This weekend was super exciting because I ended up going home with my boyfriend to meet his parents for the first time and explore a brand new city! Meeting the parents always makes me nervous. It ended up being a blast and his parents were very nice and really accepted me for the weekend that I spent at his house. Part of that weekend included seeing Milwaukee for the first time.

I have never been this far into Wisconsin before. I never really had a reason to. My boyfriend lives about a half-hour from the city and so we decided to make a day trip. The first stop we made was at the Harley Davidson motorcycle museum. This museum was very interesting and really cool! The first part of the museum shows some of the earliest motorcycles known to exist. It shows gradually how the Harley brand and the motorcycles have changed throughout the decades. The second part of the museum shows motorcycles in pop culture, racing motorcycles, and the newest motorcycles coming out in 2015. My favorite part of the exhibit was the Captain America motorcycle! In Captain America: First Avenger, Steve Rogers is riding on this retro military motorcycle. They had the motorcycle at this museum. I thought it was amazing to look at. I also loved the other type of motorcycles that were donated to the museum. This included a rhinestone motorcycle with red, white, and blue rhinestones.

If you’re ever in the Milwaukee area, I highly recommend this museum because the motorcycles were very interesting! After the motorcycle museum, we decided to go to the Milwaukee art museum! It’s right along Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, the museum was between exhibits so there wasn’t all that much to look at but there was this really cool glass sculpture in the museum that was stunning.  We also did a little shopping which included me buying books and a new Spider-Man mug.

I love exploring new areas and Milwaukee is a really cool city. I wish I was 21 though so I could have checked out a couple of the bars in the city that also leaves room for another trip to Milwaukee!

My winter break is officially over. I am glad to start classes and get back to a normal routine after having a lot of downtime. Today I met up with some friends and we gave our secret Santa presents. For my secret Santa, I got her a Batman-related present which included a t-shirt, a necklace, and Batman socks. She loved it! I received a Tardis journal. It has the Tardis on the front and “Bad Wolf” written on the Tardis. If you watch Doctor Who, you get the reference. Overall my friends definitely know enough about me to get me an awesome present!

I have also been busy because I have been preparing to go back to Winona. I had to get my car’s oil changed, get a haircut, pack, return my library books and finish most of them, make a grocery list and wash clothes. All of that is out of the way and I am sitting in my room writing this post. I love having a car on campus! It’s more freedom on where I can go in Winona. There is this awesome coffee shop called Acoustic Cafe that has live music. I can go there more often now because I have a car!

Finally, I got a haircut! This is always weird to me because I have always had my hair long. I got it cut short because I really wanted a change and it’s a lot easier to take care of too.

2014 was definitely a fun year to remember. Usually, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but I have been thinking of some goals that I want to accomplish next year.

1. Add Yoga to my workouts.

Yesterday, I went to a Hot Yoga group fitness class. It’s essentially yoga but the heat is turned up in the room. I walked out of that class feeling stronger. Yoga strengthens the muscles you didn’t know you had. It’s also very relaxing. I do use yoga as a stress reliever. I want to make sure I do Yoga at least once a week next year, but if I do it more often than that, that’s fine too!

2. Read more!

I have set a reading goal of 25 books to read in 2015. Goodreads is helping me keep track. Reading is important to me because it helps me fall asleep. I try to read every night usually just a chapter or two. I also love reading because I really get entranced in a story. The last book I finished, The Magician’s Nephew of the Chronicles of Narnia, had me entranced in the world of Narnia. I always imagine what the characters look like in my head or what Narnia looks like. It allows me to be creative and let my imagination run wild. I have also been getting into comic books and graphic novels. I love the stories and the images and how much effort went into making each picture in the comics. I plan on reading a lot more next semester!

3. Check out more books at the library!

This goal goes along with my previous goal of reading more. I want to check out more books at the library. This lets me save money, but I also find the most random cool books in the library. Last summer, I read a random book about Darth Maul and it was super interesting!

