Every morning, I wake up and pour a cup of coffee. I never used to be a coffee drinker as I started drinking coffee regularly two years ago. As I was looking for a fun summer job before I head back to college, I decided to apply to a coffee chain in my area called Caribou Coffee. I had a friend who worked for this company and absolutely loved it. I applied in March 2016 during my spring break and I was hired on the spot. I started last May and have been working for a month and I can easily say this is my favorite job I have ever had.

I love being surrounded by the smell of coffee. I also love being able to get a free drink on my shift. It allows me to be creative and combine different flavors for something new. I also like recommending drinks to customers. I recommended a kind of iced coffee for someone and she came back later in the week to get what I made for her. I didn’t even remember her, but she knew me by name. That was pretty cool.

Besides just talking about how I endlessly love my coworkers and brewing coffee, I’m going to talk about coffee drinks in case you’re a newbie to drinking coffee and tea. So here it goes the ultimate beginners guide to coffee.

Americano: 

Literally just hot water and espresso and that’s it. Personally it’s a little too acidic for me. I like having a cup of coffee but just pure hot water and espresso.. it’s not for me. However, it’s one of the easiest drinks to make.

Latte: 

Steamed espresso and milk. It’s a coffee drink with a little bit more flavor than just drinking plain coffee. It also has froth to it which comes from steaming the milk. I will have a hot latte every once in a while, but not all the time.

Cappuccino:

A cappuccino is similar to a latte instead it has less milk and more froth. Personally I don’t order cappuccinos because I feel like it’s not worth it to get less milk and more froth, but hey everyone has a preference.

Iced Coffee 

Caribou calls their iced coffee cold press. It’s grinded differently than regular coffee and chilled. It’s so refreshing though! It’s also something I recommend for customers daily because it’s different than having coffee hot.

Also when it comes to caffeine, lighter roast has more than darker roast. That’s too bad because I love darker roasts, but I also want more caffeine. I constantly learn more about coffee every time I show up to work. It’s cool being able to know more about my favorite drink I have every morning. So now when you go into a coffee shop and you’re hit with the smells of beans, chocolate, and fresh baked goods, you’ll know some of the special drinks that are made daily. You won’t be a newbie and you will be able to find your drink; mine is an iced coffee with a full shot of vanilla topped with vanilla soy milk. yum.

I love living near the cities because there are so many events to go to. Besides blogging as Bizarre Brunette, I also wCrite for another blog called Twin Cities Geek. I started writing for Twin Cities Geek last summer which was great, but being in Winona was rather limiting because I couldn’t attend geeky events in the city’s area. Being in the cities this summer, I find it way more fun to be a contributor to the site. Two weeks ago my editor and creator of the site asked if we were willing to sit at our booth at MSP ComiCon and if we said yes we could get in for free. I love free stuff, events, and free anything so I volunteered to do it. I went yesterday and I had a pleasant experience.

Being an exhibitor has nice benefits including free food upstairs. Since I was sitting at the booth, I could go upstairs and get free food which included this delicious pasta salad. This con was super respectful to everyone who was attending. Not all cons treat people with respect especially if they are only there for profit. It can change your experience about the con and about whether you want to return next year.

In between volunteer shifts, I wandered the convention floor and noticed a lot of cool stuff. The downside is I didn’t bring cash which was dumb on my part. I really didn’t want to pay the $3.00 ATM fee to pull out cash. Later in the day, I was approached by a cartoonist/illustrator who wants to get in touch with me to write an article. This con was a great place to network and meet local artists which weren’t something I expected prior to arriving that morning.

This con actually meets twice a year with the second time being in October. I’m for sure going to go! I had such a great time eating a bunch of food, talking to my fellow Twin Cities contributors, and talking with local artists and businesses. Cons are my favorite places to be and I can’t wait for CONvergence which is happening next month. This summer will definitely be a blast.

Dear Mom,

This semester has been rough due to losing my cat Jasmine and handling losing a close friend of mine, but you have always been a phone call away. You listen to every word that I say and offer helpful advice. Your advice is never quite what I expect and I love that you challenge me that way. You cause me to think of the world differently which is something I always appreciate.

