Christmas Joys (:

This Christmas was definitely different.  It wasn't the same at all.  Although, because of that, it became sort of a wonderful experience for me.  I wasn't expecting any gifts and I knew Christmas Eve partying would be a little bit different but I was excited all the same.

FIRST.. we went mini-golfing with the family.. I was SOOO bad. It was awesome!

After that we went to my aunt's house and enjoyed dinner/breakfast with the family which I have NO pictures from because I actually enjoyed the night with my family!

Christmas gifts we opened on Christmas afternoon.  My family was so grateful! Every gift that was opened was from someone outside of our immediate family, which was actually a really cool experience.

Alina.. $50 and a Movie Ticket!

Marcus.. $50 and a HoHoHo Card!

Mom and Dad.. $100, 2 Movie Tickets, and a Gift Card (for food!)

Izaak.. Prepaid Visa and chocolate kisses :P

Dad.. $100 and a card!

Alina.. $50 and a "Christmas" card!

Marcus.. Prepaid Visa and a chocolate kiss!

Ma.. $100 and a "Noel" card!

The whole family got a Christmas Jar with Target gift cards!

Alina.. Prepaid Visa and chocolate kisses!

Izaak, $50 and a Movie Ticket!

Marcus.. $50 (not shown) and a Movie Ticket!

And of course I had to get my mom a calendar!

And by the way.. those Movie Tickets were gone the next day.  We had a family outing and went to see Sherlock Holmes which was AWESOME!!

On Christmas I also got to catch up with an old friend of mine that I haven't seen in 8 years!  That was honestly amazing and totally unexpected.  It will definitely be a Christmas to remember.

Alina Lauren..

Justin Bieber

I was shopping for soap today.. I turned to see my brother checking out the Justin Bieber toothbrushes and I knew it would be a perfect moment for a photo.  I got out my phone quickly and opened up the camera setting so fast.

Waiting for the right moment I held the phone behind my back.  My brother picked up the box and turned to me saying, "Hey Alina, this is what I want for Christmas!"  And BAM. He didn't even see it coming.

I'm so ninja.

Alina Lauren..

Children

I'm about to take out my anger on the population of kids around the world that are "in a relationship."
You're not even 10 years old!
BOYS HAVE COOTIES!

You're supposed to be using a jump-rope and a yo-yo to have fun.  Not posting on your Facebook, "get to see my baby today, so excited!"

I don't even get to see my "baby" ... okay maybe I do, but my baby is a dog, not a 10 year old boy. And I don't get that excited about it.

Alina Cooper...

Happiness..

I realized, today, the meaning of true happiness.

How does this make you feel?

AWESOME!

Alina Cooper

Creativity..

Today my dad and I decorated a stick for my Sugar Plum Fairy number. We painted it red and drenched it in glitter. It was beautiful!

Stick will be added later.. (: ... maybe.

Alina Lauren..

Finals Part 2

Now that finals are finally over I realize how scatter brained I've been. I think its to due the room I've been.. sleeping in?

This is depressing..

I don't have time to clean it.. Dance show this weekend and bell choir performances.

Alina Lauren..

Finals

Oh the beauty of finals.  Didn't I just clean my room a few days ago? Yeah, didn't last.

My bed isn't even made..

Depressing isn't it.  My mind looks the same as my room.  Stupid finals!!

Alina Lauren..

Beautiful Girl.

Today I went to a girl's birthday party. I used to babysit her ALL the time! She calls me Auntie "Ina" (short for Alina, but she couldn't say it) and she is just too adorable!  For her birthday her parents set up their studio like a little club and they were all dancin' the night away! I had a lot of fun, and I miss her so much!!

Sadelle and Me!

Alina Lauren..

P.S. Yes that is a giraffe hat. Isn't it cute?!

Dance Shoppe

Today.. I found out that the dance shoppe I'm working at is closing soon. Unless they find someone to buy it, which I'm doubting will happen.  One of the only dance shoppes in Vegas!! They can't, they just can't.

Alina Lauren..

Missed yesterday..

Nothing happened yesterday. But today something did!

Not only did my friend Kassidy and I make adorable matching hats, but I also got busy with the pipe-cleaner thingys!

Spelled my name.

Made a flower that I will someday give to the love of my life.

The picture of our Santa Hats will come later.. after I steal the picture from her.. !!

Alina Lauren..

Super Energy Mode!

So today I was eating... Booboo got mad at me for not sharing.. How rude of me, huh?

Angry Booboo..

I also decided to clean my room and I made sure to take some before and after pictures! It was a mess and now not only my room is cleared out but my mind is as well!

