An Ode to Things

I know that "the most important things in life aren't things," but that doesn't stop me from being grateful for and excited about a few things now and again. Right now those things are:

• Sweatpants.  I love dressing up for work, but starting my day early takes its toll and I'm always glad to be able to come home and effectively put on pajamas. 
• Earplugs. Now I can more easily ignore everyone else's video games and shouting and Lost marathons so that I can get homework and sleeping done.
• Smash Books. It's a nice little way to get my creative juices flowing as I ease back into making things again.
• The car I'll be buying this month--a green 1995 Ford Taurus. (I'll be paying for it this month, but will pick it up in Utah on my way to school this fall.)
• The  the new Heber J. Grant scholarship that will help with my tuition for my last three semesters!
• My books. I have lots and have decided that I'd probably rather re-read my old stuff for the next little while rather than looking for old stuff. I haven't read many of my books since high school (so it doesn't count). 
• Spotify. It saves me so much money and disc space. 
• Gifs. There is seriously one for every situation.





































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21

I made a post a few weeks ago about how I'd found a song I could listen to over and over again--"Someone Like You" by Adele. Last night,  the album it came from, 21,  was (finally) available in the United States! Okay, I waited until it was midnight on the east coast and immediately downloaded it. Beth and I are in love  in obsessed with it. In fact, we're listening to it now.

Adele has this rich and soulful voice and great control over it. Sometimes there are little squeaks or growls or she'll edge over her break less than gracefully, but Beth made the point that those imperfections in her voice make it even more beautiful. I'm (maybe) starting to get to the age and maturity where I can actually really understand a love song, and hers are complex and sweet and powerful. They get you thinking about what "having it all" means, what it is you want out of a relationship, waiting on a second chance, heartbreak, and (since we're just out of our teens here,) keeping up with rumors.

Overall, this album is my new favorite. I highly recommend it.

Dinosaur Salad

The other day I found myself really craving chicken caesar salad, but lacking the time or desire to cook chicken at lunchtime. Then I opened the freezer, saw chicken nuggets, and was inspired. Thus Dinosaur Salad was invented. I forgot about it until I had it again today and realized that some things are just too good to keep to yourself. 

Other than that, my Monday was nothing too special. I did almost biff it and die a few times walking in the snow today though, which gave me the idea for today's a capella love song of the day. 

Day #7 Collide by Howie Day

This is only 25 seconds of the song as performed by Freshman Fifteen. I cannot recommend this arrangement highly enough and I think you should front 99¢ for it on iTunes because you will never regret it. 

Weekend Edition: Nearer, My God, to Thee
I was busy having a life for once this weekend, so I didn't post songs. Since it's the Sabbath, though, I think I'll put up one of my favorite hymns. (Still a capella, of course.)

In other news, it's Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday.

While it would be wonderful to have someone like him run America again, it's a tough thing to approach. Do it right, and you've accomplished a miracle. Do it wrong and you've got the Tea Party.

 (There was a float dedicated to him at this year's Rose Parade.)

Day #3 Down by Jay Sean

It's been hard to find good songs arranged and performed well on YouTube. But hey, my pickiness is paying off, right?

 You'll have to click the link to this one. The video is too wide for the column it's supposed to fit in.

"Tap On My Window, Knock On My Door, I Want to Make You Feel Beautiful."

Day #2: She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

This is the only version I listen to. I'm also slightly biased toward this group because they're from Yale (my sister-brother Chris's alma mater). 

February is Lovely.

I love February. Love is in the air, chocolate is on sale, and winter is just that much brighter because of it. I may be chronically single, but I loved Valentine's Day even in high school. The choir would do singing valentine grams and I'd get out of class for the whole day to just sing about love and friendship and be with my beloved choir family. So in honor of that tradition, I'm posting an a cappella love song every day this month. I'm excited. If you're not, that's okay, because it's not your blog.

Song #1 Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley

It's the first Valentine Song any UHS Choir member learns. It's sweet and simple and will always make you smile. This arrangement is by The Staff from University of Florida. Maybe not the best recording, but definitely the best version I could find. 

"Someone Like You" by Adele

In the past few years, I've found a movie and a book that I can watch or read over and over again. I've never been that way with music. But that changed today. Listen to this.

I didn't grow up listening to the Rolling Stones. I'm not a huge fan. But in the first season of House, I heard a reference to the philosopher Jagger: "You can't always get what you want." 

Then the season finale of Glee featured that song and I really fell in love with it. The chorus got me thinking.

"You can't always get what  you want[...] but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need."

It's one of those songs for tough times. Mick has it close. It's more like

"Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another." (D&C 90:24)

But then put those two together. We're not going to get everything we think we want right now, but if we're doing what we should, we'll get not only what we need--we'll get the very best. And who could want more than that?

