Welcome back world to another weekly post of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! This week I will be talking about the dinner table. I know what you are thinking, what is so special about a dinner table? But what you do not realize is how something as simple as a dinner table can represent a families traditions and culture. My family is very American when it comes to our dinner table. My mother always cooks amazing meals whether it be American or every once in a while she will create a special polish meal for my family to eat.  We all put our phones away, and talk to each other about our day and what we did. Our dinner table is very straight forward, nothing special to it. The first time I ever had dinner that was a different culture from my own family was when I had dinner with my friend in the sixth grades family. She was Indian, so we all sat on the floor on small cushions and ate from a small square table. There are a lot of people in her family so it was fairly packed. Her mother and grandmother prepared many dishes that for me as a ten year old, were very different from what I was used to. I ate what I thought looked the best and enjoyed the meal though I did not eat much. It was a very interesting experience for me and now as I grow older I become more used to eating dinner with different cultures and traditions that are different from my own. I enjoy these experiences that I have at different dinner tables. I think that everyone should try and embrace that we are all different. I encourage everyone to try and have a dinner that is different from what you are used to. You never know what you might learn.
To end this weeks post,
"We should except diversity in culture and tradition and coexist peacefully..."
- Haile Selassie
Thank you for reading this weeks edition of Sierra's Weekly Sayings, hope you read again next week!

Welcome world to the one and only Sierra's Weekly Sayings. Now for this weeks blog post, we will be taking about names, well my name at least. When my mother found out she was pregnant with me after my older sister, she pretty much wanted to name me what they did not name her. My mom hated the name Sierra, but my dad loved it. My mom wanted my name to be Aurora or something like that. So my name was already off to a bad start. My mom says he does not know why she hated my name, she just did. My dad liked my name because he used to live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tahoe and loved it there. In the end my parents didn't really choose my name at all, an old guy in front of my parents in the line at Costco did. He was wearing a shirt that said the Marina and Sierra Boating Company on the back of it. Since my older sisters name is Marina, they thought that it was fate. When I was born my mom said that when she looked at me for the first time, she knew that I was a Sierra. I personally think that my name does fit me, though I have had many friends in the past say that I look like a Jessica or and Ally. I am not saying that my name is extremely unique but it was not as common when I was younger as it is now. So when I was little I wanted a different name because not everyone in my class could spell it, say it right, or remember it correctly. It sounds silly since my name just is not that hard but for little kids it was and that made me feel insecure about it when I was a child. I love my name now but I will always remember how I felt when everyone in my classes name was different from mine. Today I have never let my name hold me back. I mean people still stop to ask how I spell it but I am just used to that since there are many different spellings to my name. I think the main reason Gogol thinks his name is such a hindrance because he thinks that it is going to make people judge him and look at him based on his name. He is scared that people won't look past his name. But a name is not what defines who you are. A name is a part of you, but you are more than just your name. Names are all unique no matter how common they are. It is the person who makes the name special, not the other way around. Cherish your name, cause it means something to someone. I promise.
To end this blog post on names,
"A name represents identity, a deep feeling and holds tremendous significance to its owner."
- Rachel Ingber
Thank you for reading this weeks version of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! Hope you read again next week!

Welcome all to this weeks addition of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! For this weeks blog post, I will be talking about my Families heritage. My grandmother tells me about my families heritage all the time. I know that I am mostly Irish and Polish-American. My great-grandmother was Irish and my great-grandfather was Polish. They both met each other during World War II when my great-grandfather was stationed in a town in Ireland that my great-grandmother lived in. They fell in love and escaped to the US to fine a better life to raise their family. They later had my grandma, then my grandma met my grandpa in California. They eventually had my Uncle then my mother. I do not know much about my Grandpa's parents other than that they are from Ohio. I think that my families heritage is very important. It makes me who I am. The memories that I have made thus far in my life that are related to my families traditions and heritage are some of my favorite memories to keep. I will always remember how my grandma and I would make polish perogies. It one of my favorite foods today to make and enjoy. My family also never skips St. Patrick's Day. If you do not wear green on St. Patrick's Day then you will be shunned for the day from my family. We are very serious about it. These things define me and my family as people and what we believe in and choose to celebrate about the world. To us, our heritage and traditions are very important. It makes my family unique in its own way and I love that.
To end this blog post,
"If we know where we came from, we may better know where to go. If we know who we came from, we may better understand who we are." -Unknown
I hope you enjoyed this weeks addition of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! See you again next week!

Hello and welcome back to Sierra's Weekly Sayings! This week we will talking talking about rational and irrational elements. We are almost finished with the book Notes From Underground where our narrator believes that human existence is often about the internal battle we wage each and every day between rational and irrational thoughts and actions, or elements. I personally do not fully agree with this. Human existence is so much more then he says it is. People have to deal with internal struggles everyday, it is part of being human, but it shouldn't have to come to the point where these are all that you think about. Human's have so much potential to do good in the world but people's minds use the irrational elements to overthrow and take over their peaceful actions and ideas. I do not think that rational is more powerful then irrational or vise versa. I do think that irrational thoughts lead to more experiences and they teach us more then the rational thoughts. They are both equal in my eyes. I know that I do not spend my time everyday thinking about my internal struggles. I never have irrational thoughts unless it is something silly like I'm going to drop out of school and hit the road or something idiotic like that. But that is my mind. Everyone has their own rational and irrational elements that help make that person who they are. Each persons thoughts are unique in some way. Whether or not you let those rational and irrational elements take over your mind, just know that we are on this earth to do more then just let our thoughts consume us. We take these thoughts and we will make something positive out of it. I know I have already started one day at a time.
To end this blog post,
"But rational thoughts lead only to rational thoughts, whereas irrational thoughts lead to new experiences."
- Alan Lightman
Thank you for reading!

