vagabonding.

when i was small i used to play "poor".
while other little girls ran around wearing cinderella dresses and playing barbies,  all i really wanted to do was to pretend i was homeless, that i ate grass, and mostly that i had no parents and lived outside. (and that my name was felicia, but that's probably another story)
it's all the truth. we've got the home videos to prove it.

.... this week all those things became a reality. (besides the grass eating... for the most part)
this is a funny time in my life, mostly because of the amount of times i've packed up everything i own and moved it 2-3 blocks away from my previous location.

welcome to the beautiful life of a byu student who is never satisfied with her living conditions! don't worry though, i am not the only one.
welcome to this phenomenon that occurs every year around this time for about 3-5 days where roughly 1/3 of provo's population is between housing contracts and bumming off their more established friends' couches and living out of their cars.
welcome to life until tuesday.

today is day 2/6 that i am living in the corolla. for clarification's sake, i am using the term "living" pretty loosely, seeing as i have this saint of a grandmother who lets me sleep at her house and eat food out of her refrigerator. when i say "living" i simply mean that everything i own is chillin in my car, and i don't see the point of taking it all out just so that i can put it back in in four days.
time consuming. mind consuming. physically arduous.
it's basically the last way i want to spend my last week of summer.

however, living out my car has had some perks, for instance:
i now have full disposal to my entire wardrobe at all times... costume change during my lunch break? don't mind if i do....
the fact that i lost my phone charger and only have a car charger doesn't even matter, since i couldn't use the regular one anyways
i can appreciate the good gas mileage my car gets when it's lighter and fitter... cuz having your whole life in your back seat doesn't exactly help to keep the gauge at full...
i am learning what's really important in life... you know, outfit wise. for instance, are those black flats buried in the deepest confines of that tote REALLY worth the digging/unpacking/repacking? maybe. the skinny black leather belt? never.
there is always a mirror nearby for doing your makeup, and the natural lighting rocks.
plus, you know how sometimes you see some poor fool in some unfortunate circumstance and you just think about how glad you are not to be that guy? it's nice to finally be the cause of that life altering moment for somebody, somewhere.

now if you'll excuse me i've got to go scrounge around in one of my garbage bags for something appropriate to wear to work tomorrow. and my razor. this transient needs a shower.

when i am old, i will tell my children I was a witness to the year of the jimmer.

and that i used to pick up his dirty socks in the locker room. (and more)
43 points against sdsu?
no big deal.
it's good to go to jimmer fredette university

a cyber sticky note

Samantha brought it to my attention today that evidentially I speak Spanish in my sleep. hehe I hope that is a sign of some kind of Spanish progress, and not just the fact that I let my Spanish homework seep into my REM. Anyways, it made me laugh.
And in microbiology lab today I swabbed my cellphone and now I get to let the grime culture for a week. Can you hardly wait to see what creatures call Antonio home? I can.
And in mission prep today I learned that only 1/132000 people on the planet have the chance to go on a mission. Whoa. You've got a better chance of playing in the Super Bowl.
The sun shone today... and it's actually been shining for a good solid week now, and when I have nothing to watch at the gym in the morning besides the 6 AM news, it brings me happiness to know that the high is over 20 degrees. False spring, yeah, but I like it.
Okay, now I'm just putting off my physiology homework. School is kicking my bootay!

something fishy

"does something smell like fish?"
was the question our friends Zach and Patrick asked as they came over last night, handed us over some re-gifted brownies (only to have the girls who gave them to them show up like 2 minutes later while Kels was in mid-bite... awkward? haha)
We all started smelling the kitchen. Yes, it did indeed, smell like fish. We began the search. High low, in apron pockets, in back pockets, no fish! We looked at our two friends and accused them, too. We'd played a harmless little prank earlier in the day, and, well, we feared a fish might be their retaliation.
Ding-dong. The home teachers came over. Jordan and I talked with our home teachers while Sam and Kelsey did more sniff search. Side note: my home teacher went to Spain on his mission. I almost had a heart attack of happiness and that is no lie.
Anyhow, they left, our other friends came back (it is a constant stream on people in this apartment) and we demanded they tell us where they hid the fish. They swore they hadn't done anything to our apt, but the smell was still there, and stronger than ever.
We smelled everything, and then pinpointed the smell to the pantry, and the moment of truth came when I opened up my door and was greeted by a black liquid dripping off my shelves. All the way down. I glanced to the source... my potatoes from Idahome were rotting nicely on the top shelf, bathing in a blackish fluid I wish to never smell again, nor do I wish it upon anyone else.
We did a lot of squealing and yelling and "don't touch it!!"ing and finally worked up the bravery to dispose of the bag of lovely reds. I then used a day's worth of Clorox wipes to clean up the black puddles I had on every shelf, and then it was back to anatomy, youtube videos, and no more fishiness. Let me tell you though... this crisis was definitely no small potatoes.  ha. ha. laugh.

