Disneyland!

Last week I got to go to my favorite place in the whole wide world with my mom and my sister. It was SO much fun! Here's a video I made to prove it :]

If you're a 90's kid...

I found this gem on facebook! It's just made up of a few things I miss about growing up in the 90's. If only I had a time machine...

Summer '11 in Review...

Words just can't describe what an amazing summer I had, so I made a video! Videos are more fun anyways, enjoy!

March '11 Obsessions

1.

I bought my very first pair of TOMS shoes earlier this month and now I want a pair in every style! Not only are they cute and comfortable, every pair bought has a match somewhere in the world belonging to a child in need. So not only are you buying yourself a very nice pair of shoes, you are also buying a pair for a child who doesn't even have shoes. It's one purchase you won't feel guilty about buying.

You can buy your own pair of TOMS online at http://www.toms.com/, or at a store near you! 

2. Funky Jewelry

While I was at the mall buying TOMS, I stumbled upon another new obsession. Long necklaces with funky charms, and big chunky rings!

So far in the necklace department I have an elephant, an antique telephone, a fish that can wiggle, a little book that has real pages, an antique key that Catherine gave me for my b-day, and a dreamcatcher. They are really fun to collect!

In the ring department I have a tiger, a huge turquoise stone, a hibiscus flower, a fake diamond ring that is HUGE, a "soccer ball",  vines, and then my favorite ring made out of petrified wood that was my great-grandfather's. 

I bought the majority of the jewelry from Forever 21 and everything was under $8! 

3. New Music!

Here are a few songs I just can't get enough of this month...

'Boy With a Coin' by Iron & Wine

This song makes me want to dance around a campfire. The lyrics are beautiful and I love the flamenco dancers in the video! I can't wait to see the real thing next summer in Spain! (Thanks RayCray for introducing me to this band!)

'The Cave' by Mumford & Sons

Brilliant... just brilliant! 'Little Lion Man' is also just as wonderful.

'Alligator Sky' by Owl City featuring Shawn Chyrstopher

Let's just admit it, everything Owl City makes is amazing.

4. Pretty Little Liars

This show is SO addicting and intense! The first season just ended this week :[ But good news is that the second season is starting up this June! If you haven't seen this show, go watch it now!

5. EF College Break

Next summer I am going to Europe through EF College Break! Their prices are insanely cheap and they plan all of the nitty-gritty stuff for you so you don't have to worry! Every tour group has about 40 college kids from all over the US that you will meet and become friends with. If you have ever wanted to see the world, EF College Break is the way to go!

Growing is Forever

If you are as stressed and emotional as I was today, than watch this amazing video and feel all the negativity just melt away. 

It's also something I like to listen to while falling asleep at night because it calms all my thoughts and gives me peaceful dreams. 

I hope you get as much out of this as I have.

JayMay's favorite 2011 Super Bowl commercials

The best thing about Super Bowl Sunday is, let's all be honest here... the commercials. Last year was very disappointing, so this year I was a little apprehensive about the whole operation. To my delight, the commercials this year were AMAZING! Here are a few of my favorites starting with my favorite out of all of them... so adorable.

Darth Vader Kid

What? Tommy Fell Down a Well?

Doritos Healing Grandpa

Pepsi Can Thrower

Detriot: Eminem

To see all of this year's Super Bowl commercials, click through to this website.

And it wouldn't be the Super Bowl without this special moment... I've always wanted a reason to say this.

PS- Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY! You have until February 12th to enter and I will announce the winner on the 13th! Good luck!

Febuary '11 Obsessions & GiVeAWaY!!

For those of us located on the Northern Hemisphere, February can be quite possibly one of the most dreary and depressing months of the year. I know it can sometimes be that way for me because I tend to catch Spring Fever the day after Christmas. But alas, February is here to stay for a while, so finding things that make you happy is a great way to beat the February Blues. Here are some things I love right now.

1. Bath and Body Works' Fiji Passionfruit Body Lotion

I like to call this "Summer Candy in a Lime Green Bottle" and all I can say is YUM! Seriously, you want a break from the cold and snow? Just take a whiff of this stuff and you'll practically transport yourself to a picture perfect beach in Fiji. According to the people at B&BW, Fiji Passionfruit is a "tropical escape of passionfruit, mandarin orange, apricot nectar and lime zest." And it honestly smells just like you'd imagine. 

