A little Thursday by my side...

guys. It's Thursday. It has been a long, long (emotional) week and I'm glad to say the weekend is almost within reach. I unfortunately work tomorrow, but that will lead to a long weekend, short work week and another long weekend, so I think I can handle it....ANYWAYS. let's get on with things shall we?

• Last night I got together with my besties from my time in AIDA for a little frozen yogurt goodness. Man, I LOVE those girls SO MUCH! they are just super awesome. I always enjoy talking with them. :o)

• I went to a State Liquor store last night with my Sister B and bought vodka.

• Yes, I bought vodka.

• No, I didn't drink it.

• INSTEAD! I made vanilla extract by slicing and scraping Madagascar Vanilla Beans. It was a fun adventure. :o)

• Also, I just like saying the word vodka. It's fun.

• Soldier Boy, his daughter and I are all going to the Brigham City Temple open house tomorrow evening. I am VERY excited about this.

• As mentioned above I have a 3-day weekend (YAY Labor Day!), followed by a 3-day work week and ending with another 3-day weekend. HAPPY DAY. Seriously, SO HAPPY.

• My mind is still trying to get settled and realize that I'm no longer moving....it's kind of a weird feeling.

• Also, I need to go to the temple, it's been far too long, that will happen next Friday - on my day off. FOR SURE. :o)

• I am making a meal plan for next month so I can do more bulk shopping at Costco. Any meal suggestions you want to leave are VERY welcome. :o)

• In other news....August ends tomorrow and I'm having a really hard time accepting the fact that summer is practically over. :(

that's all folks! have a great weekend!!

Monday Madness

hey kids.

I had the best weekend. Seriously, I wish that I could have just pushed pause on Saturday and stayed there for a very long time.

Soldier Boy, his daughter (suggestions for a 'nym?) and I had the best time up in his hometown. The sun was out, the skies were blue, and we spent a good chunk of time outside. :o) I got a little sunburned, but it was wonderful. We played on the swings, took naps (not intentionally for me), talked, watched a movie or two, rode the three-wheeler (SO MUCH WIN) and ate good food. Soldier Boy's sister and her family came up Saturday evening and that was really nice to see them and stuff. I didn't want to leave Saturday night and come back to O-town...but it was necessary. I had responsibilities to fill. :P

Regardless, this weekend was absolutely lovely. Soldier Boy surprised me last night and we had a great time together. I just love being with him! I can't wait until I can always be with him. :o)

Tonight we're going to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I am VERY much looking forward to this date night tonight. :o) We're just one step closer to summer fun times and I'm rather excited for summer to be here. Soldier Boy and I are going to have the best time. :o) woot!

Thursday Things

• I am tired. Also, my to-do list is ridonkulously long right now. Not a fan of that.

• This week has been rough. Granted, the week after a vacation is usually that way, but with some of the emotional turmoil in my life it was extra hard.

• I can't believe it's spring (and it actually feels like it!). This year is really going to fly by, I can feel it.

• There are changes coming to my life this next year - some that I know exactly when they're going to happen and some when I have NO IDEA when they're going to happen. I am ready for change.

• I know I'll be moving this summer. I'm not signing a year contract at my current residence. (as much as i love my place!) I don't know where I'm moving to yet....but I'm moving. I hate moving.

• I need to do some serious spring cleaning. I'm hoping to get a jump start on that this weekend.

• I can't help but remember the fun times from a year ago that happened this week. That was good times y'all, good times.

• Four of my Ten company members are missing class and rehearsal tonight because of school related events. This drives me nuts. I'm thinking we're just going to watch a movie today in class. I hardly ever do that. If ever really. That will be fun, right? sigh. I can't wait until this dance year is done. I'm so burned out right now.

• dancing tonight needs to happen. I need the release dancing brings. Especially when that dancing involves Solider Boy. He calms my heart.

• just ate lunch with some coworkers. made my day. sat outside...got some Vitamin D....I need more sunshine. Good thing the weather is going to be so fantastic this weekend.

• chocolate covered pomegranates are amazing. 

• i need a mani/pedi. i wonder if i have time to slip that in somewhere this weekend...

well. that's about it. I'm kind of all over the place today...I'm hoping I can get myself together and be really productive this weekend. :o) Have a great weekend everyone!

Top of 2011

okay guys. Here's the deal. Busy is my middle name right now. Part of me loves it and part of me hates it. However, I just don't feel like I can move on and post other things (one of the reasons why I missed Tender Mercy Tuesday yesterday) until I get this out. It just....needs to get done. ;)

So, without further ado, the top 12 posts (one for each month. give or take) of 2011. I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for 2012's word of the year, a New Year's Eve recap and a few lovely things I've seen lately. see ya on the flip side!

January - What a busy month! I was all over the place, but the thing I remember the most was being brave. :o) What a great way to start off a new year!

February - February always tends to just fly by in my little world. I think part of that is because it is a shorter month (although not by much this year!). I had a few favorite moments from this month, but performing definitely tops the list. Seriously, it was EXACTLY what I needed.

