Another one of the Wonderful Firsts!

Today was the day that I developed my own film!!!! To document that this is in fact true, I have included pictures as proof. It is amazing what it takes to develop film! The person that invented digital film is a genius.... However, true film is quickly winning my heart. I like that I know what is happening when I take each picture and that I am learning how to think before I click. Thinking... weird concept... If you have the chance to learn film photography I HIGHLY recommend it! Or just take a class from Barb Frazier. She's absolutely amazing. You can really tell which teachers truly love what they do. Her obsession with photography is contagious! Anyways, stay tuned for when I finish the developing and have actual pictures to show! (That is if they actually turn out) Cross your fingers!

Falling for the Fall Weather

FALL: The leaves are turning, mornings are colder, and school is getting more intense. The only thing I like about the aformentioned, is the first of those three things. For most people, when asked what their favorite seasons are they will automatically say Fall and Spring! Why?? I think that the changes of scenery during Fall and Spring are just fabulous, but I need consistency people!! Do I wear a jacket? Geez I don't know, I'll be able to see my breath when I leave in the morning, but by 1:00 pm I'll be roasting because it's sunny and a bajillion degrees outside. If you couldn't tell, I love Summer and Winter.....the extremes. :) this doesn't reflect my personality does it...? Let's just say that I can't wait until I can wake up, immediately put my thermals on underneath my pants and know that I'll be just the perfect temperature the whole day. Oooh there are so many things I'm excited for when Winter comes.... Hot chocolate, SNOW, sweaters made with love in every stitch, etc. I'll resist posting about one of my favorite seasons until it's actually here.... but just be prepared. Once Winter actually comes there will be joy hitting you in the face from my posts.

I. can't. wait.

Bargain Burglar

I have a problem. Looks like genetics have proved to over-rule common sense.

Let me set up the scenario:

I look in the fridge with my stomach a-grumbling but only to find.... nothing with my name on it. Off to my favorite place on earth! The GROCERY STORE! Much like most women can spend hours at the mall rushing from store to store in complete bliss; I feel the same love for those numbered aisles at places like Maceys, WalMart, Target and WinCo (that's for you Jake). For some reason, I enjoy pushing my little cart up and down each aisle checking for any possibility. On average, 1-2 hours are needed to complete this vigorous search for goodies. Now you are probably thinking to yourself, "self, what on earth could be wrong with this situation??" I answer to your self with one word. Bargains. Maybe another word? Sales.

I have an addiction to anything that is, "half off, today only!," "buy one get one free," "20 for a $1," and the list could go on and on. I tell you what, those guys in advertising love people like me. They are brilliant. Flash that big yellow sign in front of my face, direct me where to go, take as much of my money as you'd like and I'm the happiest person alive. One problem with this is that my bank account doesn't seem to like this Bargain Burglar. Hey even if I can't pay my rent because I just spent it all on food, I'll at least be alive! You can live anywhere - some person's floor, cardboard box, but you can't live without food. Recently Maceys was where I last found the burglar. Everything I got in my cart was on sale or found through a really good deal, but those $1's surely added up. Another problem, is that I end up with 10 boxes of cereal when I only needed one. You had to get 10 boxes if you wanted the deal, and I couldn't pay 0.32 more for the one single box I needed! I had to buy 9 more that I didn't need! Status update: I am now currently eating cereal for every meal, and will be for the next 4 months. At least I am starting my food storage right? Yes... good intentions....

Anyways, before I ramble on much longer, I leave you with this warning. If you ever go grocery shopping with me you will

a) learn to never come again unless you enjoy being bored

b) be held responsible for containing my will to take advantage of every bargain I see, and

c) quickly watch your bank account deplete because I will have convinced you that you need every item of food in your cart. :)

Do I Hear Jingle Bells??

Today I saw Santa Clause at UVU! We passed each other, I gave a smile his way and he replied with a cheerful, "Good Morning!" We both knew he was Santa Clause, but he didn't have to worry, I wouldn't give away his secret. Besides to the whole entire world wide web.... secret safe with me big man. I don't blame him, getting some education on his down time. He must be really smart because he chose to attend UVU...

