Graduation!!!

So, for those of you who don't know, I am (more like WAS!) a college senior. Well, no longer!! Today was graduation!! I'm not exactly positive if it has fully hit me yet that I'm graduated and heading off into the real world in a few months. I've gotta get my feet on the ground first, this being literal and figurative. Literal because I still have a broken foot and am going to be having surgery, hopefully, at some point this week (update on that to be coming later), and figurative because I don't have enough to pay for an apartment, don't have a job and don't really have much of a plan at this point, so I'm going to figure that out before I make my move (most likely to Minnesota, which will also be part of a later update).
This leads to the question that I get asked all the time now: What are your plans for after graduation? Well, honestly, all I got right now is that I need to have surgery and get my body physically healed before starting off on the next great adventure of my life. I will say that I am hoping to be able to blog a lot more now since I won't have classes or homework or tests to worry about (at least for now...), so I'm hoping that my writing will be getting better, I mean I hope that even by now it's getting a bit better, but I know that it will take time and practice before I really figure out my plans for the future as well as my style. There are many things that I hope to do in the future including: traveling, moving out of my parents' house, getting a job (or a few), learning how to cook better, learning more about wine, and drinking more coffee just to name a few. Sounds fun right? That's what I think at least, and I look forward to each and every one of them in my quest to learn more about the world around me and enjoy what life has to offer and make the most of what I can! Life is full of choices and chances, so I plan on doing what I can and taking risks when necessary and dealing with whatever consequences and hurdles the world throws in my path, because one of the most important things I learned in colleges is that I can be confident in who I am because I can make a difference and I matter to the world, whether the world knows it or not yet, I matter and so does each and every person!
Ok, done with my little soapbox here, but honestly I am still trying to figure out my life and I know that there are going to be trials and tough times but they will be worked through with a little help from my friends and family :)
I leave you all with a lovely picture of the sunrise this morning (yes, I got up and watched it at 5:30am) and one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes: "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." (Oh, the Places You'll Go) :P thought it was appropriate. I hope you enjoy and don't mind my ranting too much :P

                                      

Love you all!

Happy Sunday, it's the start of a brand new week for us all, so let's make the most of it!

Sara :)

Musica Monday

Hey folks. So, things have been interesting lately in my life. I'm not really going to expand on that much because I'm still working it through myself. Sometimes things do take more than one period of thought in order to figure out. I will say that those who know are looking at me a bit different and are working just as hard as I am to try and figure out what to do now. 

To describe the mood I'm in right now would be impossible. There are so many emotions running through my head right now; music is really the only thing that I can come up with now that could even come close to fitting my mood, and even there I'm struggling a bit. The best that I can come up with for now is a few Avril Lavigne songs that come pretty close and do pretty well.

I hope that you guys enjoy these songs! I know that they are a few of my favorite of hers.

How are your weeks going? Finals are almost done! Then it's senior week, which should be a lot of fun, then home and surgery (finally)!

Maybe I'll move to London...that'd be fun!

Love,

Sara :)

New Book

So, it's a new day. It's been a rough week, stress levels have been high and I've reached breaking point once or twice. But classes are done, and all that I've got left are two finals next week. I did pick up a new book at the bookstore today, the new Dan Brown novel, Inferno. I am super excited to start reading it since I am a fan of his novels and how detailed and clever he can be in his books. I've got a few books that I'm reading right now, which is good since after surgery I'm going to be doing a lot of reading since I'll be in bed for a while most likely :P

Also: respect for Heath Ledger! Just found this earlier and thought I'd share :P

Anyways, things here are going, hopefully less stressful than they have been. I have some things to do today to make it up to people for being so cranky and unhappy for parts of yesterday :/ but I suppose everyone has their days, and yesterday was one that I'm not proud of but I can't actually erase, so just learn from it and I hope that I don't lose my patience like that again. I am truly lucky to have friends who care about me and respect me and want things to go better for me! Never forget what you have, friends are important!! And I thank my friends :)

Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday and a Challenge

Today was the last day of Monday classes of my undergraduate career. How crazy is that?! I suppose I should find some music for celebration? I'm not sure, I'm a little worried about the real world since I have been living in a sort of bubble this entire time. But I'm ready for what life is going to throw at me!
Pretty much, I'm in quite a good mood right now, I've been crafting this afternoon, making some cards that I'll show later on once they're finished :P Nor particular holidays in mind, just wanting to make some. Anyways, going on with my creative mood, I'm gonna play a song that in my opinion is just kinda fun. It's called "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby.

I'm not exactly sure what it is about this song that makes me smile so much, but it is seriously quite a lot of fun!

So, my task for you guys this week is to find some fun music and to just enjoy yourselves for an hour or so. How about this: tomorrow, whenever you start getting to that point where you are over stressed, be it because of school work, finals, work, family, friends, whatever, just take a moment to pause, catch your breath, and then play your 'fun song' (this one or one of your own) and stand up and just dance! It doesn't mean that you should dance well, I mean come on, I don't do that at all, just shake and jump around and let yourself loose for a bit. Take a break and forget about the stress for a little while. Have some fun, guys! We in this world are way too serious at times, so let's change that and add some fun in place of the eternally stressful. What do you think? Worth a try?

Love you all!
Sara :)

Recent Life: Nearing the End of Undergrad and a Broken Foot

There's a bit of catching up to do here on my part, and yours too I suppose. Quite a bit has happened since I was last here, I mean in general a lot has happened in the past week as well. To start off with, there are 17 DAYS until graduation!! I mean undergrad, at the end of which I will be receiving a degree in Exercise Science.

On that topic, I have finished my Senior Seminar paper. This is a study that I propose, but don't go through with since I did not do departmental distinction, although I am now wishing that I was so I could learn the results of my study. It is called 'Protective Gear: A Comparison of Head Injuries In Collegiate Women's Field Hockey Vs. Collegiate Women's Lacrosse. Yea, I know a long title, but at least its all words that people understand. I decided to look at whether or not protective gear for the head and face could assist in decreasing the amount of severe and non-severe head injuries received by field hockey players at the collegiate level in the United States. A few fun facts for you about this topic: did you know that field hockey is the second most popular team sport in the world (beat only by soccer) and field hockey is considered by many to be the original ball-and-stick sport (meaning it lead to the development of lacrosse, ice hockey, floor hockey, golf, and other games that involve a ball/puck and stick). If I could I would post it up here my friends, however, I'm still not exactly an expert when it comes to blogging or the computer in general, so I'll work on that for possible later use. Is it even possible to do that? To post PDF files directly onto a blog? Anyone care to share with me? Thanks!

Another update, one that I suppose is just as important, but more for short term. I broke my foot. More specifically, I broke my 5th metatarsal and received a 2nd degree sprain on my left foot. I have been in a boot and on crutches since last Wednesday, technically I'm not using crutches anymore because they annoy me and make getting around not nearly as easy, but they are an intense cardio workout for those of you who have never used them before (especially when going around campus to classes). Anyways, I was informed on Monday that I will be requiring surgery in order to repair the bone (they are going to screw my bone back together), but am waiting to see if I can wait until after graduation to get the surgery done, that way I can for sure graduate and stay on top of school for the last 6 days until classes end and 17 days until graduation, when I can go home and get the surgery done. I'm hoping that it can wait!

Anyways, that was a very long post, but you're pretty much caught up on my life now, I think. My last note is that it is finally nice outside!! :D I mean, not today, it's kinda rainy today, but I've been wearing shorts/capris for the past few days which is pretty damn exciting, we might not have to be inside on graduation due to snow :D

I leave you with some music to listen to :)

Enjoy, my friends!
Love,
Sara :)

'The Godfather': A Very Quotable Movie

I saw 'The Godfather' for the first time this past week, both parts one and two. I would have to say that I do prefer the first part, but the second was again pretty well done. When we were discussing in class on Friday, I realized one thing about The Godfather: Part I; it is a very quotable movie. The most popular of these being "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." which has become the tagline for the series of movies. Some others are as follows:

"A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."