March - Always my favorite month of they year seeing as it hosts my own personal holiday - MY BIRTHDAY! While that's always a highlight in my life, the best thing was definitely the big surprise I had for my sister late in the month. That rocked.

April - Wow, I was really, really busy in April. Ha. I sort of forgot about April MINUS this one little event. :o) Definitely the highlight of my month. ;)

May - May was a good little beginning to my summer of fun in the (non-existent) sun. May was pretty hum-drum but this post pretty much sums up my entire month.


June - I'm pretty sure all hell broke loose in June. I had, hands down, the busiest week of the year that month. Whew. But through-out all the craziness, this little gem popped up.

July - Well....a lot of my summer plans went to pot when I was casted in Aida, but that was one of the funnest things I did during the summer. Add that to the LOADS of confusion from dating multiple people and you have one intense month. Plus I had to host a funeral.

August - This month was, by far, my "bloggiest" month. Meaning, I blogged the most in August. :o) Mostly I think this was because of the 21-day challenge that in which I participated. August was also full of performances and praying I didn't die from sitting.


September - Definitely a month full of me trying to figure out what I wanted in a relationship. That and my self-imposed challenge that has done good things for my life. ;)


October - The most important thing that I remember happening this month was something that has affected my life in a way I didn't think could happen again. :o)


November - November always feels like the beginning of the end to me. Best thing about November? Being twitterpated. (still am btw)


December - Always an insane month around here. Work is crazy, dance is crazy, life is crazy. EVERYONE is CRAZY! Basically, it was a normal month with lots of festivities and what not. :o)

Anyways. 2011 was a rocking year. I definitely feel like I lived up to my word of the year. :o) Have a great day y'all and I'll see you in the VERY near future with loads of THINGS to share with you!!! ciao!

poof!

It was just like that - POOF! Suddenly, summer was gone and all the was left in it's wake was a horrible tan line that never went away and the wishes of more sunshine. This weekend was filled with loads of cold temperatures, cloudy skies, rainy (and a little snow!) days and lots of indoor adventures.

I'm sorry I sort of disappeared the end of last week. Thursday was just insanely busy and I never got around to posting and then I had Friday off, which ended up being so very busy and Saturday was much the same. I did finally choose and begin the contemporary piece for BU2 (thank goodness!) and now I get to start the process of finding music for my ballet class in Spanish Fork. I start that class in one week and I want to start choreography (or at least learn some sections of the choreography and teach them so the students aren't shocked by said choreography) in a month...and then I'll actually teach the dance w/formations to them in the beginning of the year. We are to do a dance on discouragement. Any music ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated.

I finally got my new computer at work. It is sooooo pretty. I have a HUGE monitor that I love, Windows 7 operating system that I'm still getting used to and Microsoft Office 10 that is making me think very hard. ;)

In other news I need to ask a boy to go see Ballet West's Dracula with me in less than 2 weeks. I have been thinking about asking Blindman2 OR I might ask this one guy in my ward. sigh. I just don't know who to take.

In other news, life is busy. Actually, that's not really news, especially if you know me in real life. I'm just always doing things. This week is no exception.

Anywho, this is a very boring, mundane post. I'll try to be funnier in the future, but I make no promises. ;)

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!!

Hello Monday

Well....we had what I am calling "Closing Night Part One" on Saturday night. It was a crazy night with a microburst storm attacking us about 20 minutes into the show. Luckily for us this microburst was just wind and no rain and the show went on! Huzzah!

Yesterday was an emotional day for me. I was exhausted physically and there was a lot on my mind so I quickly got exhausted emotionally. When I went to bed last night shortly after 10:30pm I was a mess. Luckily, I read this amazing talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because of Your Faith ." This talk was exactly what I needed to hear last night. I slept like a rock (I guess there was a crazy rain storm early this morning - I didn't hear a thing!) Today should be a good day, albeit insanely busy.

In other news, today is Day One of the 21 Day Challenge. This week's prompts were posted on Saturday and yesterday the first in depth post for day one was posted. Today's challenge is to pick an item of clothing to Remix during this challenge. I love the idea of remixing and already have plans to do my own remixing challenge once I've finished this 21 day challenge. My item of clothing that I picked to remix: a sheer white shirt. I bought this shirt originally for Sister B's wedding but then decided I hated it (well, at least for her wedding). I want to wear it more so it's my remix item. Today I'm wearing it paired with my favorite pair of jeans, a green DownEast cap sleeved shirt and a pair of  flats that are flowery.

(shoes not pictured)

This is how I normally wear this shirt....so here's hoping I can figure out a few different ways to wear it in the next three weeks!! :o)

In other news it's the audition for my ballet company today - I can't believe summer vacation is basically over. Classes start this week. I'm excited for the new year, but wishing I had about 3 more weeks of no ballet classes and no musical....oh well! The musical has definitely been fun times and I am SO glad that I got to participate in it. Although at this point, I'm not going to lie, I'm excited for it to be over. We're at BYU's Education Week and I believe there are still a few tickets available if you haven't gotten the opportunity to see me perform yet. :o)

I think that's all folks. At least for now. :o) I am so scatter-brained that I'm sure I'm forgetting something....but that's how I feel about 90% of the time these days. :P Have a great Monday!

