Fall time

You know how we sing songs about how Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year?  Well, I'd like to start a new tradition of singing songs about how fall is the most wonderful time of the year.  Because it is.  The colors, the smells, the crisp air, the chilly bonfire nights, deliciously flavored lattes, apple pies and apple orchards and apple cider, and best of all....it's scarf season. :)

Obviously, I haven't updated about my adventures in a little while.  Like more than a month.  Because I'm really bad at being disciplined about things like blogging.  However, I'm still adventuring and doing things that push me out of my comfort zone and ultimately make me more brave, more bold, more humble, more caring toward others, and more understanding.  At least I hope that's what is happening.

For the last month and a half, I've been devoting most of my time to a really BIG adventure in my life.  WE PLANTED A CHURCH!  Soooo excited for what God is doing through Revolution Church!  (check it out at revolutionchurchmpls.com)  We get the awesome privilege of meeting at a music venue called The Cedar, and we have a great team who are all committed to helping other people to know Jesus better.  I'm sure there will be plenty of adventures born out of this one thing, and I'm excited to see what those adventures are.

A few other things in the last month and a half:

1.  I became a barista again!  I get to get up at 4:30am most mornings and make coffee for people in the skyway in downtown Minneapolis.  I seriously love it.

2.  I went to Taylor's Falls for the first time with my good friend, Lea.  She's pretty stellar.  And pretty.  And loads of fun.  I need to keep friends like her around, because they help me continue to go on adventures and continue to rely of Jesus for everything.

Me and Lea! Buds.

3.  I've gone to, and have plans to go to, so. many. concerts.  At least for me.  I like this new development in my life.

4.  I also live with this pretty awesome family.  Jamie and Joey, and they have three of the cutest kids ever (twins who are 3 1/2 and a 20-ish month old boy.....all with the biggest blue eyes and blondest hair in the world).  Those kids could get away with a lot of things because they're so cute.  I'm super thankful for their family and for being able to live with them in this time of big transitions in my life!

Take a peak at my updated list, because a couple things have changed.  And I'm pumped about them.  And seriously, who wants to join me for any of these?  For realsies. 

Updated List!

1.  Take a lesson in down hill skiing.

2.  Go on an impromptu road trip.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long  bike ride through Minnesota

7.  Take a decorating/baking class.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go to the horse races.

12.  Plant a church. (I don't know why this wasn't on here before...)

August and September

Good thing blogging isn't my job, because if it were, I'd be fired.

First things first, watch this video if you haven't.  It's a gold nugget.

Last month (August), I channeled my inner Gossip Girl and went to the good ol' horse races!
However, I didn't wear crazy tights or a braid that doesn't make sense, like Serena here.

Serena from Gossip Girl in all her crazy braid glory.

Instead, I wore my normal clothes and hair and went with friends.  I've never been into gambling regardless of how much, so I didn't make any bets until a friend left and still had .80 on a ticket.  I made a few bets, and lost it all!  While this wasn't such a big learning experience, it was still a fun night and I might just need to go again.

Here's the group that went to the horse races at Canterbury Park.

Shepard, Eric, Brittney, Nick, me, and Jared

Then, in September, I got to go to the top of the Foshay in Minneapolis!  To celebrate the wedding of my good friend, Laura, we went to Prohibition, which is a bar on the 27th floor of the Foshay Tower.  Once again, I felt as if I channeled my inner Gossip Girl.  You get off the elevator and are in the thick of the crowd.  Men in business suits, girls in fancy dresses, and it all looks like an apartment and the atmosphere is reminiscent of a speak-easy from the 1920's.  And the tiny drinks are $10.  But it was totally worth it!  I got to check off an item on my list and help a friend check off an item on her adventure list!  Here we are at Prohibition in our fancy schmancy dresses acting all upper crust.

Emily Ralph and me all fancy!

Updated List!

1.  Take a lesson in down hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long  bike ride through Minnesota

7.  Take a decorating/baking class.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go to the horse races.

12.  Pick up an instrument.

aka:  Play it each day for a month.

July is so last month...

Fun fact of the day, my myers-briggs is characterized by none other than a Corgi.  Well, technically  just a dog, but the picture chosen is a Corgi.  So that's pretty neat.

