everything about it was perfect

so i've really been wanting to blog about a million trillion things. especially trudy's birthday, but i can't force myself to blog when i don't want to, when i want to put time into a post i've got to be in the mood. szzsshuuuuu know? plus i wanted to move the last post down because the green paint on that stand just looks so off and it's been bugging me. so i'm taking a quick second to post the announcement of the american idol winner. i know that america was watching when it was live but i feel like it all was so memorable and i love watching it over and over. i was a fan of phillip from the beginning, he is so authentic and true to himself. i laughed so hard when he responded to ryan about some criticism earlier in the show from Jimmy, "No, I'm just being myself, dude. I'm not trying to walk around stage and touch people's hands and stuff. That's just not me. I'm just having fun, man. I'm not trying to be somebody else. I"m just trying to play music."

so my favorite parts in the clip, you can tell that when ryan announces his name, for the first few minutes... it hasn't really hit him. i think he is just going through the motions...(yay!! woohoo!! from everyone, blah blah). then ryan addresses him again, telling him congratulations and phillip just looks away and shakes his head. que the music (pry the best song choice by the way, definitely my favorite winner winning song)..... and then as he starts singing it seems as though he is completely overcome by it all, when the confetti starts falling i feel like it's all so magical. i know that i'm a nerd but i don't care. when he decides he's had enough, i really love how he doesn't follow any rule or expectation, just hands his guitar over, walks off the stage and hugs his family. i just love it!

downton not downtown

i can't really stress how much i love good entertainment. downton abbey fits into that for me. they prove that it is possible to make a show that contains no bloody gorey violence, no cussing or vulgarity, no unnecessary sexy sex crap etc. great acting and fun story. and let's be honest, anything with maggie smith is going to be good.

"he's coming to the party?"

so behind and just trying to get through my to do list before i come back to blog land. 

just saw this and almost peed my pants. i can't stop watching it. 

p.s. having a blast on instagram... follow me! @brittbarnes04

choose the cover for rolling stone magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine is having a battle of the bands contest where the winner will be on the cover. they picked 18 up-and-coming bands from across the country and based on the number of votes, half the bands get eliminated with each round. our favorite band from provo, ut, fictionist, is in the FINAL FOUR. this round ends tomorrow so everyone please click 5 stars where it says "rate this artist" on the widget below!!! that's all you have to do to vote, it's very easy and will only take 2 seconds.

the winner will also be on the Jimmy Fallon show which is cool but a band being on the cover of the biggest music magazine in the country could be life altering for these guys! we want to support them as much as we can because of jacob and grant being friends, they're an lds band from utah, but most of all because we absolutely love their music. they are each phenomenal musicians and creative too. i love watching them to see what crazy instrument they'll pull out next and how they'll play it. i'm not really a band going type person (i don't like standing for very long because i'm a wimp), but they captivated me from the first time we saw them and each song always has me hooked. the singer (maxfield) has a great voice. you can see and listen to them in their latest video here.

p.s. jacob (the redhead who rocks the keyboard) and grant grew up in california 

together and he found a photo of them as kids. see if you can pick them out.

p.p.s. one of my favorites...

i'm a pinterest addict

i didn't want to make the switch from tumblr to pinterest but... i did. i love being able to categorize and have different boards. i've been wasting a lot of time on here but it's just so much fun! here's my link, i'm also adding it to my updated contact info. everyone should join! you won't regret it.

home

been outta town and leave tomorrow for another trip too. i'm behind on all things that involve the computer, however i'm doing pretty good with projects. one day i'll be daring enough to open my google reader. right now i'm just afraid of it. i'm in the third trimester with a very curvy body, i can embrace the baby bump... but other curves? i just try to ignore. this baby is healthy and keeping right on track. hope everyone is doing great and getting excited for warmer weather. here is something that makes me smile. 

p.s. also, our hearts go out to the people of japan, i can't imagine the devastation there. we're keeping them in our prayers.

23 weeks

my tummy is supposed to grow 1 cm every week from now on. basically the baby should double in size in the next month. she's starting to move more but nothing that keeps me from getting good sleep (so far). i feel like i can never take a full deep breath lately. my body has changed so much, my skin feels like it is already stretched to the max. oh and it itches soooooooooooooooooo much. i normally go crazy in the winter anyway and basically scratch my skin off. i've tried some intense moisturizers but nothing really seems to fully take it away. any recommendations?

i started making a blanket for her but i just can't seem to find the right fit with which fabrics to use. i have such a big collection of fabrics and it's fun to mix and match everything but then i find myself just wanting it to be so so so plain and only have one fabric. i wish i could embroider her name on the blanket but we are pry even further away from finding a name than we were a month ago. i never understood how people had to see their baby first before they named it. i always thought i would know and be so in love with a name. now i feel like i must see her before i know what to name her! we watched the show "one born every minute" last week and i LOVED it. here is the first episode. if any of you watched it or will watch it..... my favorite part is "OPEN!!!!!" hahaha. can't wait for the next episode.

