Sundance Film Festival

Every year the most avante-guarde independent film makers come to Utah to participate in the Sundance Film Festival.

So do a lot of major celebrities :)

This year, James Franco, Patrick Dempsey, Elizabeth Olsen,
Kate Bosworth, Liv Tyler, and Ryan Reynolds were spotted,
but unfortunately not by me.

However me, Jean, Shayla, Alex, Jordan, Katerina, and Markell did make the voyage up to Park City where we ate at a delicious grill that claimed to have to best bagels in Utah and saw the movie "The Ledge"
starring Liv Tyler, Patrick Williams (aka Raoul in Phantom of the Opera), and Terrance Howard (the black guy in Iron Man I).

I love seeing the festival films, but with no rating system and no film reviews (because they premier the movie at the festival) you never know what you're going to see, and unless you like anti-christian movies, I wouldn't recommend you see The Ledge :)

Hipster

If there’s one thing that there is never a shortage of around BYU campus, it’s parties.

The testing center may run out of calculators, your professor may not have enough syllabi for your class, or the ink in your printer may run dry, but parties are never in short supply.

This weekend my good friend Sarah from my study abroad celebrated her 21^st birthday with a hipster-themed birthday party.

What is a hipster you may ask?

Well no one was really sure, but this blog helped us figure it out (www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com) and here is what I was able to gather throughout the night:

Fashion: lipstick and oversized sweaters

Media: documentaries

Magazines: Nylon

Music: M. Ward or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

Books: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Philosophy: Existentialism

People of interest: Andy Warhol

We then cruised over to a party at the little red riding hood (love the name) where my friend Morgan lives with 6 other girls and danced the rest of the night away.

The birthday girl!

Hipsters

Hipster shoes

My dad's old argyle sweater from college = Hipster sweater

Weekend Getaway

How did we celebrate the life of this great crusader of civil rights??

By going to St. George of course!

It was a weekend full of intense tennis matches, hot tub seshes, lots of desserts, croquet battles and good chats with friends!

Possibly the most gorgeous sunset ever??

Photo cred goes to the talented J murr da blurr

Dinner with the group!

After failed attempts to eat at both Pizza Factories in St. George...

We ended up at the Claim Jumper.

I was a little bit creeped out by the huge deer head peering down as we ate...

Sunday:

Modeling comes naturally to them.

Markell was sick of walking in high heels.... (notice how Andrew is NOT being a gentleman)

... and apparently all four of us weren't able to manage carrying her... fail.

We visited the St. George Temple visitors center!

And Alex caught a glimpse into her future sister-missionary life

Sunday Dinner:

Our lovely cooks.

Look at their masterpiece!

<----------------------

It was DE-lish.

And somehow Sunday dinner ended with Shayla being power-bombed...?

For your enjoyment:

This was supposed to be a victory high-five.... until we missed each other's hands...

Hello Santa Barbara

.... Not the city in California, unfortunately.

But I am now a resident of Santa Barbara Apartments (which happen to be right down the street from J-Dawgs... sweet huh?). I live with the fabulous Rachel Nixon whom I met at the dorms (yep, we're both Helaman halls alumni) and the newest additions to our apartment are:

a kitchen-aid (thank you Rachel's sister),

a toaster (courtesy of Mitzi),

and Cable (as of last night-- we broke into the box illegally, haha jk).

We have a system where I bake dinner once a week and Rachel bakes dinner once a week...

and let me tell you,

its quite the educational experience considering the only food I know how to make off the top of my head is

toast and microwavable mac n' cheese...

I'm also a pro at doing laundry

(I learned how to do my own in London this last semester...... I probably shouldn't admit that)

This was how I did laundry for the first 19 years of my life...

... this is my laundry hamper now! woohoo for being independent.

Books I bought in London = decor for my room now

My lovely roommate leaves nice notes for me too! :)

Ooh, here's some more exciting news:

I chose a major!!

drumroll please...

Communication Disorders

:)

I'm very excited about it.

Happy New Years

So I rang in 2011 while driving home from the airport, and it made me wonder if New Years Eve was a bit overrated as a holiday, because I certainly didn't feel any different after the clock turned from 11:59 to 12:00.

But then I got thinking about it, and New Years is really quite special. What else causes people all over the world to make goals to eat healthier, be kinder, organize their lives, and just be better?

Leaving 2010 was kind of sad, because a chapter in my life was closing that I will NEVER experience again (see previous hundred blog posts haha) but I'm excited for 2011!

I'm moving into an actual apartment for the first time where I'll have to make myself food (I miss my dining-plus card already), basketball season is coming up, my little sister will be graduating from high school (weird), people my age will be getting married and having babies, and who knows what else 2011 has in store!

Oh here's a little something you might like:

At the end of each year, my friend Shayla and I sit down and go through each month of the past year and write down our favorite memories/epic happenings from each.

It's really quite enjoyable and you'd be surprised about how much you can remember!

Here's a little advice I'm going to try to follow this New Year!