Not even attempting to catch up....but here we go.

It's been months since my last blog entry and so much has happened/changed in my life. I will not being to attempt to catch you up on everything but consider this blog one continuous list of highlights.

SCHOOL:
Classes have kicked my trash this semester....my chemistry class, although at times enjoyable, is the hardest class I have ever ever ever ever ever EVER EVER EVER been forced to enroll in. Pathophysiology has been entirely fascinating and is my favorite class of all time :) I have worked my asset off for each grade in every class and even if (when) I don't end up with a 4.0, I can still be proud of the work that I put forward.

Finals are next week and just printing out my study guides was enough to send me into an anxiety induced coma....but I just have to trust in my ability to understand and remember the material and then just go for it! the worst thing that could happen, is me having to re-take a class...so I feel confident for the coming finals week no matter how things end.

Big News: I'm transferring to Dixie this fall because I can get into their Nursing program in Spring of 2011, meaning that I can continue slowly moving forward towards my career of choice. I will be there for at least three years...but I'm not in any rush to get my degree so- it'll be good. Also, Dixie is in a bigger city, has more connections, NO SNOW, beautiful weather, better food and cooler people. Decision well made.


BALLROOM:
Went on plenty of tours with Ballroom, places like Moab, Monticello, Salt Lake to perform at a Jazz game halftime show, Las Vegas, Pahrump Nevada, Arizona......And in the monthg of May we are traveling to Puerto Rico!!!! I am very excited about going to Puerto Rico...and so is my SPF 95 sunscreen that I will be reapplying every fifteen minutes for fear of becoming a walking melanoma.

Concert weekend was so much fun and I just wanted to say thank you to all of the people who came to see the company and the team perform. Your support means more to me than I could ever express! It was officially announced concert weekend that the company director was leaving the school (Due to a bunch of bullsh*t administration drama and him ultimately ending up fired) but anyways, the silver lining is that Dixie is giving him everything to start an amazing company down there....and yours truly is going with him courtesy of a dance scholarship. James and I are going to be the new "Anne and Jose" and I am so excited to be pushed, trained, and tough loved into being the best ballroom dancer that I can possibly be. I am basically going to OWN that campus haha. Or at least that's the goal as of right now.

RELATIONSHIPS:
So...this one is a big deal....Alycia has a boyfriend. His name is James, and he HANDS DOWN the best guy I have ever dated. We've been on the same ballroom company since I joined my first year at SUU, and became friends when I made tour team last fall....we were getting to be even better friends when kinda out of no where I realized that I had feelings for him-and out of that same nowhere category James became interested in me.....There are so many really great moments with James already and I wish that I could share them all, but let me just say this...

This is what Lizzy refers to as the "Blush and Gush" and although she has been hearing about James non-stop, I haven't gushed to all of you yet...so I am going to take this opportunity to do so.

There are parts of me that I never knew I wanted to match up with someone else....that he is compatible with. He is goofy, nerdy, quirky and at the same time strong, confident and driven. There are some times that I think he is me, in man form. We are always laughing and when there is an issue that we disagree on, we can talk about it without either person getting upset. He is a talented athlete and dancer and his determination in all areas of his life is an inspiration to me. He makes me want to be a better person without ever pushing me to be someone that I'm not. I feel closer to him in weeks than I have felt with other people in years.
As crazy as it sounds, it feels like I've been with him always....

Before you all start gagging....subject angle changed...
my mom is already itching to plan a wedding and has even thrown out the idea that we should just start planning everything and inform James later haha. We've met each others families and everyone likes the respective person in the relationship...so far it is going amazingly well and I can't wait to spend even more time getting to know him :) Love him? YES. Expected to feel this way-especially this soon? No. Am I happy about it? Deliriously. 

FRIENDS:
To be completely honest I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would've liked with my friends because of ballroom/school/boyfriend and all of the other girls having just as crazy schedules as me. Some fun things we've done...

1. A surprise murder mystery birthday party for Brenna :) I've never had to lie so much in my life haha but we all pulled it off nicely!
2. Being able to attend Lizzy's many amazing music performances, including choir concerts, operas and musical reviews. 
3. X-files night!!! Finally some time with Mulder
4. Lots of last minute late night get togethers which turned into more of a much needed group therapy session than anything else.   

I love my girls! and I am so grateful that I have gotten to know them and have been a part of their lives for my time at SUU, I know that life will be different once I transfer, but I know that I will keep in touch with them and make an effort to stay in their lives.

RANDOM:
So this one time....I dyed my hair blonde.....and although it was fun to have such a drastic change, it didn't feel like me. So just yesterday I brought the red back...and it feels SO GOOD. haha I believe that every woman should drastically change their hair at some point in their lives....but just for the record....BLONDES DON'T HAVE MORE FUN.



PLANS:
This summer I'm staying in Cedar, working and dance training until I move down to Dixie, and I'm living with some of my best ballroom girls Ariel and Rebecka :)

This weekend, as in leaving in thiry minutes, the team is traveling up to Idaho to perform in Jesse's hometown! We're spending tonight in Salt Lake and all of the team chicas are staying at my house, so I'll get to see my family!!!! I'm so excited!

