Fall Things

Due to my work and school schedule there are quite a few fall things that I have to miss out on.  However, I have managed to figure out ways to do a few of my favorites:

Pumpkin Picking at Applewood Farm

My sister and I are doing this again this year.  I don't get trick-or-treaters, one because I live in the middle of nowhere and two because my house is entirely fenced in with two big scary dogs living in the fence. So, I am going to buy a pumpkin which my sister is going to carve because she rocks at it and I am going to keep it at my moms house.  I will be handing out candy there anyway.   We will be doing this on a random day in October probably on a Monday.  I can't wait to do this and ride the little train, see the animals, and drink the apple cider!  :) 

A few photos from our last trip:

my sister carved this!

2. The Darlington Apple Festival

This is one of my absolute favorite traditions!!  I have gone every year for the past 5 years and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  This like a craft fair mixed with awesome food and fall stuff.  I get some of my favorite candles from this festival and some freaking amazing Amish apple butter!   This is a one day only from 10am-5pm event, so I am going into work early so that I can leave early and make it there for a few hours before I have to go back to work for my second shift. 

3.  The Irish Festival

This event takes place over a weekend in November.  Amy and I looked at the schedule and both decided to take off work on that Saturday so that we could go and since it is so close to her birthday, that is going to be my present to her.   I haven't been to the Irish festival in so long!!  My grandmother used to take us but it has been years.  I have been wanting to go back but I keep mixing the dates up.  This year, I am making darn sure that I get there! :)

4.  Some sort of Haunted Hayride
I am working with my friends to figure out a great night to do some sort of haunted hayride or something of the sort.  I usually get off work at a reasonable time on Friday nights, so I am hoping we can all work something out.    I really love haunted hayrides and we have a few around here including Legends of the Fog and Jason's Woods!

So, even though I had to miss Sunday in the Country (yesterday) and I am probably going to miss the Renaissance Festival there is still more fall stuff that I am going to be able to do!   I am a little more excited now and a little less whiny!  Oh and of course I have this lovely couples wedding to look forward to at the end of October!

Five On Friday

1.  I have honestly been feeling a little ehhh lately.  I feel like all I do is work, school, work, school.  I need some excitement in my life.  BUT I work all weekend every weekend and literally have no days off of both work and school.   Even if I had time off, we are still trying to save for our wedding, so I don't have the money to do anything either.  UGH.  That's the end of my whining for the day.  I am grateful to have a job and for the opportunity to go to school, I just get bored and frustrated. 

2.  I am going into work early next Saturday so that I can leave a little earlier and go to the Darlington Apple Festival with my sister.  This is one of my favorite fall traditions and since I have to miss the renaissance festival, I refuse to miss the Apple Festival.  I have about 5 hours in between my AM and PM shifts which is definitely enough time and the Apple festival ends 30 minutes before my shift starts anyways.  Maybe I can find some cute stuff for the wedding!!  P.S. this is when I will officially launch my "Around Maryland" series listed in my new Categories tab!

3.  We have been having beautiful days here in MD!  I am definitely loving it.  Not to mention, it is fall harvest time and everything looks so pretty!

4.  I have been finding lots of great candles at Redners (local grocery store).  I figured they are only $5 so they are probably crap but whatever.  No, they are some of the best smelling and longest lasting candles I have ever tried.  Right now I am burning a fall scent but I also bought one for Christmas and will probably buy another one when I go back next week!

5.  My Mothers dog is a freak...

... I cant even.

Happy Friday!  Hope Everyone has a fantastic weekend :)

Book Chat: Banned Books

It's no secret that I love to read, banned books included!  Some of my favorite banned books are: 

1. The Harry Potter Series 

2. Perks of Being a Wall Flower

3. The Kite Runner

4. Brave New World

5. My Sister's Keeper

These are just books that have been banned or challenged in the last 10 years!  There are definitely tons of other banned books that I love!

Wanderlust Wednesday: History

It's that time again!  This months topic on Wanderlust Wednesday is history.  I am going to take my usual route on this one and list 5 historical places that I have been and 5 that I would most love to see!

5 That I Have Been To:

1. Carcassonne, France
If you have been around for a bit, you know that I am obsessed with castles.  Carcassone is really what started that obsession.  I have always really liked castles but when I actually got to visit one, I realized how amazing and historical they are and I wanted to see more!  I can not wait to share my post about our two days in Carcassonne! Fun Fact: this castle was featured in the movie "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves". 

2. Rome, Italy
Rome was a dream come true for my 16 year old self.  I had been dreaming of going to Rome since elementary school when I cam across a picture of the Coliseum.  I thought it looked neat so I read about it and fell in love.  Once I discovered the Trevi Fountain, I knew I had to get to Rome.  The entire city is just filled with history and it was so surreal to be there.

  3.  James Madison's Montpelier - Orange, VA
I love visiting old houses, especially those of our Presidents.  I have visited quite a number of them but James Madison's Montpelier is my favorite (George Washington's Mount Vernon is a close second).  This home was gorgeous and even though it is incomplete, I loved it.  I also loved visiting the archeological sites where they have recovered some of the Madison's belongings.  Also, I may be biased because James Madison is my favorite founding father and I attended James Madison University.

4. Sagrada Familia - Barcelona, Spain
Just wow.  Visiting this church was absolutely surreal.  The guide we had on this tour was just awesome and I learned so much about the history of Sagrada Familia and Gaudi.  I believe the church is almost complete after nearly 102 years of construction!  I loved it and it's history so much that I even purchased a way-to-expensive book about it from the gift shop.

