November Budget

Happy Monday friends! I hope your weeks are off to a stellar start!  Can you believe that November is basically over? My roommate made the comment that it seems like we just blinked and the month was gone! And it's so true! What is it that always makes November fly by so quickly? With the end of the month comes Fran's Budget Link-Up which is always a ton of fun. I made a few more purchases this month than in the past few and I'm pretty happy with the pieces.  1) Old Navy Light Weight V-Neck Sweater -  ($26.94) $7.54 Very comfortable, but also cut very large. Definitely consider going down a size. 2) Gap Factory Always Skinny Jeans - ($59.99)...

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Let the Advent-ures Begin!

Happy first day of Advent, friends! I hope you all had a restful Thanksgiving weekend filled with joy! For those of you who haven't heard of Advent, in the Catholic Church it marks a season of waiting - waiting for Christ to come. (It is also celebrated in other Christian traditions, but I am not sure if all of the symbolism matches across the board, so I will only directly be speaking to the Catholic tradition. I'd love to learn more if any of y'all care to share!) Advent begins on the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30) and lasts for four Sundays. During Advent, we prepare ourselves for the arrival of our Savior on Christmas.   As I mentioned in my recent...

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Small Business Saturday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are some of the most known shopping days of the year, but there is another Thanksgiving weekend holiday that you may not have heard of: Small Business Saturday. There are so many reasons why it is a good idea to support small businesses in your neighborhood - and it can go beyond just buying food locally (though I do love me a good farmer's market)! Here are just a few I can think of off the top of my head: 1) It boosts your local economy. 2) You often have a better idea of exactly where the money you are spending is going - especially if the store carries fair trade items. 3) It's a great way to build community. You'll often meet the owner of...

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you and all of your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope your days are filled with love and gratitude. (And lots of delicious food!) Today I am grateful for family and friends - for the grace of God and endless mercy - for laughter, for joy, for lessons and for time. I'm grateful for the beauty of creation and the warmth of a kind hello - for all of those working for justice in our world and for the gift of inspiration. I have been blessed with so many moments of love this year and it's such a treasure to be able to gather with those I hold dear and reflect on how we have grown this year and where we've noticed the unending love of God. May we hold on to this grace of gratitude...

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Thankful

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. There is something incredibly beautiful about gathering as friends and family to share moments of gratitude, big and small. This year I am grateful to have my mom visiting me in California. I haven't celebrated a Thanksgiving with family since 2011, so her presence will be such a blessing. Our plans aren't completely sorted out yet (thank you giant research paper), but there will definitely be mass and dinner with friends. If you read my blog somewhat regularly, you know that I like to start each week with a thankful heart by recording 5 Weekly Graces. Remembering to be grateful helps me to stay focused on the beauty in my life that...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 5

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone! I hope all of your weeks and weekends were filled with joy and love. Below are a few highlights from mine. But before that, can we just talk about the gnome shoes that Facebook suggested I might like? While I am thoroughly amused by them (I mean they're hilarious), I am mildly concerned that these are what search engines think I will buy... Too funny. Here are my graces from this past week (other than the smile brought by the shoe recommendation). 1) Beauty. I'm fairly certain I won't stay in California after graduating, but sunsets like these definitely cause me to think otherwise... (#nofilter) 2) Laughter. The main focus of my job is...

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Review: Rent the Runway

On Friday I was given the opportunity to help table at a young alumni fundraiser for the office of the university that I work for. The theme was Great Gatsby, which I love, but I knew right off the bat that there wasn't really anything in my closet that fit the bill. So, I began searching the internet... Google, Polyvore, Shopstyle, basically any search engine that I thought might lead me to a 20's-ish dress at a low price number. You know the drill. When I told my roommate about the party, she instantly mentioned Rent the Runway. Why didn't I think of that?! I've known about the site and their beautiful selection of designer dresses for a while now, but have never had any occasion to...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 4

1.) This weekend was our immersion retreat for those students going on a winter break immersion this year. I am constantly in awe with how insightful and profound my students can be and this weekend was no exception. They never cease to give me hope in the world when I begin to feel jaded and pessimistic. Words cannot express how grateful I am for each and every one of them. 2.) Great Gatsby! As I mentioned in the last 5 Graces, on Friday I was given the opportunity to attend a fundraiser for one of my offices programs. The party was a ton of fun and it was so neat to see everyone all dapper in their 1920's attire. At the very end of the night, the 6 of us who were volunteering snuck up...

