Muffins, Movies and More

      Wow, it hasn't even been a week and I'm blogging again! Can you believe it? Haha. This weekend has been really wonderful, especially Saturday. I started the morning out by doing a service project. I gathered with a group of about twelve other SVU students and we raked leaves all around campus and in a couple yards. Of course we did take some time to have some fun and jump into the piles of leaves.

Rachel and Lindsay.

Alli.

Ali, Mindy, Linea, [Me] jumping in a giant leaf pile!

Raquel.

      After spending an hour and a half raking leaves, I gathered with a group of friends at Kent's house. Since it was one of my few free Saturday's that I didn't have a cross country meet, we decided to have a Muffin and Movie party. Kent lives in an apartment all alone, but he isn't usually alone because there are almost always people over there. He is very generous with inviting people to his apartment. So Kent and I started making strawberry and chocolate muffins until the rest of our friends showed up - Caitlyn, Kailey, Joanna, Nic, Daria, and Caity. We ate the scrumptious muffins and then snuggled up in blankets to watch "Brother Bear." When it was over, most of us fell asleep, but I had to get up so I could leave to work. Ah, but I felt so warm and comfy! Haha but it's okay, because work was really great too and it went well. I talked to quite a few prospective students and their parents!

Mmmm yummy, warm muffins!

      When I got home for work, I did homework for a little while and then went over to Kailey's room because she offered to do my hair for the Fall Ball. She did a great job!

Yay for curly hair! Ha, I rarely actually do my hair, so
this was nice for a change.

      We all had fun getting ready together, and of course the dance was a blast! I only attended the last hour however because the rest of the time I was skyping my wonderful family because my beautiful sister Brittney got married to Christian Anderson! Since I couldn't attend in real life, skyping the reception was about as good as I could get. The dance was great though. It was in Chandler Hall where our performances are and on the stage was a live jazz band, which was really cool! Even though I went really late, I got the chance to dance with a few different guys. I wish I would have gotten there earlier, but at the same time it was good to skype my family.

Reeva, Kailey, Daria, Caity, Caitlyn, Joanna, [Me], Raquel, Elise, Lexi and
Anneli. Beautiful girls, all of them! 

[Me] and Caitlyn, redhead buddies. :)

Caitlyn and Kailey live across the hall from me and are some of my best
friends. They help me in many ways. I love these girls so much. :)

      I hope the weekend treated you all well! Keep on keepin' on everybody. :)

Candy Corn, Pumpkins, Costumes and Screams...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

      Halloween has always been one of my very favorite holidays. I just love dressing up, going through haunted houses, and eating candy! I think it is so fun. I love to see the creativity of others as they all get dressed up. This year, being a poor college student, I just used whatever I could throw together from my closet! End result? Here it is:

Hopefully you can tell who I am...Pippy Longstockings!
(No wig needed :))

     I wore my costume to all my classes, which was a lot of fun. I think there was only one person who didn't know who I was, so that's a good sign ;). After classes, I went to cross country practice. In celebration of Halloween, we ran to the sunken graveyard in Buena Vista. It is this really old, unofficial graveyard in the middle of a forest. There are a few worn tombstones that are slightly askew, and all the graves are sunken into the ground so that you can see the rectangular shape of the coffins. It is really neat and really spooky. The ground is scattered in orange and yellow leaves and the dense forest allows only small slits of sunlight to stream through. Standing there among the tombstones and sunken graves, tall trees and scattered leaves, it's a unique and intriguing feeling. I think it's just a really interesting place. And of course, quite ideal for a Halloween run.

     After cross country practice, I went back to my room and got dressed up in my costume again. When I was done, I went with a group of friends to tour the "Haunted Halls of Main." I've posted pictures of SVU's Main Hall on this blog before, and you can see that it is a really majestic and really old building. It was built in 1890 as a hotel and later became a two year college for girls, and finally, a four year liberal arts university especially for Latter-day Saints and others who share their values: Southern Virginia University. The first two floors are currently administration buildings, with some boys dorms on the second floor, the third floor is boys dorms, and the fourth floor is currently empty. This year they decided to have some fun and create a haunted house on the fourth floor of Main. Haunted houses are already spooky enough, imagine having one in an over 100 year old building! It was really cool. We had to wait over two hours (during which time I did Spanish homework for a little while...and talked with friends too ;)) for the tour, but it was worth it in my opinion. The tour guide (my friend Garret wearing a suit and black and white face paint) took us through the basement first (which is where I work!) where the lights were off and there was "blood" on the floor. He led us to the elevator, which stopped on the first floor, and Garret said in a creepy, monotone voice "why is this happening. We're not supposed to be stopping here -" then the doors of the rickety old elevator opened and a man in a white mask came sprinting towards the elevator, screaming. The doors closed again just before he reached it and he banged on them until we continued up to the fourth floor. Once on the fourth floor, we continued through the tour. One cool part was when we went to one of the towers and our tour guide told us a story of a girl hanging herself...and then a body dropped in front of the window of the tower. Another neat part was in the other tower where the guide led us into a little tiny space where we were all crouched down when suddenly a door burst open with a person dressed as a ghost/zombie inside. She started coming after us and a bunch of people screamed and scrambled out of the tiny room, knocking down and practically trampling my friend Jacey. I helped her up and we crawled out of the room and walked briskly out of the tower. Anyway, those were just some of the highlights. It was so fun, and free! They did a really good job with costumes and everything as well.

