Tea of the Week-Banana

This week I am going to tell you a little bit about a tea my mom got me for my birthday yesterday. I had such a great day yesterday which I will have a post about later on this week.

My mom took me to the Bentley Tea House in Fergus yesterday for lunch and tea. The Bentley Tea House was a really cool place to visit. There were so many teas to look at and smell it was really hard to pick which one to try for lunch! I ended up getting the Banana and my mom got Mango Mist. They were both really delicious! For lunch we had these fantastic scones and soup. The soup was hearty and the scone was wonderful! Can you tell I'm a huge fan of this place already? For dessert I had a butter tart and my mom had a piece of gluten-free, dairy-free Pecan Pie. I had a bite and it was amazing, and I don't even like pecan pie! Anyways, If you are in Fergus and looking for a place to eat lunch, definitely check out the Bentley Tea House.

Now, onto this week's tea of the week!

This weeks tea of the week is the Banana tea I tried yesterday. The best way I can describe the smell is like a banana popsicle. It tastes a little bit like one too. I love it! I can't wait to try it as an iced tea. I love how sweet it is. I think I might try to find more banana tea in the near future!

How To Pass Tough University Courses (The First Time!)

Every program in every school has them. Those super intimidating courses that past students always warn you about. You hear horror stories of people pulling back to back (to back!) allnighters and you begin to panic and question why you even applied to university in the first place!

I had one of those...

The course was called Software Systems Development and Integration. It is notorious in my program for almost everyone failing it at least once. Last year, 75% of the class dropped or failed the course. One person took it six times!!

But I passed on the first try. It was tough and extremely stressful and I learned a lot from it. So today I am going to share with you the secret to passing these type of courses on the first try. Hopefully these tips can help you out when you come across these tough classes.

Start Assignments Early

Part of what made my course have such a high drop and fail rate was that people left the first assignment until the day before it was due. Now with normal classes, this might not be a problem, but the projects for these classes can take well over 40 hours! It is really important to start these assignments as soon as you can. My one professor once said, "It's better to do a little a lot, then a lot a little".

Get Extra Help When You Need It

I know this sounds obvious, but ask for help as soon as you need it. If your professor or teaching assistant could probably solve your problem quickly, then it is better to ask for help then waste a bunch of time searching for the answer. That being said, it is important to try to fix the problem yourself. But it's also important not to waste precious time when the solution to your problem might be something your prof can explain to you in five minutes.

Don't Get Discouraged

You can get through this course, believing that you can pass is really important to actually passing the course. Try to stay as positive as possible. And if you do fail, it's not the end of the world! Life will still go on and you can take the course again some other time.

Take Breaks When You Can

During reading week I did absolutely no school work. I spent all my time doing crafts, because I could afford to procrastinate a bit. So if you can, take a break! You should never be too busy for a nice cup of tea/coffee, a walk or a shower. Taking care of yourself is important too!

There you go! Hopefully these tips can help you in your challenging courses! Leave a comment if you have any other tips for passing difficult classes!

Tea of the Week-Green Tea

I know I missed last weeks tea of the week. I just wasn't feeling it, so I decided to take a week off. But it's back!

This weeks tea of the week is Green Tea. I've only started liking green tea recently, I remember a short time ago I didn't like it at all. Or at least that's what I told people. I think I just hadn't really tried green tea intentionally. I really like it though. I find it a little more calming than black tea, so sometimes I will order green tea at tim hortons instead of my regular earl grey. I recently bought a box of green tea and I think I like it. But I think I like a green tea that has other flavours in it better, like movie night.

If you haven't tried green tea yet, I would suggest that you at least try it. You might be pleasantly surprised!

A Year of Dates-April

Since my birthday and Andrew's Birthday are so close together, every year we only celebrate with one combined birthday dinner both to save money and to save planning two separate dinners so close together.

It's our birthday month! Let's have a classic Andrew and Sarah Birthday date! There is enough money here to go out to pizza hut (maybe even have desserts!). Afterwards we can watch Netflix or a DVD.

I can't wait to spend some quality time with you!
Love, Sarah

I picked Andrew up from college and we did a little bit of shopping before this date. Michaels had a good sale on paper, so we bought a bunch for the wedding. Then we drove over to Pizza Hut. We were both really hungry so we decided to split one big pizza instead of having two smaller pizzas. We were going to divide the toppings (like half cheese, half pepperoni) but then we both realized we wanted ham and pineapple, so we just got a medium hawaiian pizza. It was delicious. And the service was really fast! It was definitely a great way to celebrate our birthdays!

I told him to smile...

Want to read more?

A Year Of Dates:

November

December

January
February

March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October

Mid-April Goal Update

These are some of the paper flowers! They still need some buttons but they are almost done!

