Sarah's Joys

 - Once I FINALLY get Christmas cards sent out, this letter will be included :)  Dear Family and Friends, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope this letter finds you well. Where to even start?! Things in Austin Texas are great! This city has become my home. I love the people, the shops, the culture. I can't imagine living anywhere else. Over the past year I have made some amazing friends, discovered awesome places to eat and taken part in some extremely cool events. Some of the highlights of this year include taking 2 trips with my boyfriend Ryan to Santa Fe, NM to spend time with his family. We did a lot of sight seeing and A LOT of eating! The food and the sunsets in NM are unbelievable. My cousin Scott and his wife Melissa moved out to Austin early this year and it has been great to have them around! In fact, Melissa is working at Blizzard Entertainment with me! I made it out to California twice this year, the first time was to celebrate my Grandma Dodee's Wedd...

Here's the past couple of months in photos: The view from Mt. Bonnel where Ryan took me after we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory My first attempt at my grandmother's tamale greatness. Got to see my adorable niece, who's not allowed to get any bigger! Ryan at Blizzcon Me and my BFF Jessy <3 It's hard to explain how massive our company's convention is, this only shows part of the convention center: Ryan, Sarah and the Campbells! (Minus Cory... MISS YOU!) Couple O Geeks in Love! This is Ryan on stage with his comedic heroes Tim and Eric So I committed to my Halloween costume all the way and dyed my hair blue... I'm actually kind of loving the blue hair for now! I was Ramona Flowers from "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" Josh and I went to the opening night for Harry Potter... it was AMAZING!  That owl is named Hedwig... so much win! My precious kitten being as cute as ever!  SPEAKING OF CUTE... This is Ryan's nephew Renzo! Yay...

I'm very excited. This has been a great couple of months. Since my last post, a few awesome things have happened. First off, I've been promoted to the team that I was doing a temporary assignment with! Totally fantastic! The work can be... challenging at times but everyday is different and I'm learning so much about the inner workings of the company. Speaking of the company, we had "career workshops" about a month ago, during which I found out that I'd like to be a Production Assistant (awesome thing #2.) I've been here for a little over 2 years, and I hadn't had a long term goal, until now. The problem with this, is that the only PA jobs, which exist currently, would require that I move back to California. I'm sure many of you would be delighted if that were the case. The problem is... I can't leave Austin. I want to live my life here, I want to get married here, I want to raise my children here, as morbid as it might sound, I w...

Hello! Well yesterday marked my 2 year anniversary with the company! I am extremely happy with all that I've accomplished and where I am currently. Also, super excited about what's to come. Ryan found out yesterday that he got his preferred shift! He'll be working 1:45 - 10:45 pm with weekends off... we will FINALLY have the same days off /cheer. Our company will be moving to it's new location in about 4 weeks, which is also exciting. Last week I got to spend some time with my mom who planned an impromptu visit to Austin with Scott's mom Sylvia! It was great to see them both and it gave us a chance to do some very fun, quite overdue Austin activities. WARNING: The Videos are SUPER LOUD. Turn down volume before playing! 1. Seeing the Congress Bridge Bats : 2. Eating at The Salt Lick 3. Visitng Pete's Dueling Piano Bar on 6th St.: Overall it was a blast and I hope more of you can eventually make it out here for a visit. Other than that not muc...

So normally I don’t send out or share stuff like this BUT: #1 – This is totally legit and totally awesome #2 – They do deals in like EVERY city #3 - They support a lot of local businesses which I think is great #4 – If you use the link below to sign up- I get even MORE of a discount on the Coupons “Groupons” So here it is: Check out Groupon's daily deal - huge discounts on the coolest stuff in your city. http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4375106 Meanwhile: I'm adjusting to my new schedule quite well. It's nice to actually have a LIFE after work! Yesterday I went to Jax Cafe and ended up being Josh's scorekeeper for the Pub Quiz! I had a great time helping out, I may end up doing that every Wed. :) Ryan and I purchased our plane tickets today for our trip to Blizzcon! We'll arrive at the Ontario Airport at 9:45 PM on Thursday Oct 21. Friday and Sat we'll be spending most of the day/evening at the Anaheim Convention Center where Blizzcon is being held. This is going to ...

