Vacation from my Vaation

College to me is still very vacation-y. I still have laundry and homework but I rarely go to bed on time, I spend all day every day with my best friends, I haven't pulled weeds in months, and the only dishes I do are my hot chocolate mug. So life has been like one big vacation!

Finals are in 2 weeks. Which means it is buckle down time. Lots of studying: less TV watching with Jill and less chit-chatting with Jordan. My vacation is going to very quickly get less fun I have a feeling.. So before that happened I took a vacation from my vacation!

It was Thanksgiving and there was a nice boy who was friends with a friends boyfriend... (he and I are super close) who was driving up to PA. Which is where my Aunt Tricia lives so I hitched a ride with him and crashed at her place. It was a blast! Her kids are adorable and her youngest Jack kept calling me "Carly" (I guess I do look a little bit like my cousin Carly) I got to eat lots of food and go to the Crayola factory.

All of my friends made it out to their different destinations and home without incident which was a blessing because the weather was TERRIBLE! We txted non-stop the entire weekend and there were joyous reunions last night when I got back (I was the last to get home from the group) I love those girls. I am ALMOST not excited to go home for Christmas and leave them for an entire month.

Here is a montage of photos for you to view while I go and write 29 (numbers really need capitals and lowercase) pages of school stuff that needs to be typed. I'm bursting with excitement right now.....

 It has been very cold.

 This is me making a marker at the Crayola Factory

 This is a snowman kit.

My new friend.

 My other friends.

 I eat snow.

 My playdough Christmas Tree

AND my real Christmas Tree. Courtesy of Trader Joes and Jill's car.

-ALC

I and Jill went up the Hill

The title has very little to do with this post. But Jill's in it and it rhymed and I really like rhyming titles.

Last weekend was Jills big Weekend! Her mom and cousin Tiny came and visited! and she turned 23! See?Big weekend. And as Jill's BFF I got to tag along for ALL the fun.

Tiny, Jill, and I on our adventure

If you've noticed in my photos Jill has this great Green coat. Its actually my green coat. So the first order of business when Momma Wulf got in was to drive to the Roanoke mall and get a coat. (I should disclaim Jill wanted her own coat, I was not pushing her out of mine) The drive to Roanoke is about an hour but it is gorgeous and I could make it everyday! There was a large group of us that all went coat shopping and out to dinner afterwards!

This is not a totally related photo. This is a hat I found at
the mall I wanted to buy so bad because it matched my scarf!

This is me and a live sheep. They have those in Williamsburg. They have everything in Williamsburg

Friday night (rather early Saturday morning) was a slumber party in Jill's room! (don't worry, we cleared it with our RA's first!) and Saturday morning was an early one- because we were going on an adventure. Or rather "up the hill" Colonial Williamsburg is about 3 hours away from BV and that's where we were headed! It was a long day of walking but oh SO much fun! We toured the town, and nearby William and Mary college that was founded WAYY back in the 1600's. That night went on the haunted tavern tour. It was so cool (scary) to hear the ghost stories from a town so old!

Waiting for our table in the basement of the Tavern,
 which was lit by candlelight

Here are us girls with Colonial People!
 (I'm on the left, Jill is in the middle and Tiny is on the right FYI)

Sunday I got up early and went to church with Jill and Momma Wulf and Tiny for fun. After a quick nap I was back at my ward to give a talk! Sunday afternoon we went on the most beautiful drive on the parkway and out to dinner at Crate and Barrel. Monday was Jill's Birthday! We all had to get up and go to classes but we met up in the afternoon for birthday dinner! We went to Macados pronounced mack-a-doo's) and got wings for wing night. We were so good and still even went to FHE before the birthday party. Which consisted of delicious cupcakes and The Help.

Jill and I at FHE. They gave her this birthday crown that was
 WAY too small and she was very excited to take a picture with me.
Shes going to be even more excited I'm putting this on the internet.
 But look its equally embarrassing for the two of us because I look stoned or something.

Picture from Sunday drive before
the battery died on me. Some trees and Tiny

The Birthday Girl and I found these candy lips at Sunday dinner

It was a very enjoyable and slightly exhausting weekend. I am so thankful to Tiny and Momma Wulf who let me tag along on their adventures and share Jill with me! And also for buying me food, because college kids really enjoy getting to eat somewhere other than the cafeteria!

