Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

I have officially survived fall semester! :) As you can prolly guess from my lack of posting, it has been a pretty intense semester with 17 credits and class 4 days a week. All the hard work has paid off, and now it's done! I managed to get an A in all 5 of my classes, which means I also kept up my 4.0 GPA. Whooo! Now I have 3 weeks to kick back and relax. Oh yea, my sister also had her baby earlier this week, so I have a cute little nephy to play with too. Here's some pictures to describe my semester in a nut shell:

Minnesota State Fair: my [hopefully] future car, Ford Fiesta in lime squeeze

Minnesota State Fair: deep-fried mac 'n cheese on a stick = delicious!!!


Minnesota State Fair: Tonic Solfa at the Leinie Lodge

Minnesota State Fair: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also at the Leinie Lodge


Minnesota State Fair: deep-fried oreos, another yummy favorite

My first Minnesota Twins game

100 tree planting near my neighborhood

An awesome fight at a Minnesota Wild game

The family's pumpkins on Halloween: (left to right) Pat, Heather, Me, Dad

Taffy's Halloween costume: Las Vegas showgirl (she was supposed to be a devil but wouldn't keep the horns on her head)

Festival of Trees: a really cute ornament made from a burnt-out lightbulb

The most snow I have ever seen. We actually broke the record for snowiest Dec and snowiest month with almost 40 inches of snow.

My cute little nephew, Murphy

Happy Lab Day

I have almost survived my first week back. One more day tomorrow. Today was my lab day, so I had bio lab this morning and chem lab this afternoon. I think both labs will be fun, however I have one concern. But I'll get back to that in a second. Bio lab should go well. The teacher is new to the school, but not to teaching. She seems like a lot of fun, and my lab partner doesn't seem half bad either. She's somewhat quiet, but she seems smart, so that's good. My chem lab partner, on the other hand, is not. Maybe it's just cuz it was the first day, but I doubt it. First of all, he came to class unprepared, which I can accept since it's the first week of classes. We were supposed to print out the lab procedure from the website and buy a comp notebook before class today. He did neither. Also, he was texting a friend through=out then entire class, which got annoying after awhile. Then, while we were working on the lab report (or should I say I was working on the lab report and trying to get help from him) he decided to answer his cell phone and talk with a friend as if class wasn't important. The teacher was even standing right there! Luckily the teacher saw what was going on and helped me since my lab partner wouldn't. I accepted it this time with it being the first week. But if he doesn't straighten up for next week, I'm going to want a new lab partner. I refuse to do all the work and him get half-credit. It's not fair, so he better start pulling his weight. Anyways, I've got one day left of class tomorrow, and then I'm off to the Great Minnesota Get-Together! I can't wait :)

Welcome Back to School

Yup that's right, fall semester has begun, and it's not even Labor Day yet! Yesterday was my first day back for fall semester, and it's going to be a busy one. I am taking 17 credits, 5 classes: concepts of biology, principles of chemistry I, read and writing II, fundamentals of statistics, and environmental science seminar II. I had the first 4 classes yesterday, and I will have them again tomorrow. Thursday is lab day (bio and chem). Friday is more bio and chem lectures and enviro sci sem II. So it is going to be one busy semester. Already I had to read a chapter for bio, a chapter for chem, and a chapter for read/write, in addition to a bunch of chem problems and math problems just for tomorrow. It's crazy! Luckily I still have a couple weeks to get back into the swing of things before work starts up.

July in a Nutshell

So I realize that it has been almost 7 weeks since my last post, and I apologize to you, my readers, and myself for slacking. It has been a pretty crazy summer, but that's still no excuse. However, I'm too lazy to write about the last 7 weeks' events. I'm going to post some pictures instead to tell the story. Hope you enjoy the pictures!



The end of June brought Rochesterfest, the annual celebration of the town. There were food stands and events, but the parade was rained out. First time in over 30 years.



Hairball playing the street dance



Fireworks in Hudson



Fireworks at Silver Lake



Oxbow Park



Llama kiss at the Winona County Fair



Night Ranger concert



Minnesota Zoo



Lunch at Dodge County Fair: cheese curds, chicken strips, fries, and mozzerella strips



Dodge County Fair



Byron Good Neighbors Parade


Como Zoo

Como Conservatory

I Love My Daddy :)

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy and to all the dads out there! Since I was the first one up this morning, and I was really hungry, I decided to make breakfast for everyone. I recently bought a new mix from Sturdiwheat: pecan, walnut, almond pancakes. Along with maple-cured sausage, breakfast was delicious.

After breakfast, my dad and I headed out to get tomato plants for his Topsy-turvy planter. Since my dad is pretty much clueless about planting, I went with to make sure everything needed was bought, not just the plant. We got soil, fertilizer, and the plants, as well as a pretty pink fuchsia for my mom to hang outside. We also stopped to get lunch on the way home. For anyone that is wondering, the orchard chicken salad at Subway is really yummy! Apples, cranberries, chicken...Yum! Anyways, the planters were pretty easy to work with. Your stick the plant through the bottom, fill the bag with dirt, sprinkle some fertilizer, and add some water. Hopefully it starts producing soon because my dad loves his tomatoes.

Shortly before supper my sister and brother-in-law arrived. My sister and I were making dinner, while my dad and brother-in-law put together the wooden bench/wing my mom got for her birthday. My sister had marinated pork overnight, and I made a ranch and bacon pasta salad. My mom was in charge of dessert: root beer floats and lemon bars. It was a great fathers day!... After lunch, we planted some tomato plants in his topsy turvy planter... The next project for the day was putting together the wooden swing/bench that my mom got for her birthday a couple weeks ago. It's been raining for the past 2 weeks, so today the bench could finally be put together... The last event of the day was a yummy supper planned by my sister and I and, of course, present!...

Welcome Back to the Job World

It has been one CrAzY week! It all started last Sunday with my Grandpa's 90th birthday party. Instead of having a family reunion with my mom's side of the family, we decided to throw a bit party for my Grandpa. After all, 90 is a milestone and needs celebrating. The party went a little long, but it was a lot of fun. There was more celebrating on Monday, my Grandpa's actual birthday. My mom and I went to visit him for his actual birthday with cake and balloons.

The craziness continued on Wednesday when... Are you ready for the exciting news? I GOT A JOB!! As most of you know, I've been unemployed since last August, so almost a year now. After lots of searching, I finally found one! It's only temporary for a couple weeks, but it's a job! So what am I doing? I'm working at the orchard that I worked at all throughout high school. Since it's summer, I'm managing the strawberry patches for people that want to pick their own berries. I loved working there in high school, and I'm loving it now. I get paid to snack on a few strawberries, read a good book, and get a nice tan. And for only 4 hours a day! So I still have plenty of time for my soc class and hanging out with friends.

Aside from work and school, I went to the city's weekly festival a couple days ago called Thursdays on 1st. It happens downtown every Thursday June through September. Each week has a different theme. This week was Trop rock Night. We ate yummy food, looked at street vendor carts, and listened to Brent Burns in concert. He plays a lot of tropical rock music like Jimmy Buffet. Even though the concert was moved inside because of the approaching storm, it was still a lot of fun.

Next in line was the dreaded storm, which started almost the second after we pulled in the driveway Thursday evening. At my house it was mostly rain, thunder, and lightning with a tiny bit of hail and strong winds. However, that storm broke a Minnesota record. Previously, the record was 27 tornadoes in 24 hours in Minnesota, which happened back in the 1940s I believe. With the storm we hard Thursday night, there were 39 tornadoes throughout the state. One of those 39 hit the north side of town, causing some houses to be no longer livable and took part of the roof off Menards. Some towns are almost completely gone. It was one intense storm.

