...Sarah Ada...

Winter Wedding

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend some friends of ours got married. My husband (the bearded fellow) was the best man so I snuck in and got some insider pictures! These are a couple that I particularly enjoy.

Zombie

2012-01-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

Wedding Pictures...

2011-12-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

To start some with some of the pictures from the wedding... Our photographers were Alicia Taylor, Michael Brabant, and my talented friend Michelle Christiance got in on the action as well. Overall it was wonderful and we have so many amazing memories caught forever!

Our Wedding Program

2011-12-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

Our program! The buttons are borrowed from Allison's invitation design. See more of Allison's work (and buy some) at Allison's Etsy!

Invitation!

2011-12-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Our invitation was created by our wonderful artist friend, Allison Johnston! She rocks our socks! LOOOOVEE!

Save the Date!

2011-12-18T18:04:00.000-08:00

Now that the semester is over I'm going to have time to do all sorts of productive things. Such as post pictures and other delights from our glorious wedding! Yay!

First off! Our save the date was created by our amazing friend Brittney Lee!

Organic Chemistry (TGIB)

2011-12-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

It really wouldn't be a normal semester for me if I didn't make a nerdish educational video!

During Literacy Coaching this semester I had the great fortune to get to coach my 10th grade biology teacher, Mrs. Gaffney. I asked her what she would like help with and she told me her students had trouble with the terms and concepts in organic chemistry. So I made this song in an attempt to make the vocab a little more easy to handle.

William and Sarah Pre-Wedding Movie

2011-09-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, Hey. We got married! This video played before I walked down the aisle on the greatest day of my life! <3

Stitchery

2011-08-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on here. Wedding, School, Life.

I've taken up some stitchery though. I'm slowly figuring out what works and what looks ridiculous. Here are some of my beginning endeavors:

Count your blessings to find what you look for...

2011-06-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Wimbley The Lady Quiller

2011-05-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest

2011-03-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

The time has (finally) come to start voting for the Bushman Ukulele Video Contest!
I would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes of your valuable time to help me out by taking the following course of action:
1.Watch the video
2.Sign up for the Bushman Newsletter
(Feel free to unsubscribe after voting… that is unless you’re really interested in ukulele news.)
3.E-mail your favorite THREE videos (in order) to bushmanmusic@gmail.com between March 1st and March 20th 2011 **YOU MUST VOTE FOR THREE FOR YOUR VOTE TO COUNT AT ALL***

The contest rules and list of the other amazing videos can be found on Bushman's website. Thanks for your time!

Love writes a letter...

2011-01-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

This song is so beautiful! I just had to cover it!

Mad World

2010-12-10T18:03:00.001-08:00

Is Love Alive?

2010-12-03T20:55:00.001-08:00

Grad School...

2010-11-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

I haven't been doing much of anything but grad school work lately! Sorry for the lack of posting... I've been learning a lot though!

This is the opening slide of one of the many presentations I've been doing... eeeeh.

Mergan

2010-10-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

I took this picture yesterday wile wandering with my very good friend, Megan Sullivan. She is rather excellent. Check out her blog, myopic musings.

waiting for the hint of a spark.

2010-10-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

...the second hand unwinds.

2010-10-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

You're gonna catch me...

2010-10-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Washington DC Farmers Market

2010-09-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Niki's Maternity

2010-09-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

I want my money back...

2010-08-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

when I was a child, everybody smiled...

2010-08-28T19:11:00.001-07:00

In your house I long to be...

2010-08-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

in fields where the yellow grass grows knee high

2010-08-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you...

2010-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of the most popularly covered songs ever. I've heard so many different beautiful versions of this song. I figured I'd add mine into the mix!

Little Feet

2010-06-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I happened across these two sets of unique little feet! The first set belongs to a munchkin named Vincent, the second set belonged to a rather unfortunate seagull...

The only way to really know, is to really let it go.

2010-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a cover of Ingrid Michaelson's "Maybe"

Here is Ingrid's video. It's so beautiful!

leafy window

2010-06-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Some will win, some will lose...

2010-06-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Freedom's just another word...

2010-06-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sarah's Uke

2010-06-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the crazy amount of ukulele/music themed blog posts recently. I'm truly obsessed with all things uke!

*Picture by the fabulous William Ada <3

another cute, cheap thrill...

2010-06-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade...

2010-05-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Control yourself, take only what you need from it.

2010-05-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Next, watch the video that inspired me to cover this song! It's SO epic!

Lastly, this is the official music video for the Kids by MGMT. It is really creepy and I actually feel SO bad for the poor little boy who is obviously REALLY scared, I would be too! Even though I feel bad, it's still such a good song/video!

Can't Help Falling in Love

2010-05-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Wimbley's Hedgehog Blog!

