Three days.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Then i'm flying out Sunday morning before the sun pops out. It's funny, in school they teach us the basic skills so that we can survive on our own when we graduate. We learn math, english, history, painting, even interior design. But not once during my entire high school career did anyone tell me just how much stuff you need for college. Never in my life have i had to think about laundry detergent or stain remover past the point of taking it from the cabinet and putting it in the washer. Doing laundry is fine and dandy but dang have you ever looked at the price of laundry detergent? You have to work for two hours at a minimum wage job to pay for the stuff. Anyway, we spent all day driving around Minnesota picking up last minute everything. Ikea, Mall of America, Target, Costco, Trader Joe's, and an ice cream cone for good measure. The worst part is even though my living room is filled to the brim with boxes i still feel like i do not have everything. we'll call it college freshman anxiety. Another thing worth noting is that today is the last day of July which hardly seems possible. It is crazy how fast time passes when you're working full time. For once though, i'm not dreading the start of school and it feels very grown up to be saying that. Gone are the days of first day of school outfits and new lunch boxes. They've made room for never ending student fees, textbooks, and tuition costs. Truthfully though, I am so very excited.

Happy Wednesday!
xoxo.
Sarah

In which we pose.

      Today was absolutely wonderful. I met up with & said goodbye to a few good friends then spent the rest of the day with my family. One thing that was not written in the "things that happen the week before you go to college" handbook is how many breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner/midday snack dates you should expect to go on prior to departing. This is where I should say something about how grateful I am to be able to see everyone I love before I leave, but, that sounds mushy and last night's target post was enough mush for at least three days.
      At lunch, Grant asked my mom to take a picture of the two of us but why take just one picture when you can take six from every angle out there?
      I've said it before and I will keep saying it for a very long time, but, I really wish it didn't take me going to college to realize just how much fun my siblings are. I mean, I knew they were cool, I just didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.
     Also, to all the single fifteen year old ladies about to look at these pictures; yes, Grant is single. But if you think for one minute that you can get to him without coming to me first...i'll be living in Utah so you can probably get away with it.
                                                                                                                                           

Grant + Sarah + Ethan for life

Happy Saturday, everyone.
xoxo.
Sarah

In which it's time to say goodbye to Target.

         Today was my very last day at Target. It was not supposed to be, as I was not supposed to be leaving Minnesota for another two and a half weeks. However, an opportunity to interview for the dreamiest of jobs came up in Utah, and yesterday I found myself buying a one way plane ticket leaving a week from Sunday.
        I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work at Target the past two years. I have worked with some truly wonderful people who have taught me so many priceless life skills, encouraged me to cross train in different work centers throughout the store, and at the end of the day have become the very best of my friends.
        Target was my first job ever, and I was so nervous when I started. I made a few rookie mistakes like putting the receipt paper in backwards and showing up for a shift an hour late because I read the schedule wrong, but I took to the way Target works quickly. I remember the first year I worked Christmas eve, two of my managers, a good friend, and I all wore matching outfits & scarves. I thought it was so cool that people who had more responsibilities than I did still took the time to make working on Christmas Eve bearable. So much, in fact, that I ended up volunteering to work Christmas eve the following year as well.
       I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be able to cross train throughout the store in areas such as guest service, target cafe, sales floor, and starbucks. I am especially grateful for my manager Kelly who encouraged me to start cross training. The job that I am interviewing for requires 6-12 months of barista experience and I would not have had that if she had not convinced me that it was totally possible for me to work in a coffee shop and not drink coffee.
      I have made so many friends at work, some of whom will be in my life forever now. I truly am grateful to have them in my life, and for all the good times we have had. It is amazing what you can learn from a person while waiting for people to come through your lane. Even though some days it was hard to go into work, customers were hard to deal with,  and I did not think I could stand at a register for much longer, I will never forget the time I had at Target.
It really was hard to leave.

The photo that started it all. Thanks, mom, for encouraging me to apply at my target because "The managers are awesome and let you lay on the belt".

First week of work^^^

                                             

LAST DAY with my favorite Laurie. She's so kind and easy to talk to when no one wants to come through our checklanes. She's full of life advice & I am going to miss her. Also pictured: my mother, the photo bomber.

 

   

Goodbye Target, thank you for being so wonderful.

xoxo.

Sarah

In which the boxes take over my life.

Note: this post was written two days ago before I received an email that completely changed the next few weeks for me. I am now beyond grateful that I started packing when I did.

Things are getting really crazy over here in the land of lakes. By crazy, I really mean I've been forcing myself to make time to pack in between work and Army Wives netflix marathons. The biggest sign that you watch too much tv has to be when the moment you resort to watching Army wives since it's one of the last shows on netflix you have not watched. I am pathetic, I know. So anyway, Boxes. My bedroom is only half mine at the moment, the other half has been invaded by moving boxes, hell bent on taking every last bit of personal away from my bedroom. It's mostly my fault, I shouldn't be packing for at least another week. But if you think that I want to waste my last week of Minnesota packing, you are very much wrong.
I can't believe I just wrote a paragraph about boxes. This is what our relationship has come to, how terribly pathetic. Even more pathetic?! I have pictures.

                     

Mostly, I feel like a genius for packing the things that I do not need ahead of time. Except for my shoes, packing every pair of shoes except for running shoes and a pair of fifteen dollar target sandals is totally going to come back and bite me in the butt.

xoxo.

Sarah

In which we bike.

With only about two and a half weeks until the big move, I have decided that I am the biggest idiot ever. Here I am with just a few dozen days left at home, finally realizing just how awesome my siblings are. Why I didn't figure that out earlier will forever remain unknown. Today when I got home from work it was just me and Ethan at home and instead of watching more Army Wives on netflix, we decided to take a bike ride to downtown Wayzata.

 
 
 



Ethan led the way on our bike ride, which included stopping at yogurt lab for some delicious & ridiculously overpriced froyo. On the way home he took me his secret way home and we stopped at his school playground. There are so many amazing qualities that Ethan already possesses at age nine, qualities that I still don't fully have myself. He is kind and selfless, fun, and so stinkin' cute. It is going to be so hard to leave and let him grow up without me being there.
Lessons learned today: downtown Wayzata is beautiful in the summer, there is nothing that hits the spot quite like froyo on a Monday night, and most importantly; family is all that matters.
xoxo.
Sarah

In which this girl becomes terrified of being forgotten.

Three weeks from today I'm moving from the land of lakes to the land of Mormons. High school was not the loveliest of experiences for me, and I have always been excited to go to college and explore the greater things in life, so, why is leaving Minnesota starting to feel like such a terrible idea?
If we are being real honest here, I do not have a lot of friends here, the people at my church are starting to get on my nerves, and there is no way I can be a minimum wage employee living in my parents basement for much longer. There is only one reason for the sudden urge to run as far away from Utah as possible and/or live in my parents basement for the rest of my life; family.
I do not want to leave the people I love most behind. School will be fine, i'll eventually get a job and figure out how to pay for things, my roommates most likely will not steal my kitchen-aid stand mixer or break my pastry blender. Even if they did, those problems are all material problems. Fail a class and you pay to take it again, your roommates trash your stuff and you buy new stuff, but your family, mess that up and you are dealing with a much bigger, absolutely terrifying problem.
I'm moving away, and my family is going to stay here in Minnesota, living life exactly the same, just one less spot at the dinner table.
                       


The worst scenario possible, for me anyway, would be my family feeling like they don't need me to have a happy life. Because I sure need them.
xoxo.
Sarah