Night Out with the Roommate

So tonight was a night out with the roommate after an already busy week! We went out and ate dinner at Applebee's then headed to Target to get some supplies for Christmas time! This included wrapping paper and a bag for another gift I already bought.

For an appetizer, we had Pretzel Sticks with Beer cheese sauce. If you go to Applebee's you must get these!! They were by far one of my favorite things I have ever had there! I highly recommend them!

For dinner Morgan (my roommate, pictured above) had steak with shrimp. It looked really good! And she said it was quite good :)

I had a shrimp pasta plate that was delicious and spicy! Which is what I look for in a good dinner :) tasty, many flavors, pasta, and shrimp. Yes, I am a vegetarian, but more it is that i don't eat most meat, but I still eat seafood, eggs, and milk. More for the health aspect than anything else.

Then Morgan got some wine :) And I got myself a frozen mango margarita :)

We had good fun! I think that more will come in the future which is nice cause it was good to get away from the campus for a while and just talk to a friend! Where do you guys like to go to get away from your life? What would you suggest?

Happy Hump Day!

Love,

Sara :)

Climbing Update

Alright so today's climbing update is a bit more than just a quick update on my climbing stats, I'm also going to share and "if only..." that has to do with climbing gear. Here goes!
This past week-ish (yea a while ago, oops!), I was back home for Thanksgiving Break. So, while I was there, on Friday, Matt and I decided to go rock climbing, because we obviously haven't gone together in a long while. We went down there and found that they had put up some new routes (apparently they try to put up and new route or two every month) down at Turner Hall, meaning of course we had to try at least a few of them. We did, and it was pretty fun! I got a little lazy at one point but we continued to climb about 4 or 5 times up the wall (which is like half the size of the wall here at Olaf, but still functional and pretty fun) and did several boldering challenges. We ended up climbing alone, a little sad, but friends were able to stop by which was nice. I feel like I'm finally getting better at climbing!
After climbing, we talked for a while about the different equipment and looked at what Turner Hall had for sale. We learned that harnesses cost between $65-$95 and that doesn't include shoes, chalk bags, chalk, or a belay device. We did a little research when we got home and found that there is a place at Bayshore Mall (the closest mall to us) that had a store called Erehwon, which carried climbing gear! This was news to us and so we decided to investigate later on.
On Saturday, we headed down to Erehwon (nowhere spelled backwards) and talked to someone about the harnesses they had there. We learned that one big difference between harnesses was the leg straps; meaning some harnesses had adjustable ones while others didn't. We definitely decided that we would want the adjustable ones (you never know! we might grow!). The other difference was the double backing loops, these were I believe all automatically double backed now, which is pretty nice! It save a lot of hassle and extra work when putting on the harness.
Unfortunately I can't show any pictures because the website is a little lacking in the accuracy area (at least when we first checked it). But if me or Matt gets one for Christmas or at any point, I will be sure to post some pictures for you to see.
Have an great Tuesday :D
Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

It is officially Christmas music time! That makes me happy because Christmas music never fails to cheer me up, and I like that about this 'genre' of music. I do believe that it can be called its own 'genre' because of the sheer number of songs written for just this one time of year, and if that's not a good reason for being its own genre, then it's because of all the bells in the songs. There is a certain sound to a Christmas song that is something that cannot be really put into any other song for the rest of the year because it is so particular. And so, today I will be putting up my first Christmas song Musica Monday.
The band that I'm posting is called the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (or TSO). I have listened to them since I was little, and have been to several concerts with my family. It's become a sort of holiday tradition to go and see this rock orchestra play. The main guitarists, keyboardists, and drums stay pretty much the same each year, along with the solo violin (who I always wanted to be!), however in each new city, they borrow some people from the local orchestra and they are invited to play with the band for the concert. They do play more than just Christmas music, but their Christmas music is my favorite that they play. The concerts themselves are really wonderful light shows proving that any seat in the house can be a good seat! Enjoy!

