Lumpy Space Skirt

I lumping love my lumping new space skirt. (If you don't get it by now, don't worry about it.) And this is as close as it gets to a fashion post.

Dear Space Skirt,

I saw you several months ago for the first time. I checked you out...I'll admit it. You were hot, but kind of weird. Who would fall for you? You're shiny, pleated, short, and elastic! On top of that, you cost almost $40! I knew that soon enough your expectations would fall. You could hang there and pretend people would like you enough to pay, but we both knew the truth. Sure enough, two months later I saw you again. You had moved from your beautiful, clean place in a great location, to the sketchy, gross, pile-up place in the back of the store. The clearance rack. You were on the clearance rack.

I picked you up for a quick six dollars. I took you home. I loved you like no one else ever would. And I will continue to do so. Because you are my space skirt. And together, we will create our own fashion. 

Love,

Nikole

We've heard ENOUGH about silks!

I know that everyone is sick of silks. But Tarzan is over now and with my muscles slowly melting away and my fat cells growing again, I thought I'd better share some pictures before I turn into a blob. Oh, and because I'm Nikole, I'll probably add effects that actually make the photos a little less cool. I can't help it! I'm addicted.

Andrea rocking our most dangerous move

Emily (our awesome silks director) made us awesome necklaces
Makeup credit: Mandolynn Browning

The opening: Me, Becka, Andrea

Me, Becka, Andrea

No hands! Becka

Twirlin' up in a split

Finding our balance point: Me, Becka

Straddle back! Me, Becka, Andrea

The mermaid and the "something move?" Me, Becka

My balance point

The necklace again. She's just so darn sweet!

Becka and Andrea workin it: Becka, Andrea

Me workin' it

Becka and I doing a contortion: Me, Becka

Our famous plank stacking. Top to bottom: Becka, Andrea, Me

The fairy wrap :) Me and Becka

Swingin around! 

My straddle back

Becka doin' her awesome lotus

Our famous plank stack again.
Costume Credit: Spencer Potter

My new friends :)
Makeup credit: Mandolynn Browning
Costume Credit: Spencer Potter

How to be not skinny and love it.

I'm not fat. I feel like I actually have a pretty rockin' bod. What's weird is that I've lived with the same weight (more or less...fluctuations are inevitable (that's my way of justifying weight gain (not to say that fluctuations in body weight don't naturally happen (although it could just be that everyone uses it to justify sudden weight gain (/loss)))) for a couple of years.  So why is it that sometimes I feel hot and other times I feel like putting on pants is the equivalent of shoving a potato into a straw?

Courtesy of Alaina-Kyle Photography

Sometimes I look in the mirror and I have a very narcissistic fall-in-love-with-myself moment. I can't look away. I'm the best. But more often, I look in the mirror and my eyes glaze to my least favorite parts. They linger on a blotchy part of skin or gushy midsection. I can't look away... I'm the worst. But lately, those moments occur less and less often. Be ready friends, I'm about to give you the first, that's probably a lie, guide on how to not be skinny and love it.

Step 1: Stop worrying about it.

I'm not saying that if you are unhappy with the way you look, just change your mentality and it'll all be better. I'm just saying stop stressing over it. Stop telling yourself that you have to look some way to be happy. And please, for the love of all cute, fuzzy animals, stop saying "I just want to be healthy and fit," while thinking that THIS is how all "healthy and fit" people look.

 I don't look like that and I climbed a 16 ft rope to the top of the ceiling and rang the cow bell yesterday. Yeah. Brag, brag, brag.

In the end, a lot of you are probably thinking, "Yeah, that's easy for you to say." And you're right. I'm comfortable with my body and it's a pretty good one. Maybe this whole post just annoys you. And that's fine. Really, all I'm getting at is that I'm happy with my body when I used to not be.

So.

That's about it.

Where did my time go? Oh yeah, green fabric.

Every night I roll a sock full of sticky rosin between my hands. Without it, my fingers slide through the jungle green silk and my body slams into the squishy mat below. Well. For now. Soon I'll stand on a angled platform six feet off the ground. I don't really want to slam into (or off of) that. 

Yeah, I have to go to hours of music and blocking rehearsals to just sing backstage. Yes, it's lame that I'm only in six minutes of the whole show. And sure, being covered by some weird flying plant thing is kind of disappointing. 

But, I love developing this new skill. I love my new muscles. I love finding flexible positions. I love my new friends.

I possess a new confidence in my body and my appearance that I've struggled to grasp for, well, my entire life! I'm not meant to be the star of this show. Heck, I'm not meant to really be seen in this show (it would seem). I'm meant to try hard to master a unique skill. I was destined to feel like an underdog in order to push myself more than I ever have before. 

