The Millennialista: Fab Finds: Pasadena Roving Archers

Let me first start off by listing some Sagittarius attributes:

generous
honest
adventurous
fanatic
stubborn
exaggerating
optimistic

I went through a phase when I was younger where I was really into astrology. Nowadays, I don't recall many of the stuff I read and I've stopped reading my horoscope. When I describe a Sagittarius, I just think of my own quirky characteristics and identify those as part of my zodiac sign. I even forgot what my sign looked like. Little did it occur to me til just now, like literally as I'm writing this post, that the Sagittarius sign is that of an archer. And what did we do for my birthday? Archery. Where do I come up with this stuff?!

About a year ago, I heard that Pasadena offered archery lessons for free on the weekends. I looked into it once and really wanted to try it out, but I could never get myself or a friend to commit to an early Saturday morning outing. After a few attempts, the idea was lost and forgotten... until I started to watch Game of Thrones. As I watched the first episode, men on their horse with a bow and arrow entered the scene and I was instantly reminded of the archery lessons. Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games nor Daryl Dixon from Walking Dead reminded me of archery but Game of Thrones was my light bulb moment.

Pasadena Roving Archers offers FREE first time lessons every Saturday morning from 8:30 - 10AM. Now how many things are left in this world that are FREE and FUN? Limited space is available and this is first come first serve. The site mentions to arrive at 7:15 to start being fitted for equipment, which is provided. If you're a returning student, each lesson is $5. Going in groups is highly discouraged but group reservations can be made. Returning archery lessons are $5 and from 10:30 - Noon, meeting at 9:45AM for equipment fitting. Archery lessons take place in Lower Arroyo Seco Park in Pasadena on Saturdays only.

Earlier this year, I contacted Pasadena Roving Archers to make a group reservation for a few of us. I reached out in May and was told the next group reservation was in December! Clearly the memo has extended to a lot of folks of this awesome activity. Once I heard December, I realized that this was going to be my birthday activity and reserved it for my birthday weekend. Group reservations are for a minimum of 5 people and up to 20. To reserve a spot, you need to submit a $50 donation to the Roving Archers for the first 5. Each individual person in the group thereafter is $5. The best part of this program is that it's led by volunteers. The money that is collected goes right back into the program to continue the service. Another plus is that group reservations are from 12:30 - 2PM. Now that's a more reasonable time slot!

Saturday, December 20th, a few of us had some mimosas at brunch in my favorite Montrose spot, Black Cow Cafe, and then headed off to our very first archery lesson! I didn't know what to expect but this experience completely surpassed all our expectations.

I was the first one up and as terrified I was being the example, I shot all my arrows on the sheet! I'm born to be an archer, literally!

For some of us, like Kiki, this wasn't the easiest thing to try. As much of a rough start she had, she was definitely the most improved! I'm happy my fellow Sagittarius friend enjoyed embracing her inner archer (and succeeded without cheating)!

Please don't kill me for posting this!

We may have terrified our instructor once we displayed our extremely competitive sides. He placed a balloon target for us to get. As soon as Gareen got it, the rest of us didn't congratulate her but rather damned her (sorry!) verbally.We're all bitter losers.

As for the group: May the odds be ever in your favor.