This will be my second sighting of Mr. Clause this year! Early this summer, about July or so, I saw Santa driving a Subaru in Mapleton. Looks like he's taking his job to the next level and personally investigating each person for his naughty or nice list. Hard worker that man is. Mrs. Clause hit the jack pot on that one.

Interesting that he chose a Subaru though...

When I Grow Up I'm Going To Be A Typewriter-ist!

Meet my new friend.

Isn't she SO cute??

I instantly fell in love.

$35 on ksl.com from the cutest little lady I've ever seen.

Plus a super cool carrying case?!

I still need to come up with a good name for her. Any suggestions? Not only am I so excited for the new possibilities this elegant antique has brought into my life, but also for the fun letters I get to type! One day I plan to head to a beautiful park, camp out on my cute little blanket, have my typewriter on my lap and have the greatest day of my life. New definition for the word bliss.

Could you bear (bare?) with me for two more of my favorite things about this typewriter??

1] My life is becoming more and more like my favorite movie You've Got Mail. yes!
2] It even 'dings' when you get to the end of the sentence. AAAHHHH!!

LOVE.

The Sweet Life on University Avenue

Yesterday, Kaylyn and I hit the jackpot! After getting free food from her "welcome to Nursing" dinner we decided to wander down University Avenue (UA) to kill time before we got our groove on at the BYU dance that night. We didn't have to walk far to find a glorious treasure; the Cherry Lane Boutique. This gem is located on the corner of UA and 500 (I think?), diagnal from 7/11. It's small, but when you walk inside, it is jam packed with beautifulness. We happen to decide to take a look at this place on it's very first "Ladies Night!" Everything was discounted, door prizes were given and they had little demonstrations on how to tie scarfs, and taste testing!! Pretty sure we scored. We walked through the boutique admiring the crazy hats, pretty scarfs and fun jewelry complete with ooohs and aaaahs. When it came time for the taste testing, I was a little reluctant to join as they were tasting jam.... Like we are 80 years old and playing kanasta. Let me tell you, this jam was not for the faint at heart! It was completely amazing. Her jam wasn't like normal jam, but in crazy flavors and combinations. She had 7 spicy jams that you could use as marinades for pork chops or to dip your chicken nuggets in; She had crazy fruit jams like pineapple pear berry; and then she had dessert jams.... apple pie and carrot cake jams. YUM! You may think that this lady is crazy, which she quite possibly could be, but she was fantastic! She told us all the fun ways you can use this jam which was helpful because the extent of my knowledge of jam is that it goes on toast. A whole world of possibilities was opened for me! My favorite was the carrot cake and the spicy roasted garlic. Carrot cake jam you serve on cinnamon graham crackers for a little appetizer which = an explosion in your mouth! Oh man I loved every second of it!! One day when I start cooking for reals, I'll incorporate my new found love to make my food fun and unexpectedly great! It'll probably need the help.

While taste testing, I realized that if this lady wouldn't have been completely obsessed with her product, then I wouldn't have been as willing to try the jams or even purchase some. Energy is contagious and I'm so grateful that I caught hers. It gave me comfort that other people obsess over crazy things just like I do. ...Foreshadowing to a future post about Vans shoes....

The night continued on as Kaylyn and I went to a BYU dance to make fools out of ourselves. It was a blast! I even learned how to swing dance! Or rather learn to hold on as I was being spun around like a top. :) After a great night of excitement and new discoveries, I leave you with the montra that has been stuck in my head ever since.

Do what you love and love what you do; or

Live a life you love, but also love the life you live.

I couldn't remember the correct wording...

Let the Stalking Begin!

School has started. Yay! I am taking two classes this semester, Civil Litigation and Photography!! I could live in each of those classes and be happy for the rest of my life. Civil Litigation is everything I would have ever wanted a career class to be. I know all the law jargon he's talking about score! and I do everything we talk about in class on a daily basis at work! Who knew that I could take a class that would relate so much to real life? Weird. Now my photography class could easily be considered my guilty pleasure, my hearts one true joy, love without limitations, but let's not get carried away. Inevitable? I've always dreamed of being this fantastic photographer, super creative and owning my own, "Domination Studios," so this class is a step in the right direction. My teacher is super great and told us on the first day that her one huge dilemma in life at the moment is: Her Lego Hair. :D I love crazy people, and she's one of the craziest. One day I hope to be exactly like her.

