ACL Diaries: Part 1

     As the title says, yes, I am on crutches. You're probably thinking, how did that possibly happen? Well, if you have been up to date with the posts, in early October I tore my ACL playing rugby. I knew that if I ever wanted to play sport again or do anything remotely active, I would need to get it fixed. So on Tuesday, Santa, I mean, the doctor, gave me the great present of a new ACL. Now let me tell ya, I seem happy and cheery now, but if you saw me yesterday, you probably thought I was going to die. Well, it sure felt like it. Essentially, in the type of ACL reconstruction that I had, they took out a piece of my patella and tibia with a piece of tendon attached. They drilled holes in both my femur and tibia and then threaded the piece they had taken out to reconstruct my ACL. Thankfully, everything else looked good so all they had to do was give me a new ACL.
     But, it isn't just a quick surgery. The full recovery for this surgery is 9-12 months and even then, it may take longer for my knee to actually feel like my knee. It will take a lot of time to rehab it and get it back to working condition. Right now, I have started to put weight on it, but I am not allowed to bend my knee yet. The past few days have consisted of a lot of sleeping and watching TV. The medicine that I was on made me really sick, so today is the first day that I have actually been able to eat something and keep it down. I start PT on Monday, so hopefully it won't be too bad. I plan on updating you all about how this is going, just because when I was planning the surgery, I wanted to know more about what to expect.
     As for the rest of my winter break, I plan on resting a lot and getting my knee in good condition. My hope for when it comes times to go back to school is that I can walk with crutches comfortably and that I can make it up stairs! I think its a pretty achievable goal!
     Wish me luck!
Love,
Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?
Email me HERE
Tweet tweet @shigosusanna
Instagram @shigosusanna
or leave a comment down below!

What am I listening to?
(I know, its weird that I am not posting a what I am listening to, mainly because I have not been listening to much music. Instead, I leave you with a what I have been watching. I highly suggest you watch the show Limitless. I have watched the whole season already!)

Burlington on a Budget

     Although I have only lived in close proximity to Burlington for the past 4 years, it has really become home to me. I have probably said it before, but my mom hates it when I refer to college as home. But its the truth, both Saint Michael's and the surrounding area really do feel like home to me. It is no secret that Burlington is a great place. It has been voted one of the best college towns in the country and its food has been gaining great reviews over the past couple of years. Unlike its counterparts of Los Angeles, Manhattan and Boston, Burlington is a place to live and explore without breaking the bank. Trust me, I know. I'm a college kid after all. So, if you are a college kid living here or are just looking for some great places to explore, here are my top choices for things to eat and places to see in Burlington on a budget.

     Let's start the morning right. Everyone knows that the best way to start the day is with a great breakfast. What's better than some good food? Good food that won't break the bank. Assuming that you were a little slow moving in the morning, I would suggest Handy's Lunch. Handy's is a super old school place with only counter seating, so it approximately only seats 25-30 people. This often means that there can be a wait, but I mean, the longer the line the better the food, right? The people that work there are great. Earl, one of the owners, is really friendly and will do everything he can to make you feel nice and welcome. The food is great and it is really inexpensive considering how full you feel after. It is definitely one of my go to spots for breakfast!

[via]

     After breakfast you are probably going to have to walk off all of the calories that you just consumed. One of my favorite places to do that is at Lake Champlain Waterfront. Perks of this? It's absolutely free to walk around and the view is fabulous. You can always see people riding bikes, cute dogs and who knows, you might even catch a glimpse of our lake monster, Champ. One of the cool places to visit at the waterfront is the ECHO Center. The ECHO Center is a non-profit organization that hopes to educate people about the ecology and history of Lake Champlain. It is an awesome place to visit for people of all ages. Tickets are fairly inexpensive as far as museums and aquariums go, and they often have ticket deals. Here you have the opportunity to watch them feed animals, meet some baby animals and learn about all of the things that go into making Lake Champlain great!

[via]

[via]

     Wow, all that walking must have started to make you a little hungry. Just a short walk away from the Echo Center is Church Street Marketplace. It is arguably one of my favorite spots in all of Burlington. Here, you have the choice of dozens of restaurants, shops and bars to choose from. For lunch, my favorite place would have to be the Red Onion. If you want to enjoy the best sandwich of your life, then look no further. My favorite sandwich to get is the Red Onion. I mean, if they name their restaurant after it, it has to be good.  This sandwich has turkey, bacon, red onion (duh) and garlic mayo on your choice of fresh made bread. Delicious, right? A typically sandwich will cost you about $10 here, but it is more than enough for 2 people to split. Also, try one of their cookies. They are one of my favorites and I really don't like cookies that much.

[via]

     After lunch, I would say that it would be in your best interest to just take the time to walk around Church Street Marketplace. As I said earlier, it is a long pedestrian street where there are tons of shops, restaurants and bars to visit. In my opinion it is honestly one of the best places to window shop. It's a great place on a budget because you don't actually have to buy anything. But, if you were so inclined to spend a little money, you could to to places like Tradewinds, Earth Bound and Homeport, which are some of my favorites.

