Catch up.

Here is a little catch up for what we have been up to the last couple weeks. :) This past weekend Scot & I ventured up to Boston for my cousins wedding. I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid and it was so fun to celebrate this occasion in honor of someone I love and I have grown up with. Congratulations to Cassie & Pete. Doesn't she look gorgeous?!

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was a really fun time getting to know all the other bridesmaids and groomsmen and enjoy some great food. Poor Scot wasn't feeling too well, but he was a trooper and came to be my date through it all.

The next morning I did a little Christmas shopping, and then went to the hotel Cassie had gotten to get ready in. All the bridesmaids got dressed up and then the bridal party went into Boston for pictures. It freezing out, but so fun to drive around my home city. There's just something about Boston that will always make me smile. A perfect place for these wedding photos. 

Then was the sweet ceremony and reception. What a wonderful wedding it was. So happy we got to be a part of it. 

 Father-Daughter Dance. So sweet. 

Then on Sunday we had a great opportunity to go with my family to my Grandmothers church as she was putting on a Christmas program with a holiday sing along and treats after. This was a very special time to be with my family and we were lucky enough to have my best friend Megan, her boyfriend Jeff, and her Mom Lindsey come join us. The highlight for us was when Megan and I decided we would volunteer to spice things up a bit by interpretive dancing to the classic "Let it snow" in front of the whole church. Oh goodness. How Megan convinces me to go along with her ideas, I have no idea. But it was hilarious and tons of fun!

Enjoy.

We tried to convince the boys to go next, but needless to say--they were too chicken. ;)

The weekend before that was So much fun! We had our two twin nephews over for a birthday slumber party! They turned 6 this past weekend, and since we were going to be gone for the wedding, we decided to do an Uncle Scot & Aunt Sarah celebration the weekend before. These two little guys are so fun and such sweeties. They had a lot of fun, but I think we had more fun than them! I'm sure the neighbors didn't appreciate this, but we sure do know how to party. :) Check it out. 

Watching Saturday morning cartoons after a long night...

 Watching a Christmas movie. The boys all snuggled up . Precious. 

...That's all for now! Nothing like spending time with friends and family. Life is so good to us. :) PS. Almost time for our trip to Utah! Yahoo! Can't wait.

A letter for....him.

Today I was digging through some old files from High School. This one I thought was particularly fun. I remember the assignment. Senior year English class, we were assigned to write a letter to anyone in the world. This is who I chose, and what I had to say. Enjoy :)

Dear Future Husband,

Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Sarah. I know we don’t know each other but I love you. I know—it’s a pretty bold statement to make seeing as we've never met, or maybe we have... and I just don’t know it yet. However, given the current lack of interest I have for the boys in my High School, I’m going to go with—we haven’t. Let me tell you about myself.

I love shopping, dressing up, flowers and romantic comedies, but I’ll be honest— I definitely have a little tomboy in me. In fact, from grades 1^st-5^th I refused to wear anything pink, flowery, sparkly or sequenced. I always had a hat backwards and was the girl out playing football with the boys at recess (and could throw the ball just about as good as any of them too, may I add) It wasn't until I realized my life long elementary school crush probably wouldn't like me if I dressed like a boy. There began, my new wardrobe. Pink? Fine. Flowery? Sometimes. Sparkly or Sequenced......just couldn't go that far.

I hope you like blondes, because I am one. I am also blue eyed, and 5’4”. I’m still hoping to grow maybe another inch or two, but don’t get your hopes up. I am a pony-tail with blue jeans kind of girl and just last year was my first encounter with makeup. Stressful, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I love the summer.  I would spend my entire summer in a bathing suit if it were my choice. Surfing, skimboarding, swimming, boating—you name it, I love it. My favorite spot—Kennebunkport Maine. I've gone here since I was a young girl and the little town will forever hold some of my most precious memories.

I may first come across as shy if I don’t know a lot of people in the group. But, trust me—I’m not. I love getting to know people and lightening the mood with a cheesy joke or comment. I love to laugh, and be goofy, especially with close friends. I love music and art and anything that puts life's feelings into perspective. There is definitely a deep side to me many never get a chance to see. You will. Some say my eyes and smile are my best features, but I guess you’ll be the judge of that.