Keep James for as long as humanly possible!

Ace my Finals!

Blog more often ;) wink wink wink.


I hope that everyone has been doing well and that life isn't treating you too harshly. Know that there is a crazy redhead who loves you and wants the very best for you. I LOVE YOU

Until next time,
Bon Voyage.

Dropping in

I have been insanely INSANELY busy since the last time I posted....
And honestly I don't even have the time to blog at this very moment...
But we will get together sometime in the future and I will tell ya'll everything :)

Bon voyage!

A Little Bit of Everything....

So I'm not sure if anyone still reads this....but I like to write anyways. :) Let's Begin

Follow up from last time-
My alien invaded face is improving, but at a slow enough rate that my self-esteem is suffering... I feel like when people look at me they are thinking, "Ah, you know that girl has potential to be attractive....but wait what the hello is going on with her face....she should get that checked out....." then there's the next part of me that reprimands myself for thinking that even strangers' lives are revolving around my insecurity....but *sigh* I want my skin to grow up with me....come on now. Am I asking for THAT much.?...

Classes:
I LOVE my organic chemistry class....people think I'm crazy...but chemistry is actually starting to make sense to me. And I love when I can understand the subject matter to the point where I feel comfortable teaching other people how to get through the homework. Pathophysiology is interesting :) we're learning about the immune system right now, and it's almost turning me against taking drugs of any kind.... for example. When you get sick, your body gives you a fever ON PURPOSE so that it can kill the bacteria in your body.... like the pansies that we are, we take medication to make the fever go away, but then we still have all of this bacteria thriving in our bodies and we get prescribed an antibiotic to kill the bacteria... and then if the drug has any side effects then we have to take something else entirely....all of this we could have avoided if we would have just put up with the fever for a couple of days. Granted- there are times when our bodies aren't strong enough to fight off major infections and need the extra boost of medications....but you'd be much better off not messing with things in the first place.

Ballroom
Ballroom auditions were relatively uneventful...it's actually really nice to know that you have a guaranteed spot on the tour team and not have to worry about competition or anything else really. My friend Annie was moved up to tour team, and even though I love her dearly...it's strange to see her on team lol. Just because I'm not used to it yet, and had become so accustomed to the dynamic last semester....and then I wonder what the people who have been on tour team for years feel like- because the team changes every single semester....hmm.....

The Retreat
Last weekend was the BDC (Ballroom dance company) retreat up to the university's cabin. Good times. I had so much fun last year and knew that I wanted to go again this time. STUPID IDEA. I don't think that my ballroom director is the brightest man around sometimes....when it comes to dance/choreography/such then he's great but in the dancer-common sense department....kinda slow. At the retreat they always play these highly physical games with a high chance of injury risks.... last year I broke my thumb while enagaging in just these sorts of games. So this year I opted to sit on the sidelines.....Gah, I don't know WHY he wants us to play these games....do you really want a bunch of your dancers injured?!?!  One of the girls ended up falling and hitting the back of her head on a chair- Alycia playing nurse immediately starts checking for signs of a concussion...and sure enough- she has every single one on the checklist....not to mention that by this point she's already in shock and going into random convulsions. So me, Colby and Becka leave the retreat to take this girl to the emergency room and spend the next four hours waiting for doctors, swearing under our breath, and getting cat scans of Melissa's brain.....

Complaints of the night....in no particular order....

1. That Mark insists on playing games which end up in injury....
2. The none of the directors even went with three of the students to take one of their "prized dancers" to the emergency room after they were partially responsible for her injury....and then didn't use the dance company's insurance to pay for all of the scans-which are NOT CHEAP my friends.
3. That it took us literally and hour and 45 minutes once reaching the hospital to see a doctor....if she would have had internal bleeding or hemorraging....she could have DIED in that amount of time.... WTF emergency room.... HEAD INJURIES TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER EVERYTHING ELSE SHORT OF SEVERE BLEEDING, HEART ATTACKS, STROKE AND CODE BLUE. For the love of the almighty....don't make me run your emergency room for you. 
4. the fact that once the three of us had made sure that Melissa was safe and had returned to the retreat.... NOTHING was said to us....no "Hey thanks for making sure we didn't just kill one of our students" or "We appreciate that you would take your time, energy and money to do OUR jobs for us."

Needless to say, I'm still LIVID that it even happened, and at how everything was handled.

In other much brighter hospital news, my new assignment for this semester is....drum-roll please....working in the Operating Room!!!! Oh I'm so excited!!!! : D : D : D I haven't started yet, but you'd better believe that I will have some great stories for you.

Classic Alycia Moves....
This is the part of the blog where I share my latest most embarassing moments....which happen often as evidenced by this blog being plagued by them...