2010-05-02T09:31:00.001-07:00

Ok! From here on out any hedgehog related news will be posted on Wimbley's Hedgehog Blog!

So if you're interested in Wimbley's activities you can look there! I'm trying to be more organized with all of my web interactions.

L.O.V.E.

2010-05-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Let Your Love Flow

2010-04-29T16:36:00.001-07:00

Wimbley's First Video!

2010-04-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

It seems as though my blog has taken a turn for the hedgehog!

I plan on getting back to some ukulele videos sometime soon! Or some more photography... or words of wisdom... or whatever else it is that you come here looking for!

Meet Wimbley!

2010-04-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

This my darling little lad, Wimbley!!!

There will definitely be MANY pictures and videos of his adorable antics coming SOON!

More Ukulele Love!

2010-04-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

"The Way I Am"

"Laughing With"

1234

2010-03-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a song in a while and I've been meaning to, so here it is!

I really love this song by Feist, it's SO joyous! My version isn't quite as uplifting as the original but I still love singing it!

Everybody, Everybody wants to love...

2010-03-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is the video I made for the Ingrid Michaelson "Everybody Video Contest" I've never submitted anything to a contest before so it's kind of cool.

I'm hoping that a lot of people view and rate my video!
If you have a minute check it out!

A Great Opportunity to make a Difference!

2010-03-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

The Touch a Life Foundation is in Ghana right now working on finishing the Village of Life school. They are attempting to furnish the school and homes and have a super easy donation method set up using Paypal. I just did it! I donated a desk and chair to the school! If a poor college student like me can do it, so can other people!

Check it out!

And if you're worried about donating don't be. You type in what you would like them to stencil on to the piece of furniture you donate then they send you a picture. You actually see what you've donated!! It is all really personal and a great way to make a difference to some wonderful kids!

Please take a minute and consider donating or at least take a minute to check out all of the cool stuff Touch a Life is doing!

As Long as You Love Me

2010-03-06T21:06:00.001-08:00

I'm bringing Backstreet back... alright?

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

2010-03-06T20:39:00.001-08:00

It is so nice when it is possible to be amazingly happy for another person. My friend Brittney Lee is living the dream out in California. She is an amazing artist, musician, and person. She and I went to RIT together and were in the same A Capella group, Encore. I follow Brittney's Blog and just got really emotional reading her post about how she has fulfilled her lifelong dream of working at Disney! Yeah, like THE DISNEY!

It's such an amazing story! It's wonderful to hear that it is possible to do something that you have always wanted to do! I've been so fortunate in my life to see this happen to two people I love, William's brother Phillip works for the WWE, and now Brittney works for Disney!

I've always been one to kind of float from interest to interest. I can't really say there is something I've been passionately working towards since childhood. I didn't even realize that I was going to be a teacher until April 5th 2007. (It's a long story but it really was one of those slap in the face kind of moments...) Other than that, I've always just jumped at opportunities when they have arisen and it has never led me astray.

Anyway. The point of this post was to talk about how amazing Brittney is, seriously check out her blog. She does wonderful and unbelievable things with drawing and paper cutting. Seriously it will blow your mind!

Check out her Etsy shop while you're at it! William often goes to the Etsy shops of my friends for gift-giving. So my desk is surrounded by handmade items from my friends! It's amazing.

I am truly blessed to have such fabulously talented friends!

Britsketch.blogspot.com

Fruit of the Uke!

2010-03-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

Check out some of my Uke Tunes on my YouTube Channel!

Eight Days a Week

2010-03-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I love the Internet

2010-03-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

Two great Village of Hope related things to check out:

Chelsea's blog is an awesome way to keep updated about what is going on at the VOH. Chelsea (aka Chester) is an amazing girl who is living in Ghana for a year. While I was there she was amazingly helpful. The other Geneseo girls and I would have been lost without her!

ALSO:

The Village of Hope now has a Facebook page. People are posting pictures and updates.

All of these web outlets are helping me feel more connected. No one ever has to be far away when you're in cyber-space!

My Heart Aches for Ghana!

2010-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that it's been over 2 and a half months since I left the Village of Hope. I really miss the kids and think about them constantly.

I've been trying to remedy these feelings by writing and finding small things to send to Chelsea and the kids. I'm going to be sending out another package this week with some letters, stickers, books, and educational cds.

Everything helps a little but I still miss the kids so much!

Voki

2010-02-18T14:01:00.001-08:00

Web Tools are so cool! I'm writing a paper about technology in the classroom and had to steal some ideas from Mrs. Dermady's Website. I saw the avatar that Mrs. Dermady made and couldn't resist making one myself!

Get a Voki now!

Us

2010-02-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've posted so much Uke fun and so little photography lately. I have so many loves that I get overwhelmed with what to do next! Right now though, I'm really addicted to playing my brand new ukulele so I'll probably be uploading more videos soon!

