Muisca Monday

This past weekend, I was able to sleep in and relax Sunday morning and Saturday afternoon. I had some reading to do for the newsletters I'm writing for my personal training job but other than that I was relaxing. It was a very nice feeling. I did work on reupholstering the dinning room chairs that Morgan and I will (maybe) be taking with us when we move, but that was actually quite a bit of fun.
It's nice on the weekends when I don't work because I get to dress just how I want. I'm not complaining about wearing exercise cloths everyday to work, but I never thought I'd miss the way jeans feel! Anyways, Sunday was my relaxing day and relaxing is exactly what I did! I turned the music up and I did some reading and crafting :) One of my favorite songs for this relaxing time is by the well-known Regina Spektor. Her debut album was 11:11 released in 2001 by herself (I could have worded that better but I'm too lazy to change it). The song I'm picking for you all to listen to today is from her 2009 album Far. Her song "The Calculation" just makes me want to put on a pretty dress (even in the middle of Wisconsin winter) and spin around with a smile on my face! What do you guys think?

Love,
Sara :)

NYC Day 5

I am currently laying on my bed (with a new bedspread and now green walls!) back in my hometown/parents' house. After spending five days in New York, I have been reminded about how much I want to travel, not just the world, but also the USA, which I still have much of to explore. Needless to say, we got home safely.
Anywho, our last day in New York was a bit slower but still just as much fun. We got up a bit earlier than normal in order to get in line at the SONY Wonder Technology Lab. We ended up getting in without a problem, even though they do say that you are supposed to call over a week in advance, it seems like most people who lined up in the morning at least today. The pictures below are from the Lab, it was really neat and I do highly recommend it to anyone interested in computers, digital art/media, robots, even digital surgery! All of these and more were shown here at the SONY Wonder Technology Lab.

We spent a few hours at the Lab, and had a great time there! We had a video of a 'news broadcast' we did, but unfortunately my recording on my phone of a playback of our recording is less than stellar :(. So no videos here today, maybe when I better figure out my videos...
After the Lab, we headed back to Central Park, following a craving for those delicious Belgian Waffles before we left New York for home. We did, and they were delicious, and I took a picture of the stand so that I could pass on the goodness to those of you who have not had the wonderfulness of a Belgian Waffles from a Waffles&Dingys stand (this one located by Central Park). Anyone who goes to New York should seek out one of these stands, it's worth the calories I'm sure come with these.
Speaking of which, something interesting that I noticed in New York was that many restaurants and cafes put a helpful number next to their dishes indicating the number of calories. I do believe that I have seen this before in London, but never in the States to my recollection. Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems to be a new thing that could really catch on!

Shoot! I'm forgetting my new timezone, so this is a bit late to have it on Friday, but that's when we had our last day in New York. I will get back into it in a bit. I have a fashion post coming up (an "If Only..." that is) and hopefully some food ones within the next few months!

I also want it to be known that I have been listening to music, in fact, I am currently listening to Ben Folds!

Love,

Sara :)

NYC Day 4

The fourth day of our New York trip was quite busy, and involved lots of pictures being taken and a bit of frustration, and a fair amount of walking (though not quite as much as yesterday I feel). We slept in a bit but then headed to the Rockefeller Center in order to catch a tour bus to take us to the 9/11 Memorial which was on the route. The trip itself was nice, the top four pictures are taken from our view on top of the tour bus. It was so high up that the taller people did have to duck when we came too close to stop lights or signs hanging above the roads.

The pictures below are from the 9/11 Memorial. The memorial itself is almost done, but I think that it will be even more moving when the museum itself is done, which should be 2014. It was a really neat place, although for any who plan on going there, the security is quick but extensive for a free ticket. I would suggest going there. The pictures below are of the pools that have the names around them of those who died and gave their lives on that historic day.

The big drama of the day happened when we tried to come back on the same bus, which was supposed to stop by every 30 minutes, and we waited for over an hour and by the time it got there, they didn't have any room left to take those of us left, so my mom, sister, and I just ended up walking the 50-ish blocks back to the hotel. It was actually a pretty nice walk and I'm glad that we did walk because we got our exercise in for the day that way as well. :)
For dinner, we went to Potbelly, where I got their loaded baked potato soup, and then we headed to the Rockefeller Tower which we climbed at 8:30 pm. The pictures below are of the Rockefeller Building and the view from the top, which was pretty incredible!