So I meant to post about this yesterday, but I was too determined to finish the paper flowers and I ran out of time to blog, so I'm doing it today.

Here are how my goals for this month are going. If you haven't seen my goals for the month, you can find them here.

Finish up Second Year

I finished my last exam of second year on Monday! I haven't gotten my marks back yet, but I feel pretty good about them.

Spring Clean

I tidied a bit of both my car and my room, but they are now disasters again, so I still need to do this. But my dad is going to clean the carpets, so I need to have this done by the 26th.

Finish Paper Flowers

I have 54 flowers left to make. And they are the flowers that take less time. The good news is that I finished the ones that take the longest. I'm so proud of myself, and I hope to finish the other 54 today or tomorrow.

Take a Break

This is going okay, It was easier when I could take a break from studying, which I am not a fan of. But now that I'm just doing things that I like, I'm finding it difficult to force myself to rest. I'm going to try to improve this.

Revamp My Blog Design

As you can probably tell, I have already done this! I love how it turned out.

Make My Master Wedding To-Do List

I haven't started, I'm hoping to do this on the weekend since Andrew and I have a long car ride to Sarnia to visit family this weekend.

That's how my goals are going so far. How are your goals going?

The Best Way to Get Rid of a Christmas Tree

For the past three years, Andrew's family has burned their Christmas tree when spring comes around. This year we went a little crazy, and possibly slightly overboard. I thought I would share with you guys how we morphed the Bullock's lovely Christmas tree, which by the way, was the most beautiful tree yet, into a twenty foot burning inferno.

Step 1: Prop up the tree in the fire pit.

Step 2: Stuff the tree with the leftover tissue from the Christmas presents this year. Making the tree look pretty is a must!

Step 3: Douse the tree with gasoline (DO NOT try this at home, this turned out to be a little overkill)

Step 4: Send a willing volunteer up on the roof of your house, with a firework.

Step 5: Light the firework and shoot it at the tree, marvel at the HUGE flame you have just created, worry if the fire department is going to come, so run and grab the hose.

Here is the video from our adventure, it was super fun and great family bonding/

Here is the link incase you can't watch it directly from this blog.

So if you ever need to burn your Christmas tree, this is the way to do it. Just watch how much gas you put on the tree, it can get really out of control fast, we probably didn't even need the gas. 

What do you do with your Christmas tree once Christmas is over?

The Liebster Award

Yesterday my blogging friend Morgan from XOXO Mo sent me an email letting me know that she nominated me for the Liebster Award! Morgan was actually one of the first people to follow Camp Girl in the Real World, I love reading her blog and I am so excited that she nominated me. So thank you Morgan!

For those of you not familiar with the Liebster Award, it's a way to encourage readership and followers for new bloggers. I enthusiastically accept the nomination and in doing so must follow the rules. The rules are as follows:

-Thank the amazing blogger that nominated you (thanks again Morgan!)
-Answer the 11 questions the nominator provided
-Nominate 11 other bloggers who have less than 200 followers
-Post 11 different questions for your nominees to answer
-Contact your nominees to let them know that you've nominated them

I don't know if I will be able to nominate 11 people, but I will try my best!

Here are my answers to Morgan's questions:

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because of Pinterest. The blogs behind the things I pinned inspired me to make my own!

2. If you could go on your dream vacation and money was no object where would you go?

My best friend Katelyn and I planned a trip to the UK once, so I would love to go there. But since money is no object I would probably extend our trip to all around Europe.

3. If you could only wear one color for the rest of your life what would it be?

Yellow. Honestly I feel so much more cheery when I wear yellow.

4. What was the most meaningful book you ever read?

Besides the Bible, probably the Bad Girls of the Bible book. I read it for my Sunday School class once, and it taught me so much about the women of the Bible.

5. What was the most boring book you ever had to read?

Discrete Mathematics and its Applications. It is brutal. I hate programming textbooks.

6. What is your favorite time of year?

Fall. I love the colours. I mean, look at the colours in the background of this picture!

7. What was the last movie you watched, was it a good one?

I think it was Catching Fire, and I thought it was good.

8. Are your nails painted right now? If so, what color?

Yes! They are painted this teal colour that I got on the weekend. 

9. Country or city girl?

Country, the thought of living in a big city scares me so much.

10. What is one thing you wish you were better at?

Right now I wish I was faster at folding paper flowers, but I also wish I was better at taking photos.

11. If you had to teach a subject at school, what subject do you think you would be most equipped to teach?

I would probably be most equipped to teach programming, and I like programming so I think I would be good at it.

I Nominate...

