when you get turned into a meme.

you know how you have those friends that you have been friends with for wayyyyy too long? the ones who know all of the embarrassing stories and have pictures of you during your awkward stages in life?

i have one of those friends.

the other day she found a disgusting old picture of me and got a little creative with it. she did what any good friend would do and turned it into a meme. she took all the tragic stories of my past (all centered around music, of course) and made it into a meme that actually makes me shed tears from laughing. they're hilarious. i look so gross and my life has been beautifully disappointing and i'm beginning to think it's probably better that way. certainly more entertaining, anyway.

as much as i feel like these shouldn't be on the internet for my own personal self-esteem reasons they are just too good to not share. and because i'm too vain to let you think i look like that on a regular basis here's a bit of context to the picture: it was taken one morning days into a music festival after i had just woken up. i was seriously sunburned and puffy, was averaging a handful of hours of sleep each night because i was "camping" in a stuffy astro mini-van, and also sometimes my face just makes that face. if you've read this blog from the beginning, you'll recognize these stories, most of them have gotten their own post.

seriously, i'm dying just looking at them again. and there are more. more stories of my life not turning out how i envisioned it would being paired with what is quite possibly the worst picture of me ever. some day i'll post a round two ;) 

xo

Jesus in the mainstream.

i grew up steeped in the christian music industry. and by that i mean i listened to pretty much only christian music and i loved every minute of it. all my cd's were christian bands and there was a christian radio station (shout out to z100) i could pull in in my bedroom. score.

i still think there are some fantastic christian bands out there still but i have expanded my listening tastes a bit in the past decade and i love discovering songs that are straight-up Jesus music hiding in plain sight. and i'm not even talking the bands that i rave over all the time; switchfoot, needtobreathe, colony house, mat kearney, etc. these are bands and artists who are regular plays on the billboard charts and top 40 radio. 

take a listen and let it feed your soul. 

the fray: be still

tori kelly: hallow

justin bieber: purpose

mumford and sons: awake my soul

selena gomez: nobody

onerepublic: mercy

xo

where the light shines through.

today switchfoot announced the name and release date of their next album. it's album 10 for the san diego boys and it's called where the light shines through and it's releasing on july 8th.

they filled their social media outlets with the news and posted about it on their website. i saw it when i got to work this morning and had to take two minutes to watch the trailer and read the note from jon. i legit got teary-eyed because it's beautiful and i questioned why i watched it while sitting in the middle of the office because i know switchfoot gives me all the feels. if you're feeling like you can handle a good kind of punch to the heart, check it out.

and you can roll your eyes and be all, "sara just really never stops talking about switchfoot and homegirl needs to expand her interests a bit," but i just want to let you know that i'm not the only one who loves them. and it's not even just regular, everyday fangirls...it's other artists who have, in some way or another, expressed their love and appreciation for the band in some way or another.

exhibit a: 

joshua dun from twenty one pilots's instagram. notice that bio line? yeah, switchfoot lyrics from their song where i belong off of vice verses. 

exhibit b: 

colony house's instagram. caption for this photo is switchfoot lyrics from their song gone off of the beautiful letdown. 

exhibit c: 

i realize this is my twitter but did you read it?! i was watching a live stream of will anderson of parachute on facebook and someone wrote in and asked who some of his favorite bands are. his first answer was switchfoot....so obviously i had to tweet about it. also, go follow my twitter, i'm hilarious.

exhibit d: 

okay, i don't actually have proof that this was influenced by switchfoot but the switchfoot vibes are so heavy i'd say it's darn near undeniable that judah & the lion also love the socal boys. 

exhibit e: 

and let's not forget when needtobreathe handpicked switchfoot to be on their very first tour de compadres tour. (i nearly died this night of sheer happiness) 

so just get on this bandwagon already and let's all get really excited for july 8th!

xo

UNITE NDOP.

calling all my Jesus people:

in case you didn't know, this thursday is the national day of prayer!
every year on this day (this day meaning the first thursday of may- ndop is always the first thursday in may) the organization i work for holds an event to bring together the twin cities church (big C in this sense). this year we are expanding to the east coast and will be hosting two prayer and worship events simultaneously!

there will be one here in minneapolis and one in washington, dc. best part, both events are FREE. yep, 100% free. no catch, just come!

minneapolis

mariucci arena on the u of m campus

doors at 6pm, event starts at 7pm

washington, dc

echo theater

doors at 6pm, event starts at 7pm

i'll be at the minneapolis one so if you make it, make sure to say hi! and if you really want to make me love you forever, bring me an iced white mocha, it's going to be a long day for us ;)  

xo

new music ftw.

there have been a ton of incredible concerts that have rolled through town in the past few weeks. 2016 was off to a real sucky start, these shows really helped it turn a corner. should i base my emotions off how much live music i see? no. will i do it anyway? yes. 

and if i'm at a show and there's a shiny, new album out at the merch table you bet your bottom dollar i'm getting it. seeing music happen and then getting to walk out the doors with that music physically in my hands is my love language. 

if you've done the math in this post you'll realize i've added a few new records to my collection in the past few weeks. and because i know you are dying to know, here is my current favorite song off of each of those releases. 

parachute- wide awake

fave song: "what breaks my heart"

judah & the lion- folk hop n roll

fave song: "take it all back"

mutemath- vitals

fave song: "light up"

the rocket summer- zoetic

fave song: "cold war"

xo

warm weather to-do list.

i started a post on sunday night.
i never finished it.
it sat completely unedited, just the seven short lines i had typed up for three full days before i finally came back to it today. i realized it was trash and started over with what you're reading right now.

no promises that this will be good either but at least it doesn't feel like a leftover thought (which that previous post definitely did to me).

we turned a proverbial corner today with the weather (it's ridiculously beautiful outside) so i feel a summer 2016 bucket list is in order!

here goes: 

• organize 5,000 volunteers for Together 2016 
• see a band/artist live that i've never seen before
• spend a day at the state fair
• visit a new coffee shop in my city
• stand-up paddleboard
• camp hot tub club with my pals
• have at least one bonfire
• go on at least two bike/longboard rides a week
• eat on a patio. or fifty.
• fro-yo and/or gelato
• watch at least two movies in the park
• drive somewhere nature-y and go hiking
• go to a friend's wedding
• see fireworks
• visit the farmer's market

what am i forgetting? 

xo

tour de compadres 2016

needtobreathe is back with a second round of tour de compadres (and i'm seriously hoping this turns into a yearly tour for them...they are friends with all of my favorites it seems...)!

i know that it's bad to just assume that the tour will be rolling through my town but i always do and i have yet to be disappointed so i'm just going to keep on making assumptions.

anyway, it was announced late last week that the 2016 tour de compadres crew will be landing in my state on oct. 27th! granted, this time they are gonna be in st. paul as opposed to my beloved minneapolis but i suppose i can make the 12 mile trek to my sister city to see this incredible goodness.

needtobreathe also announced that they are releasing a new album this summer AND released two new singles! be still my little-needtobreathe-loving-heart. listen to their singles here. 

2016 is really starting to shape up. 

xo