But wait! There's more! All Signature B&BW Body Care products are buy 2 get 1 free, or buy 3 get 2 free right now, online and in-store! So just take my word for it and buy some of this stuff! You won't regret it.

2. OPI Nail Polish

Before I found OPI, I hated painting my nails. Every time I did I felt like I couldn't do anything with them because I was afraid they would chip prematurely and then I'd have to either fix them, or just take it off. What's so amazing about this brand is that it lasts FOREVER. I have a job that demands a lot out of my hands, so I bet they would last even longer if I didn't abuse them so much. 

I've been obsessed with this stuff for a few months now, I honestly can't get enough. Every time I'm near a salon or at the mall I always stop to buy a new color. They have every color you could ever imagine, all sorts of sparkles, mattes and suede's. 

I use Chip Skip (which dries your nail and gets rid of any oils or lotions hiding in the creases around your nail so that your polish doesn't chip for a long while), then the base coat, 2 coats of color, and then a top coat. 

Right now I am wearing 'Ate Berries in the Canneries' and I'm loving it.

3. Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil

I'm just loving beauty products lately I suppose, but this stuff is really great. 

My lips are very temperamental, and before I found this lip balm I could only use Carmex because it was the only product that kept my lips from getting dry! Carmex is great, but to be completely honest, it stinks and doesn't taste too good. I had used Burt's Bees regular peppermint lip balm before, but I felt like it kind of just sat on top of my lips and didn't do any good. One day, during my pomegranate obsession last winter, I was at the grocery store and I stumbled upon this kind and thought I'd give it a try. It's all I've been using ever since. It tastes really yummy and has a light... the only word coming to mind is "comfy"... scent. 

4. 'TRON Legacy', 'The King's Speech' and 'Beauty and the Beast'

If you haven't seen this movie yet, please do. It will change your life. Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but it definitely gets your mind going! I would highly recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D. 

If you can't do that, then try seeing it in just regular 3D. The soundtrack to TRON is also amazing. Try listening to it while doing homework, exercising, or driving and you will feel like a machine. 

I saw 'The King's Speech' tonight with RayCray and I now know why it is nominated for the Academy Awards Best Motion Picture of the year. Who ever knew a movie revolving around someone with a stutter could be so completely captivating and intense. I'd dare to say it was more intense than the majority of action movies out there. Now I just need to figure out why 'The Fighter' would even be considered to be in the same category as 'The King's Speech'. That movie was dreadful, please don't go see it. 

Oh dear, I became a little teary eyed while watching that. 

As all of you know, I love Disney. Love love love love love love love!!!! And I own nearly every Disney animated movie ever made because I'm a nerd like that. The only problem is that the only VCR in the house broke a couple of months ago, and all my Disney movies are on VHS :'[ I was actually watching 'Aladdin' when it broke and it ate my tape :[ But I suppose this is not a bad thing, because I need to buy them all on DVD/BluRay to keep up with the times. 'Beauty and the Beast' (my second favorite right behind 'Aladdin') came out in the DVD/BluRay combo pack a few months ago so I decided it would be a good start to my new DVD/BluRay collection. Now I just have to wait for the next movie to be released from the Disney Vault... which might take a while, but I'll just keep watching 'Beauty and the Beast' in the meantime. I've already gotten quite a bit of use out of it already.

5. Paper Beads

I had to go to a "Staff Development Day" this past week and in one of the classes I took, I learned how to make paper beads! It was taught by refugees who fled from some pretty scary situations in their homeland's and are now living here in Utah for a fresh start on life. The woman who taught me was a very sweet lady from Iraq who came to the US about two years ago. 

Making paper beads is very relaxing and a lot of fun. I love using paper from magazines or newsprint because you never know what the bead will end up looking like! For instructions, go here.

*GiVeAWaY!*

In honor of my turning 20 in a few days, I am giving away a few of my favorite things from this month to give to one of my readers! This month's prize will include Burt's Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm, a bottle of OPI nail lacquer, and a paper bead bracelet made by yours truly! 

* The only requirement is that you must be a follower of my blog to win. *

* To enter, leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite color is, something you are really loving this month, and your email address (if I don't know you in person) so that I can let you know you've won! *

The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on 

February 13th.

GOOD LUCK!! 

