Through the Looking Glass

Willy Wonka

2011-06-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today. We toured the Cailler Chocolate Factory. AHHHMAZING! We got a briefing from one of the company operators about the history of the brand and it's marketing strategy, and then we got an assignment to re-brand one of their lines of chocolate, "Femina". SO STOKED for this project, I can't even tell you! Then we went on a tour of the factory, but lets be honest, this was not a tour-it was more like the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland but for chocolate! there were sweet sets describing historical events, lights, special effects, even an elevator floor that stretched the room we were in! Some pictures had crazy spinning eyes and mouths and there were moving parts everywhere. THEN! We got to sample ALL the types of chocolate, it was amazing!!! I definitely had multiple pieces of each kind and everyone else was feeling sick and I felt GREAT. Excellent little bus ride up the windiest tiniest roads you've ever seen. OH. yesterday I bought Harem pants. They look great on me, don't even worry I'm not sending the MC Hammer vibe at all.

That's all for tonight,

Love you all

Ali

time flies...

2011-06-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

So it's been a week since I posted. I sincerely cannot believe that time is going SO quickly. I've been so caught up in all the fun and crazy things that have happened that there are a few items of not-so-fun things I have been meaning to share. First, my flat iron got fried. so that is why my hair looks curly in all the pics....it's a shower at night, a bun and curls in the morning...jealous much that my hair does that? That's what I thought ;) but really. I'm sad and still mourning the death of my dear pink flat iron. Number two: A lot of places don't take credit cards. Odd, but lucky I can use an ATM. (Quick shout out to my wonderful mama who loves me and also loves depositing dollars in there) Three: I have a cold again. And that's just sad. But it hasn't affected my ability to participate at all which I am grateful for. Four: I pretty much WAY underpacked on the contact solution situation. But don't worry I'm amazing and have gotten it all figured out. Five: We only have a week left. Since it has been a week since I last posted I'll just give you a run-down on what we've been doing on each day.

Monday: Dornach to visit the Goetheanum-described by our professors as the "closest to Hogwarts you will ever see" but I beg to differ. It felt more like being on a fluffy zonked-out pink cloud-I seriously felt so relaxed it was bizarre. They study Anthroposophy there, check out this site if you want more info. The architecture is STUNNING I know you will enjoy it. P.S. It's NOTHING like Hogwarts.

Tuesday:Fribourg and the Funiculaire aka the "Poo Choo"...a train that is essentially and completely powered by POOP. You read correctly. It was nasty smelling. We also did a BAREFOOT pilgrimage on St. James all the way to the Cathedral where we climbed the debated 372/364/387 stairs up a gigantic spiral staircase to an INCREDIBLE view of the city. Also here we shopped at H&M where I got a skirt, swimsuit and a dress and two headbands. I think I may return the skirt though I haven't decided yet.

Wednesday: We were supposed to visit Lauterbrunnen Valley but it was raining so we went to the Vitra Interior Design Museum which I fell in love with, I want a pretty design house!!!!! I loved the pretty clocks, the amazing pillows, the statues, interestingly shaped couches and chairs and tables, it was beautiful. Pictures to follow on FB. Regrettably most of you will probably see them in person before they are on the web, because we found out that uploading pictures and skype makes the internet crash horribly and then everyone gets angry. So be patient! Also this was another exciting adventure this day; I actually bought my H&M dress here and had a bag that I had bought a book from the museum in. So when I went to the register to pay, I accidentally left the museum bag (which had my book, also my camera and my umbrella in it) at the cash register. So we continued on and walked the streets, met the group back at the bus stop, hopped on the bus, and as we were riding I saw this SWEET poster I wanted to take a picture of when I realized I don't have my camera! AHHHHH! So upon this realization I turn to Bob and told him the bag had my camera to which he says "go". Immediately I pushed the stop button on the bus, hopped off turned and gave Karlie a "come with me pleeeeaase" face, she hopped off, and we set off on our quest. We had 20 minutes to go back, find the bag, and race back to the train platform from where we had a 3 hour train ride home. We literally sprinted 8 blocks back to H&M where I ran to the cash register and asked in out of breath broken German but mostly sign language, if they had my bag WHICH THEY DID. Long story short, grabbed bag, shouted "Danka" a thousand times, sprinted full out with our backpacks unibomber-style strapped and clipped onto our backs through the city, onto the bus where an extremely nice man helped us find our train station and platform on his iphone, booked it through the station neatly hurdling 5-6 trailing suitcases and onto the train with 4 minutes to spare. BOOM.