I love that you call me and want to gossip about the newest movie trailer. It’s something we geek out about especially if it’s about Marvel. Our shared love of Jeremy Renner will never go away. I love that we can watch James Bond movies and sing the title song because we both know the words by heart.

I love your laugh. Your laugh is unique and it’s something I cherish when I’m at home. I can hear you laugh all the way from the basement and it always puts a smile on my face. Especially when we can’t stop laughing about cat videos that I show you. When I’m having the absolute worst day, I know I can call you, and just hearing your laugh distracts me from life for 5 minutes.

Finally, having your support is all I need. Whether that’s money for an occasional tank of gas or being there when I cry, it’s something that I’m lucky to have. One life lesson I have realized is families are unique and some families aren’t close. Thankfully, we have a special bond that brings us closer together.

I love you. You’re all I need to be happy and I can’t imagine my life without you in. You’re amazing.

From your daughter, best friend, and fellow Jeremy Renner fan..

Mariah.

Today is my last day of being a college senior. Unfortunately, I’m not graduating on time because I switched my major back in sophomore year and I basically had to start from the beginning. I have never regretted my switch to Exercise Science because it’s where my passion is. It combines perfectly with my love of biology with the science behind exercise. Next semester I will only be enrolled in two classes so I won’t be full-time. Next year I hope to finish my internship and walk across that stage and finally receive my bachelor’s degree.

Here is a wrap-up of the classes I took:

Pathophysiology: This class focuses on the cause of disease and how a disease presents itself. This class was really fascinating actually, but this class was easily the hardest this semester. It required a lot of studying to wrap my head around all the ways the body can become diseased.

Epidemiology: This class is a more public health-based class focused on the spread of disease. Similar to pathophysiology in some ways, but different at the same time.

Lab Methods: All about laboratory ways to test fitness and health. So performing fitness tests on older adults and performing a VO2 max test. VO2 max is basically looking at how much oxygen your body can use during exercise.

Advanced Nutrition: This class was the last class to complete my nutrition minor. I really liked the class and I learned a little bit about how nutrition impacts health.

Even though I feel like I had no life this semester, I was able to have a little fun. I went to the ACSM conference that I wrote about in April and I went down to the cities for a pub crawl. I’m moving back to Minneapolis on Saturday so expect more posts about life in general and fun random stuff that I’m doing. The cities are where I belong.

Conventions are some of my favorite places to be. I just feel at home with the geek community and I love meeting new people. Plus going to a convention is an excuse to take a lot of pictures because in my mind pictures equate to memories. I’m going to talk about a convention I went to two years ago called CONvergence. Since I mentioned CONvergence in previous posts, I feel like I should actually talk about why I love this convention so much. 

I found out about this convention in 2012 when my friend’s mom went. I was so jealous because this just sounded like the coolest place ever. My friend and I were determined to go the next year which we did and it was one of the most memorable events that summer. I even saw my cousin hosting a couple of panels and that was cool to see. I’m actually going to just refer to the most recent CONvergence that I attended which was in 2014. I didn’t go last year because I ended up going to Milwaukee for the Fourth of July which was still pretty cool.

One of my favorite parts about conventions is just adventuring around. I’m a Doctor Who fans so, of course, I love the roaming Daleks. This one was hand-made by some really awesome fans and it comes to the convention every year. It’s fun to try and find it! I also love meeting up with people and wandering around. It’s fun to see people once a year and it feels like nothing has changed in between that time.

Another fun portion of CONvergence is the party rooms! People rent out rooms in the hotel and then design them to fit a theme. One such party room is the Arkham Asylum party room where I met up with a Doctor Joker cosplay. There was also a space lounge where you could get smoothies and such and just hang out. Another one of my favorites is the ghostbusters party room. The ghost-busters car also hangs out outside so that’s definitely another fun thing to see while attending this con.

At conventions, I’m prone to spending WAY too much money. At this particular CONvergence, I bought this really awesome Dalek mug that I still have and use every other day for my morning coffee. I have to seriously put myself on a budget or I will spend way too much money here. I also bought a Tardis necklace that was handcrafted that I wear all the time.