Hello and welcome back to another week of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! This week I will be talking about my own contradictions in my life. I have a lot actually. The first one would be that I am sometimes late but expect others to be one time. I am not usually one who is late but when I am I always feel sorry for the person who has to wait for me. If I am not late but the person who I am with is late, then i guess I am a little annoyed because that person should be more responsible and be on time. This one is probably my worst one cause it happens a lot. I hate this contradiction because I know how it feels when I am late to hang out with that person yet I still get upset when they are late. I just need to work on being on time and not letting the other person being late bother me. The second contradiction I have in my life is that I have no religion but still pray when I am really scared. This one is big for me cause my family has never had any religion and I know nothing about religious ideas but I still do this sometimes. I do not believe in a certain religion or god but I do believe in their ideas and thoughts. So I do this sometimes to keep myself from freaking out and to make myself more calm inward. I have honestly come to terms with this contradiction and do not plan on settling on a single religion ever. The last contradiction I have in my life is that I want to make myself happy but spend so much of my life making others happy. I always tell myself that I am going to try and make myself happy, but I use so much of this time to make sure other people in my life are happy. I care about everyone and I want everyone to be happy. I see this as a flaw in my life because, yes I want to make sure everyone in my life is happy, but I always need to make sure and ask myself if I am happy. I don't have very many contradictions in my life so I guess I am a bit of an idiot in some ways but I enjoy the contradictions I have in my life. Without these contradictions, I would not be the person I am today.
To end this weeks blog,
"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack a contradiction a sign of truth."
- Blaise Pascal
Thank you for reading this weeks edition of Sierra's Weekly Sayings and I hope to see you again next week!

Hello again and Welcome to another week of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! This week, we recently finished our latest novel The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare. So for this blog, I will imagine what it would be like if I was the marriage counselor for our two main headstrong characters Petruchio and Katherina. Here is what happened........

I walked into the room where the counseling was being held and I already heard shouting. I was already wanting to leave. I honestly hate my job but it pays well so I deal with it. I come into the room to see a man laying face down on the floor, with a woman sitting on top of him holding his arms and legs down. They were both screaming at each other but I could hardly make out any of it. I sat down and started to read my book until they decided to calm down. I sat there, for two hours, not kidding. Good news is I finished my book, of course it was the the poodle groomer who killed them in the end! Ok I am getting side tracked, anyways when they both finally sat down, I looked at them and asked them to describe how they felt at the moment. They both responded with evil glares to one another and silence. I knew nothing I had to think of was going to work, so I picked up a new book and started to read it until they wanted to speak. After another hour, Petruchio finally asked if I was gonna do anything to help them. I told them that if they wanted my help then they would have to stay seated and not speak to one another unless I gave them permission to. They both rolled their eyes at me. I first asked Petruchio how he felt about their problems and relationship. He said that nothing was wrong between them and that she just needed to be kinder and not speak out so much. When I asked her the same she just sat there and said that she wished that he cared about her more and that if he loved her he would show it. Instead she claims he is rude and unkind towards her. I thought long and hard about what they both told me. Clearly they were both the issue in this relationship. I suggested that as a short term goal they should temporarily spend an hour each day and sit down together and talk about how they felt that day. This would help them come together more and learn to sit down and listen. The long term goal I gave them was for them to learn to respect one another and to calmly speak to each other. This will create a better aura around their relationship. Overall the meeting ended well and we are planning another meeting for next month to check on their progress.

To end this weeks blog, a quote for the Shakespeare lovers,

"And kiss me, Kate; we will be married a Sunday!"

—Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew

Thank you for reading this weeks addition of Sierra's Weekly Sayings!

Hi to whomever is reading and welcome back to another week of Sierra's Weekly Sayings! This week I will be discussing the topic of women keeping their last names. I have heard a lot of debating about whether or not a women should keep her last name from birth. For me personally I do not think it is that important for a women to keep her last name. I think it just depends on the type of person they are. I don't believe women should be forced to keep their last name or be forced to take their husbands name. They should just be given a choice as to if they want to keep their last name or not. Not to sound silly but maybe the wife just likes her last name more than her husbands, or her husbands more than hers. Again it is just the type of person she is. To me it should not really matter at all. It is not a big issue and people should not use time and energy debating about it. If she wants her husbands name she will take it, if she doesn't she won't. It is as simple as that. When I get married I am planning on keeping my last name purely because I love my last and I wouldn't want any other one. I think it is ok for a women to keep her last name and people should respect that.

To end this weeks blog, a quote I just found actually,
"Well the time and day has changed, where the women where the pants without changing the last name."
- Rihanna
Thank you for reading and I hope you read again next time on Sierra's Weekly Sayings!