5 am Web Surfing

First post since being married! First post since....well, forever. Kinda been slacking. Lots of interested stuff has happened that I could've posted about but frankly, I've been insanely busy. The only reason I am able to post right now is because I came in to work at 5 am today and it's a Sunday and I have taken a total of 1 phone call in the 2 hours I have been here. Not much to do. So I've been reading Andre Agassi's autobiography "Open" which is fascinating. I love tennis and I miss playing it. I haven't played in about a year at least. Makes me sad. So I got around to looking up the mens singles current rankings trying to see how my man Andy Roddick was doing.

You can imagine the shock that came over me when I found out he has been RETIRED since last year and I had no idea. Like I said on Facebook, I am now dead inside. 

Garrett Helund, however, brought me a little back to life. I watched "Country Strong" last night because I love the music and my husband works graveyard shifts and I had nothing better to do. His voice is amazing. I though he was a professional country artist. Little did I know that he is actually a famous actor and he plays Sam Flynn in Tron: Legacy. What the heck?????

That doesn't even seem like the same person! First of all, the voices sound totally different. Second, he seems like a small little man boy in Tron and a big, strong manly man in Country Strong. This just goes to show how extremely versatile he is. I am in love with his voice. And I am absolutely in love with this song.

I died inside a little bit again when I found out he is dating Kirsten Dunst. I don't know how she is as a person but as an actress I'm not a fan. But if they're happy, more power to them.

That's all I've found out for now. Hopefully anything else I discover will be good things that won't make me die inside anymore.

Sunny Side Up

Today has been an awful day but also a fantastic day. It started out with me having to go to the dentist and get two fillings replaced. Halfway through the process my dentist decided to step out into the hall and talk to sales reps for 15 minutes while I was tilted upside down with a hole drilled in my tooth. I need a new dentist.

THEN, I barely made it to the gas station before I completely ran out of gas and it cost $45 to fill it up. It's never cost that much. Yay for insanely high gas prices. 

THEN, I went to work and despite my beliefs that work could not get worse than it's been, it did. I'm convinced the owners are going to lay me off cause they're plummeting out of business. They're slowly taking all my responsibilities and giving them to their son and the butt kissing manager without telling me. It was the cherry on top of the crap I put up with there. I've applied at 5 places in the past week and haven't heard from any of them. Job hunting sucks. 

BUT, I found out Three Days Grace released a new album last month. 

They are in my top 5 favorite bands. I can't believe it took me this long to find out they had released a new album but I downloaded it the instant I got home and it's amazing. Here's one of their awesome songs from the new album Transit of Venues. It's called Chalk Outline.

I also finally went grocery shopping after not having food for like 2 weeks. I have my Fanta and fettuccine alfredo :) 

I finally cleaned my room. It is amazing how much better it feels to have a clean room. I got my comic books up on my wall and they look awesome. I only have one more wall left to decorate so it finally feels a little bit like home. 

My day just got a little worse when I had to clean up the whole downstairs of my apartment because my roommate is a disgusting pig. I just found 2 rotting jack-o-lanterns covered in mold sitting in our kitchen. It was nasty. 3 bags of garbage....all from her. She spends all her time making out with her boyfriend so I guess she doesn't have time to clean. 

I'm not gonna let it ruin my day. I'm gonna watch The Office and Park's and Rec while eating my yummy dinner and then listen to Transit of Venues all the way through :) 

Sometimes You Just Need a Little Home

These lyrics couldn't be more spot on. Being sick for a month gets you down. And all I want is my family, my home, and my puppy. Luckily that's only a half hour away for me. These past few days with my mom and sisters have been exactly what I needed. Sometimes you just need a little home. 

This Henna Smells Weird

Once upon a time, I turned 21. That day was cursed and a super huge let down. Nothing went right. I had planned to go on a hot air balloon ride early in the morning, and the company called and cancelled due to crappy weather. I was going to go see the Spiral Jetty FINALLY....but then realized it was clear out in Brigham City and I didn't have time or motivation to go that far. Blah blah blah, you get the gist. It wasn't at all what I had planned. 