Thursday: BERN! THE MOST AMAZING MUSEUM EVER EVER EVER EVER. The Museum of Natural History. Designed by Claude Khun. Website here. He is my idol guys, his work at the museum was amazing! He actually literally designs THE MUSEUM, as in the displays etc, as well as the posters, advertisements, brochures, etc. Guys I loved this. I bought a book of his work because I love it so much. One more time: I REALLY LOVED THIS DAY. OH. Also we saw the National Weaponry Museum, and the ALBERT EINSTEIN MUSEUM. It was sweet.

Friday: Lauterbrunnen!!! THE PRETTIEST PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH YOU COULD SEE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over 72 waterfalls in this gorgeous, lush, green, flower-filled, cow-filled beautiful incredible valley/canyon/mountains. Oh man, I loved it. I sat in a field and enjoyed the sunny weather and did my assignment for the day. P.S. we took a crazy cool Gondola to get up there. Actually this is our methods for transportation to get there. 10 Minute walk, Cog Train, Train, Train, Bus, Bus, Tram, Gondola, Hike. WHOOOO. We do a lot of riding on trains, just FYI. We have been teaching our friend Ryan (who didn't grow up in Utah) a lot of games which he finds totally fascinating. It's pretty awesome.

Saturday: COW FIGHTING. This was insane. we hiked up to what is essentially the boonies of Switzerland (which of course is gorgeous) to a field where 60 plus pregnant cows were herded into an area roped off with what is actually just twine on stakes where they moan and hoof the ground, and snort and FIGHT. Yes they actually smack heads with their horns and push each other down the hill and fight and yeah. It was wicked cold that day. We BBQ'd in the mountains and had Fondue for dinner which was YUCKY. I didn't like it.

Sunday: We went to this sweeeet Stefan Sagmeister show, it was AWESOME! He is a fantastic world-renound designer who I very much like. Any of you who know me well know I have a sweet book of his (the one where his face is a die-cut and has booklets that can be placed behind his face to change the appearance) and the show was sweet. Then we went to Geneva and hit up the boardwalk where we jumped an Olympic height platform (like 10 meters/33 feet), played beach volleyball and jumped off island docks. ALSO Geneva is having this music festival in a while and to advertise they have placed 20 pianos around the city for people to play and I played one! Then all these people came and were taking pictures and videos and stuff and then apparently I'm going to be on this website/facebook, SWEET! We hauled back to Au Bel Air and ate dinner and started watching Sound of Music.

Today: We went to Yvoire, France, I went to France!!! Here we did a group project evaluating Customer Experience which was interesting, layed on the grass, I had a French Crepe and Gelato, and then boated home. And now I'm blogging.

Guys this is crazy awesome, I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger and I love you all.

Ali

Sunday Funday

2011-06-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey just a quick post tonight and no pictures, sorry. We've been doing a lot and I haven't had time to upload my pics.

