First day of Summer

So far my summer has been filled with lots of love and laughter! To kick off our last normal summer my friends and I decided to celebrate by going downtown to the Wicked Hop where we each had our own Mimosa. These beauties (although expensive) were delicious and just what we needed to kick off our summer. After an hour of laughing and reminiscing we went to the grocery store to get supplies for our sangria party. When we got home we immediately started making our sangria. Our was filled with peaches, blueberries, strawberries, and oranges. Ohhh did it ever taste gooooood. After a couple hours of more laughter and planning we invited our boys over for a little pregame before we ventured off onto campus. It was a great afternoon and I couldn't have asked for a better crew to celebrate my first official day of summer!

Rainy Day

Just looking out over the beautiful San Dunes in Michigan.

The Saturday after good Friday is definitely not sunny, but rightfully so. Yesterday was a beautiful day! The Sun was out and I was feeling spring. Yesterday was a tease and now today is just so depressing. Well I'm not going to let this weather get me down. I am going to bake and work out today. It is going to be just a wonderful day here in Wausau.

I learned something yesterday in relation to my anxiety. I was on my way to TJ Maxx and I decided that I wanted a diet soda. After I had finished half the can I started to feel my chest tense up a little bit. When I was in the car I was thinking to myself, "Either I turn around and go home letting my anxiety win, or I continue on with my day like I had planned." I decided to continue on with my plans and go to TJ Maxx. Although I wasn't myself when I was in there, it was a big step for me. I didn't let my chest prevent me from doing something I loved. I think I am learning little by little how to tackle this anxiety issue.

Things to do for next time...

1. Don't I repeat DON'T have caffeinated soda during the day. It will make your chest hurt.
2. Exercise everyday. I think that if I do a little bit of exercise I won't be as stressed or prone to stress later. 

That is all for now... I am going to start checking things off my list for today.

• Grocery shopping
• applesauce
• whole wheat flour

• Work out
• Bake
• oatmeal bran muffins
• brownies

• Cook Dinner
• pasta with tomato sauce

• Watch the MU game!
• GOOOOOO Marquette!

Relaxation

The term relaxation has taken on a whole new meaning for me this week. I had a lot going on on Tuesday of this week, but it didn't fully catch up to me until Monday. I'm not sure how to describe it but when I get overwhelmed, I begin to feel a sharp almost pinching pain in my chest. I have gone to the ER two times for this weird situation and all of the tests have shown no signs of anything wrong with my heart. That's good news, however I still experience pain and discomfort whenever I feel like I have a lot going on. Some say it's all mental, but I truly believe that anxiety has negative physical effects on me. I think there is a muscle in my chest that gets inflamed whenever I get overwhelmed. As a result I feel a pinching pain in my chest by my heart. I'm not quite sure why this happens sometimes, but it does. Everyone tells me that I need to find a way to relax and get my mind off of it so I am determined to find the miracle cure!

Here are a couple of options for the ultimate relaxation cure:

1. Take a long shower. This would seem easy enough because taking a nice hot shower can make anyone feel 100% better, but when I start to feel weird as I call it I don't want to do anything besides lay down and talk to people about how much my chest hurts. I have this feeling that when I lift my arms up to wash my hair my chest will pinch. I guess I have to get over that fear of my chest pinching and test to see if taking a shower will really help me feel better. PLAN: Load up my shower with a bunch of good smelly soaps and scrubs. Buy a nice lufa and make sure I've got a nice sharp razor ready to go. Be prepared. As annoying as it is to constantly restock  my shower I'm just going to have to realize that in the end it will all be worth it. After my shower I will make sure that I lather up with some nice smelling lotion so that my skin stays nice and smooth. Can't forget to exfoliate as well! That way my skin can say nice and radiant.
2. Drink decaffeinated tea.  I have never been much of a tea fan so this option really doesn't appeal to me that much, but its worth a try. I have two of these really smooth calming teas that I sometimes drink before clinic (because I get stressed). It helps me calm down before a hectic session.  It's this orange blossom tea and the Aveda tea, which smells like shampoo. PLAN: Reserve an area of the kitchen for my collection of tea. Also I think I'm gong to have to purchase a hot water heater. Or I can just heat up some water on the stove (old school style). I think it will look kind of cute to have a little area with tea. It will look like I am a relaxed person and it will give me options for when I need something to calm me down. Something else I've always wanted to try is to have a nice little cup of tea before bed. Maybe having a cup will really relax me before bed and help me unwind after a long day at clinic. Now that I think of it I can really see myself making a nice little cup of tea before bed with a splash of honey and milk? I see Jeni do it all the time and it looks really good!
3. Exercise Regularly. I have been really good about this all semester, but lately I have been slacking when it comes to hitting the gym. I used to go at least 3 times a week and now I'm lucky if I get there once a week. Exercising is a great stress reliever and I need to make sure I make time for it during the week. My goal is to go on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and ultimately I would love to be able to work out for 40 minutes. Another good reason to work out is to stretch afterwards. I should really be stretching both before and after, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Tomorrow I am going to find time to workout in the morning before Audiology clinic. I am going to get up, work out, come home, eat breakfast, shower and then go to audiology. After that I am going to go to the lab to finish some transcriptions. Then I have to let the doggies out and go to African Dance where I go immediately to Multicultural Issues and then HOME!
4. Eat a well balanced diet. I am a firm believer in eating enough veggies, fruits, and water during the day. I have literally been living off of popcorn and carbs for the past 2 weeks and I think it is starting to have a negative effect on my attitude. In my defense I didn't have a car to go get groceries, but still. I should have made time to go. I needed to get veggies. Although I have been going to Starbucks a lot lately to get my fruits and stuff into my daily diet. When I come back from Easter Break I am going to make sure that I restock my fridge with lots of goodies! Also my fridge SUCKS! I swear all of the food I have in my fridge is bad and goes bad immediately after I buy it. I try my best to get a variety of foods, but I just get scared that what I am eating is bad or full of bacteria. Anywayssss eating healthy is always a goal of mine. Let's get to it! My diet starts tomorrow. PLAN: Go grocery shopping while I'm at home and buy some good food for Easter break. When I get back to school I am going to make grocery shopping my first priority. I am going to buy lots of good stuff for salad. I am going to get this one salad dressing that I have been dying to try! i am going to get some bananas (oh how I miss my bananas) apples are another key item for me. I used to buy them a lot and now I don't. Eating different things for breakfast is another habit I am trying to break. I always have 1/2 a banana, cereal, and a coffee for breakfast. Yes it is a healthy start to the day, but I literally have it everyday. I need to branch out. Maybe I'll make some muffins one week or healthy scones to have. I'm always a fan of lemon poppyseed so I could make something nummy with those ingredients. I could have oatmeal with some brown sugar and milk with slivered almonds or fruit. I don't know if I can break my habit of drinking coffee because I need it in the mornings. Bottom line is I need to vary my diet, eat healthier, watch the portions, and try to eat something new for breakfast every morning.
5. Spread out my assignments. Don't cram everything into one week or one day. I need to make sure that I don't find myself in the same situation that I did on Monday. I was hungover and really felt the pressure of writing my 3 page paper before Tuesday. I had briefly worked on it, but was waiting to actually write the entire paper until the day before. I think that the majority of my anxiety came from that. I should have started it last week or better yet even finished it last week. What was I thinking??? I know that those kind of things stress me out, but yet I chose to do it anyways. I guess I will learn for next time. PLAN:  I have a lot of stuff due at the end of the semester so I need to spread out the material. I really need to do well on this next stuttering assignment so instead of waiting till the last minute to study I am going to read the chapters in a relaxed manner and make sure the information sticks in my mind. I am NOT going to take notes on the chapters because that didn't help me last time. No sir. I am going to knock it out of the park! I am also going to make sure I start studying for Audiology while I'm at home. Next fall I know I am going to have a lot of stuff going on so I need to make sure I really have a plan and schedule that works for me where I can workout and still find time for things that I enjoy (like watching my favorite shows).

I would take long walks by myself in Roma. Such a relaxing way to spend my afternoons!

I simply love this picture I took in Tuscany. Vino Bianco always makes me feel better!

Gosh that is a lot of writing. I don't care though because it helps me talk things out. I always seem to talk to my mom about my problems and sometimes I simply have too many little problems to tell her about. That is what this blog is for. To share my inspirations and help me through my hard times. I will work on writing in my blog when I am not feeling the greatest. Maybe it will help me feel better?    