THEN


My sister Brittany came to the rescue. Today was the super adventure that should have been my 21st birthday. I guess it was still in the same week, so it counts :) 


FIRST: We went to the farmer's market in Salt Lake. Super toasty hot. Lots of girls in dresses and bootie shorts who decided to boycott shaving their legs. And also lots of really cool booths. Props to all the little hippies, farmers, and entrepreneurs out there with their homemade stuff. It was weird too cause my illustration teacher from BYU, Greg Newbold, made all the posters for the farmer's market and would talk about it all the time and I saw them everywhere. 

SECOND: We went to City Creek mall and ate at Bocata, which I love. Their bread is de-freakin-licious. We people watched and it was super entertaining. Also, we walked through Tiffany's and felt like people were going to throw us out at any moment because we couldn't afford to even look at all the  diamonds. Next time we will just wear big floppy hats and eat breakfast outside of it. 

THIRD: We went to Randy's Records and bought some vinyls. Other than the nasty trashy guys who apparently have never heard of deodorant, it was a pretty cool place. I got a Lynyrd Skynyrd record and the Footloose Soundtrack record lol. Britt gave me her old vinyl player so now I can finally start my collection :)

FOURTH: We went to Now and Again, which is a really cute antique store owned by a cute gay (<----I think) man in a cowboy hat. I bought miniature statues of Myron's Discobolos and the Venus de Milo. They had some really cute dressers that I wanted too but I decided to pass for now. 

FIFTH: We went to Night Flight comic book store by the Salt Lake Library. I bought a bunch of comics and am planning on framing them and hanging them on my wall. They should look pretty legit so I'm excited. 

SIXTH: We went to Ikea and Britt bought some stuff. I don't have a home to decorate so I didn't buy anything. However, I wore my new converse that I got for my birthday, which are high tops, and didn't have tall enough socks for them. Let me just say that all that walking around while those shoes rubbed my ankles started to hurt after a while. SO...Britt pushed me on an Ikea cart and everyone stared, and I didn't care one bit. They were all secretly thinking that they wanted to be pushed on Ikea cart. Who wouldn't want to do that? It's the bomb shiz. 

SEVENTH: We went to Walmart and I bought tall socks. And a Superman shirt. 


EIGHTH: I got home and did henna tattoos with Leann. I got this Henna set from Barnes and Noble cause it was on clearance....yeah.....it was on clearance for a reason. All the other times I have gotten henna it was from Good Earth. Lesson learned. Always get your henna at good earth. I left the henna paste on my arm for 4 hours, took it off and it is SUPER light. It's supposed to darken in a day or two so I hope it does. Also it smells really weird. 

(I've been trying to get the picture of my henna off my phone but it's not working so I'll try to add it later.)

NINTH: Psycho was free on demand so I finally watched it for the first time after hearing it referenced all the time and seeing a billion parodies of it. It was actually a pretty good movie and I liked the cinematography. It was done pretty artsy so yay Hitchcock :)

So that was my super adventure for today. Hopefully there are many more to come. 

This One's For the Girls

Fairytale by Sara Bareilles

Just Relax

Close your eyes. Lay completely still. Breathe. And listen.

Sometimes You Just Gotta Scream

***WARNING: IF YOU DISLIKE A LITTLE SCREAMO, DO NOT WATCH THESE VIDEOS. YOU WILL HATE THEM. EVEN THOUGH THESE SINGERS HAVE REALLY GOOD VOICES. JUST SAYIN.***

The Promise by In This Moment

I'm So Sick by Flyleaf

Out of Control by Hoobastank

Scream away :)

So Much Music, So Little Time

I love music. It has saved me more than once. I was recently going through my iTunes and discovered tons of forgotten music, along with music I have never even listened to. It was like suddenly getting all this new music. I loved it :) Since I can't get my iPod adapter to work in my car, I have to burn CDs in order to play them while I drive. So I made a bunch of playlists and burned a bunch of CDs. Made me very happy :) Here are some songs I'm lovin' on right now. 

