concert weekend no. 2!

Whew. That was one whirlwind of a weekend. My last bit of fun before midterms come around starting next week for me. So, here goes the fantastic recap! I woke up late Saturday morning (...unfortunately missing my 5K...) and then got together with everyone at Chipman Hall. We left in two cars at around 1:00, but we had to stop at a guitar shop in downtown Provo to pick up a certain SOMEONE who shall be left unnamed :) After nearly missing the shop and being stuck in P-town forever, we successfully picked everyone up and were off to Salt Lake. Or Salty Lay's, as some say. We made it to the Gavilan Center at 2, after parking and everything. The line was enormous-we were all a little worried, especially because one of the bands we wanted to see started at 2:10. Luckily, it turned out that the line was for will call and we had gotten ours sent in the mail. Well, almost all of us-poor C. had his on Will Call so he still had to wait in line! Luckily he made it in before any of the bands he wanted to see started.

So we went in and tried to find a spot to stand, which was difficult, to say the least. The place was packed. Wall-to-wall. But we wanted to be up close for Imagine Dragons, so we took a breath and  dove in.

Scary crowds.

Pretty packed, no? It was actually a little scary because some idiots thought it would be funny to push everyone back and forth-which meant that we all almost fell over once or twice and were crushed! Ahhh!

About to start!!

The first band that played was the Wombats, who were awesome. The girls all stayed further up though because we didn't know their music as well, but the boys W. & C. got started early and went all the way up to the pit from the beginning! We met up with them for Imagine Dragons, who played after a set change.

ID!

And there they are!!! The lead singer doing his mic check, at least! The band was started in Utah Valley, and it was so sweet to see the lead singer get all emotional to be back home after they've made it pretty big. P.S.- he's LDS and married! So fun. 

Actually performing!

Their music was great live- you could tell that they moved it down a couple keys otherwise it would be too high to sing for that long, but still amazing. 

So excited!

Truth be told, we were pretty sweaty after hanging out in the pit for their entire set, so after Imagine Dragons was done we took a water break. Unfortunately, that meant that we missed (most of) AWOL Nation, which I was bummed about, but we still heard all their songs. We just weren't in the pit or super close. 

Post-pit picture.

Next up was Grouplove, who we were able to see pretty well. We weren't in the pit (which was a good thing, if you ask me...), but we had a great vantage point to see the entire stage and moshing without actually being down in it.

Yes, one of the members is in a plaid bathrobe. Don't ask me why.

Grouplove was awesome. Everything was awesome. ANOTHER AWESOME CONCERT WEEKEND. I had listened to some of Grouplove's songs before, but I found that I liked them even more live. And later on that day, we actually got to meet one of them!

Of course, it's bathrobe guy!

After Grouplove was some crazy band called The Used who like to profane a lot, so we just kind of took a break. And while we took a break, we ran into a celebrity! Well, a YouTube celebrity that I actually had no idea who he was, but everyone else did. And hey, he was tall and cute!

Apparently he's a guy from "Kid History" shorts
on YouTube. I'll have to look him up!

After our amazing celebrity run-in, it was time for Neon Trees. We couldn't see them that well because they were closing, so everyone was there (there were two stages for earlier in the day). We decided to walk around to a different side of the stage to see if we could see the stage better, and THEN- the HIGHLIGHT of the concert:

IMAGINE DRAGONS AGAIN!

We ran into the LEAD SINGER OF IMAGINE DRAGONS! AND got a picture with him! I'm bummed that my purse is hanging awkwardly, but, oh well. SO COOL. So we got to listen to amazing bands play and met 3 CELEBRITIES/BANDS. Not too bad for 25 bucks. 

We never really got to see Neon Trees that well, but we could hear them just fine. I realized that I didn't know their music that well, just hits like "Animal" and "Everybody Talks".

Camera-above-the-head shot.

After Neon Trees finished, we all drove back to Provo (which was an adventure in and of itself...like getting on the wrong freeway!). Everyone ate dinner at IHOP together, which is actually delicious at 10 o'clock at night, and then came back to Helaman to watch a movie on blankets on the lawn with everyone in our carpool and some other guy friends of my friends from BYU-I. I can now say that I have seen Mean Girls! It does have some great one-liners, and now I know what people mean when they say "You go, Glen Coco! And none for Gretchen Wieners". You know, stuff like that. 

All in all, another wonderful concert and weekend. It isn't all fun and games though-lots of work these next couple of weeks and we hit midterms. What's left for me tonight is a home-cooked meal at J&J's (sosososo excited. you have no idea!), my Sunday Skype chats, and ward prayer. Great weekend. Ready to start the week again tomorrow!

mid-weekend update

Well. Last night was certainly something. I started off the afternoon by picking up my registration, etc for the Race to the Altar 5K. It came in a box that looked exactly like a Christmas present, which was fun to open.

