Icky-ness

There is snow on Augie's campus.

Am I wearing sensible wintery shoes?
Nope

Am I at least wearing socks?
Nope

Would my grandma yell at me?
Yep

Did my mom yell at me?
Nope, she isn't wearing socks either

Would my grandma yell at her too?
Yep

La-La-La Monday

Many of my Monday posts have been about the music I listen to while at Coffea for my Monday-Coffee-Date-With-My-Mom. Well, this week "Running to Stand Still" by U2 has been playing on repeat for several hours. And for good reason. It is absolutely beautiful.

So as I prepare for this week which includes writing a 25-page paper for my Art History class, I realize I probably wont get a whole lot of blogging in. Or I shouldn't, anyway.

Thus, I will leave you with this song until I can take a breath again. U2 creates phenomenal music that is actually music and this is one of my new faves.

The title of the song even seems appropriate for the next and last three weeks of the semester.

Running to Stand Still

And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was
Lying still
Said I gotta do something
About where we're going

Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain, maybe
Run from the darkness in the night
Singing ha, ah la la la de day
Ah la la la de day
Ah la la de day

Sweet the sin
Bitter taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out

You got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice

You know I took the poison
From the poison stream
Then I floated out of here
Singing...ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day

She runs through the streets
With her eyes painted red
Under black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea
She is raging
She is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...

Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...

Still.

Mondays with Mom

Over the weekend while admiring the horses that reside at the Black Hills Equestrian Center I realized that God might have made a mistake and given me horse hair rather than regular people hair. My mane and the horses' are strikingly similar. I also dubbed a new word to describe my hair- flizzly. It isn't necessarily frizzy but it definitely isn't straight and smooth either. Thus, because of my flizzly hair and ungodly lack of hair product, I am rocking a ballerina bun for about the eighth day this month.

I was feeling majorly moderately depleted today when my mom picked me up for our Monday coffee date. There are a whole lot of stressors which is extra frustrating after having such a wonderful, stressless weekend in Spearfish. My mom has a subtle way of just doing her "Mom" thing and making me get my Sanna-groove back. Today in Coffea, we were doing our traditional Monday activities of drinking coffee, talking about life and love, while I work on homework. Eventually my mom noticed a girl around my age smiling at us. We guessed she probably missed her mom. We are just that adorable together. I came back to Augie feeling slightly more whole with some wounds healed.

I have not yet mentioned the massive actual wound that I acquired grinding flour to make wheat bread with my grandpa- how else? I managed to install insulation and use a staple gun and hammer in nails unscathed, yet when it comes to being domestic, I acquire a big, bad, and downright ugly blister. Seriously, this is a doozy. When I went to get a band-aid from my grandma to repair the palm of my hand she instead had to find cuticle cream for that problem. I still need a band-aid...
Anyways, growing what feels like five layers of skin back is rather painful and I have to wash my massive amount of hair with only one hand. I guess it is all part of building character.

Over the weekend my mom gave my sister and I very distinctly picked-out earrings. Brytten's are very Brytten-like and mine are very Sanna-like. I like having someone who knows me so well especially when it comes to making me feel better - so much so - that I stand up straighter. It takes a lot for me to not stand up straight but when it does happen, my mom is there with an invisible rod behind me to keep me upright. She also picks out B-E-A- uuuuutiful earrings.

Monday's Mission

As I was snooping on other blogs I came across this image taken from "How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum" by Keri Smith. It seems appropriate as I embark on this sure-to-be impeccable week!

Musical Monday Musings

I finally did it! I found the perfect Pandora station and what do you know? It's the Adele station. Not so shocking considering how much I LOVE Adele! It is the perfect compilation of the likes of Adele, Duffy, Ingrid Michaelson, Jack Johnson, Franz Ferdinand, Vampire Weekend, Landon Pigg, Joy Williams, Norah Jones, Sara Bareilles, Florence + The Machine (my other absolute favorite), and Justin Nozuka.

One of the best songs presented by this station was a rendition of the King's of Leon's song, "Use Somebody" soulfully sung by Laura Jansen. It's definitely a new fave. My favorite Ingrid Michaelson's song on this station is her version of Elvis Presley's, "Can't Help Falling In Love."

This station was so lovely because I was excited for each new song that would play and they all made me smile. Good music does that.

This station made for a great day anyway but to top it off today was quite possibly the most beautiful last day of October ever! In order to celebrate the sunshine and get a much needed dose of Vitamin D to run out my cold I went for a jog through the nature trail at the Outdoor Campus. I frequent this trail a lot and this time there were more leaves scattered on the ground which made a lovely crunch as I ran through.

After my run I stopped and got what will probably be my last Passion Fruit Iced Tea for a few months. Perfect way to journey into November!

Here are some of the best songs from the Adele station:

Broken- Jack Johnson

Make You Feel My Love- Adele

Take Me Out- Franz Ferdinand

Rumour Has It- Adele

And The World Turned- The Gabe Dixon Band

A Punk- Vampire Weekend

Mercy- Duffy

Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop- Landon Pigg

One Of Those Days- Joy Williams

1901- Phoenix

Many The Miles- Sara Bareilles

Dog Days Are Over- Florence + The Machine (This will always and forever be my absolute favorite 
song!)

I'm Scared- Duffy

After Tonight- Justin Nozuka

Bottle It Up- Sara Bareilles

Monday with Moxie

When I was little I had an American Girl pocket-sized book with buzz words. One of the words was moxie and it has been one of my favorite words since. I like to think that I have moxie and it helps in my day-to-day goal of surprising people. It really has nothing to do with a Monday except for creating an alliteration- my favorite part of speech.

Today my mom and I had our weekly Monday coffee date and she shared some of her pictures taken from our front stoop and at the Grands' house with me. Here are some of my faves.

My grandpa and his ducks

Me at Scooters. Moms always catch us at our nerdiest...

Great Mondays

I am starting a new addition to my blog: What Makes Mondays Great. I realize that some weeks I may have to make things up but thats fine! Today however had lots of great things!

• Coffea date in the middle of the day with my mom! I am loving the four hour break that I have on Mondays. We are making it an every week thing! My hazelnut latte with candied hazelnuts was just about the greatest thing ever!
• I changed into shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of the day!!! The title of this blog probably indicates to you that I love summer and summer clothing way more than winter and winter clothing. 
• Laffy Taffy Jokes!

How do you mend a broken jack o'lantern?

With a pumpkin patch!

• I started a new passive programming technique this year where I gave all of my girls a blank cd to put all their favorite songs on it. Their theme songs, if you will. Each weekend I play a different cd on repeat in the bathroom and each girl has her chance to be the 2N Weekend Dj. Two of my girls thus far have included "Daylight" by Matt and Kim and it has quickly become my new favorite song and the video is adorable!

Happy Monday everyone! Here is to a great Tuesday!