If you just visit YouTube and look them up, you can find many different songs, I would highly encourage this!
What is your favorite Christmas band? I'll try and feature if you comment!
Love,
Sara :)

Break Update

Hey guys!
So as you may have learned/guessed, it's Thanksgiving Break currently (yay!!), which means I'm home for the first time this school year :). I do enjoy being home, but unfortunately, being in the middle of a busy and slightly stressful semester of college, I have homework to do over break as well. I will give you a quick little run down of what has been happening so far during my break.
To start off with, I got home late Tuesday night (meaning a bit after 10 pm). I got to say hi to my family and meet our new cat, Dorito (I will have some pictures up of Dorito in a later post, probably tomorrow), and try out a new coffee machine that we have (pretty snazy!). On Wednesday, we cleaned the entire house, which really took most of a day, we also got food ready for the family that was coming up for Thanksgiving on Thursday (yesterday). I got to cut up the cheese and sausage and arrange them on the plate. That night I visited Matt for a while and we talked about Thanksgiving, school, made some plans for Friday, and just enjoyed each other's company.
Thanksgiving day (happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!) was a very busy day that included lots of food preparation and I was placed in charge of the stuffing, gravy, creamed corn, and sweet potatoes. Also, I was by the microwave, so when relatives brought in mashed potatoes and rolls, I heated them up. We had many people at our house yesterday for thanksgiving, I believe it was around 16-20 people, it was nice to be able to catch up with the family and to see them again. We haven't all been able to get together in several months, I believe the last time was June and before that was last December! While not everyone was able to make it, the majority was and that was very nice to have :)
Today is a homework day. I'm hoping to get most, if not all of my outline done for my history research paper done. The outline itself is due on Monday, and is a big part of our grade for the paper. I'm going to be working on that until around 4, when I'm heading out to dinner with Matt, and then we are going rock climbing with his sister and her boyfriend. I hope to get a majority of this (if not all!) outline done before 4 pm, and then to have a good time tonight! :)
How was everyone's Thanksgiving? What are some of your plans for the rest of the week? Did anyne go to Black Friday?
Have a great day!
Love,
Sara :)

Drawing Finished

I finished my Star Wars drawing!! It does look like snow a bit so that's what in gonna have it be :). The Starcraft is flying through the snow! Take it or leave it! And sorry I'm still figuring out how to do pictures from my phone...help would not be an opposition! Thanks!
Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

Ok I failed...I got distracted by Netflix last night and never posted my Musica Monday...fail on my part. :( I can say however that not only do I have a Musica Monday for you, but I have a drawing that I've finished and another I started and finished sketching out last night! :) I could also blame the fact that Thanksgiving Break starts TODAY!! I'm heading home in less than an hour (I think :P), which is nice, it's the first time I've been home since September!
So, the musica I have for you today (ik not Monday...sorry!) is from a British singer/songwriter named Frank Turner. I was lucky enough to see him and his band in concert this past February, when I went to a Dropkick Murphy's concert! It was really quite awesome and the entire concert was pretty sweet! There are so many good songs that I could post your you guys and I wasn't sure which one to do, so I'm going to (again) put up more than one and I encourage you to watch as many as you'd like or none if you'd rather.

What new bands have you discovered/come across lately? I'd love to hear!
Love,
Sara :)

Climbing Update

All I really should say about my climbing from Saturday is that I made it up the wall twice. And I did! I failed however to follow any sort of route and I have discovered that I really need to workout more if I want to improve! I'm hoping to go climbing again this Friday when I head back home for thanksgiving this Tuesday through Sunday :) what are your thanksgiving plans?
Love,
Sara :)

Girl's Night In/Out

So, last night my roommate, my best college friend, and I decided to have a girls' night after a long stressful week. We went out a bought some wine and ordered in some pizza! The pizza was very late because apparently they were super backed up as far as delivery, but it was still quite good :) For wine, we got a bottle of white wine, a bottle of rose wine, and 2 bottles of red wine. Between the three of us, we drank a cup of the rose wine (which was extremely sweet and fruity flavored), a little more than 1/3 of a bottle of white wine (sweet but very yummy, probably my favorite), and most of a bottle of red wine. I have never really been a big fan of wine, but after drinking some last night, I have been converted! Over Fall Break, Matt and I went out to dinner at Olive Garden and had some very good white wine, which we both liked a lot, but we were unable to remember then name of it, so I am now more willing to try wines to figure out what it was we had and to try and remember what that wine was. Our night in last night was completed by watching the movie The Campaign. I give this movie a rating of 4, it was hilarious and a true political comedy (and as a person who doesn't like politics too much, it was very good!), and I recommend it for anyone who has made fun of American politics before.
For the night out part of last night, we went out with a few more friends for 2 games of bowling. We learned that none of us are good at bowling, but we had a great time. I actually placed 2nd in both games, bowling 'granny style' (occasionally with enough force to knock me on my bottom :P) and never scoring higher than 91. It was a great night to hang out with friends and to relax after a tough week at school!
What would you guys recommend for our next girl's night out or night in? Let me know!
I'm going to go climbing again today, so I will have a new climbing update (finally!) tomorrow! Have a great weekend, my friends!
Love,
Sara :)

When is it too Early for Christmas Music?

