Why my Roommate is the best thing that happened to me in 2015

Let me just start off saying that I have had a LOT of roommates. Seven to be exact. Girls are hard to live with, myself included. It's even harder to be friends with your roommate. When the dishes pile up, you get annoyed, and the last thing you want to do is be besties with the perpetrator.

But when you find a good roommate, you know. When you find a great roommate, people will start questioning your sexuality, and you don't even care because you can't imagine doing stuff without your platonic other half. 

With that bond comes a great year of memories and many reasons why my roommate was the best thing that happened to me in 2015:

The bat-shit-crazy stuff she says.

If I had a dollar for every time I laughed at something crazy my roommate said, I would be a gazillionaire. Whether she's trying to cheer me up, annoy me, or just having a conversation, my roommate says some of the craziest stuff I've ever heard. Some of my faves...
"Awkward... the romantic music is coming on and I'm over here like I just want another hot dog."

"Can you listen to me in the eyes please?"

"Peace out butter scout."

"If I would have stayed home tonight, I just would have eaten jalapeno dip. What?! At least I'm honest..."

Sending the same guys the same questions on our dating apps.

Sitting next to each other swiping guys left and right. I turn to my roomie and ask if this guy is cute, "Oh I totally just matched with him... Let's send the same message to him and see if he notices..." Hysterical laughter ensues.

Sharing a closet.

AKA Me stealing her clothes. Thanks boo for keeping me stylish.

Drunkenly stumbling into her bed because I want to hang out.

Obviously the best and most crucial time to hang out is at 2:30am when our Uber driver drops us back at home. Sure, you might be sleeping, but who cares?! It's hang out time!! And don't lie, you love it. Or at least your snapchats followers do because let's be honest, I'm hilarious.

Debating what to say to the guys we're texting.

"No don't say that, it's too forward." "Oh, Oh, say this..." "Ew, don't text him back."

It's nice to have that sounding board.

Crying together.

Well, mostly, me crying. Because you're kind of heartless sometimes. But you are always there to listen to my dramatic sobs, and I appreciate that a LOT. And you know I always have your back when you break down and let those tears sneak out.

Ridiculous Youtube videos.

... That we watch from separate rooms in our apartment. And then hear the other person laughing, so we run into the room and watch it again. Laughter ensues even harder.

Wrestling with life decisions.

To go back to your ex or not to go back to your ex. (Don't go back, obviously....) To switch jobs or not? To chop off your hair or not? To go to the gym or not? I love that we can always have these conversations, even if we judge the crap out of each other for the outcome. I'll only judge you for a little bit. (Cough, your ex, cough.) It's just because we love each other. 

Literally wrestling.

Yeah, it happens every once in a while. 

The Snapchats. 

Documenting our crazy lives is one of the funniest and most accurate things about our friendship. From throwing gummy bears at me at the grocery store, to trying to catch popcorn and cookies in our mouths from across the room, to taking apple cider vinegar shots, to drunk ramblings; Our snapchat friends are able to see little bits of the chaos we create.

The CAR-aoke sessions.

"Hello.... It's Me.... I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet." We belt that ish at the top of our lungs. We get really into these songs. We dance, and almost run off the road with our dance moves. We lose our voices. All for the sake of a good car-karaoke (or CAR-aoke) sesh and it's always a blast.

Having you become my best friend.

The longer we live together, the crazier our adventures get. The more awesome inside jokes we rack up. The more stupid quotes. The crazier near death experiences we have while you are driving. I have never been besties AND good roommates with anyone and I am so thankful to share our crazy little Portland adventure together. 

I may have been single for 2015, but I had my roommate, and that might even be better.

Follow our adventures on Instagram #emmieandsarahlove or #myroomieismybestie

These Aren't My New Year's Resolutions: The 10 Things I Demand from 2015

New Year's Resolutions are dumb.
No sugar coating it.

People think that by setting this public goal, they're automatically going to develop this super-human dedication to lose thirty pounds. They purchase their gym membership and then go for a week, MAYBE a month, before giving up. They say they'll quit smoking and then two weeks in, they forget that it's their resolution and light up.

