and I have to say very tasty - I made the potato and onion soup (I know there is probably a catchier french word for it), its the first recipe of the book, I strive for difficulty, what can I say.

But that's not what this post is about - this post is about my finger. My pinky to be exact. Have you seen Julie and Julia (the movie, not the people)? If you have - you know in the movie where they show an SNL clip of Dan Akroyd (you may have actually seen this clip other than in the J/J movie) - well that was me, last night. Except there wasn't quite as much blood flow, although there was a lot. I sliced the tip of my left pinky finger almost clear off the tip of my left pinky finger. Ouch. I was doing what any good cook would do - cutting a baguette with a sharp knife over the sink with my hand on the other side, and what do you know, my finger got up in the mess. It wanted to be a part of the slicing I suppose. Knife lessons anyone? In any case, after a frantic phone call to my sister (the ER nurse) and my mom (the retired gyno nurse), I wrapped the pinky in a bandage, bag of ice, and towel, and sat with my hand above my head for the rest of the night. The pinky was throbbing, and still is, as I type this (its difficult to type with no pinky I tell ya what). No worries though, I'm alive and survived the pinky slaughter of 2010. Next time I'll move my finger out of the way.

Here's a pic of the finger in the splint:

And ... here's a pic of the finger the morning after the slaughter of 2010 (its gross so don't look if you vomit at the sight of blood):

Pack em up, move em out.

I. hate. moving. But I am. Why? Because 700 more square feet appear bright in my distant future. Its not that I hate moving, insomuch as I hate packing, and unpacking. And its hard to move, without doing either of those. I guess I could move without packing, but I'd miss my things I think. I'm also what one may call a "procastinator". Gasps heard around I know. Its a fact that I've been spending most of my life trying to curb and fight, but without much success. I'm especially good at procrastinating when its something I loathe doing, like packing. And, in the 20 year school period of my life, I found I always had my best ideas a late night during a cram session, despite having two weeks on the project.

When I made the decision to move back in June, I decided that this time, this time I would not procrastinate with the packing thing. I looked my boyfriend in the eyes and said, babe, I will not wait till the last minute to pack all my crap up. I layed out a two month "plan" of attack on the Sara Fortress. July would be sort and throw away month, while August would be serious packing month. So that by the time the last week of August rolled around, I would be lounging in my packed apartment, eating bon-bons. It hasn't exactly played out that way, because, well there was just too much fun going on in July to spend sorting and throwing away.  Thus far, I have devoted a meager 5 hours to the process of moving. And unfortunately, while today is only August 2nd, the end of August seems to be quickly approaching (atleast in my head). And I still keep coming up with reasons not to pack. And well, I guess the only good accomplishments that I've made are 1) i've bought boxes and 2) half of my bedroom is sorted and packed. How's that for not procrastinating? Do not dismay my friends, I still plan on getting the packing done so that I can be lounging and eating bon-bons the last week of August.

Proof that I have in fact packed some boxes (that's my Callie leering at the birds outside the window)

I will have the packing done. Do not doubt me on that. What I can't promise is that the unpacking portion will get done in a timely manner...that's a whole other topic.

Random Wednesday

The past few weeks I haven't blogged, but I have been doing things. Here's a random assortment of what I did and what's going on now in my life:

• I'm moving! Now, before you get your panties in a wad thinkin I'm moving out of Houston, let me clarify - I'm moving 5 minutes from my current abode. I've resided in a 700 sq. ft. apartment for the last 4 years of my life. An apartment with a closet and a half of storage. That's not much. I'm growing out of my apt. And yes, I do realize I live by myself, and I shouldn't take up that much space, but I do. Deal. I have a lot of crap - I blame my mom. And, then there is the 3rd floor thing. While I appreciate the safe-ness of being on a third floor, my arms do not appreciate it when I have to carry things from my car in the parking lot to the third floor. Maybe I'm just lazy. In any case, I'm moving to a duplex, a top floor of a duplex. That is, drumroll please, 1400 sq ft! That's double what I have right now. So much closet space I will not know what to do with myself. I'm pretty stoked. Its 2 bedrooms, 1 bath (so, please come visit!), hardwoods, big kitchen. And only on the second floor! Fab. I'll be moving this fall and I cannot wait! I'm not sure my cat will know what to do with all that space.

• PT and I went to Boerne for the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun. I spent an entire day swimming, laying by a pool, and reading an entire book. Its a hard life.

• I cleaned my office - which means my friends you'll get to see what it looks like for the very first time. When my assistant offered to come in and pick it up everday at the end of the day, I decided it was time to act 27 and keep it tidy. It also helps that I am not tremendously busy at the moment, leaves more time to organize. Did I mention I love the feeling of throwing things away?

• Random thought - sometimes when I"m in a meeting and its really quiet, and i'm bored, I wonder what it would be like if I just let out a huge scream. Seriously. I imagine myself doing it. It will never happen, of course, but the thought entertains me.