Before

After

Until next time,

Alina Lauren..

Day of ... Something.

I'm not feeling creative at all today.. Nothing particularly amazing happened.  I finished two college classes though! Gotta love that! College is great.  And .. there was something else but I can't remember.

I REALLY have to clean my room. Winter Break is so useful for such stupid little things that will make my life so much better in a dumb way. It would probably take me an hour to completely dung out my room and I just can't find the energy! So.. I'm going to bed.. want a picture for today? okay.. umm here's my brother :D

I'm Sexy and I Know It...

Yes. That's celery. He was high on it.. last Thanksgiving. Good times!

Alina Lauren..

Boys in Every Store.. :P

Yes I found myself singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," and literally accidentally, unconsciously used the words boys instead of toys.. Boy am I a dreamer.. "Boys in every store." That'd be awesome huh?

I also dug through the back of my closet and found this lovely sweater. I'm TOTALLY in Christmas mood now. I'm wearing this sweater to school too. And dance. Watch me. I'll do it, proudly. ;)

I look sexy.

AND I realized I had this beautiful version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" on my iPod.. It is playing below. Such a cute, cheezy song!

Alina Lauren..

Sunday...

Today I attempted to record my first song for the harp.. on my own.

The song is called Chanson sans paroles (Song Without Words) and I honestly hadn't played this song for months before today so when I decided to do that one I knew it would be a little rusty. However I found that the recording of my harp did not pick up the warmth that you can feel and hear in-person but other than that it wasn't too bad. I hope you enjoy!

Alina Lauren..

Saturday..

I had dance today. I knew I was going to be hungry so I took action.

I ate a whole pomegranate.

Isn't that SO delicious looking! My hands were temporarily stained but the flavor was well worth the work!

I also performed a number at an art school (LVA) here in Vegas.. that was fun! ... yeah. Beforehand I stuck around at my studio with some younger girls there and we choreographed to "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. Forgot how much I love to choreograph. I think I freaked them out a little bit though! I was going crazy...

Alina Lauren..

Friday..

It rained today.. FINALLY! It's feeling more like the Christmas season every day and it is wonderful!

Gazing out the window at a Las Vegas winter. Brown and wet :D

Alina Lauren..

Thursday..

My brother made a tree topper for our baby Christmas tree!  He is so talented. It's amazing.

Loverly.

Alina Lauren..

Wednesday..

My brother made a meal today.. A delicious egg-filled, egg-only, spooky meal.. It freaked me out.  He was extremely proud. Look at this thing.

Oooooo...

Frightening huh?

Alina Lauren

Mistletoe

So I changed my theme to match my very holiday filled attitude.. I love the mistletoe!

Anyways! I learned a while ago that it takes someone 10 years to become a "professional" at any one thing.  I have now decided that I have spent at least 10 years of my life singing gaily in the shower.  My mom dubbed me the "Professional Shower Singer" and I feel unbearably proud to have the honor of holding that title.

And.. let me just take a moment to say...

You get a golden star.

Unfortunately, today I have apparently run out of things to say. But to keep everyone coming back I am including another picture of my other brother with my boyfriend.. They're both so picturesque! 

Adorable (:

Alina Lauren..

Memories of Yesterday.. Literally.

Yes, I know I forgot yesterday.  In fact, I deliberately forgot. Sorry! So much work!

So first of all, Sunday I was reminded of a quote and I wasn't going to write about it but I changed my mind..
"Why is everyone so worried? Don't they know that everything will be alright?"
Isn't that so true? Everything will be alright. We just have to believe. That definitely lifted my spirits, especially in this holiday season, it was a wonderful gift.  Just that knowledge.

Moving on.. So yesterday I was thinking about the times when people would ask me how much I liked homeschooling. One specific question I remember being asked multiple times was, "didn't you love going to school in your pajamas?!" ... Why yes. Yes I did. I still do, in fact. I love wearing my pajamas to school. They are very comfortable.  That factor in my schooling has not changed in case you haven't noticed.

For a research essay I was reading an article on dancers.  This is my new favorite quote of ALL time.
... "it is possible to be slim, trim and really healthy - and eat a lot."
It's true! Living proof is all around! I love eating a lot so this quote really gave me a wonderful amount of emotional hope.

Lastly for today I would like to interest my readers in a lovely, recently-taken photo of my brother and my boyfriend.  Enjoy!

Aren't they so cute?!

Alina Lauren..

Weekend of Gratitude

To begin with, this Thanksgiving was wonderful. I couldn't have expected anything better.  I gained a little bit of weight which I vow to lose over the next week. I finished a lot of random, unnecessary extra credit homework as well as completely necessary, time-consuming homework.

