Thursday Things Update Style

So...I know that Thursday Things sometimes ends up being an update of sorts and today's post is no exception. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks and for that, I apologize. Life has been treating me so well and has been so insanely busy that I just haven't had time to be here....but I am here today! Hopefully you didn't miss me too much....

without further ado....

• Since the last time I blogged I have:
• signed a contract for a new apartment.
• rented a storage unit
• begun the awful process of moving. oh how I hate moving.
• saw The Amazing Spiderman movie. SO GOOD.
• Went camping w/Solider Boy's ward
• threw my sister a baby shower
• went to my last meeting as a Relief Society President.

• so yeah. I've been busy. which is good. the next three weeks? also going to be busy. in the next three weeks I will:
• go to my family reunion in New Mexico. I'll get to see my grandpa who I haven't seen in about 8 years and introduce my boyfriend/future fiance to my family. 
• yes. you read that right. someday Soldier Boy is going to go from being my boyfriend to being my fiance to being my husband. Currently there is no timeline for these events, other than we want them to happen and I can't wait for that day.
• I will move out of my current apartment and be "homeless" for eight days.
• Go to Soldier Boy's family reunion. That will be crazy fun times.
• Move into my new apartment. (SO EXCITED!!!)

•  Because I'm moving, I'm being released as Relief Society President. This is bittersweet for me. I have loved my calling and I love my sisters, but at the same time I'm a little burned out and am ready for change in my life.

• I've recently had my nails done twice with shellac polish and oh. my. gosh. BEST THING EVER guys! Seriously! This stuff doesn't chip, it just grows out and it's fantastic and I love it so much. also. my friend who does it? she's adorable and does fun things.

• I just turned on Pandora at work and all I asked of the Pandora gods was for good things to be played today. The first song on my Today's Hits/80s Pop/Contemporary Country mix? Bon Jovi. You Give Love A Bad Name. Well-played Pandora gods. Well-played.

• My boyfriend is seriously amazing. I love him so much. We always have the best time when we're together.

• oh and his daughter? She's the cutest thing ever. Seriously, love her. I made her this dress from Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and she looks ADORABLE in it. :o)

• I am very excited to spoil my future nephew. He'll be here in about 8 weeks! eek! 

• You know what's really awesome? life. I love life. 

Hope everything is going well with all y'all. :o) Here's to the rest of summer being AWESOME! Until the next time....ciao!

Thursday Thinga-ma-bobs

hey guys.

life is busy. I need to re-balance things out. Kind of like balancing tires on your car? Yup. Need to balance a few things out in my life. I should probably work on that this next week. in said balancing, I need to find time to be posting more again. I miss it. I miss you guys!

let's get this show on the road shall we?

• Soldier Boy aka my boyfriend is the best boyfriend. I love spending time with him.

• Last night had us in the craziest of laughing fits after something that he did. Oh man. I'm giggling to myself just thinking about it. 

• I love being able to laugh with Soldier Boy. It bodes well for us methinks.

• I don't work tomorrow. Huzzah. Seriously. This is good news!

• I have fun plans tomorrow...including finding out if my sister is having a boy or a girl, I can't wait to be an aunt!

• Starting Saturday Soldier Boy has his daughter for a whole week. I'm taking off Wednesday to have crazy fun adventures with the two of them. I'm very much looking forward to it.

• I teach Relief Society on Sunday. My lesson is not prepared. I'm trying to not be nervous about it.

• Because Soldier Boy has his daughter I will see less of him this next week. *sad face*

• I'm going to be moving at the end of the July. I don't know where to yet. Somewhere north probably. It needs to be month-to-month and reasonably priced. Any suggestions?

• I'm running in a 5k on Saturday. I'm hoping for similar results to the one I ran in October.

• I plan on running at least 3 more 5ks this summer. I need one in June. And August. I'm not worried about July or September. I know which ones I'll run then....

• My goal is to have my 5k down to under 30 min by the end of the summer.

• There are only 6 more weeks left to the dance school year. This pleases me more than you probably could ever know.