The panels are another favorite of mine. I like when they break down some of my TV shows or comics because it provides an interesting perspective. Some of my favorite panels were: “ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) presented in TV characters” “The Worst of the Harry Potter Movies” “The Worst of Bond” “Bond at 50” and more.

The last thing I wanted to mention was the Artist Alley. Art is not something I’m good at. I’m much more of a logical type of person such as reading, loving and understanding science, and doing sudokus for fun. Walking through Artist Alley and seeing how fandoms are represented in unique art pieces is pretty neat. The artists there are so talented and they put a lot of their time and effort into making it into this alley. Buying artwork at CONvergence is supporting someone’s talent and business. Making art really gives people joy in their lives and for me to be able to support that hobby means a lot to me. I have random little art pieces that I bought from this con that I love. Including a purple Dalek (I know I need to stop with all of the Doctor Who references) and a really detailed Thor.

CONvergence has a really special place in my heart and I can’t wait to go back this summer.

Since I’m in my last full-time semester at school, my life has been hectic. This weekend has been time for relaxation since me and the boyfriend adventured to St. Paul to attend a conference for my major. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) runs the conference and they set guidelines on physical activity for adults. I was required to go, but I’m really glad I did. Throughout the day I continually learned new information about health & wellness.

The conference took place at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. It was an absolutely gorgeous campus with beautiful brick buildings. I loved how small the campus was! Winona is a smaller campus too and I love that every building is within walking distance. We arrived at around 7:30 or so and just explored the building before the first speaker was supposed to appear.

In exploring the student union/Coeur de Catherine building, I found a Lucy Statue. The Peanuts hold a special place in my heart because the writer Charles Schultz is born and raised in Minnesota. There are various Peanut character statues scattered around St. Paul so if you’re in the area, try and find them all!

After finding our seats at the conference, we listened to the first two speakers talk about Interval Training. Research has concluded that Interval Training is as beneficial as endurance training. running or biking for an hour. So if running is exhausting and boring, try doing an Insanity class because you burn more calories and have plenty of health benefits.

The third speaker emphasized the dietary guidelines and how bacon may not be as bad for us as we were led to believe. There is so much we have learned about nutrition over the years. We used to think cholesterol was evil, but we are finding more research about how eating a lot of cholesterol doesn’t lead to heart disease. There is so much more research that needs to be done about nutrition.

It was a long day but it was cool to go to these speakers and comprehend all of the scientific information. Attending this conference proves to me that I’m in the right major and shows my passion for continually learning about physical activity and nutrition.

I’m so happy to announce my first OOTD blog post! I want to give a shoutout to my amazing and talented photographer roommate. She takes gorgeous photos. I have linked her Facebook page and her Instagram page down below so check it out! Even if you aren’t from the Minnesota area, she takes great photos to peruse. 

Anyway, this inspiration comes from the fact that Batman Vs. Superman opened this weekend. I have seen the movie and I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I hope to post my review eventually. I love these Batman leggings that I found. They are so comfy and they aren’t made out of spandex. Spandex leggings aren’t typically my favorite since they cling to my body. These leggings are mostly made of polyester and so they are more appropriate for lounging. 

My second favorite part of this outfit is my combat boots. When I consider my style identity, it doesn’t include heels. I work out often so it’s more beneficial to me to be in sneakers versus heels or sandals.

I absolutely love these pictures and don’t forget to check out my friend’s page.

Chloe Jane Photography Instagram: @ChloeJanePhotography

Yellow Tank Top: American Eagle

Batman Leggings: H&M

Black Cardigan: Target (boyfriend cardigan)

Combat Boots: Zappos.com Madden Girl Combat Boots.

I wanted to write something a little more personal on my blog today. I have hinted that I’m a college student and if you didn’t know already I study Exercise Science. It’s a little self-explanatory, but it mainly discusses how the body responds to exercise and the benefits of physical activity. It’s something I’m absolutely passionate about because physical activity has so many health benefits. I haven’t always been physically active, but I changed my ways and started including exercise into my routine about four years ago, so here’s my story behind how exercise really changed my life.

Growing up, I was a figure skater. I didn’t participate in any sports as I didn’t find something that I was passionate about. In middle school, I remember being embarrassed about having to run the mile. Running is an activity in that I have a love/hate relationship as a result. As I moved into high school, I didn’t pay much attention to what I ate. My friends would ask me to go to the gym and I declined. More than likely it was due to intimidation as I can definitely say at that age, my friends were more physically active than I was.

