Progress on Chairs

Remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that I started redoing some chairs that are going to be in the new apartment Morgan and I are moving into at the end of the month? Well, I finally got my act together and went out and bought fabric for the cushions! Not only that, but between me, mom, and dad (he supplied our staple gun) we figured out how to get the bottom cushions together. I even managed to make it into a one person job! As of now, all the bottom cushions are done, we are just trying to figure out how to do those pesky top cushions....especially since sewing really isn't one of my strong suits. I think I know how to use mom's sewing machine? (Yea, that bad!)

This is the finished product, what do you think of the print? I'm pretty excited! I can't wait to move and get things rolling! Although it is super nerve racking to go through all the financial stuff, it is entirely worth it in my opinion to get away from home and finally get the chance to do my own thing. What kinds of projects are you guys working on now?

Random fact: I'm dog-sitting this weekend!! Not only that, but I'm joining Matt and part of his family for an outing to an outdoor sports show for her birthday. I'm super excited and hopefully the weekend goes well!!

Love,

Sara :)

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 :)

Surprise Plans!!

So I just finalized plans and I will be heading to Minnesota Friday night and onto Saturday :D It's Homecoming at St Olaf (my college) so I will be meeting some friends back there. I look forward to sharing it with you all! I'm also hoping to put up my first outfit post this weekend, so we will see about that!
Sunday will be spent probably with the boyfriend when he's not working, and having me study and look at apartments, which I am beginning to do. I would like to work out a way that I can move out even if it's not to Minnesota for a while. Even just around here would be nice!

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 :)

The Hideaway

For the past two weekends, I have been spending some off time at a café downtown in Northfield called The Hideaway. A friend invited me last weekend and we have since decided to head there most Saturdays for cards and coffee.
The place is cute, a sort of retro look to lots of it, not to mention it serves really good coffee and lattes! Not to mention this was the first place I had an actual Cubano, which I must say if you are looking for a pretty tasty expresso buzz, this is what you want to have! It was quite delicious. There are two sections, if you will, inside of it, the front part, which has wifi and comfy couch-like chairs, and the back part, has mis-matched chairs and retro tables. We tend to sit in the back, or have the past two times we have gone and have played cards there. Quite a lot of fun if you ask me :P

What kinds of places do you guys go to in order to escape your life? This is our place to get off of campus and not do work (usually).
Love,
Sara :)

The Start of a New Week

It's Sunday. Finally! It has been one hell of a long week! This class I am taking, though fun, is quite a lot of work, I have spent this weekend working on that paper and only got a full rough draft done this morning (NOT good!). But I did go out Friday night with a few friends for a birthday party. We were up in Minneapolis and went to a bar called Williams where we met up with some friends of friends and had a few drinks and a lot of fun! Calling it a girl's night out.

The above picture is Andi, me, and the birthday girl Carly :)

It's also quite dry outside, so make sure to use lotion! :P Yes, this is me giving advice again!

Well, I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!! :D And look forward to a good week :) In my class we will be moving on to the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde this week! So, be prepared for that change as well :P

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 :)

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 :)

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 :)

Halloweekend...Before

Alright, so I am not a doctor. Not even in the long shot! However, I am a college student and I am 21. I can say that I have had my fair chance in dealing with drunk people, and I am not here to tell you not to drink, I enjoy a good margarita and small drink anytime :P I may even put up a few drink recipes I've tried later, because at times they are pretty damn good! But due to the fact that this upcoming weekend is the weekend before Halloween, it is, as my college calls "Halloweekend" and there is a stereotypical way for college students and younger adults to act during this time. Yes, being intoxicated. Now, I personally have no serious problem as long as no one gets too obnoxious, but what I really wanted to do was to share a small insight as to signs of something called alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is a consequence of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time that is pretty serious as well as potentially deadly. I wanted to share with you a few signs to look for alcohol poisoning.

• The person is unconscious or semiconscious and cannot be awakened when touched, spoken to, or shaken.
• The person is cold, clammy, or has pale or bluish skin.
• The person has slowed breathing (less than 8 breaths per minute or longer than 10 seconds between breaths).
• The person is vomiting while sleeping or passed out.is not fully conscious during or after vomiting.
• The person drank a large quantity of alcohol and collapsed.

If any of theses signs appear for a friend of yours or you see anyone with any of these signs, or anyone who might be close to getting to this point, if they have a drink in their hand please take it away for their sake? I mean I've known several people who have been hospitalized because of alcohol poisoning. Just look out for your friends and yourself!

Alright, have a wonderful time this weekend guys! I will try and get some pictures of my halloween costume, last minute but I'm quite happy with it :)

Happy Halloweekend!

Love,

Sara :)

Climbing Update

Hey guys!
So I haven't had one of these climbing update in a while, so I figured I should even though I haven't been climbing nearly as much as I would have liked lately. I did finally get belay certified here at Olaf, which is pretty awesome!! Now, when my friend (who is also certified) and I want to climb we don't have to wait for a worker to belay us because we can now do it ourselves! :D This is super exciting because it means more climbing time for us as well as meaning that we don't have to worry about how busy the wall is at the time, as long as there is a rope open and we can try and climb.
Sadly, because I have not been climbing regularly for the past month because of school and break, I do feel I bit like a newbie because I find some of the routes that were much easier last semester and even last month to be really difficult right now. This makes me sad and as such I hope to start climbing more often, making it regular like once or twice a week!
I also have added something to my Bucket List that has to do with climbing. I was watching an old episode of the Amazing Race when one of the tasks that groups could do was either white-water rapids or rick climb 60 feet in Chile. I have now decided that I want to go rock climbing in Chile at some point after college. I looked on YouTube and I mean seriously, does this not look like fun?! Haha

Alright all, I hope that you are having a wonderful start to your weekend! You should really look at some of the things out there and try something new! I know that I repeat this over and over again, but trying something new can lead to wonderful consequences and you can learn a lot about yourself and the people around you! So, I leave you with the infamous words of a crazy but creative teacher I used to know from television:

"Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" -Ms Frizzle

Thanks for reading all!