          < Underneath it All >
Okay, so Thursday morning, I wake up, dance for two hours and then I have a two hour break before my first class....there are some days that I spend time getting ready, make myself a nice breakfast and saunter to class....and then other days (the majority) that I go back to bed for another hour and a half and attend class looking like some kind of sea creature....
Thursday was a sleep-sea creature kind of morning.... after chemistry I have an hour between classes and I decided that I HAD TO shower because even I was grossed out at my current lack of hygiene. So I run home, dump all of my stuff in the front room and do a sprint/strip on my way upstairs......

It isn't until I get out of the shower that I remember that my robe is in the washing machine....and still soaking wet.....okay, no big deal...I'll just wrap up in this little towel and scamper to my room....
I then discover that in my haste I've locked myself out of my room......in a towel. Now when I say towel- that's being generous.....we're talking mid bustal region....to high-high thigh..... the next conclusion is that my keys are downstairs...so I go downstairs to get them....and my roommate is standing in the kitchen making lunch with three of her rather attractive male friends....AWKWARD.
One of the guys did try to dispel the awkward by saying,
Guy #1, "Wow, I feel like I should at least ask for your number first.....you're the ballroom dancer right?"
Alycia, "Yeah........"
Guy #2, "I can tell....."
We all laugh nervously..... I grabbed my keys and tried to gracefully ascend without flashing anyone haha.... oh it was a great morning.......

               < Excellent Plan Alycia >
After friday's classes I hike to my car....I say hike because getting anywhere on this campus when there is snow feels like you're trekking Everest....honestly I keep resisting the urge I have to yell out "Sherpa!!!!"
I finally get back to my car and by this point in time, I'm sweating in a scarf, hoodie and feather down coat.... so I roll the windows down as I'm driving....it snowed several inches last night and has been continuing to do so off-and-on all day today. As I turned the corner, all of the snow that was on top of the car came in through the window and I literally white washed myself in my own car....hahahah As I sat there covered in snow all I could do was laugh and imagine the absolute hilarity of someone else watching this happen hahahaha. Who does that? I do.

The Masquerade Ball
Tomorrow the BDC is hosting a formal masquerade ball...and I'm SO EXCITED to be going!!!! Although it should be pretty interesting, because everyone is going....including all of the people that have caused/been part of so much ballroom drama from last year....everything from ex-boyfriends, ex-bestfriends, to the random newly vindictive hook-ups, friends with unrequited love, all of the ballroom teams, and then all of the strangers who get to witness this train wreck. I feel like we're creating our own twisted episode of Days of Our Lives.....except for with the amount of violence and drama I'm expecting....it may be more CSI than soap network.... and with masks more like Saw.....again, I'm looking forward to having more stories to share :)

I hope that this blog makes you laugh....feel better....or at least entertains you for however long it takes you to read it.

Love you all!!!!

Until next time,
Bon Voyage

Back in the Action!

Hello World! I'm sorry that I haven't been able to write. After Thanksgiving, finals needed all of my attention and thereby the blog received none. I hope that you all aren't feeling too abandoned!

So.... Spring Semester started this week and although it's only the second day, I'm already excited for everything to get going and for my life to reach it's usual stage of stress/mayhem/time crunches. I have a couple of highlights for you right now and  then I'll write again next week once I have racked up a bunch of stories for you!

A FIRST DAY TO REMEMBER-

The Skin I'm In- Okay, let's be honest....Alycia has really ridiculously difficult skin. The Kicker- it was more manageable when I was in the teens; now that I've graduated to the "adult" category and all of the hormone changes that go with it...my skin kinda rebelled....I feel like my skin has, "Peter Pan syndrome," meaning it never wants to grow up. I've been dealing with moderate acne issues for a while and although you may never be able to tell (thanks to my makeup prowess) once the illusion fades- not a pretty situation.

Over the Winter break my skin was getting worse...and worse....and then when I thought it couldn't get worse- oh lanta it DID. So at my wits end I made an appointment with the Dermatologist back in Cedar.
Bright and early Monday morning I sally forth to yonder skin professional-hoping for an immediate cure. Turns out Alycia has a bacterial infection, on her face. Meaning that this is way past acne.....bacteria are instead making my skin their own personal winter cabin. LOVELY. 

Needless to say I was put on all kinds of antibiotics, topicals and such,....so we'll see how that turns out.

Shake and Bake- This one time, there was an earthquake right outside of Cedar.... it was SO COOL and scary and a 4.1 on the rictor scale. I was sitting on my bed chatting on facebook when there was this huge rumbling sound and everything shook for 7-ish seconds. My first instict was that someone had run their car right into the complex....it wasn't until I was driving to school that the radio confirmed the earthquake suspicion.

Classes- Of Course there's going to be at least a paragraph of blog dedicated to my college education! My Chemistry class is going to be awesome! I had this professor for chem lab last semester and I really enjoy the way that he teaches. Also my friend Annie is in my Chemistry class! So we'll get to endure an hour of that together every day for the rest of the semester..... Pathophysiology is going to be great...mostly due to the fact that it's the same professor who taught my Physiology class....who I happen to have a strange student-teacher crush on....basically he is beautiful. And I don't mind listening to him lecture...AT ALL. Too much information for the internet? Perhaps. But I don't mind sharing with the....5 people who may or may not actually read this....