Yesterday (Friday) led to more working, as did today. However, I had more excitement this evening. first of all, a good friend of mine from high school came home this morning from the Air force. I haven't sen him for 6 months, so we got together this evening. Rochesterfest also started today, so we got a group together and went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for free at the city park. It was similar to the infamous play, but slightly confusing. It was a play about actors doing the play. A friend of mine brought her puppy, Bo, with, so we had great entertainment during intermission. After the play, we wandered the park talking and catching up. He will be here til mid-July, and then heading to Korea for a year, and then Italy. So looks like I'll be seeing him a lot over the next month to make up for a lack of communication for 2 years following.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and it has been 2 days of celebration. She is just that special. It all started yesterday (Tuesday) with my mom meeting her friends at Applebees after work. Then, my mom and I were going to meet up with my aunt for happy hour, but the plans fell through. So what did we do? We had our own happy hour on the 3-season porch. It wasn't quite as good as going to happy hour at a restaurant, but it was better than just sitting on the couch. Then it was time for dinner; we went to a new restaurant called Wicked Moose. My parents and I have eating there a few times since they opened, but my sister and brother-in-law haven't been there until now. The food is really yummy, and the prices are very reasonable. They also make their own "moose chips," which are basically deep-fried potato slices with a special seasoning. They are delicious! After dinner, my mom opened her presents, marking the end to her birthday... Or so she thought.

Her birthday continued the next day, today. We met my uncle and my grandparents at Baker's Square for supper. And of course for free pie! My mom and I try to meet my uncle once a month for Pie Rush Wednesday. Last month we also celebrated my uncle's birthday with free pie; this month it's my mom's birthday. Next month will be America's birthday, so maybe Uncle Sam will buy. Wouldn't that be great? Anyways, supper was yummy again tonight, as was the free pie. I love Pie Rush Wednesday.

Summer School

Today I started my summer class: Sociology. However, it wasn't a great first day. I'm taking the class online, and the school website was down til 2pm this afternoon! So finally, I was able to get on the website and log-in to my class. It is going to be one BUSY class! Starting today, I already have a discussion board and a quiz to do before tomorrow. For the next 4 weeks, I am going to be busy. Every other day, we start a new chapter. I will have 2 discussion boards, 2 quizzes, a 2-3 page paper, and a test every week. It's going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. By taking this class now online in 4 weeks, I will be able to take one less class in a future semester or one extra elective. I better go get started before it gets any later!

Weekend of Walking

A good majority of this weekend has been spent walking outside, which has been tiring but great exercise. It has also been spent with my dog, Taffy, and her new friends. Yesterday, (Saturday), we spent the day in Burnsville for the annual Woofer and Hoofer. It's a 2.5 mile walk put on as a fundraiser for the shelter that I adopted Taffy from, and it was a great success. Total, over $73,000 was raised for the shelter and their new building. $100 of that was what I raised. Taffy also made a new friend at the walk, my lab partner's dog, Boone. They were having lots of fun racing each other through-out the walk, and it ended in a tie. It was a lot of fun, and I got a canvas tote of goodies as a thanks for my fundraising! Inside, there were tons of coupons, free samples of dog food and treats, a travel water bowl, a dog leash, and more.

As I said before, today had more walking involved. Taffy and I went to Silver Lake to meet yet another new friend. A good friend of mine from forever ago in Kindergarten recently got a new puppy. Her name is Bo, and she is a teddy bear (mix between a bichon and a shih tzu). At first, Bo didn't know what to think about Taffy, but after walking for a little bit she was having fun chasing Taffy. They were both pretty pooped out after the walk too, so that was good. It's been a great weekend in the outdoors getting exercise and bonding with Taffy.

Memorial Weekend

Another Memorial Weekend of camping has come and gone, and it was another great one! For as long as I can remember, and before I even existed, my family has gone camping every Memorial Weekend at Whipporwill. This year was no different. About 2 or 3 years ago, the campground went under new management. Normally, new management would mean lots of change. In this case, the change was minor, but good. They took out the mini golf course, which was sad, but course was really crappy and overgrown with weeds. There wasn't much hope for it. In place of the mini golf course, they put up a new playground. They also redid the lake, so it's actually swimmable again. Starting this year, they have a new drain for the lake. It is drained, refilled, and chemically treated every week. No more icky weeds and slime! :) Due to the 95+ degree weather, we spent some time in the lake. There was also lots of time spent in the shade. We made yummy food, like cobbler, cinnamon rolls, and mini donuts. There was also bean bags, testie toss, and (new this year) washers. It was a great weekend of fun, fire, and relaxation.

From Oxbow to Hell

It has been one interesting weekend. Yesterday was a lot of fun. I started the day off early at Old Navy for $1 flip-flops. Then after eating breakfast and getting ready for the [rest of the] day, I heading to Oxbow Park for their annual spring festival. It was so much fun to see all the animals, and it was free! There were wolves, coyotes, raptors, a cougar, a bobcat, turkeys, goats, river otters, and more. I even timed it out to see the female black bear get fed aka rummage around her enclosure searching for fruits and veggies. It was a great way to spend the day.

Today, on the other hand, has been the exact opposite. I'm used to Sundays not being the best day of the week, but today was extremely bad. Most of you know that my mom has mood issues. I don't know what was going on today, but it was one of the worst mental breakdowns in awhile. She seemed to be fine this morning, but early afternoon all hell broke lose when she was mowing the enclosed backyard. On Sundays, I pick up all the dog poop and bring the push mower down. My mom mows the lawn, and I haul the mower back up to the shed. Today, she wasn't even half-way done and the mower ran out of gas. According to my mom, my dad started laughing at her cuz she ran out of gas, so my mom threw a fit and was pissed off for the rest of the day. When in reality, he offered to go get gas, but she told him not to cuz she was done. So he didn't get gas, and I put the mower away. Since then, my mom has been yelling at everyone and complaining about no one ever helping her and just laughing at her and blah blah blah. I just want to scream at her to shut up, but it never does any good. She doesn't listen. She claims that she isn't complaining and that she is happy. If her yelling is her being happy, I don't have a clue what she is like when she's actually mad. Oh wait, she's never mad; she's always happy (according to her). I hate it so much! I went to college in the cities to get away from this, and I purposely worked over-time at the clinic to get away from this. Now that I have no school and no job, I am stuck in hell. Today was like high school all over again, except that I don't have a friend's house to run away to. And it was too dang hot and humid outside to take a walk or bike ride. I would have passed out 5 minutes into it. So hopefully today was a one-time thing. Maybe it will be all out of her system come tomorrow. Otherwise I am going to go crazy.

Stand Still Parade

Every year for awhile now, my sister and brother-in-law have gone to the stand still parade with his parents. This year, my mom and I decided to join them. It sounds kinda confusing, a stand still parade. Basically, it's a parade that stands still in the road while the people walk by instead of the usual concept of a parade. Like all parades, it started with flags and ended with a police car. There were old cars, the parade grand marshal, people singing, people dancing, etc. There were even people handing out candy, pencils and sidewalk chalk! However, instead of them throwing it to you, you had to walk up to them and get it. Again, kinda weird. The best part of the parade was seeing Chester Cheetos and getting a free bag of cheetos. In addition to the parade, there was a craft show, an entertainment stage, and food. The lefse was amazing and made right in front of you. There were also hot dogs and brats. If you ever get a chance to experience a stand still parade, it's worth checking out.

Bo

Today was a great way to start summer vacation. It all started by me bringing Taffy to the doggie spa. She was much overdue for a haircut. I just didn't have time to do it on my own or the money to bring her in until now, when school got out. So she now has her summer cut again. They even put little yellow and purple bows in the hair above her ears! She looks adorable! And she's very happy to have less fur. She prolly lost a couple pounds too. I'll have to weigh her tomorrow and see. While Taffy was at the spa, I met a friend at the movie theatres to see Date Night. It was hilarious! Then we went out for ice cream at DQ, and before I knew it, it was time to pick up Taffy from the spa. After bringing her home, I went to visit my isu buddy who is FINALLY home from school! And not just for summer, but for good! It was so great to see her today. And she got a little puppy, Bo. She is a teddy bear aka bichon/shih tzu cross. She is soo cute and playful. It was so much fun to play with a puppy, and of course see my friend too. It was a great start to summer :)

Summer Time!