Senses of Summer

I am having THE BEST summer so far! I seriously am loving everything that has been going on. I'm a huge fan.Anyways, I thought I would share some of my favorite things this summer through the five senses. Enjoy!

Sight: I think my favorite things to look at right now is this: 

I feel so LEGIT with this awesome little piece of plastic covered paper. My friend who is also in AIDA with me wrote up a post about all the awesome things going on with our musical. The SCERA is a legit theater to work with and I am SO GLAD that I took the risk to audition and that they directors liked me enough to cast me in the Ensemble. If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, get on that. 

Smell:  I love the smells of summer. Fresh cut grass, sunscreen, the occasional rain storm...you name it I love it. One of my current favorite smells is the humid heat. Utah doesn't usually get too humid, but we've had a tiny bit of humidity the past week or so and I really enjoy smelling the outside.  Basically I think summer has some of the best smells. (minus, of course, the smell of Autumn. I love the smell of Autumn.)

Touch: One of my favorite things has always been running through the grass barefoot. It just feels so AWESOME! I also am enjoying warm pavement. As long as it isn't too hot, I also really enjoy walking on warm pavement.

Taste: I LOVE a good BBQ. Also, s'mores. I don't consider it a successful summer unless I get to eat at least one s'more. summer = s'mores in my opinion. Now I want a s'more....yummy....

Hear: I love to hear the birds singing in the mornings as I drive to work. Such a wonderful sound. Also, I love to hear the crickets at night. Something soothing about that sound. The other sound that I just LOVE is that of the boom of fireworks. It's such a thrilling sound!

What are some of your favorite senses of summer?

a few Thursday Things

good morning dear friends. I am a little sore and achey this morning after my first AIDA rehearsal last night. However, let me just say this: This show is going to be INCREDIBLE. I am so excited to be a part of it!

anywho. moving on.

• miraculously my body isn't in THAT much pain. Just my arms. Which seems a tad odd to me seeing as how we don't do a TON with our arms...but that's where the most soreness lies. My arms.

• work has been insanely busy. my desk is still a disaster.

• I really sort of like Percy.

• I am really excited about my date this weekend with Percy. It should be SO MUCH fun.

• Remember how I sang a solo in church on Sunday? Yeah....it went pretty well. Everyone says it sounded good. Which is good.

• I saw this poster the other day on someone else's blog and now it has me all worried about dying. I sit at a desk for 9 hours people. Death is imminent.

• I have a friend who's blog I stalk (she's FABULOUS) and she posted the other day on unexpected blessings. I feel like she perfectly articulates what I've been feeling as of late after SwingKid broke up with me. 

• Another dear friend of mine posted a HUGE list of everything awesome to do in Utah this summer. I know I'll definitely be doing some of the things off this list.

• I love that I get to be in a show. It's definitely going to be a different experience...but I'm really excited about it.

• I am all twitterpated.

So there you go. a few  random things. I love things. I also love that is almost the weekend. The End.

Summer Mottos

So. I have plans to have the BEST summer ever guys. Seriously, I'm going to go hiking , camping, visit random sites around Utah, attend the Tuachan and see the Little Mermaid and so much more!

Anyways, to remind myself to not get all uptight and to let loose and have fun and continue living up to my word of the year, I have found a few prints that are the driving force behind my summer plans. I hope you enjoy.

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High on Laughter

Sister B and I went shoe shopping again last night. We're still pulling a big fat nothing when it comes to shoes for her wedding. We keep thinking we've found something and then they don't have her size or the right color. It's so lame-sauce! Here's hoping we find something tonight. :P

When I took her home last night we ended up sitting in my car for over an hour talking and having SO MUCH FUN. I love that girl. I am so glad that I'm related to her. She rocks my socks.

Look how cute these  bookmarks are:

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I totally want to make some of them. I'm always looking for cute and easy to use bookmarks.

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I love this quote. Isn't it just the greatest? I want to live my life right that once is enough for me. I went to a funeral yesterday for an amazing man. He most definitely lived his life right enough that once was all he needed to do things right.

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I am SO ready for Summer. Summer = sunshine and butterflies. I need some sunshine and butterflies right about now. My brain is so scattered with all sorts of things with work and oh my goodness....craziness!!! :P

hi day off. It's nice to see you

I'm so excited that my day off is here today. I live for my days off these days. They are my manna from heaven. So wonderful.

I'm sure you're all wondering how my date with the Argonaut went....I'll let you know later. k? In other news I have a third date with Fryman. I'm stoked about that.

Moving on to some Friday Fillin's for ya....(it's been a while guys! I miss these!)

1. Pardon me, but I really think you have
 .

2. right now fresh fruit at Sunflower Market is a good deal.

3. I was surprised to find that I really like this cake: 


4. Flirting with boys is one of my favorite forms of entertainment.  :o)

5. Hi, my name is Alishka and I'm a dating maniac.

6. I LOVE and ADORE summer afternoons.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my bi-weekly games with friends, tomorrow my plans include baby showers galore and Sunday, I want to enjoy my Easter Sunday!