[via]

    After all that (window) shopping you are probably hungry again, right? I thought so. One of my favorite places is American Flatbread. I promise you will love this place the minute you walk in the door. Only a quick walk from Church Street, the rustic inside and the no cell phone sign really makes you feel at ease. On busy nights, like Friday's an Saturday's, there will normally be a wait. My suggestion is during the wait you should step up to the bar and try one of the local brews that they have on tap. Almost all of the ingredients used are local, free-range and organic, which makes eating pizza healthy, right? Any pizza you get here is good, but my personal favorite would be the buffalo chicken with blue cheese pizza. I like it because it has super thin crust and the sauce is super flavorful.

[via]

     Finally, its time for dessert. Take your full belly and walk back up to Church Street and then one block past it to My Little Cupcake. This place is hands down my favorite place for something edible near Church Street. I cannot remember how my friends and I stumbled upon it but I am really happy we did. We make it our tradition now. Every time we go to Church Street we have to stop at My Little Cupcake to get a quick snack. They have both mini and regular sized cupcakes, along with cake pops, gluten free and vegan cupcakes. There is something for everyone! My personal favorites are the salted caramel and the red velvet. One of the cool things that they do for the 21+ crowd is every Friday night they have a pairing night, where you get 3 types of alcoholic beverages and 3 desserts for a flat price. They also have one of my favorite drool worthy accounts on Instagram!

[via]

    After all that I'm assuming that you are totally stuffed and exhausted. It must be time to head home to get some sleep! See, doing things during the day can be really fun and inexpensive.

    Winter months, especially January, is a time when many people start thinking about budgeting money. One of the places that I have recently discovered to help me do this is Personal Capital. They have awesome free financial tools that people what don't really know where to start can check out.

Love,
Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?
Email Me HERE
Tweet tweet @shigosusanna
Instagram @shigosusanna
or leave a comment down below!

What am I listening to?

Finals Schminals

     So that time is year is upon us. Sadly, that time of year is not too fun, instead it is probably one of the most frustrating times of the year. Yes, I mean finals. It is really weird to me to think that this is the second to last time that I will have to experience finals. Weird, I know. I have written a lot about prepping for finals. I think I post one almost every year or so. This post will kind of be a recap of everything we have discussed. I would say that this is my "holy grail" of studying hacks for finals. This list of things has helped me to survive numerous finals weeks and would ya look at me, I think i turned out ok. So, here we go!

ONE// Think about how much you have to do and how much time each task will take. I know, this is one of the most daunting tasks. It can be really frightening to actually visualize all the tasks that you have to accomplish. It is even scarier when you have to actually think of how long it will take you to accomplish these tasks. We all know that writing "read chapters 12-16" in your planner realistically gets you no where. Put a time on it. Say "read chapters 12-16 from 6-8pm". Then you will be more likely to do it.

TWO// When you are scheduling, add in a relaxing time. This sounds pretty weird to some people, but I promise you, it helps. Also, when adding it in, make it a non-negotiable. You should never feel guilty for taking time for yourself. This is something that is hard for me at times. When I have a lot of stuff to accomplish, I often feel like it is difficult to take time for myself. Adding it o your schedule forces you to take the time to refresh yourself. This also helps you to be more focused when studying.

THREE// Schedule in times to check social media. Whether you add this in on your "me-time', schedule time to check social media. I know that this is a problem for me. I am addicted to social media and I often get really distracted by it. When I set certain times to check it, it helps me to focus more on my work.


FOUR// Get everything together ahead of time. I am notorious for walking downstairs in my house or to the academic buildings, sitting down and then noticing that I do not have one of the things that I need to study. Then, I get completely out of the zone and have to get my head back into it. This goes for finding all the supplies you need, prepping playlists and making sure your computer is charged. Also, food and drinks is a big one for me. If I am hungry to thirsty while studying, I would put money on it that I will most likely get nothing done.

FIVE// Get some positive vibes circulating your space. Change the background on your computer. Write little notes in your planner. Do whatever you have to do to get you psyched and hyped to study. When you feel positive and happy studying will feel so much easier. The easiest way to do this you may ask? Smile.

SIX// Don't just write down one major task, instead, split it up into small groups. When I have a huge paper to write, I will instead split it up into small things, such as write thesis, do research, write body paragraphs or collect quotes. It makes a huge task become smaller and easier to accomplish.

SEVEN// Remember that finals is not a time to get everything absolutely perfect. At times it is hard to accept that you won't be perfect. But during finals, you have to understand that you cannot always achieve perfection. With a long to-do list, you won't be able to accomplish everything to your exact specifications. That is ok. Do everything to the best of your ability and you will be fine. Just remember, you do you and as long as you do your best, you're fabulous.

THREE// Do not pull all nighters. This isn't a problem for me. I love my sleep and I always will. I do have some friends that would prefer to stay up all night to study for an exam, but personally for me, I set a time for myself and if I don't finish everything by 11:30pm, I accept the fact that it probably won't get finished or that I need to wake up earlier to finish studying.

Well, that's all folks. I hope finals goes well for all of you. Remember, you can do it. In the end it is only a grade. Just work your hardest and you will be fine. 

Good Luck!

Love,

Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?

Email me HERE

Tweet tweet @shigosusanna

Instagram @shigosusanna

or leave a comment down below!

What am I listening to?