Run, Princess, Run

Those of you that know me - know I am not a runner. I played lacrosse in high school - I was only put on the team because I could run fast - I could do short bursts of running, fast.. Not distance, but mostly, I played defense, not a lot of running there. 

(My shoes arent this dirty... yet.. but these are my shoes.)

I'm no runner. But as of recently, Im training myself to be one. This year, a few friends of mine have decided to run the Disney 5k - and I have willing thrown myself on board of this new venture for two reasons - fellowship + fitness. The girls that are doing this are phenomenal women, and friends, and its one of those perfect opportunities to make memories of doing something not only for a good cause, but to fellowship with one another as well. The other reason, is fitness. I am WAY too out of shape. Well, I am getting better now that Ive started running. But I am ready to get back in shape and lose _ _ lbs. (pfft, like Im sharing that on here!) But, trust me its a lot. 

So I broke down and got the Nike+ - and its amazing. A little piece of technology that has gotten me excited about running - Im able to track my progress everyday, from my pace, to distance, and even how many calories Im burning - and then it uploads all your data to the site:

this chart shows all your stats for a specific run - this was my run today, it was a 21 minute run, and I ran 1.93 miles, and burned 205 calories.

Each day I get further and faster on my runs, which to me is a lot. And get this - I actually go to bed thinking "I get to wake up and run tomorrow!" (um, how awesome is that!?)

but no run could ever be complete without a good running mix right? Because who wants to run and count telephone polls? Or mailboxes? That always seemed to make things harder for me. 

some of my songs might be unconventional and I dont listen to them on a normal basis (Poker face, California Girls, etc) but they do have a nice upbeat sound.

  My current favorite is "Until the whole world hears" - by Casting Crowns. It was also a worship song this week, so it was on my ipod this morning, and you know what? I listened to it about 6 times. It makes me happy - gets me going.. and its worship music!

A little big of magic...

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”- Dumbledore to Harry, Book 7, "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows"


If you know me well enough, then you know my secret, I am a HUGE Harry Potter Fan. My love of this boy wizards' amazing 7 book story started last year when my mother in law gave me her collection of Harry Potter Books.. Before then I had seen all the movies, but after watching the 6th movie (the Half blood prince) - it left me a little confused and with a lot of unanswered questions, so I started reading.

The Harry Potter series was the first complete series of books I had EVER read cover to cover,(&  in under 3 months!). This for ME is a big accomplishment in itself, because I hate to read. I get bored very easily.  After reading the books, I felt like I had accomplished something.

About halfway through the 6th book, I found out that something *magical* (out of this world is more to the point.) was getting ready to happen at Universal Studios in Orlando. A few of our close friends had told us that Universal was going to be building and opening the first and only Harry Potter Theme Park in 2010... Im sure you can imagine my excitement building.  For months, and months I had been waiting to see when it would open, how much tickets would cost, etc etc - because being 2 hours away from orlando, why wouldnt I go!?

 (my 25th birthday cake made by the lovely Natasha Glover, she is AMAZING!)

Well, months passed, still nothing, but my hubby came home from drill one weekend with an early 25th  bday present for me -he gave me an annual pass to universal/islands of adventure. I was thrilled! This meant I could go, but when? Finally after months of waiting Universal made the big announcement, that the grand opening would be June 18th, 2010 (ehem, that's THIS friday by the way...)

 (standing outside universal, I found the one and only sign they had up for the park, 

and of course I had to get a picture with it.)

Chris & I at Universal, standing under Hogwarts

(this is as close as we could get, since at the time everything had big huge fences around it so we couldnt see in.) -

He doesnt want to admit hes just as excited as I am, but I know he is.

So this Thursday, after months of waiting we are planning on heading to Orlando for 3 days - and on Friday standing amongst probably a few thousand people waiting to get in to experience Hogwarts in all its glory - things that make this even more exciting:

• its in celebration of Chris & I's 4 yr anniversary, and our 25th bdays,
• They announced on the news that yes, all the stars will be there. 
• and lastly, I get to act like im 12 again :)  (not a hard thing for me to do by the way.)

It will be amazing. It will be wonderful. It will be extraordinary, a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget. 

(be prepared for a 12 page post after I get back, a bazillion facebook updates, and too many photos to count.)

:)

III...

It's been a while since Ive posted, and Its hard to believe because there is SO much going on!

In just 2 days, (two!) my little guy will be 3! Three years old! I canNOT believe it.
He was so little, it seemed, like, seriously, yesterday:

And now he's turning 3! He will always be my little guy, no matter how big he gets. So as we do every year, it was time for birthday pictures, this year, decided not to dress him up, but just to take some pictures of him on his super awesome bike we got a goodwill a few months back, that he can now officially ride because he feet can reach the ground & petals:

Doesnt he look like hes about 5?  He talks like hes 5 too, which blows me away even more! He puts so much thought into everything he does, and thinks so hard about everything - so many questions, such elaborate answers... Hard to believe, only 3! We plan on having a "superhero party" for him and his lil' friends - :) lookout for the pics, because its going to be awesome! :)

Happy Birthday Grandma

Today, May 10th, 2010 - My grandmother would have been 84. She passed away on Mothers day yesterday.

My Grandmother Betty Mae Gallicchio, and me, 25 years ago.

