Selfish List

http://cdn.thefrisky.com/images/uploads/selfish-061609-main.jpg

This is going to be a very selfish post so watch out! I'm going to write an "I want" list.

I want:

• Enough money to pay off my loan from last year, pay for school for next year and pay for my school year rent. Roughly $13,000! yikes!
• A couple of cute cardigans
• Some cute, new shirts that are a little dressier so my wardrobe stops resembling that of a 15 year old
• A new dress and/or skirt
• The energy to work a lot and play a lot...and the time
• To go home to Texas for a while
• The motivation to get into shape and drop some lbs
• A computer that functions properly
  
• To know what I'm going to do after graduation next year
• To know what I want to be when I grow up
• To travel the world
  
• A vacation

So yeah, that's what Alyssa wants. Right now I just have to be content with being super poor and not being able to do most of those things. This time of my life is definitely a waiting game and being a slightly impatient person, that doesn't sit too well. But I guess patience is a virtue so I should probably develop that. Yay for being a poor college student!

On a happier, less selfish note, my high school best friend Stacey Robin Lehman married Joe Bolke on Monday! It was so great to see them and be a part of their big day. I've known them both for a long time and I couldn't be happier for them. I knew Stacey back from middle school and then I ran cross country with Joe in high school. Well I was the one who got Stacey to join the cross country team, which is how they met, so...I'm claiming them as a matching making victory. Unintentional, but still successful :)

Congrats Stacey and Joe!!!

Retreat and Brother

So I've realized that while my blog started out as a a place for me to express any thought I want it has now turned into a sort of online journal. Of course, I don't put everything on this blog that I would put in my journal! But I do tend to talk about my life a lot more than anything else. Which is fine by me. I don't know why I just ranted about that. Beauty of the blog I suppose; you can write about whatever the heck you want! :)

Well the point of this post was to talk about A-Team Second Retreat that took place last week. It was soo much fun! I love it every year and I am so sad that this was my last year. I brought my camera to work so I can put pictures up with the post. enjoy:

We play a lot, a lot of volleyball

hung out in the sunshine

Made a fort!

Ate more food than is definitely healthy

Smiled for the camera

Smiled again

Had a bonfire and told scary stories....green canyon!

had a modified "breathing orange fire" competition

played safely by the fire

and took lots and lots of pictures!

So there's a little taste of Retreat. I seriously love the A-Team! They are my best friends up here and I wouldn't have survived life away from home without them.

So Christian turned in his papers and it totally freaks me out. I know I don't see him very often but for some reason the thought of him being totally gone for two years scares me. I know it's a good thing and I'm so glad he's going but it doesn't change the way I feel. I am going to bawl when he leaves. I'm so selfish and such a cry baby. My poor brother....has to deal with his crazy big sister.

Ok I'm going to stop now because the pictures made this a super long post. I'll talk about my summer goings on later. Peace!

Free at last!

I'm done! I took my Physiology final this morning and I am now done with this semester! I still have to worry about work, packing, cleaning and moving but not school. My third year of college is over. That is soo crazy! Time flies huh?

Overall, I would call this a successful school year. I got a new job that works really well for me and that I can continue to work at this summer and next school year, I repeated and mastered classes I had previously struggled with, I made the Dean's List one semester, I didn't kill any of my roommates, and I made lots of new friends that I love! I have also grown up a lot and experienced some valuable good and bad times.

pretty flowers blooming on a tree on campus

I found this poem on another blog that I occasionally read. I thought it was fantastic and wanted to share it. This poem talks about something that I constantly have to remind myself to do: take risks! It's okay to take risks. Sometimes, it's necessary for growth and progression. Here it is:

TO RISK

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out is to risk involvement,
to expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas and
dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks much be taken because
the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person risks nothing, does nothing,
has nothing, is nothing.

- William Arther Ward (1921-1994)

Dead Week

It's Monday morning and we Aggies here at Utah State University have officially entered "Dead Week" also known as the week before Finals. More time is spent in the library this week than the entire semester combined and stress levels skyrocket to new heights. I don't have it too bad this year, to be honest. I only have two finals, Motor Learning and Physiology, and only Physiology is comprehensive. I am also done with finals on Tuesday morning so I really can't complain too much this year. I have it pretty good compared to semesters past. However, that still doesn't take away from all the studying I really have to do for those two finals, the tension that you can literally feel radiating through campus and the tears that I know I will shed. Because if Finals weren't already stressful enough, it's also moving time (hooray!) and then things at the Pool House (that's my house's name...) have become all the more stressful. I'm pretty sure everyone is just sick of everyone. Well, not everyone but pretty close. I just keep telling myself two more weeks...two more weeks...and hopefully that plus the insane increase in the speed of time that tends to happen before Finals will help me get through this in one piece and without a felony on my record. That would be nice. I'm already working out with Jillian and maybe I'll have to watch the Time Traveler's Wife for a good cry. (Don't judge. Working out and crying are both excellent stress relievers)

So here's to Dead Week and the hopes that I will make it out alive! :)

Already Shredding!

