Thursday, July 19, 2007

our first place together... just us!

well, zak and i have been living together for the last 3 years or so and we have finally gotten ourselves a new place... just the two of us! YAY! it almost feels like we're kicking our "kid" out to be on his own. i can't wait for this experience. i know it will be rough in some aspects, but so fulfilling in others.

it will be rough because when zak's not home, i'm REALLY alone. up until now, many times, at least ken would be around to hang out with and talk to.

it will be fulfilling because it's just another step of adulthood that i've always dreamed of since i was a kid... you know the get married, get a house, start a family dream... now i've got the first 2 things on that list and will enjoy working on the 3rd in the future (not the NEAR future though... we DO want to enjoy just being us for awhile now that we've finally got a house to ourselves!).

even though it's a rental and we may not be here for years and years to come, it's a starting point and a place to call our own.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

my first time

ok, now that i've got your attention... not THAT first time!

almost 2 weeks ago (i know, it's been almost 2 weeks since the event, but i've been so busy since then), zak and i went to disney world. yes, i am 25 years old and it was my first time ever going to disney. we weren't going to go just yet, but we had received park hopper passes from my cousin as a wedding gift. zak and i decided we were going to do the animal kingdom and epcot.

we arrived at the animal kingdom at about 10:30 or 11am... later than what we had wanted, but getting up in the morning isn't really our forte and of course there was an accident on our way there that slowed traffic down so bad it set us back about another half hour to 45 minutes! so anyways, we finally made it and of course we're overwhelmed by all to do and see... thankfully i'd been given the scoop and an itinerary by a friend who's a frequent goer of amusement parks. we wandered all over the animal kingdom, seeing amazing animals, shops and even did a couple attractions. zak isn't really much of a ride goer, so we did a lot of walking by things that i wanted to do, but that's ok, mom and i plan to go sometime and we'll hit the shows and rides that zak didn't want to. the one thing at the animal kingdom i REALLY wanted to see was the lion king show. i've heard it was amazing, but since we'd been delayed in our arrival, we couldn't fit it in if we wanted to get over to epcot to explore too. i decided it was more important to me for this trip to make it to the other park and i'll see the show another visit.

so around 4pm we headed over to epcot. zak had been to epcot before when he was young, but much had changed since his visit. new attractions and changed exhibits. it was neat and discouraging for him all at the same time because he had wanted to show me things that he remembered doing when he was young. we saw a few neat attractions and went to the finding nemo/aquarium exhibit. the part we didn't like was that you HAD to ride the ride in order to get to the aquarium, and the ride was rather dumb. after we did a few of the exhibits/attractions up front we headed "around the world" in search of dinner. now, my friend had advised me that we should make reservations as early as possible b/c most of the restaurants would be booked by the evening. i tried to get zak to pick something early on, but he didn't listen b/c he just wanted to see what he'd be in the mood for as we went along. well, it didn't matter what menu hit our fancy b/c they were all booked, there were 2 restaurants that were seating on a 1st come 1st serve basis and the one had about an hour+ wait! after making it completely around the world, going through shops and seeing little shows and performances at each, we went back to the UK for dinner. it was pretty good, but not what i'd been in the mood for, i had my heart set on mexican.

we finished dinner and there were only minutes until the fireworks. zak decided he wanted to head back to the car so he could get pictures from farther away and he also wanted/needed his tripod. we heard a few going off as we walked away. when we got to the car they went off like crazy and i told zak, hurry this is probably it! he was like, no, this can't be it (it has only been about 10 minutes into the show). by the time he got his tripod set up, it was all over... by far the most disappointing fireworks display i'd ever seen.

other than the pitiful fireworks and my sore and blistered feet (my own fault for wearing brand new sandals for the day)... it was a great day and we had a lot of fun. there was so much to see and do... it really DOES take a whole day just to do ONE park!

if you ever get the chance to go, i recommend it. the animal kingdom was so cool and had more stuff for us to take pictures of, but epcot was really interesting and explorative. if you need help planning a day there, i'd be more than happy to pass on my friend's advice, as it helped us get to see most of what we wanted in the time we had.

well, i do have other things to say, but i'll save them for another post. i'll try to do one tomorrow! i know... 2 days in a row, she'll never do it! but who knows, i just might and that would be another first! hehe.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

these are the moments

a little background first... my grandma and i email back and forth about every week or so. she has recently shared many memories and bits of advice for her newly wed granddaughter... which i appreciate and love so much. i also recently shared these feelings with zak as well the other night and in light of sharing them twice already, thought i'd do it one more time. so here goes...

there are 3 exact moments in my life where i remember very distinct feelings of being overwhelmingly calm and at home...

the very first was just months before i met zak, when my ex had broken up with me. i was a complete wreck, bawling my eyes out in his room right before having to go back home from a visit with him; the visit that he helped me find my apartment just before i went to massage school. i was crying so hard and sitting there so distraught and feeling so alone and all of a sudden it felt like God hugged me and said it will be alright. right then i knew i'd be ok and that something good was to come of this... i'm not saying i instantly got over it, but i knew everything was going to work out.

the second one was back in november 2003, zak and i had been dating just over a month and he was taking me to philadelphia to meet his mom for the first time. i was so nervous, but while driving east on route 80 i looked over at him and got that calming feeling and i knew right then i was going to spend the rest of my life with him. i know it doesn't sound like much, but it was just one of those surreal moments.

