Merry Christmas!

For all my Christmas-celebrating readers, Merry Christmas!! Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tend to be busy days for me and my family, and this year is no exception. I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays depending on which you'd prefer!

Image from: here.

Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

What's a holiday song that everyone knows but we can add a few different twists to? The Twelve Days of Christmas!!! There are so any different versions of this song that I'm not even sure what to do with them anymore. So, I'll share the same song that I did last year because it was and still is my favorite song for the holidays. I'm not exactly sure why, but it is!

Happy Holidays, dear readers!!
Love,
Sara :)

Smelling Candles

Have you ever gone into a candle store, like Yankee Candle, just to smell the different candles? No? Oh....awkward... Well, I do. Not a lot, but mostly during the holiday season because that's when they have the good smelling candles (in my opinion at least). This year I ended up buying one such candle, thinking I would give it to my mom for Christmas, but that probably won't happen because I realized that my dad will probably not really appreciate the smell of the candle, nor will anyone else because it smells like Christmas cookies. Like that's what the scent is called: Christmas Cookie. It smells like freshly baked sugar cookies when they first come out of the oven. Maybe it would be a good one to give to my grandmother, she would love something like that I feel, not to mention she always has freshly baked cookies when we are over....must be a grandmother thing.
Anyways, some of my favorite candles are still gingerbread, cinnamon and sugar, apple cider, and one that is now at the studio where I work called Home Sweet Home. I found myself stopping throughout my day today to smell it, it was relaxing and make me smile whenever I smelt it.

What kinds of candles do you guys get during this season? Fun ones?

Love,
Sara :)

I Passed!!!!

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's really that exciting :P I am now Certified Personal Trainer!!

But that's the only thing that I have to share really today....it's less than a week before Christmas and I have done like nothing, so we shall be starting the Christmas/Holiday cards like tonight (after wrapping some presents. So much to do!

Love,

Sara :)

Help Your Mood During the Holidays

Have you ever gotten the winter blues? I know I have! And I still do. While I can't pin-point exactly what it is that gives me the blues, I would have to say that it is a combination of the longer nights and shorter days that make me feel like I'm getting less done each day, the fact that the month seems to go by faster (or maybe that's because I just changed my calendar to December and realized we are like half way through already...oops!), and it gets colder which never helps anyone (except Jack Frost). So, I went on a search for things that would help my mood (and yours too!) during these winter months. And some of the things that I found really surprised me! I'm going to list a few of them here and I really hope that this helps to brighten your holidays! :)
The scent of peppermint is a natural mood enhancer. This stuff not only smells really good (and tastes awesome) but it can increase your motivation and concentration! Who knew candy canes were so good for you?

Keep hydrated. Winter is a time when we tend to feel dryer, maybe not dehydrated so much as our skin gets dry and that's because the air outside is dryer. Make sure the keep your body hydrated, by drinking water and also using lotions to help with your dry or cracking skin! I suggest Pacifica Body Butter or Olay Body Lotion, both have worked really well for me in the past and I stick with them! Just because there is snow on the ground doesn't mean that we need to drink less water, if anything it means we need to keep drinking more even! This can also be applied to your hair, which may start to dry out more especially if it doesn't fully dry before you walk outside in the morning after your shower (guilty). For this switch to a hydrating conditioner instead, trust me it actually helps!

Also, keep exercising throughout the holiday season. I know we are all busy seeing relatives and shopping and trying to drive through heavy traffic and snow (at least up here in WI), but just 30 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week can really make a difference! Not only will you be staying healthy during the winter (when the majority of Americans put on the most weight all year), but exercising naturally makes you happy. This has to do with hormones which I won't get into right now because honestly, most people just don't care, just know that exercising can really make you happy!
What is the one thing that tends to be missing during winter months? Sunlight! Yes, our main source of Vitamin D, take some Vitamin D supplements during this sunless and cloud filled time (I will remind you that I am not a doctor and am not yet a certified personal trainer, so I'm not prescribing anything just giving out the advice I have heard, disclaimer over.).
And lastly, make sure you keep laughing and listening to awesome music! Both of these things are proved to help with those winter blues.

I hope that some of these things at least helped :P To start it off, I'm going to leave here an uplifting song that I am actually currently listening to (I'm not afraid to share my music!) and has put a smile on my face sitting here in my room in an over sized sweater and sweats....studying (after posting this).

Happy Holidays!
Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

I have been seriously slacking lately and I am so sorry for that! On another note, I bring to you a video that made me smile and made me wish that I could do a color run/run around and throw chalk/dry paint at my friends. Seriously, not only is the video awesome, but the song is pretty awesome itself! It's called "The City" by Madeon. I would love to see these guys in concert cause I really an enjoying their music!

On another not, I am taking my test on Thursday and as long as I pass, then my stress will be greatly diminished, meaning I will once again have time for stuff in my life! Think of it like finals, and I have one last one on Thursday, which, if passed (just like school) means that my stressing is over! :D I'm trying to not think about how this test could decide my future but 'tis quite difficult...wish me luck!

Anywho! Back to the music! I hope that you enjoy both this video and the music that goes with it! I'm going to go and review some more and take a practice test.

