Sleep Walkin'

I've been told since I was pretty young that I talk a little in my sleep. My response always used to be DENIAL. Well it seems as though like many of my other habits, my poor sleeping habits have escalated with age.

I have heard that kids sleep walk a lot when their young, but that most grow out of it as adults. Why must I do everything backwards????

Things all started to go downhill when I took a job at a Gelato shop almost two years ago. This was the first job I'd ever had that required working well into the night. Some nights we didn't close until midnight, and then there was the clean up that was at least an hour. Even when I got home, I was so hyped up on sugar from "testing" Gelato all night that I wouldn't actually fall asleep until almost three in the morning. Your probably saying she's young, that's nothing. Well I really like my sleep and when I say really I mean, REALLY! I can literally fall asleep anywhere and will happily stay asleep through hell and high water.

You name a place and time and I will have no problems I promise you.
 It truly is a gift.

Well anyways, I started noticing that I was having extremely vivid dreams.....of being at work!! What the hell, I just got off work and I'm going to continue to dream about it until I wake up and have to start all over again!?! I have always had vivid dreams but now I was starting to wake up feeling just as exhausted as when I went to sleep in the first place.

Waking up one morning (ok more like afternoon) Kevin mentioned to me how he was tired because I kept him up all night. Apparently during the night while "sleeping" I gave him complete directions on how to make the perfect latte (something I had to do a lot at work) just in case he wanted to know. I must point out that he now has no excuse for not having one ready for me when I wake up in the morning. I mean he basically sat through a seminar about it. 

Things started to get worse. Not only was I talking every night in my dreams, but apparently I was now starting to wander around the apartment in the middle of the night. He claims that I have never gone passed the front door to the outside world, but being half asleep himself, how can I trust him to keep a watchful eye on me??? I rarely remember what the dream consists of in these instances. I wouldn't even believed him in the first place if it weren't for the fact that I often wake up and find myself standing in my living room at four in the morning. I then wander back to bed, and fall back asleep angry that I have done it once again. 

At one point I started to feel bad for my neighbors. I would frequently wake up, to find myself staring out of my bedroom window into the darkness. I doubt there were many people looking out of their windows at that time of night, but if they did they had to have seen me and think that I was possessed by the devil or something (I don't do this anymore...I think). Someone suggested that maybe I talk to ghosts in my sleep.
We won't go there.

Although I have stopped working late hours the crazy dreams, and the sleep talking/walking have not slowed down which means I pretty much never feel like I have slept. Having the feeling that any minute my eyes are going to roll back, my head is going to slam into my desk, only to be immediately followed by the sound of snoring has become part of the everyday grind. C'est la vie!!!

Feeling The Black And White

My obsession with pictures began when I was just a little kid. My mom stored most of our family pictures in the deep drawer of her bedside table. I would often sit on the floor in front of it and go through every single one. In my own little world, off in the quite corner of my parents room, next to the rocking chair I went through those pictures so often that I had to have memorized their order, but I didn't care. (I'm not even sure anybody knew I did this as much as I did) I loved having a memory on a piece of 4x6 glossy paper. I especially loved seeing the pictures of before I was born, imagining the great time everyone was having in that moment.

By far my favorite of all of the prints in our home, weren't the ones found in this magical drawer. They were the ones that deserved a frame in that room that was too nice for the kids to sit on the furniture....the golden oldies....the black and whites. With technological advances now allowing us to take beautifully colored pictures, it makes it hard for some people to revert back to the black, but to me they are the most beautiful of them all.

My love of pictures hasn't faulted to this day, although I have been forced to get off the floor of my parents bedroom. A few years ago they were nice enough to buy me my very own Nikon DSLR camera....to which I still greatly appreciate. They are always encouraging me use it whenever possible, (they don't have to do much convincing) but seem to always ask the same question from time to time. ''Sarah , we bought you this big expensive camera, why are these pictures in black in white?" 

It's not that I don't appreciate color, believe me I do. For me black and white brings out the true emotion of a picture. As someone who tends to concentrate on a lot of the non-important aspects of life (I've mentioned my self diagnosed OCD right?), it gives me a true sense of relaxation to look at something so beautifully simple. There is a particular picture of my mom that is by far my favorite of all. It was taken by a friend of hers when she was close to my age.

Other than our height, there aren't a lot of physical features that me and my mom seem to have in common. When I was a kid this used to bother me a lot, but when I would look at this picture I was able to see all the other beautiful things we had in common that didn't stand out to me as much in colored prints or in reality. 

