End of the Year

Another (School) Year Done

12:30:00 PM



It's finally Summer. I've been home for 3 days now from Uni and it's great. 
2015 has definitely been gentle, it's been a year of a lot of changes so far, but all of them have been for the better. Or at least, I would like to think they have. 
This school year was quite different than last, I stayed home when I was meant to move in the fall, which worked out ultimately in the end because had I been away I wouldn't have been there to say goodbye to Sadie. (You can read about her here.) 


I did eventually move away, and it was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. 
I felt overwhelmed at first, I didn't know how anything worked. But slowly I began to like it, though some days it was hard to convince myself that. 

Here are some of the things that I learned (outside of the classroom):

It's okay not to like it at first. Especially if you're like me and you change schools mid-semester and your roommate moves out two weeks in and you're left alone. Just you and your goldfish. After the snow had melted, and the sun peeked out and the blossoms turned to a million lovely colors. I started to enjoy it. And I enjoyed alone time.
Walk
(I took a lot of "me time" walks.)

You will miss random things. Being away from home made me realize a list of things I didn't know I would miss. Like quality toilet paper. 

Going home is actually fun. I had a moment (which was really an entire week and a half) where I just was not having it. I missed my friends, and my bed and I just wanted away with stress. So I woke up one morning and couldn't fall asleep, walked 20 minutes to my car and drove an hour and a half. I arrived around 9am. You can guess what time I woke. Being home for just a day was really really refreshing. I surprised everyone, including two of my really good friends at their prom (and we cried, and hugged and it was great.) It was honestly, my favorite weekend. 

You can go where ever you want. Maybe not where ever. But I explored the heck out of my new town and I found a few of my favorite spots. I think it's really important to find your favorite spot, whether it be on campus or off. If you've been reading for awhile, you have already seen a few of these spots. (here and here). 
Sunset
(and I really took too many sunset photos sorry)

Getting Mail is really exciting. I loved going to my little mailbox and seeing a little card and coming back up to my room to read it. I also loved sending them. I'm a card kind of person and I think it's so lovely to get a hand written note! 

As for right now, that's all I've got. I probably missed a few things, but those are the major things that I learned personally! All in all, if we were to compare the ending to last year to this year, I would say this year was 100% better.
 If you'd like to hear more just comment below!

As for this summer, like always, I have a few plans and goals. I'll be (hopefully) working more. While I'm not working I really want to...
Read more. I'm thinking about making Paper Towns by John Green a purchase (if you have any book suggestions I would love to hear them). 

Be Outside. As much as possible. I love being outdoors, and along with this, I really want to do new things, maybe go to a new place in Wisconsin that I haven't been. Who knows, but I'll share that with you when it happens. 

I hope you all are having a great weekend! If you're out of exams, what are your summer plans? Did you go away for Uni? 
As always, thanks for reading! 
xx
Kenzie

america

Arizona Photo Post

2:00:00 PM


After writing multiple posts about my recent trip to Arizona, I discovered that I still had a ton of pictures left. So that leads me to this picture filled post. I hope you don't mind and I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them!

                                      Orange & Grape fruit trees were everywhere!


                                                                                                 A salted caramel brownie!



                                     The Salton Sea & Palm Springs









                The fresh grape fruit were delicious!
                                                                                             Flying over the crater in Arizona






'

I had a great trip and I hope you guys are having a great week/weekend! 
Sorry for not being on that much! A lot is going on! But I do have some great post ideas that I can't wait to share! 
xx
Kenzie

america

Adventure in the Southwest pt 2

2:00:00 PM

 Although Arizona was colder than expected, it still managed to be a good vacation. 
While we were visiting my grandparents in their retirement village, we were staying in a unit right behind theirs. The first day we were there, the same day we had just gotten off the airplane, we took a winding, rock filled road out to a place called the Desert bar. 
 It sits on an old copper mine campground and attracts a large crowd, though it's only opened on the weekends, October through April, when the weather is mild! It's also completely solar powered. It's a neat rustic looking place and if you can manage the roads without getting ill then you should definitely visit!



The next day was more of a relaxing day, as we only went out to watch the Packers win a game from a bar. Though the view from the bar was also pretty. It was on a lake!
Though the next day was when we, as in both my grandparents, my mom, stepdad, sister and myself, all piled into my grandparents van and drove to Palm Springs. 
The drive was nice, we stopped along the way to view some sand dunes. Looking over them, it felt as though you were transported to some foreign country and if you dared climb over one of the dunes far off you may just get yourself lost. 
There were dune buggies as well, and had we been staying near the dunes at all, I may have wanted to try my hand at driving one of them..or at least riding along. 
After seeing the Sand Dunes, we moved past the Sultan Sea. Which my grandpa was pretty intrigued with...can't say the same for all of us though. We all just wanted to get to the hotel and sit by the pool for a bit of sun. 
After finally arriving, we had a bit of a tan near the pool before wandering around Palm Springs. 
The down town area of Palm Springs was cute, it was lined with a few shops and restaurants.