A little blurry, but super cute wrapping!

Close-up of the logo.

Cute shirt too! although not Tiffany's blue..

Then I met with my study buddy for the first time, and I actually got some Spanish speaking in! Although it turns out that he doesn't think he can do it, so he brought another friend from the ELC and I got his contact info so I an still have a study buddy. The reality was that I spoke with his friend for most of the time because he left, so...a little awkward but getting my hours of conversation done!

At 6 pm, the football game started. We dominated from the beginning; I was a couple minutes late and heard the crowd cheering for a touchdown as I walked to the stadium. Final score: BYU 47, Hawaii 0. Not too shabby! It was nice chatting with old friends from home and watching our team win.

At 10:30, I headed over to C.'s and saw that the rest of the Zion's Choir/San Jose gang had arrived for the concert (that's today!). So much fun to see everyone. We all headed to the Neon Luau and had a blast. Got some super cool wristbands that made us look like VIP's headed somewhere exclusive:

Neon wristband for a neon luau.

And then got home a little later than I probably should have. Unfortunately, despite other plans...I totally slept through the 5K. And I am the most bummed I've ever been for an event. :(( I literally woke up at 10:30, when the race started at 8:30. Big-time oops.

So besides that disappointment, I have the BASh this afternoon and evening to look forward to! It's going to be super fun, with friends from the bay and BYU-I and BYU, great music, and spending a day up in my new "the City". More to come, probably tomorrow though!

one month!

It has officially been one month since I started college here at BYU. So far, I can honestly say it's been great! My roommate/suitemates are nice, my schedule is nothing too crazy, and I haven't failed any tests or quizzes! (Probably because I'm not in American Heritage-yay for AP credit!) Today was pretty hectic-I went to my classes, then started on a trek to review my old tests in Book of Mormon and PD Bio. For BoM, it was in the Joseph Smith Building, which I had never been in before because none of my classes are in there this semester. I walked in and my first thought was "It's just like church!". Between the smell (the Church must use a universal carpet cleaner or something...) and the paintings of scenes from the scriptures on the walls, it felt, weirdly enough, like home. After reviewing my test and taking notes on my mistakes, I headed over to the Widstoe Building (it's for Life Sciences, etc) to review my first Bio test. After review, I mustered up my twenty seconds of insane courage and got started on my way to declaring a major-hopefully Nutritional Science and Spanish! It was scary and exciting to talk to the advisors (both for the College of Life Sciences & the College of Humanities), but I set up an appointment in October and will be headed back soon!

I was supposed to meet with my Spanish Study Buddy today, but it fell through and we are meeting tomorrow afternoon before the football game vs. Hawaii (go cougs!). After homework, I discovered that I had a package waiting for me!

Oh, to be back in the Bay...

It happened to be a lovely postcard from my Dad and A's excursion up to the City on her birthday. For those of you that are curious, I received this as a package and not in my mailbox because our mailbox is broken. I came home from Idaho and S. said that she opened it one afternoon and it fell apart. Strange...

Among other exciting things that happened today: cereal for dinner, a math study session, a safety seminar in order to get a free pass on our next cleaning check, and finally breaking out the Dailey Method DVD and practicing it in the basement. And let me tell you, heading back into that kind of exercise is NOT easy when you haven't stretched like that for months. 

Dinner!

So it's time for me to head off and get ready for the epic weekend that is to come, starting tomorrow. I'll keep you all informed! Among the expected: stoplight dance, my first 5k, a music concert/festival, and a neon luau...

lost phones and good deeds

Wednesday was pretty normal today. Nothing wacky or weird. I decided to wear another cute fall outfit (but no pictures, sorry!), and unfortunately realized that my black boots are a little tight. This meant more blisters on top of my old blisters from when I stupidly decided to walk all the way to church in heels. I've learned since that one wears flip flops to church (aka up the Hill) and then puts cute Sunday shoes on.

Classes were fine, I went to TWO study sessions today (that's especially mentioned for certain parental units who think all I do is have too much fun at the Y), bio and math. At the math review session I noticed a cell phone underneath my chair, so I put it to the side. Nobody claimed it, so C. and I texted some of the contacts listed as favorites.

The phone.

