Getting Back On The Blogging Train

Hello Everyone! This week's post is a catch up post. Mostly because I am a solid two weeks behind on the blogging. Don't worry I have tons of exciting things to tell you all, so get excited. 

This week was my second week back from Christmas break. It was really great these past couple of weeks to get back into my thing here at AMDA. I feel like a lot of people have a hard time feeling at home when they are away at school, but to be honest that's really not the case for me. I have an amazing group of friends, and awesome ward, and just really feel like I'm actually pursuing what I came here to do, and its totally fantastic. LA is definitely my place.

So last weekend me and a group of my friends decided that we were going to hike up to the Hollywood sign.It was fun to get out with a bunch of people and just do something none of us had done before. It took a solid two hours to hike up and down the trail, which meant that we were pretty hungry/thirsty when the hike was over, so naturally we went and got slurpees at 7 Eleven. The photo below is us modeling our slurpees after our lovely hike.

 Pictured below is the group of us at the top of the Hollywood sign. Personally I love this photo for many reasons... but mostly for the guys poses. It's just too great. :)

 My sister-in-law Holly had a Golden Globes party, and she invited me to join the fun, so me and my girl Daly took a trip out to Redlands to party and to see my niece and nephew one last time before they headed back out to Utah. It was super fun to see everyone again especially because with me moving to New York in October. While we were in Redlands, my nephew Jack developed a little crush on Daly, and it was so incredibly adorable. He asked her out on a date and everything. Basically made my weekend.... and everyone else's.

 Me and Lucy snuggling it out.

 Little Lu modeling her Red Lips and Red Kisses from me!

Me and Daly being ducks.

 Daly and Jacko. Aren't they adorable? :)

 I got to get together with my old roommates so of course we had to document the original 402 being together again.

 In acting we had to do this super complex character analysis on our characters for our final scenes we present in a couple weeks, and it took us forever! Each of us spent a solid 5-6 hours at least on these and guess what???? WE GOT A's!!!! This was really the first major "paper" if you will we actually had to write so of course we took a photo and yes I sent it to my mom.... and yes she loved it, as any mom of a dance major would.

Happy Birthday to my girl Marisa! This lovely lady turned 19 this week and we celebrated by going out to The Cheesecake Factory and just had some quality Cooper Marisa time which we hadn't had much of since coming back to school!

 Friday Night we had a little family dinner and made Tacos! Actually I made the tacos and everyone ate them.... and I'm not going to lie they were extremely delicious. #yourwelcomekids The photo above is us having a little ice cream social after consuming our tacos!

And yesterday we went to the Santa Monica beach and just had a super relaxing day by the beach with some of my best friends! I also re-realized my love for the beach, and I came to the conclusion that I must live next to a beach when I'm older. There's really no other option.

So, really the last couple weeks have been super fun and really just full of fun and exciting things. I've continued to learn a lot and now the semester is almost over. Hard to believe I'm a couple three weeks away from finishing my first semester of college and that I will be done in 3 more. That's kind of weird to think about.

Oh, I do want to share something that one of my teachers told me in class last week. I was in my 9am contemporary core class last Monday when my teacher Yusif said to "crash into your brilliance". That really made me think. A lot of times I feel like so many of us shy away from our brilliance, instead of fully embracing what we are brilliant at, and if you think about it, it really doesn't make any sense for us to do that. Why be afraid of something your good at? Why shy away from something that makes you so incredibly happy? I think we all should all stop worrying about what others think of us and just live. Just fully run into whatever is thrown at you, whatever you're really good at and just embrace it. Embrace everything about it, the good, and the bad. I've made a point to really try and do that, and to be honest I've seen a difference. I've made a point to just let go when I'm in my classes and really just live and it's completely changed my dancing. I'm much more invested in my craft now and I'm really liking it. Just a little food for thought for your week.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! Love and miss you all! 

Christmas Break!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I absolutely love this time of year. Definitely one of my favorite times of the year besides birthdays. Anyways.. this Christmas Break was a much needed vacation. The week before break had a lot of build so after all the shows it was nice to just relax and hang out for a little while. Catch my bearings if you will.

 

So let's see what exactly did I do over break. I did a lot. The first couple days of break I spent it with my mom because she came up for closing night of All Cracked Up. I was super excited that she got to come up and see what we've been working so hard on for the entire semester. She loved the show and it was fun for it to just be me and my mom for a couple days. Sunday my dad and sister Cymbre met up with us along with my brother, sister in law, and niece and nephew. Monday we went to Legoland. It may have been my favorite day of the vacation. Tuesday was the San Diego Zoo. Wednesday Sea World, Thursday Segway Tours, and Friday I saw Frozen. And I loved it! I may be slightly obsessed. Saturday I followed my brother back to Redlands and spend some time chilling getting my life back together before heading back to Hollywood for the week. While in Redlands, I got to spend a couple extra days with these cuties. :)

 

 

 Tyler (Kellie's fiancé) and I striking a pose before all of our New Years Eve festivities. I spent NYE with him and Kellie and I'm so glad I did. We had a small get together, ate some delicious food, sat in the hot tub, played some games, and watched the ball drop. Overall it was a super fun night and I'm so glad I got to spend it with them! Thanks so much!

 

 

 Jack and Luc striking a fancy pose before I left Redlands!

 

The last half of the week I got to spend in the valley with my friend Amanda. Absolutely love this girl. While I was at her house I got the chance to take some dance classes, and come on who doesn't like them a solid dance class over break? Nobody. I was super excited to get back into the studio and do what I love, and plus I got to meet some new people and I loved it.

 

After our first class Amanda and I decided to head to the mall to grab some lunch before going to another studio to take another class. After we ate we had some extra time so we figured we would wander around the mall for a few minutes. Well, We went into this furniture store... don't ask me the name I don't remember.. and we came across all these books! The one pictured below is easily my favorite one and I thought it was hilarious that there was a book like this. I'm thoroughly convinced it was made just for me. Inside there's a bunch of blanks and you just write reasons why whoever you're giving the book to is awesome. Really... how much better can you get? :)

Pictured below is Amanda and I at Olive Garden. Her dad offered to take us out to dinner and we matched without even knowing it. It was fun getting to meet her dad and spend a couple days with her. Plus we got a big chunk of our project done so it was really a win win.

 Now the photo below is easily the best one in this entire post, definitely my favorite one. Me, Emily, and Miriam went grocery shopping. Actually they went grocery shopping I just went along for fun. So because I wasn't buying anything I asked if I could ride in the cart. And I did, and this is me trying to text one of my friends. A grandma even came up to me and told me I looked cute. Pretty much made my day. The End.

All in all the past two weeks were an absolute blast. I got to meet some really amazing people, hang out with some really amazing people and caught up on sleep.... Finally! I hope everyone had a fantastic break! Class starts again tomorrow and I can't wait. I really missed dancing everyday. More next week! Love and miss you all! Make good choices!