Back To School....Finale

It's that time of year again! Heading back to school, but luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it, this is my final year of schooling for a while! I am a senior in college, hopefully graduating with a degree in exercise science. I am so stoked for my senior year, I will be taking only three classes and then working this first semester. I'm taking: The Psychology of Personality, Sports Ethics in Society and History of the Holocaust. Yes I have a sort of interest in history and everything that goes along with it :P I was really hoping to get into Photography but alas! I was unsuccessful...so I shall try again for next semester! I hope it happens! I really enjoy taking pictures and I'm sure you shall see more of those as the year progresses, Olaf is really a gorgeous campus, especially come fall and winter....and spring too! So I guess all year it's pretty awesome looking :D
So today is packing day, well was, well still is til like I'm done, which shouldn't be too much longer! Tomorrow is the target run day, when we go to target and get all the things that I don't have and need (not many things on that list yet...probly won't be many anyways! I have done this a few times, I have most of what I need I think). Then on Sunday we head up to my grandma and grandpa's because they are only about 2 hours away from school, and we will spend the night there and then move on to school on Monday when I shall move in! Such a busy weekend! I am super excited to start this year and get going on some more learning :D
My goal as far as fitness this semester is to try and get a workout in everyday! If that means running up and down stairs 7 or 8 times in a row, the so be it! But I would like to get ready for the Homecoming 5K which is actually in about 3 weeks! Already! So, that'll be interesting, yes our homecoming is super super early, it's not usually!
My goal academically is to stay on top of my school work and to not let myself indulge in talking to people, calling home or gaming until my homework is done! I need to do well this semester and I will if I can concentrate on school and not be distracted too much on the side.
Now the trick is putting all of this into action! I hope that I can do it! Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Have an awesome weekend friends!
Love,
Sara :)

Corn Roast 5K 2012

This past sunday I ran my first official 5K race. I have to say that it was a great experience. I was able to run with a friend so there was at least one person I knew next to me the whole time, which really helped and I couldn't have finished without those people! Anyways, the race was 3.1 miles (as any 5K is) and it was actually quite hilly, this did make things a bit more difficult when it came to keeping a steady pace, but we were able to do it. At the beginning of the race, we all went through a group stretch lead by the guy in charge of the race, we then got our t-shirts and numbers and lined up at the starting line. When the gun was fired we were off. My final time was 29:53, which is about three 9.5 minute miles, not bad considering my preparation for this was running two days a week at a slower pace. My friend and I took off and sprinted the last tenth of a mile though and he only finished 3 seconds ahead of me :P, but the entire class made it in under and hour which is pretty awesome for people who have never run in their lives and who you wouldn't expect to want to run a 5K.
If I can find them I will post the pictures of our group before and after but I"m not sure if I will be able to get my hands on them since I didn't bring a camera (bad life choice). Always bring a camera to a race, then you can always remember that day. I did get a ribbon at the end, which is nice to have a reminder of that.

Have a great day!
Love,
Sara :)

Twitter and Instagram!!

Alright so I gave in finally and have added two things to my social media outlets. I have added a twitter account @TheBackupZone as well as an instagram account: thebackupzone. Please feel free to check them out! I will put up some instagram photos every once in a while but to see more you should check me out there!
Thanks guys! Happy Wednesday!
Love,
Sara :)

Monday Musica

Alright, so this song really makes me smile and even in my currently single state I love this song! I don't think you have to be in a relationship to appreciate love songs, that's part of the beauty of them. This song is relatively new to me, and I haven't really heard it much before recently, so I figured that I would post it so that you could all listen to it and appreciate what Boys Like Girls came out with :) This song is called "Be Your Everything".
Enjoy!

Have a good week!
Love,
Sara :)

Paper Flowers

Hey all!
I'm sorry it's been really busy in my life here and I haven't had a lot of time to well, come up with blogging ideas.
I guess I should start off with an update, I am running my first 5K on Sunday!! I am so excited for this and I really can't wait to do this! Hopefully there will be some pictures that day and I can share them with you later :)
Anyways, I found some old sheet music yesterday and decided to make some cute buds out of it! so I've been cutting up a version of "Today Was A Fairytale" by Taylor Swift and making little paper flowers! I will say that the song was originally for a wedding I played violin in, but I didn't end up even playing it. So here's my pretty little musical flower buds :) I don't know exactly where I came up with the idea, probably from Pinterist or the like :P

 materials you will be needing :) You can use any sort of paper, colored looks pretty cool too! But for this particular project I used old music.