We discovered that it belonged to a very nice BYU student who appreciated her phone being found and not left to die in the basement of the JKB! I stayed for an hour and fifteen minutes of the review session and then left to work out, so C. delivered it to the actual owner. Now, I would like to think that my act of kindness would help balance out the universe and have someone turn in my ID card...but truthfully, I know it's long gone. At least I could help someone else out and save them some money. Tomorrow brings another math study session (our first test is next Mon/Tues), and another PD Bio and BoM test review, where you can see what you got wrong on previous tests. It must be close to midterm season...

club night!

Today I woke up to the first signs of fall here in a Provo-a wonderfully chilly morning with fog everywhere on the mountains. Beautiful!

Sweater weather yet?

Finally got my ID card drama cleared up-it wasn't ever returned, so I had to get a new one. I like this photo better than my old one, but my smile is kind of funny-like "just take this picture I just want my card back already!". Haha.

New ID!

Tuesday nights at BYU are club nights. I'm a member of the Amateur Radio Club, and was promoted to the office of secretary today! As geeky as it is, I DO actually have fun and it has some awesome scholarship opportunities. Tonight we got to check out the "ham shack" and then go look at the antennae's. We almost went on the roof of the WSC but the advisor that had the key wasn't there. We did go through some secret side rooms and staircases, though! So it does have its perks. :)

The shack. 

Side shack view

Here's a side view of the shack...notice the (needs some work) QSL card collection. After my DX Adventure, I'm such a spoiled geek/ham...because I have probably 150 at home!

No roof access? Just kidding...

Climbing up some very Pensacola-lighthouse-esque stairs hidden behind a door to reach a secret room, complete with a lot of electrical wiring and levers just begging to be pulled, like "emergency shut-off switch".

Hidden staircase!

And then here's the box with all the coax and wiring that goes up to the roof and the beams there! Not super clear, but there certainly was a lot of it-although our project for this semester is to replace it all because our SWR is literally a 10 (for all you non-geeks out there, it's supposed to be a 1).

Fancy electronic stuff!

Finished off the night with a workout at the SFH and finished the next chapter of my telenovela! I actually had a Spanish test today and thought it went well. I hope the class as a whole did okay, because if we average a 90, then our profesora will make us all exotic cupcakes (like key lime pie...).

caught in a downpour!

I learned several valuable lessons today, all lessons that are better to hear about than live through.

No. 1-When it rains, it pours.
No. 2-If you lose your ID card while walking to dinner, don't bother looking for it. Someone nice probably picked it up for you, so don't worry about retracing your steps across lower campus in the pouring rain in hopes that you might find it.
No. 3-Be prepared. You may have looked adorable in your first really "fall" outfit, complete with scarf, but it doesn't offer a lot of protection against the wind and rainstorm.
No. 4-Be on time. Always give LOADS of extra time to get to anywhere, or to account for the unexpected, otherwise you'll get back to your dorm from search and rescue for your ID card soaking wet with two minutes to spare before FHE starts.

Nice and soaking wet!

...and my tail is cold, and my nose is cold...

 So that was my evening tonight! We wrote letters for FHE, and I wrote (after a quick change to some dry clothes!) to someone who is {very likely} reading right now, so they shall remain nameless. Just have some Spanish homework left and then I'll hit the SFH for some running. My first 5k is this Saturday! Can't wait for the weekend-it's going to be another epic adventure.

Oh! I also got a surprise package today-it's always fun to get the email notification that "A new package has arrived for you! Come pick it up in the Cannon Center". This wasn't super exciting, but you always feel important going to pick up a delivery for yourself. :) Even if it's just your new AAA card and a mini sewing kit.

The THOROUGHLY soaked envelope.

AAA card and sewing kit...and love from Mom. :)

sunday funday

Today we attended the dedication broadcast for the Brigham City Temple for church. It was my first temple dedication-a unique and different experience! It was so peaceful and full of the Spirit-at the end the entire Marriott Center stood and sang "The Spirit of God"-amazing! Just wonderful.

After the dedication, it was back to the room to get some homework done (yes, I unfortunately had to do some homework on Sunday-the first time this school year, though!) because I was gone Friday/Saturday. Then I headed over to C's because she was babysitting her brother's new puppy Callie-she is ADORABLE! All gangly baby black lab :) So yes, I was a little rebellious and snuck a puppy into the dorms, but it was only for a few hours.

Adorable (blurry) face!

Callie in the sink-silly puppy.

Headed over to J&J's for dinner, a yummy Italian sausage pasta, steamed veggies and homemade french bread. Made it back home in time for ward prayer and then tunnel singing. It's a new week tomorrow-let's make every week the best!

idaho adventure: part 2

And so the adventure to Idaho closes! I'm so thankful that I have wonderful grandparents who are willing to host, feed, and even navigate two crazy concert-going college kids around Boise. This was truly an awesome weekend-it could not have been better. So here goes the full recap:

Thank you Grandma and Papa O!