Yesterday, (Saturday) we went to an old witches castle where they would keep "confirmed" witches and torture them...pretty sweet! Then to the Tourbillon Castle ruins which is also the home of the world's oldest and still functioning organ where we received a private organ concert featuring a piece from every major period throughout history. Guys, it was amazing! Don't worry, I got video and plan on sharing soon. We also spent a lot of time climbing on the castle ruins...and anyone who actually knows me would immediately infer that I was totally JAZZED about that. The manners of people and the actual level of intelligence in Europe is astounding compared to the states. For instance, the trails leading to the castle was placed alongside the sheer edge of a cliff...in the good ol' US of A people would use that as an excuse for a law suit. Along that same note, not only did we climb on the cliffs, but we were actually ALLOWED to. At least we didn't get any sort of reprimand for doing so anyways...Later that day we went to an arts festival in downtown Sion which was pretty dang sweet. Aside from the atmosphere, aka being surrounded by incredibly old architecture and beautiful design, interesting people, etc. It was a lot like Sunday festivals in NYC but with WAYYYYYY less shopping opportunities...darn. There were some odd street performers though, like the two dudes in spandex suits doing almost nothing besides hopping about and doing bad ballet moves, or the mimes who inappropriately "danced" with our friend Laura. Anyways, that evening we had a WONDERFUL dinner of RACLETTE...a Swiss delicacy that consists of a block of cheese being cut in two and mounted on this object that melts the top of the cheese where it can be scraped onto a serving of baked potato, or incredibly expensive meat. The meat we sampled cost about 80 francs per pound. BOOJJJJ right? Apparently it is the earliest form of fondue which I totally approve of, and found especially delicious despite it's frightfully smelly stench.

Today was Sunday which was amazing, we got up and went to church which, awesomely enough, was Fast Sunday. In French. Luckily the missionaries were behind us and translating into our ears. Guys, the church is the same all throughout the world. I'm not only talking from a gospel perspective right now, as in I believe that I am a member of a worldwide church with the fullness of truths revealed and being revealed to us today, but the types of messages delivered was uncannily similar to those borne at home. This little old French lady got up and started telling us about her lasik eye surgery and this is what the missionary's translation sounded like. Keep in mind he has only been out about 5 months.

Missionary:"Uhhhh and then it was like a miracle! I could See!"

*Laughing, giggling, silence, more snickering*

Us: "What is she saying??!"

Missionary: "She's talking about the shower...and how she could see the soap..."

US: Laughing

Missionary: "Now she's talking about a Jew...?"

Haha it was pretty funny. But I got up and bore my testimony and had a guy who actually served in the Paris mission translate for me. Karlie and another guy on the trip Chris bore testimonies too, it was very sweet and an amazing experience to hear my testimony translated into French! AWESOME!

So...after all of this, we traveled to the place where the St. Bernard dogs are actually kept during the winter, checked them out, saw an ancient roman ruin which was totally sweet, and took the train back down to Lausanne where we enjoyed another farmer's market type street fair. There was this Harbio tent full of CRAZY AWESOME AMAZING candy like I've never seen before, giant marshmallow bananas and strawberries, huge sour patch ropes filled with marshmallow, sour cherries, jalepeno gummies, those tasty candy raspberries/blackberries with sprinkles on the outside...well it cost 5.90 franc per 100 kilograms so I was like, guys lets all pick a treat and i'll buy since Karlie bought churros and i'd eaten some snacks others had shared earlier...anyways I ended up kinda going a little crazy and when I handed the lady the bag to be weighed she rang it up to 44 FRANC! WHAAAAA? Luckily she let us put some back and then it came down to 35 kilo but she gave it to us for 30...Karlie and Jenn pitched in and we all enjoyed a bizarre 30 franc bag of the best candy in the universe. After all of this we got to the main attraction of the day...we have been waiting since last Tuesday to go back to lake Geneva and rent paddle boats with SLIDES on them. Seriously this was sooo fun. The water was soo cold though! The kind of cold where your body doesn't feel to chilly but you can't breathe. After a little while though it warmed up and we were slippin and sliding and jumping and diving like the crazy Americans we are. After a while we looked around and realized NOBODY ELSE WAS SWIMMING. Which was pretty hilarious in all actuality. After making a successful series of train rides home just in time for dinner and a little campfire I am totally exhausted and ready for bed. Perfect Day?? I definitely think so. So much for this being a short post right? Haha, I love you all my dear family and friends. Ali

Weekend

2011-06-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hey just a quick post tonight and no pictures, sorry. We've been doing a lot and I haven't had time to upload my pics.