Alright, so I have a confession to make. I have started to listen to Christmas music. I'm not exactly sure why I started now (well 2 days ago to be precise), but I guess I was just feeling Christmas-y (yes, that is a word :P). I have to say that no matter how old I get the classic Christmas songs from my childhood are still my favorite Christmas songs of all time. I mean I won't lie, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is still probably my favorite Christmas band to listen to, but more because they are something different than the usual Christmas music we play. What I wanted to ask/see if anyone had an opinion on was when is it too early for Christmas music? Anyone else listening to Christmas music already?
Happy Thursday!
Love,
Sara :)

Where Have I Been? 2

I haven't updated you guys on my whereabouts on the interwebs for a while and I wanted to share a blog that I found. I do search the webs every so often, looking at different blogs that I've either found before or looking for new ones, usually as a study break (this time a break from studying Psychology or writing papers). This time I'd like to share with you a blog called A Cup of Jo. Written by a magazine writer out of NYC who blogs about everything from sex tips to dinner etiquette, traveling to fashion, this is my favorite type of blog, one that touches on just about everything because that's kinda of how I enjoy looking at things. I'm not so good at that whole looking at one thing at a time and keeping in a consistent routine, I tend to be a bit more sporadic in my thinking (in case you haven't figured that out from my blog yet :P ).
Here are some of my favorite posts from A Cup of Jo

• Diner Etiquette is more important to learn that people think!
• Who doesn't like French Toast?
• Simple Wedding Rings (what I'd go for more :P)
• The idea of a Cookie Swap is pretty awesome I think
• I am intrigued by these cookies

So yea, you guys should all check it out! It's a pretty neat blog and well written.

Enjoy!

Love,

Sara :)

Fall Concert: Trampled by Turtles

Each school year, Olaf has two major concerts: a fall concert and a spring concert. For each concert they bring in professional bands/groups to perform at a ticket cost of $5 per person. This year's fall concert was this past Friday night (yea I'm a little slow on the posting sorry...), the artist? Trampled by Turtles. For those of you who don't know, Trampled by Turtles is a bluegrass group consisting of a banjo, 2 guitars (one a bass), a fiddle, and a mandolin. As a fiddle/violin player myself some of the songs they played I recognized the style and the tune of, and was able to pick out many notes and the techniques they were using. It was pretty neat. I took a few pictures and have posted them here, They aren't the best quality but they were taken with my iphone, so cut me a little slack :P. Bluegrass isn't normally one of my choice styles of music to listen to, but the concert was still quite good! I was a fan of the openers! You can see that post here, or by looking at yesterday's Musica Monday post...

This last one is probably one of my favorites, along with the picture with the blue lights, because they capture what I saw to be the essence of the band! I really enjoyed the concert and look forward to finding out who is coming for the spring concert (we won't know until February or March)!

What concerts have you guys been to recently? What did you think of them?

Love,

Sara :)

First Snow of the Year

Technically it's more the first snow of this semester, like first real snow, but it is still none the less exciting!! Woke up this morning only to see a blanket of snow outside my window in the woods! I like snow, and even though I will have to drive home in said snow next week for thanksgiving (assuming it is still here) I still enjoy that it is here :)
Enjoy my snow pictures!
Live,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

Hey, so I wasn't good this weekend, I'm sorry :( I was terrible at posting, but in my defense it has been a pretty long weekend! On Friday night I attended that campus fall concert: Trampled by Turtles, a bluegrass group. However, I was more captured by their opener: Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. I really enjoyed their style and she had a pretty awesome voice! While I had never heard of them before Friday, I quickly became a fan of their music, this is one way that I have found that I become a fan of different bands/groups, in the past The Films was a big one that I found thanks to them being an opener (I find them better in concert than on CD). Anyways, Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles have a good group of people including an accordion, a guitar, drums, a ukulele, a cello, and a double bass. Overall, they are all fun to watch but I would have to say that in concert the drummer and the cellist were the most fun to watch because they both got really into the music! Here's a video of one of my favorite songs, and I found it in a live version which I think makes it all the more real.

