This Weekend

This weekend I plan to:
1) Go on a roadtrip

2) sleep under the stars

3) Travel to Zion ('s national park)

4) Tell my father that "he is the best father" or "he is the best comma father"
5) buy allsorts licorice for him (and then eat the whole bag...sorry) (my dad reads this blog...there goes the surprise...)

6) teach a lesson on obedience (and try not to mention Foucault...because he is creepy)


7) get a tan (and by tan I mean burn my poor white pasty self)

me all white and pasty

What are your plans for the weekend?

Once you turn 16 summer isn't the same...

ahhh...remember the days when Summer meant no school work and no work?  Then 16 happened and you had to get a job?  and suddenly summer was worse than the school year because you had a lame job?  a job that said that you couldn't take work off?  yeah...it was the pits.

Then college came and you ended up taking classes and going to school in the summer...so summer just meant that that long walk to campus was hot and unbearable...and that that sunshine that everyone else was experiencing was only felt through the double paned window of your office building.

BUT!!!  now that I am a graduate (hold the applause) I have decided to make this summer freakishly amazing!  With like summery stuff...so here is what I have been doing/will be doing this summer...

Concerts:
Tempe AZ: Railroad Revival Tour: April 23

Uhh-MAZE-ING!!  Let's be honest I would have spent more than I did just to see Mumford & Sons...and I got to see three bands!  It was wicked cool and a ton of fun.  Even though we were standing on a ton of pointy-painful rocks the show was totally worth it.

Twilight Concert Series: Thursday in July
I missed out on this last year but I am not going to let that happen again!  So many amazing bands I can't wait.  This years line up includes:

Explosions in the Sky

No Age

The Decemberists

Typhoon

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (Who I saw in AZ and they were amazing...)

And a ton more but I am getting bored...

Fleet Foxes: July 22

You know they are good when they all look gross and high...

Trips:

As noted above I already went to Arizona in April.  It was a great trip.  We went to Vegas, saw the Hoover Dam, ate Mexican/Chinese food (one restaurant...the food was a fusion of both), and saw the Grand Canyon.  All in all a really great trip.

San Francisco: June 9-11:

Sadly, I can't do this trip anymore...and for realsies I am super sad about it!  Because I already took that Friday off though I want to do something else epic...so I am having a backyard sleepover with the girlies in my ward!  I can't wait.

Bryce Canyon: June 17-18

YAY!  that is all...

Other Stuff:

Garden Party: June 7

This was way fun!  Sadly I didn't take any pictures...lesson learned.

Colorful Hair:

I had a purple streak in my hair...and then I changed it to blue...I just put purple in another girls hair, I am going to put pink in someone else's hair when they get back to Provo...yay!  I love it.

Timp:

As a long time resident of Utah...slash I have lived in the shadow of Timp pretty much my whole life, I have decided this year was the year I was actually going to hike it.  I can't wait!  Last year my sister and I tried to hike it...but umm...we accidentally took the wrong path...which was still a cool hike...just not timp.

New Restaurants:

a couple of weeks ago me and some girlies from my ward were talking about how whenever we go out to eat we always go to the same places.  Instead of doing that we have decided to compile a list of new restaurants to try out this summer.  Last Saturday we went to Ruth's diner for breakfast and this week we are going to some Mexican place in Midway.

In conclusion...I am super excited about this summer and making it the best I have ever had! 

speling is stupid

When I think back on my time in elementary school one phrase comes to mind..."if you know how to read you know how to spell."  This phrase irked me significantly...I could read...I was an excellent reader...but spelling...uh not so much.  

Fast forward a couple of years (or you know...10) and the Harry Potter books were coming out.  I remember reading one the night it came out.  A week afterward when my friend finished it (did you catch that...I read it all in less than one day [see me being an excellent reader from above]...took him significantly longer) he talked about how she had misplaced commas!!  uhh....yeah I didn't notice that...I was too busy noticing the fact that Snape killed Dumbledore!!  Unless you are an editing major or something obnoxious like that there is no reason to find a few misplaced commas.  Can you imagine how horrible the world would be if you noticed all of the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in the world?