An Apology and a Celebration

I've noticed that I've been using this blog to complain. This means that I'm probably been complaining out loud to my friends and family. My bad, you guys. I'm going to stop it.

Besides, how can I complain during times like these?

 

With Sam and Erin in Salt Lake this weekend, Jenna and I have been having little adventures.Jenna keeps wearing her red-and-black Vegas High Wildcats gear and Sugar-Salem fans mistake her for a Madison student and yell strange and offensive things at us as we walk. But the guy at Jack in the Box must've thought we were cute or something because he upgraded our curly fries. That's a plus.

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image via
All this collaboration between Beyoncé and Lady Gaga is very exciting. In the video for "Telephone," Gaga calls Beyoncé "Honey Bee." That's what my friend Kasey calls me. I really wish that we could be in the same city for Halloween, because that gives me an awesome idea.

Upon re-discovering this newspaper article in my iPhoto library, I may be able to jump the wall I've hit in my family history quest. 

 I recently found a great way to chop onions without crying.

I found a good online photo editor so I can do fun things like this.

I can still use the teapot that I accidentally melted to the burner last week.

 

I'm doing way better in school than I thought I was, I successfully dyed my own hair (just a touch up), and I can put the pictures on my phone online again. Life is pretty darn good.

"Cubans don't eat cupcakes because cupcakes are happy and communism's not!"

Today you get a lot of sporadic thoughts and images. Have fun!

Some skills need to be constantly cultivated. Otherwise they go away. Like sometimes you're performing in Carnegie Hall one day and a year later you're struggling to sightread an easy alto part.

Today I found myself missing my long red hair. And New York. And Dallin. I like how this picture has all three.

I've also noticed that after I hear barbershop live, I impulsively have to say "Get some!"after every song. I can keep it quiet in a BYU-Idaho setting, but I just know that it's because of Diva Day '09. Good times.

Maddie is the coolest eleven-year-old ever. And I bet Minnesota wishes they still had the Lakers. (Even though Maddie is about nine in this picture and while we were at Staples Center, it was a Clippers game.)

I declared today a Day of Cupcakes. Since we were watching Obsession in my sociology of religion class today, we were supposed to bring food. I made Nutella cupcakes first thing this morning. Then I somehow found myself in The Cocoa Bean getting a Madagascar Vanilla Vanilla cupcake after my last class. Then I made myself stop.

I'd have pictures of all this, but they're all on my phone and I can't send pictures from my phone anymore. (Hey Dad, can we fix that, please?) So you get this one of Noah, Kendra, and Kylinn on top of the fort back home.

I like Butter Pecan ice cream. Except for the pecans.

The title of this post comes from the May 2009 Quote Book. I definitely said it in AP Bio, but I can't remember the context. Do any BiFs remember?

I Agree with the NyQuil.

But there are many approaches to the subject. They can be summed up in the work of those who've spent their careers writing about love.

Queen:       

"Seven Seas of Rhye" ("I will destroy any man who dares abuse my trust.")

"Don't Stop Me Now"

"Somebody to Love"  

Intensely physical, defensive, incomplete. Queenly love is for swingers.

Swift:  

"Love Story"

"The Way I Loved You"

"Fifteen"

          This is for the young and hormonally charged. It's all about the turbulence and emotion of firsts. 

The Beatles: 

"I Wanna Hold Your Hand"

"When I'm 64"

"Yesterday" 

  For those who sit around and wonder and overthink every little thing before, during, and after a relationship. Not gonna lie, this is my style.

Nickelback: 

"Far Away" 

"How You Remind Me"

"Someday" 

Chad Kroeger, you poor Canadian. You just don't know what you have until it's gone, do you?

   

You'd need a really good playlist to "get it right."

"The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson

"Lucky" by Jason Mraz & Colbie Callait

"Happy" by NeverShoutNever!

Little Thank You Notes

To the French language:
Thank you for being my teenage rebellion. Spanish may be more practical, but you definitely have your perks.

Dear Austria,
Thank you for inventing Milka chocolate bars.

Dear Pianos,
Thank you for being strategically placed around the BYU-Idaho campus.

Dear Pacsun,
Thank you for making awesome metaphoric necklaces.

Dear Taylor Swift,
Thank you for writing "Jump Then Fall."

Dear Sudoku,
Thanks for finally making sense.

Dear Guy from Lifehouse,
Thanks for writing great songs, but I'm not too fond of your voice.

Love always,
Brooke

Top Ten Reasons that This Week was the Best.