"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

"Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."

"It's not personal; it's strictly business."

"In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns." (Goes along with a quote I saw a while ago claiming that there is nothing more dangerous than a pissed off woman!)

Anyways, those are a few quotes that I think are quite memorable. Feel free to leave more in comments if you have any :) If you haven't seen The Godfather, you really should. It's a gangster, film noir, western film with some melodrama thrown in, making it an interesting mix for sure!
I hope you all had a great weekend!
Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

Alright, so it has just been one of those weeks when nothing really seems to go my way, and nothing really seems to make me happy except doing nothing productive. This past weekend was one of the least productive ones I have had in long time, and I've come to the conclusion that that's ok! Even as a senior undergraduate less than a month away from graduation (scary thought there....) it's ok to not want to do anything and to actually not do anything for a bit!
I was looking for some music this weekend (aka this morning :P) and I came across this song that I've found really kinda describes how I'm feeling. So, next time you get the chance you should actually go and do what you are feeling at the time. Play some of your favorite music and just get up and dance! This song by Kaleidosonic makes me want to do this, so when you listen to it, seriously, jump up and shout! Enjoy friends!

And I'm now running on reserve battery power! So later my dear readers :) I appreciate each and every one of you! Muah!
Love,
Sara :)

Random Historical Facts on Octavian/Augustus

I've had a long time interest in history, for those of you who don't know, and right now I'm in an class on Ancient Rome. It is a very interesting class and I'm learning quite a bit. I also have always enjoyed doing research in historical subject areas (nerd alert I know!), and Ancient Rome is no different! My latest interest is in Octavian/Augustus: the first emperor of Rome.

During class, our professor told us that during the majority of his battles, Octavian would get sick and spend the entire battle in his tent. His army was actually run by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Agrippa didn't seem to mind much, he even refused a triumph for what he did in Gaul since it was a time of trouble of Octavian; pretty much, he centered his career around Octavian and ended up marrying his daughter, Julia. He also believed that he had a terminal illness, and for years he was convinced that he would die of this terminal illness. It was so bad that when he did actually die in 14 AD, many people didn't believe that he had in fact died due to this fact that he thought he was going to die for years!

This fact about him getting sick so often was of particular interest to me because I had heard a similar thing concerning a Nazi general during World War II. I'm curious as to whether there is an actual sickness that could be the cause of this, as it was it a coincidence that both of these men were sick during battle, or is this 'battle sickness' a psychological thing that affected them as well as other generals during historical battles.

I will actually be doing some research on this over the next year or so, with the help of a few St Olaf College professors I am super excited for this! :D

Any suggestions, my friends?

Yay for being a history nerd :D

Love,

Sara :)

Musica Monday

It is nearing the due date for my final senior seminar paper (pretty much the paper that combines all that I have learned in my entire major), the capstone for my entire major. In essence, this means that I am reaching a height in my stress levels on campus. Also, it's still snowing....as much as I love snow, it's the middle of April, it can stop snowing now or we are going to set a record for being the first time graduation was put inside due to excessive snow. I'm a little sour about this in case you can't tell :P

Anyways! On another note, on with the music for today (which I apologize has been lacking for the past while...sorry)!!