After a busy week of finals, I am now officially on summer vacation! :D Surprisingly, it's been a pretty unstressful week. I had my last regular bio test on Tuesday, and I only got 4 wrong! It was my lowest test grade so far, so no matter what the final went today, I will still have an A in the class. Afterwards, I had my last speech class. As you read before, I finished all my speeches last Thursday, other than my acceptance speech. so on Tuesday, I was given my award. I received the Star Student Award from Stanford University. For those of you that don't know, the award are made up but based on real information. Anyways, I got a pretty certificate. It was a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, I had my usual 8am class and my bio lab. I could have skipped my 8am class if I wanted to because it didn't even last for 30 mins! The other half of the class was supposed to be giving their presentations about their projects over the summer. 3 or 4 people never showed up, so we got done early. Sucks to be them! My bio lab was spent outside touring the gardens at our historical society. I've been to the historical society plenty of times before, but it was still exciting to see the gardens and everything. The best part of the day was that night. It was my uncle's birthday on Monday, but we celebrated last night at Bakers Square for Pie Rush Wednesday. I love free pie! The flavor of the month is hawaiian strawberry, and it was amazing! Strawberries, pineapple, coconut, and walnuts. It was really really yummy, and it was free! Can't get much better than that.

And that leads us to today, my last day of school for the semester. Even though our lowest test grade gets dropped and I have an A in the class, I decided to still go to my bio class and take the final. I feel pretty good about it. There's only a couple questions that I was unsure about, but I'm sure that I did well on it. We shall see tomorrow when grades get posted. After bio, I went to speech just to say goodbye to everyone. Again, I didn't have to go to class if I didn't want to. There were a couple make-up speeches, and we had to fill out class evaluations. Otherwise, it was just a last chance to see everyone and say goodbye. It was a great class, and definitely my favorite this semester. The teacher was awesome, as were my classmates. It was a great group of people. I'm going to miss everyone. It's a good thing I found a lot of them on facebook so we can keep in touch. After class, I went to get my haircut. So my hair shrunk, and its perfect for summer. Then, like every other Thursday, I got to hang out with the little people this afternoon. Since it was raining outside, we had to keep them inside today. We went over map reading today. We came up with a list of places to find on the maps. The kids had fun with it, especially when trying to find their houses and the school. Now it's time to relax after a busy week and a long semester. Happy summer! :)

Mexican Walking Sticks and Poker

It has been a pretty interesting week starting with Cinco de Mayo on Wednesday. I might not be Mexican, but I still like to celebrate the holiday. This year, I went to a celebration downtown with Mexican food, music, and drinks. It was a lot of fun! For only $5, I got 2 soft shell tacos, refried beans, rice, and chips/salsa. Margaritas were only $4, and you can't pass that up on Cinco de Mayo. The music was fun to listen too, and the town's salsa dancing group put on a show as well. It was a little windy, but still lots of fun. It was a great way to celebrate the holiday!

Yesterday (Thursday) was a pretty exciting day as well. First of all, I did my last speeches for the semester! The last unit we did (and are still doing) was celebration speeches. I wrote a tribute, a toast, and gave an award to people in my class. It went very well, and now I'm free! After school, I went to hang out with the little kids, just like every other Thursday since mid-March. This week, we had the kids make their own walking sticks. After finding big sticks for everyone, each kid used a pair of surgical scissors or a sharp rock to scrape off all the bark. We then handed out sand paper to smooth down any rough spots or knots in the sticks. Next week we are going to stain them so each kid will have his/her own walking stick. It got tiring after awhile, but they all had a lot of fun it.

Today I ended up back at school. Normally I am not there on Fridays since I don't have class. However, today there was a poker walk. There were 5 stations set up around campus. At each station, you pick up a card. At the last station, you turn in your 5 cards. The best poker hand wins. The first station was on 4th floor, the last station was on 1st floor, and the others were in between. It involved lots of stairs, so it was good exercise. Which is exactly what I needed because there were ice cream cones available at the last station. I think I worked off the ice cream. Also, you got a free thing at each station. There were sunflower seeds, a can coolie, a squishy stress ball, and a keychain in addition to the ice cream. I didn't win, but I took second place with 2 pair (queens and nines). The winner had a 3 pair of queens. You might be wondering, how is that possible? There aren't 5 queens in one deck. But there were 10 different decks being used, so it technically would have been possible for someone to have a 5 pair. Anyways, it was great exercise and a fun activity to take part in. Now it's time to rest after all those stairs!

Interview!

After applying to about 10 different internships over the past 6 weeks, I finally got an interview! Well, sure I had an interview at Quarry Hill over Spring Break, but they didn't want me. And I haven't had any other options since! Finally, today that all changed. The most recent ap I turned in was to the National Trout Learning Center. And a guy from there called me yesterday to set up an interview for today! And I think it went well. They are hoping to make a decision on Friday, if not for sure by Monday. So, if they want me, I'll get paid to go fishing and teach other people how to fish all summer. Keep your finger's crossed for me!

Walking for the Cure

It has been one busy weekend! Yesterday was the kick-off for garage sale season. Every year, we have gone to the city-wide garage sales in Chatfield. This year wasn't as successful as previous years, but it was still a great one. My prize possession for the day was the most expensive thing I bought, but at an AMAZING deal! It is a German nativity of 3-tiers and candles around the edge that when lit cause the tiers and wings on top to turn. When I traveled to Germany in Mar 2007, I wanted to bring one of these home with me soooo badly! But they were insanely expensive, as in about $150 or more. I bought this one for $7.50! And I probably could have bargained it down to $5 but I was too excited to think about anything other than buying it. So there may have been less sales, but my German nativity was enough to make me happy :)

Today I took part in an MS Walk. A really close family friend, that is like my second mom, has MS, so I joined her team for the walk. I walked 5 miles for the walk and raised over $200 for research. I was surprised by how many people there were to walk. It was a great turn out! And there was free food! During registration, there were free bagels from Panera and orange juice from Kwik Trip. Half-way through the walk, there was a drink station with water and snacks (oranges, bananas, pretzels, peanuts, etc). And at the end of the walk, there were sandwiches, cookies, and more water for everyone. It was fun, a great cause, and good exercise. I'll definitely be helping out again next year. I'm even thinking about making t-shirts for the team next year too. Now it's time to relax after the long weekend.

Happy Arbor Day!