#13 Go to the Sundance Film Festival

Every January, Hollywood moves to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. This year's stars included James Franco, Channing Tatum(!), Angelina Jolie, Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore, Toby Maguire, Kaite Holmes, Patrick Dempsey, Liam Hemsworth, 50 Cent, Lil John, the boys of MTV's 'The Buried Life', Oprah Winfrey, Elijah Wood... just to name a few.

Although I've lived 30 minutes away from Park City my whole life, I've never gone to Sundance! This year I did and I LOVED it.

A view of Main Street from atop The Bridge.

"We wear our stunna glasses at night..."

RayCray and myself.

RayCray and Sammy.

"No, Rachel! Don't jump!" haha

The Trolley cruising up Main Street.

RayCray stopped to smell a Banksy flower :]

RayCray puking over the rail... just kidding.

RayCray on the ice verison of Facebook.

We sat on glowing furniture in a VIP lounge, no big deal.

This made me LOL.

Yes, this is indeed a piano connected to a bicycle. The guy on the left wouldn't move, otherwise you could see it better. But it was pretty legit. 

Yes World, this is a man-thong made out of fur. It's called "The Duke". Be amazed.

Sadly, we didn't see anyone famous. (Unless you count the guy named Bill Murray who was in fact, not Bill Murray.) But we were mistaken for famous people twice. The first time was while taking the man-thong picture: we asked some ladies walking by to take our picture and I suppose since we had a big group of people surrounding us flashing cameras, people thought we were famous so they came over to investigate. But alas, it was just us lowly Utah girls, but we felt pretty cool. 

Then later that night we were just chillin' on some steps watching people pass by and drinking hot beverages and ice cream when some random film crew came by and asked if they could interview us. People stopped to listen to us, which was kind of awkward, but also cool cause they kept starring at us like they were trying to remember us from somewhere.

Other highlights of the night include:

- Calling the same parking attendant man four times because the parking meter was broke and we didn't want to get a ticket. He was very rude... and a liar.

- Walking around pretending to have British accents for the half the night. Eventually we couldn't stop.

- The hot Italian barista at Java Cow writing my name on my Carmel Spiced Cider cup the Italian way; Giulia. He was just as delicious as my drink.

- People watching. It was so cool to hear so many different languages and all sorts of accents as people passed by. It made the world feel a little smaller.

- And finally, the random group of hippies having a drum circle in the middle of the sidewalk. 

For your viewing pleasure: (sorry it's so blurry)

Quotes of the night:

"You won't. Get. A TICKET!!!!!"

JayMay - "What did they put in this drink?"

RayCray - "A bad English accent apparently."

RayCray - "I'm going to call him up and personally invite him to meet my fist!" 

(Referring to the rude parking attendant guy.)

*Way hot guy walks by, see's my hat and says...*

"Brighton!!!! As in the Boston Brighton."

*Bewildered JayMay*

"Uh... no... here."

*Jeep almost hits us while crossing the street*

RayCray (loudly) - "I'd rather keep my legs, thank you very much!"

JayMay (also loudly) - "Yeah, I'd rather not be in a wheel chair!"

RayCray - "My feet hurt."

*Cue the man with no legs*

I made a movie!

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate my favorite holiday with my amazing family in Southern California. This was our first Christmas away from all our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, but being in Disneyland was a good alternative. We had so much fun on this trip, it honestly was one of my favorites, and I feel like we grew even closer and learned a lot about each other. Having to pack our bags and head back home to reality was heartbreaking. The last thing I wanted was to leave a place where we could all leave our problems hundreds of miles away and just have fun together. This trip will always have a special place in my heart and I wanted to remember every detail I could, so I made this little movie of our pictures and videos! I hope you enjoy it! It took me forever, but I had a great deal of fun doing it :]

PS- It's easier to see if you expand it to full screen ;]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I couldn't ask for a better ending...

As most of you have probably figured out, I am a die hard University of Utah fan. Born and raised. For 19 years it has been a tradition in my family to watch the Holy War (one of the most heated college rivalry games in the nation) together every November. But this year I had the opportunity to go to the game... in the MUSS... on the 3rd row! Basically it was the most exciting day of my life. 

In a sea of Utah red and black, there were a few patches of cougar blue *GAG*. Signs all over the place made references to Max Hall and beer pouring, religion, zoobies, ugly BYU cheerleaders, being classy, etc, etc. Here are a couple of signs my best friend RayCray and I made...