See that's the difference between color and black and white for me. I looked at that huge stack of colored photos in that drawer a million times, but I can't think of one in particular I liked the most, not even a top ten. But those black and whites, those few that were worthy of a frame. All I have to do is close my eyes and they give me more than just a memory. 

Here are some of my favorite black and whites that I have in my possession. Maybe I can get my mom to send me this infamous picture of hers or some others shes been holding onto.

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

Everyone loves a cinnamon roll, and who doesn't love waffles? Although tasty, both of these delicious breakfast treats have their down side. Cinnamon rolls can be messy and waffles can sometimes be a little bit of a hassle. Well here is a simple and fast "recipe" that is mess free and is a sure fire way to get your Sunday off to a delicious start. 

This is so easy to make because you only need two things!!

1. A waffle maker (mine is small and round, but you can use whatever kind you have)

 2. A tube of store bought cinnamon rolls (this brand is my favorite, but any kind will do) 

 Now pop that sucker open and let's get started!

You want to make sure that your waffles get cooked thoroughly while not burning them in the process. I am pretty familiar with how my iron cooks, but if you don't use yours very often and are not sure what what heat setting to put it on, or for how long to leave it closed, it's probably best to put it on a relatively low heat and just keep an eye on it. Mine has a number system for the heat, and I put it in between the two and three, and the light on it will turn from red to green when it is ready to be checked. 

Plug in your iron and get it heated up. 

Once it is ready, spray a little bit of cooking oil onto the top and bottom iron. I'm pretty sure mine is supposed to be non-stick but it's better to be safe than sorry!! 

Place three cinnamon rolls onto the bottom iron in a triangle.

 Close the top and press down. The key to these turning out just right is keeping the pressure on them! The dough is meant to rise when cooking, so make sure you keep your hand on it so they don't get too fat.

Caution: Watch out for steam, use an oven mit if you have to. No injuries please!!

If you have a light on your iron like mine, it will let you know when your good to go. If you don't, just keep an eye on it like I said. Cooking is all about experimentation right?!?

Open it up, to see your beautiful golden brown waffles, and use a fork to carefully peel it off the iron and onto your plate. It even comes out looking like a heart!!!

 The beauty about waffles is that you can put whatever you want onto them. When it comes to cinnamon rolls I keep it classic and love that gooey frosting that comes in the tube, so it's what I like to use. (Kevin uses maple syrup) 

Spread on that frosting, and let the drooling begin. (I used one cinnamon round to make the extra baby waffle on top)

 Make yourself a cup of coffee in that favorite mug of yours and enjoy!!

 P.S. Other than your plate, cup, and fork you have no dishes. Just wipe down your waffle iron and enjoy the rest of your day!! 

Being The Little Fish

You know that phrase you here in those casino movies when a big time gambler walks into the room and everyone says "here comes the big fish"? Well right now I like to call myself...the little fish (affectionately of course, I mean geez gambling away my hard earned money scares the daylights out of me). 

I successfully completed my undergraduate degree last May, and although I was delighted to end my twenty year journey through school, I then had my "holy crap what I'm I doing" moment. I seem to recall a certain plan made by a certain little girl that looked a lot different than what my everyday consists of now. Of course I didn't expect to actually move into an all pink apartment with my best friend, but I did expect many more check marks in the boxes on my list of goals.

I always dreamed of landing my dream job right out of college. I did everything I was supposed to: stayed out of trouble in high school, went to the same college as my two siblings, graduated with a 3.7 GPA in  four years (which is sadly actually really hard to do these days). As g-day (graduation day) quickly approached, none of the very few jobs that I was "qualified" for had called me. Luckily my sister in law was leaving her job to move to Texas with my brother just when I was graduating and I was able to sneak right into her position. It had nothing to do with the degree I had dedicated my last four years to, but hey it paid the rent and it had health insurance!!! 

I figured I could work there temporarily, because of course my "real" job was going to call any minute....six months tops!!! Well, well, well, here we are almost a year later, and where am I you ask?? Still at my last minute job. Believe me, I definitely know I am lucky to have a job period but I refuse to let myself settle down here in south Florida forever!!!

My generation is often referred to as generation Y, or as my sister says, generation "the world is your oyster". The world is your oyster....that's what we were told by the people that we looked up to, and we all bought it. Well as I said before, I did what everyone told me to do, as did many others in my situation, but guess what......I broke that oyster open, and someone had stolen the pearl!! It's definitely easy to feel like a little fish swimming against the current in this big old ocean, but if watching Finding Nemo a million times taught me anything, it's that there's a lot to learn out there in the deep blue, even for a little fish.

 Oh yeah, and just keep swimming of course!