Melissa from Purpsicle

Laura from Honest Thoughts from a 20-Something Christian Girl

Nathan from "Forgive Me For Asking"

Joseph from Life of a not so average Joe

And I was going to nominate these blogs but you ladies already got nominated!

Karen from Positively Ducky

Hayley from Victorious Heroine

Here are my questions for you guys:

1. What was the last DIY project that you did? Did it work out?

2. What is your favourite day of the week?

3. What is your least favourite month of the year and why?

4. What is your favourite dessert?

5. What is your favourite flower?

6. Do you like your handwriting?

7. If you had the opportunity, would you go sky diving?

8. What is your favourite TV show?

9. What is your favourite smell?

10. Cheesburgers or Hamburgers?

11. What is your favourite thing about blogging?

There you guys go! I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me!

Tea of the Week-Cherry Blossom

I'm the type of girl that gets really excited when I get an email from David's Tea. Normally I hate this type of spam mail, but I actually read the tea newsletter and sometime I rush to David's Tea in between classes to get their newest tea. That's what happened with this weeks tea of the week. I got an email from David's Tea earlier this year saying that their Valentines collection (the sweetheart collection) had arrived along with a limited edition tea Cherry Blossom. So of course, right after my classes I hopped in my car and drove to the nearest David's tea. I was planning on just buying the Sweetheart collection, but then I asked to smell the Cherry Blossom tea, since I was curious about it. It smelled FANTASTIC. So I bought it. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a great smelling tea.

When I first tried this tea, I have to say I was really disappointed. It did not taste nearly as good as it smells. So I didn't drink it for a while. But I figured out what was making it taste so bad. I let it steep for way too long. I figured that since I liked strong tea, and this tea smelt so good that it must taste better when you let it steep longer. I was wrong. I steep this tea for exactly four minutes. I use a timer and everything.

When you let it steep for the right time, this tea is wonderful. It's sweet, smells amazing and I find it relaxing. I don't know if you can buy it anymore, But if you find it, I highly recommend it, just make sure you don't steep it too long.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks tea of the week! Leave a comment if you have a tea you would like me to try!

Tea of the Week-Wild Orange Blossom & Youthberry

This week's tea is the combination of the last two week's tea's. They are the tea's that my mom and dad brought back for me from their trip to Florida. I didn't know that you could mix different teas together until my mom told me that these two tea's were meant to go together. But now I will be trying more combinations of tea's. It's so much fun and makes me feel like a scientist.

The two tea's I combined for this weeks tea of the week are Youthberry and Wild Orange Blossom. I loved these teas when I tasted them individually but I love them more together! I really like the combination of the berries in the youthberry with the orange from the wild orange blossom. The person at the tea store said to let the tea steep for the shortest amount of time described on the packages, which was 2 minutes. However, I think this doesn't bring enough orange flavour to the combination, so I recommend to let it steep for longer, but that's just my personal preference. I really like this combination and I hope that I will be able to buy some more of both of these kinds of tea, since I only have three cups left of the wild orange blossom.

I'm really liking these more fruity teas, so if you have any that you would recommend, let me know in the comments!

Monthly Goals-April 2014

For those of you who have been following Camp Girl in the Real World for a long time you will know that I used to link up from Kelli from She Learns as She Goes and Blimey Cow once a month to post some of my goals for the month. A while back I stopped doing them because I found it too stressful and was almost always disappointed with myself at the end of the month. I've decided that with school almost ending, it would be a good time to bring them back! Kelli no longer does the link up, but I've decided to do it anyways. Here are my goals for April:

Finish up Second Year

This semester has been crazy, and I'm so excited that I'm almost done. I only have one more assignment, 1 take home exam and three other exams. My goal is to maintain my averages in all my classes.

Spring Clean

My room and my car are a disaster. I really need to clean them, and I will have extra time once the semester is over.

Finish Paper Flowers

For our wedding I have about 1000 paper flowers to make, and I have just over 600 made. I'm hoping to get all of the paper flowers done by the end of April, and I think I can do it, as long as I don't procrastinate too much.

Take a Break

I need to remember to relax. So this month, I am going to try to take a break every morning. I'm going to make sure I take a break at some point in the day to have a cup of tea and NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE. Just rest and enjoy the coffee or tea.

Revamp My Blog Design

It's time for a bit of a change, so this month I'm planning on updating my blog design, I already have some ideas and as you may have noticed, I already started! Are you pumped? I am.

Make My Master Wedding To-Do List

I've been wanting/needing to do this for a while. I need to make a huge and detailed list of all the things that I need to get finished. And I've been kind of dreading this, but it needs to get done.

There you have it! My goals for the month of April! Leave a comment letting me know some of your goals for this month!