nothing comes close to the golden coast

This past weekend I was ~*C@Li4ni@ dR3@miN'*~ and by that I mean I road tripped to California with Drew, Desireé, Andy, and Thaddeus. I've never been to southern California before this trip so I was super excited to leave Provo for a weekend of daisy dukes, bikinis on top. Just kidding, but I still had a blast with this bunch on the legendary #CAroashram2k14.  

This is how we feel about being at the beach in CA instead of work in UT.

N*gg@$ in Newport

Earlier last week Kishi Bashi released his newest album 'Lighght' and I listened to it non-stop at work that day. I found out a while ago he has a show at The Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City this month, but it's a 21+ venue so I just became even MORE bitter that I couldn't go after listening to his new music. I checked his website in the hopes that by some miracle he changed venues or something and saw to my happy surprise that he was playing an all-ages show in L.A. on Friday. HOW LUCKY IS THAT?!? I freaked out and told the rest of the crew so we could buy our tickets. So after leaving the beach on Friday, we drove to L.A. for the concert and it was absolutely incredible. It was so fun singing and dancing to his electro-poppy, violinist sound that is unlike anything I've ever heard. My favorite song of the night (and in general right now) was The Ballad of Mr. Steak and Drew deemed that song the summer jam of 2k14 which I agree with wholeheartedly. Since the Fonda Theatre is on Hollywood Boulevard, we walked around after the concert looking at the Walk of Fame. I was determined to find Audrey Hepburn's star because duh, she's my favorite person. I finally did and it was the perfect ending to such a fun, jam-packed first day in California.

Did you know I've never been to Disneyland?! Well, Drew did so he took me on Saturday for my very first Disneyland experience because he's the sweetest and it was the best day. Not pictured is the pair of Mickey Mouse ears I purchased and wore around the park for three minutes. But I did document how calm, cool, and collected we were on Splash Mountain. 

I may or may not have teared up during the fireworks show. Sorry that Disneyland

 is the happiest and most magical place on Earth.

After attending church at Drew's home ward with his parents, we made one last stop before 

the drive back to Provo at the Newport Beach Temple. This is one of the prettiest temples

I've been to and I love the peach color of it, making it unique to most other temples. 

The #CAroashram2k14 crew. This weekend was the chillest and I had the best time with these kids. It was so sad coming back to work and back to Provo on Monday. Hopefully I can go back again soon. However, I'm still excited for the rest of my summer here full of more adventures, trips, and summer lovin'!

goodness gracious i can't seem to stop

I think the title of this post encapsulates my attitude toward concerts perfectly (also they're lyrics to one of my favorite Ellie songs so like, duh). Anyone who knows me knows that I prefer to spend my time/money at a concert over most things in life. This past week was one of the happiest I've had in a while because I was lucky enough to attend three concerts by three of my favorites artists of all time. Spring and summer are the most wonderful times of the year not only because they mean no school and warmer weather, but also because summer tours kick off. It just so happened that these three particular tours all stopped in Utah within a week of each other. I'm not even mad. So here's a recap/review!

CHVRCHES- The Depot, Salt Lake City 4/22/14

When I first heard that CHVRCHES were coming to Utah on April 22nd, I had a minor heart attack because it was during finals week so I didn't think I'd be able to go. JOKES of course I still went. It was the last night of finals week so I justified this by making it a goal to finish all finals before the last day so I could party with CHVRCHES! ...That didn't happen either and I still ended up taking a final on that last day, but I did fine and it was still the best way to end the semester. I went with Drew, Desireé, and Andy and we all had a svper fvn time. This was the first show I've been to at The Depot and I loved it! It's small and intimate and the crowd was pretty chill. Lauren Mayberry, the lead singer, is so adorable and actually looks like a 12-year-old girl but she sounded just as good live. Dancing to the sweet synth-pop beats of CHVRCHES was the perfect way to say goodbye to winter semester. PS school's out, scream and shout! I love spring so far because I'm not taking classes and working at my receptionist job for BYU's Evening Classes office full-time. This means reading, snacking, scrolling tumblr, taking trips to the creamery, and occassionally answering phones and filling out excel spreadsheets for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It rulez and CHVRCHES rulez and everyone should go see them. 