Backtracking to yesterdays message from Holly during church - she spoke about those little "nudges" from God - those little nudges, I have yet to realize are from God, at least most of the time. During the end of the service yesterday, there was a lot of tears being shed. A lot of hurting people came down to lay burdens on the cross - and for me, watching people do this fills my heart with joy, so much so that I will start to cry, so, as I stood by my seat and worshiped, I felt a little, very very little, tug - and my grandmother popped into my head. only for a minute, but I started to cry. I thought, "Did God place that on my heart for a reason?" I passed it off as nothing (the EXACT thing Holly was talking about by the way...) I got out of church and called my mom as I usually do when I leave Lifecoast, and she had told me that Hospice was calling our family (my aunts and uncles) in to the nursing home, because Grandma wasnt doing well - a high fever of 103, very high blood pressure, and were going to start giving her oxygen soon, on top of all that, she wasnt responding. After I got off the phone with my mom, it hit me again, that little nudge- "this is it. Its time", I thought to myself - so I prayed. and cried. And prayed more, praying not that she would be staying here, but that she would be at peace, and that the Lords hand would be over her, and he would be with her. And he was. Withing the next few hours, my mom called, hardly able to speak, but informed me my Grandmother passed away.

My grandmother & all my Aunts & Uncles

In my eyes, she received one of the very best birthday presents that God could ever give - she is rejoicing in heaven, dancing with angels! and above all, sitting  with our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The last time I saw my grandmother, during Christmas 2008

I am upset that shes gone, but I find more joy in knowing what she left behind for us - her example of being a strong mother, and loving woman, and that she is Heaven, resting, rejoicing.

I love you so much Grandma, Happy Birthday.

Thankful for the craziness.

The End of April/Beginning of May marks crazy time for Sara.
This weekend I have been going non-stop (As a lot of you know from my FB posts.) and I will continually be going non-stop for the next month...
Right now my house looks like this:

 (dont worry Ill end up cleaning it tomorrow morning.)

This past weekend I shot a wedding on Friday night - one of my favorites:

Friday I came home and went to bed at 3 am, to turn around and get up at 7, so I could go shoot again at 930. By Saturday night, I was beat. This morning I got up and went to Lifecoast - which I have been longing for for the past 2 weeks, and Im so glad I did. I got so many hugs, I love each and every one of my Lifecoast family.
I wont lie, Im exhausted, and tired, and my feet hurt. But, still thankful. SO thankful. Today, made me realize that.. God has blessed me with this business that continues to grow, and people who are not only my clients, but who I am building friendships with as well. He has not only blessed me with a flourishing photo business, but a freelancing job with the paper, which I am just as thankful for, if not more; to have an editor, who is a parent of 3, and understands craziness better than anyone I know - he has been so kind to me to let me continue to shoot for them even though for the past 3 weeks he has called seeking someone to go shoot for the paper and I have declined each time because my schedule is full & to learn something new or meet someone outstanding every time I go do a story.

But, I am most most MOST thankful for the people God has placed in my life, my friends from church, who are my family and are so patient with me when things get rollin', and for these two people:

my husband, Christopher.

and my son, David.

Both of them, I love to pieces.

I love the craziness, I wont lie. Yes, its tiring, yes its time consuming. But I love it, because it makes me appreciate it everything else in my life.

I am looking forward to the rest of this week, with meetings, lots of fellowship time, weddings to shoot with an awesome new assistant, and strollerblading with a few lovely ladies  :)

Thank you Lord for all you bless me with, Good and Bad.

ps. side note - my brother got his license Friday - Go Chuck!

Rollercoaster Wuss /// re visted (part 2)

Tuesday we ventured down to Islands of Adventure to go see our friends from Fayetteville, NC - Todd & Bernie & their two kids TJ & Conner.. we ran around Islands of Adventure like little kids all day...

at one point, we ran for our lives...

 

All day Chris tried and tried to get me go on the coasters, almost every time we walked passed. And after a while, I gave in.. so.. we tried to be tough, but at some point we had to scream our heads off...

 (this is what I do on rollercoasters...)

I am very thankful to have a loving husband who walks with me through my fears, and lets me scream my headoff in his ear as we are doing loops on coasters.. then sits patiently with me after we get off because I have jelly legs, only to go hop back on and do it again..

he also put up with my Harry Potter antics, of dancing through the dueling dragons line when they played the harry potter theme song.. and my random stops to pose for photos that resembled Harry Potter...

 crookshanks?! (from harry potter sillys!)

Id make an excellent quidditch player.. (more HP posing.)

he cant deny hes just as excited as I am.

Rollercoaster Wuss.

Tomorrow we are headed down to Orlando to visit some friends from Fayetteville who are in town all week - well, part of tomorrow we will be at Universal at some point - which means we will be riding rides, which means at some point tomorrow I will scream like a baby and theres a 99.999999% chance I may pee my pants. Just Sayin'.
See. Im terrified of waiting in line to get on a coaster... Let me say that again.. The WAIT is what kills me.I will get on a rollercoaster thats fine... but I get incredibly anxious, sweaty, nauseous, sweaty palms, the whole shebang from waiting to get on. Yes, its fear. Yes, I admit Im a wuss. But thats okay right? Once you conquer your fear its perfectly normal to go and relive it again, and again, and again.. at least at universal it is.

the rip rock ride it rollercoaster at Universal.. or, the "pee your pants coaster". (just look at it! its horrifying!)

more screaming...

more peeing.

The Big Green Super Fast Machine... The Hulk.. 

(I plan on going on this first.. get the adrenaline going and change of clothes ready right away.)