I Appreciate You

Andrew and I have started something new recently. We found that we were getting crazy busy and stressed out with midterms and wedding planning over reading week and that we weren't taking enough time to be truly thankful for one another. So we created a little challenge to add to our daily conversation. We decided that every day, at some point during the day we will point out one thing that we appreciate about the other person. For example, yesterday I was really grumpy, and so I appreciated when Andrew let me vent about my day and all my frustrations and didn't question me about it.

We've been doing this for about a week and I think it is really helping me. I feel like Andrew is noticing when I do things for him. I know he noticed before and that I shouldn't need him to tell me that he appreciates me but it feels really good for him to point out specific things.

I would challenge you guys to do this in your relationships, not just your relationship with your significant other, but with your friends and family and with your relationship with God. Everyone deserves a little extra appreciation!

Leave me a comment letting me know something you appreciate about someone you love!

Happy Friday!

A Year of Dates-February

February's Date was a cheap one, but it was so much fun! Here is what the envelope contained:

You know what has great cheap entertainment? 

Youtube. This month let's watch this youtube marathon!

 Some snack money is included so we can get something 

to munch on while we laugh at this youtube playlist.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=FLvrDcFyWBjhR0XM1oMEWXAA

I can't wait to laugh with you!

Love, Sarah

I am kind of a youtube fanatic. I love watching youtube videos. I especially love subscribing to peoples channels and getting to see into their lives. So when Friday We're In Love featured a stay at home youtube date night, I thought it would be a great idea to include it in the year of dates.

It was lots of fun. Their playlist is full of really funny, clean videos. It was so much fun to just relax and laugh at the short videos. Andrew was a little under the weather at the time, so he liked that we didn't go out to have our date. 

I think we will definitely do this date again, we might even try to create our own playlist! It was fun, and inexpensive, which as students, is a fantastic thing. 

Want to read more?

A Year Of Dates:

November

December

January
February

March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

Tea of the Week-Twinnings Earl Grey

Hey you guys! Last week was reading week for me, so I decided to take a break from tea of the week and blogging in general, but I'm back now and feeling refreshed!

This weeks tea of the week is Twinnings Earl Grey Tea. Of all the plain teas, earl grey is my favourite, and of all the earl grey teas, the twinnings brand is my favourite. It's been my go-to tea for the past few weeks because it make wonderful earl grey tea lattes! I'm hoping to write a post soon about how to make those, So be on the lookout for that! Another interesting fact about my tea drinking habits is that earl grey tea is the only tea I drink with sugar and milk added. All the other ones I usually leave on their own, but for some reason, sugar and milk really make earl grey tea fantastic. Earl grey tea is also my favourite tea from Tim Hortons, which I have been drinking a lot of recently, since roll up the rim is on again.

Anyways, earl grey tea is wonderful, and if you haven't tried twinnings (or Tim Hortons), I highly recommend them. I hope you guys have a great Wednesday!!

More About My Ring

I started looking at wedding rings basically when I got pinterest. I would look through the wedding section and stumble upon some rings that I really liked, so I would pin them. I wasn't expecting a ring from Andrew at this time but it was just fun to dream about it. After Andrew and I had been dating for two years or so We started more seriously talking about when we would get married. Andrew asked me to show him some of the rings I liked, and so I took up the great task of exploring just about every online jewelry website, looking at beautiful rings. It's a tough job, but someone had to do it :P

I spent lots of time looking at rings, sending the one's I liked to Andrew, sending the one's I didn't like to Andrew, telling him the specifics of why I didn't like them. I'm sure he was overwhelmed by all of my opinions. I liked being involved in the ring picking out process. 

Andrew told me that he had bought a ring. And I may or may not have gone crazy. He sent me this picture on my phone early in September of 2013. 

I recognized the colours and fonts right away. This ring was from Brilliant Earth. My favourite out of all the engagement ring websites. Their rings are so beautiful and completely ethical, which makes me double happy. 

Now I wish I could say I figured out which website it was from and then left it alone, but I didn't. I looked through all the rings on the website. I tried to restrain myself from questioning Andrew, "Is THIS my ring?", "How about this one?" I really wish I hadn't questioned him so much. I obsessed over when he was going to propose, stressing myself out about when it was going to be. 

I basically ruined the surprise for myself. I asked so many questions. I found out that he had the ring, and that he had talked to my parents to ask their permission. Then I knew when the proposal would be and where, and I had even narrowed down the rings to a group of five, and I knew that one of those five was my ring. Some parts of me wish that I could have been completely surprised but then other parts of me feel like it was almost better that I knew ahead of time. I did my nails the day of, I made sure I dressed nicely and did my hair. I knew to bring my camera and was much more relaxed. I did like that the ring was still somewhat a surprise. Out of the five I had narrowed it down to I had one favourite ring that had been my favourite from the moment I saw it. And that was the ring that Andrew picked! Now allow me to gush a bit about my ring.

