Well HeLLO!

HI! I'm not sure why I'm writing this, caus really I should be in bed, but Jordan is playing his favorite video game NBA 2K9. ??? yup. But I love it, caus he let me try it one time with him... but I messed up his team somehow and he almost lost, ahahaha. He said they scored 20 points in 2 minutes when I was playing for him! YIKES!

Here is probabaly the biggest issue in my life-and what this post is dedicated to:
Bacteria. Germs. Cooties. Fungai. Microorganisms.
You know what I mean. Everyone knows it by a different name.

They stress me out so much.

They are the reason I spent over thirty minutes in the shower tonight, the reason I couldn't wait to come home- so that I could take a shower and use my new anti-bacterial bar of Dial Soap and scrub and scrub, wash my hair, wash and wash, and MOST ESPECIALLY-------use my bar of Dial Soap to scrub the skin next to my hair line. Why?
Because it makes me sick to my stomach to think about how my hair products clog my pours and caus me to break out.
This is the reason that I left the house today feeling gross like I wanted to turn around and take a shower, even though I just spent time doing my hair and makeup.

How does this all relate? Clogged Pores caus bacteria which causes acne.
Oh and it stresses me out so much.

After we got married, Jordan and I went shopping at Costco and bulked up on good stuff like body wash, Oreos, Etc. So, we still are on our 2nd bottle of Dove Body Wash from our 3 pack.
Well Dove ain't doin for me anymore.

So this week I finally went out and bought bar soap, because after we stayed at the Holiday Inn hotel in Newport Beach, California for Jared's wedding, I brought home the bar of soap from our hotel room, and i really enjoyed it, because I like the feel of the tight dry skin, because it makes me feel like there is no oil clogging my pores after I shower.
So I bought a bar of Dial Soap (ok well a pack of 3 for only like $2.19 :)

Why did I chose this kind? ----Well here is the reason behind the dillemma:
My "nice" and "name brand" "Dove" body wash.... DOES NOT SAY ANTIBACTERIAL ON IT.
So here is my thought process:

Why would people want to buy soap, to WASH their body with... that doesn't kill germs...fight bacteria...etc? I don't understand the point of getting in the shower just to wash the dirt off your body, but not wash the bacteria and germs? Lets be realistic here, who really checks the back of the soap/body wash/shampoo that they buy to make sure it says "kills bacteria" or "antibacterial" ? Well I do now.
And let me tell you: To find soap/body wash that is antibacterial (at least at Smiths) you have to look for the Sub-Heading of the Hygiene Section. So it says: "Body Wash" and then next to that section is the "antibacterial soap/bodywash" section. Stupid right? Who wants to buy soap from the section that is not part of, but only nEXt to the "antibacterial soap" section? pointless to me.
Anyways, I looked it up today on wikipedia, the greatest, but not for research papers, and found some information about my enemy:

"All liquid hand and body soaps contain antibacterial chemicals. Triclosan is a common ingredient, as is alcohol. Since there is a great variety of bacteria, effectiveness against any given type of bacterium does not ensure that it is effective against unrelated types. These are generally only contained at preservative level unless the product is marked antibacterial, antiseptic, or germicidal. Triclosan, Triclocarban/Trichlorocarbamide and PCMX/Chloroxylenol are commonly used for antibacterial and deodorant effect in consumer products."

Take a read at that article. It will explain much to you.
So this whole situation where too much antibacterial may lead to not a good situation is explained here.


So:

1. When I spay the whole house, couch, bed, pillows, countertops, closets, bathroom with Lysol before every trip up north,
2. When I wash my hands and pump the soap over and over again JUSt because I'm washing my hands in a dirty bathroom at the gas station,
3. When I wash my hands after every hair-touching episode over and over with antibacterial soap,
4. When I Purell instant hand sanitize my phone with tissue daily to get rid of my face/hand germs that constantly are in contact with my face and hands (therefore causing the side of my face next to my ear break out in consistant cycles),
5. When I Cringe at the thought of my makeup brush containing yesterday and last weeks dirty face bacteria and particles,
6. When I SERIOUSLY cringe at the thought of my dish scrubber being filled with more bacteria than a pile of dog poop, (therefore I really have nothing to clean my dishes with, because everything that ISN'T NEW ...is contaminated),
7. When I think twice about itching my face or neck because I don't know how dirty my hands are and because ALL I'm thinking about is how many germs I might be about to put on my face,
8. When I tell Jordan not to touch my face,
9. When I don't want to hug Jordan after he's played basketball because his sweaty body will clog my pores,
10. When I hate sleeping in sheets that I haven't washed in less than 3 days,
11. When I carry my mini-purell bottle in my backpack and use it every time I'm nervous, before AND after I play the piano (c'mon that is understandable right? Who KNOWS how many people have picked their nose before playing on any of the pianos at school? or Wiped their nose, etc)

......................so....
..............................When I do all these things...
...........................................................................I'm really not doing myself a favor, I'm actually doing something that may turn out to be a not-so-good thing............