I now understand why the Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday! It is the dreaded day when all procrastination up to that point must be obliterated so the nerdy student may catch up with their assignments. No fun at all, in my opinion.

Saturday night my mother, brother, and I set up our lovely tiny Christmas tree.  My aunt provided us with these darling little snowmen to hang on it's branches.

 

I've found myself switching to the 106.5 fm station to listen to Christmas music nonstop and I can't stop singing Sleigh Ride to myself as my mom whispers "you wish" after every line of the song.
For example: 
Giddy-yup giddy-yup giddy-yup its grand, just holding your hand ("you wish")
Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we ("you wish")
We're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be ("you wish")
("Dang Alina, you might just have to get yourself a boyfriend if you want this Christmas season to work out.")
Thanks Mom..

Until tomorrow,
Alina Lauren..

Thanks and Giving..

Earlier this week my father and I went to the more ghetto side of town to visit some friends.. I hadn't realized how hillbilly or redneck this side of town was until we started pulling away from my friend's house.  Right in front of me stood a half-naked man and all I could see was pot belly and butt crack.. scarred for LIFE. (Sorry LeeAnn.. it was a memorable experience that I couldn't pass up on the blog.)

This week I also came home to a HUGE turkey pot thing on our stove.  The first thing I thought of was Mama Odie in Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" ... Don't they look so happy together?! Made me laugh!

Then my little brother handed me a sandwich.. Apparently we had one extra piece of bread so he decided to make me a Double Decker sandwich.. I only got through half of that sucker!

So... Much... Bread...

That's all for this week!

Alina Lauren..

Shopping and Selling

Last weekends wonderful highlights can only partly be accounted for in this post..

First of all.. I found out that I am no longer going to be the only granddaughter on my mom's side of the family! My aunt is having a girl! How fun is that!

Second. My dance studio had a wonderful yard sale to raise money for our winter show! And I had some wonderful buys to show for it as well.. as you can see below.  This is a collection of four Winnie-The-Pooh stories! Since my nursery is going to be vintage Winnie-the-Pooh theme these were perfect and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Aren't they adorable?

"Thank you, Pooh," answered Eeyore.
"You're a real friend," said he.
"Not like Some," he said.

I also scored on a Michael Jackson t-shirt!! (Pictures to be uploaded the moment the shirt gets out of the wash.)  I'm unbearably proud of my find! I believe I should go yard sale shopping more often..

Alina Lauren..

Catching Up!

I deeply, deeply apologize for the inconvenience in my lengthy absence! School gets crazy, schedules get out of control, and their have to be priorities. Unfortunately going to the movies to see "The Muppets" was one of the higher priorities.

However I will write a few posts to catch up. This post will be all of the posts covering the rest of the week following my last post.

1. My dad and I were driving to the high school to pick up my and after we picked him up and were driving away my exclaimed "There's nothing hot like a girl sucking a butt." To make this worse, I didn't see the girl that was smoking her cigarette near us so I got a completely different picture in my head and it took me a while to figure out what exactly he said. My brother was already crackin' up.

2. With my new iPod Touch I decided to purchase my favorite game EVER. Cake Mania.. yes nerdy, I know. My brother started arguing with me saying that Angry Birds was definitely better; however, I've never played Angry Birds before so I couldn't REALLY argue. So we were at it for a bit and when I thought he'd finally given up he states, "I'm sorry Alina, but Angry Birds takes the cake."
Yeah yeah.. funny pun.  It kinda made my day though!

3. This week I also invested in a fruit that I haven't tasted in the longest time. Pomegranates. Sweet, juicy, delicious pomegranates. (Picture can be seen below.) I bought 3 of them and I couldn't stop eating them!

Yummy, yummy seeds.

That was a relatively short overview of last weeks highlights!

Alina Lauren..

Standing Still

First of all, I had tuna for breakfast. That was interesting. Anyways!

This morning I put my hair up in this beautiful purple butterfly clip and it was just so flowy and wonderful! Truly breathtaking. The butterfly clip, I mean.

I also made delicious muffins for my family! Banana Nut Bread and Mixed Berry. The Mixed Berry ones were 100 times better than the Banana Nut Bread ones.. I don't do well with nuts.  But they were cute and little!

Yum!

On top of that my new iPod Touch came in the mail! It's beautiful and it can actually hold all my music! How wonderful is that?  The first song it played for me was "Bad" by Michael Jackson and I found myself singing "You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it." Courtesy of Weird Al.. I just can't take that song seriously ever again! Then it played Jewel's "Standing Still" ... such a touching song! (Hence you get the post title)

Beautiful new iPod Touch!