It's a solitaire on an 18k white gold band. The band looks like it is twisted. It is so unique, yet simple and not too flashy. The diamond is an 0.43 carat round cut lab created diamond. I had no idea that they could create diamonds in a lab! It makes me feel good that my ring is completely ethical and has a guaranteed non conflict diamond. I love it so much. I think Andrew did an amazing job picking it out!

I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit more about my ring. I promise that sometime in the next few months I will have more wedding things to post about, but right now my focus has basically just been on school. I hope you guys have a great rest of your week!

5 Reasons Why I Hate Working In The Computer Lab

This semester is different from any other semester I've had so far. I have a lot of breaks in between classes. This means I have to find a place where I can go study... or blog. I tried the library. It's so crowded and it is often difficult to find a seat. And one time it took me 15 minutes until I found somewhere to sit down. Not ideal. That's valuable time that I could be studying... or reading blogs... I tried studying in one of the cafeterias on campus, but there is so much going on that I couldn't focus on my school work. Also people walking by with tasty looking hamburgers is distracting. I tried just sitting in the hall in between classes but the floor isn't the most comfortable place to sit. And people walking by distracted me.I finally decided to go to the computer science lab.

It was great, it wasn't too loud, the people around me are in the same courses so we can talk about the problems we are having with the assignments, people don't walk by too often so I can focus on my work. I thought I had hit the study space jackpot.

Then I started to notice some problems. Which leads me to the topic of todays blog post. Here are 5 reasons why I hate working in the computer lab.

1) The Temperature

The computer lab has two extremes. So hot you would think it was summer and so cold that you need to keep your coat on inside! It changes depending on how many people are in the room. The more people in the room, the higher the temperature.

2) The Odour

The more people in the lab, the more it starts to smell like a gym. Just think about it. A program mainly full of guys, working in the lab for extended periods of time with no windows to open. It gets extremely smelly. The worst part of it is that you don't really notice until you leave the room and come back. Then you think to yourself, "Have I really been sitting in this smell for three hours?!" At least thats what I think.

3) The Slow Computers

Normally I bring my laptop to school. But if I ever forget to and I have to use the computers in the lab I re-discover how much of a pain it is. They freeze, the refuse to save your work, If too many people are working on the computers at once they have a tendency to crash. It's crazy that the computing department may have the worst computers in the school.

4) The Lack of Females

There is hardly ever more that 5 girls in the lab, and there are usually around 30 people in the lab. They guys in my program are great but sometimes I get tired of the "manly talk" about sports and video games.

5) The Lack of Fresh Air

This point kind of ties in to number 1 and 2. There aren't any windows that open. The room gets pretty stuffy pretty quick. It's actually pretty gross.

There you have it! 5 of the reasons why I hate working in the computer lab. It's not all that bad, but these are some of the things that I wish would improve. Maybe someday...

Tea of the Week-Tazo Passion

Good news everyone! I just finished my second of the four really tough assignments in my course! I'm half way done! And now I can finally blog and do crafts for mine and Andrew's wedding! You know, the important stuff ;). I've actually been looking forward to writing this post all weekend. Are you ready? Here we go.

This weeks tea of the week is made possible by one of my lovely university friends Victoria! I was having an extremely bad day last semester and she surprised me by buying me this Passion tea from starbucks! This tea is fantastic. It's kind of tart, with a fruity type flavour. I really enjoy it, and I think I will definitely buy it again in the future!

Another thing this tea is really good for is making Passion Iced Tea Lemonade, which I tried for the first time on Sunday. If you are curious about it you can read how to make it here. I think it would be a really good summer drink, it's not so much a wintery drink, so for now I will just stick with having passion tea as a hot tea, not an iced tea.

Tea of the Week-Feeling Calm

As the title of this post implies, I needed some calm in my week this week. Which is why tea of the week is up two days late. I've been working on another major assignment and two papers this week. It's very overwhelming.

The tea I'm featuring this week has been one of my very favourite tea's for a very long time for several reasons. One, it's really inexpensive, it's less expensive than almost all of the teas I have. I believe it's under three dollars for 20 tea bags at the grocery store. The second thing I like about this tea is how relaxed it makes me. It's kind of an instant de-stresser for me. Which, especially this week is a much needed thing.

This tea is made by Presidents Choice. This is how the box describes it:

A fragrant blend of camomile, spearmint, passion flower, linden flower and lavender accented with a citrusy zing to leave your weary spirit feeling calm.

I love it. And this particular box is extra special, Andrew bought it for me a little while ago as a surprise. He spoils me

Anyways, I highly recommend this tea if you're looking for an inexpensive tea to help you relax.

I hope all of you are having a great week!

February Photo-a-day

Hey everyone! Happy February! I found this photo-a-day challenge via Kelli Taylor (The writer of She Learns as She Goes and a member of BlimeyCow) on instagram yesterday and I thought, Hey, why not! So I will be participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge for the month of February. I will be posting my photos on Instagram and Twitter, so if you are curious you can check those out!

Just thought I would let you guys know :) Happy Saturday!