ungrateful

Ok, ok this is a post about what I'm grateful for. My title is a misnomer.  I did that since everyone else's title is "What I am Grateful For" and I wanted to be different.  The content will be the same, though, so that's where the differences stop.

I mean, what else would I post for a Thanksgiving post?  How much I like to eat?  We all know that already.  About how weird turkeys look?  We won't have to worry about that when they are in our stomachs.

So here we a-go-go!!

*my family and the fact that I feel their support from hundreds of miles away every day

*modern medicine and the smart people behind it

*I was born into the LDS Church and I found truth on my own

*chocolate

*technology that allows me to talk to my family face-to-face every week and lets me write and research for papers at home and a little box that is able to play all of my music and I don't have to switch CDs in my walkman for a new album

*heaters and air conditioners

*indoor plumbing

*books

*movies

*music

*salt to make the sidewalks not slippery and so I have less of the likelihood of falling on my butt in the morning

*considerate and genuinely kind people

*puppies

Feliz el dia de acción de gracias!!

new and old

A new song as of last week: "Ghost" by my girl Ingrid Michaelson.
http://youtu.be/v5Sfc4Oht9c
An older song from the most recent album of Yellowcard: "Sing For Me"
http://youtu.be/hC0SavZptSo

more pictures from my weekend

{I'm so proud of Anna for going on her first Ferris wheel ride, even though she doesn't like heights}

{$62,000 ring at Tiffany's--we decided that we're marrying for money, not for love}

{that lady was soo nice for letting us try on all of those gorgeous rings}

{pretty bird}

{too much rock for one hand}

there's a place off ocean avenue

I had the opportunity to live a middle school dream this weekend. And an adult dream.  But it's been about 10 years in the making.  A couple of weeks ago, Anna texted me that we should go to the Yellowcard concert in LA and escape Utah for a weekend.  I was like uhduhyeahgirl and so Thursday Anna, her sister Ellen and Ellen's friend, Brenna, and I hit the dusty trail for Los Angeles.

Friday we went to my favorite breakfast place, the Egg Plantation.  They have 101 omelets and the best strawberry stuffed French toast.

Then we headed off to the city.  We drove around looking at the touristy things and found where George Clooney supposedly lives.  We couldn't stay away from the beach another day, so we stopped by Marina del Rey for a little bit.

We had dinner at Cabo Cantina on the Sunset Strip and waited near the front of the line at the house of Blues for the concert.  There is nothing like a concert.  I was telling Anna that I want to still go to concerts when I'm 60, but then I realized that I might die if I do it when I'm old because I'm still sore from doing it when I'm 21.  Plus, I'll definitely lose my hearing.  I wake up the next day with what I call a concert hangover (don't worry, ma, no actual drugs are involved in this process): ringing and plugged ears, headache, soreness all over my body, exhausted, raspy voice.  Love it.  SOOOO worth it.

Go Radio and Every Avenue opened and that was a fun start.  I don't know what it is about musicians, but holy moly Charlie Brown, sign me up for the next tour!!  Also, it was extra fun because it was the last show of the tour and so the bands were playing pranks on each other the whole time.  For example, YC came out during Go Radio and flipped all of the drummer's cymbals upside down.  The two openers came out at YC's last song and danced with them on stage. Extra dose of fun. We got the signatures of some of the band members after the show, including LP, the drummer for YC.  The venue was awesome, the people were crazy, the set choice was super, and I finally saw YC in concert.  Don't get much better then that.

{in like with Every Avenue's guitarist}

{Ryan Key, lead singer/guitarist of Yellowcard}

{LP's drum solo}

{also in like with Yellowcard's bassist}

{oh, and did we mention the guitarist for Go Radio??}

Saturday, we slept in forever and then went to the Plantation again with my grandparents. Can't get enough of that place.  Then the girls headed off for Santa Monica where we played on the beach and strolled down the pier.  Ellen and I chased some birds (hopefully I can get that video soon--they started chasing us haha). It wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but it sure as heck wasn't snowing!  I held a bird and it kissed me on the lips.  I got hit on by a creepy street performer during one of his performances.  We took Anna on her first ferris wheel ride and it was so fun!  We ended the visit by finding the 3 story Barnes and Noble on the 3rd Street Promenade.  I died and went to heaven.  We thought it would be fun to see "Breaking Dawn," too, buuuut that was an interesting movie. A lot of blood and an angsty shirtless R.Pat.

{"there's a place off Ocean Avenue"}

{Santa Monica pier and beach}

{we love the beach}

I had so much fun this weekend.  As we drove closer and closer to Provo today, I got sadder and sadder.  Then I remembered Thanksgiving with my family is in two days and I recovered :)

all hallow's eve

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. The order of my favorites are probably: Christmas, Halloween, my birthday.  I'm still working on making my birthday a national holiday and so we all can get school off and party. But it's slow-going, sorry.
I've already mentioned how my family always watches tons of scary movies each year and how my friends and I have carried on this tradition.  So that occupied most of my free time this month.

The Friday before Halloween, my complex had a party in the parking garage so we dressed up and danced.  It turned out to be a little lame, so everyone came back to my place to watch "The Ring" and drink hot cocoa.

{fake tats, pink hair, eyeliner, fish net tights, black}

{Me, Meagan, Hilary, Deidre...aka punk, Sandy, hipster, dead ballerina}

{pink hair is growing on me}

{the group}

Sunday, the Whiteleys had a dinner party and I got to catch up with some old friends.  Chris and Camille did the cute Uh Huh creatures and preggo Amber was an oven with Jeff as the chef (get it? bun in the oven).

Monday, we watched "What Lies Beneath" and ate treats at Lizzie's.  We made Halloween cupcakes, of course. :)

I wish that I had pictures of what our apartment looked like. Then again, it might have been too scaryyyy...