Today is the 8th Arbor Day celebrated in Roch, even though Arbor Day has been around a lot longer than 8 years. For the first time that I can remember, I didn't have school or work or anything else to do today. So, I was actually able to go the town's Arbor Day festival at the fairgrounds. Normally it would have been held at City Park, but there's been some pretty intense severe weather, resulting it being moved in doors at the fairgrounds. Anyways, a friend of mine from school also had no class today. So we went to the festival together. We got free trees--both of us got a white oak--and free CFL light bulbs. Also, for all attendees, there was a free lunch of hot dogs, chips, and pop. It was VERY loud since acoustics suck inside the building, and there was a sea of yellow hard hats worn by hundreds of little kids from grade schools in town. But it was still fun. After the festival, we ran some errands and headed back to my house to play cards before she had to head home. It was a great Arbor Day. :)

2 am Cat Fight

Today has been one LONG day. I have been up since 2am, so I'm going on 20 hours straight of being awake, and counting. Why was I awoken at 2am this morning? Because a couple feral cats in the area decided to have a battle in my backyard. For the past 10 years or so, there has been a mommy kitty that has made our shed her home for her and her kittens every summer. At first, it was kinda cool having kittens. But now, year after year, it's annoying. The cats will hiss and scream when we enter the shed. The mom cat also enjoys wandering the yard and taunting Taffy, which doesn't make Taffy very happy. Anyways, its mating season again for the cat, and this year, she couldn't make up her mind between 2 cats. So, she let the 2 cats fight it out at 2am, waking up everyone in the house. Taffy was ready to jump out my bedroom window, so I had to hold on to her. The fight only lasted a few minutes, but there were still occasional meows, hisses, and screeches all through-out the early morning. At every little noise, Taffy felt the urge to charge my window, which is right above my pillow. So I never fell back asleep. When 6am rolled around, I gave up trying to go back to sleep and wandered downstairs to my laptop. Lucky me had my 8am class today, followed by my bio lab. I almost fell asleep in my 8am lecture, but somehow I managed to make it through the 50 minute class. I also managed to read my bio homework between classes. And luckily, I got out of my bio lab an hour early, so I was home by 1230. Of course there was no hope of a nap by then, because I had to eat lunch and them meet my mom at the gym for our Wed afternoon work-out. And then it was supper time, and now I'm relaxing on the couch, trying to stay awake during George Lopez. Now let's just hope the kitties keep it to a minimum the rest of the season cuz I need my sleep.

Trees, Houses, and Birthdays

It has been a crazy busy weekend! Or at least yesterday (Saturday) was. It all started with a huge thunderstorm knocking out power at 630am. It came back on just in time to get ready to go. My mom and I headed to Manor Park at 845am to join in the community tree planting. Volunteers gathered at the park and were divided into groups to plant 500 trees in a couple hours. While waiting for everyone to get there, we enjoyed free donuts, bagels, apple juice, orange juice, and coffee, as well as everyone got a free t-shirt. Then we divided into 10 groups and headed to our assigned destination. My mom and I were assigned to zone 5, which was about 1 mile away. Our group planted 55 trees in an hour. We were speedy, and one of the first groups to finish. Once all the trees were planted and mulched, everyone got a free lunch: Roscoe's BBQ pork or chicken sandwich, coleslaw, potato chips, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from Gingerbread House Bakery. It was sooo yummy!

The next event on the agenda was my cousin's housewarming party. My cousin and her family moved into a trailer about 2 months ago. Now that they are all situated, and the weather is nice, they decided to have everyone over to see the new place. For being a trailer, it's really nice! It's a lot bigger and nicer than the one I grew up in and moved out of 15 years ago. The living room and kitchen/dining room are very big and open. All the kids get their own rooms at the opposite end from my cousin and her husbands bedroom. And there are 2 bathrooms, one at each end. And of course there was food. I'm a sucker for food. It was fun to see them and their new place.

The next, and last, event was in yet another town for a good friend of the family's 30th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. The back room of the bar/restaurant was reserved for the party, and we had our own mini bar. There was a DJ taking requests and karaoke. It was a crazy night, as usual when the crowd gets together. But it was a lot of fun.

Earth Week

Happy Earth Week! I've been very green this week, helping out in the community and practicing my green ways harder than normal. On Tuesday, I participated in the Litter Bit Better campaign in my neighborhood. We were assigned a 3-block section of my road to pick up litter in the ditch on both sides. Surprisingly, there was a lot of garbage, especially after all the snow melted. However, it wasn't a great turnout. There were 7 of us that showed up from the neighborhood to pick up litter. We filled up 6 garbage bags, in addition to a few pieces of wood, a hubcap, a wire grate, and an old tire. People throw some pretty crazy things in the ditch.

On Wednesday, I pretty much just went to school. I got my project rough draft back in my environmental class, and the teacher approves! I have been trying really hard to find an internship over the summer to use as my project, but I haven't had the best luck in that yet. I had 1 interview and was later turned down. 2 other places turned me down. There's still 3 places that I haven't heard from yet, so hopefully I hear back for an interview this week! Since I haven't gotten an internship yet, I'm on the planning committee for the Think Green Fair, and I'm using that as my project. For my bio lab, I had another project due. I was to create my own plant using parts from other plants. It makes up almost half my grade. I combined a dianthus/carnation with coleus. Most people drew a picture of their plant creation, but I wanted to do a sculpture. And I was the first student EVER to do a sculpture! She's been teaching this class for at least 5 years, 3 times a year, and has never received a sculpture. That right there is enough to give me a bonus, even though I already have an A in the class.

Yesterday (Thursday) was Earth Day, and a very busy one at that. I went to bio, but it wasn't really worth it. There were about 9 people in class, compared to the 48 people in the class. The horticulture program took a field trip somewhere, and majority of the people in my bio class are in the horticulture program. So the teacher handed out a worksheet involving punnet squares and genetics. I learned how to do them in junior high, so I had the worksheet done very quickly. My speech class was canceled since my speech teacher was giving an acceptance speech for receiving teacher of the year award. After school and lunch, I got to hang out with the little people again. This week we went fishing in Bear Creek. The little kids made their own fishing poles using an empty pop can and fishing line. And yes, we had live bait: night crawlers. No one else liked worms, so I was dubbed "bait girl," which I really had no problem with. I was surprised that none of the kids wanted to give it a try though. No one caught anything, but it was still fun. We're going to try again next week. Once I got back home, I made an Earth Day supper for my parents and I. We had chicken seashell salad (pasta salad with chicken, fruit, and nuts), earthy jello (lime jello with oranges), and whole grain bread. It was very yummy. Then we had to go back to my school for the scholarship banquet. I was lucky enough to received a scholarship from People's Coop for next year. Yay for free money! :)

Ode to Bacon

It was a pretty eventful weekend. Yesterday, the family dog Bacon turned 5589 days old, and it was his last day. For those of you that don't want to calculate, he was about 15 1/2 years old in human years. He was blind and deaf, with a sniffer that never worked better. He was incontinent and couldn't do stairs. In the last month, he actually fell down the stairs 2 times and couldn't get back up. Both times it was about 4am, so the house was pitch black. He's been going down hill for a couple months now, and as a family we decided that it was time. Bacon lived an awesome life full of love. And now he is in doggy heaven with his puppy-hood buddies Ruff and AJ. He will now get all the beggin' strips and orange push-ups that he wants.

Last time, I headed to the Twin Cities for yet another weekend. This time around, it was the second to last Swarm game of the season. After listening to Rascal Flatts for the entire drive north, I felt a lot better by the time I met up with my friends. It's amazing how their music ALWAYS makes me feel better. Everyone has that one band that makes anything and everything better. For me, that band is Rascal Flatts. I first met my lab partner at Chuck & Dons to pick up an urn for Bacon. So now he will have a place to stay when he comes back home. Then I headed to Wisconsin to meet up with the rest of the group. We went to Keys for dinner. It was really yummy as always. Then we headed to St. Paul for Candyland and the Swarm game. We didn't win the game, but we did make it into the play-offs! First time ever! This is the 6th Swarm season, and the 1st time making it into the play-offs. I am so excited! So the day may have started out bad, but it ended well. Just like Rascal Flatts, my friends always know how to cheer me up and just have a good time. I love them so much! Thanks to them, my sister, and bro-in-law, I had a great Sat night. :)

Today, we decided to take a road-trip to Ostrander for Sunday family supper to a restaurant called Susie's Roadhouse. None of us have been there until today, and it was really yummy. The interior was so fun! There were regular tables and chairs in half of it where the bar was. In the other half, it was all picnic tables. There were beer signs and stuff all over the walls. The food was cheap and good, as was the salad bar. Best of all, you can write your name, memory, message, or whatever you want on a dollar bill and hang it up somewhere in the restaurant. Because there were 5 of us, we decided to leave a $5 bill on the wall. We each wrote a memory about Bacon, and we taped it to the wall where he can stare out the window. It's our tribute to the best dog in the world, Bacon. And now, every time we go back to Susie's Roadhouse, we are going to visit the wonderful family dog. He will always be hanging out on the wall, staring out the window. It may have started out as a sad weekend, but it definitely turned out to be a great, memorable one. I love you Bacon! You were a great dog! Some day, I will see you again. Until then, have fun in doggy heaven!