Do it Alone by Sugarcult

  

You and I by Ingrid Michaelson

Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie

I Devise my Own Demise by Papa Roach

Riot by Three Days Grace

My sister Leann showed me this song yesterday and I think it's hilarious.

Don't Be a Douchebag by Jump Smokers

Also, totally random but I made this for my momma:

It's at a weird angle cause I was trying to block the sun glare from our huge window. It didn't turn out exactly how I was trying to get it to look but I'm still happy with how it looks.

That's all :)

Somebody That I Used to Know

Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

I have loved this song ever since the first time I heard it. Until a few days ago I had never really listened to the lyrics. After hearing it on the radio at work at least twice a day, I have the lyrics memorized. That made me realize something. It's as if the song has come from my innermost thoughts. Finally, how I really feel has been made known to me, through a song. Just goes to show you how important music is. 

I Am Very Lucky

These last few weeks have been very eye opening for me. They have been hard, but I am grateful to have gone through what I have gone through. I feel happier than I've been in a while, which gives me hope for the future. I feel like it will only get better from here, and I will only get better. The trials I have been through have already pushed me onto a better path and I know it is God's way of pointing me in the direction I need to go. For that I feel very grateful and blessed to have His guidance. I don't mean to get preachy but I recognize God's role in my life and know I have Him to thank for everything I have. The good, and what sometimes appears to be the bad. In all reality though, all the bad is for our good. Sometimes it's hard to realize that, but it's true. 


I'm in love with Rascal Flatts right now. Always have been, but I always get more obsessed with country music in the summer. Here are some of my favorite songs of theirs right now:

No Reins

Mayberry

Banjo

Here are some quotes that I love right now:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." (The Serenity Prayer)

That quote has really really made a difference in my life. A lot of the time, people are unhappy because they feel like their life is out of control. When you actually think about the situations you are in and realize you can't control them, it brings acceptance and a sense of peace in some way. At least for me. And if you realize you can control it, then you are in the power position to change whatever it is that is making you unhappy. Either way, you can be happy no matter what is happening to you. Everything happens for a reason. 

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. 

That is my favorite scripture of all time. 

I stumbled upon this quote by Marilyn Monroe and ordered a vinyl lettering of it and put it on my wall:

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” 

Also, now that school is over I have had time to work on my art. It makes me happy :) I will probably start posting some of my new stuff soon. I really need to get out and take some more pictures since I haven't done that in far too long. Keep an eye out :) Hopefully I can make it worth your wait. 

Every Newsie Shufflin

This post is gonna be short. I saw this video on facebook today and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy :)

A Breath of Fresh Air

I love things that are different. I feel inspired by them. Differences are what make this world interesting. 

I love this music video. Selena Gomez is gorgeous and talented, even if she is dating Justin Bieber. I love how creative and different the video is.

Selena Gomez & The Scene

Love You Like a Love Song

I think this music video is hilarious and true. Also it is a fun use of collage.

Toby Keith

American Ride

I'm not ashamed to admit I like America's Next Top Model. It's entertaining and the photographs are usually amazing. Allison Harvard has been my favorite out of all the seasons.

This is one of my favorite photographs she was in.

She's really different but she's amazingly talented. Her huge eyes are what throws most people off when they look at her. 

They are currently doing an All Star season and she is on it. Their latest challenge was to write a song and sing it in a music video. Hers was weirdly cool. She kind of reminds me of a Tim Burton character in this video.

 

Speaking of Tim Burton, I recently saw Coraline for the first time a couple of weeks ago and even though it is weird, I like it. I love the music on it and the animation is so creative. 

 I am also a fan of Project Runway. Deal with it. The latest winner, Anya Ayoung-Chee, is fantastic. She was my favorite and I'm glad she won.

This is her

 

I never thought any woman could look good with half a shaved head but she pulls it off. She is from Trinidad, which I think has definitely influenced her style. 