 Cut out a circle, it doesn't have to be perfect, otherwise your flower will look too fake.

 now cut your circle in a spiral fashion, again doesn't have to be perfect, try to not vary too much on the size of the swirl strips, makes it easier later, the bigger the swirls the teller your flower can be :)

 now roll up your swirl until you reach the end, hold it tightly.

 Now let go of the tight swirl and hold the forming flower lightly in your hand.

Finally, add some glue on the circle bottom of your flower in order to make the flower shape stick. Make as many as you can/want and loo how pretty they look :D I'm trying to find a place in my room to keep them! Any ideas?

Following: my finished flowers! No two are the same :) just like my days! Just the way I enjoy life :D

Alright, this is my first crafting post, and I have to say that I do enjoy these DIY and crafts :P There may be more of these coming later! We shall see :)

Love,

Sara :)

Monday Musica

I'm going to share with you some of my favorite songs over several weeks. This first one is one that just makes me smile when I hear it. I guess you can say it's because one of my friends said it reminded him of me, but also because it is a pretty awesome song. It's called "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris. Surprisingly I have not heard it too much on the radio, it should be played more, haha, or maybe not. Idk, it puts me in a better mood when I listen to it, though the music video isn't my favorite part I will share it anyways :)

Happy Monday!
Have an awesome week,
Love,
Sara :)

Quick Update

Sorry to say folks, but I don't believe that I will be going climbing this weekend, instead me and a few friends are heading to Six Flags to relax and get our minds off of work and school to have some fun. So, there won't be another climbing update until the following week. Once I get back to school I'm not sure when the climbing updates will continue since I will also have school work to do. But I will do my best to continue with that, since we do have a climbing wall at school I plan to take full advantage of that.
I was talking to my climbing partner and if we both live in the same area next summer/year we hopefully will be getting memberships at some climbing place, in hopes of someday getting our own climbing gear and climbing real rocks instead of just the walls inside.
That's all for now!
Love,
Sara :)

Simple Cinnamon Chips

Alright, so I subscribe to very few magazines. One that I will actually sit down and read is Fitness Magazine. In the back of each magazine they have different recipes that I may or may not try depending on what they are. I found one in last month's (July/August) that was pretty good. While I don't have the actual magazine in from of me, I have a really simple recipe for some cinnamon chips that were included, with my own little twist (or change cause I'm cheap).
So we use corn tortillas, and all you have to do is cut them into triangles. I use the small corn tortillas and cut them into 6 triangles each. Spray a cooking sheet with cooking spray (here I used spray olive oil, yes such a thing exists!) and then lay out as many tortilla triangles as you can/want onto the sheet. Now you can either spray they over with a slightly thicker layer of spray on olive oil, or you can paint on melted butter, it all depends on personal taste (I prefer the butter, it tastes better!). Then sprinkle ground cinnamon over the top and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. The time to cook may vary depending on the oven you use, I know that my oven at home takes longer because it's slow at heating up. You want your chips to be crispy but not burnt.
They are quite good, you can then dip them in yogurt of applesauce, whatever strikes your fancy!

Give a new recipe a try! Don't worry about it, just try something new. Experimenting is how things get started, I advise against setting the kitchen on fire and what not, but these things do happen at times I suppose. Have fun in the kitchen and try new things!
Have a good night!
Love,
Sara :)

Maritime Festival, Day 1

Hey all!
So today was a pretty long day, but a fun day all the same! Today was the first day of a three day festival in Port Washington, WI called Maritime Festival. There was a large ship in the harbor today that would take people on a short (2 hour) sailing trip at designated times around the marina and just outside the lighthouses. It was something that our family had talked about doing for quite a while and had just never gotten around to doing it, this year we went! I got up at 8 am and we were down there by 8:45 (pretty good for me :P) We boarded the ship at 9 am and spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to leave the dock, we apparently if the waters aren't almost completely still it is hard to get the ship to move where you want it to. Who knew?
I apologize for not taking a lot of pictures, but I was really just enjoying being out on the water and out in the open air. For me, the water was really a great place for me to be today because I was able to forget about all of the problems that I have been having lately. It was a good way to clear my head and take in the beauty around me. I don't think my pictures can do justice to the shoreline and how beautiful it all was.

