Middle of Nowhere Sunsets

View Full Album

My sister and her roommate Heather and I joined Kasey (love her) and Sarah Overson at their grandparents in St. George for a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving. In case two “wonderful”s weren’t enough, let me assure you it was wonderful. Perfect, actually. There were comfy couches, an endless supply of tasty food, a trip to see Tangled (fabulous), and lots and lots of love.

During the drive to and from St. George we saw some incredibly beautiful sunsets. On the way back it was just too beautiful to resist, so we stopped at the nearest rest stop and took these. Where’s the fun in life if you don’t take the time to stop and enjoy the scenery before you pass it by?

The Catch:

The Dance:

The Pose:

The Love:

Here’s some Thanksgiving pictures too. I don’t want to shortchange the wonderfulness! Love Kasey and Sarah and their grandparents!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Prefer Portland

The difference between Provo and Portland? In Portland last night there was a rare dusting of snow that got icy and now school is canceled for the day. In Provo today there’s going to be a legitimate white-out blizzard and I still had to come to campus at 7:30 a.m. to put out the New York Times in the Brimhall.

I wish I was home.

Best House Guest Ever

So my old roommate Christy the Witt came up from San Diego and stayed at my apartment for the past few days, and she decided that she needed to pay for her room with records! (!!!!) She’s actually the one who convinced me I needed to get a record player of my own.

Now my collection is about 110% more awesome than it was before. She gave me:

• Gloria Gaynor’s “Love Tracks” – with I Will Survive. It is awesome and needs to be blasted at all times. Seriously, I’m doing it right now.
• Toto’s “IV” – with Africa. Which really makes me happy largely because of Sam & Macrae’s 80’s Prom last year. Bless the rains.
• Tim Curry’s “Simplicity” – This makes me laugh so much. It also rounds out my Psych American Duos episode collection. He totally played the main judge on the show.
• Huey Lewis and the News’ “Fore” – with Hip to Be Square. I already have this song on my iPod, and it’s even more awesome on record. I also love them for another reason that will become more clear two bullet points down.
• The Dave Brubek Quartet – with Take Five. Christy said this is essential for any cultured person, and I totally believe her. It has wonderful, wonderful jazz. Little does Christy know, in elementary school KKJZ was my favorite radio station. They played all jazz all the time. Ya, I’m kind of a nerd.
• The BACK TO THE FUTURE SOUNDTRACK -- My absolute favorite (although there are many extremely close seconds), as this is one of my favorite movies of all time. For some reason when I got my record player I totally imagined playing Johnny B. Goode on it, and it’s definitely on the record. It even says Johnny B. Goode, performed by Marty McFly with the Starlighters. It’s perfect. I can recreate the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in my room.
• And a B.o.B single is arriving from her tomorrow! She said she wanted make sure I had some modern stuff too haha.

Christy’s staying here really required no effort on my part since she slept in Sam’s bed because Sam was out of town for a swim meet. But I am definitely keeping the records anyways… She’s way too nice to me.

(In case you wanted a visual)

Productivity

After a spendy but good trip to Jiffy Lube, I came back home and got a lot done.

Namely:

1. Watching the new episode of 30 Rock

2. Watching the new episode of The Office

3. Watching the new episode of Psych

4. Watching (500) Days of Summer

I wish all of my days could be this productive.

Can’t Handle It

My History of Creativity professor is trained in the ways of torture – he’s shown pictures of the British Museum, the Louvre, and Europe in general, reminding me of the days when I would actually be going to these places for class instead of looking at pictures of them in PowerPoint. And today he showed pictures of cathedrals in Paris. Did he know I was there exactly two years ago this Wednesday? I think so. He’s out to get me, and he knows exactly how to do it*. I mean, is showing pictures of him eating crepes while discussing them in great length really necessary?? There can’t be any other plausible reason for doing this.

Places he talked about in great detail and length:

He even talked about our exact tour guide at Chartres. Really?

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, he started talking about these places in England, because he knew that would be the final straw.

Specifically, he mentioned these places:

Dear professor,

A class from 4-6:3o on a Monday evening is already bad enough. Please don’t make me want to be somewhere else even more.

Sincerely, Natalie

*In case you’re wondering why this is one of the highest forms of torture for me when it’s one of my favorite topics, it’s because it used to be oh so close. And it still seems so close. But it’s not.

Sister Shopping Spree

Today was possibly the most successful shopping trip ever. There were seriously the best sales in Salt Lake. Combined, I’m pretty sure my sister and I spent under $100, and we bought lots of stuff from Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Gap, Wet Seal, American Eagle, Victoria Secret and Graywhale. For example, I bought two shirts for $2.25 each. My mom definitely raised us to be bargain shoppers. We pretty much grew up in Ross.