Green Dodgeball

It's been another pretty uneventful week as a student. Tuesday was spent being bored in bio class and listening to persuasive speeches followed by nice weather. My grandparents on my dad's side just got home from Texas, so my parents and I met them for dinner at the Wicked Moose, a new restaurant. It used to be McMurphy's, but the owner sold the building and is opening up a new place downtown. The new restaurant has an awesome logo since it's a moose and has very yummy, reasonably priced food. And it's close to home. Usually I only see my grandparents Memorial Weekend at the campground, so it was kinda weird going out to eat. But I wasn't going to complain since my dad was buying. I like free food :P

Yesterday (Wednesday) was also spent being bored in class. However, I got my bio test back in lab, and. . . *drumroll*. . . I got 100%! Woo hoo! So I'm still getting an awesome grade in the class! 4.0 here I come! Yesterday also brought HOT weather during the day, and thunderstorms at night. I love thunderstorms :)

Today was a bit more exciting. Of course I had bio this morning, followed by speech. Today was my day to give my persuasive speech on living green. As most of you know, allergies have hit about 3 weeks too early, so I have been coughing like crazy. When I was practicing my speech last night, I was about 30 seconds too long cuz of my coughing. However, when I actually did my speech today, I didn't cough once! And I was in the time frame! 9 mins 17 secs! So I completed my goal. :) Since it's Thursday, it's also little people day. Originally we were going to go fishing today, but then it was supposed to rain all day. It didn't rain; it was actually pretty nice today. Instead, we played game outside: cats in the corner, David and Goliath dodge ball, and kickball. All the kids had a blast, and they were all games that us adults could take part in too. I forgot how much fun it is to be a kid playing outside. I also forgot how much my lungs hate it when I run haha But it was still a lot of fun today. Hopefully we'll be able to go fishing next week, as long as the rain and wind hold off. After supper tonight, I headed over to my friend's house to watch the new episode of Bones. Then we went out for ice cream and just talked. We haven't seen each other for a month, yet we live maybe 3 mins apart. Kinda sad, but that's what happens when school takes over, and she has a baby that takes up most of her time. Anyways, I found out some very exciting news. So you might remember, originally she was supposed to be leaving for Yemen back in March, and obviously that didn't happen. The date got pushed back to the end of April, and then to Mid-May for graduation, and then to the end of May for her mom's birthday. It has been pushed back yet again for Father's day and her baby's 1st birthday, since bdays aren't really celebrated in Yemen. I am so excited! I know I can't change her mind, and that she will still go to Yemen, but I am getting more time to spend with her. I will take all the time that I get, because I have no guarantee that she will ever come back once she is gone. All in all, it has been a great day. :)

Easter... Jeopardy... Rodeo...

It's been another busy, but not very exciting, week. This past Sunday was Easter. A few years ago, my family decided that we were tired of cooking a big meal for Easter. Now, we all go out to eat for Chinese food. It might not be very Easter-like, but it's really yummy food! Since my grandparents moved in to a senior living center, we went back to their apartment for dessert: lemon angel food cake and coconut cake. Both were amazing!

School was about equally exciting. On Tuesday, we played jeopardy in my bio class. The teacher divided us into 8 teams, and each team took a turn answering a question on the board. My team took first place! Not only did we earn the most points from jeopardy, but we also each earned 5 extra credit points :) Wednesday there wasn't any school. Apparently colleges have teacher work-shop days. Who knew? Yesterday (Thursday) was my bio test and no speech class. I told you it was exciting.

Today, or I should say tonight, actually was kinda exciting. I went to my first rodeo. My dad's work was sponsoring the rodeo that's in town for the weekend, and he got free tickets for the whole family to go. I don't know if I would have spent $15 to go to it, but it was kinda fun since I went for free. Although, it got boring after the first 1 hour, the intermission shows were entertaining. Mostly it was a lot of guys riding bulls and getting knocked off. There were a couple clowns dancing around and teasing the bulls. One clown put on a dance show for one intermission. The other intermission consisted of lil kids riding sheep instead of bulls. It was fun, aside from all the dust.

Hello Spring!

I have survived another week of school, and I have one week closer to summer. It wasn't a very exciting week with school. My speech class was canceled on Tuesday, so I only have one class: bio. Instead of going to class, we had to post stuff to a discussion board for speech. I was the 3rd person to post our homework. Some discussion! On Wednesday, we had a discussion in my environmental class and watched a video about predator species. My bio lab was kinda fun. We created diffusion and osmosis. We also set up experiments to test phototropism and gravitropism. In other words, we are testing how light and gravity affect plants. I'm excited to see how the plants look next lab in 2 weeks. In between my two classes, I camped out in the library and went to town on my outline for my next speech. It is a good citizen persuasive speech. We are to volunteer for at least 4 hours with an organization, and then create a persuasive speech to encourage our audience to get involved. I am volunteering with RNeighbors and helping plan the Think Green Fair. So I will be persuading my audience to live green. Today was about as exciting at Tuesday, except I had both bio and speech classes today. Woo hoo!

Aside from school, I made a true April Fool's Day supper for my parents. It looked like cupcakes and french fries with ketchup. But, what was it really? The cupcakes consisted of meatloaf with mashed potato icing. The french fries were stale bread fried in oil and covered in a sugar/cinnamon mixture. The ketchup was raspberry jelly. It was yummy! My dad also bought a new bike today. So we went on a short bike ride after dinner. It was a great day for a bike ride. After that, it was time to watch Bones. The 2nd half of the new season started tonight. And it was awesome!!! :D

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

Last night was spent with some more kids, but for an excellent cause. Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is a group of military families that meet once a month to bond and support each other. It's for previous and currently deployed families in the area. For the month of March, there was a mini carnival held at the college. Project GO was a sponsor. We set-up a few activities for the kids to do through-out the evening: painting rocks to look like bugs, make play dough, and pinwheel flowers. I helped out with the rocks, and it was so much fun! The kids had a blast, too. There was everything being painted from a grasshopper to beetles to 4-eyed bug-creations. I even got into it and painted a green and pink ladybug. My friend started painting a rock blue and yellow; it ended up looking like a smurf! It was pretty sweet. So we helped the kids have a night of fun, and the parents were so thankful for our help. It was a great night for everyone :)

Today wasn't very exciting. I spent most of the day running errands. Woo hoo! I do have any update on the summer internship though. The nature center didn't want me since I don't have enough experience with little kids. However, I came across 2 other internships. One is at Oxbow Park and the other is at Mayo. I haven't heard from Oxbow yet, but I have heard from Mayo. My ap made it through the first round. Now I just need an interview, and I'm one step closer to a summer internship! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here birdy...