Too long Thursdays

It always seems like I blog on Tuesday and Thursday mornings... maybe that's because I feel like I have to mentally prepare for the long day ahead. I don't have anything due today, but I just have a lot of things going on. I have three classes, clinic, and then tutoring. Yikes. How do I plan to make it through this long day you ask? Well I just like to take it class by class. Then I simply try to get into the mindset I need for clinic. Then I can sort of cruise during tutoring.

After today is over then it's the weekend baby! WOOOHOOO!!! I have date party this weekend with my man, then I have a chef's challenge with my girlfriends. How fun! oh yea and I have to write a research paper sometime in between all of that. I'll finish it no worries.

Saltue to the weekend that is almost here!

My favorite bakery next to our apartamento in Roma

Nick and I just horsing around in Venezia

It only takes one

"It only takes one" is the key phrase that pretty much sums up my experience applying to graduate school. I got denied from the first school I heard back from and then I got accepted into my number one pick! Bittersweet I guess, but now I have been recieving feedback from my other six schools I applied to and I haven't had much luck at all. Honestly if I didn't get accepted into Marquette I would be crying myself to sleep every night because I wouldn't be going to graduate school.

It's such a cut throat process now a days. Everyone is realizing what an awesome field speech pathology is and so the programs keep getting hard and more difficult to get into to. I just thank God everyday that I got into the school that I wanted.

Enjoying some pizza and pasta in Florence

Now I just need to hear back from one more school and the process will be over! I mean I have already verbally committed to Marquette so in reality none of this bad news needs affects me, but the fact that some schools just straight up denied me is a little bit of a bummer.

Now on to Monday.... oh what a Monday I had! I tell ya with meetings and assignments due, the Monday after a long and relaxing spring break couldn't have been more annoying. I had meetings in the morning and papers due throughout the day. AHH! Normally Mondays are relaxing for me because I get to workout and get stuff done, but yesterday was chaotic and flew by too fast!

Today is Tuesday and I always dread this day because it is one of my longer days. I am constantly moving and don't stop until I'm done with work at the brooks. The way I look at these days is I just take one step at a time and take one hour at a time. I have three classes in a row and then I have to get mentally prepare for clinic, which is always a surprise. Hopefully today goes smoothly, but if it doesn't I can always come back to my cozy cabin room and vent to my mother.

This blog keeps me sane, as crazy as that sounds. I am the type of person that has to talk about stuff. If I try to keep it all wrapped up inside me I feel like I am going to explode. Talking about things that bother me, gets it off my chest so that I can focus on other important things.

Krumkaka

This traditional Norwegian goodie is my mom's favorite treat. She always wants to make these delicate waffle cones when I'm home.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cardamom

1. Beat all of the ingredients until smooth
2. prepare iron with crisco before you pour in the  batter.
3. Bake the batter in the iron 30-40 seconds then quickly slide out of the iron onto a baking sheet where you roll the krumkaka into its famous cone shape with the help of the wooden roller.

Chocolate Sugar Kookis

This spring break has been a solid week of baking and cooking, which I am totally okay with. I know you are probably thinking that I spelt the word "cookies" wrong, but actually after looking in my great-grandmother's cook book last night I learned that kookis is the Norwegian translation for cookies. In my own personal opinion I think that I resemble my great-grandmother Gustava. I think that I kind of look like her and I know that I have the same passion for baking that she did. I have a feeling that her cookbook was meant for me and that she wanted me to have it. With that being said, I want to recreate all of her signature baked goods and share them with my family. I guess you can say I am kind of obsessed with my family history.

These Chocolate sugar cookies are not Norwegian, but I have had my eyes on the recipe for quite some time now and thought that now would be the perfect time to try them out. Needless to say they were classically delicious and I could see myself making these around Christmas time. In the future I might even frost them and decorate them just like I would with regular sugar cookies.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coco powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 14 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1. place sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside
2. combine the wet ingredients in a bowl
3. combine the dry ingredients in a sep bowl
4. slowly add the dry to the wet and mix until just combined
5. turn the oven to 350
6. using 2 tbsp of cookie dough, roll the dough into balls
7. roll the ball in the gran sugar until covered
8. place on baking sheet and use the bottom of a glass to flatten the cookie
9. sprinkle some more granulated sugar on the tops of the cookies
10. bake for 15 minutes at 350 until done.

Enjoy!