Pictures of our success:

Also, there was a nice view of the city on the way from lunch at The Pie to the mall, so we immediately stopped the car on the side of the road and took these:

Also, best vinyl find of the day? Tears for Fears. I couldn’t stop laughing. Mostly because of this. (You really, really, really need to watch the whole episode. I couldn’t find the best clip on youtube, but this one is definitely sufficient because they’re holding the exact record I bought in it!) The record was even in pristine condition, like no one had touched it since 1985. I think the guy at the store was amused by how excited I was for it.

Please watch the whole thing. You so won’t regret it. Psych Season 2, Episode 1 American Duos.

Also, while I’m talking about psych, they’re having a competition on their web page to have a shout out for the college who gets the most points, and last I checked BYU was totally winning. So please help make it happen! You have no idea how happy that would make me. It’s pretty much my favorite show ever, as evidenced by my psych poster, mug and sweatshirt. Ok, I’m done now. Definitely didn’t mean to write that long about it at all. I just love it far too much.

Camille’s Magic

Just got back from studying while Camille practiced the piano. We haven’t done it for awhile, and I am SO ridiculously happy we’ve started it up again. I can’t even describe how wonderful it is. I sprawl out on the cushy chairs in the Madsen with my notebook, Camille works her magic on the piano. And I just feel so much peace and clarity. I get more done, do better quality work and feel great when I leave. Without fail. It’s one of my favorite things in the world. Definitely the way I would prefer to study every time if I could. I’ve tried to replicate it with recordings, but nothing even comes close.

I took the picture above at Camille’s last recital in the Madsen. I love her so much; she’s one of my favorite people in the world. So glad I got to grow up with her and end up at the same college.

The Pomegranate Season

All of a sudden the Thanksgiving/Christmas excitement hit me yesterday. For some reason it came a little late this year. I’d still love for it to be warm outside, but I’m starting to remember why the chill can be nice too. A lot of good, cozy things happen when it’s cold, like hot apple cider and bundling up in scarves and foggy breath. To celebrate last night I bought my first pomegranate of the season – the first time I ever had one was when I stayed at Kristen Thornbrue’s house for Thanksgiving freshman year. Now it’s always connected in my mind to holiday cheer. The next year when I was in London for the holiday I treated myself to a grab-and-go package of pomegranate from Tesco and was perfectly content.

(yes, I did make my sister hold my pomegranate outside so I could take a picture)

Also, happy veterans day. I really wish everyone here wore poppies like they did in London and elsewhere to celebrate remembrance day. I feel like it gets a little forgotten here sometimes, and it really deserves a lot of attention.

Halloween Distractions

I have this thing where I think my brain has reached its limit of studying. And Halloween just provided way too great of a distraction. Here are some of the things we did for the holiday while not doing other (arguably more important, but way less fun) things.

My roommates made some cookies while watching Rear Window and I came home to catch the tail end of it. Brynn, who also didn’t want to do her homework, decided to see if she could make the same faces as the ghosts. Love her.

Naturally there was some dressing up.

And of course we carved some pumpkins!

We (mostly Annie) even made the pumpkin seeds into, well, cooked pumpkin seeds. And they were delicious.

Now for Thanksgiving!

Oh New York, New York

Ok, this is late. Six months late, actually. But better late than never, right?

At the end of May, when I was still in D.C., a bunch of us decided to take a weekend trip up to the legendary New York City. A roundtrip bus ticket is only $20, and I had never been before and always wanted to go, so there was no way I could resist. Plus, all of my lovely journalism friends who did the New York program were still there, so I actually spent pretty much the whole time hanging out with them because I missed them a lot. I got to stay with Chelsea, one of my favorite people in the world, in her awesome apartment only a few blocks from Times Square. Love.

Here, finally, is the trip in pictures. You probably already saw them on facebook, but just pretend like you didn’t. (The photo above is stolen again from Peter. It’s just a fabulous picture. We’re on the top of the Empire State Building. At like 2 in the morning. And a some of the photos below are stolen from Amy. I may have taken one from Mandy too…)

Times square. We wandered through many a time.

As you may have noticed, I love NBC shows, especially 30 rock, so this was a magical experience.

We got to watch two musicals on Broadway: In the Heights and Memphis. They were both excellent. And it was cool because it was just before the Tony’s, and Memphis ended up winning best new musical.

We ate the requisite dollar hotdog and Mongolia cupcake in Central Park. It was lovely.

We also played kid on the big piano at FAO Schwarz and American girl. I may have gone to American Girl twice in one day.

This sign was on a street near China town, and I immediately fell in love with it. And the idea of what it could mean. It’s still the background for my phone.

Amy and I just happened to walk past the New York Times. I really, really, really wanted to go in.

More city explorations.

I loved the whole thing. I’ve heard so many people complain about the size and the noise and all of the people, but I would go back in a heartbeat.

Amy did a way better job of recording this than me, so check it out at her blog in the July section. She didn’t blog on time either, so does that make it a little bit better than I’m late too?