Here's the link to figure out your Myers-Briggs animal:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/whats-your-animal-personality-type

In other news, I haven't actually stopped doing my adventures, I've merely stopped being available for long enough periods of time to write any blog posts for the summer months.  Welcome to summer camp life!  While I may not be living at camp, I sure do drive there a lot...

Well, July was a fun month!  I could go through all the craziness of my life in July, but I'll spare you the mundane details.  I did cross off an item on my adventures list!!  I went on a long bike ride through Minnesota.  My friend, Brittney, and I went on a nice long bikeride on the trails through Minneapolis.  We rode through a surprising green area right next to the highway and under the Twins stadium.  It was truthfully pretty awesome!

Let me tell you a little bit about Brittney.  Brittney is far more adventurous than I and since I trust her, I let her convince me to do some crazy things.  They're always awesome and responsible, but I feel like I'm on an adventure, and that's what matters!  The things she gets me to do are things that put me outside of my comfort zone and push me to grow, which is the goal of my year.  

I'm very thankful for friends like her!

This is Brittney and her husband, Nick

She also got me to go with her to join a search party for a missing boy in Wisconsin.  This was a very stretching experience to say the least!  We spent a long time just waiting for the emergency response people to be available to lead our group.  There were more volunteers than leaders!  And we spent a long time walking through incredibly dense wooded areas and farmers' fields, shoulder-to-shoulder in over 100 degree heat.  Shoulder-to-shoulder searches generally mean you are no longer looking for a living person, and knowing that was hard enough.  Not finding the missing toddler was even harder.  Eventually the police found his body.  Not the outcome we had hoped and prayed for, but it was an answer.  Not knowing is sometimes harder than knowing.

On our way home we spent a bit of time reflecting about the day.  One thing that stood out to me was the amount of volunteers that showed up.  Over 2,000 people helped search for this missing boy!  In the midst of a tragic situation, God showed me His love in that so many people, who probably had little to no connection with the family (as we did not), showed up to help.  They saw the need and they inconvenienced themselves to help another in the community who was hurting.  We grieved with the family and bore their pain alongside them.  If nothing else came of the day, God showed how unity can be such a huge blessing during trials, and He showed how community can serve others well.  

Needless to say, July was busy.  Adventures come in all shapes and sizes and emotional burdens oftentimes accompany the most adventurous of things we do in life.  

Now to August!  August is almost over, and I need to find something to cross off my list!

Updated list!

1.  Take a lesson in down hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through Minnesota.

7.  Take a decorating/baking class.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go to the horse races.

12.  Pick up an instrument.

aka:  Play it each day for a month.

May...the fourth be with you??

Good thing I have a Google calendar that keeps track of everything I do and have done, because May flew by!  And now June is flying by!

I didn't plan any adventures in May.  The point of this whole thing isn't to be bogged down and feel like I "have to" do anything, and when it felt like a burden to plan something, I just decided to live life for a month without planning anything too crazy.

However, I still did some pretty awesome things that I think will qualify adventures.

1.  I lifted weights (heavy weights a bunch of times) with my friend, Alisa.  She has even inspired me to continue to life weights.  I don't understand either...
2.  I finished up a Lindy Hop class.  So yeah...that was a long set of classes. :)
3.  I did a lecture-style teaching from the Bible....without a manuscript.  Tell me I'm crazy, because I feel crazy.
4.  I bought tires for my car.  Oh yeah....and I'm purchasing a car...aka:  put down a payment and am now working toward paying it off.  I'm an adult.
5.  I went on a "blind date", if you can call it that.  In other words, I met a person someone else told me I might get along with at a coffee shop.  That's crazy talk, I tell you.  I don't do those things.
6.  I hosted a Jr High girls' night at my house and we camped on the living room floor.

So I'd say it was a busy month and a month of great adventures.

Something that I've been observing about my year of adventures is that I'm becoming far more comfortable and confident in unfamiliar situations.  It's pretty awesome how your perspective changes when you put yourself out there in ways that are "scary" or unfamiliar.  You start to see that the world really isn't as anxiety-inducing as you once thought and you start to see that you are a lot stronger and more resilient that you could have imagined.  Or at least that's been my experience, maybe not yours.  I still challenge you to go on some adventures.  Let yourself be out of your comfort zone and let God change your heart and your perspective about the world and yourself.

