Realizations of the past few days...

1. I don't like snow. Like really...i don't. It looks all pretty in the movies and people look all cute in their little scarves and cute little jackets...but movies don't show you the reality...wet socks, make-up smearing all over your face, the bottoms of your pants all wet because you are too short and they drag on the ground, you walk up stairs and you're freezing but burning up at the same time. and driving in the snow is really not all that fun when you feel like you could die at any moment. I just...don't like snow.

2. Being in noteworthy is great. It's so fun to perform and to be able to be on TV and all that jazz, but I've come to realize that i have ZERO friends outside of noteworthy. It can get kind of depressing when you've been spending every moment with noteworthy...and then you have a little break and you realize you have no one else to hang out with so you sit at home in your apartment all weekend with nothing to do...except clean and do some laundry...not my idea of a fun weekend.

3. Has anyone ever been on the facebook site called overheard @ BYU. because i have become obsessed with it. It's a group where people post funny things they heard on campus. I spend approx. 30 minutes a day reading those. once you start you just can't stop.

4. A clean apartment is the happiest thing that could ever happen. When the apartment is clean it's okay if nothing else is great, because you have a clean place to live in. It's wonderful.

5. I don't know how to cook many things, but i LOVE to cook. One of my favorite things is being in the kitchen listening to music and cooking. If only i had money to buy more things to cook with. hah. I can only afford mac n cheese these days.

6. I like to have set plans for life...not in the crazy way where i have to know what I'm going to be doing every minute of every day, but i like to know where life is going. I like to see where the future is going to lead, and when something happens to change those plans in a big way...it throws me off for a few days.

7. I really need some new books to read...does anyone have some good ideas? or a book you could lend me. I'm having withdrawals from reading.

8. I have a wonderful mother and some amazing sisters. Without them i might literally go insane.

that is all.

<3

ICCA 2010 Quaterfinals

Wow. what an experience. Noteworthy went up to Oregon this weekend to compete in the International Competition of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA). The competition was in Eugene at the Hult Center. There were 8 groups competing and the top two would go to the Semi-finals at USC next month. We were pretty excited/nervous because this was going to be probably THE toughest quaterfinal that has ever happened, but we were mostly excited because we were going to be able to see our very good friends DIVISI (they are the all female group from University of Oregon).

We left for Oregon last friday. When we got to Oregon we all stayed in 3 different homes of People from the ward there. (Apparently EVERYONE wanted to house us and were fighting over us haha). The family me and Courtney stayed with was a nice family with 3 little girls. They were so cute and we had a nice little bed to sleep in which is always good :)

On saturday we woke up and had breakfast and then went to the Hult Center where we got to meet up with Divisi. It was really fun to see them and we were all glad that we weren't in crazy competition mode...there wasn't any tension between the two groups, and we all did each others' hair and just hung out since our dressing rooms were right next to each other.

We had a meeting with all of the groups to pick the order in which we would all go...We got number 5. not too bad...opening the second act! :)

Our sound check was at about 3:40...courtney and amy had warned us that we would not be able to hear each other when we were on stage and they weren't kidding. The monitors didn't really do ANYTHING haha. we couldn't hear each other, so it's good that we trust each other so much, because we still felt really good about it.

Then we had to wait until the show started at 7....and then keep waiting until about 8:30 when we would go on stage. I found a lucky penny on the floor of our dressing room just as we were about to go on...that seemed like a good sign. Before we went on we were in the hall SOOOO excited and SOOO nervous...even though we'd already been on national television we had never performed in front of a live audience this big (there were over 2,000 there i believe). But once we got out on stage we all did the best we could and we felt pretty good about our performance.

We were still pretty nervous, however, because like i said before this was a REALLY tough quarterfinal and we hadn't really been able to hear any of the other groups perform. But we tried not to stress too much because we knew we had done our best.

So the judges finished deliberating and we went out on stage for awards and such.

First award:
Best Solo:.......AMY WHITCOMB!!! (we went crazy...she definitely deserved that one!)
Best Vocal Percussion:.....COURTNEY JENSEN!!!! (oh my...i'm not gonna lie i had tears in my eyes haha i was like a proud mother) [and also another guy from one of the groups got this award as well]
Best Choreography:.....COURTNEY JENSEN & AMY WHITCOMB....("wait what? are you serious? oh man") [divisi also got this award]
Best Arrangement:....CATHERINE PAPWORTH for "staying alive" (wow...did we really just win awards?) [divisi also got best arrangement]


then the judges gave out a special award to Jo from Divisi for her amazing bass skills it was funny how excited we were for each other. it was great!