5.  Gettysburg Battlefield, PA
I have been to Gettysburg several times.  The first time was with my Uncle Steve and my Oma.  My Uncle Steve is a huge history nerd, he has a degree in History from UC Boulder and his specialty is the Civil War.  I loved visiting Gettysburg and have been back a few times.  It is a very interesting place I think it is worth a visit.  The last time I went was in 2009 with my sister and her friend, Becca.

5 That I Would Love To See:
 
1.  All of London
Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, The Globe Theatre, Tower of London?  Yes, please!! 

2. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
As I said before, I am obsessed with castles and this is one that I am dying to get to!  The history of the entire UK is something I love learning about.

3.  Angkor Wat, Cambodia
I don't think I could ever do a history post without mentioning Angkor Wat!  This temple is at the top of my list of sites to see, so much history!  It must be so surreal to visit.

4.  Machu Picchu, Peru
This is every anthropology major's dream, including mine.  I have heard that it is obnoxiously crowded with tourists but I honestly don't think I would care.  It would be all of those lectures I sat through come to life and I have a feeling it would be amazing! And just look at those mountains!

5.  Petra, Jordan
The more I read about Petra, the more I want to go.  Unfortunately we didn't really learn much about the Middle East in my anthropology classes so I would love to learn more about the history and culture of Petra.

I just love going to places where I really feel "small" in the grand scheme of life.  Like there is so much before us and so much that will come after us.  It's great to imagine all of the important things that happened at historical places.

Travel Tuesday: Assisi Day One

After touring the Vatican, we hopped on our bus and headed to Assisi, Italy.  This may very well be my favorite place on earth.  Our second day (which I will share in two weeks) was one of the best days of the trip!

When we arrived we were actually late, so we missed our meeting with one of the priests.  We got to wander around at our own pace because our dinner reservations were not for another few hours.  This was also the first day that I really talked to three of the girls who became my best friends on the trip, I ate dinner with them that night and we ended up getting really close.

That night at our hotel was too fun.  We found this playground not too far away and had a great time playing and getting to know each other.   After which we all gathered in the room I was staying in with two other girls and all of us ate junk food.  I guess we were being loud because the leaders came in to tell everyone to get to their rooms.  We were definitely in for a treat the next day!!

Life Lately

Things that have been going on lately:

1.  Wedding Planning/Saving
This has been going surprisingly well.  We have managed to save enough to pay most of our vendors and more than half of our venue, which is really good considering we didn't  have much saved last month.  Also, we have started looking into registering at Kohl's and Bed, Bath and Beyond ... sadly, it is stressing me out, I don't know what we want or need.  We have finalized the guest list and have most of the addresses we need which means I will be ordering the Save the Dates soon and hopefully sending them out before Thanksgiving :)

2.  Working/Attempting to Work
My place of employment has decided that we don't need money so it is OK to just not give anyone any hours.  So I have two days this week and have been  unsuccessful at picking up shift because no one wants to give up what little shifts they are getting.  It is getting very frustrating.  That and Josh's work has slowed down a lot, too and he is only getting 48 hours as opposed to 60.

3. School
 School is going really well!  I love every single one of my classes.  All of my classes except for one are in the same classroom.  I also have 5 classes but only 3 teachers, which is great because I only need to get to know the test and grading styles of 3 teachers rather than 5!   I think my favorites right now are my CJ class because the teacher is nuts and I love it and also my Criminology class because we have had some great debates and discussions and the teacher is great.

4. Watching Too Much T.V. and Reading
In attempt to save for our wedding and honeymoon, I have been staying in a lot more.  This is frustrating for me but I have discovered a few new TV shows to try to keep myself entertained.  Season 7 of Army Wives is on Netflicks, so I watched that and I am slowly getting through OTH.  Also, Bones season 9 premiered last Monday so I was all over that!  And this week the final season of HIMYM is on.
I have also been slowly reading Inferno by Dan Brown.  I love Dan Brown, not because he is a good writer (because he is not) but because his stories are always smart and entertaining.  He is a very good storyteller.

5. Blogging
 Also because I am bored, I have been writing a lot more blog posts.  I have like 15 finished in my drafts!  I am really trying to get ahead in on my Travel Tuesday posts and so far it is going well.  I have the rest of my Italy posts done and am working on my France posts :)   I am also updating all of my pages on my menu bar at the top of the blog.  I have already updated a brand new and much shorter "About Me" page.  I am also working on my travel page because the uneven-ness of the photos is really bothering me.

Goals:

My recent goals have been:

1. Get back into working out:
This one has been going fabulously!!   Though I haven't really been to the gym, I did discover that my college has FREE Zumba on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the teacher is much better than the one I've been going to AND on Mondays and Wednesdays there are Pilates and Yoga classes!  Unfortunately, these are at the exact same time so I will go to one on Monday and one on Wednesday.  My sister is also able to come with me to Pilates and Yoga.

2. Finish school with all A's:
Considering that I have only had one quiz in one class, I am not really sure how this one is going.  I have done all of my reading and studying and I have printed all of my notes from blackboard, so hopefully that means that I will do well.
 

3. Save for the wedding:
See #1.

4. Find a Charity or Organization to Donate to:
I want to find a cause that I really love and donate $10 per paycheck.  I would love to do more, but unless I want to go without eating, this will have to do, for now.  Right now I am looking into local Zoo's (Baltimore and DC) and also National Geographics Animal Conservation.  I am also thinking of maybe finding a few and donating to a different charity each week.  I want to donate for the following causes: Diabetes Research (JDRF), Autism Research, Wildlife Conservation, Fighting Human Trafficking, and Education.  If you know any worthy charities fitting into any of these categories, please let me know :)

 
And that is what has been going on in my life for the last month.