What's my point?  Uhh I don't know if I have one....other than I can read faster than you can out spell me.  

Balloon Sea Monster

I first noticed that balloon's shadows are colorful when I was just a child...for some reason it just didn't make sense to me how there shadow wasn't just black.  Still to this day I find that fact so intriguing (as in I just spent way to long looking at pictures that showed balloon's shadows...).  


This fact probably is why I find  Anish Kapoor's recent work so amazing.  Anish was invited by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication to create a work of art that compliments the space in Grand Palais in Paris.  Anish created Leviathan 75,000 cubic meter balloon to fill the space.  From the outside the balloon looks solid and aubergine in color, when you look at the view from the inside the walls take on a translucent scarlet color....magnifique!

Shark Week

That's coming up right???  I actually have no idea...I don't watch it.  Why would you want to watch an entire slew of shows dedicated to horrifying animals that still exist!!!??!?!  Why yes I will spend 14 hours watching dinosaur documentaries because as I recall they all died...evolution won...and created something way more terrifying...Did you know that everyone who lives near and swims in an ocean WILL DIE!  I am sure this is based on the large number of killer sharks in the water.  


Moving on...yesterday was a very good day.  To celebrate I drove through Provo canyon listening to one of the worlds best bands!!  BSB or Backstreet Boys!!!  Let me tell you everyone those boys wrote some poignant lyrics!  Don't believe me?  Watch this...

to review here are some of those amazing lines...

you hit me faster than a shark attack

We all know how fast those are...if not see above picture!!

forgive my honesty but you got to go

it's good to not be passive aggressive with your feelings

There were things that made me realize...like all the hundred, no, THOUSAND LIES!!

whoa...1,000 lies...yeah you tell her Brian

Or this music video

to review again:

How can it be you're asking me to feel
The things you never show?

each side has to give ladies and gents

Show me the meaning of being lonely
Is this the feeling I need to walk with?

Another intuitive question...

Life goes on as it never ends
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze if only
Guilty roads to an endless love
There's no control
Are you with me now

Wait...that middle part doesn't make that much sense...w/e

If there was any debate over whether BSB was better than say Jonas Brothers or Justin Bieber I am pretty sure I answered that question...heck yes they were!

hard core drug use

When I was little I realized that if I squeezed my eyes really tight and pressed down on my eye lids I would see all of these amazing colors "zooming" by.  I am pretty sure that what I saw is probably similar to whatever you see when you do some hard core drugs...as I don't do drugs I am just postulating.  Unlike hard core drugs...or like them(?)...it was super painful to maintain the correct pressure on my eyelids...instead of stopping the activity I would see how long in the "journey" I could make it (...I just tried this...and it still works...I got to about .5 of a second).    


This morning I saw this video...

it is kinda like my drug like eye pressing...


Amazing...


ooo just got to 17 seconds...

Secret Confessions

secret confession: I am a song skipper....




....


....


Yes it is true.  I almost never listen to a song in its entirety.  To be fair I think this is due to the fact that many songs just repeat the chorus twice at the conclusion...which is basically lame.  


Over the past couple of months I have acquired a few new albums...and guess what?  No song skipping on any of the albums...this is a remarkable feat.  If you think that it is just because I have grown out of it...it isn't true.  I still skip other songs, and other albums...but not these!  So without further ado...here are the three remarkable albums:


1) Noah & the Whale: Last night on Earth 

• Reasons I like them:
1. They use & instead of and
2. They write dates day/month/year instead of month/day/year
3. They are British
4. They are pretty British people (which probably means they aren't that pretty but my brain can't see that because they sound cool). nope...they really are good looking...especially the ones with the spectacles...and beards...and I need help...
5. oh and they are freakishly amazing.
6. This album tops all of their old albums + infinity!  I basically love it.  
7. This song...