Wisdom Wednesday

One week from today I will be done with my freshman year of college. (how strange)

Two weeks from today I will be boarding a plane to a place I have dreamed about going since I could remember.

But there is one thing that stands in between me and all this excitement. Well, actually 5 things- they're called finals and I am dreading them. Yep, I know I need to study, but right now that large elephant in the room is being shoved farther and farther down the to-do list.

Last night I did do something good and beneficial, though:

WW58- calculate your grades.

now I know exactly how hard I need to study to get some pretty mediocre grades, but if anyone has any excess motivation, hand it over, please and thank you.

in the meantime, three cheers for:

working 9 hours today.

blueberry Clif bars.

the SUN.

what do you do

with a mountain of t-shirts,

most dated 04-09?

that is today's question as I fold them all up and shove them into a garbage bag to be held there for the next 3 or 4 months.

yay for starting to pack!

ps. I just found a quilt in the DI box in the basement of my building. I love dumpster diving.

words and numbers

14

credits for next semester. registration? CHECK.

One thing I did right in high school was to get a plethora of AP credit.

Because of those 16 Spanish credits I came here with, I got to register early-ish, and I was able to snag all the classes I wanted.

schedule? Fall is looking like Anatomy, Accounting, Spanish Literature, Psychology, and New Testament. Gotta love pre-dietetics.

45

the current temp for Provo. Cloudy, rainy, and cold. Really? While sleeping I am beginning to dream of stable climates.

24

the number of days remaining until I am walking on Spanish ground. And I am praying that my passport comes soon- can't get there without it :/

2

the number of episodes of the Office I have missed. I believe it's time to become reacquainted with Jim, Pam, and the baby, make pitas for dinner, and catch up on some Spanish.

a smallish update

So a little something to keep you up to date with my life:

Weekend:Logan was grand. When/if you go there, go to Firehouse Pizza- it's fantastic. I recommend the Ratatouille pizza with no mushrooms. Then go to the Aggie Cheese place and get some cookie dough ice cream for a measly 2 dollars! Then go rent a redbox and eat an entire box of Crunch and Munch. (yep... I think I exceeded like a week's worth of calories with that one.)

On Saturday Rachael and I went to a USU bball game. They basically have the greatest student section in the history of student sections... BYU needs to pick it up! I was so intrigued by this guy

This is Bill Sproat. He is hilarious- this guy takes off his shirt, wears different accessories each game, and totally throws off all the free throw shooters on the opposing team. It's so great!

Working out: Tonight I went on my first OUTSIDE run!!! Oh, it felt good! I missed my little route through Provo, and I think it missed me, too!

Food: today I bought chickpeas... what to do do with them, not quite sure yet. Hummus? Chickpea salad? Hmmm. Trainer momma eats them, so I figured I can, too!

OH and FYI, Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla is ambrosia. Seriously, best yogurt award goes to it.

Homework: ay ay ay I have a lot. I have to give a little presentation on this festival of Valencia though, and it makes me so excited to go to Spain!

Welcome to La Tomatina- the world's biggest food fight held every year on the last Wednesday of August. Add it to your bucket list!

Well friends, hope you've had your fill.

Til Wednesday!

Wisdom Wednesday

It is safe to say that yesterday was NOT my day.

obviously, I do not know how to open a bag of cake mix without it exploding all of me, the floor, sink, counters, roommates within a 3 feet radius, etc.

You see, today was Anna's birthday, and because I wanted to be a good roommate, I told her I'd make her a cake.

Because I wanted to be an even BETTER student, I decided I would start it last night. While this incident put a damper on things, I still got the cake made.

However, this was not the least of my worries.

Snicker cake, you're were a huge pain in the ARSE.