Missionary:"Uhhhh and then it was like a miracle! I could See!"

*Laughing, giggling, silence, more snickering*

Us: "What is she saying??!"

Missionary: "She's talking about the shower...and how she could see the soap..."

US: Laughing

Missionary: "Now she's talking about a Jew...?"

So...after all of this, we traveled to the place where the St. Bernard dogs are actually kept during the winter, checked them out, saw an ancient roman ruin which was totally sweet, and took the train back down to Lausanne where we enjoyed another farmer's market type street fair. There was this Harbio tent full of CRAZY AWESOME AMAZING candy like I've never seen before, giant marshmallow bananas and strawberries, huge sour patch ropes filled with marshmallow, sour cherries, jalepeno gummies, those tasty candy raspberries/blackberries with sprinkles on the outside...well it cost 5.90 franc per 100 kilograms so I was like, guys lets all pick a treat and i'll buy since Karlie bought churros and i'd eaten some snacks others had shared earlier...anyways I ended up kinda going a little crazy and when I handed the lady the bag to be weighed she rang it up to 44 FRANC! WHAAAAA? Luckily she let us put some back and then it came down to 35 kilo but she gave it to us for 30...Karlie and Jenn pitched in and we all enjoyed a bizarre 30 franc bag of the best candy in the universe. After all of this we got to the main attraction of the day...we have been waiting since last Tuesday to go back to lake Geneva and rent paddle boats with SLIDES on them. Seriously this was sooo fun. The water was soo cold though! The kind of cold where your body doesn't feel to chilly but you can't breathe. After a little while though it warmed up and we were slippin and sliding and jumping and diving like the crazy Americans we are. After a while we looked around and realized NOBODY ELSE WAS SWIMMING. Which was pretty hilarious in all actuality. After making a successful series of train rides home just in time for dinner and a little campfire I am totally exhausted and ready for bed. So much for this being a short post right? Haha, I love you all my dear family and friends. Ali

It's Friday! (YES we've annoyingly been singing Rebecca Black all day...)

2011-06-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

HELLO! I have rejoined the world after a three day-two night excursion to the St. Bernard Monastery in the Alps. I got up at 4:30 AM (here…. In Utah that would be 8:30 PM) on Wednesday morning showered, ate breakfast and proceeded to take a 10 minute hike up the mountain, three train rides,

two bus rides to the base of the Alps where we strapped on snowshoes during a surprise blizzard and began our ascent.

It was so snowy that the border patrol didn’t want us to go up, but our amazing host, Dominique, convinced them that we would try to be safe and not cause any Avalanches and so we began our trek! It was so cold and snowy and we actually didn’t end up having to snowshoe that far because a giant plow came over and cleared the road pretty well, but after three miles the monastery was a VERY welcome sight J.

Our host there, Father Jose was such a sweetheart. We ate soup, soup, and more soup there, with plenty of accompanying MSG, pasta, and CHOCOLATE!!! Woooo! Guys, the chocolate here is amazing. I am eating so much, but thankfully I am also walking a BUNCH so it’s all good. At the monastery we got to go to Catholic Mass, which was a first time experience for me. It was quite intriguing in French first of all, but Father Jose and Bob helped translate. The rituals however, I was completely lost on. Luckily our friend Ryan is Catholic so we just watched him and copied him. On Wednesday morning, it was a catholic holiday, the day of Ascension, so we got to go into the chapel for a bigger mass in which one of the girls in our group, Amore (said Ahh-more-ee) sang “Abide with me” and “How Great Thou Art”…she was on American Idol the same season as Carrie Underwood hence it was amazing, and also the acoustics were wonderful. (The night before we had mass in the little chapel downstairs seen here).