4. Run a 5K

I have never been a really good runner. I have been working on increasing my speed and my distance. I think it would be really cool to run a 5K. A 5K is around 3.2 miles. This sounds like a long-distance but I think that would be really rewarding for me.

That’s really all the goals I have at the moment. My main goal is to have a lot of fun and have new experiences. I want to meet new people but improve upon the friendships I already have. Here is to a great and fantastic year. 2015 is officially here.

I feel grateful that I have a sibling. My brother is three years older than I am and since going off to school, my and my brother hang out whenever I come home. Today my brother and I went to the local comic book store by my house. Recently, I have been reading more comic books and graphic novels. It’s become a new interest of mine.

Hot Comics & Collectibles is fifteen minutes from my house. I’m pretty sure I have been there before because I felt a feeling of deja vu when I entered the store. It’s a pretty cool place. As soon as you walk in, there are boxes and boxes of individual issues of comics. That’s where I first looked. I love individual issues of comics because it gives me a feel of what I will like and won’t like. Each issue is around three dollars. If I don’t like a certain series or character, I didn’t really waste that much money instead of buying a graphic novel for fifteen-twenty bucks and not liking it. They also had some really cool action figures, Magic the Gathering cards, Doctor Who memorabilia, and books. I ended up purchasing comics that revolve around Elektra, Fantastic Four, Hawk & Dove, and the Huntress. I would definitely go back there again! It was a cool store, and I could easily spend hours going through each of the back issues of each superhero.

These are some of the pictures I took. There was a section in the store completely devoted to the Hulk. I really wanted to find those Hulk string lights because I thought they were awesome but I couldn’t find them. I found this book about speaking Klingon and that made me think of the Big Bang Theory and the episode where Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard play Klingon Boggle. The action figures that I saw were amazing. The Thing action figure cost around $650 but it’s accurate and actually pretty big.

I would definitely come back here again but right now I have plenty to read in between the books I have on my reading list (see my other blog post) and these graphic novels, I probably won’t be back for a while. I have two weeks left of winter break so it’s time to get reading!

Winter can be a beautiful season. I have noticed that the older I become, the more I enjoy winter. I think the snow can be beautiful. It turns my neighborhood and my backyard into a winter wonderland. Of course, winter does have its downsides such as the cold, ice everywhere, and the absence of the sun on most days. I don’t think I could ever live in an area without snow or without winter. The perfect winter day is when it’s lightly snowing, the temperature is around 20-30 degrees, it’s bright outside not a dull gray and there is no ice on the ground to trip over.

I have been taking more pictures recently because I haven’t been using my camera as much as I should. I feel like these pictures capture what I really enjoy about the winter and the holiday season.

Being a college student, I am constantly stressed about classes, tests, and final exams. I try and find different hobbies to help myself relax and meet new people. Spring semester of my freshman year, I decided to participate in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Winona State University. I play the alto saxophone and I love the way the saxophone sounds. Band has always been something that I loved being a part of.

In fifth grade, the middle school band came to my elementary school to play some pieces of music. I was immediately interested in learning how to play a musical instrument. When I came home and told my parents about this, they were thrilled. My mom has always wanted to play a musical instrument but it never happened. My dad on the other hand was a percussionist and was in his high school marching band all four years. I had to pick three instruments that I wanted to “try out”. I wanted to play the flute and the clarinet but I couldn’t pick a third instrument to play. My dad was the one who suggested I try playing the saxophone. After making a sound out of the saxophone, I knew that it was the instrument for me.

I played in the band every year in high school except for my Senior year when I took a break. After starting my first semester in college, I realized how much I missed playing my saxophone. I was nervous because I wasn’t sure how challenging college band would be. I decided to take a chance and sign up for it my second semester of freshman year (spring semester 2013). I loved it! I met some cool people through band and I learned how to play some interesting pieces of music.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take band for a full year due to my classes causing a conflict with band. Finally, I have found an open spot to put band into my schedule but I am having doubts as to whether or not to take it again.

I haven’t decided if I want to do band next semester or not, but I know that no matter what my old band memories from high school and college will remain with me forever.