Christmas Letter at New Year's :)

Merry Christmas!

This year I wanted to do a Christmas letter, but of course I didn't do it before Christmas, so it's more of a New Year's letter. I opted for online rather than paper because it's simpler and quicker for me. Hopefully this gives you a great picture (ha!) of what my year has been like.

2010 was a very eventful year for me. I'm actually hoping 2011 is more of the same, but a pleasant sort of eventful. This year was very difficult for me and many things were unexpected. I learned a lot, I changed a lot, and I'm ready for even more changes. Here is a bit of what 2010 held for me (in a vaguely chronological order).

Sunny California

I lived in Fresno, CA for most of the year--loved California!
(Fresnans, can you guess where this mosaic is??)

Church and Work

In Fresno, I go to First Presbyterian Church. I worked at First Presbyterian Church until the end of May...

doing an internship with the children's ministry program--kindergarten through 6th grade. I helped with Sunday School, AWANA, and various office work. The kids were great and I especially liked AWANA on Wednesday nights!

During the spring semester I also taught piano lessons to 9 students, mostly kids from church. They were wonderful students and I am so proud of them!!! We had our recital in May.

During the summer and fall, I hunted for a job in Fresno. I worked for a few months at a call center as a public opinion researcher (meaning, I called people, listened to the phone ring, and occasionally got them to do surveys). I couldn't find a permanent job in Fresno, so I moved home and am searching elsewhere.

Link Care

At the end of May, I went to Link Care Center (also in Fresno) for some time in a counseling program. I was on-campus till mid-July and then continued counseling outside of the program. My time at Link Care was incredibly significant and helpful.

While at Link Care, I made some great friends.

Funerals. boo :(
This year three significant people died: the senior pastor at my church, Jamie Evans, on Feb. 25; my Grandpa on May 8; and my Grandma Mary on Dec. 4. Their deaths were sad and hard.

My sister and I with our grandpa

My grandma, mother, and I

Cars
In July, I was in a car accident. No one was hurt (and it was not my fault), but my car was totaled. Goodbye, Lizzy (Ford Taurus)...Hello, Lorelai (Chevy Malibu).

Scene of the accident and sad car

Families
This year I was privileged to live with some wonderful families who took me in: the Grunbergs, the Norvells, and the Skibbies. Lots of other people were also wonderful at helping me out! I can't even name them all, there are so many.

The Grunbergs and I at the coast

The Skibbies and I at their house

Travels and Visits
I took lots of exciting trips this year and saw all sorts of things in California and across the US. In California: San Francisco, San Jose, the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Central Coast, Yosemite National Park (x3!), Los Angeles, Disneyland, and the Coachella Valley. I also embarked on a cross-country road trip as I moved homes from Fresno, CA to Danforth, IL, to live with my parents and search for a job. I got to see Sedona, AZ and its Red Rocks; almost saw the Grand Canyon (deterred by a snowstorm); Santa Fe, NM; lots of rather uninteresting land in west Texas; Dallas, TX and some of its historical sites; Broken Bow, OK; and a long drive from OK back to IL (during which I donned another layer of clothes at every gas station pit stop).

My friend Jess came to visit me in Fresno over the summer, and my parents came to Fresno in September! Those were all really fun times. On my road trip I was able to spend time with lots of friends and family along the way--friends Jenny, Susan, Jess, Jess's mom; many aunts and uncles and cousins; and many of their pets. I also saw all my extended family over the course of the year at my grandparents' funerals--bad circumstances but good to catch up.

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco!

My parents came to visit in September! We went to Yosemite and saw the giant sequoias.

At the top of Vernal Falls at Yosemite, in July
This is my favorite hike in Yosemite!

My friend Jess and I at Yosemite! I also visited her in Dallas, her new dwelling place, in December.

Disneyland! A very magical day and my personal birthday celebration.

Current
I have been home for the holidays since Dec. 4, and have enjoyed my "Christmas vacation," though it has been busy. Starting in January, I will be searching for a job in the Midwest. I'll continue living at home, which means I get to spend some time with my parents, and my sister Becca until she goes back to college.

On Christmas morning we unwrapped a wireless router! The Hurliman household has gone wireless and we are so excited!

Well, that's what my 2010 has looked like...I am looking forward to what 2011 will bring, and I wish you well in the New Year!

Much love,
Sarah

walking in a winter wonderland

snowman and his snowdog

our barn

icy tree

Once a bean traveled the world to find you here

Mmm. First day of winter. Peppermint mocha at Starbucks. My Christmas present to myself. I have to admit, I am a Starbucks junkie. I tell myself that I go only as a special treat, but the truth is that while I lived in Fresno I went far more frequently than that. (Luckily I now live in the boondocks—where, ironically, the nearest place to get a drink of any sort is a bar called Boondocks.) I used to pride myself on not liking Starbucks—too corporate, a big chain coffee shop, no personality. I preferred independent coffee shops, with all of their quirks and one-of-a-kind offerings. But Starbucks won me over.

There is something comforting about knowing I can walk into a Starbucks anywhere in the country and it will feel the same. I can count on the menu, the music, the furniture, the décor, the cups. The walls never get painted a brilliant orange, my iced coffee always has the perfect amount of sweetener (2 pumps please), I don’t have to peruse the menu, the WiFi always works.

In Fresno my favorite Starbucks was the shop at Figarden Village. Decently sized, lots of outdoor seating, a few good nooks and crannies, the same friendly blonde barista, a nostalgic quote stenciled on the wall. I found my new favorite Starbucks a week ago. One of the largest ones I have been in, with lots of tables, a quaint living room sitting area with (count ‘em) 3 armchairs and 1 couch, mirrors adorning the walls, big windows.