Today I was on a time crunch. I got back from the gym at 10:30 and figured, "hey! How long could it really take to frost a cake?!" 2 hours. That's how long. Anna wanted Snicker cake, and the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants! Anyways, this cake entailed chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, and crushed Snicker all nestled between 2 layers of Devil's food. Sound pretty easy, right? Nope. Let's just say that within those 2 hours, I had to endure having the cake fall apart when I attempted to layer it, trying to thaw Cool Whip and having it turn to a puddle of goo, trying to make lunch only to have my grilled cheese burned to a crisp and my tomato soup boil over, and then when I'd doctored the cake all up and finagled a crevice of space in the fridge, having cartons of yogurt fall right into the piece of artwork.

Hang on, my blood pressure is rising just writing this.

Breathe. Breathe.

...better

However, if I do have one piece of wisdom for you today, despite my complete lack of cake skills, it is this:

WW51- PRESERVE.

In the end, Snicker cake turned out alright. (After a lot of paper towels and a sticky note on the tray telling people not to laugh at it too hard)

And Anna was a happy birthday girl.

And for once, all the roommates were in the same place at the same time!

Happy 19th Anna

It pays to tweet

I spy with my little eye.... MY NAME!

that's right, I was chosen as the slab pizza follower of the day today on twitter, and that meant me + Logan + free pizza = dinner.

It was huge. You just can't tell in this picture...

and it tasted like cardboard, but alas, that didn't stop me from eating 4 pieces.

I love me some free food.

now it's off to Gold's to run off those some calories and get some abs!

PS- today I learned about nutrient density in my nutrition class. I am now obsessed with calculating the nutritiousness of my food.

I also learned that chocolate chips aren't not very nutrient dense. Seeing as I am currently addicted to them, it was a sad realization.

look what I stumbled upon

this is brilliant

Bottled Euphoria

i could give Jamba Juice a run for their money with the obscenely delicious concoction I made out of yogurt, way too ripe bananas, raspberries, and my roommates strawberries. (that will be our little secret)

what makes it even better? I discovered "Peaceful Holidays" channel on Pandora. I've been raised on the "bah-on-Christmas-before-Tgiving-humbug" so I was a little apprehensive to pull out the Christmas music quite yet... but "Peaceful Holidays" doesn't have Christmas in the title. And it's instrumental.

have I ever told you how good it feels to be completely done with everything I need to do for the weekend, plus have that weekend last 5 days? Really, really good.

and now I've got 17 hours to kill before I can go home for 48 hours. sigh. I guess it's better than 47?

and hold the pumpkin pie, Mom. Through my blogging travails, I've stumbled upon this morsel. It's begging to be baked on Thanksgiving. So excited.

Minced Garlic

for the first time today.

This week has been so busy that I've barely had time to make peanut butter and jelly, much less some kind of real food. However, since today was Friday, my tests are done, and I've just got one more paper looming in the distance, I decided to take a little intermission and hone in on my culinary skills at lunch.

In lieu of the snow on the mountains, I decided on soup.

(And that fact that my one cupboard is lacking any other ingredients as of today..)

I googled "potato soup" when smittenkitchen let me down, and found a good little recipe for some warm goodness. 1 garlic clove, half an onion, 3 potatoes, 2 cups of vegetable broth, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, and salt and pepper to taste later, I had a concoction in front of me the consistency and appearance of baby food.

Oh, but it was SO good. Just what I needed to end a week of insanity.

and now I am off to the gym, where I can shed the calories consumed from a few too many brownies had over the last few days. My roommate, Rachel, makes them just too well, and I swear, they are going to be my demise.

As for this weekend's agenda....

- BYU vs. Bradley Basketball opener

- Hare Krishna service project

- American Heritage paper... agency and the constitution. any suggestions?

- MOM AND DAD COME to visit and buy me groceries.

- The viola is going to be resurrected.

chau

Wisdom Wednesday

ATTN: DYING! Need.... news... source....!

The Daily Universe is just about the least reputable newspaper to have ever graced the state of Utah. However, for lack of something better to read, I usually pick up a copy on my way out of Biology. I thoroughly enjoy reading the "Police Beat" which is featured on Wednesdays. My favorite story today? Here is just a little taste of Happy Valley

Nov 5- A man in his 60s and a woman in her 20s showed up at the Morris Center. They went to the back of the cafeteria where th

e woman posed provocatively while the man took her picture. An employee asked who they were and the man said he was a BYU alumnus. They were gone before the police arrived.

Oh boy.