Later that day we got to clean the chapel…SO COOL! Guys, catholic chapels are scary. There are so many priests and figures stepping on demon babies with chains around their necks…we got to clean them! Beautiful woodwork, relief carvings, statues, ancient crypts…everything in there was handmade during the 17^th century. I really can’t believe we got to be so hands on. Stay tuned for pictures on that, my friends Jen and Mark had the camera duty that day so I’ll need to rip them off before you can see. But here is a picture of the chapel in general, ooh la la right??

So I’m gonna back it up for a sec here. On Tuesday we traveled to a place called Ouchy (pronounced oo-shee) where we saw this wonderful little establishment (this is for you Liz J)

We went to the Olympic Museum because the Olympic headquarters is in the bigger city Leysaunne, which was WAY cool! Super old Olympic…artifacts I guess you could say? We got to see all the torches from every Olympic games since like 1934 I think was the first ‘official’ modern-day Olympics. That was way cool! But we couldn’t take pictures in there so sorry. Then we went to the Chateau Chillon castle, the place that inspired Lord Byron’s poem, “The Prisoner of Chillon”…and got to see where he actually carved his name into one of the pillars that prisoners were chained to. The castle was beautiful, we climbed to the top of the tower and the view was great!

Outside the castle...awesome!

Karlie and I on an ancient Potty. It's a hole in this board that goes directly to the river. YUMMY!

A lovely view of Swiss-Land from the Train. SO PRETTY!

Anyways, love you all, and wishing you all could be here to see all this amazing stuff!

Ali

2011-05-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

WOW. The last two days have been totally crazy! First of all, a little background info on me and my traveling, I have never been out of the country. So my little flight hopping began Sunday morning, me and Karlie Fitz (aka Stego)being dropped off by my wonderful parents at the SLC airport, hopping on a flight to DC, laying over there for 2-ish hours, and then boarding an 8.5 hour flight to Geneva.

Stego and Long Neck at the SLC Airport

Saturday night I ended up getting 2 hours of sleep and I didn't sleep on the plane at all...so naturally right now I'm quite tired (it is 9:45 here, and 1:45 at home...I was eating dinner when everyone back home was waking up haha). Anyways we land in Geneva, HELLO GORGEOUS. flew over Lake Geneva and then hung out in the airport while we activated our Swiss-passes and got money from the ATMs.

***SIDE NOTE***

Dear Mom, apparently American cash isn't too helpful out here. Didn't really know that, but the grocery store wouldn't accept the bills when I tried to buy some chocolate this afternoon. Just letting you know about that odd fact.

anyways. so we then proceed to take a bus to Leysin, about a 2 hour drive, where we stop at a rest stop. This was seriously an odd experience. The bathrooms. I wish i had taken a picture, but this sketch i think will suffice.

step one. stand one foot on each of the grey rectangles. step two. pants down. step three. grip handles and lean/squat down. step four. you can guess. SO WERID. they were totally built in to the floor of the stall-room thing, and to flush, you open the door so it can "see" the light. i guess it flushes through light-sensory? Anyways, it was totally crazy and a very odd new experience.

Switzerland actually reminds me a lot of Utah except the mountains are bigger and cooler looking, the farm lands are actually neat to the point of OCD, and there are lots of greeeen trees! love it. after getting to the hotel we took like a 4 mile hike up to this mountain

Sperry's in Swiss-Land <3

and around the town, to the grocery store etc. had spaghetti for lunch and tasty chicken, rice, and carrots for dinner. dessert for lunch was hazlenut pudding and dinner dessert was raspberry and chocolate sorbet. be jealous :) love you all, I'm astoundingly exhausted and there is lots to do tomorrow.

XOXOXOXO

Also we found this awesome Graffiti on the back of an old/new building. we really liked the Juxtaposition...yeah haha.

SWITZERLAND

2011-05-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

I am going to Switzerland for a study abroad with the USU Graphic Design/Business department in approximately 9 hours. Am I freaking out a little that my computer has decided to go psycho and crash and I'm still in the process of rebooting it? Yeah. Am I worried that I didn't get my money in the bank today because banks close at willy-nilly hours of the day? Definitely. Am I confident that this will be the adventure of a lifetime and everything will somehow work out?? ABSOLUTELY. Stay tuned for a record of all of my crazy times in Europe....