I've also come up with the idea of getting a group of friends together this summer and us heading to Chicago and doing some parkour/free running along with our touring, just for fun. Any suggestions for this?
Have a great night friends! It is our last night in NYC :( I will miss the city, but look forward to going home and getting ready for graduation in May.
Love,
Sara :)

NYC Day 3

Our third day in NYC (well technically we are in Manhattan all week, but NYC sounds cooler :P), was pretty long and we actually spent time planning out some of it! We got up pretty early and had breakfast at the same place as yesterday (eggs and cheese on a bun) from the street vender who remembered us, which was pretty neat. We then headed out to the Guggenheim Museum, which was a little over a three mile walk (I understand why New Yorkers are all in such good shape, they walk everywhere! Another good reason to live in the city). The pictures below are from the museum, the first being the museum itself from the outside (pretty awesome looking right?!), the second is a part of a large canvas on which all guests could color on with crayons, so of corse I did! :P The third and fourth are inside the museum, pretty sweet! I would recommend this museum even if it is just to look at the architecture of it!

We then headed back to central park for something we had been craving since yesterday: Belgian Waffles. I think that the picture below speaks for itself. THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!!

We were pressed for time in a way since we had a musical to go to that afternoon: 'The Phantom of the Opera', which none of us had seen on stage (I've seen the movie, but the play was definitely better!). We walked through Times Square on our way which is where this first picture comes from. The play itself was amazing! I loved it, even if the people behind us were complaining about the singing (that there was too much singing.....it is a broadway MUSICAL about an OPERA....silly people!), and would be more than willing to see it again! We even got some souvenirs, including a t-shirt that I plan on wearing on Friday for the trip home.

We went out to dinner and ate at T.G.I.Friday's, which was another place where we hadn't been before. I am glad that I eat fish (even as a vegetarian) because otherwise I would not have found much (as would be expected). It was good food, but they were understaffed and really busy so the service was slow, but worth it. Afterwords, we headed back to Times Square and wandered around in the dark for a while, finding our way into the M&M store, Toys R Us, and the Hersey's store. It was a good night! I even ran into Luigi, and got a picture after having to tip him (weird...).

I've noticed a lot of Jazz being sold around here, as well as French and Italian music around, and am thinking of increasing my collection of these musics due to how popular they are and how much I like them! Also, going to the musical tonight has rekindled my interest in my music and I am looking forward to continuing playing in summer pit orchestras, maybe someday getting to play with a traveling broadway show O.O that'd be super crazy! :P
Well, another day come and gone, have a great night, dear readers! Gwnite!
Love,
Sara :)

NYC Day 2

Day Two of our five day adventure and I must admit I'm getting that familiar feeling of being a city person again (I get this feeling every time I visit a big city; meaning that I could stand living in one for a while, not sure about permanently, but it would be possible). We started off the day by sleeping in, in our defense we did go to bed quite late last night! But around 11 am we got out of the room and were on the hunt for some brunch. We found this small street cart/stall called Primos Cafe, where we got some pretty good egg and cheese on a bun sandwiches for $2.50, and it tasted a lot better than breakfast yesterday!

After getting our food, we made our way to Central Park. No it's not green in the pictures, but it was still really pretty and we walked around about half of it, still feeling like we were getting our exercise as we ran onto the large rocks they have there and eventually found a merry-go-round where my sister and I rode once :P. My strange face in the picture is because my horse was angry (you can tell by the ears!)...

We then headed to the Museum of Natural History, not far from Central Park and were able to get into two different special exhibits there. Since it was the site of the movie Night at the Museum, we had to stop by and take a look around. It's a lot bigger than I remember, and if we didn't have a map I would have gotten lost and missed the times for getting into the special exhibits. The two exhibits we went to were "Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture" and the Planetarium for "Journey to the Stars Space Show". Both can be found at the website here. The dinosaurs are yes, a necessary picture :P

On our way back to our hotel and the Rockefeller building for dinner, we made a detour to the Guggenheim Museum, but we will be stopping there tomorrow morning to look at it. So there should be some pictures up from there tomorrow because it is a very cool looking place! We got a few card games there that we will be trying out over the next few days and I may have a post and will definitely be trying one or two at further Hideaway get togethers! We also made a stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral after dinner. It's currently under construction, but the architecture and the art there is still beautiful! We even made a few offerings at the alters.

Overall, it was a very good day and we got quite a bit of walking done. I will admit that my feet hurt by the end of the day, but my arms are looking for a workout of some sort, so push-ups might be in order later on tonight, just to balance out the two halves of my body. I also had the question while walking through Central Park of whether or not parkour (street running) was legal or practiced in New York. While my limited search revealed a New York Parkour organization, I came to no conclusive answer on that so further searching seems to be necessary!