    So goes my Halloween night! It was really quite enjoyable! I hope ya'll had a happy Halloween as well! :)

Waiting for the "Haunted Halls of Main" Tour!
Jacey, Tyson, [Me], Nicole, Leah, Elle, Kelli.

Halloween lights my roommate Delaney and I put up!

Falling into Autumn

   The aroma of pumpkin spice, delectable pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, red and orange leaves, the feeling of mystery, intrigue and change, Halloween, home-baked pies, nice weather, colorful scarves... It's officially FALL! My favorite season of the year :) Plus Virginia falls/real falls/not Southern Utah falls are absolutely beautiful! So many different trees create an array of colors that paint the earth majestically.
   In celebration of this fabulous season, I went on a walk in the woods and took pictures, especially of some of the first fall leaves.

HAPPY FALL! :)

First Race of the 2012 Season...

    Today I ran my first cross country race of the 2012 season! It was a 5k at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. I FELT GREAT! It was so good. I am in much better shape this season than I was last year, and I am really excited about that. Last year around this time, I was tenth on our team. Today, however, I was sixth! I am going to keep working hard so that I may continue to improve throughout this season. Our team took second place overall, thanks to all my amazing teammates! Here we all are (minus one girl, Ashley) with our 2nd place plaque:

Nicole, Kelli, [Me], Tori, Jacey, Shelbi, Kera, Leah, Katelyn and Elle.

These three girls (Jacey, Tori and Leah) are fantastic and got t-shirts for placing in the top 15!

It's a great day to be a Knight!

Mornings Like This...

    Welcome to Virginia, where mornings like this...

turn into afternoons like this!

    Odd, right? You think fog means rain (or at least that's what I thought, growing up in a desert), but usually the mornings with heavy fogs turn into beautiful, sunshine-y afternoons. I actually love the misty mornings. The morning mist is enchanting, plus it has a unique, refreshing smell. I woke up and started getting ready, then decided to look out the window and was delighted when I was greeted by the crisp, foggy morning.
Add the mystical foggy morning, the sunny afternoon, happy faces, smooth classes, and it has been a great Friday!
    I went to my acting class where we did a really interesting exercise to try to get the "feel" of the energy in the room by standing in a circle and trying to lift our arms as an entire group. We had to use what Professor Stoddard referred to as "soft focus" where you kind of stare off into space but watch the entire room at once. It was actually really cool and I was able to feel the energy of the other students in the classroom, and eventually, we all raised and lowered our arms at the same time without saying a single word or making any gestures or eye contact.
    After acting, I went to my Spanish I class. I am enjoying Spanish so far, but it is certainly new to me. The best part about class today though, was Professor Fuentes told me a spot had opened up in her 12:30 class so that I can switch into it and consequently be in Bella Voce (the Women's chorus here at SVU) as well! Originally it conflicted with my Spanish class and the 12:30 section was too full, but all is well now! When Spanish ended, I went to Convocation where I met some new people and listened to great, enthusiastic speakers from the SVU faculty, staff and board. The first week of school has indicated an exciting semester. Busy, yes, but also exciting and full of opportunities.

Devil's Marble Yard

Instead of going on a run for cross country practice this morning, we hiked Devil's Marble Yard. The hike begins in the woods and then the trail leads to what is basically a mountain of marble looking rocks! Me, Leah and Patrick got lost for a bit...but we said a prayer and found our teammates less than a minute after we said "amen." Hooray for answered prayers!  But anyway, it's a super intense hike. It's pretty much like bouldering. The view at the top is absolutely beautiful. Like always, the pictures don't really do nature justice, but here you go. :)

Katelyn and Spencer, [Me] and Patrick.

[Me], Shelbi, Leah, Kelli, Elle, Patrick, Spencer, Katelyn.

Shelbi, Elle, Kelli, Nicole, Tori, Ben.

And also, yesterday a group of us walked down to the "Amish Cupboard" after cross country. It's a little shop in BV with homemade foods that are really tasty. On our way there we saw this wax man and took some pictures with him:

Spencer and Ben.

Oh Patrick...

Jacey, Leah and [Me].

Panther Falls

Yesterday (8/28/12) after cross country practice, I went to Panther Falls with most of my cross country teammates. It's only about a 15 minute drive from campus, and it is so gorgeous! The area is richly forested and the waterfall is beautiful. It was just after 5:30, so the sun was just beginning to go down and the golden rays of light sparkled through the trees. I could spend all day there! Anyway, we took pictures, jumped off rocks into the water, swam under the waterfall, slid down slippery rocks, and just had a lot of fun! Plus it felt good after a long, hot run! These pictures don't quite capture the beauty of it all, but they give a pretty good idea. :)

(From left to right) Jacey, Elle, Spencer, [me], Leah, Shelbi, Ben.

.

Ten Million Fireflies

Yesterday (Sunday) I caught fireflies for the first time ever! It was really exciting and I felt like a little kid. And that's a good feeling :)

Laura, Laura, Leah and me :)

Only two of them lit up when I took this picture, but I actually caught seven! I think.