2) Adele: 21

• Stop what you are doing and immediately buy this album if you haven't yet...because like it is amazing.  Yep, I love her.  I want to be her, I would kill for her voice.  I know you think I am kidding...but I might not be...it would be like little mermaid octopus witch style...except I would give up the prince for the voice...bad allusion...but let's move on.  Why I love her/this album

1. umm she is amazing
2. As my friend put it...I wish my love life was more sad and depressing so I could relate to all of the songs...and let's face it...who wants more pain?
3. She is fiercely gorgeous.
4. She is super nice
5. and again with the amazingness of the amazing
6. This song...

3) Joshua Radin: The Rock and the Tide

• Reasons I love him:
1. One of the best concerts I have ever been to...he actually sounds like his album...sadly this isn't a characteristic many people have.
2. he was funny at his concert
3. he has supermodel good hair
4. he could be a super model
5. He makes me realize that I might be a titch shallow...maybe more than a titch...
6.   

Peoples........go buy these albums!!!!!!!!!  Immediately!!!  It will change your life...maybe not...but you will own better music...and that is how I judge people, so if you want me to like you...go buy these albums.

exuviae: matter out of place

This Thursday I went to the Anthropology Graduation dinner...as I sat at various tables people were talking about writing that last Buounforte (I have already forgotten how to spell his name) paper and taking that last final.  Others were talking about graduate school and where they were going to live after Thursday.  Others were just talking about the stress of finals...during all of this I felt like one thing: exuviae...which means matter out of place.  

I had the same feeling a couple of weeks ago as I entered the SWKT to watch my ward's untalent show.  The SWKT was my "home base" while in the last year of college.  It is where the TA office for Anthropology was, it was where I had some of the best classes of my life.  Yet, as I entered the building it felt wrong.  As though the person that I am today doesn't belong, or doesn't fit into that building.  

As I have contemplated that feeling that I have had for the past couple of days I realized the ironic nature of it all.    As I was trying to process my feelings I didn't think, "wow I feel weird here" or "I have moved on" no I used the word exuviea...a term I only learned in Anthropology 101 and continued to learn about in every other class that I took.  In my moment of feeling like I had moved past school and maybe anthropology, I used an anthropological term to describe it.  

While I am not planning on going to graduate school in anthropology, and I am not planning on being a professional "anthropologist" I am still an anthropologist.  I think like one, I talk like one, I look at people like one.  Anthropology has made me the person that I am today and I owe it, my professors, my anthropology friends, so much.   

oh no!

Guess who is coming to town this weekend?


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The international tattoo convention...

This will be bad for my indecisiveness....

songs for a cold day

currently it is slushing outside...half snow half rain.  It doesn't make the situation better that the wind is moving the mix in a perfectly horizontal fashion...having to brave the mess outside on my commute home I decided to warm up my soul with some of the best classics (check out my playlist here).

p.s. my father hates Micheal Buble...and after listening to/watching these artists you can see why...Buble (or Mr. Bubble as I refer to him) just doesn't compare.


p.p.s aren't the pictures of these people fabulous? 

being a hermit

Dear Internetszzssszzszs-

I have been spending copious amounts of time with you lately.  Not you in particular...just one site on you...google.

Well not google...

 the Google Art Project  to be specific...

with it I can see images like this:

from paintings like this:

I can visit the world's best museums from the confines of my bedroom....and not just the museums...the artwork in them, in freakishly high definition.  I get to see the brush strokes on these paintings.

Google Art Project, you have proven yourself highly addictive...

I have to go now...(go meaning I will probably spend 1 more hour pouring over your artwork)...

