greetings from a heat wave

a little weekly recap

chai tea. does anyone have any tips on how to make this? I've had a chai latte and it was really good, and this tea smells so good, but when I have made it, it just tastes like dirty water. :(

starting out on DuoLingo!

Max enjoyed some sunbeams.

window sunset.

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A January in Wisconsin sort of heat wave, that is.

Monday and Tuesday were really, really cold, and it started to warm up some on Wednesday. By really, really cold, I mean temperatures were ten to thirty degrees below zero, and the windchill brought it down to negative forty to sixty. Seriously. Schools were closed for three days.

We knew it was coming, and that's what made it bearable. My manager suggested that I fill up my gas tank on the way home from work on Saturday, and then on Sunday after work I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I was surprised that there weren't more people there than usual, and the shelves were still pretty full. I guess everyone didn't think that this was going to be a big deal!

On Monday I had a Laguna Beach marathon. I made a dent in the book I'm reading (White Whine: A Study of First-World Problems). My mom brought Pizza Hut home for dinner. They did something different with the crust, so it tasted like a breadstick. It was soooo good.

My manager texted me to let me know that I didn't need to go to work on Tuesday, so it was a second day of yoga pants and hoodies. I read some blogs and some more of the book in the morning, and I was pretty bored around lunchtime, so I surfed around BuzzFeed and found this awesome article. I have been wanting to relearn French (which I took for five years in middle/high school), and one of the websites in the article is DuoLingo, where you can learn some foreign languages, including French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portuguese.

I don't really get to watch a lot of tv while it airs, since the shows that I like to watch are usually on when I am at work, but I got to watch the Goldbergs when it aired on Tuesday night.

I woke up on Wednesday morning not knowing if I would have to go to the Y to teach my class, but it was cancelled, because school was cancelled again! {It turns out the class was cancelled for the session because no one signed up!} I did end up working at the motel for a few hours, and it was nice to get out of the house and see a few people.

Yesterday was kind of cold too, and I got to go to the Y and help teach a class. I love working with those kids because it gets me up and moving. I went downtown and ran a few errands before going back home. I wanted to go out and take some pictures, but it was still pretty cold (around zero) at that point.

I had a marathon of some episodes of Cupcake Wars and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives because I couldn't watch last night's episodes of The Middle and Modern Family. I guess they have some thing where you have to sign in with your cable provider in order to watch brand new episodes? I don't feel like paying for Hulu+ at this point, so I guess I will just have to be patient.

There was this article that someone posted on Facebook about bubbles freezing outside in this weather, so I tried it this afternoon, but I guess I was supposed to try this on Monday or Tuesday, because even at sixteen degrees, it was too warm for the bubbles to freeze. It was also too windy for me to get any good pictures.

As nice as it was to have a few days to relax, I hope we don't get this kind of weather again until next year! (:

xoxo.

1/52 2014

I mentioned in my post from Friday that I am working on a photography 365 project. I wasn't intending on sharing all of these pictures online, but then I saw Kiki's set, and I knew that sharing my pictures as well would help me hold myself accountable for this goal this year. I hope to share my weekly photos every Wednesday, but that might not always be possible.

Some of these photos won't be the greatest, and there will be times when I will have to blur things out for privacy.

day one :: frosted bedroom window. {somehow, amongst below zero temperatures [ten to twenty below, plus a windchill that kicks it down to negative forty or so], this has disappeared.}

day two :: gingerbear and white hot chocolate

day three :: textbooks, notebooks, cds, and nail polish

day four :: Max just wants to sleep

day five :: desk

day six :: tea condensation

day seven :: good mail day

xoxo.

a night at the CopperLeaf

Some very dear people gave me the best Christmas present ever this year: a one-night stay at the CopperLeaf Hotel in Appleton. It was a perfect little getaway because it was close, but not too close. They also told me to go shopping, and I bought myself some nice new things.

view from the door to the room

the living room area that you first walk into. the larger two-door compartment holds the tv, and to the left of that is a small closet space.

wet bar.

I haven't stayed in many hotels in the past few years, and I found it interesting that not only was there a magnifying makeup mirror (with different lighting settings) in the bathroom, but there were also cotton balls and q-tips, and a toothbrush holder. (And also Aveda products.)

the bedroom had a small (fake) fireplace under the tv, a jacuzzi, and a king-size bed.

the alarm clock radio even had a white noise machine with multiple settings. that was very helpful when I heard someone running in the hallway around eleven.

I spent some time in the jacuzzi reading Space Kitty Blues after eating my red velvet cupcake from Panera.

breakfast was served at the hotel from six until nine, and I missed that because I ended up sleeping in. I walked a block down to Copper Rock Coffee, where I had a cinnamon roll and a s'mores mocha while reading some more.

I just really love exposed brick.

because I went between Christmas and New Year's, there were still some adorable Christmas decorations up.

I also love historical buildings, especially with a little dusting of snow. it was a few degrees above zero, so I didn't venture out and take too many pictures, but I'm looking at going back in the spring when it's a little warmer. I found a cute little church and some schools while I was driving around downtown in the morning.

a few more historic storefronts.

I stayed in 503, which is the second room from the left on the top floor.

they had some really cute Christmas decorations out too!

wreath by the front door.

In the interest of full disclosure, there was a small issue with the room, but I called down to the front desk, and she sent someone up right away who took care of it!

xoxo.

2014: on goals and words

frosted window. 1 January 2014.

I still don't understand how it is already 2014. I know that everyone is saying it, but 2013 definitely flew by. There were many changes in the past year, and I can't wait to see what this year will bring.

My goals for this year are to finish up my twenty while twenty by August ninth and to take at least one picture with my dslr every day.

I also plan to keep up with my detailed journaling of every day this year, and I am participating with Erin Sallie and Perkins for a no-spend month of January!

I saw a lot of bloggers choosing their word or words for the year, and I picked two words that I want to work on:

adventure: That's part of the name of this blog, right? But there doesn't seem to be too much adventure. I've got at least one thing in the works that will fall under this word, but hopefully I will be able to make more room for more adventures this year.

acceptance: Life is all about change, and sometimes it's hard to deal with those changes. This year, I will accept what I cannot change and make the best of it.

xoxo.

December 2013 Snaps

I shared some more pictures in posts this month than usual, so I only have a few mismatched shots for this post.

I ordered a new camera strap from the Poppy Shoppe on Etsy! It's leopard print and I love that it doesn't snag my clothes and scarves like my other {very beautiful} one did. I love that Rachel uses green packaging!

I went out to take pictures at Portage Park at sunrise, and this is all I got. :(

Christmas tree gingerbread and a little glove. So adorable. {Theses were baked by one of my mom's friends.}

I took this quiz on Buzzfeed, and this was my result. It made me laugh.

December 2013 by iPhone
Christmas 2013
College Graduation
Door County winter pictures
Christmas tree pictures
an evening at aloft in Green Bay

No NatureBox post this month, because I changed my snacks to late, so I got the same thing as I did in November.

Next week I will have a post up about my stay in Appleton!

xoxo.