Today marked week 3 of volunteering with Project Get Outdoors. for those not familiar with the organization, it is a county-wide group designed as an after-school program to help kids have fun outside in nature instead of sitting in front of the computer or playing video games after school. Now, I have never been a huge fan of kids (depending on the age), but it's been a lot of fun so far. Despite the cooler temp and wind, we still spent the afternoon outside in the sunshine. Today we took the kids birding. In case we didn't see any live birds, there were 8 pictures of diff birds pinned to several diff trees around the school. Each kid got a pair of binoculars to go bird hunting and guess the species in the pictures. We also did some bird hunting for live birds and found: robins, mallards, geese, a crow, and a morning dove. It was a lot of fun. Another week of success with the little kids :)

The Birthday Fun Continues

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! Apparently I'm not doing very well at my resolution. Let's try this again. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks. Let's see, where did I leave off? Right before my birthday. It all started at 331 with my aunt and uncle. It continued the next day at Flamingo Bingo, where I won $25 on the first game! It was also the first time that I have ever won there, so it was pretty exciting. My dad and sister also won that night. We were sitting at a lucky table. After bingo, my parents and I joined my cousin and her husband at Applebees for half-price aps. Both my cousin and I were celebrating our birthdays at bingo, as well as at Applebees so we both got a FREE dessert shooter. I went with strawberry cheesecake, and it was sooo yummy!

The next day (sat) was my actual birthday, and it was filled with free food. Breakfast was celebrated at Dennys, where I got a FREE grandslam. It was awesome! Lunch was at TGIFridays. My mom and I weren't too hungry from breakfast, so we split fried green beans. I made sure to leave room for my FREE dessert, chocolate peanut butter pie. Yummy! Supper was at Fazolis. Again, I wasn't very hungry, but I always have room for breadsticks! And of course my FREE turtle cheesecake. :) I also had my birthday party that night. It was a lot of fun spending time with friends to celebrate by playing Apples to Apples and In A Pickle.

Birthday festivities continued yet another night (sun). Because my sister and my birthdays are so close, we tend to join family supper. This year, we picked Twigs to celebrate at. It was so much fun! The waitress brings a 650-degree rock to the table, and you cook your meat on it. You also pick 2 sauces and a side. It is such a cool idea. And, we can't forget dessert! Since there were 5 of us eating and 2 birthdays, we got 2 desserts. I got the chocolate cake, and my sister got the Oreo bread pudding. Both of them were really good. The chocolate was the BEST chocolate cake that I have ever had! Highly recommended for anyone who could use a piece of chocolate cake.

Later in the week was my sister's actual birthday. My mom and I met her downtown for gelato. Mmmm gelato. It's not quite as good as the real thing in Italy, but it's very close and very yummy! The next day was Friday, so we went to a fish fry for supper. Baked tilapia, roasted baby potatoes, green beans, coslaw, dinner roll, and lemon sherbet. Again, I say yummy! Sat was spent partly in the Twin Cities and partly with my sister for her birthday party. During the day, my mom and I headed to the cities for the Twin Cities Pet Expo. We got so much FREE stuff: treats, dog food samples, leash, bag, etc. We also got to watch the Disc Dog Club (dogs jumping off a dock into a swimming pool while catching a stuffed toy) and Dancing with you Dog. Yes, there are pet owners out there creating dance routines with their dogs. I love seeing the costumes that people come up with. There is always a tux or at least a bow tie. My favorite this year was the firedog. For lunch, my mom and I went to Red Robin. It was the last meals of celebrating my birthday. I got a FREE burger! And, since we had such an awesome waitor, I also got a FREE ice cream sundae! It was awesome! That night was spent at my sister's birthday party. We went to HuHot for supper. I have never been there because it smells icky. I could never say I had anything against the food, since I had never eaten there, but I couldn't stand the smell. Now that I have eaten there, I can honestly say that the food isn't bad. But it still smells really nasty. If I go there again, I'll have to plug my nose haha

The next day was Taffy's birthday. She turned 6 this year, which means that next year she will be considered a senior dog. I'm sure even then she'll still act like a puppy. She always has a blast opening her presents. I think it's the thrill of ripping open packages and bags. Silly dog. Also that day I had a movie date with Johnny Depp. And it was AMAZING! Sadly, I didn't get to actually sit next to Johnny Depp; I had to settle staring at him on the big screen. However, I was watching it in 3D so it was like he was right there with me. Alice in Wonderland was a great movie! Highly recommended for any Johnny Depp or Tim Burton fans!

And that leads to the next weekend, this past weekend, which was spent in Wisconsin. We had a much needed girl's night in River Falls. It was a blast! We started at Keys for dinner with awesome chicken strips and homemade day-old cookies. Then it was off to the bars for drink specials, dancing, and girly fun. We also played a couple games of air hockey. It was a blast!

We are almost up to date! Yesterday, I had an interview at the nature center for a summer internship. I think it went well. They have a couple more interviews later this week, and plan to make a decision at the end of the month. So we shall see. And today is St Patricks Day! I am Irish, so I have been wearing green all day long. Once my mom got off work, we went to Beetles for green drinks and bagpipes. There's a group of guys that travel from bar to bar all around town on St Patricks Day putting on a mini bagpipe concert. It was really fun watching them march around and listening to the bagpipes. On the way back home, we couldn't forget about shamrock shakes from McDonald's! I made an Irish supper for my parents: Irish pot roast, Irish pub chips, green jello, and green mint cookies. And you can't forget green beer (for my parents, I had a green mojito :P). It's been a great day of Irish fun. :D

331 is where it begins...

Happy almost birthday to me!! It might not be my birthday quite yet, but I still started celebrating last night since it was the start of my birthday weekend :) My mom and I met up with my aunt and uncle at 331, a local bar/restaurant. We tend to meet for happy every couple weeks anyways, but this time we actually had a purpose: my 22nd birthday! Since it was happy hour, we obviously had drinks and split appetizers: cheese curds and shoestring onions. Both were really yummy. The cheese curds were almost fair worthy, minus the grease. For those that haven't had shoestring onions, they are tiny onion strings batter-fried to look like shoe laces. I'm not a big fan of onions or onion rings, but shoestrings are really yummy. Since we were celebrating my birthday, I got a free slice of chocolate cake. It was some of the best chocolate cake I have ever had! 3 layers of chocolate cake with thick and creamy chocolate frosting in between the layers and on top and along the side. There was also whipped cream and strawberry slices. It was AMAZING! :) Tonight is birthday bingo. Let's hope for a win! I could use some extra cash right now.

A Week of Holidays

It has been one full week of holidays and school. Beginning with this past Saturday, the week has been filled with holidays: the annual tree-burning potluck party, Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, Presidents Day, Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday. It's been crazy, but fun. :) Starting it all off was the tree-burning party happening President's Day Weekend every year. The hostess is an old family friend and my old pediatrician. Everyone brings over their Christmas trees to contribute to the fire and a dish to pass in the potluck. It's a lot of fun just sitting by the fire or sledding down the hill. One year I almost slid into the fire. Everyone there seems to be at least one person that goes off course and heads for the fire. No one has actually gone in it...yet.

Sunday was the busiest day of all: Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, and Mardi Gras at my church. I decided to be a good daughter and made breakfast for my parents. This is mostly because I don't have a sweetheart of my own to cook for, and I live at home while going to school. Anyways, I made pink chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. After breakfast, we went to church for Mardi Gras. My dad won a cake on his first try: chocolate frosted yellow cake with coconut creating a snowman on top. All of us won quite a few times at bingo: bubble wands, candy bars, a mosquito tshirt. I even got mini mardi gras ducks that glow in the dark! That night I made a Chinese Valentine supper in honor of the 2 holidays. We had Chinese chicken salad, pink rice, strawberry jello with heart-shaped marshmallows, and a pink spritzer created by my mom. And of course, we had fortune cookies for dessert. Yay for holidays!

Monday, President's Day, wasn't quite as exciting. My mom and I went to Savers for 50% off bargains when she got off work. I got lucky and found a MN Wild polar fleece and a Rascal Flatts concert tshirt for less than $5! Better yet, the tshirt was from Rascal Flatts tour when I saw them at MOA a couple years ago for free. This is also when they were standing about 5 feet away from me. It was AWESOME! Since they weren't selling anything there, I now have a tshirt as a souvenir. :)

Tuesday was the actual day of Mardi Gras. My mom and I met up with my aunt and her co-worker at TGIF for beads, masks, and hurricanes. However, the waiter was retarded and didn't believe that anything was going on despite the email we all got the night before. After finding another waitress/bartender, we got our free beads. Sadly, the hurricanes were $7 and served in smaller-than-average glasses so no hurricanes for us. We met my dad for dinner at Whiskey Creek that night. I ordered a drink at both places and neither waiter asked for my ID! Apparently now that I'm almost 22, I look older, even though I don't act any older.