Nov 6- A car was moved out of its original stall at Helaman Halls and was parked perpendicular to the parking spot. Police arrived and concluded that a large group of people picked up the car and moved it.

We have a high rate of crime here in Provo.

However, before I could get to the Police Beat, I had to get past one large obstacle-

David Archuleta's face plastered on the front page of the DU. Sure, I know the kid is from Utah and most of the girls who attend this University would give up a couple Friday dates to Comedy Sportz to get to one of his concerts, but really? Is there NOTHING in the world that could compete with this "news" story?

It was a good bit of comic relief to my morning.

WW36- To myself- find a real newspaper.

crisis

Yesterday I swallowed my retainer.

Yes, yes, go and get the laughing out now.

It was a day like any other day- I went to class, and then while running on Monday, I realized my permanent retainer on my bottom four front teeth had come uncemented on the right side. I let out a long mental "ARGHHHH!" and silently cursed my orthodontist for ruining my life with my crappy retainer and marathon invisalign. Overdramatic? Maybe a little. Anyways, I'd just get to the orthodontist sooner or later. It was still cemented to the other side, so I figured things were probably going to be alright.

About 7 hours later it was FHE time. PS I love my FHE group. Anyways, it was Battle of the Sexes/Ice Cream Brownie night. The brownies I'd made turned out pretty lamely, seeing as I was too cheap to buy a brownie mix and thought I could create my own. Rachel used her culinary arts skills (and common sense) to buy a mix and make brownies that were actually good. However, she cooked them a little long, and it was about the time I finished gnawing off a pretty crusty corner, chewed, and swallowed that I realized something was peculiar.

My mouth felt a little too good.

My teeth were a little too smooth.

My retainer a was a little too gone.

Upon realizing my retainer was missing, I jumped up, started looking for the one inch piece of metal by the ice cream container, and then came to a horrible, awful, miserable, pathetic realization. I'd swallowed it.

Everyone always tells me I eat fast. It is true. I inhale food. Every tells me I should chew more. It is true. Evidentially I chew so little that I can't even distinguish brownie from metal.

I freaked out a little, and my mom freaked out a lot. Her freaking out and telling me I was going to puncture my stomach caused my level of freaking out to spike, which in turn caused everyone at FHE to laugh at me. They all told me I would probably live to see tomorrow, but I was not so sure....

... however, here I am. Alive, kicking, registered for classes next semester, and avoiding studying for my Spanish test.

Alyssa 1, Retainer 0.

Now to find a competent orthodontist to fix my teeth before they go crooked. Eek! Life is difficult without a car... hence another reason the scooter sounds better with each passing day.

Random moment for blogging

So I'm sitting in the hall waiting for Corey to finish his test so we can go back to the bike store so I can get my flat tire fixed. Ah it feels like pseudo Friday, and I like that. The week is winding down, and for that I am so GRATEFUL. Why? I had the pleasure of getting to take a whopping 4 midterms in the last 3 days. Oh man... the new things I am experiencing here. But, they're finally over and I can breathe again. Feels good, that is for sure.

... and the fact that the Office is in 5 1/2 hours makes everything that much better!

October

On Tuesday night I made Steven and Corey study outside with me, because I knew it would be last night we could comfortably sit outside without freezing.

On Wednesday morning I woke up to cold and rain. (and proceeded to go out in no jacket and forget my apartment key. It was a wet walk to the ESC, but Broccoli and Cheddar soup at the MOA with Emily at the end of classes made it all better)

I have a sound intuition.

I forgot what it feels like to have your legs be cold through you jeans, but I'm remembering how nice it feels to run in the autumn air.

Me and Corey discussed it- October is basically the best month. Plus winter clothes rock.

You all should see how pretty the mountains here in Utah look, and the other night when Shane, Parker, Logan, Corey, and I drove to Park City, I could barely contain my excitement for the changing leaves and pretty colors of the Canyon.

I'm thinking Conference Weekend = pumpkin break making

and TGIF. seriously

Hare Krishna

I've come to find out that it's kind of rare when I get to escape campus, so last Saturday when the opportunity arose to go to India Fest at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, I jumped on it! Call me crazy, but I really like learning about other religions. For instance I wear a lucky Buddha around my neck daily, I now know the Hare Krishna chant, I recently bought Tibetan prayer flags for my dorm kitchen, and I actually know what the yoga lady means when she says "namaste" at the end of class. It's just fascinating to me, and a few months ago when we drove by this huge castle-like structure in the middle of farmland in SF, UT, I was intrigued. I found out it was a Hindu temple, and right away I knew I needed to go in there and experience that place!