On a very different note, I'm going to be looking for spring clothing soon, I'm trying to stock up on clothing now while I have money and before I graduate and have to figure that out (going to be hard to choose where I want to be, so the job I get might be the deciding factor...). So, be on the look out for a post within the next week or so of some cute spring picks that I have been finding lately :D

For now, dear readers, I say adieu! :)

Love,

Sara :)

Monday Musica

Alright, so I know that I'm a bit late here today, and I am sorry about that, but even though it seems off, when I am home I actually don't spend as much time on my computer as I do doing other things. For instance, currently I am thinking about a possible camping/hiking trip I may be taking with Matt later on in the year (meaning I'm also starting to look at gear!! Always fun! :D). So right now, my mind is kinda distracted by that thought :P plus the fact that we are reorganizing my room, and I think I'm sick with something (but really no idea what). All these excuses have piled up to become an excuse for why I have not been blogging over interim break.
On another note, the music I'm thinking of today is actually something called an anime music video (AMV) for the show Bleach. I would recommend it for people, I mean I enjoy it, but I do know that some really don't like anime and I respect that. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of it and am currently enjoying Soul Eater and a few others :P This is an AMV to the song 'It's My Life' by Bon Jovi, which is a good song in general! This is a bit different from my usual Musica Mondays, but I still hope that you all enjoy it and you comment and let me know what you think! Depending, there may be more of these later :P

Love,
Sara :)

Hamburger Cookies

Alright, I'm not sure how many of you have heard about these wonderful inventions called hamburger cookies. I was introduced to these little cookies by Matt on Christmas Eve day! They are pretty simple to make and also very cute, perfect for the holidays or pretty much any other occasion you could think of! The overall rating is that they are better than regular burgers :P

The ingredients are simple: vanilla wafers, chocolate covered mint cookies (girl scout thin mints are best), vanilla frosting (to be dyed red), coconut shavings (the kind that we sometimes put on top of cupcakes and the like, to be dyed green), and green and red food dyes.

To create the "lettuce" and "ketchup": Take about half a container of vanilla frosting and add a few drops of red food coloring (it is more pink, but that's alright, you can't have everything) which will make your "ketchup"/glue. For the "lettuce", take about half or more of a bag of coconut shavings and add just 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring (it is strong stuff) and combine them in a ziplock bag, close the bag, and shake it up until all the coconut shavings are a light green color. You can leave some parts white if you want it to seem more like iceberg lettuce, or dye it a darker green for a shredded spinach look, it's completely up to you!

To combine and create a hamburger:
1- Take one vanilla wafer and spread it with a thin layer of your "ketchup" on the flat side.
2- Set one mint cookie on top for your "burger patty"
3- Spread another layer of "ketchup"
4- Add in a pinch of your "lettuce", or until you are satisfied with the amount
5- Take another vanilla wafer cookie and spread the flat side with "ketchup" (the ketchup on this layer is optional, if your burger will stay together without it, then it isn't needed, but we might have added a bit too much lettuce and needed some extra glue to hold it all together)
6- Place this second wafer cookie on top of the lettuce and Ta Da! You have a hamburger cookie!

For a visual reference, check the picture below. I did not get any pictures of actually making the cookies, but I can assure you that if you have more than one person it goes by very quickly, we were able to make two platefuls (about 18 cookies each plate) in under an hour. Best part: NO BAKING INVOLVED! This is a perfect last minute cookie idea!

What we are trying to come up with now are variations on this burger. I mean burgers are awesome, but what about adding cheese? Or two thin mints as a double burger? We haven't come up with anything to use for the cheese, any suggestions from readers? I'd really appreciate it, and promise to try it out and report my findings :P

Well I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, or a wonderful past few days. We've been running around visiting family and friends for the past few days so it's been a little nuts, and I'm taking whatever time I can to blog and/or craft. I'm currently working on a few ideas for New Years that I will share when I finish at least one of them! I am also now back at my grandma's house so there may or may not be a post about the neat things around her house tomorrow or something.

As always, your replies are always appreciated and more than welcome! Happy Hump Day! :D

Love,

Sara :)

Musica Monday

Hey all!
Happy Christmas Eve Day!! That is for those of you who do celebrate Christmas, for those of you who don't, we'll I hope that you are having a wonderful night and I will say that I a going to post one of my favorite holiday songs for this time of year. I will also have an update about what my family is doing for Christmas!
First, the music. I present to you actually a piece that I heard for the first time a few years ago. It's by a group called Relient K, and yes it is a Christian rock band, but they do have a unique sound that I have found that I enjoy!