Call me crazy (and a sucker for sappy) but I really like the Starbucks Christmas marketing theme this year. “Stories are gifts—Share.” Maybe it’s because I have such an interesting story from this past year, or maybe it’s because I have been gifted by sharing in the stories of dear friends this summer and fall. Maybe it’s because I love presents! Maybe it’s because I love books (and storybooks). Maybe it’s because I’m part of the postmodern generation. At any rate, I like it; and the slogan makes me feel warm and thoughtful when I see it. My story is a gift, and it is good to share stories. My story is not a burden, or a bad ending or boring or only sad. It is an adventure, with bumps and breakdowns and soaring glistening moments so full you could burst and new chapters and deja vu’s and spiral curriculum and tear-stained pages and notes in the margin and a coffee-cup-wrinkled cover, because it is well-loved (like the tattered Velveteen Rabbit) and worth reading and telling over and over.

Stories are gifts. Share.

I want to share my story. I want to share it because I want to have relationships, and relationships don’t exist apart from sharing story snippets with each other. But mostly, the marketing slogan resonates with me because I don’t want to be ashamed of my stories, to assume that they are not worth telling or hearing. Sharing stories is important for both the teller and the hearer, and for me right now, I want to tell my stories just to be telling them—to tell the truth about what I experience and how I live my experiences—even if I tell it only to myself.

Parker Palmer, one of my current favorite authors, puts it this way:
“The experience of darkness has been essential to my coming into selfhood, and telling the truth about that fact helps me stay in the light.” (Let Your Life Speak)

To tell a story gives it fullness and validity. When I tell my stories, it reminds me that they are real and that there are lots of good parts. I know that so well when I hear others’ stories, but I find it hard to hear the validity of my own stories until I actually tell them.

I’ll spare you the even sappier sub-slogans of the season. (Besides, this is the only one that had a point.) I have some other stories to get to—I’m rereading the Harry Potter series, start to finish, in a very short time frame. What can I say—Starbucks isn’t the only pop culture phenomenon I fell for!

this one's for you, hoss

Hi Friends,

I wanted to give you a little update and peek into my roadtrip from California to Illinois. My last few weeks in Fresno were precious albeit hard. I left on November 21 and arrived home on December 4—stretching out the driving (2800 miles) and fun (Disneyland, friends, and family) as long as possible. :) Disneyland was SO much fun! I went with 4 kids and 2 other adults, and I think I had much more fun than the kids.

A sad piece of news is that my grandma, my mom’s mom, died on Dec. 4. She was 86 and had been sick for awhile, but still this came sooner than I expected. Her visitation and funeral are the 16th and 17th respectively, and all my aunts and uncles are coming into town this week.

My sister Becca has spent her fall semester abroad in Ecuador and gets home on the 14th! We are very excited and it will be great to spend time with her while she has Christmas vacation.

I hope you are all having a lovely Christmas season!

Much love,
Sarah




















Me at the Disneyland Castle! The whole day was so magical...









Beautiful SoCal. How I will miss the colors of California!
















Red Rocks of Sedona, AZ















Jess and I in Dallas!

gypsy girl

Last week, I placed my toothbrush in a regular bathroom toothbrush holder--you know, the kind with multiple holes for all the family members to store their dental utensils. This was a significant action; I have reached a place in my life (albeit a planned temporary stage) where I am stable enough to actually take my toothbrush out of its traveling case. For the first time since May, all my possessions are in the same location that I sleep in. They're even in the house, not just the trunk of my car. This might not seem like a big deal to most people, even to many 20-somethings (who, by nature of our stage of life, are nomads--extended adolescence and the quarter-life crisis are a combination equal to that of sauerkraut-flavored spray cheese). But for me, having my books and winter coat in the same house as my pillow is a very big deal.

In the last 5 months, I have used 6 different addresses. I have lived in 4 different places ("lived" counting as at least a month) and slept in 7 different homes ("home" including a hotel suite). My possessions have been located in 9 different places, generally at least 3 places at any given time, one of them always being a car trunk. I have driven 4 different cars (for at least a week each), experienced the world-class Fresno bus system, and bummed rides from numerous people. I think I qualify for the term "gypsy."

While I'm talking terminology, I want to clarify that I am not a bum. According to the dictionary, a hobo is a migratory worker who likes to travel; a tramp travels without working; and a bum does not travel or work. Furthermore, just in case you were wondering, a vagabond is a person who leads a carefree, roaming existence, whereas a vagrant ekes out a living by begging and is often considered a nuisance. I claim the "gypsy" synonyms of itinerant, journeying, nomadic, perambulate (I particularly like this one), unsettled, pathfinder, sauntering. I reject the synonyms of aimless, errant, tourist, straggling, wayward, pioneer, and, sadly, fancy-free.

Something you should know if you become a gypsy is that it's very hard to perambulate with many belongings. I am by nature a pack-rat, and that has been a liability in my journeys. Every time I leave a place, I try to jettison some of my belongings, so I have less to travel with. Cast-offs go to the trash, recycling bin, others' pantries and closets, thrift stores. The other day, with all my things in one place, I looked at them and sized up the situation; and I believe that all of it just might fit in my car if I move to a different city. The hobos in the pictures were pretty smart to just take a bundle tied to a stick. Though I'm not sure why they wanted the stick.

That's all for this (up and running again) pilot post. More thoughts later on what I've discovered during this gypsy existence, including how to perambulate.