ANYWAYS, the reason for this post is because I find something extremely fascinating about the human species. Yes, I do realize that I belong to this group, but for this matter I wish I could grow some feathers to fly south and join their species. Let me explain. UVU has crappy parking. Parking is available, but only for those with classes starting from 7-8 am or 6-9pm. Any other time you find yourself circling the parking lots hoping that someone decided to drop out of school leaving you a prime spot. There is however, one other opportunity for openings. Classes usually end 10 minutes before the hour and for those 10 minutes you have movement amidst the parking lot. Since everyone is catching on, it has become a feeding frenzy trying to snag a spot from someone leaving. The human species has turned to desperate measures and de-evolutionized to stalking. Stepping foot onto the parking lot and walking towards your car you will be instantly followed by at least 2 cars; the rest kicking themselves for choosing the wrong aisle to camp out in. Few will roll down their window and ask if you are leaving and where you parked, but most will drive at 2 mph right behind you as you walk to your car. Once I had gotten over being creeped out by these followers, I decided to have some fun. Sometimes when I know I have parked clear out in the middle of nowhere I will take my keys out of my backpack, turn towards a random car -car behind me instantly turns on his blinker trying to beat the car coming from the front of me- fiddle around like I'm trying to find my key, look up as if I lost something and walk back towards school. I snicker to myself as the car disappointedly drives forward looking for someone else to stalk. Other times I will walk towards a car-ensuing the same reaction to the car behind me- and continue on over to the next aisle making it impossible for the previous car to stalk me, but attracting two other cars in the next aisle. I continue towards another car and then walk into the next aisle. I have just created at least 5 car stalkers in a matter of minutes! For some reason this brings me joy.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll grow up and actually go straight for my car to allow a hurried student to take eagerly take my parking spot.

Never.

One Step Closer to Stardum (sp?)

Eureka! I've found the secret to having vibrato when I sing!! Driving to work through American Fork over the construction!! I can see my dream of being a good singer come into focus....

You see, I have made it a habit to sing every song on the radio at the top of my lungs, complete with elaborate dance moves while driving to work each day. Yes, I have gotten many looks from passing cars. I've even got a few pig noses from little kids smushing their face against the window trying to get a better look. Despite the stares and pointing fingers, nothing relieves a long day at work like practicing my American Idol debut. So if you want to fine tune your vibrato and battle it out with Mariah Carey, stay to the left and head north through Lehi and American Fork. For the sake of my singing career and those sitting next to me in church, I pray the construction never ends.

Warped Tour 2010.... EPIC

Last year Warped Tour left me in such a fantastic state of twitterpation that I could not resist attending another year of all that greatness. Much to my dismay, most of my friends were unable to attend with me, but no worry, I convinced a few poor and unfortunate souls to tag along with me as I jumped from band to band like a child in a candy store. Yes, I really am that obsessed with this insane event. I convinced Kaylyn, Jordan, Parker and Adam Lutz to join me, and just like last year, we all made shirts for the occasion! They turned out soooo great! I've got some pretty creative friends/siblings. :)
Well turns out that almost all the bands I wanted to see overlapped other good bands, so we had to make a tough decision and find the top 3 bands we wanted to see.