Ballroom- rehearsals start up tomorrow morning and I'm so excited to be dancing again. :) Brace yourself for a paragraph of cliches. I can't explain it in words....but the closest thing- dancing is like therapy for me. Stress relief. Something that's just for me. It's like everything that I hold back, can't explain and all of the emotion that never gets expressed....somehow when I dance- it all sorts out. I can think clearly. I leave all of that anxiety on the floor. And when the dance shoes come off....it feels like they take the weight on my shoulders with them. People tell me that it's a distraction, but what they don't understand is that it centers me. It keeps me from letting the rest of my life overwhelm me.

Wow....now that WAS too much soul for the blog.... :)

Anyways- I'll be back next week to regale you with more stories. I hope that everyone is off to a great start in 2010, I love you all so much.

Until Next Time,
Bon Voyage.

After all this time.....

If you are just beginning this blog, I think it's only fair to warn you that this one is a novel.....so either come back when you have the time or print it out and take it with you lol. It's been WEEKS since the last blog and although I'm still just doing "highlights" there are quite a few from the past couple weeks.

Think wayyyyy back....we left off the last blog with me visiting my family for the harvest holiday, during that whirlwind of a weekend I ended up getting swine flu.....which is awesome because I was vaccinated against it.

Swine Flu:
Swine (formally H1N1) is like the regular flu, sinus infection, strep and mono all got together and made a baby. To tell you that I can't remember ever feeling that miserable would be a lie.....but I hope that I don't ever have to feel like that again! Or at least for a while. It takes you OUT. The best part is that I had to drive back to cedar with this lovely disease....super achy body, exhausted, coughing, nauseated, feverish miserable me....driving. For those of you who don't know. I HATE DRIVING DISTANCE. Seriously, anything that passes the 45 minute mark is pushing it. Road trips? I'd rather die. In fact please just pre-emptively execute me so that I don't have some kind of psychotic break during the "super-fun road trip" and endanger the lives of everyone around me. In order to get from cedar back to Salt Lake, I would rather wait an hour in the little airport, fly for 45 minutes and then have to wait another hour in SLC than drive. Granted it's not AS bad if someone else is driving, but none of my friends have cars, or at least cars/driving skills that I would trust to any lengthy driving.

Needless to say, I was out for the next week; sleeping 18 hours a day.....and that drive was one of the worst I have ever had to endure.

Midterms:
A word second only to "Finals" in the kind of anxiety it instantly creates. At this point I had missed an entire week of school, meaning that not only had I missed classes, but I didn't even have notes to study from. The problem with being a science or any "hard-core" major is that, if you miss class....you will have absolutely no idea what's going on. Such was the case with me. I did my very best to read the chapters, catch up on lab work and borrow notes from friends....but in the end I epicly failed my midterms. Some of them I didn't fail, but all of the scores were low enough to drop my class grade by an entire letter. Which means that I will now have to spend the rest of the semester acing EVERYTHING in order to fix those.....as if there's already not enough pressure on me to do well.....thanks swine flu. *sobbing sounds.....*

Ballroom:
You knew this section was coming. Don't act too surprised. Basically the past several weeks has been all about publicity for our upcoming show (it's this weekend!) and lots of little shows in an attempt to get the word out. Including but not limited to.....

• The Howl: the university's HUGE Halloween party where we were dressed up like zombies! Check the pictures out on facebook if you get the chance! We looked sooooo eerie!
• The Homecoming Parade
• The Homecoming Game Halftime show- country western line dance, fully decked in cowboy apparel
• Bread and Soup Nite- a monthly food bank event, students get in free with a can of food. And there's always live entertainment
• The 158th Cedar City birthday party, prestigious!

We have been practicing tons and tons, and then when you feel like crying, you know that you've made it about halfway through Saturday rehearsals. Oh yes my friends. Last Saturday we danced 8 hours straight....and then my friend Brenna made cake, and I didn't feel bad about eating it haha. Burning SOOOOOOOO many calories.
After the performance at the Cedar City birthday party there was a huge party at Ariel's house for the entire company and it was so fun! It was really nice to see everyone outside of a rehearsal environment :)

True T-Bird Night
Funny/ridiculous story of this blog. Okay, so every year there is a school sponsored event/tradition called "True T-bird Night" where you kiss someone, on a full moon, at the stroke of midnight in front of this statue and then you are dubbed a true-suu-thunderbird. Kind-of ridiculous....but hey it's a tradition. I had no intentions of going until Lizzy invited me to go with her and Megan. One of the things on Lizzy's bucket list is to kiss a complete stranger....and true-t night provides the perfect opportunity for something like that. Basically this event is like the mardi-gras of kissing.....
Okay, so at TTB (sorry I'm already tired of writing it out lol) we were just kind of standing around and then all of the sudden the countdown to midnight begins.... 10.....9.......8.....Lizzy finds her stranger...and I am still standing there awkwardly when one of my best guy-friends on ballroom approaches me and says, "You and me Lycia".... and in my mind I think, "Why not?" this guy is nice, this kiss means NOTHING, and then I'll have taken part in this tradition. Yay college experiences.