And that's about it. :o) Life is good. I'm busy - but not too busy (I think) and I'm very much looking forward to the future. I just wish I knew when "things" were going to fall into place. But then, I always wonder that. :P

Until next time peeps....Cheerio!

Tender Mercy Tuesday: 58th Edition

Hello my dears! I hope this Tuesday has brought you something wonderful. My Tuesday has brought me big, giant, romantic snowflakes and hopes and dreams of the future.

I have two thoughts for today. The first having to do with just this past Sunday. I wasn't feel down, per se, but I did have a few struggles on my mind and things I was praying about.  At the end of my wonderful set of meetings a dear sister came up to me and paid me the sweetest compliment I think I've received since becoming the Relief Society President. It was a simple compliment, but one that I will always treasure and rely on during hard times.

The second thought is that we have an extra 24 hours to our lives this year. I've known all year long that this year was a leap year which equals an extra day to the year...however I didn't really think about the fact that we're going to get a WHOLE extra 24 hours! I mean, this is an opportunity that only comes once every FOUR years. It's kind of a big deal! How often do we wish that we had more time? An extra day? Well, this year you're getting it! Granted, it's probably going to feel much like any other day (especially for me who gets to work and meet with her bishop. :o) ) But I can't help but want to do something to make the day feel just a tad special.

So my dears, what will you do with your extra 24 hours?

Things I'm loving...

the darling Rasha at And this is what She said posted a little post this morning called "Things I'm loving" and I thought it was simply beautiful that I decided to copy her.

So, without further ado, just a few things:

• late night phone conversations with Soldier Boy
• the sweet spirit that was in Relief Society yesterday
• the dear sister who paid me the most sincere compliment that I really needed to hear
• the color green
• cooperative hair
• cute scarves
• my gym trainer
• meal plans
• crock pots
• dark chocolate Hershey kisses

"it's busy season!"

that is our  go-to phrase here at work these days. My coworker is super cute when she says it to justify our three-week lead time on our product. The months of November/December are always crazy in the office, but this year it seems to be amplified 100x or so. Life is INSANE around the office.

Anyways. Seeing as how it's been almost a week since I last posted I figured a bullet-point list would be the best way to catch you up on my awesome life. (seriously, life is uber awesome.)

• Monkey Man is the sweetest guy in the whole wide world and I'm the luckiest girl ever. Seriously. I catch myself staring at him all the time and thinking to myself, "how did I get so lucky?" things are good.

• Went to Temple Square on Saturday night w/Monkey Man and another couple to see the lights, go to dinner (Z'Tejas @ Gateway. okay food. not my favorite restaurant) and then party it up at the Clark Planetarium. We took fun pictures on the moon and mars. It was a blast (although VERY cold).

• Had the annual Christmas tour day for my ballet company. that was a day full of driving and stuff. Nothing bad happened and it was a pretty good day overall. 

• Made Aebelskivers last night w/Sister B and her husband and Monkey Man. Also, we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and played games. It was fun times. 

• during the course of this week, Monkey Man and I have something together to do/attend 5/7 days. :o) I'm very excited about this.

• I'm finding it hard to believe that it's been a year. Part of me is shocked it has only been a year. At times it feels longer. 

• I'm addicted to cherry coridal kisses and m&ms. :o) yummy.

• I haven't been very good about going to the gym the past week or so. My trainer is going to kill me.

• I get to party it up with my ballet girls tonight. I'm rather excited to see all my friends. It's been awhile.

• I leave for VA in 16 days. EEK! Christmas is going to be here before I know it. :P

• I need an idea for a mass gift for my RS sisters. Any and all ideas are welcome. a DIY project is not really feasible at this point, but I need to keep cost down as well....so yeah. Please suggest something. ;)

• My office was a brisk 56 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. SO COLD. Stupid next door office that controls the thermostat and doesn't leave it on during the weekends. :P

• The world is very, very small. Roommate R (one of my favorite persons EVER) is friends with someone that Monkey Man knows as well. Insane how small the world is. ESPECIALLY in Utah.