This festival is under-recognized in my county, but it is still pretty awesome :) I'm always looking for these kinds of festivals to go and see, with the different foods and the different little shops and attractions, it's always so neat to see. What are some of your favorite festivals? Care to share? :D

Have a great night all,
Love,
Sara :)

Where I've Been Looking....The Sweetest Occasion

Alright, so as a blogger, I also look at other blogs for some inspiration as well as for ideas of things for me to do! Recently I stumbled upon a blog called The Sweetest Occasion. I have already spent so much time looking at her different DIYs, wedding pictures, drink mixes and fashion plans. I can't help it, I would go so far as to call it slightly addicting :P
Being pretty new to blogging, or so, I find that looking at other blogs that have become successful really helps me to develop and learn about what I can do to improve my own blog. The Sweetest Occasion has already taught me two things: be yourself and consistency! Being yourself is important and that's what people seem to like (whoda thunk?! haha) and readers like consistency, they like to know that there will be another blog posting ever so many days or every day or every week day or the such.
DIYs are some of my favorite things to look at. While I'm a bit slow on the actual doing part of it, I'm working at it! I hope to get some things going this summer and maybe on into the year if I get the time (which may or may not happen...). Some of my favorite DIYs that I have found so far on The Sweetest Occasion include:

• Potted Herb Favors - I would probably end up using these as more of actual pots for myself, but giving is always nice too!
• Painterly Party Wares - I'm thinking maybe for my next party? Blue or purple would look amazing as well as the pink!
• Bon Voyage Garland - while this is from another blogger, it is still I found it on The Sweetest Occasion, and since I and friends of mine travel a lot, I feel like this would be appropriate :)
• Glitter Dot Swizzle Sticks - I do like glitter as much as the next girl haha, and I just had my first swizzle (a grapefruit swizzle from Water Buffalo, DELICIOUS!), so these appealed to me right away

So I think you should all go check out this blog cause it's pretty awesome! A kudos bar for you my dear, your blogging makes me smile because it always has such bright ideas and is pretty to see as well as to read.

Thanks all!
Love,
Sara :)

If Only...Casually Feeling Cute :P

Ok, I admit it, I'm guilty. I look for things that I can't afford or have no real use of. I''m sure many of you do what I do and "window shop", whether that be while physically at a store or while online. I wanted to share a little bit about what I'm currently window shopping for.
The first big site is ModCloth. I have been a fan of ModCloth for years now, and have gotten quite a few items from there, but lately I have been having a lack of income due to no having an actual job (an internship, yes, but it is an unpaid one :P), and since ModCloth isn't always cheap I have not been able to get many of the things I wish I could get :( so here I go with a few things that are on my wishlist for what I call "Casually Feeling Cute :P". This is for the times when I just wanna feel cute and these are dresses that I would really love and would really feel cute in, at least as far as I think since I haven't actually tried them on yet.

 

This is called the Marble Collection Dress, it just captures my each time and makes smile. I don't normally go for the floral look, but here I think that it works really well and the flowers on the shoulder just add something that for some reason I really like!

This dress is much simpler, it is called the To Diner for Dress. While this is much simpler than the last dress it is more of what I would wear daily and is what most people would think of being more "my style". I guess that means more of a tomboy-ish style which is what I held for most of school until later in college when I started getting into this sort of stuff :) I likes it though!

Meet the With the Mostess Dress. First off, I really like the name of this dress. Secondly, I'm noticing a pattern in the dresses that I pick, at least these ones; they aren't too revealing but they will still show off figure and such which is nice. I'm kinda an athletic build so it's a bit difficult to find things that I really can wear well, and to add to it I'm short so these things together can make shopping at department stores more difficult especially when everything is in an extra long...but hey! I won't complain...too much.

Well, these are the dresses that I have right now for window shopping, I'll have more later on I'm sure. This really wasn't very much, but I'm feeling a bit lazy today. This is my first installation of If Only...Casually Feeling Cute :P I hope you enjoyed it!