I have two pet peeves that you should be aware of so as to not ruin your chances. The first—the word moist. I have no idea why, but since about the 8^th grade whenever I hear that word I cringe and get this awful feeling in my mouth as if I just ate something so incredibly sour that my jaw was going to fall off. Weird. I know. The second—when people don’t know north from south and say things like “I’m going to drive up to Boston” when they are in New Hampshire. Boston is south people. You drive DOWN. .....besides that, I’m not bothered easily.

Maybe you are a hockey player?I have seemed to have a thing for those boys in the past. But no...maybe basketball? or Soccer? Or all three.  Have you ever been in love? Are you tall? short?  blonde? .... I've always loved the surfer boy blonde look. Then again, tall dark and handsome catches my eye too. I've never been one to have a "type" ...but I guess you're it. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do? What is your number one fear? ...I wish I knew more about you. I guess all I really know is that I love you. 

I recently started going to the LDS Church and it’s something I have grown to love. I am not yet a member but hope to be soon. I wonder what your thoughts are on this. I hope you are religious too. 

I hate it, but I am an only child. I’m not going to limit my options, but I will say that I have always dreamed of marrying someone with a big family. What can I say; I want my children to have cousins. If you’re Mormon, this probably won’t be a problem. But I will also warn you, I hope you like kids because I want a lot of them.

I am a sucker for a guy with dimples. Being  deep and a gentleman are two things I will not sacrifice and being athletic and  romantic are two things I hope for. When you meet me, smile. It’s the first thing I notice. I will take a picnic over a fancy dinner and a log cabin over a mansion any day. I want to be a school teacher, but I often wonder if there’s something else I’d rather like.  I dance alone in my room, eat strawberries by the bucket, write poems I’d never share, absolutely hate math, and never have been able to do a cartwheel. I love soccer, softball, basketball ...pretty much all sports, and I hate to say it, but if you’re a Yankees fan, there is no hope for us.

At any given time in my life, I always have had a best friend. Call it the only child syndrome by lack of having siblings my age, but I cherish these relationships above most anything. I know someday that will be you. Like any teenage girl, I think about you often and wonder where you are and how we will meet. I wish I knew the right numbers to dial to be able to call and speak with you. I miss you, thanks for listening. I hope you are doing well and that you are happy. 

I guess I’ll be seeing you someday soon...

With Love, 

Sarah



Never did I ever imagine JUST how lucky I would be to have this "mystery" man be Scot. So happy that "someday soon" has come.

Uncertainty.

It's the root of life's anxiety. Trust me, I've felt it many times. In fact, the past few weeks my mind has been plagued with it. You see, the last three months I've been an intern at a PR firm and it's been great.  I have learned a ton and it was a huge blessing from the Lord that I even got the position in the first place. However, my internship is almost up and because I don't graduate until May, I don't know where to go next. I am left with nothing to do and with no job to help with bills, and let me be the first to say-- city livin' ain't cheap. I guess you could say, this last month has been filled with uncertainty at it's finest. 

Or so I thought. 

One would think that after over a dozen times of this continuous cycle of worry surrounding different events in my life, I would have learned my lesson. It starts with a new moment of uncertainty, then the worry and anxiety set in, then just like always in the nick of time-- The Lord provides and things work out. Then finally, you wonder why you wasted so much time worrying. Sound familiar? I think we are all guilty of falling into the worry cycle at one time or another. 

I heard jobs were hard to find in New York, and paid internships--even harder. Like I said, it was a blessing to have landed mine. I started reaching out to anyone and everyone to find information about places that were hiring as well as searching online for another internship opportunity.  I had heard that without having some kind of an "in" or knowing someone, internships were almost impossible. However, I thought I would take a shot in the dark and I applied to a few hoping that my resume would stick out enough to land an interview. Well, it did. 

