Simply Sara

Today I received a wonderful blast from the past. My dear friend, Emily, drove over from Augusta, where she is a medical student, to spend the day catching up and reminiscing with me. Emily and I met in the 7th grade when she moved to my hometown from Savannah. We became fast friends and managed to keep our friendship strong through the rocky years of middle and high school. We spent weekends at each other's houses, watching movies and doing what every teenage girls do - talk about boys! We were so boy crazy! I think we reached stalker level a couple times. I laughed today as name after name came up of boys we had crushes on. What were we thinking? Emily and I attended a small private school, with only 17 students in our graduating class. We didn't have a football team or band. Our teachers often moved up with us to teach us all the way from middle to high school. And we were given a lot of freedom. Our senior year, Emily and I spent more time at the local college and at o...

Sounds fun, doesn't it? With a name like that, I was anticipating a great water work out this morning at the YMCA..... Too bad everyone in the class, including the instructor, was at least 30 years older than me. There were even a few great-grandmothers in the class. I could practically hear the lifeguards chuckling under their breath because I know I sure was.

Anyone want a kitten?  

Yay! Birthdays are fun! Thanks to everyone who made me feel loved on my special day!  

I've taken a break from blogging lately. Kinda on purpose, kinda not. Recently I ran into a couple people I hadn't seen in a while, and they asked me about my life lately. Planning on running the highlights by them, I stumbled around until I said something like, "Life is good right now. Just really normal." Normal is not a bad thing; I love the routine that dictates our life and lets me know what I will be doing most every day. It just makes it hard to catch people up who haven't seen you in a while. "Uh, I changed a lot of diapers yesterday?" Somehow, I don't think that information is what they are looking for. "I think our dishwasher is leaking" - that's something interesting, right? Hmmm..... I know. Here, I guess, are the highlights of my life lately: Lucas is crawling now (yay!), Annie has fleas (boo!), I've been cooking a lot lately, and we sold Matt's Razr on Ebay for a whopping $162. I love my life. I love our normal.

Lucas loves his Grandma! 5.29.06 

Roger the Rhino with Lucas 5.22.06 

Check out those boats, Momma! Can I get one?? 5.29.06 (West Point Lake)

Lucas started crawling yesterday. He says "duck" and "cat" now. I found him kneeling in his crib this afternoon, banging his hands on the railing with glee. And he's eating Cheerios. What has happened to my little baby? Where did he go? Tomorrow is our 9 month check up with Dr. Treash. We get to talk about weaning and discipline, eating table food and separation anxiety. Should be fun.

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. Several times a week, I will be inspired by a dish on Food Network and will attempt to recreate it in my home. Last night, Matt and I tried Fried Zucchini Sticks from Everyday Italian . I also have been hounding the folks at the local library, searching for the newest cookbooks by my favorite chefs. Yesterday, I picked up two cookbooks by my personal favorite cook, Ms. Paula Deen. Paula, as I like to call her, inspires me with her classic-ly southern food and charm. The intro to her book Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics contains a quote that I just have to share with you. "You have to understand," she says, "Southern cooking comes from within. We show our love for someone through the kitchen, through food. We bake a pie or a cake as a welcoming gift or as a show of support in tough times. Southern cooking is comfort food. It's flavorful and filling, and it makes you feel good." Amen. "I've ...

I'm feeling a bit sluggish this morning as I am recovering from a migraine that blindsided me yesterday. Matt and I decided to take Lucas to Sam's yesterday to buy some papertowels and storage containers. We had been cleaning out our closets and realized that we were in desperate need of extra storage. We also love to buy paper products in bulk, so going to Sam's was a no-brainer. Well, bad idea. About 5 minutes into our outing, I asked Matt if he too was seeing spots. After seeing the perplexed look on his face, I explained that the spots reminded me of the kind you see after someone takes a picture with a bright flash. Only there were no cameras around. We moved onto the next aisle comparing the prices of daipers, when my periphial vision went completely blurry. Oh boy. We decided to hurry along, because while I was in no pain, I knew something was up. Naturally there were only two check-out lines available, and they were filled with every person in the store (not really,...