Basically, I'm really  busy with life in general but I'm super happy, twitterpated, and joyful as an elf.  :o) Have a wonderful day!

Thursday Things - Thanksgiving Edition

I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for this beautiful Thanksgiving Day. Here are just a few things that I am grateful for today:

• My family - they are have always been supportive of me and my dreams and for that I will be eternally grateful.

• The restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I seriously don't know where I'd be in my life without it.

• My sweet boyfriend. I was not feeling well last night, at all, and he took time from his busy schedule to bring me chicken noodle soup and sit and just hold me. After he left I felt tons better. He's amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world to call Monkey Man mine.

• My jobs. I work for the best company by day and do what I love by night. Not very many people are as lucky as I am in that regard and I feel so blessed to be able to do it all.

• My church calling. As hard as it can be sometimes to be over so many people and have so many responsibilities, I love it. I love the joy that comes from being able to serve those around me.

• My apartment and roommates. I live with the best girls in a great apartment. I am so glad that I found this place 2.5 years ago. 

• Technology and other comforts that come from living in the 21st century. I am very blessed to live in this day and age. 

I really am so very blessed in so many different ways. I hope each of you will take some time today to be thankful for everything you have been given. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Dance!

guys. I love love love Thursdays. I always say that because it is oh so TRUE! :o) This week has been just awful in many ways and I am very glad to have weekend just about here. I have a lot of random things, so let's get this party started shall we?

• BLUE TANGO! TONIGHT! I am so excited to go dancing! One of my favorite peeps to dance with is going to be there tonight and I'm rather excited about this.

• Tomorrow is Date Night. In fact, this last weekend Monkey Man was conversing w/someone from the ward about Movie Night and the next movie we were going to do and where and such and the topic of when came up. This other person mentioned how we could do Friday and Monkey Man said, "Friday night is Date Night. You can't mess with Date Night." I was SO EXCITED to hear those words come from his mouth. I love Date Night. On the agenda is dinner, apple pie making and the annual lighting festival at the Riverwoods. Sounds festive right? :o)

• I am going to be crafty this weekend and I am just so excited about this. I'm going to make a new bag for my church stuff. :o) It should be pretty sweet. Maybe I'll take pictures and tell you about it. Maybe.

• I got whacked in the face with a volleyball last night. Got whiplash. WORST headache EVER. but it was a fun night regardless.

• Also, last night I had a training meeting with the General Relief Society board. It was a wonderful board. I took so many pages of notes of things that I can be doing better. Part of me LOVES these meetings and another part of me hates them because afterwards I just feel so inadequate. There is so much room for improvement.

• I am just so happy these days when it comes to Monkey Man. After an emotional breakdown (over things that have been building up for some time now) on Tuesday evening, Monkey Man let me gripe and complain. He lent the best listening ear. The conversation led to other topics and his philosophies on life and the gospel are so well aligned with mine it is sometimes scary. I really really really really like him. I think he's the bee's knees and love being able to spend time with him any way I can.

• My cousin is blessing her baby up in L* this weekend. Sister B, Brother-in-Law T and I are all going up to spend time with them. Monkey Man may or may not be coming depending on his schedule on Sunday. Regardless, I am excited to spend time with my cousins.
• I really love going to the gym. SO GREAT.

• I'm really excited for the Holidays. They are going to be so much fun this year.

• Also, what does when get a boy they've  been dating for a short time (*cough Monkey Man cough*) for Christmas? I'm thinking maybe I'll make a stocking and stuff it with cute, fun  knick knacks, but I'm not sure. Your ideas are welcome.

Have the most fantastic weekend ever friends! Loves!

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 46th Edition

Hello  Tuesday! I am so glad to see you. Mostly because it means that I only have two more days to work this week. :o)

I am so very blessed. Honestly, I can't believe how wonderful my life is sometimes! I am continually thanking my Heavenly Father  for all of my many, many blessings.

