Thursday, January 23, 2014

Bear Lake Beauty




And people said going in the winter was a bad idea.

I am a recovering Cinnamon Toast Crunch addict, and I relapsed.

It's been about 5 years since I bought a box. So on Tuesday when I picked one up at Target, I didn't think anything of it.

But it was so delicious, I don't even feel bad.

Yeah, I know. That's probably what bieber was thinking right before his DUI. 

Speaking of which, beliebers are champions. If you need proof, search #bieberfever on Instagram or Twitter. It is not something you will regret. 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Return.

This was written last August, right before the 2013 VMAs, but I never finished and published it. So, here you go.

Many of you are probably already aware of the

*NSYNC REUNION PERFORMANCE AT THE VMA'S THIS SUNDAY.

The following is a text conversation between my sisters and I.
Steph: NSYNC is performing at the VMA's on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: (a link)
Elise: WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Moriah: You guys I'm trying to learn in seminary!!!!
Elise: Do they have NSYNC in seminary?
Moriah: yessssss
Elise: What? Well apparently I went to the wrong seminary.
Moriah: I learn a lot and hear lots of great music in mine. You might been hurt babe that ain't no lie!!! Everything little thing I do never seems enough for you.
Elise: That's true. But TGIF and I just got paid.
Me: I hope they perform bye bye bye. It would BRING DOWN THE HOUSE.
Moriah: digital digital get down
Moriah: come and take a ride take a space ride with a cowboy baby!!!
Steph: You guys like the dumbest songs.
Me: No Moriah likes the dumbest songs. She literally just quotes the worst ones.
Me: Space cowboy is the number one worst!!!!!!!!!!!
Elise: Yeah guys. I promise that you all like the dumbest songs.
Moriah: The cowboy one makes my heart flourish! It has the best and words and its the best.
Me: Actual best song: It makes me ill. And gone and it's gonna be me. And God must have spent a little more time on you. and bye bye bye and this I promise you. And tell me tell me baby. And that is all.
Elise: And the Bread one!!!! And that Sailing one
Moriah: and the one that sounds Chinese at the beginning.
Elise: Whaaah?
...
Me: Music of the heart or something?
Moriah: Yeah I think so.
Steph: THE SAILING ONE (attached is picture of a butcher knife)
Me: Sailing is like the worst one besides bringin' da noise and space cowboy. Except giddy up is pretty bad. and just got paid.
Steph: Except you forgot Girlfriend with Nelly (lots of heart pictures here)
Moriah: Grrrrrr rawr.
....
Me: What if they do bye bye bye and it morphs into it's gonna be me...and then they end with this I promise you?
Steph: Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Elise: And then it makes me ill turns into God must have spend a little more time on you.
Steph: Elise! Now you've got it!
Elise: Then sailing turns into the Bread one.
Steph: NOT SAILING AGAIN!!
Me: NO MORE SAILING!
Elise: IT'S MY FAVORITE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Steph: You are cuckoo for coco puffs. I used to fast forward through that on my walkman!


A brief rundown:

1. remember when No Strings Attached came out and we all thought there could not be a better album cover? And the Bye Bye Bye video was clearly the most creative and groundbreaking music video in history. My first glimpse of the forbidden Mtv was to watch "Making of Bye Bye Bye" While my parents weren't home.

2. I went to the Pop Odyssey tour in Chicago in 2001. Those *NSYNCers introduced a bunch of songs from the Celebrity album, and I remember being so mad because I had to pee SO BAD in the middle of the show and I missed like 5 minutes of it.

3. When that album came out I went to Young Women's and my friend Tammy was telling me all about how her favorite song from the album was "Selfish." I was like, "ARE YOU INSANE????" I mean, really, whose favorite song would ever be "Selfish"??? Not a self-respecting *NSYNC fan, for sure.

4. Stephanie owned "No Strings Attached," not me. And I was not allowed to touch it. But I would steal it from her CD player when she was at work and listen to it on her discman (another, possibly more evil crime). Oh goodness I'm so glad it didn't get scratched.

5. We recorded *NSYNC every time they were at the Disney Summer Jam or on Rosie or on the Today show, or any other time they were on TV. And I'm not talking about DVR or TiVo. I'm saying we recorded them on VHS tapes.

6. My sisters and I have had many conversations about who gets "This I Promise You" as their wedding song. I have lost repeatedly.

7. Elise made an *NSYNC scrapbook as a companion to the detailed O-Town book I compiled. It was more colorful than mine, but not quite as elaborate.

And the resulting VMA performace was thus:



My experience with the VMAs this year was a little less than expected. I went to my friend Ali's house to watch it (because, you know, no TV at my house), and waded through the crap of the whole for this beautiful NSYNC moment--and just as they started to perform, Ali went to turn up the volume and HIT INPUT INSTEAD and I literally missed the whole thing.

The end.

Bastille

You know, just another British band to add to the collection.