Love,

Sara :)

Fall Break Fun

Hey folks!

I'm back! I hope you enjoyed Matt's post, it is my hope that he will be posting every once in a while here, because he has some good ideas!

This past weekend I did spend with Matt which was a lot of fun! It was one of his first times in Minneapolis in quite a while being here and I was determined to show him a fun time. Now I'm not exactly the party girl that many college students are, my idea of a good time is hanging out and going to different sites in the city (which I really haven't seen so that was really awesome!). I picked up my boy (Matt) from the Megabus stop Friday afternoon, and we had dinner with one of my friends from college at the Mall of America (MOA). We ended up hanging out around MOA for a while just looking around at all the stores, it was a nice way to relax after a long week for me at school.

Since Matt had never actually seen my school, I took him down to St Olaf on Saturday and we spent the day there looking at the buildings and had a good time. I was able to show him where my classes were and where I lived. We had lunch on campus at the Cage and then dinner at Perkins (a great place for a fun and casual dinner date!). It was wonderful to be able to show him my world!

On Sunday we visited the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. This was my first time ever being there so it was very cool for me! These pictures are from our trip there, and the ones near the end are of the park that are across the bridge from the Sculpture Garden.

This is my favorite picture of us right now!

We were being silly here and it was quite a lot of fun once we figured out how to do it!

Yes, this guy is actually feeding the squirrels! It was pretty sweet! Even though it was cold outside and many of the plants in the garden were dead, we found some flowers that were still fighting the cold and leaving us with some pretty fall colors and warm feelings :).

Monday was a day of realizing that not everything goes your way, but changes ensued and it happens and we have fun. I learned today that Matt and I can find something fun to do no matter what the circumstances are and it's a big part of our relationship, we are able to communicate and have fun! Anyways, on Monday, we attempted to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art because we thought it was be interesting. However, it was closed (not a normal thing for it to be closed on a Monday, but it was closed). This created a bit of a predicament for us and we ended up wandering around the Minneapolis area and getting lost several times, ending up in Franklin where we found a neat park and hung out there for a while, enjoying the fall colors (sorry about no pictures but we left phones in the care and I forgot my camera :( mea culpa!). We finally decided we should actually go to dinner, we splurged and went to Olive Garden. We had a glass of wine, which was surprisingly very very good, and had a lovely dinner! We then decided to finish off the night by heading back to MOA and going on the rides. We were so stuffed that we weren't sure if we could actually go on the rides without getting sick, but we did! It was a blast to be able to go on so many rides indoors at a mall with someone as enthusiastic as I was! I also had a nutella crepe, which if you haven't had it is a MUST TRY!!!

This concluded our wonderful weekend. I hope that there will be more weekends to share later on, but for now it's back to the reality of classes for me and job searches for Matt.

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! Any upcoming plans to share? What was one of your favorite fun trips with a good friend or special someone? Care to share? I love stories and I'd love to hear yours!

Thanks all for continuing to read here, my few readers :P, tell your friends!

Love,

Sara :)

Back To School....Finale

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

Maritime Festival, Day 1

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

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

Have a great night all,
Love,
Sara :)

Update on Climbing

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

Saturday "Pick-Up" Volleyball

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

Weekend Climbing

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

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

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

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

Have a good night folks!
Love,
Sara :)

Something that I Started Long ago...

So, I used to rock climb like every weekend when I was back at school. However, since finals I haven't climbed at all and I find myself missing the feeling of being a monkey. One of my friends from home climbs and is belay certified. We decided (last night) that we are going to go climbing together over this weekend at some point. I will try to get pictures from then but we shall see what happens, plans do tend to change quite a bit when I'm supposed to be "in charge" (meaning I'm driving).
If you are from the Milwaukee area and are interested in rock climbing or any otehr activity they have here is the website. It's called Turner Hall, and it's pretty awesome and offers courses for beginners and then on up from there. This will be my first time going there for rock climbing, but I've heard good things! Also a fact: children have to be 8 years old in order to climb and must be accompanied by children when under 14 years. They also do groups and parties.
Rock climbing (I'm gonna be excited for a bit :P) is really quite awesome! I mean it is a work out and your arms and legs (and core) should feel well worked after you finish a few climbs. I really look forward to rock climbing when I do cause it's always a lot of fun, not only that but you get to meet so many interesting people, some who have never rock climbed before and others who are pros and will go out ot actual rocks to climb instead of just the plastic ones in the gyms, then there are the people like me who are somewhere in between. I would love to be able to go out and have the confidence to climb actual rock walls, but for now I will just stick with learning how to belay and climbing on the plastic walls. Whatever works for each person though.

Thats all for now,
Go out and try to climb something, even if it is just running around on a playground and jumping over the fences and playing on all the monkey bars! Whatever it is it's exercise and you feel like a freakin monkey!
Do it!!
Love,
Sara :)