Just a quick note! This week is super, super busy with only two weeks left in the semester before finals. Yikes! So much to do, soooo little time!

I just wanted to quickly mention my latest attempt to exercise consistently. Last Thanksgiving I was with my aunt, Angenette, and she and I did one of Jillian Michaels' workouts, her 3o Day Shred. I loved it! (I love work out videos! They're so fun) and when my Abuelita heard about it, she decided to buy it for me for Christmas. Well, she thought I might be offended that she bought me a workout DVD (what are you saying?!) so she held off on giving it to me. Easter weekend I was at their condo and she told me about it. I was soo excited! Not one bit offended. haha So she mailed it to me and I am very happy with it! Who knew 20 minutes could feel like such a work out and leave me so sore!

Jillian Michaels' 30 Shred consists of 3 levels of workouts. Each workout consists of 3 circuits, each made up of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs plus 2 minutes of warm ups and cool downs. It's only day 2 of following this program but so far I love it. I'm going to try to really get through it in 30 days so I am going to switch to the next level up every 10 days. Guess we'll see what I look like in 28 more days! (plus Sundays, which are my rest days). I love it soo much and I am very excited to keep working out with Jillian! Thanks so much Abuelita!

Exercising Mama!

Let's all just take a moment to stop and recognize how amazing my mom is. Ready...GO!

There is one thing in particular that I would like to mention about my mommy. She is super great at working out, something I have always admired! I remember coming down to breakfast every morning (all those years ago!) to my mom religiously working out. Although I am terrible at being a consistent exerciser, I do love it!!! This is something I believe that my mom has instilled in me, a great attitude for exercise. All those years of watching her and now look at me! A Human Movement Science major with an Emphasis in Exercise Science (Long name I know)

The inspiration for this post came from an email I got from her this morning about a new blog she started documenting her exercising habits, hobbies and things she reads up on. This is my little plug for it: http://www.a-fit-tude.com/ Go read it!

My mom is great, she is an awesome example to me, and now you can learn from her too!
Love you Mom!

This is NOT April Fools. This is real life, people

Oh my word! Time is going by super slow at work today! It's only been an hour and I feel like I should be done. Ugh. I just got done taking a Physiology test, which hopefully went well. That class is difficult but I love it! It's so interesting! I love knowing how things work. This is going so much better than Anatomy ever did. haha

The other day I planned my schedule for next semester, which in essence planned the semester after that too because next year is my last year! It's crazy! I really hope I will be able to get into all the classes I need the final semester and that nothing conflicts. I just need things to run smoothly! I should probably set up an appointment to meet with my academic advisor to make sure all the classes will work out. I'm waiting to make all my grad school decisions til the summer. There is just too much to worry about right now without adding on things that don't require an immediate decision.

Where does time go?! I swear I was just being dropped off by my parents last week and bawling like a baby with them in my living room. Yesterday I was talking to a lady in one of my classes (she's older, like probably in her late 30s) and she asked if I was a freshman. When I told her no this is my third year she got a really shocked look on her face and asked how old I am. It actually took me a second to respond because I forgot. haha But when I told her 21 she was shocked again and we had the oh so familiar "I know I look young!...oh you'll love it when you're older....yeah, that's what I'm told" talk. I should just have a shirt that I wear everywhere that says "I know I look young and I'll love it when I'm older but not right now. Thanks for the pep talk" haha I'm not bitter. I have just had that discussion so many times I know exactly how it's gonna go, so I might as well save people the trouble.

The last couple days have brought a massive snow storm!!! At Brighton Ski Resort, where my family and I go, it snowed 17 inches in the last 48 hours. Holy cow! I am once again decked out in sweater+snow coat+snow boots. I haven't worn this combination in a while! I was almost ready to get out my flip flops before this storm hit. Welcome to spring in Utah! PMS weather!

So I've decided to not pull any April Fools pranks this year. I had a lot of fun pulling on last year (in which me, Morgan and Kaitlyn flip flopped Des and Deborah's room) but I was so unhappy with the payback that I don't dare do anything that would cause something like the prank that got pulled on me last year. (Des and Deb hid a bunch of alarms and phones around the room to go off at horrible hours of the night. I had to get up like 3 times to search our room for the hidden alarms. I was especially upset because that happened to be the one day of the week that I had to be at work at 6 so I got up at 5 and had very little sleep to begin with). So yeah. I'm hoping to make it through the day without anything too bad happening to me. :)

Tonight as part of Science Week on campus, "Sherlock Holmes" is going to be shown for free in the ballroom, so I'm excited to go to that with some friends! I am also going to a wedding reception for my friend Melissa. It's not a prank I promise. But it's totally her and Ben's personalities to get married on April Fools Day. Silly kids.

Well, this weekend is going to turn out to be busier than I planned with a bunch of new school stuff that decided to all happen next week. Wish me luck! I'm done rambling now. Peace and love!