Skiing and Scoping Out Boys on the Slopes

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 ~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

I’m the girl on the right in the photo above and I may or may not be kidding about the second part of this post’s title haha. Anyways, my friend Kathy (girl on the left) invited me to go skiing with her family yesterday and we were straight up beginner skiers. We went to Mount Wachusett, MA and got the “Beginner Learn to Turn Package” for one day ($89 each). The instructors were kind and helped us depending on our level of learning how to ski.

Ski wear and prep: When skiing, we need to wear a few layers of athletic or moisture-wicking clothing underneath our ski jacket, a layer of something under our ski pants, ski socks (I bought a nice turquiose pair from Eastern Mountain Sports for $25.95), ski gloves or mittens, a warm circle scarf, and goggles at least! There are convenient locker rentals available for the day until we are done with them for $10 (they are bought electronically).

On the mountain: Again, we were beginners who have never been on skis before. Our level 1-2 class taught us to turn while going down the small hill, the kind you use to get up with a “magic carpet” lift. However, the beginner class did not prepare us well enough for the blue trail that someone told us was the “easy” one… halfway down the mountain we realized it was a really bad mistake to go down a certain path… Ralph’s trail. It was the medium (close to hard) one! I am definitely sticking to proper green trails next time before going back on a blue one…

Cute boy alert: When I was returning my skis at the rental station, one of my mittens got caught to a ski while handing them to a guy and he was like “I’m taking you with me.” Haha… I wish! ((((Wait what))))

Coffitivity (Cafe Background Noise)

February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 ~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

Do you ever feel more productive just by sitting in a cafe and calming down a little? Experience being in a cafe without actually being at a cafe by listening to Coffitivity’s website while you are rapidly completing that 10-page essay. There are three different sound/theme settings that you can flip through by clicking to arrow to get from “Morning Murmur,” “Lunchtime Lounge,” and “University Undertones.”

Coachella Bound & the 52 Week Money Challenge

February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 ~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

For a girl who hasn’t been to a live concert before, I sure do love them!!! At least once in my life, I’m going to spend a weekend at Coachella in Indio, CA (a desert!) and camp under the stars in a tee pee by lake Eldorado. Kathy, one of my best friends–we are Sam & Kat, is going with me to the other side of the country for this! We’re planning on saving a few grand each in order to pay for all our expenses; plane tickets, tee pee, VIP passes, and more for Coachella 2017! I would totally be asking to go sooner if it weren’t for the fact that we have to be 18+ to be on our own without a legal guardian/parent present!

The total cost: $2,000+ for each of us. We’re doing the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge for 2 years. I decorated my jar to motivate myself to keep saving up for Coachella. If you don’t know what the challenge is; on the first week we add $1 to the jar, on the second week we add $2…on the fifty-second week we add $52. Until we get a grand total of $1,300+ at the end of the year saved. (You can also choose to do it in reverse or other increments.)