So, some of you may wonder at times... what is this "Blizzard" company all about. Usually if you mention the words "World of Warcraft" most people have at least heard of the game. Well today, we launched StarCraftII. I just wanted to share some of the amazingness going on around the world because of this game: Launch Events Around the Globe: http://kotaku.com/5597120/starcraft-ii-launches-around-the-world "Today is the day Starcraft II is released, a whopping twelve years after its predecessor. People are excited. Join us, then, as we show you images of midnight (and daytime!) launches from around the world." Game Review http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/07/starcraft-2-impressions/ "The first StarCraft employed mid-mission dialogue but the animation was limited to a few pictures of talking heads. StarCraft II, on the other hand, has the fully rendered cinematic scenes that we’ve come to expect of modern gaming. These scenes are excellent: The facial ...

Ok so we'll start out with the big news you've all been wondering about! As of last week I started a "Temp Assignment" with the Support Information department at work. The assignment is for 3 months, at the end of which they hope to hire me onto the team. So far, I love the work I'm doing and my team is a buncha awesomeness! I'm also excited to be working once more with my dear friend Josh! The only downside so far is that Ryan and I are like 2 ships passing in the night on most days. I'm now working 9am-6pm M-F, while he doesn't come into work until 5:30pm and has Monday and Tuesday off. But, we should be moving to the new building in a month or so and there are talks about shift bids happening soon. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're on a similar schedule, or at least have the same days off. In other news, we've been having a blast with friends from my former team and a few other people from around the office we've gotten to ...

As much as I miss you all at Christmas and Thanksgiving, I wouldn't really be able to come out and see you more than once a year unless I worked those days. Thankfully by doing so, I accumulate enough time off to take these trips. Liiiiiiiiike the one I just took to Cali annnnnnd the one I'm about to take to Santa Fe again! Yaaaaaaay! My trip to California was great. I was able to see a lot of family, some of which I hadn't seen since I moved to Austin! The wedding was beautiful. I had a great time visiting with my friends and meeting some of my coworkers from the Irvine office. The trip really flew by, but I'll be back in October. I hope some of you can make it out to Austin before that though! Sorry this is more of a storybook post! Here's the photos :) The Ocean All the kids! 2 of my BFFs Me and Dad Sisters The Wedding Party Aubrie- The Cutest Niece EVER! Me and my Bros! Grandma Frances Grandma Virginia Ryan and I leave for Santa Fe wit...

I leave from Austin at 7:00 AM on Friday June 11 th . I should arrive at the John Wayne Airport around 11:00 AM Cali time. The only event I have planned so far is to attend my Grandma Dodee's Wedding on Sat the 12 th . My flight home leaves Monday June 14 th at 4:30pm As always I would love to see as many of you as possible :) I am planning on attending Blizzcon again in October so if not this time, I'll be back. Short update: Things are good. I received a pay increase for that little promotion I mentioned last time, which is great. I'll be meeting with one of the managers to go over the feedback from that supervisor interview and talk about my goals and career path. The pool is starting to warm up and the sunny days are increasing! Summer is going to be great. Not much going on other than that. LOVE YOOOOOOOOOU ! - Sarah

Well hello there! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you're not hungry. This blog is about to get very delicious! On April 9th Ryan and I started our road trip to New Mexico! We left Austin at about 4am, stopped to eat at Kerby Lane on the way out of town. Droooove and drooove... finally made it to Lubbock... what a town. Next time we're making PB and J's and driving straight through! We ate at Triple J's - should have ordered something other than the pizza... which was not good. After another 6 hours or so, we made it to Santa Fe. We stayed at the lovely home of Tom and Martha Patin, Ryan's parents. We had a delicious meal prepared with tamales and some of the best rice I've ever had. Everything is so beautiful where they live and the houses have lots of land between them and pretty much all of the buildings and homes are adobe. The next day we went to walk around the Plaza. We had lunch at The Shed , I'm pretty sure I could eat New Mexican food ev...