10. J'ai trouvé ma cloche!

I finally have the coolest hat in the world back. I lost it in my French class on the second day of class and didn't see until yesterday, when Sœur Passe-Carlus said she had it in her office.

9. Hair Color Fades!

My hair is a normal color! But I did turn the towels pink at the temple...

8. Nutella Cupcakes!

Found this recipe while stumbling around the internet on Thursday and couldn't help but trying them. And they are DELICIOUS. We ate them for breakfast. (Since they're self-frosting, you can totally pass them off as muffins.) I will definitely be making them again in the near future.

7. I've finally seen The Dark Knight all the way through!

When my family rented this when it first came out, no one ever told me when they were starting. So I always came in the middle. Then last semester I started it with the guys, but we only got halfway through before curfew. Then we watched it last night because their new roommate is just off his mission and hadn't seen it yet. Hurray for 1am curfew on Fridays!

6. I finally found a good place to study!

I have a hard time focusing on homework when Sven the Mac's 20-inch screen offers so many other options. And I don't like the library--too many people. But there is a lovely little secluded place in the Ricks Building (pictured above) perfect for reading and studying. This should increase my productivity by infinity.

5. The Hello Kitty Coloring Book

My mom sent a bunch of crayons up with me after Christmas Break and I had nothing to color! In my determination to remedy this, I bought a 288 page Hello Kitty coloring book. I almost got the Star Wars one, but it was part of that crap Clone Wars franchise. I am not ashamed of my new hobby. You're just jealous. 

4.Endless Jam Sessions.

My roommate Jenna the Music Ed Major brought an acoustic guitar up with her. Now we're both using it to teach ourselves to play. I remembered a few things from back when I actually practiced Francesca (my guitar that's been sitting lonely in my room for the past three years). My fingers are sore and covered in band-aids, and Jenna's thumb has turned funny colors from strumming with it. But it's way fun. Since Thursday, we've spent at least three hours a day taking turns playing. 

3. Getting things worked out.

Don't you worry your pretty little head about the details.

2. Hearing from two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Russel M. Nelson gave the devotional on Tuesday and Elder. M. Russell Ballard More will be on my Rexburg Blog.

1. Getting my family's temple work done.

Unless I'm completely mistaken, this is my great-grandmother,(my mother's mother's mother) Margot. I was baptized and confirmed for her and for my great-great-aunt, (my mother's father's mother's sister) Anna. I'm so excited to keep tracing my mom's family line and getting their work done, too!

Corrections

1. I said in this post that my favorite smell is coffee. That is wrong. It's my second favorite. Over the Christmas vacation I remembered what it really is and always will be. It's the smell of salt and smoke and sand that stays on my sweatshirt after I've been to the beach. I slept in that sweatshirt every night until that smell went away (yesterday). And now I have to wait until April to get that back.

2. I forgot to include Taylor Swift's "Love Story" in the 2009 Playlist because it reminds me of BiF Prom.

That is all.

Songs to Sum Up 2009

"We don't live in a in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It's an infinite playlist." ~David Levithan in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Heroes and Thieves--Vanessa Carlton
Empire State of Mind--Jay-Z
"Coronation" Mass in C K.317--Mozart
Gravity--Sara Bareilles
Larger Than Life--Backstreet Boys
Magic--University of Chicago's Voices in Your Head
White Houses--Vanessa Carlton
I've Just Seen a Face--The Beatles
In-N-Out (Animal Style)--We the Kings
Home--Vanessa Carlton

Insert Musical Pun Here*

I hate feeling like a hipster. You know those kids.

"Hipsters are the friends who sneer when you cop to liking Coldplay. They're the people who wear t-shirts silk-screened with quotes from movies you've never heard of and the only ones in America who still think Pabst Blue Ribbon is a good beer. They sport cowboy hats and berets and think Kanye West stole their sunglasses. Everything about them is exactingly constructed to give off the vibe that they just don't care."

— Time, July 2009

They're the ones who say "I liked _________ before it was cool."

BUT. I still have to say that I LOVED a cappella music before it was cool. And I'm very excited about "The Sing Off." My aunt Chami recommended it to me. And the music is awesome. But just like other competition shows, they simply HAVE to tell the story to fill up screen time and capture the hearts of America. No. I hate it.  I don't care if you're older, I don't care if your wife had the swine flu, I don't even care if you go to BYU. (Did you SEE that girl's hair? It was awesome...if only I could get away with that in Rexburg.) Just sing to me. Please.

*I had a really good one, but I don't think it would go over very well with my readership (i.e., my mother, her friends, and my aunts and cousins)

mmm Whatcha Say?

I've been a musician most of my life. I love love love music. I sang by myself in sacrament meeting for the first time when I was four. In high school, I performed in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice and Carnegie Hall in New York.

