merry christmas

a take away

i love this.

"Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword." -la blogotheque director

christmas at college

i walked downstairs last night to a sweet surprise in the family room ... our friend surprised us by buying us a real christmas tree/ setting the tree up in our house. all the roommates were so excited that we turned on christmas music, made hot chocolate, and stayed up until 3 am hanging out by the tree.

it's going to be a good christmas this year

thanksgiving

there is a lot to be thankful for

happy thanksgiving!

pentax

film is fun.

film

- from the pentax

south carolina

i am in love with the palmetto state

pictures don't do it any justice, but it is so incredibly gorgeous here

... perfect way to end summer

jo momma

happy birthday mother

you are beautiful

finally!

it's finally here!
you guys, seriously.
love love love
the artwork, the lyrics, the music ... i love it.

"The album is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs ... it's a letter from the suburbs."-Win Butler

dad

happy 

56th 

dad

summer

even though it was 103 degrees today with 100% humidity and the air-conditioning decided to break...

i love summer

because otter pops and watermelon suffice as dinner/lunch/breakfast

and beach bonfire nights never get old

and because we caught fireflies in a jar tonight & made a lamp

... and that made me very happy

the 4th.

i just had the best night of my life.

first of all, it was the 4th of july. the 4th is my favorite holiday and my absolute favorite time of year. i love the 4th. it's in the summer AND there are fireworks ... on top of that, the strawberries and ice cream all around? well, this year i got to spend my 4th here:

the white house 

pretty fitting right? i felt so american. thanks to some connections, we were invited to attend the white house independence day celebration. it was so much fun, i can't even explain how great it all was. everything we saw/heard/experienced was unreal.
well on top of all the celebrations, somehow i was completely unaware of who would be preforming that night on the white house lawn. when we arrived guess who was on the stage preforming? brandi carlile.  she was brilliant, that girl's got an amazing voice. she played such a great set & even threw in some johnny cash covers. i thought "this is the best", and then it got even better. 10 X better when i heard the melody of a familiar song coming from the stage. 

my sister and i looked at each other, "no way!"

yes. the killers were there!!! i almost died of happiness, they are my favorite. i ran up to the stage, and started singing along. the crowd only contained bout 200 people, so i made it up to the very front row easily. the stage was touching my stomach, the band was as close as my fingertips. i could see the sweat dripping, all the action, & everything. it was unreal, the killers have forever completed my life. that's how great it was. but for the first 10 minutes they were playing I just kept saying "oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh",  grabbing strangers arm's next to me and screaming. I lost it.

they opened up with "human" & played 10 or 12 other songs. they played most my favorites, & if you have ever seen one of their shows then you know that they are incredible live. i was blown away. brandon flowers is a genius. & it was such a fun show too, you could tell that the band were enjoying themselves just as much as we were. but who wouldn't want to play a show on the white house lawn on independence day? incredible night. 

they ended with a jam up of "God Bless America/Read my mind", (which was so cool) & after brandon flowers thanked the crowd & he gave out some high fives & smiles.  guess who got a high five & smile? i did. i love them. i love him. 

hands down the best concert i've seen. to top it off, the night ended with the national capital's firework show. it was a huge firework show too, & you know how much i love fireworks, so i was in heaven. what a night. i am so grateful i had the opportunity to go and experience all of it. I'm still overwhelmed by how amazing it all was. never going to forget this night.

brandi carlile

brandon flowers

mark stoermer

success

... it's been on my mind lately. mainly due to the fact of my current unemployment. It got me thinking a lot about the future & if i'll be "successful" in life. and i decided that i don't like the definition we've put on the word success as a society. in our generation we automatically think of material ways to define success- money, a big house, multiple cars, the latest fashion, the latest technology, etc. 

so then today, after another long day of luckless job hunting, i turned on the tv (rare occurence, but i was in a bad mood)... what i saw was fate. i started watching some old re-runs of LA ink & on the show a girl came into the shop wanting to get a tattoo on her arm. a tattoo of this quote by emerson:

" To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I may (still) be jobless and moneyless, but i need to remember to look at the smaller things and realize that I am successful in those regards. and i really do think that those kinds of achievemnts in life are more valuable/will go further than the materialistic forms of success.

we've got a bun in the oven

big sister jessica is pregnant! & it's a girl! i'm an auntie of 5 1/2 now. i'm amazed at the baby-bump that suddenly appeared, which has been getting HUGE more & more everyday. i'm also amazed at the amounts of food my (used to be) very tiny sister now consumes ... good thing i love cooking. & don't even get me started on the fat girl wobble. we're excited!

life of a vagabond

packing moving driving x 1083929382238274

goodbye utah, see ya next fall!

charcoal sketches

my drawing II class charcoals

je n'aime pas!

 

this is neat.

crazy what our generation of musicians can create these days

http://www.inbflat.net/

check it out

2 aj's ?

(photoclass project)

... i don't know if 2 could be handled

sculpture I

my big head has finally been fired in the kiln. it's practically finished. i have never felt more relieved! word of advice: don't take 3 studio classes at the same time. or just don't take intro to sculpture at all. just kidding.

aggies

"thats better choreography than the mormon tabernacle choir"

love my school.

midnight sledding

i know i'm a winter hater & always complaining about the cold, but last night was actually fun

 maybe winter's not so bad ...