the third happened just a day or so before the wedding. i was overly stressed and was overwhelmed by all the family flocking around and all that had to be done and zak just took me in his arms without saying a word and i just melted. he made it all go away even if just for a moment and made me feel like i wasn't alone in this... he was there with me. now, we didn't write our vows and i only read over the ceremony probably that day, so it was almost funny to me that our vows included "may my arms be your home" because that is exactly how i felt when he held me.

these are the moments that keep me together when i'm feeling flustered/frustrated... especially with zak. i will never forget those moments.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

why?

ok, so i've always been a big believer in "everything happens for a reason"... i feel that way about my life and everything that's happened. however, i have a really hard time believing it when it comes to certain people in my life... a certain friend has been dealt more than her share of misfortunes in life, each time feeling knocked down, but always gets back up and keeps fighting. i picture a boxer, getting relentlessly hit by his/her opponent, getting knocked down, and beat up, but still standing back up and trying to keep fighting. she is truly strong and someone i admire and look up too... i don't feel she deserves to keep getting hit so hard so often! i'm just having a hard time dealing with this because it's someone i love and i don't like to see people i love hurt... especially for so long!

all i have to say to her is: first, you don't deserve it. second, anything you need, i will do my best to help! even if it's just listening on the phone or through email.

well... i was planning on posting info and pics from the wedding, but now i don't feel so in the mood... i feel like i'm just too lucky... that too many bad things have happened to one of the best people i know and i've just had it so easy. she doesn't deserve what she's going through and i wish i could help!

miss you girl... feel better!

Friday, May 11, 2007

our family is growing

****NO I'M NOT PREGNANT****

ok, with that out of the way i wanted to share in the joy of our growing family here in florida... the other day, zak and i went to the pet store to buy some new fish for our aquarium... we got a black fish a white fish of the same species and a little sucker fish... we named them "You, Me and Dupree" after the funny movie. the white would be the girl (bride) the black would be the boy (groom) and dupree is the little sucker fish since he feeds off the other two. hehe.
*side note, if you haven't seen that movie, it's freaking hilarious and a must see! it is also the story of me, zak and ken almost to a tee!*

ANYWHO... our fish had babies today! holy cow! there are now 5 little baby fish swimming in our freshwater tank! how exciting!

ok, to most, this is not that big of a deal, but to me, incredibly exciting as i have no children of my own and no pets besides a bunch of fish and an iguana.

well, that's all i really have to say. just wanted to share the fun and exciting news!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

micro vacation

tuesdays are my day off. the intention of that was so that i could schedule wedding appointments and get some planning done on that day. well, zak actually ended up with the day off on tuesday as well, so we took a much needed micro-vacation. we didn't go anywhere more than a 10 min drive, but it was a nice getaway.

during the afternoon we went golfing, which we haven't had the chance to do since february with my parents. zak and i really enjoy getting out and doing this, but just never have the time together to do as such. the front nine i did great (for me anyways) and zak and i actually tied. the back nine, zak did amazing and i stunk like death! he pulled away and killed me by about 14 or so strokes. i did hit 100 even... not bad for me, but i was really hoping to golf under 100 that day!

after golfing we headed home and picked up ken and packed up some snacks and drinks and went fishing. now, i'm not really good at FISHING... i get bored unless i'm CATCHING or at least getting lots of hits on my line. so my mission is always to catch the bait fish the boys use to catch the big fish. i caught about a dozen little guys and it started getting dark and i couldn't really see anymore and the boys stopped using my bait as they'd switched to artificial lures. right around sunset is feeding time and there were some big fish moving around... they had me on lookout duty. they never caught anything and we were all hungry, so we packed up the gear and walked to the restaurant next door for some dinner.

after that we came home and watched a few episodes of some of our favorite tv shows and then headed to bed.

it was a great day and a much needed getaway from the stress and excitement of work/wedding planning. i love living here in florida... always something to do when there's nothing to be done and beautiful weather 95% of the time. days off from work can almost always be micro-vacations!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

trivia answer (and my story)

So about 2 years ago zak's mom came to visit and we all decided to go to see the shuttle launch. well, after hours of driving and hanging out at the beach watching storm clouds come and go, the launch was cancelled. so, with the rest of the day to kill and already being about 2+ hours away from home, we decided to just head south and explore the east coast of florida. we ended up going to south beach miami on a whim... we got a hotel (really cheap with zak's hospitality industry association discount) and then decided to go out and enjoy the night on south beach. we finally returned to the hotel late that night and we're all laying in bed... a little intoxicated at that. zak and ken shared a bed and zak's mom and i were in the other like so:

mom/sara zak/ken

so they're all carrying on and i'm trying to sleep and they keep pestering me with "sara are you asleep?" "i think she's asleep" "you asleep yet?"... etc.

i told them to knock it off i was trying to get to sleep, i was tired. they continued. so here it is... the answer to the trivia question...

i reached over the side of the bed, picked up my flip-flop and threw it at zak, nailing him right in the crotch... that part was unintentional, i just wanted to hit him to get him to shut up. it didn't work entirely b/c then he was moaning about how i hit him in the crotch!

that's right. about half of women have thrown their shoes at their significant other. that's the answer to the trivia question.

have you done it?