Canoeing on the River

Is it time to go canoeing yet? This is the first thing my friend Natalie said to me as we stepped out of our cars into the freezing weather. Now it's far from time to go canoeing but we're already planning our river adventure out. There doesn't need to be alot of us, just as long as there's a cooler stocked with refreshing beverages and tons of sandwiches. And Natalie, I'm sure, will come with a bag filled with fun size Funyuns, my favorite!

We start our voyage by the Black River Bridge in Melrose and we end up back at the Riverview Inn. It starts off slow, you have to decide who's going to be doing all the work. I usually choose the canoe with two boys in it so I have to do little to no work. But as you get going things start getting smoother and you really start moving along. It's extremely peaceful on the river, and when the sun's out you get a great tan, or burn!

Along the river are large rock formations that are great for jumping off of. It's nerve racking, but once you convince yourself to jump you'll want to do it again and again. There's also many sandbars to dock on. There's usually no problem finding one unless the river is high, but if that's so you probably shouldn't be canoeing. Sometimes when the river is low it's hard to get around too. One trip I recall having to get out and push the canoe a number of times. That wasn't so fun.

Another fun trip on the river consisted of me, two friends, and four tubes. We strapped a cooler on the fourth tube, and we floated down the river. It was a slow adventure, but I love the water and I had a great time. I cannot wait to have some more fun in the sun. And I always have good times on the river!

St. Valentine's Day

First off I would like to give a big sarcastic “thanks” to St. Valentine for this depressing holiday. Don’t get me wrong it’s most definitely not miserable for those who have a special someone. But for the others that aren’t with anyone, this day is just a reminder of the fact that they are indeed single. Personally I don’t enjoy this holiday because in the past, I have never had a good Valentine’s Day. In fact, one year I had a boyfriend break up with me the day before Valentine’s Day. How’s that for a V-Day gift? Not so great, I know. But other than that every year I have been Valentineless, which doesn’t give me much hope for the holiday. So when February 14 rolled around the corner this year I basically only looked forward to a busy night at work. We served over 300 people that night and I made over $150. So I guess in some sense I do like the holiday a little.
This year I do have a boyfriend, but it didn’t surprise or upset me when he didn’t do some romantic gesture to show he cares. Honestly he doesn’t have to I know that he does care. Plus we both had to work that night, so going out to eat would’ve been impossible because we were the ones serving all the other couples their Valentine meals. Granite it would have been nice to get some flowers or even some chocolate, but it’s not necessary. Sometimes I think that Valentine’s Day was made up so candy and flower companies could bring in some more money!
I do remember a time though, when I did enjoy this holiday of love. But that was before I even understood what love was. Yes, you remember when you were in grade school and you gave your crush that Valentine that said how cool you thought they were. I especially liked remaining anonymous by writing that I was their secret admirer. And I bet that you can almost taste those cute, little conversational hearts everyone got in their boxes. Or the chocolate hearts that didn’t taste as great as you thought they’d be. But one of my favorite things to do was to make those beautiful boxes. That was one of the more fun parts of this day, besides eating all that candy!

MOVIES

I absolutely love everything about movies. I enjoy renting them and watching them at home, but I really like going out to see them while there in theaters. There’s always movie theater popcorn and Sour Patch Kids involved when I go to the cinema! But lately I’ve just been renting flicks and watching them in the comfort of my own home (aka my tiny apartment). Redbox is a wonderful thing; a dollar a night for a new release is great.
The last movie that I had the pleasure of viewing was Saw V. Sadly I wasn’t exactly satisfied with this film. I found myself somewhat confused; it was simply just too hard to follow at some points. But it didn’t let me down with the whole blood and gore part. Those movies are almost too hard for me to watch sometimes, I tend to have a weak stomach.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is another movie I thought was worth viewing. Yet once again I was let down. I enjoyed the first two “Mummy” movies, so much that I actually grew to love the characters. Unfortunately the directors of the third film decided to change actress for the female lead. I was completely thrown off! I would have much rather seen the actress I was so familiar with, play the part. Other than that I felt the humor was dry and that this story was almost better left untold.
On a more positive note, I also watch the film, The Rocker. This movie did not disappoint me at all. Rainn Wilson played ‘Fish’ the lead character and he impressed me like he always does on “The Office”. I thought that the movie was great just in the fact that his new band got so far in the music industry in such little time. ‘ADD’ was the title of his band that consisted of his nephew and two of his nephews friends. I think that the movie sent a good message to people of all ages, but also was hilarious.
There are a few flicks I’m really eager to see such as: Twilight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Yes Man. I know that Twilight has been out for a while, but I just haven’t made it to the theater to check it out. I’ll probably just wait until it comes out on DVD so I can rent it for a dollar. It’s much cheaper that way!!

It's Me Again!

So we meet again. And I don’t have the slightest idea of what to blog about this time around. So I might as well talk about someone I know alot about—me!
Coming from Wisconsin, it’s not hard to understand why my favorite food is cheese. I love all kinds of cheese whether it is cheddar, mozzarella, Colby, and so on. But batter fried cheese curds, now were talking! I really like cheese because of its versatility. It can be used with a number of other foods to create amazing cheesy dishes. What a boring world this would be without cheese!
One of my favorite past times is to watch movies. I love movies that make my tummy hurt from laughter, but I also love a flick that makes my heart race with fear. I also love mind-boggling films, as well as stories based on true events. Some of my favorite movies include: Super Troopers, Donny Darko, Grandma’s Boy, The Labyrinth, Wisconsin Death Trip, Talladega Nights, Scary Movie I, and Vacancy.
Another thing I love to do is go out and experience the great outdoors. Camping is great and I do it every year with my family and friends at least once. We usually only camp within Wisconsin but we’ve been to Minnesota a couple times too. I enjoy swimming a lot so camping really gives me the chance to be in the water. Speaking of being in the water, I also love to go canoeing down the Black River in the summer. At the restaurant that I waitress at there are canoe rentals, so whenever I would like to I can rent one. And I get a lovely discount making the canoe only cost me $5. Now that is a deal! So I usually end up doing that at least four or five times over the summer break. To be totally honest, even when I’m not canoeing I can be found down on the Black River somewhere swimming, tanning and just having a good time. I pretty much live on the river once it’s warm enough to jump in the water.
There are some other interesting things about me, like the fact that I am on my fifth car and I am only 19 years old! I actually totaled two of them; only one accident was my fault though. I somehow hit a mail box on the opposite side of the road with another car. It was still drivable but it eventually died. I also had another ride that had a transmission that decided to stop working. So I’ve had some tough luck with automobiles. They don’t really like me all that much.

Ah wishful thinking.....