Have a wonderful night,

Also 3 days til I'm in the Dells :D I'm so excited!

Love,

Sara :)

Update on Climbing

Alright, so I went climbing with a few friends this past Friday and it was such a blast! Seriously! We were four people total who went. For the first time, we had enough time to take a break between climbs but were still able to be social while this was all going on :). Even though one person was on her first time belaying, she did an awesome job and belayed me 4 or 5 times in a row! We had a small bonfire after with s'mores which were delicious, the bugs weren't even too bad which made it even better.
We won't be going climbing this Friday, or at least I won't be because I will be meeting up with my boyfriend in the Wisconsin Dells for the weekend :D I am super excited to finally get to spend some time with him! It's been a long summer not seeing him for very long each month, but we have been going strong for over a year, so I hope things continue going well :)
Anyways, no more climbing until the weekend after, which may also include a trip the Six Flags Great America in Gernee!!! I'm excited to find out if this will happen or not!
Alright, now I am going to bed :P
Have a restful night all and I hope to hear from you guys some time :P
Love,
Sara :)

Saturday "Pick-Up" Volleyball

For those who don't know, this summer I am interning at the YMCA near my house. This past Saturday, we had a volleyball tournament put together by one of the leadership members. I was volunteered for this tournament (and now owe either $15 or $25 to my team captain) by another worker at the Y. I didn't mind so much because I really enjoy playing volleyball. I played a lot last summer with the other summer students at Olaf (where I attend college) a few nights a week. This weekend was only different because the teams were pre-assigned. I was on a team of staff members from the YMCA. There was also a team made up of some summer counselors and another of a high school girl's vb team and another of 8th grade vb players. It was quite an interesting set of games. Our team was the smallest, having at most 4 players. The fourth person was actually a stand-in because our fourth player didn't show up. It was a blast though! Even though we didn't win the championship we all had a lot of fun playing. For the last game there were only three of us until I had to leave, playing against a team of 6 high school/college-aged players. They were pretty good!
While I did get a sunburn and my arms were slightly bruised later that day and today, it was totally worth it because I had a blast and met some pretty neat people!
I would encourage all of you to go out and play a pick-up game of whatever it is! Many communities will have them, so look around and see what you can find! It's always a wonderful way to meet new people and to find somewhere that you may not be an all star, but where you still make an impact and the most important part (in my opinion) is that you make friends and do something active!
Alright, that's all for now my friends!
Have a wonderful night and I hope that your weekends were also wonderful :D I will have an update on how climbing went on Friday soon! I promise! So, probably tomorrow :P
Sleep tight!
Love,
Sara :)

Weekend Climbing

Climbing is enjoyable, what can I say? I really enjoy climbing with friends. This upcoming Friday I am off to climb again downtown Milwaukee. The difference this time is there will be more people. I guess my friend's sister and their friend is also coming, so it'll be nice :)

What I forgot to add in my rock climbing update was that after we were finished climbing, we saw a music boat on the Milwaukee River!! It was pretty awesome! Not to mention all the spiders there were ginormous!!! :( I hate spiders! haha :P

I am super excited to climb again, hopefully I've gotten better, and now that I can actually belay I feel more comfortable climbing and belaying in general. I am super excited for this! Not to mention downtown Milwaukee is really quite beautiful at night! Maybe we can add dinner too because it is gorgeous and there are some really good restaurants downtown. But I'm not sure, I mean I will be hungry cause we leave like right after I get off work and last time I didn't get food first :( So, this time I will be eating first!

Alright, well, updates will follow about how things go, I really encourage all of you to go out a climb at some point! It is really a lot of fun :D It doesn't even have to be climbing, go try something new, keep your workouts interesting and keep them going so that you stay interested and retain the desire to workout! I know that going to different classes at the local YMCA as well as climbing has rekindled my interest in different forms of exercise other than running.

Have a good night folks!
Love,
Sara :)

iPod App?