Student Success Day

Today was the spring semester Student Success Day. In other words, it's a day of seminars to help students succeed in school and life. I met up with a friend's sister, who is also my friend, to spend the day of success with. After checking in a little after 8am, we headed to the room of our first seminar. It didn't start until 9, so we had time to sit back and relax while waiting for the room to open. The first seminar we went to was about laughter, mostly the benefits. It was very informative, and the speaker was hilarious! He is a speech teacher at the college, as well as a stand-up comedian in town. I learned how to laugh at myself--which I generally do anyways--and that I should surround myself with fun happy people. I knew that laughter was good fo rmy health, but I didn't exactly know how. And now I do. Laughing decreases depression, lowers blood pressure, and increases digestion activity. According to the speaker, 15 mins are hardy laughter every day will result in a 6-pk abs over time.

The second seminar we went to wasn't quite as funny, but still informative. It was about stress and time management from a stoic point of view. So I learned about laughing and how to manage my stress today. And I got free lunch. And I got a new friend: a stress ball toucan named Timmy. And I now have a LONG weekend. No class til Wednesday! :)

Half Snow Day

Along with the rest of the midwest, we were hit hard with yet another blizzard Sunday through today. Luckily, I didn't normally have class until today. Unluckily, only 1 of my 2 classes was canceled today. I didn't have speech class today, so I wasn't able to survey the class on my informative speech topic: aromatherapy. However, I did have my bio class today, so I got to drive to school for a whole 45-min lecture. Not even 1/3 of my class was there today. But oh well. I guess I can't complain a whole lot because I only have a 5-min drive to school now, instead of 1 hour and 5 mins like a couple years ago. So I had a half-snow day today.

After class, my day got better by having free food. For the 2nd year in a row, Denny's dubbed today "Free Grand Slam Day." My dad and I headed to Denny's for a free brunch. For anyone not familiar with the Grand Slam, it consists of 2 pancakes, 2 sausage links, 2 strips of bacon, and eggs. In other words, its a lot of food. And better yet, it was free! My dad and I went last year too, and it was insane! This year was colder when standing in line, but the wait was a lot shorter this year. I love free food.

MAVT Conference

Yesterday I was in the cities all day for the MAVT Conference aka the state conference for vet techs. Yes, it was somewhat expensive, but it is pretty much the only option I have to earn ce credits with me not working at a clinic anymore. It was a lot of fun too. I went up with one of my ex-co-workers from the clinic who went to high school with my sister and is currently dating a good friend so she has entered the picture of my sister and I again. Anyways, we headed to the Twin Cities yesterday morning for a day of fun. When we first got to the hotel where the convention was being held, it took forever to find the registration desk. Once checked-in, we each got a heavy-duty tote bag with 2 zipper pockets filled with the info booklet and a pen. Everyone also got a $23 book similar to a textbook. It's the home edition of health care and diseases for every pet out there: dogs, cars, fish, horses, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, etc. It was then time to head to the first seminar on tick-borne diseases. The lady doing the seminar was from Tennessee, and she was hilarious! She stayed on track but was so random with stories and comments.

After the first seminar, it was time for lunch. I preregistered for the seminar luncheon, so we had to split up. The lunch was amazing and really fancy. When I entered the room, I felt so out of place in my jeans and hoodie. Then I found a table with a couple other people in hoodies to sit with. It was a 3-course meal with salad forks and dinner forks and desert forks. Water and ice tea were served in wine glasses, and a waiter put a cloth napkin on my lab when I sat down. I have never been to a place so fancy before, yet it was just a hotel room. So the meal started with a salad of what my sister and I refer to as "weed lettuce." It's all the dark greens and healthy lettuce vs. the Dole shreds. There were also mandarin orange wedges and olives to the side of the lettuce. Once topped with a vinaigrette, it was a yummy salad. The main course was also pretty yummy. There was baked lemon pepper salmon, steamed brussel sprouts, and buttery rice. The dessert was by far the best part. It was turtle cheesecake: graham cracker crust, layer of hot fudge, homemade cheesecake, topped with caramel sauce and chopped walnuts. It was AMAZING! While eating our meal, the speaker talked about all the different specialities for vet techs. I was interested in the zoology speciality, and I found out some pretty exciting news. As you all know, I am currently going to school for environment science. Being a vet tech and become an environmentalist, I can specialize in zoology and work in a wildlife park or zoo of some sort. I don't HAVE to be working in a zoo to be a specialist. Specializing also means an average increase of $20,000 a year salary. It is something that I am definitely keeping in mind.

After lunch, we met back up and wandered the exhibition hall, where we got TONS of free stuff. Besides the basic pens and candy, we got lots of treats, a bag of greenies, vet wrap, hand sanitizers, an ice scraper, bandage tape, and much more.

Happy February!

As of yesterday, I have officially survived my first test at RCTC! And it was pretty darn easy. I've made it clear that my Plant Bio class has been a review of high school biology, so this first test should have been easy. And it was. We got our tests back in lab today, and I only got 1 wrong! :) I love starting my classes out on a good note. It makes the rest of the semester so much easier and less stressful. I also found out that I got an A on my moose speech. :) So it has been a good day for grades.

On a different note, I was very busy over the weekend. I haven't said much on here about my grandparents, so I will sum it up as best as I can. Back in October, my grandpa fell on the sidewalk outside church and fractured his tailbone. He has been in rehab at a nursing home since then. After being apart for so long, my grandma got depressed and ended up in the hospital due to being so malnourished. She was eventually moved to the same nursing home as my grandpa right before Christmas. A couple weeks ago, both my grandparents got the okay to leave the nursing, and I found an opening at a senior living center in town with an assisted living floor. My family and I spent this past weekend moving my grandparents and all their stuff to the new "apartment." It was a lot of work, and I'm glad that they are out of the nursing home and in a better place.

Me = Moose

I gave my first speech in my public speaking class today, and it went really well! It was an introduction speech aka we were supposed to talk about ourselves in order to inform our classmates more about ourselves. Some people talked about their family; others explained the influence of their careers. I decided to compare myself to a moose, one of my favorite animals. I love elephants too, but I am a lot more similar to a moose. I will give you the shortened version of my speech. Moose and I are alike for 3 reasons: (1) both native to Minnesota, (2) have similar diet and behaviors, and (3) unique characteristics. The first point is a quiet obvious between me and a moose. The second point is a little more of a challenge to figure out. Moose are vegetarians, and I am a partial vegetarian. I eat meat, but mostly just chicken. I like, and eat, grains and pasta A LOT. As far as behaviors go, both moose and I love being in the water and value our "alone time." Moose are pretty solitary animals. I had fun with the unique characteristics aspect. Moose have large antlers to make them stand out compared to their relatives. I have a unique eye color that changes color depending on what color clothes I'm wearing. I must say, this is true for my sister. Otherwise, it's unique. :) I also described my heritage because that makes everyone unique. One of my favorite parts of my speech was how I ended it: "I hope you enjoyed imagining me has a big furry moose." Now, I did stumble once part way through my speech, but hardly anyone noticed. I did a really good job of recovering and staying strong through-out. After all, not every speech can be perfect. There is always room for improvement.