So I end up kissing previously stated friend. And life moved on from there. Was it kinda weird the next day? And in ballroom after that? oh ya. Not even gonna hide. But we're such good friends...that both of us were just glad that we hadn't ended up kissing creepy people haha. It was our little secret. We knew that if anyone on ballroom ever ever ever EVER found out, it would cause some serious drama.... so we had a firm "no tell" policy, which was working out great UNTIL.....

The school newspaper had covered the event, and on the back page of the next week's edition was a picture..... and yours truly leaning in to kiss friend truly..... and all hello broke loose. Even now I can laugh and just think how completely ridiculous it all is....but man -there were some people that were not happy about it. Why they care so much? I have no idea. But I felt like a celebrity for a day....you know? When celebs have something personal that they didn't want anyone else to know about put all over the news? yup. Moral of the story, don't kiss people if you don't mean it....or at least make sure there aren't cameras to bear witness to such an exchange.   

The Six Chicks:
Oh drama. So Brenna was getting into all of these spats over stupid things with the other girls and keeping things from them, which just led to her feeling bad about it.....basically an absurd lack of communication led to Brenna moving out of the apartment and into a different eccles unit. I think the entire thing is really stupid. Brenna started dating this guy and right as she was about to tell the girls, Megan expressed her disdain for said guy and so Brenna, not wanting to have this budding relationship kaboshed, decided not to tell them. Pulling off of history, I can't blame her. The Six Chicks never liked Adam (my boyfriend all last year) and it put a major strain on the six chick dynamic and on Adam and my relationship. I could never be around my boyfriend with my friends, and I really hated that. Brenna didn't want the same thing to happen to her....
And then there are the basic roommate things of not helping out around the apartment enough, and personality differences that led to head butting. Anyways, Brenna no longer lives there....and as of right now, it feels to me like she's being exiled because everyone is still so upset about this that no one has really moved on...... it's ridiculous.

Dating:
Yuck. Here's where I'm at. I want to either....

1. Haul off and get married
2. Forget about boys and dating until after I finish school
3. Find a meaningful-no pressure relationship

I learned something about myself during my dating escapades last year, when it comes to relationships I need consistency. The whole, "I like you- now I don't-oh now I'm going out with this other girl- but I still want us to be friends- let's try US again- one date here - great afternoon together here- deep conversation- and then ignore me for two weeks- flirt with you constantly but never ask you out- ask you out and then stand you up.... etc..... It's exhausting and instead of it making me feel good about the fact that I'm "dating" it completely drains me emotionally, and leaves me feeling more hopeless than before.

There is this crazy idea I heard of, where people date to get to know one another, to see if they're compatible. Where you're in a relationship for the sake of the relationship. A person that you care about who cares about you, and extended support system. With no pressures to immediately get married..... Maybe it's an "outside of Utah" perspective.... but even my marriage prep-class (LDS institute) says that time is your best friend. When I first started dating Adam, I thought I was going to marry him.....but after eight months we both realized that we weren't the best match. Can you imagine if I had done the "utah-wedding in three months" plan? I would have married him, and been stuck for time and all eternity to a man that I didn't even know, that I would've ended up hating.

I would really love to be in a relationship again, just for the companionship aspect. But if people can't figure that out than I'd rather just be alone. Heaven knows I'm busy enough already haha.
Just this semester I've been stood up, I've dated a man who was MARRIED.....ya didn't know about that, a guy that had a girlfriend and was just looking for his "other woman," been flirted with a ton by nice guys who never have the guts to actually ask me out, and have been avoiding my everpresent ex, while all trying to stay positive about the dating experience. Eff the dating experience. Forget the games. If you like me, then like me and do something about it. If you don't, then please just go away.

What I've learned: Buckle your seatbelts kids....this is heavy stuff.

On my last shift in OB, I watched a baby die. A pre-mature boy with underdeveloped lungs was delivered at 21 weeks (that's not even halfway) he tried to cry, to start breathing on his own, and his lungs collapsed. From there the baby went from respiratory arrest to cardiac arrest and died right in front of me....and there was nothing I could do. Harder than that, was watching his parents fall apart after witnessing the death of their new son. I literally had to excuse myself from the room to do "paperwork" so that I didn't break down with them.

I never understood the saying, "Life is fragile," until that exact moment. And watching their despair I wanted more than anything to give a part of my life so that they could have their son back.... they could have twenty years of mine....they could have it all.....but then I rememebered that we all die, and timing is never good for tragedy. I saw an amazing play at SUU recently called "Our town" and in the third act, the heroine is dead and watching over the world she barely left and she says, "Were we all that blind? We don't even take the time to really look at each other anymore, to see anything in our lives for what it is, until it's too late." This line hit me like a ton of bricks....and I realized that my life is just going through the motions.