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The Grace of Remembrance

I have a brief activity for you. I invite you to close your eyes and think of a specific moment from your past that you remember feeling very happy and very loved. As you're thinking of this moment, try to remember what you were sensing at that time... What do you see? What noises do you hear? What do you smell? Try to soak in the environment around you... What is the space like? Who is there with you? What are you doing? How do you feel? ...

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Sweater Weather

 Happy Wednesday friends! I hope your weeks are off to a great start. We're at that rough halfway point, but I know we can push right through to the weekend! One of my favorite ways to dress in cooler weather is to toss a sweater over thick leggings with riding boots. It's incredibly simple, and depending on the sweater and boots you choose, also very chic. These Old Navy ponte-knit leggings are the first thing I wear in the fall time. They are very thick which means they are very warm and there is no undergarments showing through - it's a win-win. I splurged on the boots at the end of last year (inspired by Fran) and couldn't be happier with the purchase. They're...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 3

Well y'all, it's already Monday, which means it's time for another volume of 5 Weekly Graces. During one of my student meetings we shared "highs and lows" of the week and I couldn't think of any lows! I don't know that that has ever happened to me before! My week was jam packed with joy and blessing and I can't wait to share some of them with you! 1. Rain! Not nearly enough, but Sunday night through a good chunk of Monday we had rain in Berkeley! Not only is rain my favorite, but I also got to wear my bright red Hunter Boots for the first time (you can read my post about it here)! 2. On Monday, my house hosted the Berkeley Jesuit Volunteers over for a delicious soup dinner full of...

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#26 Visit Yosemite

Last week was reading week at my school, which loosely translates to fall break. The past two years I have gone home to Ohio to be with friends and family, but this year I decided to stay, not make any specific plans, and just see what happened. So when my roommate asked if I would want to go with her and two other friends to Yosemite, the answer was clear: YES!!! I have been wanting to visit this beautiful park since moving out to California and was so happy to have someone to go with me. Half Dome is the mountain Yosemite is most famous for. If you've ever seen the logo for North Face jackets, it's based on this mountain. Climbing to the top of it is definitely on my to-do list....

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"With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility."

"God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them..." Genesis 1:27

You are created in the "image and likeness of God." How special is that? You are made to emulate the great Creator. In you, others may encounter the Divine. You are the Crown of Creation.

What a beautiful grace! What a powerful gift!

And yet, we must always remember that "with great power, comes great responsibility." It is not enough to simply be created in the image of God. Humanity has been endowed with the responsibility to care for all of Creation.

This is what Pope Francis is insisting upon in his latest encyclical, Laudato Si. We share in a deep responsibility to take care of creation and allow it to flourish.

The first creation story in Genesis illustrates, in spectacular poetry, the love and care poured out by God in each moment of creation. Where other creation stories during that time contained gods of violence and vengeance, the god of the Hebrew Bible, our God, invited the universe into being. "Let there be," and it was good.

This creation story ends with the formation of a new being. Different from those before, this one was made to be an "image" of God.

In ancient times, specifically those during which the Bible was written, while a king was away from his people, a plaster cast was placed at the head of the town. This replica of the king signified that the people of the place were to be governed and cared for in the same manner that would be done had the ruler been present. In a way, it demonstrated continued care for those the ruler had dominion over. They were not forgotten.

The Book of Genesis, written in Hebrew, has the word for plaster cast found where in English we read image.

Wow.

Not only were we created to resemble God, but according to the Hebrew, we were made to be replicas of the Divine and share in dominion over the rest of creation. But we must remember that this dominion must also replicate the Divine. We are to care for creation with the same compassion and love poured out for us by Christ.

If we are to truly be the Crown of Creation, we must be willing to pour out our love and compassion as well. Not only to our neighbor, but to all of God's magnificent and holy creation.

Peace,
Sarah

*** Linking up with Blessed Is She and #BISsisterhood and Faith and Fellowship

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Rain, Rain, Keep On Coming!

As you may have seen on my Instagram, this week we finally got some rain in Berkeley! I am pretty much always a fan of rain, and living in the terrible Californian drought has only increased my love for this cozy, cuddle-up-with-a-blanket weather. To top it all off, I even got to wear the beautiful, Red Hunter Rain Boots! After I bought them last year there weren't any weather appropriate days to wear them (sorry, not going to wear rain boots if there's no rain), so they've just been sitting in my closet waiting... until now! I bought the boots when they were on super sale just before Piper Lime closed. They marked them down from $150 to $88 and luckily had one pair left in...

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