So, this week's tender mercy comes from just the other day. Every 2nd Sunday I have an early morning Stake Training meeting for my calling. It's at 7 am at my church building and it is always a wonderful meeting to go to. I just love it. The night before I had watched a movie with Monkey Man and some of our friends from the ward. I didn't get home from said movie night until one in the morning. Smart, I know. Well, as I was getting ready for bed I had the prompting to get everything packed and ready for my meetings the next day. Now, I had set my alarm and had left myself plenty of time to get ready, but I just felt like I should have everything packed up. So I packed my church bag and set out my outfit for the next morning. Now, I normally set out my outfits for each day, but I set out every little detail of my outfit down to my nylons and shoes and then I went to bed.

Normally when I set my alarms I set two on my phone to go off within three minutes of each other and then I set another one on my iPod touch that is a music alarm to help continue waking me up while I snooze the other alarms. :o) Well, my music alarm goes off and I doze in and out and then start to realize that my phone alarms aren't going off, I finally get out of bed to see what's going on and it's 6:58am. Needless to say I freaked out and started getting ready SUPER fast. Lucky for me, EVERYTHING was laid out and ready to go and my hair looked just fine from the day before. I felt so blessed to have been able to receive and follow inspiration. I think it is amazing that Heavenly Father helps me with the big things in my life as well as with the little things.

Life is amazing. I hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Today has been....

officially declared "stupid people day." At least, at my place of work it has been. Today has been ridiculous when it comes to stupid people and their stupid requests.

ANYWHO. The good news is that today is THURSDAY and I just love Thursdays. (I think I say that every week, but it's so very true that I'm okay with saying it every week. :o) )

onward and upward!

• Not only is today THURSDAY, it's my FRIDAY. My weekend starts as soon as my company class is over tonight - 8pm. I can do this!

• I am sleeping in tomorrow. My Friday schedule is a little different than past Fridays and that includes sleeping and sleeping until  I can't sleep no more. Or 9:30 am. Whichever comes first. ;) 

• I'm going to the temple with a dear former roommate (Roommate LZ) on Saturday morning. I'm so excited to spend time with her in the best place ever!

• I haven't been serious grocery shopping in WEEKS. That is being rectified tomorrow. I even have a meal plan for several crock pot meals to make this next week. I'm excited. I hope they turn out...

• I have a post in the works about my gym trainer. He's a rock star (literally) and I can't wait to tell you all about him.

• Speaking of the gym...I'm going tomorrow AND Saturday. I'm just that cool.

• I also get to practice being a mime on Saturday for a show in April. Again...I'm just that cool.

• Monkey Man is adorable and I'm quickly falling head over heels for him...and yet I'm very calm about it. (most of the time) It's a very interesting ride and I couldn't be happier. 

• I love Greek yogurt. ESPECIALLY Greek yogurt by Yoplait. mmmm....yummy.

• Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away! WOO HOO! I love holidays.

• the pile of sticky notes that have been used this week is ASTOUNDING. It has been so super busy this week. ai yi yi

• I played volleyball last night and at one point I chest bumped the volleyball. It was AWESOME.

• There was A LOT of laughter at volleyball last night. SO MUCH FUN. I loved it.

• Sometimes being a Relief Society President is hard. I do love it, but it's HARD.

• I have some fitness goals to share with you...but they're not completely finalized yet (which is bad of me...but deal with it.) I'll probably share them in the near future. Get ready for THAT awesomeness.

• I just realized the year is drawing to a close and I'm noticing how many things have helped me flourish this year. I need to start brainstorming a word for the year for 2012. 2012 is going to be good....I can feel it.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...but this has been a very long Thursday Things already, so I think I'll be done. For now. Until next time my dears, STAY HAPPY!!

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 43rd Edition

I had some very wonderful experiences this weekend. Honestly, it was a wonderful weekend filled with lovely things. My favorite part of the weekend though was the fireside that we as a Relief Society Presidency put together for our sisters.