• It's been raining everyday in Houston. Mostly around 4 pm. Although today it did rain in the morning. The palm tree outside my window appreciates it I'm sure.

• I'm up to 6 miles in my half marathon training program! I haven't yet run the 6 miles, but I plan to this weekend.

• I'll be seeing WICKED for the first time this weekend! I'm stoked. First year of law school, on a whim I downloaded the soundtrack and now know it by heart. I haven't ever seen it, but who cares. Atleast I'll be able to sing along.

• I'm finallllyyy getting my hair cut on Saturday. If you've seen me in the last month, its freakin long. I'm not doing anything drastic, but I do plan to cut a few inches off.

This is where I sit for 50 hours a week (give or take 10 hours):

My Office

Yes - that's a birthday balloon. That balloon has been alive for almost 3 months. Pretty impressive.

You thought I was lying - there is in fact a palm tree outside my window. I'm on the 12th floor...go figure.

The much anticipated Mexico Vacay Recap 2010

Yes, I do realize it has been a month and a half since my vacation to Mexico. But, my friends, I did this on purpose. See, now I can re-enjoy my vacation by posting about it and looking back. Atleast that's what I'll tell myself... I know this post has been greatly anticipated by my faithful 5 readers, so here ya go:

Playa Del Carmen - May 21 - May 25, 2010

Mexican vacations seem to be a habit for the boyfriend  (hereinafter referred to as "PT", i'm a lawyer, can you tell?) and I. We went on our first once two years ago right after the bar exam. We spent 8 days in the glorious Cancun sun after 2 months in the unglorious bar exam sun. Last year we went to Playa Mujeres and spent a week lounging around after spending a year lounging around (hardly) as baby attorneys. This year, we went to Playa del Carmen for 4 1/2 days, a mini vacay after another years as quasi baby attorneys. This time, however, we didn't go alone. PT's brother and his wife, my sister and her hubby, sister's hubby's mom, dad, brother and his gf all went. And what a good time we had! We went to Secrets Capri in Playa del Carmen (or Riviera Cancun)...

Day 1:

We flew in Friday afternoon to Cancun, and hopped on our own fancy 15 passenger van for the 30 minute car ride to the resort. Thanks to PT and I's warnings, we were able to successfully avoid the "welcome to cancun" aka timeshare stalkers as we left the airport.

Upon our arrival at the resort, we were greeted by a friendly staff, but more importantly some champagne, yum (and a wet towel, that I always feel like Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer when I get it). We checked into our room - which happened to be next door to PT's brother - TT (ha, laugh away). The. room. was. awesome.

View from our balcony.

And being the absolutely wonderful gf that I am - I had communicated with the concierge the week before and arranged for the room to be decorated for PT's birthday (which was the day before). He was surprised!

We quickly put on our swimsuits, and headed down to the pool to meet up with my sis and the rest of the group (they had been there since Wed.). The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging and sipping on Pina Coladas. Ah, we were in paradise.

That night we grabbed dinner at the "Mexico Buffet". The food was delish (you'll sense a pattern here).

Me and PT

TT and Kara

Katie (the sis) and Steve

Day 2: (Saturday)

We grabbed some breakfast buffet (a fave of mine at these resorts), and the headed to the pool. From there we proceeded to spend approximately 12 hours laying by the pool, swimming in the pool, floating in the pool, and drinking in the pool. I'd like to say that we did something more productive this day, but we didn't.

My view from the lounge chair I basically used until we left on Tuesday.

That night, however, PT and I went to the Italian restaurant with TT and Kara. It was tasty. The food at this resort was a lot better than the other two resorts we went to. And there was no diet on this vacay, so I sampled almost all!

Day 3: (Sunday)

Today was another lounge day that began with breakfast at the buffet. Between breakfast and lunch, I layed by the pool (see above). We got lunch at the outdoor taco stand. It was delish. Aftwerwards, PT and I went to the spa and did a couples massage. It was very relaxing. My favorite part (other than the massage) was that along with the massage, we spent about 30 minutes in the "hydrotherapy" area of the spa. It started with 10 minutes in the steam room (where I sweat by a** off), and then a cold shower, followed by 10 minutes in the sauna. I'm pretty sure after that 20 minutes by pore were pretty wide open. After the pore cleansing, we went into a pool and spent time under 3 different water massagers, followed by a foot treatment, then 10 minutes in the hot tub, followed by a quick dip in the coldest water i've ever been in. I'm not sure what the point was for that, I'm sure they told us, all I know is that PT made fun of me for how I reacted when I got in, until he got in.. I felt completely relaxed after that little water episode. And we still had the massage to go, which itself was 80 minutes of heaven. 

After we finished pampering ourselves, me went back to the pool and hung out for a while longer, and then headed to dinner at the International Buffet. This turned out to be a tasty buffet with food from all over. 

Brothers at dinner.