"Peace and blessings."

In case you don't get that reference....

April Showers Include Swing Dancing!

For the month of April I chose to tackle a swing dancing class.  Specifically, Lindy-Hop.  If you don't know what Lindy Hop is, take a look at the video below.  Basically, I learned how to do that in seven two-hour session. hah!  

I learned a few things in this class though, that didn't have to do with the basics of Lindy Hop (which is what the purpose of the class was....to learn the basics).  I learned a lot about what it means to lead and follow, what it looks and feels like to follow in a dance like Lindy and how these things relate to real-life relationships (friends, co-workers, etc) as well as how this relates to my relationship with Christ.

When you follow in Lindy, you don't know what the lead is going to have you do.  You have to WAIT to be led into a move, and not guess and just do you own thing while letting the lead pretend he's actually leading.  YOU HAVE TO WAIT. I suck at waiting.  In dance and in life.  If I'm supposed to be following someone, I have to be patient, and wait for their lead.  I have to LET THE LEADER LEAD.  Which is so hard!  I have to be patient and wait for Jesus' guidance in life situations.  I have to let Him lead me, and not just do whatever I want and call it following.

Once you're waiting you have to be tuned in to what the lead is doing.  You have to be sensitive, you have to pay attention, and you have to trust that they're going to lead you into something that is possible.  Same thing in life.  I suck at listening and being ready to hear what people have to say.  I suck at listening to the Spirit.  I'd rather just go on my bumbling way and sometimes get glimpses of leadership from others and ultimately from Christ.  But, the point is to wait and LISTEN.  I have to actually be ready to hear from a leader.  I have to actually be ready to hear from Christ.  The only way to do this is to listen and be in tune with the Spirit and His guiding.  I have to know Christ and the Holy Spirit to be able to hear them clearly.

Well, now for the fun stuff, here are some pictures from the class!

Me and Kari waiting to start dancing!

Look at all those fancy pants dancers.

Updated List!

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through Minnesota.

7.  Take a decorating/baking class.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go sailing on Lake Calhoun.

12.  Pick up an instrument.

aka: Play it each day for a month.

Two things in March?!

Yes indeed, friends.  I had two adventures in March.  This means I need to add to my list!!  We'll see how that goes.

Towards the end of March, when the weather was far more spring-like than it is right now....in the middle of April, Laura and I went to Summit brewery!  We both hadn't eaten much that day, so Laura, being a nice friend, stopped at McDonald's to pick us up some food to eat on the way there.  We really like the healthy stuff, as you can tell.  We got there and sat in a very empty lunch room style room for a while, and then our educational tour started.  We heard about the history of the brewery, the way they make their beer, and then headed into the back to see some of the equipment and processes.  We also got to see their GIANT beer fridge.  When I say GIANT, I mean it.

After the tour, we were given three samples each.  These samples were more like a normal amount of beer I would drink in one sitting, so I was glad we had eaten some food!  I bought myself a souvenir pint glass, tried three different beers, found out I'm still not a fan of stouts, and had a blast!

Thanks Laura for taking me on this tour!  :D

Here are a few pictures from our adventure

Stylish glasses

The first of our drinks...

...and the last of our drinks, in the sun, on the patio.

Updated List!

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through Minnesota.

7.  Take a decorating/baking class.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go sailing on Lake Calhoun.

12.  Pick up an instrument.

aka: Play it each day for a month.

Roses, and Fondant, and Decorating Oh My!

My love for sweet things pushed me to take this class, and my love for Wizard of Oz inspired the title of this post.  Oh how great when two of my loves come together! :)

Today I decided to take a cupcake decorating class.  Mr.  Jon Belleau gathered some tools of the trade, gave a few demonstrations of how to use the different tools, and then off we went!  We spent some time practicing making shells, leaves, borders, and roses on parchment paper.  We also got to create a few designs out of fondant, which is really fun for decorating!  Then we were off to the big leagues of decorating cupcakes.