Weight Loss Challenge

For the past week, I have been doing 3 different weight loss programs. First of all, I started the Special K challenge in hopes of boosting my metabolism to assist with the other to weight loss programs. I gotta say, it's a lot easier said than done. I have never craved chocolate or un-cereal items so much before. For those of you not familiar with the Special K challenge, 2 of your 3 meals a day are either a bowl of Special K cereal or Special K waffles. The 3rd meal you eat like normal. 2 snacks can be Special K snacks: cereal bars, crackers, fruit crisps, or protein snack bars. Otherwise snacks are fruits and veggies. I like fruits and veggies, and I have noticed myself snacking less, which is good. However, I don't like having just a bowl of cereal as my lunch. I want more food haha. Anyways, I am 1 week into the challenge, and I have 1 week left.

The second program I'm participating in is titled Move It! and is through my school. For $10, you get a pedometer to count your steps every day for 10 weeks. There is also a nutritional challenge and a mind/body challenge every week. I have completed both for this week already. We are to try at least one new fruit or veggie this week. I tried a minneola, which is similar to an orange but less sweet. I recommend it for anyone who likes oranges and tangerines. The mind/body challenge is a relaxation technique with breathing. I am going to do it again tomorrow morning before my intro speech in my public speaking class. At the end of the 10 weeks, students (meaning me) get their $10 back and a free tshirt upon completion.

The third, and final, program is a weight loss challenge started by my brother-in-law. This one is going to last for 16 weeks. Each person puts $5 in the pool, as well as a $15-ish gift. Whoever wins the weight loss challenge at the end of the 16 weeks wins the money. There are also weekly winners, and they receive a $15-ish gift. So far I am down 1 pound since last week. I was really hoping to lose more, but I guess I should be happy that I have at least lost something. It's better than gaining pounds, right? We'll hope for more weight loss come next week.

Swarm... Pork... Class...

It has been a pretty exciting week. Last weekend was spent in the cities celebrating the home opener of the Minnesota Swarm aka lacrosse. And it was an awesome game! Over the summer, I won free tickets to the home opener, so I met my sister and some friends to cheer on the team. After lots of mirroring each others scores, we finally came ahead and won the game. :) Also happening last weekend was the 56th Eagles Cancer Telethon. For those unfamiliar with the telethon, its 20 hours spent with people coming together all over the area. There are singers, dancers, and bands performing to raise money for cancer research. There is malts and shakes, amazing pork sandwiches, mini donuts, and nachos. It's a lot of fun, and all proceeds go to an excellent cause.

Last week I survived my 2nd week of class. Nothing too exciting happened in my Plant Bio lecture, unlike my lab. In my lab on Wednesday, we learned how to use a microscope! And it was pretty exciting (sarcasm). Surprisingly, no one else in the class had used a microscope since high school, where as I used one almost every day working at the clinic. So I helped out my lab partner and we got out of class an hour early! It was awesome! In my speech class, we started our intro speeches. I'm scheduled to do mine this week on Thursday. I'm comparing myself to a moose :P It'll be fun. As for this past weekend, it was spent inside while there was snow and freezing rain outside. Gotta love winter.

1 Week Down...

I have officially survived my first week back as a student. You have all heard about my first day back, so let's start with my second day, which was yesterday. I had Environmental Science Seminar I yesterday at 8am. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard getting up early to be there for class on time. And it should be a fun class. Basically, there will be speakers coming in and talking to us about different environmental issues and projects around the area. We are to pick one of these and create a proposal to pursue with over the summer. In the fall, we will take the Environmental Science Seminar II and share our experience with our fellow classmates. I am hoping to do something with wildlife, so I am leaning towards Silver Lake. But we'll see what the speakers bring. Also yesterday morning, I had my Plant Biology Lab, in which I made a new friend! Woo hoo! I am already following through with my new year resolution. Since I don't like to share names on here and I already have one by the name of "lab partner", we will call her RB. So RB is a psych major, so I prolly won't come into contact with her in the future semesters, but either way I made a friend!

And that brings us to today, my third and last day of class for the week. Schedule-wise, it was the same as Tuesday; I had Plant Bio and Speech. And yes, I actually had Speech today! But first, Plant bio wasn't too exciting. We went over some powerpoint notes to help understand our reading assignment. And that was about it. Then I went to Speech. Turns out, my speech teacher takes a group of students to Cambodia over winter break every year. They got stuck in San Francisco with a long lay over and didn't get back until after our class on Tuesday. So we did 2 days work today. I'm looking forward to the classes. I've never been a big fan of speeches, but they don't bother me. And we get to choose pretty much all of our topics. Our first speech in due next week; it's an introduction speech. I am doing mine on my favorite animal: the moose. So it should be a good one. And, I made more new friends in my speech class! Woo hoo!

And for my 3rd part of exciting news: I should be making more friends on Tuesday. There is an Ecology club that is meeting on Tuesday for the first time this semester. Since Ecology goes right along with my major of Environmental Science, I might as well give it a shot. So as of Tuesday, I will be apart of a club too. Things are definitely looking up. :)

Welcome Back to the Student Life

I am officially a student again, and I have survived my first 11 hours of being one. Surprisingly, my first day back went well. Some of you know that I have been contemplating going back to school for some time now. To rewind slightly, I have been unemployed now for 5 months. There are no jobs out there for me, and the jobs that I want require more school or more experience. Due to part one of that sentence, my only option was to go back to school--unless I want to waste time on the couch more. and honestly, I'm getting pretty tired of spending all my time on the internet searching for jobs or reading the classifieds searching for jobs. So I finally decided to do something about it.

Last Thursday, I had orientation at the community college in town. I was lucky enough to watch an orientation video showing me around the school (in video form) and taking a placement test for classes that I have already taken (math and english). My transcript from the cities hadn't been analyzed yet, so I had to take the pointless placement test. Anyways, I finally got to register after that.

Today was my first day of class as an Environmental Science major. I am taking 3 classes this semester resulting in 7 credits. It'll be a nice way to ease back into the student and college life. The classes that I'm taking are Plant Biology, Public Speaking, and Environment Science Seminar I. Plant Biology was my first class of the day, and it went well this morning. I am pretty excited for the class. It may just be about plants, but we will be doing some fun projects in lecture and lab. Also, our last lab session is spent at the Mayowood Mansion, which I have never been to before. I was supposed to have Public Speaking afterwards, but that didn't work out so well. 7 of us were sitting in the classroom until 20 mins into class, and the teacher never showed up. No one knows if class was canceled, or if the room was changed, or if something else happened. Hopefully the teacher shows up on Thursday for class, cuz I really don't want to have to retake it over summer. But we shall see what happens. I have an 8am class tomorrow and my bio lab. Seeing how I will need a stress reliever, or at least I'm guessing that I'll have some stress, I will be blogging a lot more often. Hope you don't get sick of hearing about the ever-exciting events of my life ;)

Happy New Year and Decade!

Once again a new year has begin. I just re-read my new year post from last year, and apparently I did okay with my resolutions last year. My first one was to work-out at least 3 times a week. I have done ok with that, in the past few months anyways. While working full-time it was more like 1 or 2 days a week, but its still better than not going at all. My second resolution was to declutter my life, which I did do well on. I haven't decluttered for a while, but I have done well overall. I've donated a lot of clothes to Savers and Goodwill. I've also reorganized all of my scrap booking supplies and my desk/office area. So overall, I did a good job with my resolutions.

However, a new year has begun, which brings new resolutions. To slightly rewind a little, I will be starting school again in a week. I have decided to start the Environmental Science program at the community college in town. It's a 2 year program, but I have enough transfer credits to knock out the first semester. By going full-time over the summer, I should be done in a year. So this year, my new year's resolution is to finish school in a year in hopes of getting a fun job with good benefits. I am also going to push myself to join either the band or the theatre department at school in hopes of enlarging my social circle. After all, you can never have too many friends, and I really need to get out of the house more :P So here's to a new year, a new decade, and a new beginning!