I am a fan of the way that they sort of play with this song and I enjoy the way they make fun of it because I remember thinking the same thoughts about what the gifts were. I hope that you enjoy your holiday season and I wish you all a happy season.

I would also like to put I that my sister and I have two things noteworthy for this holiday season. First, in place of excess gifts, our parents have given both of use some money to spend on a charity (charities) of our choice. I am currently coming up with places where I would spend said money. Granted these funds are not endless, but they are enough for 3 or 4 donations. The places I am coming up with now include: ASPCA, Pencils of Promise, Church World Service, and a website called Kiva.com (which you should check out!). I am open to  recommendations. I feel that the holidays should be more of a time to help those who need and to reach out than to be more centered around ourselves, but that's just my opinion :) whatever that is worth! :P If you we're given money to donate what would your  top 3 charities be?

Second, my sister and I decided to make the majority of our cards this year! It was a lot of fun and I forgot how much I actually missed doing this sort of thing.

These were the end results of what we made  (not all of them, but the first few). It would be really neat to be able to create cards as a part-time career and to give everyone I know a handmade and original card but I would have no idea of where to start because it is n area in which I have little to no experience. But it for sure would be an adventure!

Well that's all I got for now! Again happy holidays to everyone and enjoy the musica Monday :D

Love,

Sara :)

Night at Grandma's House

As is customary during the holiday season, we visit my grandmother up near Lacrosse, Wisconsin. She has a oldish house, my grandfather built, that's on land that has been used as a tree farm by my grandpa for their whole time living here. It is a very pretty place, set in the middle of the woods as a setting of mystery and a feeling of slight magic and still, for a suburb kid such as myself, a bit of fear of the unknown of what I will find out here. But for now I shall concentrate on the pretty parts which include some really neat vintage style items she has up in the attic part, or where I sleep :)
Since I was little I have been intrigued by many of the seemingly old and strange and different things my grandma has collected over time. From old clocks to books to furniture style to plates and a dollhouse that we used to pretend to play in as children. I've always enjoyed her collections, which are scattered throughout her house, giving it a sort of mystical feel to it. This feeling tells me that no matter where we are or how small we feel we are in the world, it's the little things that make a place magical :)

Someday I will ask grandma to tell me more about these items that I have seen since I was a little girl, but until then, it shall remain to my imagination to come up with the answer! What kinds of places do you guys know of that have a history of their own? Do you know the history? You should ask and learn, as I will when people are awake :P

Happy Saturday!

Love,

Sara :)

P.S. The hunt is on for a new car that I should be able to pay off in the next 4 years or so, so one that will last! Any suggestions? So far my favorite is a Mini Cooper :D

Update

Hey guys, so I'm home finally! I mean the reason I haven't been posting is because I was in a car accident on my way home on Tuesday! My car, Jordan, is (most likely) gonna be totaled and sent off for scraps :(, on the other hand, no one was hurt in the accident :D.
What happened was we hit a patch of black ice (meaning ice we didn't see until it was too late), and spun at least once or twice before hitting another car that had already hit the guardrail, we proceeded to bounce off that car before running into the guardrail, both cars facing traffic. There's not much I can say other than I'm really glad that no one in either car was hurt! It really gives this holiday season a lot more of a special feeling knowing that it was because of my car being so well put together, and being designed so that the passengers would be able to get up and walk away, that we were all able to get out unscathed. I mean a few bumps, bruises, and stiff neck/shoulders, and plenty of adrenaline (right at first that is), but no broken bones or big scrapes. We were all very VERY lucky!
I hope that you all are staying safe in this snow! Remember to be happy and celebrate what you have and what you are grateful for having! :D
Love,
Sara :)

Beginning of Finals Week/Last Day of First Semester

Well, today is the last day of first semester classes! There is snow on the ground, the Minnesota air is cold (turns my nose pink!), everyone on campus is stressed and starting to get sick. This usually happens only once a semester: finals. I make it sound so dramatic, but as many of you know it is a stressful and dramatic time in college. I have one paper and four finals between this Thursday and next Tuesday. So, I may be a bit distracted from posting and from many things in general with my life. Luckily it's just this semester and next semester for me at least. I'm not doing graduate school, at least not now. I'm not exactly sure what I wanna do yet, so I don't wanna go and get a degree in something that I'm not even positive I'm going to want to do in 5, 10, or 20 years. I'll figure it out eventually!
Anyways, that's my little update about what's going on this week. Good luck to any of you who have finals or any other test coming up! The holidays are right around the corner (well, some are here already but you get my drift I hope), so just finish everything strong and work hard, then you can enjoy life even more after :P
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 :)

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 :)