Oh well. Better clean than not, right?

.... but the first bar of Dial Soap is already almost gone :)

So the new trend-one Blog Post per month:) haha

hi! like the title says, I guess our new trend is to post one blog per month. because now its December... so here goes:

As usual, we have been so busy with life. After our crazy Thanksgiving trip to Las Angeles California (lOng story maybe I'll write about it another time) , I was sick for the following couple days and didn't work or go to school and that always stinks :( And since then, we have been just on our toes catching up and gathering our energy to finish up the semester.

The past 5 months have been wonderful and difficult but a special special experience as well. Being a student after getting married has been probably the best time of my life. If you want to do well in school...get married! haha. Maybe thats not true for everyone, but for me and jordan it defINAtely has been true. Because I have grown so much since meeting Jordan, I have taken a greater pleasure in the responsibility of an education and balancing a marriage. Since we mostly just want to be with each other, doing homework isn't a hassel because we're together doing it :) And when I get frustrated and sick of doing what I'm doing, he is here to cheer me up and give me a break :) I just love it.

Jordan and I went to Cafe Rio' the other night to share an AMAzing salad, and when we get in line we start talking and all of a sudden this tall guy in front of us turns around and says hi to jordan and it seemed like he knew him well, and I was thinking, oh another mission friend,... no. It was the teacher of his very favorite class, his Visual Technologies teacher :) WEIRD THOUGH, because Jordan told me that he just graduated from Dixie last year, and now this year he is teaching there so thats why I would have mistaken him for a mission friend. His teacher was there with his cute wife and 2 little girls. adorable! We are hoping that this teacher can maybe teach the Photoshop class that we will be taking together this summer!

Big Things Going On:
-I have a Piano Recital on Wednesday!!! AH!!! It's my first Piano Recital in like 2 1/2 years! I'm excited because it is the first time that Jordan will be there, but I am sad because for the first time in 15 years of piano and recitals, my parents wont be there :( Its very very sad, but its part of going away to college and choosing to be a million miles away. My parents haven't even seen me play piano since I started lessons again and all my new songs :*( but last week i played my songs for them on the phone, and my mom and dad told me which song they liked the best, but it wasn't the one that i was ready to play for the recital, so i joked to my mom that i chose to play their least-favorite song for the recital so that they wouldn't be missing anything :) haha.
actually its true though lol.
i miss them so much, and i'm devastated that I don't get to come home for Christmas AGAIN! ahhhhh. After this Christmas, i will have officially missed the past THREE CHRISTMAS' AT MY GRANDMAS HOUSE :*( so sad. Truthfully, Christmas doesn't feel so happy because it's that magical time when everybody wants to spend with their family and get time off work and school to take a break and go home and be with their family and enjoy the spirit of the season, but thats not whats in store for me this Christmas, and I just wish it was. Another truth: "Holiday Season" doesn't feel like anything special in St. George, Utah because there is no snow, barely any lights (you can't even really see the lights that aRe up because there is no snow for them to shine against) no Christmas music stations???, No candy-cane lane, no Santas around, it just doesn't feel Christmas Cheery down here :( I guess thats the price you pay to have 60 degrees in December) and NO Palicks down here :( aye. i just miss my family alot. my sisters are growing up and I don't even know them anymore because they have grown up so much and are such beautiful young women now, they have beautiful hair, and are 10 times prettier than i EVER was at that age! haha.

SOOOO: On a brighter note: I could not be more excited because this is my first Christmas with my new HUsband! HOW WONDERFUL :) He is so wonderful and adorable and would do anything and everything and does everything to make me feel good and feel happy :) He is the most patient loving gentle person that I have ever met, and he is my perfect match, my opposite :) He is soft, I am rough, He is gentle I am rigid, he is quiet i am LOUD , he is everything that is good and wonderful while I am basically the opposite. He is perfect for me and He is my most wonderful beautiful bestest Christmas present:)
But mom, i still want you to send me a package as LONG AS IT HAS A LETTER IN IT TOO!!! haha :) My mom is so nice and sends cute packages to me and Jordan, but sometimes she forgets to write a note or letter to me, so I told her she needs to remember, and so last time she almost forgot but grabbed a piece of paper last minute and wrote me a short cute note :) love it :) i just love seeing letters from her because they are written in her handwriting :)

ok well See you on the other side of exams everyone! I'm not worried about any of mine except Ear Training and Geology!! aye. Love you all and hopefully between tests I can send out some Christmas Card/Newsletter Updates! :)

PS>Paul& Esther i LOVe/MISS you both!!! :) if you guys want to forward this blog to other people in our ward, that would be good just because I don't have ANYONE else's email address!

PPS> I will also try to write another blog post on a much brighter note concerning this holiday season. i'm just still sad because my recital is in two days.