Hey Monday, The Summer Set, The Rocket Summer, NeverShoutNever and mainly MAYDAY PARADE were the bands I wanted to see. Unfortuanely, we were only able to catch Hey Monday, The Rocket Summer and Mayday Parade. Since Mayday Parade was very last, we had a lot of time to kill..... So we walked around a lot, looked at each band's tents, etc. The weather had been great for the whole day, until about 4:00. We had a few hours to kill until Mayday Parade, and it started pouring rain!! Rain pelting us from all angles, feet tired from jumping up and down in crowds, and the beginnings of becoming farmers showing on our arms, I nervously looked around to our group. Do you guys want to wait it out until Mayday Parade? Everyone was trying to be nice to me, but I could tell that deep down they wanted to call it a day. The rain continued and I tried to keep spirits high by encouraging that the rain would stop soon. Rain, Rain, Go AWAY, Come Again ANY other day but today. It looked like there was no end in sight, but my fingers were still crossed. We couldn't leave before we saw the best band here! Especially when it had been kind of a crappy line up in the first place. I tried using the, "hey, at least we are making memories!" cop out, but that went over about as well as it usually does with me when my mom says it. Finally everyone thankfully agreed to stay. Whether it was out of pity for me, or out of belief that my life really would be over if we left, I didn't care. As long as we stayed. Thankfully, the rain subsided about 30 minutes before Mayday Parade was to start. Prayer really does work. Can I just tell you, that waiting in the rain was COMPLETELY worth it?? Mayday Parade was FANTASTIC!! Adam and I even shimmied our way up to the front, right behind the bar! Screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping around like a crazy person I had the time of my life. To my current knowledge, there is nothing comparable than an amazing concert by one of your favorite bands while you are squished in between a bunch of sweaty people. The best is when there are so many people crammed together that when everyone is jumping, you don't have to do anything to be moved up and down with the crowd. They jump for you! Same thing happens when you get in a circle of about 10 people and they all sit down on the person's knees behind them. Who knows how it works, but it's fantastic. One downside to being in an awesome concert at the very front along the bar. Crowd surfers. In a normal concert you'll get a few crowd surfers here and there that you can help heave to the front. Amplify that by a bajillion and you get Mayday Parade's crowd. One after the other, sometimes two on top of each other formed a continuous stream of crowd surfers. I'm sure this looked cool from above, but when you are the one underneath it is not so cool. When crowd surfers get to the front the bouncers just pull them down to the ground for the surfer to get out. Unfortunately this means using the front row as a slide to ease their fall down to the ground.

Dear Fat Sweaty Crowd Surfer Man:

Thank you for kicking me in the back of the head repeatedly and bending me completely in half over the bar so I can make your decent a little more comfortable.

Sincerley,

Hailey Francis.

Besides that, the music was fantastic, new bands were found and memories were indeed made. Here are some pictures of this fantastic day! Enjoy!

This Lady Is Good.... Psychic?

Last night Anisa and I went on a nice run (I'm going to estimate about 2 miles, because saying 1.589 miles doesn't sound as impressive) around Mapleton. I love running with her because we talk the whole time, which keeps me distracted and not thinking about each step I'm taking, thus making for a farther and more productive run! After that, we decided we would do some sprints like the old days. (knee did great! No limping!) After a few of those we were tired and decided to do some Abs of Steel and Winsor Pilates Buns and Thighs tapes. Those things are freaking hard! They try to counteract the intensity level by putting smiling flexatrons as your examples, soothing background music, and a calm voiced lady (rather a drill Sergeant) giving you instructions for the exercises. Nevertheless, Anisa and I followed every step and laughed at the ridiculous outfits they were wearing. As we switched from Abs of Steel to Buns and Thighs, we were not warned that the instructor would be telepathically with us through the tv. I will admit, a few times I would take the easy route, or only go halfway because my buns were burning! Immediately as I would drop my shoulder the instructor would say, now make sure you aren't letting your shoulder drop! Snapping my shoulder back in place I laughed with Anisa about how she had caught me. Then it continued. Make sure not to bend your knees, this makes it easier. Don't stop now, you only have 2 more left. Don't rotate your hips, keep them straight! Sheesh! What the heck lady?! How do you know that at this exact point I have stopped concentrating on using my powerhouse? It was a bit freaky. The best was when she would say, Now don't forget to breathe. This sounds retarded because we breathe all day everyday without having to be told to do so. However, whenever she would remind us, Anisa and I both let out a huge breath in relief. Why is it that we forget to breathe? The fact that these exercise ladies can get inside our brains to make us think that doing just 4 more leg lifts overpowers our natural instinct to breathe is.... a problem! :) I leave this with you to experiment and to be made aware the next time you pop in the good ol work out videos. See if you fall under their psychic powers....