The old classic Disney works were, of course, my favorite movies growing up. 101 Dalmatians was one of the best, so you can imagine the feels when I saw this stunning photoshopped scene:
Check out the artist’s blog!
http://www.gardenturtle.blogspot.com/?m=1
❤ – Sarafina
People use the phrase “end of an era” quite liberally.
Whether their favorite basketball player retires, a new governor is elected, their mom quits cooking homemade meals, or their beta fish takes the flush, peoples’ lives are each full of mini “eras” that endlessly replace eachother.
When these eras end, all you can do is kiss them goodbye.
Some eras are so predictable, and yet come to an end so unexpectedly…like childhood.
It wasn’t until a few weeks before moving out of my parents’ house that I began to question my decision to leave. When these doubts hit me, they made me sad, reminiscent, and hesitant to leave at all. I almost decided to drop the four-year college plan and simply commute to Elgin Community College.
New eras can be intimidating, and old ones can be hard to let go.
When I unloaded all of my earthly possessions from our “silver bullet” Toyota minivan one week ago, though, I knew that this is where I belong: North Park University.
This truly is the end of an era.
So ends one era…
…And begins a new one.
❤ – Sarafina
My Meager Audience,
I have been absent from the world of WordPress these past months, for many reasons. I hope to remedy that this year by including Scintillate in my new life at college (North Park University, specifically), so stay tuned.
❤ – Sarafina
No, that is not how long it has been since I posted. I’ve only been gone a few months, but I’m glad you guys all missed me so much 😉
One year, two months, one week, and four days ago I ate my last lobster, on my last evening in Maine.
It has been far too long.
Look at that critter!
So delectable.
*Sigh*
I am a Mainiac.
I miss the ocean.
I miss my seafood.
I was never meant to be landlocked out here in the cornfields.
</3 – Sarafina
With just a few moments left before the official end of Christmas 2013, I would like to take this moment here to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Your day is over, but I sincerely hope that you carry this spirit of generosity past when the clock strikes midnight, marking the end of another Christmas Day.
❤ – Sarafina
December 12 heralds the beginning of the Christmas cookie season!
I turned in my last assignment of the semester this morning, so I used my afternoon home alone to make shortbread.
Christmas is full of traditions for the Nelsons…and the sweets are no exception! Every single Christmas, I make shortbread, snowballs, nanaimos, creme de menthe squares, and bark. A few other recipes get cycled in year to year, but that is the core group of Nelson Christmas cookies.
You can see why the shortbread is an annual thing:
Delicious, right?
Lol yeah…that’s because you’re looking at an entire pound of butter.
❤ – Sarafina
Long time no see, am I right? As you can see, I failed NaBloPoMo at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. Family comes before Scintillate, Sarah, family comes before Scintillate. So now that Thanksgiving chaos is over and the even better Christmas chaos is under way, I thought today would be an opportune moment to let you know that I am still alive.
Thanksgiving week was crazy. Crazy awesome, but still…just really crazy. My Uncle John and cousins Helen & Elizabeth came to visit from Sunday til Wednesday, which was a fantabulous surprise. We had lots of family fun time, complete with a viewing of Frozen in theaters for a Wednesday morning finale.
Thanksgiving Day through the weekend was fantabulous and insane, too. It was A Nelson Thanksgiving done right. To sum it up: We ate a ton of food, we played some football, Michael stole my phone several times, and we discovered a hilarious new game called Heads Up.
The holidays are my favorite time of year, but sadly a rough time for Scintillate.
TTFN
❤ – Sarafina
Did any of you go to the Lights Festival downtown this year? It takes place on the stretch of Michigan Avenue knows as the Magnificent Mile. It was an occassion full of family-friendly activities, concerts, an awesome parade, caroling, and a finale of fireworks.
Or so I hear.
My friend Liam (Lee) and I were going to go tonight, but we had some navigational difficulties. There was a lot of walking and ventra hassle involved (not so thankful for ventra anymore), since I claimed to know the loop like the back of my hand and Lee unwittingly took my word for it.
It all started with a comfortable train ride on the blue line. I knew which stop to get off at, we were warm, and we were in for a great night to kickoff the Chicago Christmas season. Unfortunately, we left my element when we left the blue line. We were immediately freezing and hungry, so we wove through all the closed coffee shops – it’s a crime that some Starbucks close at 3:30 on Saturdays – to find a Starbucks with heat and eggnog lattes. The lattes turned out to taste like butt, sadly, so I think I’ll stick with the gingerbread flavor in the future. We were pretty content to hang out in Starbucks, though, until our stomachs were screaming at us for real food. Real food wasn’t to be had, however, so we walked across the street to McDonald’s to buy a grand total of forty chicken nuggets…and a delicious holiday pie. We had a few laughs, saw an abnormally tall man, and almost landed a free iphone. Looking back, that was the climax. It was all good.
Then we left.
I really thought I knew where we were going. The cold clouded my judgement, I guess…it was seriously freezing. All we had to do was walk east on Lake Street, until we reached Michigan Ave and all sorts of Christmas fun. So simple, right? It was like the yellow brick road…a no-brainer.
But we turned west.
I take most of the responsibility for that fatal move.
We walked a mile in the wrong direction…and by the time we made it back east to Michigan Ave, there was no evidence of any lights festival. Everything was over.
We met my friend Stella at Macy’s instead, because I love Macy’s at Christmastime.
It was a pretty terrible, crazy, cold, ridiculous, memorable night.
Next year we’ll hopefully get it right…at least in time for the closing fireworks.
Alyssa would like to say “HI”…she has graciously agreed to let her picture fill in for a day of writer’s block, in the midst of NaBloPoMo.
Only seven days remaining until Thanksgiving and all of its delicious pleasures!!!
Seven Things I Am Thankful For:
1. Pie
2. Eggnog
3. Nutmeg (the spice, not my deceased guinea pig)
4. Pumpkin (the delicious orange vegetable, not my other deceased guinea pig)
5. My deceased guinea pigs, Nutmeg and Pumpkin…R.I.P. beloved little rodents.
6. Photographs. I have 14,136 of them at this very moment, and I am really trying to clear out a few.
7. Ventra (the new bus/train fare system here in Chicago). God bless ’em. As screwed up as it is, hearing about all their flaws on the NBC news makes for a decent laugh. Lately, the system has accidentally been giving free rides to people with negative balance on their cards…one person had -250 dollars and just kept swiping through.
Lol.
Well, I have a lot more to be thankful for than the seven small things I’ve listed here.
But hey, I’m thankful for a whole truckload of stuff.
These seven things at least get the ball rolling for THANKSGIVING 2013.
🐔 < THAT is a chicken.
Pretend it is a turkey.
Scintillate 