I feel like everytime I try to do something "bucket-list" worthy or something that I'll remember and can talk to my children about......I get scolded because it's "not in line with what I should be doing." Let me ask you readers, when is the last time you took the time to actually live you life? The kind of living with the no regrets policy? The kind of life that makes you happy? That makes you, you? That separates your human experience from everyone elses?

Call me melodramatic (trust me it wouldn't be the first time) but I'm talking stargazing, roasting marshmallows over fires, dancing in the rain, impromptu trips to wherever, staying up late to talk to someone you miss in a different time zone, trying something you've never done before, singing in the shower, calling someone just to remind them that you care about them, going to a rally, attending an opera, playing in a park, volunteering in your community, laughing so hard that you cry, reading a good book, listening to your children, picked up a new hobby, been in a religious meeting that really moved you, done something that scared you.......
                            
                                 L    I    V   E   D

Can you remember a time recently? I'll bet you anything you're willing to lose, that those parents of that baby...if they were given only five years with him....do you think they'd waste it? What if you only had five years left to live? Do you think you'd do things differently?

I know that we have to work, go to school, become educated, pay bills and all of those "responsible things." I'm not saying throw that out and begin a hippie lifestyle of peace, love and poverty. Instead, I'm challenging you to enhance your life by actually living it.

Until next time
Bon Voyage

Leading up to Harvest Holiday weekend!!!

I am currently sitting in the comfort of my family's kitchen because it is a lovely holiday weekend! I think the college just makes up holidays at crucial points in the semester so they can avoid a student revolution.... but whatever the reason I'm so grateful for the time off!

Monday Oct 12th
No ballroom practice in the morning because the entire team (except for me) was in California.... I enjoyed the sleep in time! Basically all that happened today was classes and studying.... and P90x cardio workout! Which I really really like... I think it's too soon to say that it's my favorite, but I really enjoyed the routine.

Tuesday Oct 13th Hospital Shift
The best story of this blog and probably makes the top ten most ridiculous stories of the semester.... So I'm at my hospital shift, and part of my job is to help new/first time mothers learn how to effectively breast feed.  But before I continue, allow me to fill in some of the backround.

1. It's breast cancer awareness month and so all of the staff in the hospital are wearing the pink breast cancer ribbon pins....
2. When women lose weight, (super unfair) one of the first places they lose fat is their bustal region.
3. Alycia has been losing weight....make the connection......
4. Alycia was working out right before her hospital shift and is wearing a "strap-em-down" device as opposed to"show-em-off" equipment....okay now we're caught up 

So I go in to help this woman breast feed and I hand her baby to her and I'm getting everything in position and walking her through it, and then while I'm helping her breast-feed she asks me...

Woman: "Are you a breast cancer survivor?"
Alycia: realizing the pin on my vest, "Oh, no. I'm not."
Woman: "Oh my gosh.... I totally thought you'd had a mastetomy...." (For all of you who don't know/remember what that is, that's when women who've had breast cancer have their breasts surgically removed....awesome...)
Alycia: "oh....." awkward silence....
Woman: "It's just that the rest of your body is really curvy, and your chest...........I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

I walked out of that room so stunned....absolutely speechless.... Ladies, you know when people ask you how far along you are...and you're NOT PREGNANT how awkward, embarassing and insulting that is? This totally trumps that!
What she had really said to me was, "Oh your bust is so disproportionate to the rest of your body that you look like you had your breasts cut off."....how do you recover from that? haha.
As offended as I was by that, the humor of the situation overshadowed any real feelings of hurt or embarassment.  I've never been busty, EVER, it's just not in the genetic cards for me....and I've tried to come to terms with that for....well....since I understood that I wasn't in "proper proportion" lol.

Wednesday Oct 14th
Had a great day! Ballroom in the morning, classes all day, workout after, then homework.....
The student senate is voting on a bill that determines the amount of funding that will be given to the BDC (ballroom dance company) and that funding determines tour team's financial ability to compete at Nationals in November.... but omg. Senate is ridiculous, and it's modeled after the US Senate...and now I finally understand why our country cannot make any decisions or come to a concensus on ANYTHING.....needless to say, our bill was postponed for yet another week....which is lame sauce to the nth degree.

Then the highlight of my entire week. watching GLEE. That show makes my life worth living lol. I seriously plan my week around NOTHING getting in the way of me watching that show! I just tell myself, "Make it to Wednesday." And then Glee gives me the motivation to make it through the rest of the week..... And the songs they have picked continue to follow perfectly along with what's going on in my life....
This week's rendition of "Keep Holding On" couldn't have been more timely!

I was over at Ariel's house watching Glee with her, her roommates and all of their love interests.... And then my lovely friend Becka had made an adorably decorated cake for her boyfriends birthday and so we spent the rest of the night having an AWESOME birthday party...