There is a new book that has come out for all of the sisters to use as a reference to studying the scriptures and for us to learn more about the history of Relief Society. It is an AMAZING book and I just love it. It is called "Daughters in My Kingdom," and if you click on that title it will take you to the online version of the book. ;)

ANYWAYS. Our Stake President (who is seriously a ROCK STAR and I LOVE listening to him) really wanted us to make this book SPECIAL and not just hand it out randomly. His wife is a member of the General Relief Society Board and was part of the committee that put this amazing book together. So we had the wonderful opportunity to listen to her tell us a little bit of how this book came about, why it was put together and what we might learn from its pages. She was an inspiration to listen to and the Spirit was so strong during her talk. It was a lovely fireside and I was so pleased to see so many sisters in attendance and see them soaking in the words of our leaders. It was a great opportunity for us and one that I will always treasure in my heart.


(ps...stay tuned for a Dating Battle Story tomorrow [it's been a while since I've had one!], you won't want to miss it because this is a great story!!)

Monday Madness

whew. What a crazy weekend! Work has been UBER busy this morning and I have gotten a lot done. It feels good to be productive. :o) I know you're all SO anxious to hear about my weekend so....let's do a bullet point recap here quickly, shall we?

this weekend:

• I rode in a car for lots of hours. It was very entertaining. We had several iPads in the car and at one point we played the Game of Life. It was festive.

• I stayed in a mansion. seriously. It was awesome. Sauna, hot tub, swimming pool...etc. LOVED it.

• I had the best Mexican food on Friday night. It was delish.

• The Little Mermaid was utterly fantastic. They did so many cool and ingenius things. I just sat there the entire time in awe.

• We went to Kneaders for breakfast and I got their french toast. Oh my gosh. That was the most divine breakfast in the entire world. I want more.

• I flirted. (duh. I always flirt. ;) )

• Watched a movie with Fryman. It had been a while since he and I had hung out. It was fun times.

• The movie? not my favorite. but oh well.

• Game night last was full of epic Apples to Apples fun. 

• My favorite part of the game? When we decided that getting married to senior to cash in on their social security would be a good idea.

• At one point I was laughing so hard that I rolled over (I was sitting on the floor) and I rolled over the box - it scraped me and this morning I have an awesome bruise. ha.

• seriously. SO much laughing last night. It was a total blast.

• The Relief Society broadcast was AWESOME. President Uchtdorf is a stud muffin. LOVE him.

So there you go, that was basically my weekend. :o) I'm excited for FHE tonight because we're going up the canyon and making s'mores. Don't tell my trainer. ;)

Random Thursday Things

Here we are guys. Another Thursday. This week has felt rather long and arduous to me, but maybe that's just me. I'm rather excited that it is the weekend and I'm even more excited because fun things are happening. Let's get this party started shall we?

• I'm leaving early tomorrow afternoon to drive to St. George with Chilly and friends to go see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan. I am SO freakin' excited for this! I have been looking forward to this event ever since I purchased my ticket. woo hoo!

• I am also looking forward to getting some much needed sleep. I have been so exhausted this week and Alishka needs her beauty sleep!

• My trainer....is insane. He is kicking my trash. BUT I like it. Not going to lie. He's fabulous. I did my very first bench press yesterday. Granted, all I lifted was the bar (45lbs) and not even by myself, BUT! I did it!!! I feel really cool now. :o)

• The General Relief Society Broadcast is this weekend. I LOVE this broadcast. It always rocks my world. (someone else that I just discovered blogged about this too...her blog is AWESOME. go read!)

• I have noticed the leaves changing on the mountains...I think it is time to take a drive up the canyon! woo hoo!

• I am in a mood of anything fall. I think I need to make some fall-type foods and desserts. mmmm...yup.

• Remember how I was doing my challenge? Yeah. It is going SO well. I feel like I have more time to get things done and I don't just lounge around and read tv. Also, this will help me to read more. 

• I have been in a slight reading slump lately and as I visited Angie last night I picked up the randomest collection of books to read in the next few weeks. Definitely in a weird little reading mood.

• I have a new favorite band - Florence and the Machine. I realize they aren't that new, but I have recently discovered a love of their music.