Ingrid Michaelson- In The Venue, Salt Lake City 4/29/14

This was the fourth time I've seen Ingrid in concert because she is one of my all-time favorite artists and I love love love seeing her live. She is so cute, funny and witty and has the voice of an angel. The second time I saw her was in Philly two years ago with Desireé. Desireé's mom drove us both and just waited for us until the concert was done. Sis. Miller is like a second mother to me out here at school and I was so excited that she bought herself a ticket too so she could enjoy the concert with us! She even brought us bags of Cool Ranch Doritos again. (But that's another story you should ask me about if I haven't told you already).We all love Ingrid and she never disappoints. I first fell in love with her when I heard 'Keep Breathing' on an episode of Grey's Anatomy, so that song was definitely one of the highlights of the evening. Her band is all so talented as well and I was a big fan of one of her openers, Storyman. Although Ingrid's sound has changed quite a bit over the years from her first albums, I love her just the same and will continue to see her when she tours again.

Ellie Goulding- The Great Saltair, Magna 5/1/14

This concert and this day will forever be one of my fondest concert memories because it was awesome and insane and perfect. I've said this before but Ellie is my #1 girl crush and I have been looking forward to the next time I would see her since I first saw her last February. I don't think I've been this anxious for a concert since the glory days of my Jonas Brothers obsession. Desireé and I planned on camping out all day long at the venue because we were determined to be front row center for this chick. And we did just that. We were the very first ones in line and I know we're crazy but IT WAS WORTH IT. In fact, the wait wasn't even that bad because it was a beautiful day outside and we made friends with some awesome individuals. Me, Desireé, and four other Ellie-obsessed fans were in line first so we figured we should get to know each other since we would be hanging out for the next seven hours. All of them were concert junkies much like ourselves. Not to mention they were all in high school. Listening to them swap concert stories about all the times they've roadtripped to shows and met bands made me realize how much cooler they were than I ever was in high school. They were all so sweet and I was glad we all made it to the front row for the show together. We even swapped contact info with all of them so I'm sure I'll be seeing them again soon at the Utah concert scene! OH and shortly before doors opened, Desireé and I carried our stuff back to the car and when we did a white van drove right by us and ELLIE GOULDING WAS IN THE BACKSEAT. She's so sneaky and had everyone thinking she arrived in one of the tour buses earlier but NOPE there was no mistaking her. She smiled at us and I'm pretty sure my mouth was agape and I almost dropped everything in my hands. So THAT was amazing and just made me even more excited to watch her perform in a few short hours.

OK SO ABOUT THE CONCERT. Easily in my top five favorites of all time. I was actually terrified once I was at the railing and had flashbacks of how terrible the Saltair was in the past and how rough the crowds got. I imagined myself getting trampled and thought I would probably have a more enjoyable time in the back. OH HOW WRONG I WAS. For future reference, if you are directly against the barrier in the front row, it's not even that bad. If you're toward the front but not quite front row...good luck and godspeed because the people directly behind me were getting the worst of it. Of course there were still moments when I thought my organs were permanently rearranged as I was smushed against the railing, but I've been in worse situations (like the time I had to be lifted up and out of the crowd at Passion Pit because I was scared for my life). So the concert was perfect and I had the best seat in the house. She is so fabulous and FUN. Below I added a video that I took during the concert so you can all witness what an amazing performer she is. Not only her, but her backup singers were flawless and I loved watching them. She had such a long setlist too and I didn't want it to end. When it sadly did, Desiree and I took our exhausted but exhilarated selves to In-n-Out, our post-concert tradition. If you did the math correctly that means YES we went to In-n-Out a total of three times in a matter of nine days. You can judge me because I hate myself too. Our diet starts tomorrow. I can't express how blessed I am to have a friend who is crazy enough to go to all the same concerts, and go to such lengths to make it the best experience for both of us. If it wasn't for her, who even knows if we would have attended the majority of the concerts we've been to together. Love ya Dezmillz. 

Anything Could Happen:

Congratulations if you've made it through this entire post as I gave you the play-by-play of my past week. It was certainly one for the books and I am so grateful I was able to attend these shows with my friends (and made some new friends in the process!) I've had the best time and I cannot wait for what the rest of the spring and summer concert scene has in store for me!