Lots to update

Wow... its April. Man I am slacking! A lot has happened since January. My mama came to visit as well as my little sister. I made my first BIG sale. I even got a special phone call from my boss saying "nice job" which is translated directly to mean " you are AMAZING! and you are totally rocking this sales position" Well maybe that's my translation.

100Ft updated:

1. Mama came to visit-- We painted, decorated and finished 60% of my apartment. Of course I haven't touched it since she left. Still a work in progress.

2. Christin came to visit-- Consisted of ice golfing, Mall of America, and lots and lots of laughs. SO worth the $150 change fee PLUS the difference in ticket cost. Christin, you are SO worth it.

3. Its official



4. Went to 2 hockey games in one weekend and became hooked!!!



5. Went to Chicago for fun/work/to gain 10 lbs. Imagines below example:


The Chicago Bean

The oh so wonderful gang

And the reason behind my weight gain

6. Of course I couldn't get enough of traveling so I added New Orleans to the end of my "business" trip. Had a blast and met some pretty interesting people. May or may not have purchased a mask. What? I had to get in the Mari Gras spirit


So it say the least, I have had a wonderful past few month. Stressful at points but SO amazing! I am beginning to find a core group of friends and a support system. I feel less alone in Minnesota. The Update doesn't even do justice of the stories that go along with the picture and other events. Until time next.... To end on a happy note:


It April in Minnesota..... and I still live with this...... WONDERFUL!! Got to Love Minnesota

23

Happy Birthday to me! I am turning 23 this weekend. I can hardly believe it!

So I never considered the fact that people might consider me old until today. It was after church and some of the girls from Young Life asked me how old I was. When I proudly stated that I am turning 23 this weekend their response was, "Dang and you look so young too!" Confused I asked them to explain. "Well we thought you were 18. But 23 is kind of old but its cool, we will still like you" It made me realize I am at such an awkward age. I am too old to be irresponsible, sleep in, skip classes, or stay out too late on a weekday. But I am too young to be seen as an equal at work, not get my ID checked, and have people not question my responsibility level. When do you reach a point where you are old or young and not in the middle? I am not saying I want to rush anything but I was wondering if there was a magical number. Boom--- I am young. Boom--- I am old. Right now I am just stuck in all kinds of grey. It's odd to realize that I am not considered young anymore by most of the Global population but still a large percentage still consider me not old enough.

Any who, Happy Birthday to me! I guess I am one year closer.... to something! This life is perfect for me and I guess I will enjoy the grey areas while I have them.

Hello Negative Weather

So I am from the south... Yes I have lived in PA, South Fla and Oklahoma but I claim the south the be home. So moving to Minnesota was not only a culture shock but a weather shock! Sometimes the highs are 2 degrees. These are HIGHs people! I have seen negative 15... oh I am sorry 15 below (as the locals would say it). Why would anyone ever choose to live here? But no worries, Santa was good to me this year giving me scarfs, hats and down-feather jackets!
The only issue is I am so afraid my nose might freeze off one of these days. This is a tough weather to get use to. Even though I have been here a little over a month, I am truly falling in love with the city. The people are kind, even though they laugh when I say "yall", there are plenty of activities, the summers I heard are stunning and I lucked out on finding a pretty amazing apt. Not only am I living downtown (first time in my life) but I am walking distance to the mall, target stadium, more resturants than I will ever try and theaters... lots and lots of theaters!! And the view isn't too bad either.

I honestly have no idea how i became so bless but the Lord continues to provide for me! Not only is he blowing my dreams out of the water but he is giving me things I never thought I deserved. It has been 6 months of a roller coaster with ups and very low downs. I have felt love and I have felt heart ache. But the Lord is faithful and never leaves us alone.

New Year Quote (What I want to live my year by) "I am not where I need to be but thank God I am not where I used to be. I am okay and I am on my way!"

Hope everyone has a blessed year and seeks the Lord in all they do!

Sneak Peak

So I have officially moved!! Good bye south... hello Midwest!! Let me begin by telling everyone that people think I am crazy up here. Not only do they laugh (no seriously laugh) when I say "y'all" but they all want to know WHY? Why am I here? Why would I ever leave the south? Why would I ever move this time of year? Why why why... Well Minnesota People. I moved because my job required me to. The end. I don't have an interesting story of why, no I didn't follow a guy, no I don't have family up here, no I am not training for a skiing competition, and no I am not crazy. Just work reasons.

Not only do people look at me like I am crazy, I also have the weather laughing in my face. The night I showed up it was snowing. The next day it iced. The next day I drove to Northern Minnesota where it was 2 DEGREES! I am also lucky enough to find out that it gets below 30 in January. Well Happy Birthday to me! Also last night, it snowed over 6 inches... and I just looked outside now. Yep its snowing again!! So I decided to be brave last night and drive in the snow. Not because I honestly wanted to but because I was hungry. I am living in a hotel and room service is CRAZY expensive. I braved the weather and drove to panera. Ordering a salad and large soup of course! Then I drove around for 15+ mins looking for a Red Box. Sadly I think the Red Box was buried in the snow because I was unsuccessful. I went back to my cozy hotel room and watched an over priced video but what other choice to I have?

This morning I woke up fairly early. Got a work out in, ate some wonderful hotel breakfast and went outside. I was going to brave the roads again to drop off my deposit for me apartment that I am renting! HURRAY! (side note: I am hoping to move in next week. Sadly my stuff isn't coming for another 2 weeks so I will be sleeping on an air mattress) This is what I discover...