Until we meet again,

Alina Lauren..

The Sound of Bells

Today I also got my Young Womanhood Recognition award along with this lovely necklace to show all of my hard work and service hours.  For those of you who aren't LDS this is basically a young woman's Eagle Scout Project. This is me and my lovely temple pendant!

After church this afternoon (:

I have also come to realize today that I have a deep appreciation and love for Michael Jackson and his brilliant music.  After listening to "The Way You Make Me Feel" (as well as Smooth Criminal and Earth Song) on the way home from church and jammin' out to the song in the car with my family I can't help but feel happier!  He was truly a gifted and talented musician, as well as performer (however, possibly lacking in other aspects of his life.)

I have officially set up my own personal Christmas tree in my room, how cute do you think that is? I know we're not even passed Thanksgiving yet but I just couldn't wait any longer!


Also going along with the Christmas theme.. and the title of this post, today I had bell choir and bell quartet rehearsal to prepare for Christmas-time. That has been a lot of fun for me! However, it really hurts to hold up bells for a long period of time, but I'm getting used to it! Can't wait to record us playing so I can put it up for everyone to see.

With Love,
Alina Lauren..

It's Easy, Let It Go

The title of this post is directly linked to the song Adia by Sarah Mclachlan.. I found myself listening to that song today and wondering if she was saying that we are born "in a sin" (you know, like the Catholics believe, or something) or we are born "innocent." Don't worry! Everyone can calm down because I checked and it's definitely "innocent," she just doesn't pronounce her Ts very well.

Along with this adventure I came home to my aunt's dog freakin out because he was so excited I was home.. but when I got out my phone to take a picture of him he got really shy..

Everyone meet my boyfriend. Tubs aka BooBoo.

After the initial excitement of returning home from 5 and a half hours of dance I realized that the house smelled delicious!  My parents and brothers had cooked dinner together! Homemade pizza. YUM!

 And to top this wonderful day off I found out that my cousin asked for me for Christmas! That is not meant in an awkward way! He asked his parents if they could arrange for me to come visit during the holidays so we could hang out! I haven't seen my cousin in about a year now and I miss him SOO much!

I also became relatively depressed when I realized I can't talk about my love life openly here on my blog! The information is way too open to the public and thus way to available to any boys I'm crushing on.. but I'll try to include cute little moments here and there for some entertainment.  None for today though! Too much work to do and too much dance concentration.. or just enough of each.

Until tomorrow,
Alina Lauren..

First Post of Many..

This was taken last November.
I was lying on a bench under a tree, daydreaming.

So I've officially decided to keep up on my blog daily.. I'll make it happen as best I can.

And what better day to start then on 11/11/11 at 11:11 pm!

Should bring me good luck huh? Not that I believe in all that crap but at least I'll be able to say I did it.

"Daily posts about what?" you may be asking.  Honestly.. nothing. Just random things that I've heard and seen throughout the day that deserves to be talked about.  I also want to include some of my specific life goals and ambitions and dreams and how everything is going with that.

For example, today my family and I were sitting at the dinner table and my mom brought up that she was listening to the radio today and people were arguing whether a man who sodomizes with 8 boys is mentally ill or not.. she was very angry.  And after letting out her anger my brother proceeded to ask what sodomizing was.  That made for an interesting discussion.. after which we blessed our food and ate. Of course I had to say the prayer and I was still in shock by the details........

After that my brother brought up the quote (I'm butchering this horribly) "there is no love more sincere than the love of food."  I argued the point because I said I loved my mom more than I loved even my favorite food! (Which just so happens to be mangoes.) I brought up the idea that if a man had a gun to my mother's head and told me he'd kill my mother if I ate the mango next to me I would hand him the mango and tell him I wanted my mom back.

My brother said that is irrelevant because under no circumstances would a man hold my mother and a mango hostage. You never know.. There are so many possibilities in this world.  I mean, ever seen Criminal Minds?! They do some weird stuff in that show!

Anyways! Along with these two interesting conversations I also danced all morning.. practicing for my studio's Christmas Show. We're doing a number to Christmas Shoes by Alabama and there's this little part where a little boy sings and I find it so cute!! Apparently it creeps everyone out though.. And THEN my knee started bleeding like crazy because we do a bunch of stuff on our knees throughout the whole dance.. it was gross.

My dad also made homemade hash-browns for dinner which was a wonderful surprise! Being poor definitely has its up-sides, don't you think?

Those are all of my highlights for today!

Alina Lauren..

P.S. I literally sat for 28 minutes doing my laundry before I posted this at 11:11 on 11/11/11.. I'm a nerd.