This pushed me for one big reason:  I like to be good at things I do, and I'm not very good at decorating with frosting.  However, it was so worth it to allow others to help me learn, and to become more comfortable with something that I've always wanted to try my hand at!

Here are a few pictures from the day.  Some are from Annie, some are from me. :)

Our master chef and teacher for the day.

I made a rose out of frosting!

My two favorite from my personal collection.

The delicious cupcakes I decorated!



Updated List!
1.  Take a lesson in down hill skiing.
2.  Attend a wine tasting event.
3.  Go to a roller derby.
4.  Take a swing dancing class.
5.  Get my nose pierced.
6.  Take a long bike ride through MN.
7.  Learn to decorate cupcakes/take a baking class.
8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.
9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...
and actually shoot a gun.
10.  Go on a brewery tour.
11.  Go sailing on Lake Calhoun.
12.  Pick up an instrument.  aka:  play it each day for a month.

"Hey, I just got this new nose stud...."

"....Wanna be my new arm stud??"  I'll have to try that soon. :)

So the adventures continue!  This time with a hole being put into my right nostril.  We went to Saint Sabrina's in Uptown.  CLICK HERE for their website. I highly recommend them!

My roommate, Emily, and I decided to both check this off of our respective lists together.  We decided that after 2nd service on Sunday was a good time, and proceeded to spend far too long eating lunch with friends which meant that we had to postpone our piercings until today.  So we had lots of time to get extra nervous. Awesome.

When I got there, I was, of course, very early. Sat in my car reading, feeling a bit nervous.  Walked in, tried to act cool, but inside I was freaking out. I'm really good at pretending I'm not freaking out when I actually am.

Then we got to pick out jewelry and meet our piercer.  He was really nice, laid-back, helped us to feel way less nervous.  In the end, I got what I wanted.  A piece of shiny jewelry on my nose.  When I say this in so many alternative ways it makes it sound so much cooler.  I meant c'mon....hole in my right nostril > nose piercing.

Each time I have one of these adventures, I am challenging myself in some way.  Most of the time, it's about being confident regardless of where I am, and especially in the unknown or unfamiliar.  Which is really hard.  Especially when I know that I don't really "fit" in a certain place (like this piercing/tattoo place...).  It's worth the uneasiness every time.

Now I just need to remember not to play with it for a while...

Here's my nose ring!

Updated list!

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through MN.

7.  Go on a date.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go sailing on Lake Calhoun.

12.  Pick up an instrument.  aka:  play it each day for a month.

Unexpected Adventures of my Birthday Week :)

Well, I knew this would happen.  Unexpected adventures.  Here's the thing....I'm really good at planning and getting myself psyched up for something that's on my schedule.  I'm also really bad at going with the flow, and doing things that are not on my schedule.  Especially when they are new things, or "adventures" as I'm choosing to call them.

This week has been full of people singing to me in public (which I don't choose on my own.  ever.), people celebrating me (which is always hard for me to accept), and in general lots of joy!

Today, I did two things that I never thought I'd do but because of my goal of, basically, getting over myself, I tried them!

Numero Uno:  I ate a Spicy Tuna Roll.  That's sushi.  I LOVE sushi.  I do NOT LOVE spicy things.  Alas, I ate this little bugger, and it was spicy and weird, and it was great.  Then the entire section of the restaurant sang to me.  Two in one!

Numero Dos:  I participated in the Birthday Dance at Social Dance Studio.  As one of the birthday folk.  This is partially due to my AWESOME friends who encourage me so well!  This means I swing danced with strangers, in front of a crowd, messed up my dancing, in front of a crowd, and all in all had a great time.  Here's a picture of some random people swing dancing.

What a fun time having some random adventures! :)

Reflecting

In the past week I've had a lot of time to reflect on my goals for the year, my life, relationships, etc.  I'm even more excited about going on adventures this year than I was in the past few weeks!  :)  I'm incredibly thankful for all the people in my life who are celebrating alongside me for my birthday this week, and for all the people who are encouraging me in my choice to seek out adventure in my life and to enjoy the life I've been given!