Enjoy the cuteness!! :D:D
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Sara :)

Movie Fun Facts: 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (a1956 film)

I'm going back to the fun movie facts! Starting with the 1956 black and white horror/sci-fi film, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. This film was interesting to watch, and was definitely an early horror movie, and I will give it the few times that I was quite disgusted and creeped out. It is in general a creepy movie at points, based off of a book, and in 2008 it was ranked as #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 10 greatest Science-Fiction films, pretty impressive! Now onto the fun facts :D

~There was on $15,000 of the total budget for the movie spent on special effects.
~The entire movie was filmed in 23 days, which was three days over schedule!
~Several movie titles were thrown away before director Don Siegal finally settled on 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.
~During initial screening of the film, the audience laughed at parts that were not supposed to be humorous, and Siegal ended up removing sections of the film also because the story was hard to follow.

SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE! Unless you don't plan on watching it at all...then you're really missing out on a classic!
~The book's ending is left out of the movie. The book's ending has the aliens giving up on the plot for world domination and returning to their home planet.
~The film originally ended with Dr. Miles running down the highway  shouting "You're next! You're next!", but the studio wanted an ending that seemed happier, so the hospital scenes at the end were added in hopes of adding some hope to the audience's feelings towards the possibility of the end of the world as we know it.

I hope you guys enjoyed it! I will say that I did find this movie to be a bit of a thriller, that being said, I'm not one to ever watch most thrillers or horror, so my opinion might be a bit biased. I would recommend this version (I can't recommend the newer version of this movie since I have not yet seen it!).
Happy Tuesday!
Love,
Sara :)

Athletic Achievement: Backhand Spring

I've gotten really excited about this, sorry it's another short post, but I did a backhand spring today!! :D After MAC (Martial Arts Club), and it felt awesome, though again I'm missing gymnastics. It's amazing what a bit of confidence can do, I wasn't able to continue onto the competition level in gymnastics because I couldn't master this one move: the backhand spring. And I feel like I'm not even in as good of shape as I was back in middle school and high school (though I'm getting back there, slowly but surely) I think it was just the confidence I had in myself to do it and I did! :D

Lesson learned today: You'd be amazed what confidence can do! Also, don't procrastinate too much....you tend to regret it....stupid thesis paper thing :P

Also, there's still snow and it is still snowing!

Love,
Sara :)

Raining

Whenever it rains, I tend get two things:
1- a stuffy nose (from allergies)
2- excited!!

The first is self explanatory, since most people with allergies can relate. The water in the atmosphere brings down all the pollen and dust and stuff that's been in the air and causes all us allergy-ridden folk to become slightly unhappy (yes, I'm trying to sound smart here, idk if it's working but that's my basic understanding...)
As for the second, well I can't put my finger on one reason as to why rain makes me happy, but I can attempt to give you a sort of guess. One big thing is that I really do enjoy thunderstorms as well as times when it rain super hard and we are left with puddles everywhere the next morning. No matter how many times I've watched a thunder and lightening storm, I never really get tired of them, in fact I can usually fall asleep to them quite easily. And no matter how often someone tells me that it's just a reaction in our atmosphere I can't help but feel like it's a magical sort of thing (a little...ok a lot corny, ik, but hey! I'm being honest here!). I know I've also been lucky in that I've never been stuck in a tsunami or hurricane, which I have no doubt would not be fun in any way, shape, or form! But when it comes to being on campus or really anywhere, doesn't matter if I'm inside or outside, I try and always make time to go puddle-hopping with anyone who will come with me! It's also the fact that after a rain, it means that the ground (when spring finally gets here) will look so much brighter and the flowers start looking not so dead. It's like the rain brings the world back to life in some way. I'm not really sure how else to explain it.
And after, a shower and I get to curl up and read a book for the rest of the day, usually something that I enjoy (not homework). For instance this morning I was reading A Sea of Trolls, which is coming along quite nicely! :D
So, that's my little word vomit (for lack of a better term for this) about rain, and in case you were wondering, yes, it did rain this morning, but sadly it has stopped :(. Maybe that means that spring is on its way!
Love,
Sara :)

Jamacian, the 4-Hour Chef, and 'Rise and Shine'