The opportunity came last week when I was reading the Daily Universe. There it was! The ad for India Fest. I basically counted down the days until Saturday the 12, and then I dragged a few friends with me to experience India for a little. It was so great!

The temple itself is quite an interesting place. You take your shoes off before you go in, and then right inside is a gift shop. This made us all laugh kinda hard. As you walk upstairs there is a big open room with a statue of a monk and other ornate decorations all over. Up there was Hare Krishna music, dancing, and meditation. We ate some good vegetarian Indian food, and t

Here we are!

We got there a little late, so I'm not sure exactly what the premise was of this celebration, but at 9 PM there was the burning of the effigy Ravana.

Fiery darts were thrown...

And Ravana was a thing of the past. Everyone cheered, and then there were fireworks!

Not pictured: the lamas in the background were going CRAZY and running all over the field. Spitting, probably.

Not going to lie, these were some of the best fireworks I've ever seen!

After the burning we were going to leave, but then we got sucked into THIS

A Hare Krishna dance party. Man, I wish our temple had a plaster of paris amphitheater!

Basically this picture is a good representation of what went down at dance party.

After we finished singing "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare" about a trillion times (hence the reason why I've memorized it haha) we took some pictures with Ganesh.

And that, in a nutshell, was my vacation to India!

... and I will be returning for Llama fest and Holi! (Basically you throw chalk at people. So excited!)

Wisdom Wednesday

So it's Thursday, I know, but my wisdom pertains to what happened on Wednesday, so I think it's justified.

The hardest part about college is telling yourself you must go to sleep.

I think the earliest I've been the bed while here has been, oh, maybe 1:30? The fact that I am an extreme night person does not help this situation, either, so to put things in perspective for ya'll, just look at this figure: 3 nights= 12 hours of sleep.

I've learned 2 things about sleeping and college.

1. All the fun happens at night.

2. If you go to bed, you will undoubtedly miss out on that fun.

Last night was no exception. After a full day of classes, work, homework, an OwlZ (yes, with a Z) baseball game, Walmart, and a plethora of donuts, I finally collapsed into bed around 2. Yeah, that wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't supposed to be at work at 6 AM. Working at 6 wouldn't have been so bad if I wouldn't have woken up at 7:17. Not good... so now it looks like I need to readjust my ways.

So, my wisdom today is more like a goal for myself.

WW27- Alyssa, go to bed. Or set multiple alarms. Or stop working before the sun rises. (Or a combination?)

And with that, I am off to figure out my PDBio homework at my teachers office hours.

Weekend

Picture this:

Eyelids closed, blankets around your cheeks, light streaming in through a window whose rays you cannot see, but can feel. Waking up naturally, opening your eyes, and realizing you are in your own bed. You're home.

That is what I experienced Saturday morning as I began my first weekend homebound from college. Ahhhh it was great. I mentally jotted some of my objectives for this particular weekend as Courtney and I drove to the city of trees Friday night. They were

1. To eat too much. Check.

2. To go to the gym to counteract all the ingestion. Check.

3. To sleep all I wanted and wake up natural

ly every morning. Check.

4. To hang out with the family and do what they did. Check.

Sometimes the simple expectations are the easiest to meet! Labor day weekend was splendid in all these facets, plus more.

Saturday was full of Payton's football, fast food, bi

rthday shopping, much time spent in the car, and a party at the Hruby's house.

Sunday was Mom's 29th Birthday. We celebrated all day by doing what she loves best- going to church! However, we had to open presents, first. This was her favorite gift ever in the history of her 29 years.

the Snuggie. In fact, not only was it a Snuggie, it was zebra. Let's just say Kourtni has the best worst birthday present ideas ever.

After church, we ate some good dinner, she was showered with more gifts from a plethora of adoring friends, and we ate cake- not any kind of cake, though... better than ANYTHING cake!

We proceeded to take some more pictures...

(ps. my head isn't really that big.. I was just way further forward than everyone else, alright?)

It was great. To wrap up the celebrating, Lindsay, Mom, and I did Mom's other favorite thing ever- go on a long walk/trek/10 k. She is not human. However, it was a good time, and shout out to Mom- You're great. I love you! ... and your protein powder you insisted I take back to school spilled all over the back of Courtney's car.