Blacksheep or Bust

The Black Sheep Family Christmas party is by far my favorite Christmas tradition.  I love the food, booze and most importantly the people.  My black sheep family consists of the majority of my cousins on my dads side.  We started celebrating together about 5 years ago.  We all believed that family should be there to support and accept each other.  None of us are perfect at this.  I'm certainly not perfect.  But some things are just easier to accept.  Its easy for me to accept people and their life choices, when they are based in love like Jill and Tammy.  But not so easy to accept the one's who are prejudice, selfish, thoughtless, bigoted, cruel, or vicious.  I am still working on how to love people like that.  Hopefully, someday I will find the secret.

Now, back to the food, booze, and people.  I added a few new things to my Mexican Chocolate Fondue tradition; Banana bread, pumpkin bread, black berries, raspberries,and my  new favorite,  salt & pepper kettle chips.  Dipped in chocolate, they were AMAZING!!!  I loved the Lemon Drop Shots, which is a where you take a shot of Vodka then bite down on a lemon wedge rolled in sugar.  So GOOD!

It was great getting to know a few new additions to our flock of sheep and I loved giving everyone a "Family of Blacksheep" family fold for X-mas.  It turned out so cute!!

                                                                       To Andrew

Pink Tutu

Halloween, how I love thee! I love the costumes, the decorations, the parties, not to mention the yummy treats. But most of all, I love the excuse to dress up anyway I want, with very little judgment. This year I took advantage, I rocked the pink tutu at work, at a party with April, and for trick or treating! I have no doubts in the "Power of the Pink Tutu!" Wearing it was an automatic mood booster. I was ridiculously chipper, despite the extremely early morning and the snow flurries on my way to work!!!
I was also extremely happy because I remember where I was last year. I remember how dark those days were. How everything was a struggle. This year was quite the juxtaposition. I felt true joy in the little things.

Go Shorty...Its your birthday..

My 28th birthday was by far the best ever!!! ...or should I say my Birthday Week?!  It was pretty ridiculous, but thats how it turned out and of course I loved every second of it.  Dinner with Jana at the Oasis, birthday surprises at work, dinner at Happy Sumo with my Twinnie a.k.a Nissa, Jimmy surprised me with  a Office inspired birthday party complete with shriveled brown balloons...Dwight would be so proud, a date with my Gramgram in her living room since she couldn't leave the house to go shopping, an amazing birthday party with people that I absolutely love.  I felt so blessed, so loved!  oh and the best part....my birthday jeans.

Earlier this year a friend of mine posed the question to me  "when do we stop thinking of ourselves as boys and girls and start thinking of ourselves as men and women?"  At the time I said  "Im 60% girl, 40% women."  But what a difference 6 months can make. 

At 28, I feel comfortable in my own skin, Im still aware of my flaws, but they just don't seem to matter as much.  I love the women I am.  I am proud of my talents and have a sense of humor about my idiosyncrasies.  So now I'm gonna say I'm 80% women, 20% girl.  A women who knows what she wants, who works hard, and lives life with a cheery disposition.  And a girl who loves all things frilly, polka dots, and most of all, being silly. 

I'm a pro with chopsticks....Nissa and I split Coconut Crusted Halibut and Edimame....It is one of my absolute favorite dinners and a Twinnie tradition.  Nissa was so incredibly thoughtful.  She told me happy birthday atleast 100 times that day, not to mention flowers!  On a side note...take a look at my long hair...I cut it the very next day!

Jimmy loves me so much that he through me a surprise!  He remembered all the little things; shriveled, limp balloons, flowers, a hunormous (=huge+ enormous) birthday card, and a little fruit tart with the all too important giant 5 candle.   Jimmy really wanted to get me a giant white cake that said Happy Birthday Shara.  He also promised me a nap.  Gotta love The Office.

 The infamous birthday jeans.

 My New Hair Cut...also a great shot of my tat!

 Nikki was awesome...she made the BEST cuppycakes for my party...and did i mention it was over 100 degrees the day of my party. 

Jimmy is such a bad influence on me...getting me to hold his cigarette

 Cute Kellie

Jason and Tori, It was so good to see the strangers.

Janabana- my favorite Aunt

 Fruit tarts from Kneaders...courtesy of Niss

Go shorty its your birthday...we gonna party like its your birthday...

Jimmy, Colby, Nate, & Adrien...oh and me, the shorty up front!

 Im so glad Colby and Mitch joined us at Ruth's Diner for breakfast.

The Ladies...Nissa, Me, and Amy

Amazing Clarity

The last three months have been crazy to say the least. They have been the most difficult of my life and in so many ways, the most rewarding. With adversity, we truly find out what we are capable of and who we are. I am proud of the fact that while heartbroken, I refuse to dwell in yesterday, the "coulda- shouldas," or bitterness. I am a women who is great at loving. I gave it my all, but love is one area of life where our own merit or contribution isnt the only deciding factor. In this case, we loved each other immensely. I felt that love everyday. We had the kind of love that builds each other up, but sometimes even the greatest of loves cant change what a person wants and we wanted different things.
This book is in no way me holding on to future that is no longer mine, but rather to
honor the amazing lessons I have learned about love and the unpredictable nature of life.

I am in a much better place after making this book. It feels great to be able to say that I am thankful for what I have had and I am am also thankful that I don't always get what I thought I had wanted.

Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas was a blast! I just had to help my "Twinnie" celebrate her 30th birthday in style, so despite my apprehensions about being in such close proximity to the "X," I went anyway. I am so glad I did, because it was by far one of the best vacations. Given my slightly schroog-ish ways, Her birthday came at the perfect time (12-26)! We actually left town on Christmas, well we were supposed to leave on Christmas, but ended up grounded on the plane for three hours do to weather and eventually rang in her b-day in the air.

We stayed in a Suite at the Palms, I loved it, I will definitely stay there again. It had everything we needed including a movie theater. I won $180 at craps! And you can't beat having three great clubs to pick from, just an elevator ride away from our fully stocked, private, birthday bash bar.

I had so much fun getting lost with Jimmy, trying to find an obscure cupcake joint. Thank Goodness we found the place "before we hit the mountains." I would have hated going back to the hotel without those FABULOUS Pink Coconut Cupcakes.

Friday night we all got dressed up, rented a limo, and went out on the town. We had dinner at CUT, a steakhouse at the Venetian. It was a dining experience I wont soon forget. I fell in love with my new favorite bottle of Champy...Dante Rivetti's Muscato d'asti...mmmm!!!! so good. We even took the limo around Vegas to pick up Jimmy's friends from Boston and Nissa's cousin Justin from the airport.

Saturday we played on the strip. I had some fun girlie time with Nissa at the Forum Mall. The boys found drinks so big they required a neck strap and poor Jimmy stayed at the hotel and slept since he came back down with Strep Throat.
That night we had a blast hitting Club Moon, The Playboy Club, and Club Rain. They were all such different experiences, but all apart of the Vegas Experience. Its amazing how in Vegas, staying out until 3:30 A.M. is nothing, it was easy. I loved getting dressed up! I loved the escape that Vegas is and I didn't go to jail, get married, or punch a certain someone in the nose! I can't wait to go again and live the life of a rockstar for another couple days.