Basically sleep deprivation isn't even a big deal anymore.... And seeing as our (the BDC dancers) days are so packed, the only time we can be with friends is at night, meaning that we trade our sleep for the stress-relief of a social life :) I think it's a good trade....cuz seriously, we're tired no matter what lol.
watching glee

Thursday Oct 15th
I returned home from the epic birthday party extravaganza at um....3 a.m. so the 5a.m. wake up call wasn't necessarily "welcome" but practice went well, seeing as I was in a great mood from having so much....dare I say it......FUN.......it's a rediscovered thing for me *wink*
After practice I went back to bed. Oh story!
So apparently on Wednesday, my roommate threw a huge dinner party and used...basically every dish in our house, and a bunch of towels were on the floor, there is stuff (I say stuff because I couldn't positively identify every substance) all over the kitchen floor. There are dishes piled in the sink and overflowing piles on all the surrounding countertops and the bathroom.....please, don't even make me relive that with a description.....But because it was so late (early) I tried to ignore the developing biohazard and sleep for the allotted 2 hours.

Anyways, here's where this gets juicy.... my roommate who was responsible for this debauchery left for the weekend before cleaning any of this up.....
What I really want to do after a day of studying chemistry and anatomy is spend three hours cleaning up after someone elses party...so I'd just like to take this chance to express to the cyber world my appreciation for that little stunt my roommate pulled. note: sarcasm

Loaded and unloaded the dishwasher 4 times, 3 loads of laundry, scrubbed down the bathrooms, and swept and SCRUBBED the kitchen floor......best day of my life.

By the time I had finished all of that, it was time for all of my evening plans to begin....this is what a typical night looks like for me, and the plans for thursday..

• Attend the first hour of the girls' volleyball game
• Then ballroom practice for several hours
• Then the Institute social and dance

Friday Oct 16th 
Today was quite the whirlwind.... Class, Class, Anatomy lab practical exam, Chemistry exam, running home to pack as fast as humanly possible and being at Lizzy's apartment building in time to be able to eat lunch, fill up the car with gas and get on the road.

Anyone who knows me knows....I HATE DRIVING DISTANCE. Ten minute drives, no big deal.... but you start talking into the 30+ range...and I am no longer comfortable with said plan..... And even though I love coming home, I would honestly rather sit in an airport for an hour, take the forty-five minute flight, and then wait another hour at the other airport than drive for 3 hours.... but luckily, today the drive felt like it took no time at all :) We just listened to music and talked the entire time...and it was almost nice...

Arriving home.... it's so weird to come back to your house when it's not "your house" anymore.... it's like seeing an exboyfriend with someone else, or someone wearing your hand-me-down clothing.... something that used to belong to you, but that you can't really ever get back. And even if you had it back, it's still never going to be the same....sigh.....
It's great to see the family, and as soon as I got back I had to get ready for one of my childhood friend's wedding reception...

Holy surreal.... Whitney and I have talked about marriage since we were eleven years old.... and when I walked into that reception center and saw her dress....I couldn't believe it, and I almost started crying! I'm so happy for her, and deeper down, I'm a little jealous...
It's always at these receptions where all of the sweet old folks ask inappropriate questions and assume that something must be wrong with you if you are approaching 20 and still have no marriage prospects...
But I am that young lol. Maturity doesn't change the fact that I still have a "teen" attached to my current age... and contrary to popular belief, YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE, A FREAK, OR A SPINSTER IF YOU ARE NOT MARRIED BEFORE YOU'RE TWENTY-ONE.

Overall the reception was really fun, and Jaime and I spent the entire time making fun of things and laughing about nothing. Afterward I was able to spend time with two of my best guys Bryant and Blaine. We spent four hours talking about books, attraction theories, genetics and politics.....sigh.... I love intellectual conversation! It's like a breath of fresh air when I say something generally considered 'geeky' and people not only know what I'm talking about, but can continue the topic! *big smile*

Saturday Oct 17th
Slept in my own bed....even though it's not really mine....in my old room, which has very little resemblance to what my room used to look like.....
Not knowing quite what to do with myself. I promised myself nothing academic all weekend because my brain is fried from studying.... but I decided that blogging isn't really academic...so I compromised!

I ran errands and was treated to lunch with my parents, and then went on a group date with Lizzy's younger brother....which was super fun, but a little weird because he's younger than me....and I usually refuse to date boys who are my age lol, my policy is usually 3 years up.....but whatever exceptions can be made!

Plans for the rest of Saturday

1. A date that my cousin Brittany is setting me up on..... which should be fun :) It's dinner and bowling! Dinner is usually good, and bowling is just a great excuse to look like an idiot and wear ugly shoes.
2. Hang out with Jaime, hopefully have our own little dance party!
3. Maybe see Blake? If he ever calls me back....jerk face.....

Now you are current! I know that I try to blog more often so that it stays informative and fun....instead of like reading for homework haha.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Until next time,
Bon Voyage!

Blah Blah Blah....