It was a very intense and cold game. We went through several packs of hand warmers but it was all worth it! BYU had the lead the entire game until a few minutes before the end of the 4th quarter when we made a touchdown taking the lead by 17-16. And with 4 seconds left on the clock, the cougars set up a field goal... this is what happened:

Everyone in the stands held their breath, some closed their eyes, but when Brandon Burton cut through BYU's defense and with an outstretched hand stopped the ball from passing between those goal posts, the crowd freaking exploded! Screams of joy and hugs with strangers were all over the place, and the crowd began to empty the stands and fill the field. It was one of the best feelings in the world knowing we beat our biggest rivals before departing from them forever as we both leave the Mountain West Conference (good riddance), us heading to the Pac-12, and them going independent.

SCOREBOARD!

Me, Alex in his snuggie, and RayCray after we stormed the field! 

Here's a video I took of everyone signing "Utah Man" after we won...

After the game we went to RayCray's house to re-watch the game because a bunch of our friends texted and called us during the game saying that we were on tv! 

So not only did we win the game, but we were also on tv! It was a wonderful, wonderful day!

This was the last game of our regular season, but we still have a bowl game to look forward to next month! I'm hoping me and my buds will be able to go! 

GO UTES!

Ode to Keith

There is snow on the ground and cold in the air... so what am I thinking about? Next summer of course! And what's summer without Keith Urban? This song is my new fav, I've been listening to it on repeat all day. 

Another summer favorite:

Keith makes banjos sexy. Here's proof:

Deep in the Hundred Acre Woods...

On rainy days like this, I like to reminisce on old times.

Oh... the memories :]

ESPN College Gameday

After 6 years, ESPN College Gameday will be back at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the camo-blackout game against #3 TCU this Saturday! SO EXCITED! Be there or be a ybu fan... which is just as bad if not worse than being square!!

GO UTES!

Soundtrack to Your Life

One of my favorite things about movies are the music in them. I especially love it when the composer makes something so spectacular that whenever you hear the music to a certain movie you know exactly which movie it belongs to. Here are a few of my all time favorites that always bring back wonderful memories and sometimes even make me cry. They are in no particular order, but the last 3 are older movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Based on the Pirates of the Caribbean water ride at Disneyland and composed by Hans Zimmer, these movies will always have a very special place in my heart. I mean, you know it's good when Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom are in it! The first song is the main theme, and the second is Davy Jones' lullaby which gives me chills every time I hear it.

Davy Jones

Lord of the Rings

I don't care who you are or what your opinion is, the LOTR movies are the BEST movies ever, ever, ever made! I couldn't pick just one song to share with you, so I found a video with all of the songs on it. My particular favorite starts at 2:17. Composed by Howard Shore.

Alice in Wonderland

Based on Disney's original animated movie, and composed by Danny Elfman. The music in this movie is haunting and fits the story PERFECTLY! For some reason I love listening to this song when I can't sleep... maybe one of these days I'll dream of chasing a white rabbit and end up falling down a hole to Wonderland.

Sherlock Holmes

Another work of pure genius by Hans Zimmer! This movie came out last Christmas and it will always remind me of that time of year. What I love is how it fits the time period so exactly and the musical instruments they use are so different from anything I've ever heard. PS- Robert Downy Jr. is dreamy ;]

Iron Man
While we're on the subject of Robert Downey Jr., it doesn't get any better than Iron Man. This movie make me want to kick major butt!

Harry Potter

You all know I love the books and the movies. What I also love is the music, which was composed by John Williams. Whenever I hear the theme song I get chills. Once again, there are two songs I love in this movie so I included both.

Transformers

I grew up with the TV show, and when it was announced that a full length feature film was going to be made, I flipped. What I love about this song by Linkin Park is how it sounds just like machinery and alien robots. This music video was made really well so make sure to watch the whole thing!

Star Wars

This one's an oldie, but one of the most recognizable songs ever made. (For some reason instead of thinking of the actual movies I think of the Star Wars section at Disneyland, which is random but has lots of fun memories.) Written by John Williams.

Indiana Jones

George Lucas is the Einstein of movies. John Williams is the Einstein of movie soundtracks. I honestly didn't even realize this until I made this post, but the majority of these movies are either made by Disney or have rides at Disneyland. This particular movie just so happens to have it's own ride at Disneyland which is my favorite ride ever!

Titanic

If you are a 90's baby, you'll know this song by heart. It took the karaoke world by craze and will forever have people outstretching their arms on the bows of boats.

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!!