Books Books Books T-shirts

2011-03-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

So, It's spring break and I have done absolutely NOTHING. I stayed in Logan for most of the break to work which I didn't mind because I LOVE my job. a LOT. So I've been coaching, and watching Friends and making these senior collages for the Mountain Crest graduating swimmers. But I really wish I'd had pushed myself to read more. I'm in the middle of reading Atlas Shrugged which i'm really liking so far, but haven't had a chance to pick up in a while, and I'm kind of upset with myself for spending so much time with the TV and not delving into the pages of a book. I've been contemplating time management a lot recently, and the ways people choose to spend their time. I've got a lot of goals I want to accomplish in my life, and a mile-long list of books to read, but are the ways I'm spending my time in accordance with those goals? Last week I was stumbling (thank you stumbleupon.com) and I ran across an article on another blog addressing this VERY issue. The blog is aptly named "You Are Not So Smart". Made me laugh :) anyways this post uses Netflix as an analogy for choosing things that are fun and easy NOW and choosing the more valuable and beneficial options for LATER. So we feel like we are making good choices for our futures, but in all reality we are ALWAYS living NOW. Here's a link to the article, it's pretty long but I HIGHLY recommend it :)

Anyways back on the subject of books, I was talking with one of the kids I coach last week about the AP English Literature test and reminiscing about some of my favorite classics. I really enjoyed The Great Gatsby, and then today I ran across this website of T-Shirts made in vintage movie-poster style for classic books. I really want the Gatsby Tee :)

Happy Spring Break xo

This is me

2011-02-14T22:46:00.001-08:00

so. I find starting a new post completely awkward and forced. That being said, I am going to skip to the meat of the matter and tell you that I think I am (finally) ready to become a (somewhat) reliable blogger. I have discovered that blog-style writing isn't really my thing because I don't like spewing words randomly into a scatterbrained post. I value things that are well thought out and I, being extremely hard on myself, am constantly writing and rewriting (and rewriting) the things I do copy down onto paper...er computer screen. But I've been doing a lot of personal writing anyways for my "Type, Image, and Visual Continuity" class (our assignment is to brand ourselves, ergo a lot of personal discovery...you can't market something until you completely understand it, right?) and I think it might be worthwhile to post bits of it here and there for a while. maybe I'll disappear after that? Or maybe I'll be hooked. Either way, this is me.

bloggy blog blog

2010-08-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

so. A dear friend of mine was being rather pestful today about me updating my blog and after several hours of ignoring her pleas I decided that it was time for me to face my failure and log in. I suck at this haha. I FAILED miserably at book club. Summer flew by, I only managed to read about four of the books on the list and NEVER pulled together a club meeting. For this, I am sorry. But there are a few things that happened this summer that I am not sorry about, and here is a list:

1. Trips.
a) Redfish Lake with miss AllieB and Co. camped out and boated on a gorgeous lake over fourth of July weekend. SO much fun :)
b)NYC with my lovely family...SO much happened: South Pacific weeks before closing on Broadway forever, Metropolitan Museum of Art, WICKED, Good Morning America and TRAIN live (so good!), Yankees vs. Redsox game, shopping, 20th birthday :) also my family is amazing and I had so much fun sitting in central park people watching, eating meat sticks and french creeps and celebrating my special day with REAL New York Cheesecake and Shirly Temples :)
c) Flaming Gorge! I only knew my friend Andi and came back with 10 new friends whom I love. Re-Learned how to Wakeboard and Learned how to Wake Surf....I fell in love with this one. Can't wait to go again and see the Rattlesnake Cove Crew <3