This is Jill and I locked up for doing something bad. Apparently Jill felt remorse and I did not. She is not looking at the camera in any of the 5 versions of this photo that exist.

2 blog posts in one day. -ALC
(p.s. If I knew how to fix the weird photo spacing I would. But I'm behind schedule and Jill needs me to find her a box so I have to go.)

Reasons My Weekend was Better Than Yours

1. I went on a date- Friday I got to go out for ice cream with a great guy from the cheer squad!
2. My extra hour- Its the new fangled thing that doesn't exist in Arizona. Today I just got an extra hour for no reason. One second it was 10 o'clock the next it was 9! Which means I got an extra hour of sleep! I like this daylight savings thing!
3. I got to attend a great CES fireside tonight! and the church fixed the projector so it was in color!
4. The guy who works at Jamba Juice bought me a smoothie- how romantic!
5. I found a guy driving to PA so I can have Thanksgiving with my aunt!
6. My sososo AWESOME RA Jordan came and killed this VERY large spider so I didn't have to
7. Saturday I was able to walk around DC (despite the fact my knee hurt, and I woke up two hours late, and forgot my test AND my waiver) (it was a long morning) My art history class took a trip to the National Gallery to take our midterm. Jill was able to take one of the extra seats on the bus and come with! So after my test her and I and some other friends from the class went exploring! We walked to Union Station and got lunch and then walked back to the museum and then to the White House and then back to the bus! (it was a lot of walking) (roughly 10 miles. I was pedometering it) (not good for the knee)
8. After spending all day in the Nation's capital I got to spend the night boding with Jordan!

-ALC

My First College Homecoming!

When you are involved in the planning of homecoming week survival is a blessing! Every night here was a different activity to help celebrate the new school year (even though we've been here for a month and a half)!

Monday: that morning Jill and I got up early and served hot chocolate and salt water taffy to cold students walking to class! This was how we got to tell them about all the weeks festivities!

Tuesday: I had cheer practice for 3 hours getting prepped for the big game Saturday! Then the student government chalked the campus and I bought a milkshake at the cafe (they have really good milkshakes). Then we went to the homecoming service project and wrote letters to missionaries that had attended SVU!

Wednesday: I got to get up early again and man the king and queen nomination table! That afternoon I got to venture out to Roanoke and help some friends find dresses for the dance! We also stopped at Target and I missed Target!

Thursday: I got to get up early again and work the voting for king and queen! Then cheer practice again! and movie night!

Here is me resting my knee and watching from afar at cheer practice. The play and pause button for the music is on the other side of the gym and they all joked that I was the DJ sitting over here by myself.

Friday: Orson Scott Card was on campus   for Friday devotional and he is an amazing speaker! Jill and I went to get our books signed and then I was off to another cheer practice! That night we had a team dinner at Coaches house and it was fantastic. It was so nice to have a meal in a home! After dinner we decorated the boys locker cages! Then to the bonfire!

Saturday: Early cheer practice and then the football game! I didn't get to cheer at it due to a very embarrassing knee injury but I sat on the sidelines and photographed! The new softball field was dedicated after the volleyball game that was after the football game!

I quick ran home and got all gussied up for the dance! Jill was my date and we drove out to Lexington to try sushi (I was the newbie. Jill is a seasoned sushi eater) and I liked it! We partied it up at the dance and then stayed to help clean up after!

Sunday (morning) (or Saturday night) I finally went to bed after a very long week! Now I am trying to catch up on all the things that got left last week. Blogging being one of those things

I hope your week was slightly less busy but just as fun! This week is mid-terms and LOTS of tests! Next week is Halloween! Insane! Then its November! Insaner! and I bought my plane ticket home for Christmas! Insanest!

-ALC

Up-To-Date

Things I am not currently up to date on:

• sleep
• eating
• my astronomy, art, and english homework
• exercise
• my flu shot

Things you are not currently up to date on:

• general conference in college
• fall on the east coast
• cheer and cheer injuries
• SVU homecoming
• PSS adventures
• dress shopping

Don't worry, I would never leave you not up to date! Soon enough you (and more importantly I) will all be up to date!

General Conference: College Edition

Can you totally tell this is just a screen shot photo from my phone from Jill's instagram post?