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. - Albus Dumbledore

I read the first Harry Potter under the duress of my mother when I was just 9 years old. I thought it was nerdy and stupid and would NOT read it. But boy am I glad she forced me to! 

Harry Potter was a HUGE part of my childhood. When each book came out, it was like catching up with old friends every time. I grew up with the characters. They became as real to me as anything. When I read the last words of the last book, I burst into tears and cried for HOURS! No joke. That's how much I loved these books.

Somewhere in there, the movies started coming out and it made the wizarding world of Harry Potter even more real to me. I just love them so much, I can't even describe how much I love Harry Potter!

Exactly one month from this very moment, I will be in a movie theatre (in full costume of course) with some of my best friends watching the first half of the last Harry Potter movie. Words cannot even begin to describe how stinkin' excited I am! But at the same time it's really sad, because once the 2nd half of the movie comes out next year, it will be over.... forever. And after growing up with Harry, Ron and Hermione after all these years, it will be really hard to say goodbye.

Guy Walks Across America

This video is really cool! It was a Levi's ad... go figure... but wasn't made in a studio! They combined stop motion and time lapse photography and took a 2 week RV trip across America!



If you're curious as to how they made it, here you go!...



If you'd like to see a map of all the places they stopped at along the way, click here!

Wow

Sorry about all these random videos, but I was so excited about this one that I had to share it with someone!

These kids are amazing! I wish I could have gone to this elementary school!

And is it just me, or is the teacher extremely attractive?

United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)

I heard this remix on the radio a while ago and thought it was amazing! Then I just happened to stumble upon the music video and had to share. Enjoy! 

May/June Obessions

Good news friends! I finally got my laptop fixed! I accidentally cracked the screen a few months ago and it was really difficult to see what I was writing. I was just going to live with it since fixing it through Apple would be almost $400! But then my friend referred me to MacReboot, which is WAAAAY cheaper! So thank you Neil and thanks MacReboot! I would definitely recommend them to anyone who owns a Mac and needs some repairs.

So without further ado, I will now share with you some things that I have loved the past two months...

1. Neon Trees

I just love this band... I heard their song Animal on The Hills a few weeks ago and decided to look them up online. I ended up getting their album Habits and have been listening to them ever since! I also found out that they are right here from Utah! My personal favorite is their song 1983, it's super catchy and perfect for summer :]

2. doTERRA

My mom introduced me to this company. They are also based out of Utah, and they are the only Essential Oil company in the world that manufactures their oils organically, and every oil is 100% pure! They don't add fillers or nasty preservatives like other companies do. Personally, I don't like taking medicine. It usually just makes me more sick and the side effects are horrible. But this stuff is completely natural straight from Mother Nature herself! People have been using oils for thousands of years! They were so valuable, in fact, that some of them were worth more than gold! We bought a kit about a month ago and it has really blessed our family. I am planning on doing a post all about doTERRA in a day or tow, so I will go into further details then. 

3. Hot Topic Nail Polish

I bought a bottle of Shocking Pink about a month ago and between my sister and I, we have used almost half the bottle already! All of Hot Topic's colors are super bright and fun! They even have clear nail polish that glows in black-light. How fun would that be when you go out dancing?

4. Arbonne Cosmetics

This is the best makeup I have ever used. I have the Makeup Primer, Creme Concealer, Perfecting Liquid Foundation with SPF 15. This stuff is magic. It doesn't get all cakey like most foundations, and it honestly lasts all day. Love it!

5. Bed Head Self Absorbed Shampoo and Conditioner

I have always liked Bed Head, their products smell amazing! I bought this kind last week and have fallen in love. It smells just like orange soda, and makes my hair super soft. The scent is perfect for summer and   all the vitamins and nutrients help repair hair damaged from all the sunbathing. 

6. African Ice

Nothing says summer like shaved ice on a hot day. What makes this place special? Well, besides the fact that it tastes a million times better than all the other snow shacks, they help change the world one cup of shaved ice at a time. Half of every purchase goes to someone in Africa trying to build a business. Every shack has an are with three or four yellow funnels with pictures of someone from Africa and a little description about who they are and what kind of business they are trying to build. When you buy a snow cone, you get a little coin that you put into the funnel of your choice. Every coin represents $1. My favorite flavor is banana coconut with lots of cream! Mmmmm! 

If you are ever in Utah during the summer, make sure you stop and get an African Ice!