All That Jazz

So our trip was amazing. Seriously amazing. We drove up through the redwoods and got donuts in Portland and went to the Chihuly art museum in Seattle. I still feel like we got away with something.

So now we're back home, and there are a lot of things I'm working on.

I'm moving back to Utah soon for graduate school, but this next month or so is going to be interesting. It's going to give me a chance to work full-time on getting freelance gigs. So I'm working. If I can make this work enough to put me through school...well I just can't think of anything better.

I'm also working on going to the gym every day. Now that I've got so much time of my own.

I'm working on getting ready for this move. If you know how many books I have stuffed in every corner of my bedroom you know how chaotic this is going to be...

I'm getting ready for the Las Vegas Writers Conference this weekend. I am so excited! Anybody gonna be there? Wanna do lunch? I'll let you guys know what I learn at the conference. I went last year and it was so completely worth it.

Anyway, that's me. And all that jazz. I'll leave you with something awesome.

Enjoy!

Sarah

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When Sourdough Bread Bowls Make You Cry: a Tale of San Francisco

Today was the San Francisco part of our road trip. We were at Disneyland on Tuesday (AMAZING. Like really it's hard for me to even talk about about how much that place means to me, even though I've attempted it multiple times on this blog already) and then we drove north yesterday and spent today exploring San Francisco.

Let me just say, driving around San Francisco is an interesting experience, to put it ridiculously mildly. Especially when there's construction. The hills in this city are absolutely insane. And the architecture and unique color of every different building makes you want to do the obnoxious tourist photo thing with like...every building.

We finally made it to Fisherman's Warf, and then things started easing up. I love Fisherman's Warf. This is also an important place for me and my family, and it was interesting to do all these things here that I haven't done for a decade. By interesting I mean amazing and wonderful and incredibly painful. We passed the puppet shop where my sister and I got into a huge argument, and the weird saddle statues where my seven year old brother took a splits pic, (that one up there is mine in honor of him) and we saw the sea lions, and we went to the crepe place we always go to, and I snapchatted my brothers a picture of Bubba Gump to make them jealous. (I did that with Inoventions at Disneyland too, obviously.)

We also went to some new places, and both felt very adventurous and like we were going off the beaten path. It felt like we were in true San Francisco, and not just touristy San Francisco. We went to the amazing Pirate Shop/Writing Tutor Non-Profit started by Dave Eggers, 826 Valencia. If you are ever in the Bay Area, make sure to go to this place. It's truly hilariously amazing. We walked down Valencia street and found not one, but TWO used book stores that we stopped at, and a really cool chocolate shop called Dandelion Chocolate that had been recommended to us by a Tumblr friend. This is where a bunch of people were on their laptops, writing, and I thought, I want to be a starving artist in San Francisco, living the true bohemian life. Okay not really, but its a romantic idea.

Then of course, we ended the day with sourdough bread bowls and Ghiradelli Square. The sourdough bread bowls really got to me, for some reason. It's one of those things my mom absolutely loves, and I have to not think too much about that or about getting funnel cake at Disneyland or my brothers dancing as we walk past Fantasmic or I could make myself cry on that bench on Pier 39 looking out at the ships. Our bodies are strange things that can be absolutely completely filled with wonder and enthusiasm and excitement and adventure and at the same time, also completely filled with nostalgia and homesickness and just missing your mom so much your stomach hurts. It's just so much muchness in one body, but maybe that's what makes us human.

(Yep, I took a picture of the bread bowl to send to my mom. I am not ashamed.)

Because those sourdough bread bowls definitely weren't making the seagulls teary.

Love you, San Francisco. Mom I wish you were here. I'll see you soon.

Sarah

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Art is Parable

Well, we are on the first few days of our trip. We spent Saturday at the Arizona Renessaince Festival, and had a blast. (At least until the heat got to me. I'm kind of pathetic when it comes to heat.) But we had a super great time and I left the owner of what I'm calling my Dr. Facillier hat :)

Anyway. Yesterday was a bit of a rest day at my roommies folks house in Arizona. We went to church with them and the lesson in Sunday School was about Jesus' parables in Matthew 13. That's the parable of the sower, which in a meta way, is a parable about parables. This is where Jesus talks about why He teaches in parables in the first place. 

It made me think about storytelling and art in general. Of any kind. Movies, music, theater. The people who listened to Christ's parables all came away with a different experience and individual lesson, and its the same when we read a book in a book club or go with friends to a movie. We're sitting next to them, yes, but nobody in the theater is really watching the same thing.

Here's what I think: whether or not a person believes in a universal truth, art is meant to convey Truth. Even if the artist is only trying to convey their own personal truths, if they are genuine and honest, others will relate to it. They will learn something. And another reader or viewer will relate to it in a completely different way, and learn something of their own.

But you know, for all the times we're told not to be didactic or overt, I don't think Christ's parables or any art for that matter would carry as much meaning. We're not trying to force our opinions on anybody, but that's different than having a voice, having something to say, and defending what you believe in. And I don't think that's a bad thing at all.

Sarah Allen

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Cruella's Cool Cousin Has Purple Hair

I did it! Now off to Disneyland!

Sarah Allen

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And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon

The dish ran away with the spoon. And over the years the dish became faded, with a stain and a chip on one side. She would catch her reflection in the cupboard window and worry that she was no longer vibrant enough for the spoon; that she had faded past the point of no return. The spoon came home one evening and the dish finally gathered her courage and told him how she felt. He looked at her, water-stains down his bent back, a smudge on one side. He said, “You have never been more beautiful.”

Sarah Allen

For more frequent updates, writing tips, and funnies, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, 
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