2. Work.
This sounds dumb but I was so grateful I had jobs this summer, especially them being jobs I LOVE. Lifeguarding, I got to do a lot of early morning shifts so I learned TONS from the swim team coaches about how to run a team, set up a workout, enforce rules, and correct technique while getting paid to watch. Second Job, coaching a USA youth swim team with my old high school coach. I learned an incredible amount of information-from how to be the strict coach that everybody loves, to new drills, to how to tweak a swimmer's stroke by the turn of a hand or wrist. I love all of the kids I worked with and miss them a ton, on my last day I got silly bands and cookies which made my entire summer :) The best part is that I got recommended to be a coach for the team up in Logan so now I have a job coaching here with another incredible set of coaches and swimmers and have loved my first two days so far :)

3. Meeting New People, Reconnecting with Old Friends and Everyone Inbetween.
The list of new people I have met is not too long, but we have shared some times I wouldn't trade for anything! From my best friend's wonderful guy and all of his roommates, to the FG crew, to coaches and kids at work, to random friends of friends, I have loved every minute. As for reconnecting with old friends I had so much fun remembering old times, sleeping on roofs, watching sunsets and FB stalking everyone from our pasts. As for all of those inbetween I am so glad we have all kept in contact and am SO looking to the future, taking all of the people in each of these categories with me :)

So, I guess I'm back in the blog world. I'm excited to see what this semester holds <3

Kids these days...

2010-05-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

So i've been pretty busy lately hanging out with a bunch of six, eight, and twelve year-olds at the pool in vain attempt to get them to swim at all, let alone do it correctly! Coaching a swimteam has always been a dream of mine, but it has been a lot more difficult than I ever thought it would be. Being a swim coach is different than coaching other types of sports because it is (I think) more of a mental sport than any other sport out there. It's physically challenging sure, but for me, I doubt I would be the driven, self-motivated, hard-working person I am without the mental strength I developed throughout all those years of circle-swimming. It has been interesting to see the opposite ends of the spectrum in the way kids handle workout at practice: First, there's the few trying so hard to follow coaches' direction that they are literally CRYING throughout the entire workout. Second category includes a few floater kids who skate along without trying too hard, but not slacking either. Third category, and largest might I add, are the kids who whine constantly, taking anything you tell them to work on that will help them improve, and returning with a pathetic "it's too hard" and immediately reverting back to their old ways.
what is with these kids??? Have there always been kids as lazy and resistant to authority, or is this a recent infection of bad behavior to younger generations? How are kids going to ever learn how to work if they dub everything they attempt as "too hard", refusing to change, grow, or- heaven forbid- TRY?!

Book club update:
I failed on our meeting this week because I worked all weekend long. Are people up for meeting Saturday at...One? Let me know...I'll send out a message :) I finished the book on Friday night and I LOVED IT. Excellent recommendation Kristin! Thanks dahling! Next Book: The Hunger Games. Get it, Read it, Love it.
Love you all!

Things that made me smile today

2010-05-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

1. Going to the carwash. There's just something awesome about sitting in your car while this machine engulfs your car, spraying soap and water all over while giant rubber flaps massage the dirt away. Also, a story that will make you laugh: apparently once when my dad was at the carwash he realized something wasn't working properly so he rolled down his window to try and fix it. While in the process, he also drenched the inside of his car with soap and water. CLASSIC.
2. Went on a run to Liberty Park. Covered about three miles, and my legs kill today. However, it was cool to see all the people outside enjoying the first(ish...it was only 80 degrees) day of summer...lots of dogs, roller-bladers, and hippies laying in fields of fluffy white dandiloins. I made a wish, of course. My favorite though was a mom sitting on a bench doing puzzles out of an old crossword book while her baby soaked up some vitamin D.
3. Berry Smoothies at Costco. I don't even have to say anything more.
4. Being at a pool. And making money. Either is great, both together can't be beat.
5. Meeting new friends and clicking immediately, or seeing old friends and realizing you still hve a lot in common.
6. Having great conversation, hearing sweet music, and consuming delicious food.
7. ALSO already having plans for the weekend and it's only tuesday.