Love you all,
Sara :)

How I End a Long Week

Alright, how do you end a long week? I end it curled up on a couch, eating saltines (yesterday it was frozen yogurt), and watching American Pickers. Bother...Friday the 13th has not been kind to me...but look! A cat in my sick drawer!!!

Love,

Sara

Musica Monday

Have you ever had one of those days where you just want to block out the world and sit around with a cup of hot cocoa, a great book, and a crackling fireplace? Well, I've been having several of those lately. Now, normally I would do my best to get out and be social, but this two job thing is really wearing on me and I just had a day off after working for thirteen straight , but I suppose that is the real world isn't it? I really should not complain because I brought this upon myself, but it is quite tiring and if you were to somehow talk to Matt he can attest to me being quite tired and such for a while now. I think we all sometimes just need a day to curl up on the couch (or for me, a booth at Fiddleheads...same thing really!) and not have to answer to anyone for a while. On top of it all, I've finally scheduled my CPT test, and it is now December 19th. Wish me luck! It's less than two weeks away!
So, today I leave you with some Fountains of Wayne, mostly cause they are an easy listening group that really does have some great songs. For instance, I leave for you the first song of theirs that I ever heard: Mexican Wine. Enjoy friends!! :D

Love,
Sara :)

Loki Had Kids: a Short Mythology Lesson

Yes, Loki had children. According to Norse mythology, Loki had three children. The first was a son, named Fenrir, the second was another son, Jormungand, and the third was a daughter named Hel. They all lived in Asgard, until Odin got tired of them and their evilness, he was even warned by another god to be wary that they will endanger him and his own family. Jormungand was thrown into the sea by Odin, he is often depicted as a giant snake that bites his own tail. Loki's daughter, Hel, was sent to guard the underworld, where she would live with and look out for the dead, which she accepted without complaint. Fenrir, a wolf, was simply kept under observation as he did not seem to be much different from other wolves, until he started growing larger and larger each day. At some point he got too large for the comfort of his fellow gods, they realized that since they could not kill him, they needed to get him and his evil blood out of Asgard. They attempted to tie him up with chains called Laeding, which he breaks without much of a problem. They tried a second time, this time tying him up with chains called Dromi, which was twice as strong as the Laeding, these he too was able to break. In a panic, Odin turned to the dwarves to create a chain strong enough to hold his grandson. The chain they created was called Glepnir, which was made of some very strange things...like a woman's beard and fish spittle (yea, idk, found this in a mythology book!). When the gods attempted to put this rope around Fenrir, he demanded that as an act of good faith one of Odin's sons put his hand in Fenrir's mouth. So, Tyr (a son of Odin) put his hand in Fenrir's mouth and as the rope tightened around Fenrir, his mouth ended up tightening around Tyr, who ended up loosing his hand over this whole ordeal. He is then gagged with a sword and waits for the end of the world, which Norse mythology refers to as Ragnarok. There are some references to Fenrir breathing fire, but that part is unclear. Fenrir was, in the end, killed by Vidar (another son of Odin) during Ragnarok.

Uffdah! Well, there's an information dump for you! I'm sorry it's not terrifically written, but I thought it was interesting. I also picked up a fiction book called Fenrir, which I am anxiously waiting to read.

Oh! Note! For the next two weeks, I am going to be super stressed because my CPT exam is the 19th! Here's to hoping that I pass!!! Talk about nerve wracking! But on the plus side, my new job as a soon-to-be-personal-trainer is really teaching me a lot and I'm super excited to get started!

I hope you enjoyed the mini history lesson!

Love,

Sara :)

Secret Santa

This is the first of my holiday posts, there will be several this month because I really love this time of year. Also, because I really want to share things with you all or as many people as read this :P
When I was in younger, me and my cousins used to do a secret santa sort of thing for Christmas. Grandma used to say that it would encourage us to talk to each other and that it was fun, but honestly I think it was also just a way for her to ensure that we all actually came to Christmas, wherever it was being held that year. It was always a bit rigged because our parents would agree on who should get what gift for whom because of ages and shopping interest. Anyways, we stopped doing that about four or five years ago simply because there was no longer a consistent amount of cousins that would come to Christmas each year.
This year, me and five friends have decided to bring back this idea and are having our very own version of a Secret Santa, and I am super excited!! :D It's a lit of fun and a great way to test yourself on how well you know your friends or family! In order to pick someone and keep it a secret, we ended up writing out a list of what we wanted and putting our names on the top, then folding them up and dropping them into a stocking, where we each pulled out one name. Obviously, you pull your own name, put it back and try again. We are doing our exchange December 14th (I think) so I have until then to figure out what to get one of my friends.
As in any good girl's night in, there were also board games and wine involved. Ideal? I think so :)

Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

Let's talk for a little bit about consistency. Or more, let's talk about inconsistency. Which is more important? We like it when our schedules and even the people around us are consistent. But what about our music? We seem to like a certain amount of consistency, but we are bothered when an artist or band does not change up their style often enough. Well, I'm here with a band that has made some changes to their latest album, which isn't so recent, but that's ok! This is Fall Out Boy with their song "Just One Yesterday", which I have become a big fan of! It is a bit different than their other songs, and I must say that I don't think that is a bad thing. Having a sort of variety is really an asset for them! I especially love the added female voices in this song, from Foxes.
Enjoy!

Love,
Sara :)