Hale (Center Theater) froze over, and my shoes liked it!

Meet my running shoes:


They have been SAD running shoes for the past three months because they have been sadly neglected. I do not want my running shoes to be neglected. This morning, I made them HAPPY again, and Hale froze over too ( Hale Center Theater, that is). My friend, Somer, and I participated in the 3rd annual Hale Freezes Over 5k. We were only slightly chilled, not quite to the freezing stage. :)

Every person who took part in the race received a voucher for two free tickets to see Hale Center Theater's new show, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Now I must figure out who to take to said show. Anyone interested?

Exhibit Anyone?

To my fellow blogger friends:

Did you know that we bloggers might be considered by some to be exhibitionists? I recently listened to a radio program wherein the guest speaker, who had studied blogs extensively and written a book about them, mentioned that blogging could be viewed as a form of exhibitionism. Wait a minute, I thought, I'm not an exhibitionist! If anything, I'm an inhibitionist at heart. The idea, of course, was that people who maintain personal blogs are their own bosses and can, therefore, post whatever they feel like posting. For example, these questions come to mind:

Q: Who is the editor of your personal blog?
A: You are.

Q: Who decides whether or not to write a post about that embarrassing day when you might or might not have started a veggie burger on fire in the microwave at work?
A: You do.

Q: Who carefully chooses background colors, templates, photos, widgets and other bells and whistles to create that one-of-a-kind, uniquely-you, aesthetically pleasing look?
A: Why, of course, the answer is you, yourself, and you.

You and I, the friendly bloggers that we are, just might be exhibitionists. What then, do we choose to put on exhibit? You have the power to create an ambiance for your blog, as strange as that idea may seem to some. You set the tone. You choose the style. You provide the content. And because you have the power to blog about whatever you choose, I would like to say thank you for choosing to share yourselves through your words, stories, and photographs. Thank you for writing about your struggles, desires, and dreams in ways that uplift and inspire others. In a blogger world where we have no editors but ourselves, I personally thank you for providing content that makes me laugh, cry, and feel emotionally satisfied.

My LUUUUUUV Seat

Meet my Roommates and their Fiancees:

Fiancees Part Un: Carla and Casey
(This picture was taken with my camera set to the "fireworks" setting.
They're just getting warmed up!)

And here they are again with a banana slice between their teeth
Perhaps we should call this a banana split?

Now for Fiancees part Deux

(a.k.a. Julia and Hyrum)

The snuggly picture:

And the fun one:

Now meet my luuuuv seat (drum rolls please):

This is a special love seat, mainly because it's the only couch that we have in our living room at the moment. We had two couches until last Saturday, when the husband of a former roommate, Katie, came and took them away. They are her couches, you see, and she generously let us use them until they bought a new house (congrats, guys!). My wee love seat had been sitting, unused, in my old apartment until I had a place to put it.

Now we have plenty of room for it in our living room.

And now we are in a pickle. Who gets the love seat? I quite graciously (snicker) give it up to the couples for the moment, realizing that they are going get quite a lot more loooove out of it than I will.

House Rule: No fighting over the love seat, guys!

Alli lay there like a slug! It was her only defense!

As I was perusing through fun childhood pictures a few weeks ago, I found this one and started chuckling immediately. In case you haven't guessed it yet from the picture I posted here, I'm the kidlet that is laying on the ground. For some reason, this picture brought to mind the part in A Christmas Story when Randy fell in the snow in the face of the feared Scott Farkus and his pint-sized sidekick:


As for me, I was surrounded by some pretty menacing fellows, don't you think? Fast forward to 2010: My niece and nephew do a hilarious scary monster impression that involves raising their hands in the air and making "monster" noises while chasing their "prey" around the living room. It's too cute for words alone. I need to capture it on film. After looking at the above picture, I think the scary monster thing is definitely a family talent.