Autumn

P.S.  but for realsies friends, you have to check out Google Art Project, it is the coolest thing online right now.  If you have any interest in art at all you will love this website.  While it doesn't replace the awe and wonder that you get when you stand in front of a painting, it is pretty spectacular...and it is free (unlike the traveling would be).  Additionally, you get the best view of the painting w/o worrying about crowds or "hogging" the best space.  I loves this (probably because I am half hermit).

who I want to be when I grow up

as children we are asked what we want to be when we grow up

now I am asked what I am planning on doing with my degree

and while I am still trying to answer those questions...I do know one thing

I want to do this with my future husband after we have been married for 62 years.

you couldn't do this in Utah

while perusing the website Hel Looks a couple of nights ago

I ran across a couple of images...

for those of you who don't know

hel looks is an assortment of pictures 

that capture people who have "unique" fashion senses

...

and while 30% of me wants to mock these people

40% of me wishes I could dress like this...

but you can only really do so if you live in a place like...

well...

Helsinki

flower prints...

...sometimes I think growing up in Utah has ruined me

...not in a serious dramatic way

...it's just that

...every time I see dresses like this

 or

and 

...I don't think

...ooo vintage

...oh the 90s are back

....the 70s inspired clothes this season are amazing

...

I think

they look like polygamists.

indecisiveness

for years I have struggled with a major case of indecisiveness...

not the big things like my major, how I want to cut my hair, what car to buy, no

I struggle with the small stuff:

-what do I want for dinner

-12 pack of diet coke or mt dew

-nail color

-what shirt to wear in the morning

-what eyeshadow

...

in high school it took me and my friend longer to decide on where to eat

than it took us to eat.

I have always viewed this as a negative.

until I wanted a 

TATTOO

if I could just decide on what I wanted to get than I would be there faster than you could say tattoo...

I'm not talking gross ugly things:

(insert your own version of a bad tattoo...I was going to post images but then I thought some people might get offended...)

I am talking about stuff like this:

or this one

all are done by the artist Amanda Wachob who started off as a normal artist...

this is probably why her tattoos look less like they are done with an ink gun and more

like they are done with a paint brush.

unfortunately (or luckily) she is in New York and I am still suffering a major case of the indesive...

am I alone in my longing for a tattoo?

under the covers (playlist for 2/6-2/12)

I believe that a good cover affords you the opportunity to re-discover, evaluate, fall in love, with long forgotten songs or the over worked songs of the present.  Many of the following covers actually "un-covered" songs that I thought I didn't like.  


1)

2)

3)

4)

5) 

6)

7)

8) 

9)

10)

banana

banana, originally uploaded by wayne bremser.

I love this photo...for a lot of reasons. Can you believe that it was taken months ago?

cup of ambition...(playlist for January 30 - February 5)

1) Confession:  I love Dolly Parton...many a bad day drive home has been spent singing a long with her (if you are looking for a back-up singer Dolly I am here waiting).

2) I cannot wait until March when I get to see this guy and Cary Brothers...he is quickly becoming my new favorite.

3) Awful video....amazing song (and artist)

4) One of my all time favorites...

5) The Civil Wars have been one of my favorite duos for a long time.  In celebration of their new album one of my favorite singles from them.

6) Sometimes I find myself liking artists that I would never have guessed I would have.  Marina and the Diamonds falls into that category.

7) I can't tell you how excited I have been for Adele's new album.  Since getting it I have been listening to it 90% of the time...

8) It's songs like this that make me realize that the gap between my generation and my parents' might not be that large...

kul ‘am wa antum bikhair! aka new year = new goals

although I am less than thrilled at my current prospects (in all aspects) I have decided that instead of moping I am going to

“wake-up and die right” as my father would say.

With that in mind here are a few of my goals for the new year…

1) wake-up after 1 “snoozing” session

2) blog more…(as I am not a very good blogger I feel like this post is already accomplishing this goal…)

3) read 52 books by the end of the year.

4) only go out to eat twice a week

5) try to understand the gospel outside of my own cultural context

6) find more amazing music (aka go to concerts more!!)

7) train for a MARATHON!!!!

These are all things that I have wanted to do for quite some time…and now that I am only working part-time and not going to school I have no excuses!