A few days later I got an email from another PR firm that wanted to set up an interview! I was really excited too because this was the firm I was most hoping to hear from. A few days later, I went in for the interview and after about 2 weeks while in the process of contacting my references....I became once again plagued with anxiousness about the future. Oh ye of little faith.

Then.... like always, he provided. The inbox on my computer popped up with a new message from the hiring manager at the firm-- "Great news! We've been in touch with all of your references, and at this point would love to offer you the internship position." ....I literally couldn't stop smiling for like 3 hours. Uncertainty, no longer. 

It occurred to me at this moment that although we sometimes are plagued with the anxiousness of uncertainty, it's all really just a waste of time. It's a waste of time because the Lord always is and always has been certain. Uncertainty and fear, is really only a fear of the lord not coming through for us.  Ask yourself this, has he really EVER not come through for you? I'm not saying hard times don't happen, in fact if hard times didn't happen I fear society would forget the Lord entirely, or simply have no need for him. When it comes down to it, it's all a choice. We choose to either trust the Lord, and have faith in him, and he delivers.

Without fail. Every time.

 Maybe not in the way we think or want, but it's always the better way. Always. .... Or we simply choose to steer away, and take matters into our own hands and quite frankly, we loose.

Without fail. Every time. 

and unfortunately with this choice comes the question the world is most confused about; Gods existence.

 I thinks it's rather funny that people find themselves asking for God to prove himself. "Prove your existence by showing me this, or doing this" or " How is there proof that God exists with all the evil in the world today?"..... When in reality, this life is not for God to prove himself to us, but for us to prove ourselves to God. To have faith in him at times when faith seems impossible. And by simply believing  and  knowing that in the end; The Lord Provides. He always does.

..... of this, I am certain.

Feels like home

Making our house feel like home—it’s always been important to me. Like most little girls, I grew up daydreaming about what my future would look like— My husband, wedding, job, children, and home. What would it be like? How would it feel? What colors and paintings would I put up on the wall? ...Maybe it’s because I grew up with a Mother who had a passion and talent for design, but somewhere along the way—I inherited the trait. Well, the passion at least.

It didn't take long for my passion for making our house a cozy home to spill out into our New York apartment. First night— kitchen was set up. Complete with the main colors of red and white, an inspirational quote above the stove, magnets and photos on the fridge and the family proclamation hanging proudly on the wall. Scot had to laugh at me as most would finish unloading boxes... or at least ....the moving truck, before starting in on the whole picture hanging, color coordinating, and “cutesy” decorations thing. But I couldn't help it, I was SO excited!

With that all being said, it wasn't at all surprising that I was DETERMINED to make sure we started our Christmas decorations with a Christmas tree. Most things I’m flexible about, but we were getting a tree. Our first tree—I mean come' on, it was a must! Granted, we won’t even be here for Christmas, but until December 20^th our tree will stand proudly in the corner of our apartment, just another aspect of making it feel like home.

Scot was excited too, but obviously not AS excited as I was, but like a good husband he pretended :)


Determination took us to a whole new level as we searched for hours Monday night for our FHE activity. First we looked at some stores on the Upper East Side—it’s close to home. Won’t be far to carry we thought.

Not open.

Ok, how about Home Depot? We wandered down to the Home Depot about 23 blocks down from us. They only had fake trees and for an ENORMOUS asking price. Wasn't worth it we thought.

Then we became hopeful again as the manager of the store we were in made us aware that the Home Depot on 23^rd street had real trees and for a very reasonable price—so the adventure continued and sure enough, we found our tree.

Now....

 we just have to figure out how to get it home.

Well, no one ever said Christmas trees can’t be taken on the Subway right? Right.

 I have to say, we got some strange looks and people smiling and whispering to themselves as we squished into a subway with our tree. I told you we were determined.


 

It was a long journey but with the tree all set up and decorated, it was all worth it.  

Putting on the first ornament! ...

Now it's officially Christmas time in the Marsden house, and with the new tree it's just feeling even more like

Home.