So much has happened.... and I know I say that every blog post...but I seem to keep topping my own stories! haha. And it only becomes more true.... even though it's only been a week since my last blog, it feels like its been a month. Longest. week. ever.....well until next week ;)

Even though I have the time to go into super-details about last weeks happenings... I'm going to give highlights because frankly, the week wore me out to the point that I'm too tired to even blog about it!

Basically the big things are as follows....

• Drama with ballroom....
• Classes
• Coming home next weekend
• P90x

Ballroom, a word that has become nearly synonymous with drama. The latest news is that Alycia had this idea that quitting/leaving the ballroom team would solve all of the problems in her life.... and then as she's tried to pursue that, everything keeps getting in her way...
I'm so frustrated with this right now. As soon as I make up my mind to not be a part of ballroom, EVERYTHING, and I mean everything combines to tell me NO. Which is hard because I honestly don't know where to go from here. There are people who would entirely support my decision one way or the other...and then obviously it's those same people who cause problems when it goes one way instead of the other.
My director is desperate not to lose me as a dancer. Meaning that he will basically compromise on anything that I put forward right now in order to keep me on the team.... but does that mean I should stay? If all of the things I was worrying about in conjunction with ballroom are changed.......then isn't that enough of a reason to stay? It's like I can actually have my cake and eat it too. I was worried about how expensive team was and the traveling....and he told me that I didn't have to pay those fees if I wasn't traveling.... which takes the pressure off financially, and I don't have to worry about traveling.

I feel like such a Diva. making all these demands..... but I guess if the ballroom shoe fits..... diva it is. 

Classes: this was one of the main reasons if not THE reason for wanting to leave the team. My grades are great....but great isn't good enough. They need to be brilliant in order for me to get into Nursing school.... and obviously ballroom competes with academics for attention. Like I said in a previous blog, I'm married to my major and having an affair with ballroom....and they are both jealous, possessive lovers.
Overall things are going well, it's just the constant dull throb of pressure to do well.... which is heavily self-inflicted, and then when anyone else adds to the pressure it nearly sends me into a nervous conniption.

Next Weekend: So the weekend of Oct 16th-19th I'll be back in SLC, and my weekend is already packed.... but it'll be really nice to have my time filled by fun things versus the usual serving of stress with a side of anxiety and exhaustion for dessert. I'll get to see my family, and visit friends that I haven't seen since the summer... I honestly can't believe it's already the middle of October.... I just hope that the rest of the year flies by this quickly....that would be GREAT.

Don't get me wrong, I love where I'm at and SUU was a perfect fit for me and my academic goals... I just feel like I'm in limbo right now....stuck inbetween the "fun college days" and nursing school. I just wanna get into nursing school and haul headfirst into health-science oblivion. Those days will come soon enough.... I'm just trying to live in the now and pay attention. I don't want to miss out on my life right now because I'm always worried about the future. If you take care of all your 'todays' then you set yourself up for a bunch of great 'tomorrows'....

P90x: Okay, Alycia is in TERRIBLE SHAPE. Yes it could be worse. Definitely. I could weigh 500lbs and be confined to an over sized bed, watching reality TV for days on end, eating deep-fried chocolate covered bon bons dipped in cool whip and have cellulite in places that I can't even see....because my mid section would be too big for me to see over......... but wow. I had no idea how NOT in shape I was. There is this concept called "skinny-fat" where people look skinny but are actually out of shape. I used to tease my super thin friends in high school because, although they only weighed 110lbs, they'd be winded after going up a flight of stairs.....
In my mind, I thought, "You dance 15hours a week...you look great....." but oh HALLO. I definitely look more in shape than I am.......So.... In an effort to fix this skinny-fat problem that I have, I ordered p90x after seeing a bunch of my friends achieve amazing results.

Oct 11th is today and was my first official day on P90x....
Another thought I had, "All the people in the before-and-afters are major flabby-fatties when they start out...you should have no problem getting through the workout." I am here to admit to the cyber-world, that that workout kicked my trash.

Problem 1: The history of Alycia's ability to do push ups.... non-existent. I don't think I've ever done ONE successful push-up...in my entire life.... and there are 5 different variations of push-ups in the first workout haha. F A I L
Problem 2: I was trying to do this workout in my room....which was waaaaaaaaay too small to facilitate such an endeavor...so I kept knocking things over and hit my elbow at least 7 times during the workout.

Just thinking about how pathetically out of shape I am, and how funny I must look attempting this workout made me laugh at myself and roll my eyes during the entire video..... I think I got a bigger ab workout laughing at myself than I did from the video....since I'm not even in shape enough to do the workout full out yet....


At first I was discouraged and didn't know how I was going to get through 90 days of having my butt kicked, but then I thought...."If I can really do this workout at the end of 90 days, then it will be so worth it to be in such great shape!" Yay inspiration/motivation! I LOVE the diet.... although it's gonna take some force feeding for me to get that much protein...and some serious willpower to only eat the recommended number of carbs....

But I am excited to get healthier :)


That's all I have to say for today.... or at least all I feel like writing lol. Stay strong, I love you all!

Until next time,
Bon Voyage