Anyways, those are just a few things that brought a smile to my face today...well yesterday. Have a good one!

stick it together with the tape- the tape of loooove....sticky stuff

2010-05-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

First off, three newfound loves:

1. Flight of the Conchords. Thank you Jordan :)
2. Benton Paul. Musician. In my Ward. Amazing. Check out his song "Moon" on itunes. Love. It.
3. Roasted Starbursts. Go up the canyon, put a starburst on a stick, put it in the fire and eat it. Your tongue will thank you.

Today I would like to discuss my summer book club. I've recieved a lot of positive feedback and interest regarding this lil club and I think we're gonna go for it! I think we should do a new book every two weeks and this is my tentative list....seven sets of two weeks during the summer, so seven books total. At the end of each of the two weeks we can get together and go to lunch, meet at someone's house for treats, or something to that effect. Anyone is invited so if you know somebody that likes reading, friends, and food fill them in!

Anyways, after much adieu, the list:

Nineteen Minutes-Jodi Picoult
Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll
The Miracle of Mindfulness-Thich Nhat Hahn
Little Bee-Chris Cleave
Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen
The Book Theif-Markus Zusak

Follow along! These first two weeks we start with Nineteen minutes, so head to Barnes and Noble, the library or a friend and pick up a copy today!

Something else that has been on my mind lately:

Dating. What the heck is the deal with this little social ritual lately? Not being in a relationship is a problem. Being in a relationship is a problem- and apparently dating multiple people at the same time is a MAJOR problem. All I know is that they type of "dating" I have yet to experience is majorly messed up. With the technology of texting, facebook (stalking...creepy, but ubiquitous) etc. interferring with any hope of a legitimate relationship, how is anyone supposed to figure out what dating actually consists of these days?? What happened to the good old days where if a boy was interested he picked up the telephone and called you to ask you out-on a date, just you two, where he picks you up, pays, and drops you off at a reasonable hour with the chance of a magical goodnight kiss? In these modern days there is need for discernment between "just friends", "dating", "going out", "seeing each other", "boyfriend/girlfriend", and the ever-creepy "friends with benefits". All of this aside from the random NCMO. SIGH.
Feedback PLEASE.

Love for now,

Ali

lazy days of summer

2010-05-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone:

I am on a quest to compile my summer reading list....since that is a large majority of what I do during the summer, being a lifeguard and all.
Here is my list so far..if you would kindly add your favorite(s) or anything interesting you've read lately to the list I would very much appreciate it!

Love,
Ali

Everyone Worth Knowing (I saw this at Costco and it looked interesting haha)
Hunger Games and its sequel
Through the Looking Glass
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Agent Bishop
The Kite Runner
Little Bee (thank you Dora)
The Mapping of Love and Death
The Last Song
Dear John
Take Three
The Chronicals of Narnia
The Book Theif
Pride and Prejudice
Angels and Demons

Also I have toyed with the idea of starting a book club....aka basically a chance to read good books and go to lunch with some friends to discuss literature, life, love, and laughs. any thoughts?

can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? i could really use a wish right now...

2010-04-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you how much I am loving my life right now?
I am seriously satisfied with how everything around me is playing out so perfectly. Let me just make you a list of why I am so happy <3

1. The sun is shining in Logan

2. I have the greatest friends. Taco Tuesday, Glee, Dancing, Hot Tubbing, Arrested Development, Stalking, Late Night Chats, Watching Old Movies, The list goes onnnnnnn.

3. School is about to end and I have a summer filled with guarding, reading, tanning, and being with friends ahead of me.

4. A boy is coming TO logan FROM salt lake TONIGHT (a wednesday yes)to make dinner for my roomies and I in order to complete the list of "boyfriend requirements".

5. My boys start coming home from their missions this year :)

6. I am in control of my homework and grades, and am pacing myself instead of leaving everything to the last second

7. I made it into the USU Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) program!

8. My SISTER is living with me next semester at OAKRIDGE with ALLIE BURNHAM and ERICA THORNHILL. love.

9. I am swimming every day and my arm muscles are coming back

10. I have cookies on my shelf in the food cupboard.