Jill has a TV in her room to play wii on, so we took it over. I brought my laptop and we streamed conference and watched it as a group. Somebody had a contraband waffle maker and it was really great to have waffles! I love waffles and hadn't had one since moving here!

One of the girls watching it with us taught us the game her family played. Before the session starts you pick around 4 words that you think might be said (love, work, apostle, Christ, scriptures...) and when you hear the word you raise your hand and if you're the first person you get a piece of candy. It was very competitive.

I lost.

It was a lot of fun to be able to watch conference with a bunch of friends and discuss what we were listening to. If you missed conference you can view the talks again at lds.org

-ALC

 

Adventure Weekend

Boy was it an adventurous weekend! (don't worry the experiences were well documented) It was also a long weekend and I am T.I.R.E.D. that what I've learned since I came to college- no one ever sleeps and you're always tired.

Friday Bryce took me up to the 3rd floor of main hall. It used to be dorm rooms but they have since shut it down. Everything was locked up there but we were on official school business so we had keys. Next on my list is to make it to the 4th floor (that ones super secret!)

The news of the week was that I got an appointed position in Student Government! Give it up for the Secretary! (thats me) This means I have meetings Wednesday nights after golf that I need to dress up for. If you're keeping a tally thats 3 times minimum every week I dress up (Friday Forums and Sunday) so I really needed some church clothes. So did Jill so her and I made the trip out to Roanoke so we could do some shopping. She had a 200$ budget from her mom. Mine told me to try and find a cheap maxi skirt (still love you!). Jill and I went straight from the mall to a local concert for a great family band. They are called The Hunts and they are amazing and their lead singer is also really attractive.

After the concert we decided we had not had enough fun for one day and got dressed up to walk around W&L's campus to taunt the frat boys. (sidenote: drunk frat boys throwing up in bushes= not a turn on) After the taunting we headed to a truck stop diner that is open 24 hours a day and made it to bed before 3AM.

Saturday was the humdinger! Here on the east coast there is a thing called Pumpkin Chunking (I have been informed it is actually called Punkin Chunkin) were you take a GIANT cannon type thing and launch pumpkins at 400 miles an hour 4,000 feet. It fantastic. So some kids from the Astronomy and Physics classes went up and I got to join them.

 That tiny little dot is the pumpkin (they actually ran out of pumpkins and that is a water filled 10 lb soccer ball) (I weighed it so its legit)

 Can you see the ball now?

 Here is a side angle. See how it gets all deformed its going so fast.

 See how the circled portion has white behind it? Thats the ball exploding over 4,000 feet away from us.

 Here is a viedo. The sound doesnt even begin to do it justice it was SO loud!!

 This is my new favorite thing. Its a pumpkin spice steamer. or as Jill and I call them PSS's. Pretty much her and I have drinken too many PSS's in the past week. But they are SO good. Its literally fall in cup. (don't burn your tongue it ruins the taste of fall a little bit)

This is the secret view out the front balcony on the third floor.

-ALC

Who I Am

I use to be a Toro, actually I still am, and will forever be a Toro. But now I am also a Southern Virginia University Knight. And I am pretty proud of that title. You should all just call me "Alyson the SVU Knight"

Today in church I became the "Relief Society Activities Committee Chair" and I am pretty excited about that too. We are going to have some rocking activities if I have anything to say about it, and I do- I'm the committee chair. Everyone is going to want to come to 5th wards activities!

I am also a cheerleader. I cheer on my roomies while they do homework, or myself while I try to not watch TV and study. More officially I cheer on the SVU sports teams. After 9th grade I didn't think I would cheer again and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to cheer here. The girls (and guys) on the squad are awesome and so supportive of each other. We have really bonded and more often than not you can find me with one of the cheer girls. 

This is me at the Volleyball game (which we totally kicked butt at) on Tuesday!

I am also a new member in some committees. Like the Honors Committee and the Communications Committee and I applied to be on the Service Committee.

Despite all the fun things I am involved in I am also a student and try to do my homework.

I am a friend too! The little gang of 4 we have created drove out to Roanoke to go to the mall and we had so much fun!!

I am also the greatest campaigner ever, (this is my set-up for the campaign fair).

I am not however, the Freshmen Class President as I hoped. All is well, I am so thankful for all of other activities I get to be involved in here! And I will run again in the Spring!

Most importantly I am having fun! so so much fun!

-ALC