• Also, I discovered this blog one day and totally went through and did the suggested things to my closet, MINUS a true remixing of outfits. I think I'm actually going to do a 30 for 30 Remix Challenge. I won't have prizes or anything, but I think I'll do it here - publicly showing my outfits and such. Maybe starting in October? Thoughts? Anyone want to tackle said challenge with me?

I think that's it for now. Wow. So many things happening and going through my mind! I'm pretty sure I missed a few things...but I'm tired of thinking.

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 37th Edition

So...I totally got thrown off by the week and really truly thought yesterday was Monday for the longest time. In reality, it was Tuesday and I forgot to post my Tender Mercy. I really want to share this with you so...we're going to keep pretending like it is Tuesday for just a few moments this morning, okay? Okay. ;) (it's my blog, I can do what I want, so there.)

It was my responsibility to teach our Relief Society lesson on Sunday. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, there was no set lesson plan and I was left to my own devices on deciding what it was the sisters needed the most. I came across several ideas in my studying and wondering, but finally settled on a lesson on self-worth. Now, I used several different talks and ideas and pulled many different things for my lesson. Basically, what I learned and taught was this: We are all of infinite worth, we are all special in our individual ways (and no, that's not just a way of saying no one is per Dash from The Incredibles [and yes, I quoted The Incredibles in my lesson.]) In order to build our self-worth we need to build our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We can do that most by utilizing the basics and doing three things: 1. Make goals 2. Have Daily Personal Prayer and 3. Read and study the scriptures.

I challenged my sisters to make three goals, find a way to have that personal conversation daily with their Heavenly Father and finally, to read the Book of Mormon in 100 days (between now and December 31) using this program I found online.

Teaching that lesson was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I know it was the right thing to teach on and that everyone that was there needed to hear what I said. There were several times when I was relating experiences or sharing quotes that I knew that the Lord was using me as a spokesperson. It was honestly a very humbling experience. I was so worried and concerned leading up to giving my lesson, but I stood up and the Lord just took over. Looking out into the eyes of the sisters I saw them soaking up what was being taught like little sponges. I am so grateful for the gift of revelation and being able to teach something that was needed to the sisters.

Oh thank goodness...

I am so extraordinarily happy that it is Friday. Life has been crazy, but I've been able to live and let live and not complain too much. :o) I'm just excited that I get a 3-day weekend, a 3-day work week and then another 3-day weekend. Go me! ha ha ha.

It's day 19 of the 21 Day challenge dear friends. Today's challenge is to wear somethign on your head. Now, Kayla told us it could be absolutely anything - even a flower clip! However, I wear ribbons, flowers and headbands on a very regular basis, but I have two hats that I just don't wear that often. I decided to bust out one of the hats and push my comfort zone a little bit. I have a hat I love that my mom gave me for Christmas that I don't wear very often, at all, BUT my hair wasn't going to cooperate with that hat. So instead, I went with this:

{hat: Target}

cute, huh?! I paired it with this new top and jeans:

{sweater shirt: JC Penney, tank: DownEast jeans w/belt: JC Penney}

I couldn't get the colors to come out right on my iPod touch w/instagram...but the sweater shirt is a really pretty cider orange kind of color. And my new jeans? Love them. They are so comfy! and I love a good dark wash jean. :o)

It's Labor Day weekend y'all. Officially the end of summer, or something like that. It's starting to feel like fall a little bit around here. The weather has definitely been cooler in the mornings and evenings, and I love it.  Here are just a few things that I'm doing this weekend:

• Going to the gym and running tonight - meeting with my trainer tomorrow morning. I'll probably be dead by the end of it.

• Watching a movie with friends and then going to a dance party tonight. I think.

• Teaching choreography tomorrow morning.

• Cleaning the church building tomorrow morning.

• Watching my BYU Cougars. Oh how I am excited to see them on the field again. They make my heart happy.

• Helping my roommate sort out kitchen stuff. It will be fun times, I'm certain of it. :P

• Hopefully making some good headway on Sister B's wedding gift. I want to get it finished.

• Teach my Relief Society lesson. Here's hoping it goes well....