New Year's resolutions are oftentimes unrealistic and frustrating. NEWS FLASH. Life is frustrating.

(Whoa, whoa, whoa Sarah... Where is your positivity?!?! That was SO cynical!)

Hear me out. The word 'Resolution' is defined by the Oxford dictionary as "the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter." So creating all of these resolutions are basically the act of creating end goals without creating the game plans. How does that make sense?!

So how can we create these goals in 2015 without setting ourselves up for failure?

I love looking at language and how to spin the situation using certain words to change the meanings, and that's just what I did! I've decided to create my 2015 New Year's DEMANDS. A 'demand' is defined as "an insistent and peremptory (insisting on immediate attention) request, made as if by right." I'm making these insistent changes in 2015 as if by right, because guess what? It's my right to make changes!!! 

Here are my ten demands for 2015:

1.) Learn to keep my mouth shut.
I'm not going to lie, this one was completely inspired by a recent blog post on Elite Daily called New Year's Resolution Remix: 15 Things to Stop Doing in 2015. Their number one resolution of change was to stop showing and telling everyone about everything. That hit me so hard. As you all know, I am an OPEN BOOK. I will talk about anything with anyone; discuss my sexual abuse with the CEO of my work (along with 12 other people), DONE, write a blog post about getting dumped hard, CHECK, telling everyone that I embarrassingly got into a strangers vehicle outside of work, YEP.  However, there's no need to post on Facebook six times a day. I don't need to have my phone on me at ALL TIMES. I need to find a bit more balance in my real life, and not focus on my virtual life...which brings me to my next point.

2.) Be present.
I NEED to put my phone down. I need to buy a camera, a real life camera (not just my iPhone) and capture moments. I need to immerse myself back into my art. I need to write down the little moments. The present is passing by at every ticking second and I'm missing a lot of it. I need to be present.

3.) Increase my savings.
My friend Craig posted a photo the other day of a savings plan. The first week of the year, you put one dollar in your savings account. The second week, you put two dollars in your savings account. The tenth week, you put ten dollars in yours savings account. The 32nd week, you put 32 dollars in your savings account. You get it? I'm doing it. By the end of the year, you should have put away $1,378.00 into your savings. That's happening.

4.) Make my bed.
I am not a tidy person. Any of my former roommates will tell you that. Any of my close friends will tell you that. Anyone who has stepped into my bedroom EVER will tell you that. My goal is to start making my bed. A little effort goes a long way. You never know, this first step could lead to a myriad of other tidy habits... I might actually start putting my laundry away right after its done too... Whoa now, let's not get too ambitious.

5.) Heal my heart.
I thought it was healed. It isn't. It's healing, but it's not healed. Unfortunately, time and optimism are the only things that will cover this demand.

6.) Love my body.
I am so much better at this than I have been in the past, but I have a lot of growth left to see in this topic. One of the best ways to love your body is to take care of it. I've definitely improved my exercise plan in 2014, but in 2015, I want to step up my nutrition game. I'll be starting off the year with the Whole30 Challenge! Regardless of my nutrition or exercise, I would like 2015 to consist of more body-positive dialogue. Tell myself what I'm doing right, instead of commenting on my flaws. Continue taking care of myself.

7.) Fall in love and date.... myself.
If you are in a good relationship, you are able to have fun, to communicate, and to adventure. In 2015, regardless of my dating life, I want to date MYSELF. I want to do fun things and go on adventures and be true to me. There is nothing wrong with doing fun things alone. Why should you be forced to wait on other people to see that one movie, or try out that new restaurant? If I want to be happy with another person, I first need to be confident in my own emotions, interests and perspectives. 2015 will be the best relationship I've ever had... with me.

8.) Read a book a month.
I cheated, I started my January book in December. I'd like to do a book review at the end of each month. January starts off with the book Love Does, by Bob Goff. I love reading and I look forward to having the free time to explore more literary opportunities.