I'm a sucker for a powerful melody, but I often have to find a cover because I don't like the original performer's voice. Case and point: "Wonderwall" by Oasis. It's a gorgeous song and the words make me smile. However, Liam Gallagher has one of the most grating voices I've ever heard. I can't listen to the song because my quest for the ultimate cover has so far been in vain. Ben Folds made it easy by releasing an album called "Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!"

While a good melody draws me in, THE most important part of a song has always been the lyrics. I've had to get rid of a lot of good songs because they were only good until I listened to the words. It's why I can never watch RENT again. Some songs I can't listen to because the lyrics are just dumb, like "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt.

Songs like Nickelback's "Rockstar," Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," and Usher's "Yeah!" have no place in decent society. If people really took the time to care about lyrics, I honestly believe the world would be a better place.

It really bugs me when people intentionally ignore the lyrics of a song because of a beat or melody. Music is so powerful, and I only want it influencing me for good. I had to learn this the hard way at the Nickelback concert I went to before I left for Rexburg. I'm not proud of the way I acted that night. And while going to the David Archuleta concert tonight would probably be a positive experience, I don't like his music enough to go by myself. I'm trying to scalp my ticket.

Any takers?

It's Like Helter Skelter All Over My Brain!

Okay, so I've never been a real fan of The Beatles. I mean, I like their SONGS, but I always thought that their versions were poorly performed and lame.

However, I have ALWAYS loved the Across the Universe versions.

I don't reccomend the movie, but the soundtrack is a MUST-BUY. It features the lovely voices of Evan Rachel Wood (who will be playing Mary Jane in the Spiderman Musical), Joe Anderson, T.V. Carpio, Dana Fuchs, and the to-die-for-oh-so-sexy Jim Sturgess.

Picture THAT face with a good voice and a BRITISH ACCENT. Just perfect.

So yeah. Beatles = bad.

Until this week.

I found myself actually listening to The Beatles with my family the other day and enjoying it. So that's it, then. I'm a Beatles fan. I know. I can't believe it either.

New York

THURSDAY: We met at the school at FIVE in the morning to catch our flight out of LAX at 8:00. We arrived at 5:00 pm in Newark, New Jersey. After getting into the city, we dropped everything off at the hotel and went to the Rockefeller Center for ice skating. I have little natural athletic ability, so David helped me out. We had a lovely time. The next day, I discovered that the skates had hated me...



FRIDAY: We went to the Actor's Temple and had a workshop with some of the cast from Phantom of the Opera. They taught us "Masquerade." They said that we were the best group they'd worked with in years. We were able to do the six part music and all the choreography correctly. We had so much fun!

That night we went to the Minskoff Theatre to see The Lion King, which was fantabutastic! My roomate Desiray and I love musicals and were very excited. And let me tell you. I have never seen so many hot black men in one place in my life. ;D


SATURDAY: After a four hour rehearsal in the morning, we went to Bubba Gump's for lunch. I hate seafood, but that was the best salad of my life. Lunch with Emma is always fun.




Then we went to Top of the Rock, where you take a big elevator up to the top of the Rockefeller Center. It was pretty much the only time I spent with my family the whole trip.

That night they let us loose in Times Square. That's when Emma, Kasey, Rachel, Katy Mel, Jen, Christina, Emily, and I got all our shopping done.




SUNDAY: After a two hour rehearsal, one of our chaperones took the four of us Mormon kids to church. We cut through Central Park. The cool thing is that this building is a regular stake center on some floors and the temple on others.






CARNEGIE HALL IS MIND BOGGLINGLY FANTASTIC. Just so you know. I'm front and center, just to the left of the really short girl. This ensemble was made up of a high school from Minnesota; a high school from Canada; the top two groups from Mount San Antonio College, a JC in Walnut; and UHS.

After the performance, all 150 or so of us went on a harbor cruise...but because of the blizzard, it ended up being just a dance on a boat. I had a good time because it was really the only thing we did with the other choirs. But it was kind of uncomfortable with some of the kids from MTSAC getting drunk out of their minds. Whose bright idea was it to open the bar??

MONDAY: We took the subway to Trinity Church, where we performed. The Chorale sang "City Called Heaven" from our fall set, but Ally, the soloist, didn't come to New York, so I took care of it for her. =]
We also went to Ground Zero and St. Paul's, which is the unofficial temporary 9/11 memorial. Estrada begged the people at the church to let us sing, so we sang The Star Spangled Banner and made everyone cry. Estrada kept getting us lost and it was soooooooo cold. This is the view from my hotel window that morning.


TUESDAY: We went home. =[