She is amazing with prints. I loved the dress she wore at Fashion Week.

She also designed this:

And lots of other stuff like that. I'm glad she won. She just barely learned to sew weeks before going on the show and she won. She's inspirational because even though she didn't have the technique the other designers had, she had the creativity and that's what helped her win. I can relate to her in that way, of not having all the technical skills. 

Technique can be taught, creativity can't. 

Anyways, enjoy :)

It's A Brand New Day

My sister just showed me this video and I am in love with it, and with his voice. I have been pretty down the past few days so this was just what I needed. 

Joshua Radin - Brand New Day

Click HERE to see J Pop America Fun Time Now from SNL. It isn't on youtube so just click on the link if you want to see it. Trust me, it's worth it. Made me laugh. 

Also something else that has cheered me up: New Mountain Dew flavor!!! It's called Game Fuel: "Dew with a charge of tropical flavor"

The taste is interesting, but I love the cans, even if it is just for Call of Duty. All their cans should be this artistic. 

And finally, the thing that puts a smile on my face no matter what is my adorable little nephew. 

 

You can't help but smile at that face.

Now I'm going to go sit in front of the television and watch New Girl, Whitney, and/or Happy Endings until I feel like I've had my fix of funny while I eat some delicious 7 layer dip and drink some mtn dew. 

Which I will enjoy :)

When You Look at it This Way....

It's no secret I hate rap. I've heard some people say rap stands for Retards Attempting Poetry haha. Some of it is good, but the majority of it sucks in my opinion. One of my friends tried to convince me otherwise. She found some videos of rap in other cultures and this is what she found. 

Japanese rap:

You can tell he's gangsta by how many times he puts his hands to his head and acts frustrated. My favorite part is the random shot of the dog near the end. Rap seems way less aggressive in Japanese. This was just funny.

French rap:

This one was even funnier than the Japanese one. The French language is too soft and precious to be taken serious in rap. Parts of it do sound cool though. 

And then you've got your typical American rap. 

I didn't put up the official music video cause I didn't wanna offend anyone. Rap videos are usually a little risque. 

I guess if you look at American rap in comparison to rap from other countries, it wins. I still stand by the fact that if you compare American rap to most other American genres, it loses. But it does have a time and a place, I'll give it that.

Anyways, enjoy the ridiculous rap videos in other languages :)

And The Doobie Doobie Pothead Stoner of the Year Award Goes To...

......half of the people at the X96 Big Ass Show 2011. Seriously, half the people there were smoking. Ok maybe just a fourth were smoking and the rest were drunk. I don't know what it is about outdoor concerts that attracts the grungiest, dirtiest people. Clean people like music too, right? Here are some pics I tried to take without being obvious. I'm not so great at the stalker-type photo taking.

Let's start with a game of "Where's Waldo?"

Can you find him?

Oh, look! Here he is.

Silly Waldo. 

And then there was this girl:

She kept looking at me so I couldn't get a very good picture. That girl in the middle is in an old fashioned school girl uniform or something and she was holding a stuffed animal. Yeah.....weird. And I know what you guys are thinking: Where can you get an awesome vomit jacket like the guy on the right? Answer: nowhere. It's one of a kind. His grandpappy made it for him. 

But no worries, you can purchase creepy school girl's friend's fedora at most upscale retail shops. Day: made. I know. 

Here is our crappy view of the stage when Anberlin was playing. This was after we had moved. We were closer before but pot smoke kept wafting into our faces so we decided not to get a secondhand high and moved next to the people who were smoking cigarettes instead. Lesser of two evils I guess lol. 

This picture is just awesome. It looks nothing like how the building and sky actually looked but for some reason, this is the image that came out when I took the picture. I like it better this way. 

And here is the awesome T-shirt I got. You HAVE to buy a shirt for every concert you go to. It's a rule I choose to live by. 