P.S. If you're wondering where all of these blog posts are coming from after months of Allicat silence, let me explain. I've started no less than 8 blog posts since the last time I actually published one in October, but I obviously haven't finished writing them. The other day, a friend of mine asked if I was Allicat, and told me that they found my blog through another friend's blog. It reminded me that I should actually post some of these unfinished blurbs. Also, if said friend is reading this at this moment, I want said friend to know that they are more than welcome to add their own comments to my blog posts. :)

A Man Who Fought For My Honor...really!

Remember these guys?


And this music video?

Why the reminiscing, you ask? Last week, while waiting at a Trax Station in downtown Salt Lake City, a drunken homeless man decided to befriend me. He sat next to me, started talking with me as if we were old friends, then leaned over and put his hand on my knee....twice. I brushed him away, stood up, and walked around the platform. This tactic of escaping him, however, did not work. He got up and followed me. I asked him to leave me alone, but he wouldn't. He talked to me, but certainly did not listen to what I said to him. By then, the people who I had been sitting next to noticed my predicament and asked if I knew him. Of course, I told them that I didn't, and they gestured for me to sit in an empty chair between them.

The homeless man stayed away for a few minutes, then approached me again. As he did so, the twenties-ish guy sitting on my left, (I'll refer to him as Thoreau because he was reading a book by that author), stood up and used some very, ahem, spicy language to tell the man to stay away. The man did not back down, and the two started shoving one another. At that point, several other people gathered around to watch the spectacle. A train stopped at the station during the scuffle, and somehow the homeless man fell onto the tracks between two of the cars of the train. Thoreau quickly grabbed the homeless man's arm, pulled him out of the tracks, and hopped on the train. I didn't have a chance to thank him before he was gone. After that, the homeless man stayed away from me, and I made it home safely.

Once all of the commotion had died down, the chorus of The Glory of Love kept running through my mind: "I am the man who will fight for your honor. I'll be the hero you're dreaming of..." Am I dreaming about Thoreau? Technically speaking, no. Am I impressed by his willingness to help a stranger out? Wholeheartedly.

It begs the question: would I do the same?

Would you do the same? I think you would.

Cherry Blossoms Across Continents

Exhibit A: Myself and my siblings amongst the cherry blossoms of
Washington DC oh-so-many years ago when I was still cute.

Exhibit B: Cherry Blossoms in Yokota, Japan.

An explanation of the above pictures:
Once upon a time, my family lived near Washington DC because my dad was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base for a time. Now, more than two decades later, my dad's job is again taking him to a place where a person can find cherry blossoms in the spring: Yokota, Japan. No joke. He and my mom will be there for at least two years. I am going to miss them like the dickens, but I am also so very excited for them. When my brother bought them a webcam for Christmas last year, it was because he and his family were moving to Georgia. No one had any idea that we'd be communicating from different continents in 2010.

P.S. - Can anyone guess which little girl I am in the picture? It shouldn't be too difficult. For obvious reasons, this question is not open to family members. =D

Conquer Thyself

My friend, Karina, and I ran a marathon last month. I started a blog post about it that day, but never finished writing it. Tonight I pulled it out of my virtual desk, blew the digital dust off of it, and have posted it here for your viewing pleasure:

Items Learned and Re-learned at the Top of Utah Marathon:

Items Learned:
1. The next time I run a marathon, I'm going to wear a shirt with an inspirational message on the back of it. While running the TOU marathon, a guy that was in front of my friend and I had a shirt on that said "Conquer Thyself." It was a great reminder of why people choose to do epic things like running marathons.
2. Icy Hot is my new best friend.
3. Do not put Icy Hot on sunburned skin. Double the hotness, double the sizzle, double the fun.
4. When I grow up, I want to volunteer at marathons. Or, if my house is ever on a marathon route, I want to sit in my yard with a sprayer and spray people with water as they run by.

Items Re-learned:
1. My parents rock. They met me at the finish line. I hope I get to see them at all of the finish lines in my life.
2. My mother is an angel. She rubbed my swollen, sweaty feet after the race. At that point, I definitely had feet that only a mother could love.
3. Even un-athletic people like myself can successfully train for and run marathons. Regular training and good nutrition are key, and they help to establish good habits in general. Score!