Friday!

Chilling in the room with my roommate, eating gold fish, and reading funny Pinterest posts to each other I stumbled across this one:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/464228-chin-workout/

Chin work outs... It must be legit because it is on Livestrong right?... We tried them a few times and it was very difficult simply because our abbs were hurting from the workout they were getting from the bursts of laughter.
Try doing one of these workouts without laughing... very unlikely.

Happy Friday Everyone!!

An Update

Some Pictures and stories from Easter Break :) 

We went to St. Jacobs Farmers Market on Saturday, for fun and to cross some stuff off the grocery list

 --> Bratwurst and Apple Fritters. 

Apple Fritters were in high demand that day. 

Above is our lunch, Octoberfest Sausage on a bun :)

Left: A very colorful stand in the market.

Right: All of the goodies we found :)

Tess! :)

 Last year we started making maple syrup, I guess I should say my parents started making maple syrup. This year I was home for more than just collecting the sap. It is kind of a long process but it is definitely worth it!

<--- Collecting sap. Photo Credit: Dad.

Once you have enough sap, you boil it. And keep boiling it until all of the water is evaporated.




<-- We boil it outside at first because there isn't a big enough pan to do it inside.

Once it has evaporated enough that you can put it into a pan in the kitchen you filter it and then boil it some more. 

<-- Dad pouring the sap through the filter. 

Boiling the sap on the stove until it becomes syrup! 

<-- The whole process takes about 8 hours. Again it is totally worth it. We had pancakes to try the deliciousness. 

Mom, Lisa, and I went out for tea one afternoon. It was fun just to spend time together, and the teahouse was very cute :)

                                         

Finally on Friday my friend and I took Lisa to the airport. We had about 1.5 hour wait at the border but it went by pretty fast because we were having a good time. 

Since August I have been trying to get Lisa to take a picture with one of the many Buffalo we see along the road. She had resisted but I persisted and finally --> Mission Accomplished.

Dropping my sis off at the airport.

Those were some of the highlights of my break. It was very relaxing! 

Happy belated Easter everybody! 

<3

Weekends = Lots of Sleep or No Sleep...

This was a no sleep kind of weekend.

Friday.
Town to get pierced

Most college students get tattoos... we get our ears pierced.

Making sure it will look exactly right, calling mom to ask for her opinion

 My roomies are so cute.

It hurts a bit.

Lookin' good! 

Sleep.
Saturday.

Statistics Homework

How I feel some days... most days

Lacrosse Game

Banquet + Dancing

The Gillette Hall Banquet

A fun night with friends = lots of laughing, some eating and dancing.

Sisters by choice <3

Lost an Hour of sleep.

^^^^ Well, waking up for my 7:45 class this morning was kind of brutal^^^

But despite the lack of sleep it was a really great weekend :) 

c'est la vie

Spring is coming soon! I can just feel it. Actually weather network told us that this week is probably the last cold week of the winter! Of course you cannot always trust weather.com but we can hope right! 

Before break we had some fun with the warm weather...

Being on the 4th floor is fun! 

Don't worry mom, we were completely safe.

We also took a trip to China Star to get away from SODEXO for a little while. It was great fun and some great food as well :)

Making a weird shaped star from chopsticks! 

Break was fantastic, now back to reality...

... but I am not quite there yet.. just one more chapter in Mansfield Park please? 

My favorite line thus far in this great novel: 

"'Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.'"

That's all for now folks!

<3

Tragedy.

Tragedy is something that can affect a group of people in two ways.

1: People show anger and blame everyone around them. No one is to blame but someone has to be blamed because how else could this terrible thing happen. Everyone is left to face the terrible loss on their own, and this is a tragedy in and of itself.

And then there is a second way. Where there is still frustration, confusion and "why?" is being asked constantly but rather than turn on each other you give strength and help pull one another out of this void. 

That is where the hope is in tragedy. Seeing people love and comfort one another when life sucks and there is nothing you can do about it. 

This weekend I have seen a marvelous sight in the midst of tragedy. God moving in our community as a healing process is about to begin. It will take time, but the love and support is amazing to see even if we don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.

A beautiful song that I stumbled across today. 

Hello Sun!

I have the perfect room and the perfect desk.

Sometimes, at about 3 o'clock, the sun will start shining through the window

warming everything in it's path.

And so I sit in it, take in some much needed Vit. D and soak in the warmth.

Today, this phenomenon occurred and so I was sitting making Valentines gifts when Andrea walked in and sat right in the sunshine reminding me how great a room I have. 

Of course we took a picture of this event.

No big deal: Western New York in February, window open, sun streaming in. LOVE.

It was some much needed relaxation time.

Topic Shift:

Nail Polish my mom sent me in the mail! I thought this picture was cool.

Anyways, I hope you are having a wonderful day (even if the sun isn't shining!) 

Purple & Gold Week plus a Package

It's Purple & Gold week again! This week is usually pretty fun. 

We get free t-shirts, get to watch basketball games, act silly and show some school spirit. 

Roomies <3 both on the purple team! 

During half time we went to the top of the bleachers and took a lot of pictures

Jina did an epic photo-bomb in the second picture above. 

464 minus 1. Our dear Olivia isn't here this semester.

We are crazy 95% of the time.

Our floor last year was amazing! 

2nd Olders for life <3 

On Tuesday I received a red slip in my mail box. That means package! I wasn't expecting anything and  I opened this lovely package to find a bunch of goodies! 

Letters, Cookies, chocolate, pj bottoms, a pillow and more.

It was filled with a ton of love :) 

Modeling my new pajama bottoms :) 

Thank you so much Mom!! 

Rain. Snow. Rain. SNOW!

The weather here is bipolar. 

Seriously.

We had snow all of last week

and then randomly it was 5o degrees, some sun, and a ton of rain for about two days.

Since yesterday it has looked like a blizzard outside. 

I guess the weather is never boring here. 

I am so thankful it is Friday and am so looking forward to this weekend! 

Friday night: watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with my sick roommate

Saturday:

Sleep in 

Sausage Saturday! (we have yummy sausage on Saturday mornings!)

Homework and probably some fun :) 

Sunday: 

Church

Superbowl! 

Then Monday is the start of Purple and Gold week (school spirit week) so that will be really eventful and a ton of fun :) 

This was last week's snow right before the rain. 

I opened the window to write my name in the snow on the roof :) 

fun, birthdays, and then back to school

Christmas break was wonderful. Lots of rest and relaxation, perfect to recuperate after a stressful semester. 

I went ice skating a couple times with friends, took many walks downtown, and had tea time with Lisa nearly every day while watching Marple. 

For Lisa's birthday we walked downtown, got cake from a German Bakery and then had a photo shoot before heading back home for dinner. I am so happy that she is home right now so we could have some serious sister bonding time.

Beautiful Birthday girl! :) 

Train tracks make good settings for pictures 

We both had cute hats to wear

I am back at school now. The first week of my 4th semester is almost over. 

It's going to be a good one :) 

<3