Thanks for watching!

Paparazzi

2010-02-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend William and I took a little trip to The House of Guitar and bought this fabulous new uke!

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

2010-02-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

FMyLiterature... the BLOG!

2010-02-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

I just launched the FMyLiterature blog! Very exciting! Please check it out and add some fml moments of characters from your favorite books!

Obruni!

2010-02-08T18:45:00.001-08:00

Clothes Line

2010-01-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

The Talent Show

2010-01-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

A Night of Love Songs

2010-01-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

Check out the Sarah and Dave Parker Facebook Page to find out about upcoming events!

Tonight You Belong to Me

2010-01-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Singing with my dad at Bistro 108...

Window to Kumasi

2010-01-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

Teaching about Ghana!

2010-01-16T19:08:00.001-08:00

Portfolio Cover

2010-01-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

On a lighter note...I'm just putting the finishing touches on everything I need to print out for my student teaching portfolio. Then I decided to create what is most likely the greatest portfolio cover of all time!

Voila!

Compassion

2010-01-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

I can't even begin to explain the impact that my experience at the Village of Hope has had on my life. I thought I knew what compassion was before I left, but it turns out that true compassion is more than donating money to a charity when it's convenient or giving clothes to the Salvation Army when you don't want them anymore. Compassion is something deeper, something more raw and real.

Learning some of the kids' stories by reading Jansten's Gift by Pam Cope, then meeting the kids in person was a surreal experience. They're like tragic young celebrities hidden in an orphanage in Gomoa-Fetteh. Their stories are like something from Brothers Grimm- sick, twisted, and unbelievable. Yet there the kids are- oar scars jaggedly cutting across smiling faces, reminding me that it was all real.

Everyday I spent time with kids like Famous, Sakura, and Gabrielle, who risked their 9-year-old lives to steal a boat and escape from their abusive master and win a chance at living a life that they could choose. When I was 9, I remember being terrified when I got lost in Wal-Mart. I'm 22 now and can't imagine having one-sixteenth of the courage that these kids have.

Someone once considered these kids their property. They had to deal with horrible physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuses that would put any American into therapy for the rest of their days. Yet these kids are at the Village of Hope, doing chores, playing football, going to school, and writing letters filled with drawings and I love yous.
The fact that these kids can still trust, laugh, or love was bewildering to me at first, but I came to learn that faith in God and the hope of a better tomorrow is a key factor in resilience and forgiveness.

I didn't only learn about compassion from these kids, I also learned about faith, courage, and love. Really, it's not fair at all, because I feel like what I've learned from these kids and from my Ghanaian experience as a whole, was so much more than I was able to give back. After having spent just 50 days in Ghana, West Africa with the children in the Village of Hope, I feel like I have lived a lifetime's worth of love.

As the Beatles said, "living is easy with eyes closed". They're right, it is. It's easy to forget that there are real people and real families involved when you read a headline that says, "50,000 Dead in Haiti" it's easy to say, "oh that sucks" as you click on the next headline about death and destruction. I used to be like that, but today, reading the newsprint and seeing the images of the people in Haiti has brought me to tears of anguish. My heart feels like it's being ripped out as I see pictures of Haitian children's limp bodies being lifted from rubble. I immediately think about my Ghanaian students living in the same third world conditions and suffering like this.

Compassion isn't just feeling sorry about something. Compassion has a human face. For me now, it's the face of a child that didn't do anything to deserve having their life torn to shreds. My heart is broken for the world and the suffering that occurs everyday.

Through love, I can do my small part and try and educate future generations about what it means to be compassionate and what we can all do to bring justice to the people who need it most. The Village of Hope taught me that.

Ghanaian Boys and Girls

2010-01-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Fishing Boats

2010-01-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Mark

2010-01-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

Look at this precious face! Look into Mark's beautiful eyes, then read this New York Times article about Mark's past. Mark used to be a SLAVE on Lake Volta. Someone considered Mark their property. I've met many kids with this same history yet I still can't begin to wrap my head around it. There are so many children that still need help, though fortunately for Mark and the others that were brought to the Village of Hope they were rescued by the Touch a Life Foundation.

I just watched this wonderful YouTube video with Pam Cope, author of the book Jansten's Gift and founder of Touch a Life, reading a letter she wrote to Mark. It's an incredible video that just skims the surface of an incredible story. I highly recommend reading Jansten's Gift to learn about what is going on and what can be done to help.

Also: Check out the Village of Hope website to learn more about the orphanage!

Ghana

2010-01-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

More from Ghana

2009-12-30T12:11:00.001-08:00

Visions of an African Lifetime

2009-12-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

In Ghana

2009-11-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Did I mention I am in Ghana?

I've already taken some cool pictures. I'm going to wait until I get home to post them though, I didn't bring my laptop with me so I have no way to shop or compress the files.