 After eating a nice dinner, we went on to our next adventure. 
Which is what will fill the next blog post! 
Can't wait for you to read it! 
I hope you enjoyed this one! Let me know if you've been to any of these spots in the comments! 
See you in the next post! 
xx



Arizona

Trip Southwest (Part One)

2:00:00 PM


If you haven't seen my few instagram posts about where I've been recently then you wouldn't know that I've been in Arizona for the past week or so, enjoying time with my family whilst we visited my grandparents. I think I'll put in a few bits and pieces about the trip amongst regular blog posts. We'll see! 
 Anyway, the best part of going on vacation is that you're usually going somewhere warm. An even better perk for this trip was that there happened to be a big snow storm coming as we left and that made getting into the sun and further away from the snow, that much more exciting. Of course flying from Minneapolis, we had to take a quick stop at the Mall of America. Shopping the day after Christmas? Not the best idea. It was packed and if you're someone who has anxiety in large crowds, then you probably should not go. Though the Christmas time decorations are beautiful! 

 With a snowstorm brewing, they had to de-ice our airplane, which meant they brought out weird looking machines and we sat in the airplane on the runway for about an hour. But we finally took off and I was thrilled. 

The whole getting to Arizona part was fine (aside from the jabbering TSA agents who managed to make the security point take twice as long as it needed to be) I remember looking down over the land we were flying over and it was just beautiful and I wished I knew right where we were so that I could see it up close. Once we landed and realized it wasn't as warm as we had expected it to be, but that feeling was quickly squandered by the fact that it was still way warmer than where we had just left. 
The sun was out. And that's all that mattered. 
There were cactus-(es?) and palm trees. And sunshine!


And I can't wait to share what we did whilst we were there! So make sure you stay tuned for those blog posts coming up!
I hope you all had a lovely holiday! If you're not back to school yet, I hope you're still enjoying the lovely holiday! 
xx
Kenzie


dinner

Dinner Underground

2:00:00 PM



It’s not every day that I get the chance to go out and eat at some place that’s really neat.
 There’s a restaurant in my town called “The Mine Company”. It’s been around since the 1980’s but has since been renovated numerous times. Yet, it still manages to keep the old historic feel inside and out. The outside of the building is made to look old with a crooked welcome sign, leaning tin walls and old wooden benches. Though everything inside is definitely up-right.  The moment you walk in, you’re greeted by somewhat dim lighting and great decorations to really give that “old mine” feel!
Because we came to eat on a Friday night, it was quite busy at the Mine Company. 
Though the wait wasn't long! They have a lot of seating in the place. When I was younger I would come with my cousins, or just my parents and sister to eat their delicious cheese fries! 
That's all you really needed. Two orders of cheese fries was enough for a medium to large group, unless you have a really big appetite. I have never really been one to over-eat? I guess that's a good thing! 
In the bar sits a guy named Virgil. Virgil is one of the "miners" and he's been there since the beginning! Lately, I have noticed more and more people taking selfies with Virgil. It's quite the sight let me tell you. But how cute is he? 

The main seating area, is set up to be as if you're eating underground! 
If you have never been down in a mine, there is usually water, and it's usually cold and very dark. Though the restaurant is set up to be like a mine, it wasn't as cold and not as dark, which was good!  On one wall, is a little waterfall, a gate surrounding it so kids don't take 
a nose dive, it's a really nice feature. 

The tables each have a gas lamp to add to the authentic feel of the place!
There are a lot of food options to choose from. Once my dad and I were seated 
we ordered drinks first. I always get the Raspberry Iced Tea. I love it so much. 
I had to scan over the menu for a few moments, while my dad knew right away what he had wanted. I've been trying to eat a little healthier so I settled on a nice Taco Salad. That's sort of healthy right? Better than cheese curds or cheese fries right? Say yes. Thanks. 
I was so hungry by the time it came that I had almost forgot to take a picture! 
It's rare that I get everything on it. Usually I don't like tomatoes, but I was really 
hungry and part of me really just didn't care. There weren't a lot of chips on 
the salad but there was a lot of lettuce to hold everything onto as I ate. 
My dad had gotten a two piece fish fry, which he ate in record timing. 
There is a wide variety of food offered, not just cheese fries, but you should still try them! They're really good! Especially if you're starving and need something with loads of cheese!
We retired home with a movie, Pretty Little Women was on and I had 
never seen it before. (there weren't any action-y films on so we had to settle!)
I hope you all are having a great week! 
What's your favorite thing to order at a restaurant? Have you been to any place that stuck out to you? 
xx
See you next time! 
Thanks for reading! 
xx
Kenzie




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