About

Welcome!

I'm Sarah Alway, the author of Life As Always

This is not a fashion blog, or a cooking blog, or a DIY blog. Sorry. I don't do that stuff.

I'm just an average girl living the dream with my husband, Stewart. We work hard and play harder, most often with a can of Coors Light in hand. We're not sophisticated or classy, but we're real down to earth and pretty awesome if I do say so myself. You'll often see us camping, hiking, snowboarding, wakesurfing, and generally trying to take advantage of any opportunity where the sun graces the Pacific Northwest with its presence.

We LOVE football, tailgating, lawn games, and beverages that are served in red Solo cups. We hate cooking but we love to eat — candy for him and mac 'n' cheese for me (I have no idea why we don't weigh 300 pounds each). Our families and friends are pretty awesome, and you'll see them featured here often.

If you'd like to know more, continue below...


Sarah  grew up in Olympia, Washington with her parents and two younger siblings. She graduated from North Thurston High School in 2000 where she was a cheerleader and member of the National Honor Society. She attended Western Washington University and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Public Relations concentration. She has worked for The Bellingham Herald, The Centralia Chronicle and The Seattle Times. She received her Paralegal Certification from the University of Washington in 2009. After spending almost a decade in the commercial real estate industry, she is currently working for an affordable housing financial consulting company.

Stewart   was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and grew up in Ferndale, Washington with his parents and two older brothers. He graduated from Ferndale High School in 1999, where he played basketball and soccer. He attended Western Washington University and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Economics — all while maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average! Stew is a dual American/British citizen, so after college he moved to England where he worked at JPMorgan for about a year before returning to Seattle, where he worked as an accountant for Washington Mutual bank until he landed his dream job in the fire service. He is currently a first class firefighter for Valley Regional Fire Authority in Auburn, Washington.

We met  on March 17, 2007 — Saint Patrick's Day! We had both gotten up early in order to spend as many hours as possible celebrating, and had met up with our separate groups of friends at Kells Irish Pub in Seattle's Pike Place Market for a day of St. Paddy's fun. Although we both attended Western Washington University, we never met on campus. However, Sarah's good friend from college had met Stewart before... not at WWU, but on a trip to Paris. When the two reconnected at Kells that day, Sarah and Stewart were introduced, and it didn't take long for the sparks to start flying. Stewart spent the rest of the day with Sarah and her friends, and 14 hours later Sarah had made Stew promise to call her the next morning. The rest is history!

Stewart proposed   in November of 2010 while we were on a whirlwind European tour. He has traveled to Europe many times throughout his life, and promised Sarah early on in their relationship that someday he would take her there. We finally planned a three and a half week trip to England, Ireland, Italy and France. We started off in London to see the sights, followed by a trip to Bournemouth, England (where Stew lived for 15 months after college) to visit Stewart's English relatives. Then we headed to Ireland to experience Dingle and Dublin before flying south to Rome.

Cinque Terre, Italy   is one of Stewart's very favorite places on earth, so of course Sarah insisted that this be one of the main trip destinations. The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of the coast on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of Italy and is composed of the coastline, five villages, and the surrounding hillside. Sarah immediately thought it was the most beautiful and breathtaking place she had ever seen. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overloop the sea, and part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. A walking trail, known as Sentiero Azzurro or "Light Blue Trail" connects the five villages. It was during this hike that Stewart dropped to one knee and popped the question. Of course the answer was "Yes!"

We got married  in 2012 and of course thought St. Patrick's Day would make the perfect wedding date. We tied the knot on March 17 at the Georgetown Ballroom in Seattle. It was the perfect beginning of our new life together.

We moved   from the charming Seattle neighborhood of Ballard out to the suburbs in Snoqualmie, Washington in March 2013, just in time for our first wedding anniversary. Upgrading from our tiny condo to a large house with a yard was a big change for us, but a welcome one. Next, we worked on filling up our big hew house...

Our son, Ryder Steven,  was born on May 5, 2014. You can check out everything that happened during that crazy first year together in my monthly letters to him.

Our daughter, Kiley Patricia,  was born on February 10, 2017. Life has been an adventure as a family of four, and you can see what's been happening in my monthly letters to her.

14 comments :

  1. I stumbled across your blog today and really enjoyed reading about another newlywed couple...and Stewart is from Ferndale! So am I :) a few years younger though. We are looking to move out of the city too. Best of luck in your adventures!

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    1. Why thank you, and welcome! Wow, small world, not many people out there from Ferndale (excepting Jake Locker, of course!) Best of luck to you as well!

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  2. Loved reading this story about the two of you, you have both been very busy.
    I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts, following you on GFC.

    Rachel x

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    1. Thanks Rachel! And yes, we've been very busy... we keep thinking life will slow down one of these days, but it never does!

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  3. That picture is gorgeous! What a great love story.

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    1. Thank you, you're so sweet! We absolutely loved our wedding photographer, she got some fantastic shots. :-)

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  4. I think that you and Stewie should visit me this next year in Pensacola, FL.. I will take you to McGuires (famous) Irish Pub.. show you one of the World's most beautiful sugary sand beaches, and we can make history!! XOXO
    (PS- I appreciate you!!)

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  5. My sister lives in Olympia, Washington. You guys are such a sweet couple!

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  6. Hi Sarah! So glad you stopped by my blog via the Cara Box exchange! So nice to meet a fellow WA blogger :-)

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  7. I just came across your blog and love what I see so far! Congrats on being pregnant! I can't wait to follow along :)

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  8. I love your blog - so glad I found it through your Liebster Award:) Look forward to following!

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  9. Hi Sarah - I found your blog when I Googled how to host a Bunco Night. Thank you for the awesome tips!
    I felt compelled to write because of so many things in common - I'm from Ferndale (although older than your hubby - class of 1987), I'm in commercial real estate, my sis graduated from WWU, my bro-in-law is a Bellevue fireman, my mom worked in the Bellingham Herald building and I have a friend who is a journalist at the Seattle Times. Wow such a small world!!
    Cheers and I'll continue to follow your blog.

    Erika

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    1. Hi Erika! Thank you so much for your comment and I'm so sorry for my incredibly delayed response. It's been a crazy year around here. How random that you are from Ferndale, and all the other wild connections! I've been a terrible blogger as of late but I'm hoping to get back into it soon!

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