 Confession: Google spell check just taught me that its orNament and not orDament. Embarrassing. #22yearoldspellingproblems 

Thanksgiving Getaway

After a long 3 months trapped within buildings of the city, I finally escaped! ...and what a wonderful escape it was. :) The Thanksgiving holiday is always one of my favorites, and this year was an extra special one because it's the first Thanksgiving I've spent with my family in 5 years, and with my Husband! (Well, married that is. We spent Thanksgiving together last year)

It started with a VERY early flight from NJ to Boston. The flight was beautiful. Incredible really.

 Sunrise. Ocean. Trees. Clouds. Window seat.

The view was worth every penny of the monster taxi fair that we had to pay to get us to the airport on time. So much for finding cheap flights...

I suppose the taxi driver made it worth the money as well. 3:30 in the morning and I don't think I've ever met a more chipper guy. Just over 5 feet tall, bushy beard and a list of never ending stories. He cranked up the Christmas music and insisted on having us sing along with him....haha. What a ride. 

The next few days were spent eating lots of yummy food, relaxing, going for a walk in the woods by the ocean, playing football in the yard, falling asleep on the floor, making  pies, eating pies, eating lots of yummy food, watching the sunset, hiking a mountain, spending time with friends, spending time with family, eating lots of yummy food, having a fire under the stars, roasting hot dogs, going shopping, looking through old photo albums, sleeping in, eating lots of yummy food, driving for the first time in months, opening early Christmas presents, singing at the dinner table, going to church, eating lots of yummy food, meeting new people, packing more than enough, smelling the crisp autumn air, gathering decorations, taking too many pictures,  going out to eat, tagging a Christmas tree, eating lots of yummy food, sipping apple cider, watching a football game, listening to loud music, swinging on a swing, seeing the movie Lincoln and...

oh ya, eating lots of yummy food. :) 

WARNING: Picture overload, once again. 

All in all, I'd say it was.....

 a vacation well spent. 

Happy Thanksgiving.

Success

... Lately we've spent a lot of time pondering the word. Mainly due to Scots future career decisions and my current situation of coming to the end of an internship and school and not really knowing where to go next. We want to be successful in life, but what does that truly mean? In New York everyone spends so much time working, and becoming "successful" I sometimes fear they are all missing the true successes of life.  In this world when we hear someone say, "man, he/she is very successful" we automatically think of success as material matters such as big money, big career, big house, expensive cars, expensive clothes, expensive phones and computers. It's got me thinking--is this really the definition I want, when I think about being "successful?" I don't know. But then.... the weekend happened.

WARNING: Picture Overload. 

On Saturday Scot & I had the opportunity to spend the day volunteering with a service organization from our church. We were out providing service to those in Breezy Point who had lost literally everything to Hurricane Sandy. It was so devastating to see what had happened to these wonderful people. We felt so privileged to be able to help in whatever way we could. During the middle of the day, we met the sweetest older couple who's house had been flooded  4 feet deep throughout their living room, kitchen, and entire first floor. They lost so much. We had to throw out all their furniture, and special belongings as well as  tear down their walls in order for them to be replaced. We cleaned out their crawl spaces under their house and took out all the insulation. They were so appreciative of our help, and as we parted with a prayer, the sweet old man raised his head with tears in his eyes for the service we had done for them. It's those moments that make you feel so blessed to be alive. To be part of this world. To feel the love between strangers. To feel successful.

At that moment I decided I would redefine the word of success in my mind, to a much better and wiser one than the world views. A definition derived from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.This is to have succeeded. "

\

We were so grateful to have such a wonderful day of service. 

As for the rest of the weekend, it was super fun. Saturday night we went out for Thai food with one of Scots friends from high school and his wife who live in the city. Derek & Amanda Walker. It was a blast, and REALLY good food. 

And then last night we had the treat of having our family on the West Side come over for dinner. AND we got to meet our new baby niece--Violet. 

she is so precious. 

We fed the family some yummy Lasagna, veggies and warm french bread. It was delicious and so fun to see them! 

  Blue eyed little sweetie.

What a successful weekend it was. And we loved every minute of it.