Well a Georgian doesn't really know how to properly clean a car of this much snow. But I did try. I am sure there was an easier way but it was my first time. It look me over 15mins, I got tried and ended up quitting half way through, I was soaking wet from snow falling on me and my car was wet inside because I opened a few doors without cleaning them first. Oops... I am sure I will be an expert by the end of the season. Here is the result after 15 mins and finally giving up.



I could see while drive so I would consider it a success. So I survived a week in Minnesota. Only a few more years! ha ha

Shout Out: Kelsey Hausfeld-- I hope you enjoyed this entry along with all the others! ha

Home Sweet Home

So after a YEAR of nomad behavior I have been given my new home. Not only was I shocked but it's somewhere I secretly was afraid of getting the entire time. I made jokes about it, poked fun at the state but never honestly thought I would be assigned to it. Now lets brainstorm a bit together to help lead you to where I am moving. Think opposite of the South (weather wise), think outdoorsy, think not colorado, think lakes, think friendly people, think Vikings and think currently below 20 as the current high.

Thats right I am moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota! At first I thought my boss was joking but he took a very serious tone and responded "Yes I said Minneapolis, Minnesota". Nope he was not joking. So there you go, after a year of not knowing and living a nomadic lifestyle for months I have been given a home. So after receiving this information what is the first thing I do? I google Minneapolis, Minnesota of course. Found out that the average winter months last from Oct-April and the lows can reach BELOW 20.


Then I continued to read about the state and found an article on how friendly, clean, exciting, young the city is as well as it has stunning summers in the state! I never visited this part of the country but it will be an adventure to say the least! So it is official, I will be laying my roots in Minneapolis, Minnesota! So if you are ever in the area, just let me know! Id love visitors! ok ok... its also Beautiful!!!! (observe photo above)





AND I might be a Huge fan of all the out door activities in warmer months! Ok I might be super excited about this move!

Reunited and It feels so Good!

I have finished training and remain homeless. To add icing on the cake, not only am I homeless but I don't even know what my job will be! Long story short, I was training for a position but it might be changed to another. Which means I am going through crash course training this upcoming week. The bomb was dropped on me Friday.


Rather than getting upset, more nervous, more anxious, more lost feeling.... I drive to the grocery store. I walk up and down the aisles and find the ingredients. These are not just any silly ingredients but the perfect ingredients to deal with the bomb. As many of you know, I have been living in a hotel for over four months and have been without a kitchen. I am home again and reunited with the kitchen! I was able to bake wonderful treats for my brothers and sister. I loved being able to get lost in the recipe and forget everything else. I choose this cookie because of the freedom to change the recipe as I wanted. It's a regular cookie with all kinds of delicious additives. It is salty, chewy and sweet combination left me satisfied with my masterpiece. The salty/sweet taste was perfect! it felt so great being reunited to a kitchen again! I am so excited to get my very own kitchen and start sending my creation to all my friends! Let me know if you are interested in receiving baked goods via postal service! Here is the recipe if you are wanting to make this perfect combination and be able to escape the stress of life. Yes, cooking allows me to do that!


Compost Cookies
Adapted from Christina Tosi's recipe on Regis and Kelly

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups baking ingredients (chocolate chips, coconut, toffee bits, etc.)
1-1/2 cups snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc.)
1 tbsp coffee grounds

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugars, and corn syrup on medium-high until fluffy and pale yellow in color, about 2-3 minutes.
- On a lower speed, add eggs one at a time and vanilla until well incorporated
- Increase mixing speed to high and let it go for 10 minutes -- the mixture will become really pale and will almost double in size
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- When 10 minutes are up, add flour mixture slowly until just combined, about 45-60 seconds
- Chop up and mix together all of your baking and snack ingredients in a small bowl, and fold into batter with a spatula until just incorporated
- Using a medium-sized ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and wrap the entire thing tightly with plastic wrap
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour and up to 1 week
- Heat oven to 400F and arrange cookies on cookie sheets at least 4" apart
- Bake 9-11 minutes, until they are golden in color and slightly brown along the edges
- Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan (or just eat them immediately...)

Recipe yields 15 large cookies

Faithful Red Wagon!

As many of you had read, I have been traveling the states of Michigan and Ohio for two weeks. This trip consisted of turnpikes, corn as far as the eye can see, thin walled hotels, corn beef sandwiches and a tour of scary Detroit! I have never visited this portion of the United States and honestly, I truly enjoyed it! Everyone had funny accents and sometimes I felt I was on The Jersey Shore rather than in the suburbs of Detroit but it still ended up being a nice trip! I must send some love to my faithful red wagon. National rental car service gifted me with a vehicle that has blind sides that lasted miles. Not only was the navigation system out of date, causing me to get lost often, but my wagon sometimes shock when I reached speeds over 60. Maybe this was a good this because it made it impossible to get a speeding ticket which I am confident my manager would not be pleased if I returned from this trip with on. So thank you again Red Wagon for the memories!

The trip is over and now I am entering into the most stressful week of this job. I have a presentation tomorrow then oral exams Wednesday and Thursday. I must pass everything to insure I will continue having a job. Can we please say "Pressure is On"? It is honestly ok because after this week, it will mean I am VERY close to finding the location of my new home. So I am being to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the sun is setting on this chapter of my life, the clock is winding down, the race is nearly over and any other saying that delivers the message that I am nearly done. Well to be honest, I am excited and VERY ready! So here we go, hopefully in 2ish.... weeks I will know my final destination. I know the Lord will place me in a perfect plan and I can't believe it is already time to shed some light on this unknown factor I have been living with for over a year (since I look the job). The Lord is so good and faithful! I never thought I'd survive but looks like he gives me more strength than I ever imagined!!

Until next time