9.) Meet my fitness goals.
2014 was AWESOME in regards to getting into the correct mindset of a true life-long fitness journey. It was not an immediate-results experience, but more of a "why is this not working... holy crap, when did I make so much progress?!" I have two major fitness goals for 2015.
       1- ACTUALLY get my Zumba Instructor certification. This was my 2014 goal and unfortunately I couldn't make it happen, but dang it, I'm signed up for my class to get certified on February 21st! It's going to happen y'all!!! I've got two stellar instructors (who have become great friends) that have agreed to help out in mentoring me on that big step! Hopefully by 2015, I will be teaching my very own class!
       2- DO A PULLUP. Unassisted. I will probably cry when I get there but that is happening this year.

And finally, 10.) Give.
I found a quote a couple weeks ago and I could not have worded a mantra for 2015 any better. The quote says this:

I aspire to be a giver. A giver of good vibes and a giver of strength.

I cannot wait to give. How I'm going to do that, I'm not quite sure. What I do know is that I'd like to give back, give love, give encouragement, give hugs, give funds, and give confidence. I have been so incredibly blessed in my life, despite my struggles, so 2015 is going to be showing appreciation through giving.



2014 hard but it was the year of positive thoughts and my goodness, it taught me SO much. The positive thoughts aren't going anywhere. The positivity will remain. But 2015 is going to be something spectacular. I don't know what, and I don't know how, but I know. It's a big year and I can't wait to share it with you all.

So lift that champagne glass, or red solo cup, or glass of water, or juice box.
Thank you for 2014 and Cheers to 2015.

The Life of Sarah: The 2014 Highlight Reel

It's getting toward the end of 2014 which means it's about that time for sentimentality and all sorts of retrospectives on the past year. You see the top songs of 2014, the top movies of 2014, the most influential people of 2014, the best tweets of 2014, etc. It's all about the highlights.

What better way to follow up the "Thankful For the Crap"  post than with a Highlight reel?! I figured, everyone else is making these great 2014 Recap's, so I guess I should make one too!  A LOT of my highlights have been covered in other posts on No End In Sight, but not all of them.

Not only did I create my list of highlights, but as I was compiling them, I realized that these highlights strengthened me as a person. They made me happier, stronger, and more successful.

So I'd like to take a second, just sit right there, and I'll tell you all about how I became... happier in 2014. (Tell me you didn't just sing that like Will Smith and I will know you're lying!)


The Best of 2014- According to Sarah
I had my first snowday as a grownup.
Yes, this is most definitely how I am going to start of this post because it was quite a fun experience. You take snow, unexpected PAID time off, the Olympics and peppermint Schnapps, mix it all together and you get a pretty fun couple days. There was no learning curve to this experience, just the pure, child-like joy that is SNOW.

I started a kick ass blog.
It came out of a dark place, but the beauty is that it saved me from darker places. 2014's mantra was "2014 is the year of positive thoughts" because I found myself struggling to find positivity. 2014 was hard. It was ugly at times. I cried a hell of a lot. But one thing I could always count on was that I could pour all of my emotions and decisions into my virtual diary, where some of my closest friends -as well as total strangers- could weigh in, or at least know what I was going through. It turned from my venting space to a place of connection. I also felt that I continued to grow in the way I communicated. I was (and still am) able to put it all out on the line, even if I choose not to publish certain posts. Yet another beautiful result of this blog is the comments I have received from my readers. The notes saying, "That post really hit me because..." or "Thank you for addressing that!" truly warm my feelers. I appreciate you taking the time to go through my jumbled thoughts.

I got my butt in gear. Literally.
Getting into the gym in March was probably the one of the most positive things to come of this year. I have maintained a 15 pound weight-loss, I'm in the process of getting my Zumba Instructor Certification, and I've found a "gym family." Finding my physical strength was also an incredible way of staying positive and mentally strong.

I saw some AWESOME concerts.
Black Jack Billy, Cole Swindell, Lee Brice, Bella Fleck, Katy Perry, Chase Rice x2, Nickel Creek. All incredible shows and I CANNOT wait for 2015's concert opportunities.