Day 4: (Monday)

This day we said goodbye to Kate and the gang, as they headed back to Houston. We decided to venture off the resort this day and went to Cancun. We went on a jungle tour on these speed boats, and then went snorkeling on a reef. It was really fun until I got back to the resort that night and had a nice life jacket tan on my back, oops. But the actual adventure was pretty fun. Not as many fishies as I hoped but I did get to hold a baby starfish in my hand.

After snorkeling we had about 2 hours to kill in Cancun so we went next door to "El Shrimp Bucket" and partook in the seafood buffet (did I mention I was off my diet?) and watched some Mexico soccer.

You can tell PT looks thrilled I took this picture, and probably thrilled I put it on my blog. Atleast he doesn't have a tomato forehead.

After that, we went back to the resort and hung out in the pool till 8 p.m. and grabbed a late dinner at the steakhouse. It was a great final night, and we were all wishing we had one more day.

The next day, we woke up and ate more breakfast, then caught a flight back to the real world.

It was a great vacation, very relaxing and I had an awesome time. Can't wait till next year when we go back!

"Please silence cell phones now."

Last night I went and saw Eclipse. I'm a fan, what can I say? I've read all of the books, and enjoy the movies (yes, with all the cheesiness that they entail). In any case, thats neither here nor there. I had a thought as they flashed the "please turn off cell phone" message - what would life be like without cell phones? Then I remembered, I spent a good part of my youth without a cell phone and I managed just fine.

Take for example High School, I did just fine without a cell phone freshman year, and that's because I had a pager. A green one to be exact that fit snuggly in my right jean pocket. My best friend Cindy got one, and so that meant that I of course needed one. Pagers are an interesting device. Especially without a cell phone to call anyone back on. We devised a code system to alert the other what was needed of them and whether to in fact locate the nearest phone to call them back. This became a precarious situation when a phone was unable to be located, but we managed.

The other styles of communication we had in high school were of course the regular land line phone apparatus (which was used a lot in high school for late night convos) and of course the note passing in high school. Ah, the note passing. I would spend a good amount of class time (sh don't tell my parents) devising perfectly scripted notes to be passed during period. Sometimes they were in color, sometimes in code, and sometimes included games. But they always contained the most important information regarding who was dating who, what the latest crush did, and what the weekend plans entailed. They were a staple of high school life. So much so that we created "note" books. We in fact simply passed spiral notebooks back and forth. And if we didn't cover the neccesities during the school day, we simply used the land line to call one another that night.

Senior year I was given a hand me down cell phone from my mom. And I received my first ever own cell phone number (which is the same one I have today). I'm trying to recall how often I used that phone, but to be honest, I cannot recall using it very often. There just weren't a lot of people to call on that cell phone, and I had limited minutes, if at all any, and texting just wasn't in the picture then.

(Caveat: My cousins are 12 and 14. I remember when they were 7 and 9 and both had cell phones. And texted. All. the. time. I'm not sure what they were texting. Because at 7 I don't remember there being anything interesting that I had to say, other than what bow I would wear in my hair that day.)

So, I managed to survive high school without a cell phone. But I think it was because I didn't understand how useful the cell phone would become. Let me correct that, how essential the cell phone would become. I can't imagine not having a cell phone now. As I looked around the movie theater last night, I realized that potentially every single person in that theater had a cell phone, and it also appeared that most were looking at something on it at that precise moment, including myself.

There is some criticism of always being accessible, however. It is nice some days to place the cell phone in a corner of my apartment, and not think about answering it. It is, almost, freeing. Take for example the "Chicago incident". Last fall I went to Chicago for the first time ever with a debate - like team I coached at my law school. Imagine me, as the coach, the one who was to be the responsible one, standing in line waiting to board the plane to Chicago realizing that my phone was, in fact, still sitting in my car, in the airport parking lot. Begin freakout. As I weighed the options of how fast I could run to my car, and get back through security to make it to the flight which was already boarding, I realized that I was going to be without a cell phone, in Chicago. At first, I freaked out. How was I going to call my boyfriend? How was I going to stay in touch with all the people I talk to in Houston (keeping in mind that I'm not really a phone talker so that probably wouldn't be an issue)? More importantly, how was I going to be able to check my email 30 times a day, and stay on top of what everyone was doing via facebook? My life was coming to a hault. But then, I got to Chicago, and spent 4 days without my cell phone, and realized that it was in a way freeing. That not having the ability to check my email or stay connected via the internet, was peaceful. And, guess what, I survived. My life did not crumble into a million pieces, I did not cease functioning, and I managed to make my way around Chicago without the help of the handy gps feature on my iPhone. That's not to say that everytime I park to go the airport I don't spend a few minutes making sure that my phone is safely located in my purse, because while it was a freeing experience to be sans phone for a few days, its not one I'd like to repeat any time soon, how's that for dependence?

So, I guess the point of this story is, life would be entirely too difficult to manage without a cell phone now. But I suppose that's because we are used to having a life with a cell phone, and not because life is actually easier with one. Or, maybe it is?