• Watching the CES Fireside. love.

• an adventure of some sort on Monday - maybe the zoo?

Should be a busy weekend. I'm rather excited. Have a great weekend y'all!!

Thursday Things!

• Friends - the workplace is CRAZY today. Seriously. The first of the month is always insane, but today....today is majorly insane. Just sayin' - not complaining. ;)

• It's Thursday. I love me some Thursday. I'm rather excited about Blue Tango tonight. It should be good times y'all. :o)

• I need to do laundry. I should work on that.

• Roommate A is moving out - anyone need somewhere to live in UT county and want to live with me?

• I'm an awesome roommate, I promise.

• Going to a movie night tomorrow night. Will cute boys be there? Possibly. Am I excited? hecks to the yes yo.

• I have awesome friends. The end.

• I'm teaching Relief Society on Sunday. I'm a tad nervous about this.

• Went to the gym last night - ran and walked 2+ miles. It was awesome here's the results (including my warm up/cool down)

• I'm loving my pink running shoes. They make me feel awesome.

• Played volleyball last night. In my pink running shoes. See above statement. yup, it was the best game ever.

• Today is Day 18 of the 21 Day Challenge. It is so quickly coming to a close! I can't believe it! Today's challenge? Statement Jewelry! I was uber excited about this challenge. I had bought some earrings w/Sister B last week - hoping that I could pull them off, and then I found out that today's challenge was statement jewelery...yeah they totally fit that category so, without  further ado, my outfit:

{yes, i'm wearing giant feathers. LOVE them - JC Penney's}

{I also wore this necklace again. JC Penney's}

{the whole kit and kaboodle! pants: Target, shirt: JC Penney's/DownEast}

•  It is September First y'all! I LOVE the month of September. My littlest sister is turning 16 - and that's just insane!! Also, my half birthday is this month. woo hoo!

• I am ready for the change in season - I just hope that fall lasts a LONG time and that winter doesn't just go forever and forever like it seemed to do last year.

I think that's everything. Life is good. I am very very busy these days, but that's okay. I like busy. :o) Have a great Thursday y'all!!

disappearing act

so remember how I was SO excited about my date with BM2? Well he called me yesterday on my lunch break to cancel. Basically he told me he wasn't in a place to date right now, he doesn't want to lead me on so we're not going out this weekend or anytime in the very near future. We're going to stay friends because he thinks I'm awesome and stuff. Plus he said he wants to be ready to date soon and when he is we might try things out then. So for now...we're friends and we'll hang out in the future and stuff. (and before you freak out and say, "Why Alishka, why?" or "He's just stupid." He had very good, personal reasons that he shared with me that I'm not gong to share with you. so there.)

while I was initially very much saddened by this turn of events, I think it's going to be good. I told my mom and one of the first things she said to me was the following: "With as many guys as let you go suddenly, Heavenly Father must have someone very special for you that isn't quite ready."

I tend to agree with my mommy. She's usually right. ;) Also, my life has kind of been a crazy roller coaster lately. I've come >this< close to having an emotional break-down for the stupidest reasons, but then again, that's how I roll. See I let the smallest things - the tiniest thorns inbed themselves inside of me and then they fester, because they're small and practically non-existent, I ignore them. Before long there is a huge collection of thorns inside of me and then the stupidest thing will push me over and I'll just break. I was sort of there at the beginning of this week. I need to be better about not letting things fester, and it's a goal of mine to do this.

Anyways, the point of me telling you all of this is I'm not going to worry about dating for a while. In fact, I'm kind of going to just step away. I'm going to continue my friendships with people I know and I plan on doing fun things all the time. However, I need to find my balance again. The musical has definitely thrown off my balance and with the ballet school year in full swing I need to figure out how life is going to go. I have major responsibilitiesat church and work and I need o put some focus on those things and make sure I'm not letting any balls drop. This does not mean that I'm just going to stop dating - if a boy asks me out I'll say yes. I'm just not going to worry about it at all. Nor am I going to renew my subscription on the dating site I've been using.