I'm happy to be the sultry "Soul Tree" climbing my fabric among bug children, dancers, weird lighting, and fog for six minutes. I'll use the support of my four new friends and my jungle green silk...and I will be awesome!

College: Books Don't Have to Break the Bank

Obviously, school is a BIG part of my life now. It's also huge for a lot of you guys! But college is expensive. I'm currently attending one of the most inexpensive schools (for the "payout") in the west, and it's still breaking the bank. One of the biggest expenses, as we all know, is the hundreds of dollars every semester we spend on books. Renting books is definitely the way to go, and CampusBookRentals is the place to do it. I've heard about campusbookrentals.com from a lot of different people, but you guys really need to check it out.
Why?

1. You can save anywhere from 40-90% off of bookstore prices! For example, I bought my biology book for $100 USED ($150 full price), I found it on the site for $60. 
2. FREE shipping both ways (when you rent it and return it)
3. Highlight? Yes, please. Hint- Annotating textbooks is one of the easiest ways to check comprehension. Do it.
4. They donate to Operation Smile (More info here)

Really, it's a no brainer.

                

However, the absolute coolest thing, is Rent Back.

So, instead of selling your books back for TONS less than you bought them, you can rent them out and make way more money.

All you do, is send your book to CampusBookRentals, a student rents it, and you get paid. THEN, they send it back to CampusBookRentals, another student rents it, and you get paid again. And again and again until it runs out of juice and gets sold.

It's easy to do and the site itself is incredibly user friendly. Quite frankly, I don't see a downside.

It's already midterms, so it's a great time to start thinking about your textbook plans for next semester. Our book lists DON'T have to cost a lot, and hey, let's make money on the books we already have!

Catch-up

I hate catch-up posts...Mostly because there's only a few blogs I follow that I really want to know what they've been up to. However, when we write our blog posts, I think it's important to remember who we write them for. Sometimes we write them for "sponsors." Sometimes we write them for ourselves to feel good or pretty or popular. Often times we write them to the world, because we feel impassioned about something, and we want (or need) to share it. But no matter who we write to, there's always people that are close to us that read it all.

And that's why we write catch-up posts. (for this kind of blog anyway)

School: I'm doing very well in school, and Taylor is also. We got this :) Also, after attending both BYU and USU, I have to say that they are pretty much equal. Anything USU lacks, BYU probably has and vice versa (however you say that). I definitely like USU better,  but I'm sure I'm biased.

That being said, we have some school pride. Taylor, actually, has a ton of school pride.

• Games:

Our packed stadium

We camped out in the freezing weather for good seats to the game.

We rocked it on the kiss cam :)

• Choir:

I had fun at my first choir concert (despite every girl feeling like our boobs were falling out of our rather low-cut dresses)

My face is covered...but I'm the second from the left on the second row

Work: Like many poor college students, we work too. Taylor works a lot for comcast, and I work graveyards doing custodial at the University. Glamour jobs? No. But we are very very thankful to have them.

Church: Our ward is excellent! Everyone is very inviting, and we have already made a lot of friends. We also dominated the weird hat competition at our first ward activity and won a $25 giftcard to 4 different restaurants! We also shot pumpkins at a car..oh so fun.

We won!

The car didn't stand a chance

Dates: We try to still make time for dates with our busy schedules, and of course, we dress up for them.

I felt so cute, I had to share :)

He's so hot. I know. And manly too!

College Kids

We're finally full on college kids! After a couple of weeks of school, I've learned that I'm a much better student married. I'm suddenly more mature... I don't know when it happened, but it certainly did! My acting class is nerve racking, of course, but really fun. It's always nice to have a couple of classes where almost any classmate is a potential good friend. I had an impromptu audition for a couple of student directors yesterday, and I did pretty well. At least, I think I did. My choir audition went well also. It was just an audition for parts, but somehow getting into the first soprano section with a "I wish I could sing that high" from my director shot my confidence up. It's been years since I've sang with a choir, but I still have my range. Personal victory? Absolutely.

I still don't know what I want to major in. English, Theater, and Vocal Performance are all swirling around in my head; each one squealing "Pick me! Pick me!" And then there's the annoying voice of Mr. Double Major that I'm trying very hard to ignore. Less than a year ago I was absolutely sure that I was going to be a Math Ed. major, but that little guy is nowhere to be found in my head now.

We're still figuring out this new life of ours. I have two interviews today and one tomorrow. I just need one part-time job! You guys, Subway didn't call me back. Subway. Although, I could tell the interviewer wasn't all too impressed with my religious affiliation. I'll blame it on that.

Fall is a time of change. The leaves change, sure, but don't lives seem to always change around fall? School creeps in, work becomes real, summer fun is over. This year, we're welcoming the change.