I've also been thinking about a few things on my list, and I've decided to update it.  So here's the updated version of my list of things to do this year.  I'm aiming for a bit more adventure...I think I can handle it....:/

Here's my list!!

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  Go to a roller derby.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through MN.

7.  Go on a date.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Go trap shooting or to a shooting range...

and actually shoot a gun.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Go sailing on Lake Calhoun.

12.  Pick up an instrument.  aka:  play it each day for a month.

Down Hill....

...Skiing...falling...laughing...looking like a fool...enjoying every moment of it.

Today marks my first day down hill skiing.  And I had the best instructor I could ask for.  He's the best for two reasons:

1.  He knows what he's talking about.  

2.  He already harasses me on a daily basis,

so nothing is going to change after making a fool of myself. 

So here's how it went down.  Or rather, how I went down.  A hill.  :)

I started off by finding some snow pants to help protect me.  I felt like a little kid on the playground wearing these big, puffy pants, but it made falling a lot less painful!  I tried on different jackets, different under-layers, found gloves I thought might work, and searched for my earmuffs.  (And still forgot my knee brace.  Of all the things to forget.  I'm paying for that mistake as I type.)

I got to the hill far too early, sat in my car, ate a dinner of left overs from lunch that included hummus and carrots and a candy cane.  I changed stations on the radio every 10 seconds, called my mom, texted people.....anything to make me feel less nervous!  Finally, it was time for me to go into the lodge.  Luckily, I didn't have to stand awkwardly for very long, since Dan walked up shortly after I got in there.  Whew!

Got my skis, figured out the trickiest pair of shoes I will ever wear, and headed to the hill.

We started off with basics, then started by going about half-way up the hill to practice turns.  Little did I know part of learning these things meant that I was being told to do things that would most definitely make me fall.  I figured that out pretty quickly though.  By bruising my hipbone.  If only I had more natural cushioning...wait....no, nevermind.

Anyway, I practiced, and then got to go down the hill a few times before my lesson was over.  Definitely worth it!  Bruises, joint pain, tired muscles, and all.

This is Dan, my ski instructor!

And this is Dan and Dave in a really great video...

One down, 11 to go...

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  See a fashion show.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through MN.

7.  Go on a date.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Try a fun new hairstyle/haircut.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Do a complete art project.

12.  Pick up an instrument.  aka:  play it each day for a month.

I'm turning 25!...?

That's right, friends!  I'm turning 25 this month.  I know it shouldn't seem like such a big deal, but for some reason the age of 25 has always held some sort of unspoken importance to it.  It has always meant maturity, really being an adult, and making decisions on my own.  It has always meant that I can stay up late and get up early, and work where I want, and do what I love.  I have a bunch of maturing to do, but I definitely work where I want and do what I love, so I think I'm on the right track?! :)

Well, since this year of my life is quickly approaching, and I've always held it in such high esteem, I'd like to at least attempt to have my 25th year live up to all the hype that I'm probably wholly responsible for.  Or maybe it's not all my fault....can't you rent cars at 25 or something like that?

Anyway, I'd like to do something each month that fits into one of the following categories:  something I've never done before, something I've always wanted to do, or something that pushes me outside of my comfort zone.  My goal this year is to push myself to be confident, to try new things courageously, and to enjoy the things that God has given me.  This means being uncomfortable, doing things that I love, and allowing others to encourage me in those adventures!

I've made a list of 12 things that I will be doing throughout this year.  One each month.  I have a few backups in case I end up doing more than one of these in a month.  I will update each month as I do these things on the list.  When I complete a task it will be crossed out.  Which means it will satisfy my personality trait of loving to make lists simply because I can cross out the things on the list!

Here's my list!!

1.  Take a lesson in down-hill skiing.

2.  Attend a wine tasting event.

3.  See a fashion show.

4.  Take a swing dancing class.

5.  Get my nose pierced.

6.  Take a long bike ride through MN.

7.  Go on a date.

8.  Go to the top of the Foshay.

9.  Try a fun new hairstyle/haircut.

10.  Go on a brewery tour.

11.  Do a complete art project.

12.  Pick up an instrument.  aka:  play it each day for a month.

I'm open for suggestions, so give me some ideas in the comments, and maybe your ideas will make the updated list! :)