I think that's all I want to say about the subject for now. :o) Have a great day y'all!

A Full Weekend of Everything

I think the only thing I DIDN'T do this weekend was go on a date. HA! I feel like I did everything else under the sun. Saturday felt productive even though I didn't do a ton of things. Nights two and three of Aida went so well. Each audience has just improved upon the one the night before. I am looking forward to this week of performances. Part of me will be sad when it is over, but at the same time I'll be glad to have my evenings back - sort of. See, ballet classes start next week while we're performing at BYU Education week. :o) So basically I go from performing every evening to teaching. However, I love teaching and I'm looking forward to doing that again.

What else happened - oh I had my first Sunday as Relief Society president. That was scary and a little overwhelming. There is so much to do all the time, I have to tell myself to take breaks or else I'll overdue myself and that's not a good thing.

This week our stake is having a Stake Temple Week. This is where we focus on all aspects of temple work. I am VERY excited about this! Temple week is always full of great things and happenings. I've planned a temple trip and breakfast with several of my ward friends and I am excited to go to the temple with them. It will be good times.

hmmmm...what else should I tell you about my weekend...I think that's it. Basically. All I do right now is perform Aida, work my day job and do my best to fulfill my calling. C'est la vie!

the morning after

Opening Night last night was FANTASTIC!!! It honestly was oh so magical! We had a really good crowd and it felt good to be performing for a real-live audience and not just our directors, producers and stage managers. We had a great audience that laughed and clapped and were just fabulous. I had several friends come including friends from my ward, ballet students and my codirector, and SwingKid and a friend of his. Among friends from my ward was Leviticus (remember him?) he gets a special shout-out because he brought me FLOWERS!!! I love flowers and I especially love getting flowers after performing. Makes my heart happy inside. and outside. :o)

SwingKid and I chit-chatted for quite some time after the show was over and everyone else was gone. I am glad that he and I are friends. We understand each other in ways that others don't and so it's nice to still have a connection with him even though we aren't dating anymore.

I am a little tired this morning as I sit at work, but I did make it on time, (unlike last week) and I'm excited for this weekend's performances. It shall be good times y'all, good times!

I think we'll finish up this post with a little Friday Fill-Ins fun! It's been awhile since I participated, so here we go!

1. How can I express my true feelings on the matter? It's so hard sometimes.

2. I remember having to wake up early when I was little so I could weed the garden. I hated it!

3. My hair is bugging the crap out of me. I'm ready for a change, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it next.

4. I love having friend get togethers that turn into min-reunions. Makes my heart happy.

5. My favorite summer fruits are strawberries, rhubarb and watermelon. Oh happy day.

6. Sometimes I just stop and stare and think...what was that?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Night 2 of Aida! Huzzah!, tomorrow my plans include laundry, sleeping in, errands, a presidency meeting and Night 3 of Aida (not necessarily in that order) and Sunday, I want to get through my first Sunday as Relief Society President! EEK! Makes me nervous!

Tender Mercy Tuesday - 32nd Edition

Here we are....another Tuesday. Time seems to be just flying by these days. Before I know it the musical will be over, classes for my studio will have started again and life will feel a little more normal....maybe. What is normal anyways?

I mentioned last week that I was getting a new calling at church. I was sustained and set apart on Sunday as my ward's Relief Society President. Scary, right? My tender mercy today directly deals with this new calling. I knew right when I was called who one of my counselors needed to be to serve with me. I was unsure if she'd be willing to accept - it's a big call and a lot of work. However, she did accept and she and I worked together for a long time on Sunday working on Visiting Teaching. She is already such a blessing to me and I know we're going to work SO WELL together. In fact, both of my counselors are so amazing and I'm excited to work with them and help our Relief Society grow and learn and become more unified as sisters in the gospel. The Church is so true and I love being pushed to learn more and strengthen my testimony. I don't feel completely adequate for this call, but I know whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. I have definitely already spent a lot of time on my knees looking for guidance and I already know that this is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but it is also going to be the most rewarding.

Have a great Tuesday y'all!