Check back in late December to see what kind of adventures I've had!

Thanks,
Sarah

Dining Room Music

2009-10-12T06:58:00.001-07:00

Hotel Geneseo

2009-09-05T17:47:00.001-07:00

A Strawberry in the Window.

2009-07-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to William's keen eye I was able to snap a pic of this strawberry slowly rotting on a window sill.

days on the river

2009-07-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hey it's Franklin.

2009-07-08T07:22:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken at Seaway Camp on the 4th of July by William. I perked it up a bit with PS so I would say this is an artistic collaboration between Gui and I!

Fourth of July

2009-07-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

on the river

2009-06-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

abandoned barn

2009-06-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

creepy park

2009-06-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today I was in a run down old camp ground. I took these pictures and a few others that I will be posting sometime soon! Sorry I've been totally failing with my blogging this summer!

fan on stump

2009-06-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Another cell pic from the park. I found that fan in the garage when I was cleaning out. It was old so I threw it away but we've had a lot of good times with that fan so I took time to snap this pic first.

it's like a mechanical blue flower.

Geocaching!

2009-05-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today I learned about this cool thing called Geocaching. It's this global GPS treasure hunt where people hide things then log it on line. Other people can then look up the coordinates of the cache and try to find it. Today my co-worker Shauna and I found a Geocache that we knew was hidden somewhere in our park. It was really exciting! I joined the Geocache website and discovered that there are four others hidden in my small town. How cool is that?

Here are some other pictures I took at the park on my cell phone.

The poor fox is from last year

and those feet belong to Shauna... I took it while we were finding the Geocache.

imagine!

2009-05-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is from a while back when I went to Strawberry Fields for the first time. I've been trying to sort things out before I start work for the summer, hopefully I will be getting some new pictures taken soon!

Daydreams on YouTube

2009-05-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

My Daydream project is finally on YouTube!
Check it out! It is in three chunks.
Daydreams:
1/3
2/3
3/3

Literary Doodle Book for sale @ Blurb.com

2009-05-11T15:32:00.001-07:00

Literary Terms...

By Sarah Parker

Book Preview

Daydream!

2009-05-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

It's done! I presented my daydream project today! I've been working on it for months so it was an epic unveiling.

This is the introduction of the project. The rest is over twenty minutes long so I can't post the whole thing. I'm going to break it into parts to fit it on YouTube. I'll update about that when it happens... for now though, I'm going to write ONE more paper then be done for the semester!

enjoy!

Daydreams

2009-05-09T12:04:00.001-07:00

I have so many cool things to post after Monday. That's the day I am going to present a project I've been working on all semester. It's turning out ok... nothing is every as beautiful or wonderful as I imagine and want it to be.

Monday night I will be updating with pictures and some video clips from my epic project! Until then I've got nothing because I'm working on this project hardcore until tomorrow! YAY!

Until then... here is a cereal self portrait to tickle your fancy.

solar bobbles revisited.

2009-05-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

count down to summer.

2009-05-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately because of a project I'm working on so I've been trying to update more often. I have a long history of not updating my blog during the summer months, I get really busy because I work 40 hours a week as the manager of a small state park in the Thousand Islands Region, but I think this summer I am going to try to update at LEAST once a week. We'll see what happens but that's my goal as of right now.

the falconer

2009-05-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Foundations

2009-05-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Everyday I walk down Ward Place to get to class. As I walk I don't really look ahead, I mostly stare at the deteriorating and poorly maintained foundations of all of the houses I pass. So today when I was walking I took some pictures. I have this idea to take a lot of pictures like these of different houses and eventually to make them into one big collage of rotting foundation pictures... We'll see.

(This triptych is so small because I want to make it part of something bigger)

All of this talk of foundations reminds of a great some by Kate Nash called, you guessed it, "Foundations". It's a really good song and I just now watched the music video for it for the first time, it is wicked sweet.

More Literary Doodles!

2009-04-30T23:52:00.001-07:00

I'm done with my book! I'm really excited about how it turned out!
These are just a few more pages, including the cover. All together there are 30 pages of fabulous doodles and literary terms! WOWZA!

Literary Term Doodles

2009-04-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

These are two pages from the "Literary Term Doodles" book I'm making for a project. I drew the pictures then scanned them into the computer. I can't really draw very well but I'm pleased with the outcome so far!

stereotypical girl things.

2009-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

This doll belongs to Michelle Christiance. You should see the amazing things she does with them! CHECK IT OUT!

fun with brick walls.

2009-04-19T19:46:00.001-07:00

Opus 2009

2009-03-31T16:29:00.001-07:00

The cover image for Geneseo's art and literature magazine!

the brownies... they're melting.

2009-03-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

legs in the alley.

2009-03-29T23:04:00.000-07:00