Enjoy! What concerts have you guys been to this year?
Love,
Sara :)

Drawing of the Naboo Starfighter

I am a Star Wars geek. There, I said it. I have loved the first three original movies since the first time I watched them. One of my favorite planets and ships actually only appears in Episode 1. The planet Naboo is one of the most sleek and beautiful planets I have ever seen in an Science Fiction show. The Naboo starfighter is one of my favorite ships of all time. I decided to take a a chance and draw on for myself :) Now, I'm no artist, but this is my attempt, I haven't finished yet because I seem to not have a black colored pencil...so for now the partially colored in picture. :) Enjoy!

Try drawing almost every day and soon you will get lots better! I will try and remember to post the finished picture once I've gotten more colored pencils :)

Love,

Sara :)

Silver Lining Scarf from Modcloth

I do love scarfs, have for long time! I just got a new scarf this past week, which is exciting! I routinely go onto a site called ModCloth, which if you have never been to, you should! It's a really awesome site that sells vintage as well as vintage inspired, cute clothing! I've got several things from them hanging in my closet.

This buy was for a $14 dollar scarf, called the Silver Lining Scarf. I'm glad that I could order one before they were out of stock! Sadly they aren't being sold anymore :(, but that just shows how sweet they looked I suppose. True to the name there are some silver sequins knitted into some of the areas, giving it a sparkle! Well, here's my not so good picture for me wearing the scarf.

Thanks for reading guys! Happy Tuesday, well late tuesday :P

Love,

Sara :)

Musica Monday

And I'm back with my Musica Mondays :P I hope you enjoy! This song was actually found by my roommate this year, who is pretty awesome. She was looking around for music and found this group called The Pierces, and we have been listening to them since then. I would classify them as a bit of a darker sounding but still different band, who have pretty stellar fashion! I do love their dresses and outfits in general. Now, I couldn't decide about which song to post, so I'm going to post the first two songs that I heard from them.
The first is called 'Secret', it's kinda dark, but I still am a fan of it! Especially the music video!

The second is called 'Turn on Billie', this one isn't nearly as dark, but has the same sort of sound. Another one of my favorites, so enjoy!

Keep looking for new music! And let me know if you want me to post any new ones, I'm always open to suggestions! Have a great Monday, friends!
Love,
Sara :)

Quotes from Albus Dumbledore

I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series. My mother and I used to read them as soon as we could get our hands on a new book in the series, my favorite characters were Ron and Hermione and my mother's was Albus Dumbledore. I daresay that as I have gotten older I have come to appreciate why she found Dumbledore to be one of the most fascinating and awesome characters in the series. There are many people out there in the Potter fan-world who know a lot more than I do about Dumbledore, but one of my favorite things that came from him are his quotes. I'm a big fan of quotes, so for today I thought that maybe you would like to hear some of my favorite quotes that came from this amazing wizard :) If not, well, I have new music all lined up for tomorrow :P Enjoy!

~"By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many."
~"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."
~"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
~"I don't need a cloak to become invisible."
~"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
~"Ah music, a magic far beyond all we do here!"
~"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be."
~"Time is making fools of us again."
~"Don't count your owls before they are delivered."
~"Of corse it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
~"Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."
~"Even the best of us must sometimes eat our words."
~"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of places, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

This is my nerdiness for one day, I hope you guys enjoyed! Leave some more HP quotes if you want! These are just some of my favorite Dumbledore ones :P
I hope you all had a great weekend, and good luck on the upcoming week!
Love,
Sara :)

First Frost (At Least for Me)

It has finally happened! Today was the first day that I saw frost! The first day that when I walked outside and saw a thin layer of frost on the poor dead and frozen grass! Minnesota, winter is almost upon us!! So get ready for winter, I really hope that there is enough snow for caf tray sledding this year!
Start looking around the house for your scarfs, mittens, and hats! It's getting to be that time of the year!
Now, enjoy the picture of tonight's sunset :P
Love,
Sara :)

Food for Thought 2 - Red Lemonade Remixed

     Hello everyone!  This is Matt back with another food for thought, and this time my post is going to feature a man named Ronald Jenkees.  He is a truly amazing musician who has been making killer beats with his keyboard and computer for some time now, and has finally put up a new song.  This may not seem like a big deal, but the last time he posted on YouTube was around four years ago, and it has really felt like a long time!  What I find so interesting about this man is not only his finesse with music, but also his positive and inspiring mood that always shows in his videos.  It really gets me in a good state of mind, and can hopefully get you readers in one too!

   Here is the link to his new YouTube video, which looks like will be a song on his upcoming CD. Its called Red lemonade Remixed, and I am sure digging it, as I do with most of his music.  If you are interested, I would suggest checking out some of the other great music on his channel, I promise you won't regret it.

As always, have a great day! And listen to some new music!