As I was coming to college, I did not want to gain the freshman 15. This is extremely vain and just typing this out makes me cringe. I was dedicated to exercise and I even used some of my graduation money to buy workout clothes.

I started by going to some of the fitness classes my college had to offer. They were fun! I would be sore for three days and it would be hard to walk. It probably wasn’t the best way to get started, but it worked. I started going to classes and my favorite was Turbo Kick. Kickboxing is such a fun workout and I recommend trying it. It was so fun that even though I was tired, I still enjoyed it. At first, I couldn’t get through the entire class. I had to stop and take breaks and wait for my heart rate to come down. Eventually, I was able to go through the entire class and I felt really proud of myself.

I pretty much did only cardio for about two years. In 2014, I decided to lift weights. I wanted to get stronger and once I got more into my major, I learned different techniques. This was slow and steady progress, but I can say that I definitely have gotten stronger not only in my arms but my back and chest. I have also been able to use the bench press something I would not have dreamed of when I entered school.

Exercise changed my life. Ever since adding exercise, I have felt more secure with my own body. I feel sexy, strong, and powerful. Besides that, my stress has been lower. It’s easier to walk up a flight of stairs or even to be on my feet running errands all day. I can carry groceries up to my apartment without my arms burning.

Anyway, to wrap up this post, I just want to say that it’s never too late to start becoming physically active. Physical activity really has a lot of health benefits and it doesn’t have to be done at the gym! It can be a simple walk/bike ride or doing an activity in the comfort of your own home. I really am not trying to over exaggerate but Exercise was life-changing for me.

The weekend always flies by way too quickly. I’m sitting writing a blog post on a Sunday night before I head to work. I will say that this weekend was a blast and I’m so glad I was able to leave Winona for a day. It’s funny how when I leave my college town my stress levels drop. I have a lab practical tomorrow, but I don’t feel nearly as nervous as I did before I left for home.

This weekend almost didn’t happen. On Friday night, I noticed my tire looked flat so my boyfriend offered to fill my tires for me. He came back and said my tire was flat and that I might need to replace the tires. I called for a towing company Saturday morning and as it turns out there was nothing wrong with the tire. Apparently, the screw came loose which made my tire flat. Thank goodness because now I could head for the city.

Me and my two best friends purchased tickets to a Mardi Gras pub crawl. We got all dressed up and took an Uber to the first bar: The Fremont. We got a free mask which was kind of fun. I saw no one dressed up though. I was wearing green and yellow beads and my friend drew on a mask with eyeliner. We met up with some friends and it was a great night filled with dancing and drinks.

I love taking pictures because pictures and the memories associated with them will last forever. Here were some pictures that I took of the event. Overall I don’t recommend paying for pub crawls, instead just go bar hopping if you want a night out.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I for one have spent the entire day working on homework and practicing blood pressure for a lab practical exam. Yesterday though, I spent the entire day with my boyfriend and it was a great time for us to spend together. Also, I got to see Deadpool and I will talk more about that later.

The first part of our day was spent getting coffee. Me and my boyfriend have really bonded over our mutual love of coffee. Blue Heron Coffeehouse is a really nice coffee shop attached to a bookstore. It was a good atmosphere with great coffee. Next on the list was Bloedows. Bloedows is a great donut and pastry shop in my college town. I had this amazing apple turnover which of course led to me getting crumbs all over myself so that’s good.

After the donuts, we went wine tasting. I have never participated in wine tasting before, but in Wisconsin, there’s this beautiful winery so we went there. I tend to like sweeter wine, but I had this dry white wine that was pretty decent too. You get three free wine tastings so me and the boyfriend just switched our glasses to try different kinds.

Then I finally got to see Deadpool.

It was everything that I wanted it to be. The fight scenes were killer, especially the opening with the highway scene. Also, the deaths are pretty gruesome but I was expecting that going into this movie. I’m already eagerly awaiting the sequel plus Deadpool’s appearance in the other X-Men movies.

Overall my Valentine’s Day weekend was super nice and romantic.