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.