New Readers, Hi There! Here’s a Bit About Me…

Some of you here have been longtime readers of my books and my work for Glamour (hi everyone! And, good heavens, I just saw that when you search my name on the site, I’ve written something like 4,600 articles and blog posts over the years. I am exhausted just thinking about that right now, ha. I mean, how did I do this? Did I have a clone working at night while I slept. These are blurry years. There was a lot of newborn babies involved.). Anyway, some of you are new here–new to me, my books, my writing, and I wanted to say hi! I love hearing from new readers every day all around the world. It’s seriously my favorite part of what I do–hearing from you! I write to authors of books and articles all the time to say hi and tell them when I connect with something because it means so much to me when people take the time to write.

So, welcome, everyone, and thank you for stopping by!

Things have been a little quiet around here for a while. I took a bit of a break from this blog while I went through some big changes in my personal life, which I will write about more here in the coming months, but I’m BACK, and I have some exciting stuff coming your way.

If you’d like to learn a little about me, you might check out my bio (scroll down for the slightly more fun “informal bio”), but to add to that, I decided I’d share some more, real life, less stuffy kind of stuff (stuffy kind of stuff-? My editor would cut that one on sight). With that, here’s some stuff about me:

I write books. Ten so far, published in a lot of countries (around 30, I think). Pinch me. Sometimes I still wake up and am like, “really? Is this really my career?” I feel very lucky.

I’m a boy mama. My boys are presently 11, 9 and 7. If you see me in Seattle, I usually have a herd of little men around me, with the littlest one (age 7)  holding onto my purse or skirt hem (he’s done this since he learned to walk). I love pink, heels, and all things girly, and while I’m not entirely sure how/why God thought it would be a good idea to shower me with boys, I have to say I love, love, love being a boy mom. Lots more posts on boy-mamahood to come, but I feel, truly and deeply, like the luckiest lady to have been blessed with this tribe of little men.

My first love was magazine journalism. After college, my dream was to become a freelance writer, and I hustled it big time to make it a reality. While my career transitioned into writing fiction, I still love magazines and would drop anything if one of my former editors called and asked me to write an essay about, say, my love of jazz, for example. (Friends at Real Simple, are you listening? Also, here’s an article I wrote for RS years ago titled “20 Tips to Make Your Wardrobe Last” that I just found online. My Lulu leggings are looking kind of haggard, so I’m going to stop this and re-reread my own advice right now, ha.)

I’m obsessed with jazz. Old jazz, new jazz, latin jazz, piano jazz, Bossanova jazz–all jazz (except elevator jazz, which really isn’t jazz) makes me insanely happy. Dave Brubeck for me = instant mood lift. At my house, you’ll find jazz streaming through the speakers all the time, especially on Sunday mornings, when it’s a ritual.

I think life is better with wine. Enough said.

Dark chocolate makes me sneeze. Totally bizarre but true: I sneeze after the first bite of dark chocolate. Same thing happens to my son, Carson. Genetics, I tell ya!

I love love. I’m a total cheeseball, tis true. I cry at weddings. All of them. I ask everyone how they met, fell in love. I eavesdrop on strangers on dates at restaurants. I am eternally fascinated by love.

I’m a huge believer in forgiveness, of others and self. Forgiveness comes easier to some than others. I am always grateful that I’m an easy forgiver. I mean, I know, some people deserve what they have coming, but the thing is, friends, holding on to anger is sooooo toxic. Choose forgiveness. I do! And what’s harder, I’ve found, is forgiving yourself. I’m still working on that.

I survived divorce, and am stronger in its wake. Divorce sucks. I went through a pretty bad and wacky one, and still struggle with frequent landmines in its aftermath. Basically, when you dismember a family unit with the court system as the surgeon, you’re going to have a bunch of wounds, scars, infections and phantom pain. Good analogy, right? That said, five years later, I am happier than ever, stronger than ever, and look at life and people so differently than I did before. Lots more on this subject to come…

I love beauty products. Seriously, I could have a total side gig as a beauty blogger or YouTuber just sitting there talking/writing about my latest beauty finds. Sephora is my happy place. What are your favorite beauty products of the moment? Right now I’m obsessed with vitamin C serums. I just picked up this collagen-boosting one and am loving it.