It was kinda sad but kinda cool cause Brendon Urie, the lead singer for Panic! At the Disco somehow got malaria and was in the hospital. So they improvised and had the lead singers from some of the other bands get up with the rest of Panic! and sing their songs. It was.....interesting. The lead singer for Neon Trees actually did a pretty good job, I was impressed. Brogan Kelby, however, needs to just stick to his own music. 

Luckily, I got to see Panic! At the Disco in Oregon in June and they were awesome. Hopefully Brendon recovers soon. 

All in all it was a good day. I rode the trax for the first time and I also ate at The Cheesecake Factory for the first time. Their cheesecake was amazing but their salad tasted like shiz-ola. You would think that a restaurant that is fancy enough to have cloth napkins would have a salad that wouldn't make you vomit. I literally gagged and had to down my coke to get rid of the disgusting taste. Britt can testify to this. 

All I can say is, if you're looking for a good salad, go to Cafe Rio. Other people will say go to Costa Vida, but at Cafe Rio you get yelled at in Spanish and get huge portions, which is way more exciting than white teenage boys quietly handing you your normal, human sized salad. 

I'm rambling cause I'm sick and losing my mind, so peace out. 

Enjoy my ramblings. 

The Awesomeness of Things I Have Stumbled Across

Recently I have stumbled across some pretty cool things. 

Awesome thing number one:

Imagine Dragons

I found them when my friend invited me to the rooftop concert in Provo. I couldn't go cause I didn't feel well, but I looked them up online and they are AMAZING. I love them. I downloaded their more recent CD. It only has eight tracks but is still awesome. Check them out here. 

Awesome thing number two:

This watch

It is an iPod Nano that clips onto a watch band. I think this one deserves a FREAKING AWESOME!

And thirdly awesome is:

Iveta Abolina

Click on her name to check her out.

She is an amazing artist and I'm probably going to get her artwork as my new laptop skin. This one to be specific. 

But there are so many other cool ones I can't decide. But I really like that one. This is the kind of stuff I want to make when I am actually a graphic designer. 

Anyways, have fun looking at all this awesome stuff. More to come later. 

Music is Better with the Windows Rolled Down

I love music. That's an understatement. Music keeps me sane and inspires me in so many ways. To me, music is best on summer nights, driving with the windows rolled down. That is my happy place. Lately I've been into more mellow, piano and acoustic songs. Those songs were made to be listened to the way I just described.

Leann, thank you for introducing me to Bon Iver. I am in love. 

I Love Rock n' Roll

Rock n' Roll is mmm mmm good. I can't even put it into words. It's like the peanut butter to my jelly :) The Lynyrd to my Skynyrd. And so on and so forth. I think what I like the most about Rock is that it has soul behind it. When you watch a Rock musician perform you can tell that they FEEL the song and it actually means something. It's not some stupid fluff on the radio that only talks about parties and the boy that broke your heart that week. Rock music is about things that have meaning and are important. For the most part.

I recently went to the Rev Theory concert and it was AM. A. ZING. The opening bands were way better than the bands they had at their last concert. There was a band called Aranda who I had never heard of and they were one of the best bands I've heard in a long time. You could tell they love what they do and they actually have something necessary to their profession: TALENT. They can actually play their instruments and write songs that are actually good. No need for auto tune. And yet nobody knows of them. There's something wrong there in my opinion.

They had another band called Pop Evil and they were awesome. They couldn't have a more random group of people together but it worked. I love that Rock musicians can actually sing and have such a power behind their voice. They're super intense. I think this is because they feel everything so intensely and so deeply that they pour it into their music. This is probably also the reason why they often have drug and alcohol problems lol. They feel everything so much that they use those things to cope. Just my theory lol.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is people need to stop obsessing over Bieber and Kesha and all those people who are just a bunch of hype. Listen to something that's not superficial for a change. You might like it. It might change your life. It sure has changed mine. One of these days you'll hear a song, and the lyrics will change your outlook. They'll speak to you in a way that makes you feel like the song was written for you. That it was exactly what you needed to hear. Music saves the soul :)