Then they named the 2nd runner up: OUTSPOKEN
1st runner up: DIVISI


and the winner is.....:NOTEWORTHY (oh my...i didn't even realize how good it could feel to make it to semi's after all of our hard work. We got to sing Listen for the audience....i can honestly say that this is probably one of the best feelings IN the world)

then we all went of stage and cried and prayed and screamed....we were so excited!

but i think the best part of the night was when we got back into the dressing room....after divisi had finished performing earlier we had made a tunnel for them to come through on their way back into the dressing room (you know one of the ones you make after a soccer game when you're little?)...well after we had won we went back into the dressing room and there were all the divisi girls lined up to make a tunnel for us. It was amazing.

I'm so glad that both of us were able to make it to Semi's...it's going to be pretty tough!
Their score was only 9 points lower than ours...that's not a lot. but we're all just really excited to go.


anyway sorry this is kinda scatter brained haha. but yeah...ICCA was amazing. i love noteworthy, i love divisi, i love singing, i love performing there is no better feeling.

:)

Okay so it's been forever...

and here's the thing...you're gonna have to wait a little longer.
cuz i have a 6+ page paper due tomorrow.

but just so you know.
LIFE IS WONDERFUL.

<3

New semseter

Well. It's a new semester. and that means...new classes.
This semester more than half of my classes are for my major.
I'm taking two marriage and family classes and one class on home and family.
My other two classes are the second half D&C and Human Development.
and if you've been keeping track...yes i've already taken Human Development, but...i'm taking it over cuz i didn't do so well in it last time.

So far classes are amazing.
The only problem i have is i can't really keep all of my classes straight. I'm currently reading out of 4 marriage books for my marriage classes and when i go to class i can't remember which information is for which class. i'll have to figure out a good way to keep it separated. haha.

Anyway, i've also started another new thing this semester. My LDS marriage and family professor requires us to keep a journal of things that we learn every day. I think this is a great idea, so i actually bought a few little journals and i'm going to be taking notes of good quotes and things i get from each of my marriage classes. It really helps me to be able to focus on what i'm reading when i'm looking for things to write. So last night i had a ton of reading, and here are a few quotes that i got.

"Please remember one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right."
-Howard W. Hunter

"Sometimes to be tested and proved requires that we be temporarily deprived-but righteous women and men will one day receive all- think of it...all that our father has! it is not only worth waiting for; it is worth living for!"
-Pres. Kimball

"of course we cannot know the meaning of all things right now. but we can know, right now, that God knows us & loves us individually"
Elder Maxwell

That is all. I have to go to class now.

<3

I just wanted to say...

Thanks to everyone for all of their support from the show.
I am so blessed to have such great friends and family.
My heart is bursting with love for all of you.


Here are a few pictures to keep you occupied until a big long post about the sing off...it's coming i promise...maybe not till after christmas though. <3

The sing off

Alright so here are a ton of things from the sing off last night.
enjoy

This is us on the front page of byu's website...this will only be up for a day most likely

http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.js\

here's us on primetime in no time Yahoo review. this will also only be up today

http://primetime.tv.yahoo.com/

here's our number "think" on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgJpmv-VP-8

here's the big group number "under pressure" on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaHvu-TywxI

here are some photos from last night

http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/photos/gallery#item=111419

and that's all for now. after the show is over i will be able to post pictures and such. i can't right now because of contracts and such. but enjoy these. :)

I'm having a realization...

as to why britney spears went crazy
and why many people in the media go insane

after watching the sing off tonight...
i was dumb and started reading reviews.
there are so many people out there who like to comment and just be rude.
so many people talking about how we're Mormon and saying terrible things about us.
things that aren't in any way true.

and i realize that the media is one big joke.
people find it entertaining to ruin other people's lives by starting rumors because for some reason it makes them feel better about themselves.

i'm not saying i'm in any way a celebrity or anything, but i got a little taste of how terrible it feels to have people saying such awful things about you.

the sing off has been a great experience for us, and so i will not be reading anymore reviews because i don't want that to be ruined by ignorant people who speak without thinking.

those are my thoughts of tonight.
i love you all. :)