We left at 12:30 on Friday, hoping to be in before 7:30 when the concert actually started. K and I both have a bit of a lead foot, so we made GREAT time and arrived at 5:45. We had a bite to eat at the grandparents' even though we packed a lunch and light dinner, and then at 7:10 drove to the Taco Bell Arena. 

All packed for the weekend!

 It was fun to pack for a little weekend getaway-a break from the Provo bubble as well as a chance to try and brush up on my Utah/Idaho geography (I now know where Brigham City, Ogden, Rupert, and Burley are!).

Welcomed into Idaho.

After we arrived at the concert, we looked at the merchandise, and yes, I bought a souvenir or two. We had such a great time and I wanted something to remember it by, so some t-shirts were perfect. 

Train's tee

The back with all the
tour dates-can you see ours? 

Mat Kearney-even though he
was an opener, he still
had a shirt! Poor Andy didn't...

It took us about ten minutes to get shirts, so we sat down at 7:30 almost on the dot, which was great because Andy Grammer started singing only a few minutes after! As I mentioned earlier, his tour trailer had broken down on the way to Boise, so it was just him and his guitar for accompaniment. That wasn't bad at all-it made for a much more personal concert set than, say, the full-out production that it was for Katy Perry. He played for a half-hour, and then it was time for a set change and Mat Kearney to come on. 

Andy Grammer.

Mat Kearney's trailer/bus did not break down, so he played with his band that consisted of a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist (side piano geek note-his band had an actual piano and a keyboard, not just some fake synthesizer stuff). He had a 45-minute set, was awesome live both singing and on the acoustic guitar, and (way cool!) invited some guy up on stage to play the drum part on the microphone (just tapping out the rhythms).

Mat Kearney and band

It was about a ten-fifteen minute wait in between each set change, but the lines for anything were super long, so we just sat and waited impatiently for the next band. I loved that all the bands were as amazing singers live as they were recorded and very complementary of each other/seemed really supportive ("Let's hear it for so-and-so next/before us!").

50 Ways to Say Goodbye

 It started off with a bang and the awesome giant screen being revealed- as well as as a CLEAR drumset! Pretty unique.

Another awesome song-can't remember which one exactly...

The graphics for each and every song were done really well-and apparently the designer is from Boise! The announcement brought a lot of Boise pride and yelling. Woohoo for Boise, even if you're not from there!

Mermaid

For the song "Mermaid," they invited a bunch of preteen girls up onstage to show off their mermaid moves-and some older women as well! There were some other ladies and then two hilarious grandmas shaking what they had...and one kept following Patrick (the main singer) around videotaping his dance moves! Crazy crazy...

California 37

I will admit, I hadn't heard of all the songs that Train sang (but hey, like they mentioned-they've been around for 18 years, so it is understandable), but whether it was new or old, I liked it all!

Drops of Jupiter-the stars were amazing!

One of my favorites was the performance of "Drops of Jupiter"-it started off with just the pillar with the guitarist lit up like stars, and then as the song progressed, different parts of the stage lit up until by the end, the entire stage was shining and all aglow!

Outside the traditional meeting area after the concert

The concert ended right at 11 pm-perfect timing to walk over to Chili's and then drive back home with the grandma.

Super fun weekend!

All in all, an awesome concert and trip! I had so much fun and had a great time. The music was great, the other fans were all enthusiastic and not rowdy. A great time and weekend escape while still staying clean and classy. :)

And the way back was just as (looong) fun as it was on the way up! It was really smoggy and gross, apparently left over from fires in Washington that blew down here. 

Gross smog/smoke

What a lovely view for many, many miles!

We also had the chance to stop in Brigham City to visit the famed Idle Isles candy store (it has a history with my sweet-loving family...), see the new temple, and take a stretch break before making it home, safe and sound!

The store!

The famous almond toffee's sitting in
my drawer waiting to be eaten tomorrow night at J&J's...

The view of the temple that we saw from Main Street!

As for the rest of my evening and weekend, it involves getting all my homework done tonight so I can enjoy the broadcast of the Brigham City temple dedication tomorrow. I did have a fun girl's night at Olive Garden and then The Chocolate back here in Provo, but now it's back to hitting the  books!

Who are these crazies? :)

Key lime pie-super yummy! I thought of you, Dad...

And now it's back to the books!

So it's off to finish homework and go to bed. Thanks for the wonderful weekend-a perfect belated birthday present. Not much can top that!