I became best friends with my siblings.
How cliche is that? Maybe it's because we're all adults now. Maybe it's because we all live apart, so we're not annoyed by each other. It could be any of those things but I think it's because my mom and dad did an incredible job raising three human beings (but I'm a little biased). I have had more support from those two boogers in the last year than from anyone. They let me cry, they make me laugh, I let them cry and I help them laugh. I truly value you both, Andy and Hannah. You are two amazing role models even though you'll both always be my wittle babies.

I fell in love.
Okay so technically, this happened in 2013 but it deepened in 2014. Falling in love is a pretty incredible thing. Although it didn't end well, I am very very thankful for learning how to fall in love. I know it happens differently every time but I learned about what type of partner I am. I learned that I am able to be a great girlfriend. I learned that I am able to be selfless. I learned that I am able to feel deeply. I learned that I am able to be incredibly happy in a relationship and I learned that I AM still incredibly happy. Which leads to the next highlight.

I also fell in love... with myself as a single woman.
When the love I talked about was cut short, I had to do some soul-searching. I made some decisions that led me to discover what an incredible woman I have become in the last 23 years. No, that is not some conceited statement. It is a sense of confidence that I have been trying to find for a long time. When I had my love rejected, I had to invest that love in myself. I took care of myself. I let myself be sad. I let myself be cared for. I let myself heal and I let myself be happy again. I found strength and I found my laughter. And dang it, I LOVE laughing, because let's be real, I'm hilarious.

I took some fun trips.
I ventured to the coast for a wedding, the mountains for a camping trip, to Montana for another wedding, and to California for turkey day. All of the company was wonderful. The memories were beautiful and I hope to remember them for a long time to come.

I found an incredible job.
Are you guys sick of me talking about my awesome job yet? Well, get over it because I love it. I love the people I work with, the tasks I do, the mission of the company, the community we serve. ALL OF IT. Definitely one of the biggest highlights of the year.

My roomie is one of my besties.
I've had a lot of roommates. All amazing women. Some working better than others. But let me tell you about my oober-goober roommate. If Hannah and I lived together, I think it would be very similar to living with Emmie. I feel like she's me when I was 19. She's outgoing, and silly. She's not afraid to be a dork. She will have deep conversations with me and then run through the hallway to scare me five minutes later. I'm so blessed to have my little Emlynne Faith. It's always an adventure, and usually a struggle, but at least we're on the struggle bus together. HA HA!

I re-engaged my life with Jesus.
Cue the inspirational music, the robed choir and the televangelists. No but seriously. I started reading my bible (app) every night. I found a beautifully engaging church that not only relates to my everyday life, but it also lives up to the Christian ideal of family and stewardship. I have been able to see the work that Christ is doing in my life, but also how our church is making a difference in the world. I cannot wait to learn more about how to walk a more loving and supportive life with the Lord.

I met AMAZING people.
From the amazing crew at my local Dutch Bros., to the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum that share my office, to the amazing Zumba family that I've found, I have been incredibly blessed with a multitude of personalities to add to my arsenal of friends. Each person brings something new to the table. I am so excited to watch these relationships flourish.

I took my mantra, "2014 is the year of positive thoughts," and turned it into a reality.
It wasn't easy. Sometimes I had to lie to myself and tell myself all this positive mumbo jumbo to get through. But I'll tell you a secret. Deep down, truly in my heart, I knew it was going to be okay. I knew that my positivity would prevail, and guess what? It did!! The power of suggestion is a pretty powerful thing. So to those of you needing that last little positive boost before the new year, here it is: Never underestimate yourself. You are amazing.


The greatest part about looking back on this highlight reel is that I have realized how much happier I am in December, as opposed to where I was in January. God puts us on "this crazy, magic, sometimes almost tragic, awful beautiful life" (please, someone get that reference...), and as my mom says, "If God leads you to it, He will bring you through it." God led me through a year of trials, of building, of growth.

Despite some rough waters, this year was one of the best. I am incredibly thankful. I am especially thankful for YOU! You're reading my blog, which was my little love child idea. Thank you for listening.

May you all have a blessed Christmas. And I will leave you with this:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. - John 14:27