Alright, so I've been watching a commercial for the Olympics and I'm trying very hard to figure out where I can get ahold of an app like this one. I love reading and I think it would be kinda neat to listen to a classic while I was running, I mean I feel like this would be a nice way to do it. Thing is that my cell phone is not under AT&T. Anyone have a recommendation? I might be getting an ipod touch soonish if that helps! My current ipod only has half of a visible screen...the rest is kinda pixilated. :P

This is the commercial. Thanks all!
Alright, enjoy your day!
Love,
Sara :)

Cheap Find

Alright, so today was a street festival in my town and my mom and sisters and I decided to go and check it out! It was really quite awesome! There was a bouncy house as well as other stalls set up by the different businesses in town. There were some that sold food while others sold knick knacks and cloths. One place that I found I really liked was a thrift store whose name I sadly cannot recall :(, but it was relocating and things there were selling for super cheap! My sister picked up a headband for $1 and I picked up this incense dragon for $8! I total steal! No, I don't really use incense but I love the dragon and who knows :P maybe some day I will!

This find really made me happy! I love how detailed the work is and it actually inspires me a bit, it has a calming feeling which isn't what most people would say but I really love it!

I love thrift shopping! I hope to do more later on this summer! I shall keep you all updated on future finds! :D

Have a wonderful night and go look into a thrift store sometime! You never know what you might find :)

Love,

Sara :)

Update on Climbing

Alright, so I went climbing on friday and it went well! I was able to become belay certified so that both me and my friend could climb. The place we went was pretty awesome, not extravagant but nice! This is probably going to be a short post cause i'm also watching the Olympics right now. Upset with tennis!! That was pretty awesome! :D

Also, in less than 2 weeks I'm going to the Dells with my wonderful boyfriend :D I'm super excited! It's going to be a wonderful weekend!

Alright, lata you all!
Love,
Sara :)

The Prince, The Princess and the Squire

So a dear friend of mine told me a story tonight. It was one that he said has no real ending because it changes each time, but it's one that he was told when he was little and he was just passing it on. So there's this princess, the most beautiful lady in all the realm, and she is together with the prince, who is all she wanted. They lived together in a big castle and were loved by all. Then one day the squire came. He was a smaller fellow but still somehow stole the heart of the princess. Though they could not be together because she was a princess and princesses only marry princes, she held in her hand a small light: hope, a chance at something new with the squire. This squire fell in love with the princess. One night she invited him to dance with her, she held this light in her hands and as they danced it shone but whenever he got too close she would shut her hand and he would no longer see the chance. The squire was invited to live in the castle, but for some reason he was not allowed the food of the castle. But he stayed for the princess. They continued dancing like this many nights, though those around them did not approve. As time continued, the squire realized he would have to leave in order to get food because he was so hungry. The princess was distressed but understood. This is where his story ended. He said that there were many different endings that the story had and it depended on who the story was for what the ending was.
I kinda compared this story to the medieval story of King Arthur, his queen Guinevere, and the knight Sir Lancelot. Their tragic love story is still one of my favorite stories from all of those in the King Arthur stories.
I hope that you have all read King Arthur, I know that I enjoy most medieval stories, of princes and knights in shining armor! Thought I don't fancy being considered a damsel-in-distress, still they usually have pretty dresses (minus those atrocious hats!!) :P
Read read read!!!
Love you all!
Good night,
Sara :)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Mini Pie

So, I was getting bored tonight and my dad reminded me that we had rhubarb and I was really the only one who has cooked it before. So, I went to the kitchen and started making my grandmother's rhubarb sauce. This includes slicing up the rhubarb, and putting it in a sauce pan with warm water. I then brought it gradually to a boil while gradually adding the rhubarb. When the rhubarb gets soft and starts reducing then I added some sugar and brown sugar (this is to taste!). After I had a thought, why not add some strawberries and make it into a pie? So I did! I sliced several strawberries and added them to the boiling water, I then reduced the heat and let it simmer. This sauce was absolutely amazing!!
The reason I made mini pies was because the crust that I used was kinda old...so there was a huge hole in the middle of it when I tried to heat it up. I followed the instructions that were on the box for the pie crust and then added my strawberry-rhubarb and put it back into the oven for a short period of time, just to reheat and get ready to eat.
Enjoy my newest attempt at improvisation food!
Here's a pic of the finished product :P :D
Tasty!

Alright that's all for now folks!
Don't be afraid to experiment in the kitchen....but for the most part explosions aren't the best thing, so try and avoid those in the kitchen!
Good night!
Love,
Sara :)