Hi, everyone!
Are you as excited as I am about spring break? Honestly for me, this semester has been quite stressful and really busy. I’ve not been able to spend time doing anything other than work, class, homework, or (a little bit) of sleep, and quite frankly, that’s not good for my physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health. So for me, spring break is going to be a small opportunity for much-needed decompression and “me time”. I say small because I’m going to spend a large chunk of break working on a presentation, four or five papers, regular reading/homework for several of my classes, and discussion boards/quizzes/a test for my eight-week online class that just started. I remain hopeful that there will be a few spare moments, though, to get well-rested, spend a little quality time with my family and friends, and maybe even catch up on pleasure reading or go see Beauty and the Beast. I’m sure many of you have a much more exciting, enjoyable break planned, but I am grateful for the week off if for no other reason than to catch up on many, many things! I’m not sure I’d be able to feasibly get through the rest of the semester if I didn’t have spring break on the horizon!
In the meantime, I’m about halfway through the week…or a test, three labs, a presentation, and four regular class periods away from “freedom”! I’m enjoying the cold weather and snow, though. See my picture below of my Monday drive to Fontbonne…the snow is so pretty.

Happy spring break — stay safe and enjoy your time off!
~Anna
Tagged as:
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Homework,
snow,
Spring Break,
Stress,
winter
I just love snow! Last week it snowed several inches and I had so much fun. First I went sledding on a few hills and then I built an igloo. To build an igloo, you have to take a shovel and pile the snow as high as you can. Next you stick the handle of the shovel through the pile of snow. You dig a tunnel through the snow very carefully, you don’t want it to collapse. You mostly thin down the sides and the top. You have to be very careful of the edges. If too much falls off your igloo may look like an flat arch! You want your igloo to have corners like a building. Digging requires that you go inside the igloo and dig without knocking down the front or back. Anyway I had some help from neighbors and we finally accomplished this! We were all able to go inside (not at the same time). Then I put some dog treats inside and video taped my dog going through it.
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St. Louis,
weather
Spring break is just around the corner and needless to say, I’m more than ready!
This Spring break I plan to work, catch up on homework and catch up with friends. My most important goal of Spring Break is to relax! I’ve been learning great relaxation techniques from my instructor Dena in Food Management class. She has been incorporating breathing exercises and a few simple yoga poses into our class routine to “center” us and calm our stressed-out minds!! This has really helped me get through the last few weeks.
According to the weather forecast, things are supposed to warm up over break. In other words, I’ll be more included to get outdoors. That being said, this week’s frigid temperatures didn’t stop me from getting outside. I put on snow boots and winter gear and built a snowman outdoors with my boyfriend, Glynn. Afterwards we warmed up with some hot cocoa and watching Frozen! Best winter ever! 🙂

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relaxation,
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Spring Break,
yoga
Another day of snow, another day of leaving the house earlier than normal to go through the chore of cleaning the snow and ice off my car and warming it up for the drive to school (which will be more of a fight due to the weather). If you’ve grown up in the Midwest, or have lived here for any length of time, this winter weather is nothing new, and we all bear it the best we can, wishing for an early spring. Today, however, while sweeping the powdery snow off my car, I had a memory pop up in my minds’ eye and it made me take pause. When I was a young girl I had a microscope and I would look at everything under it to see what my world was like up close. In the winter time I became obsessed with trying to look at snowflakes. I would put my glass slides outside so that they would be cold enough for the little flakes and even set up my microscope in the backyard to observe the delicate crystals in their natural habitat. But one thing I didn’t consider was the hot bulb that made it possible to see anything under the microscope, and so each and every time the beautiful snowflakes would melt within seconds of being observed (much to my dismay).
That memory made me stop for a moment and think about how rushed we all are to get from one thing in our lives to another, with hardly a pause in between to just stop and look around. So I stopped cleaning my car and just looked. The snowflakes were huge and the wind made them swirl and dance around in the air before coming to rest on the world below. For that moment I forgot about classes and deadlines and work and bills and just admired the beauty of the snow. Perhaps everyone should just take a moment in their busy schedule, every day, to pause, look around, and enjoy the beauty of the world around us. Take a deep breath and remember those moments. Cheers!
Tagged as:
snow,
winter