Discovered these guys a couple weeks ago (their US single, "Pompeii" is killing it on iTunes), and after I decided that I loved the song, I, very compulsively, bought the whole album. Which is something that I pretty much never do. I never buy full albums. And if I do, it is after several week's deliberation and exploration of every track to make sure it isn't dirty and that I like every bit of it.

But so I randomly bought it. AND I LOVE IT. And I didn't even know they were British until yesterday. I'm telling you, I accidentally like all the British people, and I don't even mean to.

So, if you would like to listen to Bastille, I recommend these songs first: (my comments in parentheses)

1. Pompeii (a pretty good entry song as far as their style goes)
2. Bad Blood (OH MAN, THE HARMONY.)
3. Oblivion (seriously, this guy's falsetto. dying over here.)
4. Laura Palmer

And like, definitely these ones too:
1. Things We Lost in the Fire
2. Overjoyed (the piano)
3. Daniel in the Den (okay wait. this might belong in the top category. this is too hard.)

What am I saying? Just listen to the whole thing.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Everything has changed

While the title of this post is also the title of a Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran collaboration that is quite easy on the ears but not immediately lovable, it also reflects the sentiment that, well, everything has changed.


One of the changes that I wish to speak of is that I finally bought myself a desk. I have lived in my little basement-hole bedroom for a year and a half, and I have disliked the space the whole time. I have consistently said, "I need but a small work space. A desk, if you will." And last Saturday I finally broke down and realized that while I have no problem buying a pair of pants for $50, I can't even get myself over to IKEA to buy the thing that I really, truly, need and want. So I went. And I bought. And I built.

And there you have it. I am typing this on a desk. And I feel as though my life has taken an upswing. Like, I'm on this roller coaster, and instead of careening downward in terror and confusion, I'm kind of floating up and I actually feel like I can grab onto something to keep myself going up.

The overarching theme of my intense list of categorized new year's resolutions is to organize myself. It's based on Doctrine and Covenants 88:119. And with this little desk (that is honestly much smaller than I would have liked...but it was hard to tell from the picture on the box...), I feel as though I have already accomplished a lot.

And so I write a list of randoms, as always:

1. I haven't been sleeping well. and when I'm stressed and not sleeping well I break out, which leads to more stress and less sleeping, and it's really all so terrible, because your face hurts and you are so, so sleepy, and then you still have to deal with the stress. And so I remembered that one summer it felt really amazing to sleep upside down in my bed. And so I tried it again. And sleeping upside down is the best. Like, I just put my pillow where my feet usually go. And it is fresh and heavenly, and now I sleep.

2. I finally joined spotify. It's free on phones now, so, BINGO.

3. I created a budget tonight. This was inspired by my shopping spree of last weekend (the one that included the desk), and my new ability to type/write/read/record at a desk of my very own. Apparently if I want to save the money that I want to save, I need to stop shopping. Honestly, I have avoided making a budget up until this point (to my detriment), because I'm afraid of realizing that I should actually be spending much less than I do. But I need to get serious about it. I really do. If in some distant future I want to go away to school or buy a car or buy a new computer for crying out loud (this here macbook will be celebrating her 7th birthday soon), I need to spend less and save more. And be an adult.

4. I have started to make a new recipe once a week. Another resolution. And it has turned out to really be blast! I actually really like to make things! And it is such a perk when you get to eat it after.

5. Due to the stresses and various things going on in my life, I have become quite the introvert. I just spent the weekend at a cabin at Bear Lake with really very lovely people who I would love to be best friends with, and I was actually quite overwhelmed with the whole thing and found myself wishing I could retreat to one of the rooms by myself just to take a break. This is very un-audrey-ish. Lately I've just been wanting to stay home, and like I mentioned earlier, just find a way to grab on an pull myself up. It's like I just haven't been able to get a grip lately. I mentioned something about how I only want to stay at home all the time to a friend, and he was like, "sounds like you are growing up." and I just thought, is that what it means to be an adult? To feel like you can't get a grip? To want to be alone because you feel like you are trying and trying to get organized and piece things together, but you really just can't? If all that is true, then I think I'll just keep being a Toys R Us kid.

6. Ed Sheeran is up for best new artist. And so is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. And so is this one dude that I just discovered this evening named James Blake, and he is REALLY awesome. He sings and has this incredible voice, but he's also a DJ. And he's British. I just don't even know what the grammy academy people are supposed to do! I mean, Ed Sheeran, duh. But really? Macklemore should win. This struggle is on par with the Britney-Christina battle of 2000. Needless to say, I am STOKED for the grammys this year.


7. My house is getting television! That means we can watch award shows, the super bowl, American Idol, and the Olympics. All the important things. I haven't had real television in a house of mine since, like, 2008. So, this is big deal.

8. Another one of my resolutions this year is to create more and consume less. The specific goal for the month of January is to write a poem. I will not be sharing that. The goal for February is to crochet something. My Grandma Colleen is going to teach me. (as a side note, she will also be teaching me to make homemade noodles...my fave).

Stay tuned.