I love to cook and I make elaborate meals for my kids and people I love. I’ve been cooking my whole life (my dad told me at the age of 10 that I “make a mean salad” so I basically made the salad for dinner every night. He also told me I am the best at doing the dishes, so I did the dishes every night. Nice brainwashing, dad), and my first published article as a freelancer was in Gourmet magazine, even. I’ve been into food forever. I love cooking for the people I love. And especially love feeding children and men! I love that men are big eaters and kids are always hungry, haha. I’m obsessed with having people in my kitchen. I hate being alone in my kitchen. So boring! For years, in my old house, I kept an upholstered easy chair right in the center of my kitchen so someone could sit there and chat with me while I stirred a pot or chopped veggies. I’m in a new house now, and it has an open floorpan, so the kitchen is in the heart of everything: win win for me.

Gardening makes me happy. I have an herb garden, plant vegetables every year (including pumpkins, which is an annual tradition).

I fall asleep during movies and TV shows. I literally can stay up late into the night when I’m face to face talking with someone, out on the town, socializing–anything people oriented–but put me in front of a screen and it’s like zzzzzzzzzzzz. I’m out. This totally bums out my fiancé, Brandon. He loves movies and good TV series. And while I also like a good Netflix binge, I tell you, I have a syndrome. Screens make me sleepy. In the first year we started dating, Brandon said the cutest thing. He was like: “We need a TV show to watch together.” I was like, “huh?” He’s like, “People who are in love have a TV show they watch together.” Sooo adorable. And I’ve been trying! Sometimes I doze off 15-minutes in, sometimes halfway through. Other times, I power through a whole episode! Hahaha. In all of this dozing, he is very patient. He usually can remember the exact place I began snoozing and will try again the next night. Very persistent, this one. So far, we’ve managed to watch the following shows despite my sleepy ways: Westworld, Mad Men, The Americans, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones and Stranger Things (I rarely fell asleep during the last two–soooo good.) My kids know me so well that when I take them to see a movie, they constantly poke me to make sure I’m not starting to doze off. (Oh, and I found a solution for that, and it’s call 4D movies, which are TORTURE, but successful in keeping your eyes open. Wide open.)

I love my morning coffee so much, I look forward to it at bedtime. Anyone else do this, or am I kind of nuts?

My first car was a green 1969 VW Beetle. I still swoon when I see one on the road. Best cars ever.

I think I will be a rad old lady someday. Just a prediction. I like cocktail hour, giving treats to children, Palm Springs, enormous sunglasses, skew towards zany fashion, and have lots of stories to tell. Come hang with me by the pool in 2049! I’ll make you a martini.

All for now. This was fun! Tell me about you, and what brought you here.

 

5 Comments
  • June 8, 2018
    reply
    Glenda

    I’ve been following you since the Glamour Days. Met you in San Diego during your first book tour. I’ve read all of your books. Love your writing. Miss your blogging. Ah, my morning cup of coffee is a must! I’ve been drinking coffee since I was little. I love LOVE too. I cry easily. Love love-stories. Yes to forgiveness. Too toxic. Can’t wait to read more blogs from you! Best to you and your fiancé and the boys.

  • June 8, 2018
    reply
    Dawn

    Wow, 4,600??! That is A LOT! I am certain that I have read every single one of your Glamour blog posts from back in the day. I’m looking forward to reading your new posts here — especially the Writing Tip of the Day series. I know you have so much wisdom to share. 🙂

    As for beauty products, have you tried the BareMinerals Ageless Genius serum? It is SO incredible. I cannot remember the last time I fell so hard for a beauty product.

      • June 12, 2018
        reply
        Dawn

        Fun, and expensive!! ? Let me know what you think of the miracle serum. They have an Agless Genius eye cream too that I am planning to try once I run out of my current eye cream.

  • September 4, 2019
    reply
    Brenda Villanueva

    Sarah,
    I want to express to you how much i enjoy your books. I found them in a book box across from my house in Prunedale, Ca. I mailed 8 books to my 85 year old mother in Palm Harbor, Fla. She absolutely loved all of the books and passed them to all her friends! She is now jonesing for your latest release, All the Flowers in Paris, which i am sending to her today. Again thank you!

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