Today was a fun day, I got to sleep in and then after work I headed to the Hideaway with a few friends where I learned to play rummy! Last time I wrote about the Hideaway, I talked a little bit about a drink called a Cubano, which came in a small shot class sized cup. To summarize that was essentially a double shot of expresso with sugar coated in it. Today, I was suggested something different, called a Jamaican, which is a Cubano with a pinch of cinnamon to add some more flavor. Let me tell you that I am much more likely to have a Jamaican than a Cubano, I'm not a big expresso person usually, but they are growing on me I won't lie. Another comment about drinking a Cubano or a Jamaican, I always feel like I should be sitting outside on a spring day with a croissant and a hat reading a good book while drinking one of these...anyone else ever have that feeling?
Speaking of books; I got two books this week that I'm working my way through. The first is called The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer, I'm only about 40 pages through it, but I'm getting there! It's a fantasy and that's about all I've gathered at this point, sorry, but I'll get more into it hopefully within a few weekends of reading time! The other book I got is called The 4-Hour Chef: The simple path to cooking like a pro, learning anything, and living the good life by Timothy Ferriss. It is a different kind of book, one that will definitely take lots of time to get through, but even just looking through it this evening I've already become a bit hooked on it! It seriously has so much in it that I would suggest it to anyone who wants to learn about learning or cooking! :D This is a friend's copy so I may end up buying my own, that or one of his other books that I've heard very good things about!
I also might be painting my toe nails for the first time in a long while, the color is called 'Rise and Shine' (hence the title of my post, I'm going to try and be a bit more creative on these...I've come to realize I'm being a bit boring...apologies!).
Currently listening to: Late Night (check it out mis amigos!).
I hope everyone is having a safe and fun weekend! I promise I'm sober, just coming down off a caffeine rush I think :P
Love,
Sara :)

Fun Facts About Lana Tuerner

Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner in Idaho, February 8, 1921. The first tragedy in her life occurred when her family was forced to move to San Francisco, where her parents separated and in December 1930, he father was killed after winning a game of craps. Due to her mother's health, they then moved to Los Angeles for a dryer climate, which is where Lana started her film career. She was first discovered when she was sixteen-years old when she skipped class to buy a coke at a drugstore, and at that point signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, after she was cast in They Won't Forget (1937). This movie got her the nickname "The Sweater Girl" due to the form fitting attire she wore. After graduating from Hollywood High School, she switched her contract to MGM Studios when the studio director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer believed that she wouldn't amount to anything. After appearing in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), the studio became convinced she would become the next Jean Harlow, a sex symbol in film.
Starting off as a glamour girl in the last 1930s and 40s, she quickly gain popularity and hit her peak during World War II, when she became a pin-up girl (a model whose mass-produced photographs see wide appeal as popular culture, similar to Marilyn Monroe). The 1940s were very good to Lana Turner,  and it was during this time that she made the switch from pin-up girl to serious actress with the movie The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Her comment on this was:

"I finally got tired of making movies were all I did was walk across the screen and look pretty. I got a big chance to do some real acting in The Postman Always Rings Twice, and I'm not going to slip back if I can help it."

While she never game up her glamourous image, she did end up staring in movies that did not have her dolled-up, such as Green Dolphin Street (1947). She was commonly paired with actor Clark Gabel, and the two were named "the team that generates steam". She continued her success in the late 1940s, including staring across from Gene Kelly in her first technicolor movie, The Three Musketeers (1948). By 1948, Turner was MGM's biggest star and one of the ten best paid women in the United States.
However, the 1950s were not so kind to Turner. She ended up staring in several flops and due to the increase in the popularity of Television instead of movies, MGM did not renew her contract in 1956. However, Lana Turner was not knocked down for long, she got more attention when she stared in the 1957 film adaptation of Peyton Place, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, but did not win. However, when news of her daughter's killing of Stompanato (Lana's lover at the time) got out, her career was nearly fully derailed. Lana did continue acting in movies until 1966, with big hits like Imitation of Life (1959), Portrait in Black (1960), Bachelor in Paradise (1961) her final film with MGM, and Madame X (1966) her last leading role.
From 1969 through the 1980s she did some work in film, but none of it was as memorable as her work in films.
Turner was well known for her personal life and a few of her movies were said to have reflected it. She dated often and switched partners frequently, was married eight times to seven different men and had one child: Cheryl Crane. Cheryl was the daughter of her second/third marriage to Steve Crane, and wrote a book about her mother's life called Detour: A Hollywood Story. About her marriages, Turner was later quoted as saying:

"My goal was to have one husband and seven children, but it turned out to be the other way around."

As mentioned earlier, she had many relationships, many lovers, one of whom was Johnny Stopanato, who met Turner in 1957, not long after her fifth marriage fell apart. It turned out that Stopanato had connections to the gangster Mickey Cohen, and Turner tried to break things off when she discovered this, only to be forced into an abusive and unhappy relationship with Stopanato. In April 1958, the two had a violent argument at Turner's home in Beverly Hills, and Turner's daughter, fearing for her mother's safety grabbed a kitchen knife and proceeded to stab Stopanato, killing him. While this was later deemed to be an act of self-defense, it still took its toll on Lana's career.

Lana Turner was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992, and proceeded to stop her long-time smoking habit, becoming cancer free a year later. However, in 1994 the cancer returned and she died June 29, 1995 at the age of 74 at her home in Los Angeles.

I hope that you guys enjoy this info! Happy Friday!!

Love,

Sara :)

Musica Monday

Return of the Musica Monday! So, I have been quite lucky as far as my new car since my accident this past December. With my new car, I was lucky enough to get a 'used' car, which turned out to simply be a pre-owned (dealer owned), meaning I get free satellite radio for a while :D, super exciting!! Over the past few months I have experimented with different Sirius radio stations, and have collected the names of several new songs that I find awesome (or funny!). This is an example of a more funny song. It is by Thomas Dolby, and is called "She Blinded Me With Science". I'm not exactly sure why I like this song so much, I think it is possibly because it is so random :P Anyways, here it is! I hope you enjoy!

Not an exciting video sorry, but I hope you all appreciate it!
Shout out to Matt! It's his birthday today!! :D Happy Birthday!!
And now I'm off to bed, good night all you lovely people.
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 :)

NYC Day 1

Starting today until Friday my posts will be a bit different. It's Family Vacation time, where are we going? NYC!!
Our day started with us checking in at 7 am, and then headed to Chili's for breakfast. I have decided that Chili's is more for lunch/dinner... On the other hand the white chocolate mocha I had after tasted much better, and held my coffee fix for the morning. I hate to admit it but I do have mornings when I just really need a coffee to pick me up!

We arrived in NYC's LaGuardia airport a little early. And proceeded to wait until a car could come and pick us up to go to our hotel. Our hotel was pretty sweet! Two full sized beds for three if us, and helpful employees who assist with directions :D
We tried to go up to the top of the Rockefeller tower, but were told to come back tomorrow morning because we would be able see off the top floor. We then attempted to get a tour with NBC Studios but learned (after running around the building) that they are sold out thorough Thursday, so if we don't tour the Sony Tech Lab on Friday morning, we may try and tour NBC! We shall see. We ended up hanging out around the Rockefeller center, doing some window shopping, and then got dinner. I got Chinese from a place called Manchu Wok, and it was pretty good.

Our last stop of the day was Carnegie Hall! It was pretty amazing to be able to sit in the theatre while listening to a full concert. It started out as a middle school choir concert and then moved up until we heard the New York Chamber Orchestra and a few professional opera singers (at least we thought so) and we got back to the hotel around 11 pm. Making today a very long day! But a fun day! I look forward to a few more days here in the city :D

Love,
Sara :)