a christmas story

i know christmas is over and i have lots of other posts i should be posting but... i love this.

here lies dobby, a free elf

we saw harry potter opening night. it was absolutely fabulous... i really really loved it. i think they did a great job. i don't really understand how people see the movies that don't read the books. how do they understand everything? i mean i see that they make the movie comprehendible for those that don't read but there is just soooo much behind everything! for example how can you fully understand what is going on in this one if you don't know the fullness of the horcruxes? we saw it with another couple who hasn't read the books and they did not even know who dobby's original owners were (malfoy's), so that whole part with dobby and bellatrix etc. just flew over their heads. i sound like a nerd but i just really love the harry potter series. and by the way this one was waaay better than the 6th movie. i still can't believe how much of the ending they left out in that :(.

p.s. kinda weird to anyone else that harry and voldemort are friends in real life?

for the record, i'm totally the good dancer.

my posts are so lame lately. oh well. there is one thing in life that always makes me feel good and that's dancing. saw this on a cup of jo and had to reblog it. and ya know... it's not like it's the coolest thing in the world but i've got nothin else for now. and some of his moves are like my signature moves. "i'm the disco dUUuuUuuuuUUUUUUck!"

come sooner november!

a falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes

can't stop listening to florence and the machine. cosmic love specifically. it is the kind of song that makes me want to scream the lyrics in the middle of the street. with my arms flailing in the wind. like if i were doing it in a music video, the camera would be circling around me. getting the picture? i love music so much. i love instruments. i want to play in a symphony or be the conductor of one. i dream of it all the time. anyway and it's really just the way this song sounds that makes me feel so free and encourages me to live more lightly. without worry or stress. to just trust in god. i'm listening to it right now. it's impossible for me to keep my arms down in the chorus... "THE STARS! THE MOOOOOON, THEY HAVE ALL BEEN BLOWN OUT!"

 today i am feeling  

so blessed. i saw an ad on craigslist that made me feel sick. i'm so determined to help. have you ever had people help when you really needed it? i have. sometimes knowing that people care just makes everything seem easier. which is the very reason why serving others is so important. i need to work on serving more. time to pay it forward.

p.s. where in the world did august GO? 

prince poppycock. i freaking love you

so my family loves "americas got talent". whenever they love a performance... they call me up and tell me to go to youtube. prince poppycock was one of their favorites and now one of mine. if you don't know him... you are in for a treat. his performance for the semi final blew us away as well as the live audience and the judges. gosh i love him. anyway this is his first performance...  i have watched it over and over. i love how sharon loves him as soon as she seems him. hilarious.


go here to see his semi final performance.

"faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper"

been doing a lot of thinking lately. my friend trudy always brings my attention to the latest and greatest. she recently introduced me to "green smoothie girl" and let me borrow some audio files of her program called "12 steps to whole foods". thinking about taking the majority of your diet and changing almost everything seems a bit overwhelming. especially if you are a mom. however i really enjoyed listening to robyn, she does a great job putting everything into baby steps. and really it is much easier when you start small. i am still learning and not quite sure how extreme i want to be... however i do find myself thinking a lot about what i put in my body. even just her first step is worth doing (in my opinion), which is to drink her green smoothie daily. a quart of her smoothie gives you 6 servings of fruits/vegs (love that!!!). here is her article on why she loves green smoothies so much. i've gradually started changing things like buying a lot more greens (robyn says to make salads the main course of your meals and i love that idea), we've been using chia seeds for a while and buying kefir occasionally. i did just buy some all natural coconut oil and i'm excited to use that for all the different ways robyn suggests. on top of being influenced by her, grant and i also watched "food inc" last week (check out their site! at least watch the trailer). i loved every minute and watched it again the next day. i think we consider ourselves to be pretty middle of the road types and that is one reason why i enjoyed this movie. i felt that i could see different angles of things, i didn't feel we were being too bombarded with this view or that and i just took the information for what it was. while i think most people think the movie will just gross them out and make them want to become vegetarian (my dad)(still trying to get him to watch it :).... i actually think i learned more about our food industry and really just how corrupt it is. anyway i don't know if a lot of people have watched it, but i do recommend it and think it's great to educate ourselves a little more on what we eat and how it gets to us.

the greatest movie in the whole wide world

i have basically been begging grant forever to get "pollyanna" for us. i remember watching it as a child and loving it. we just barely finished it and i am still crying, a happy cry too. oh it is just the sweetest movie. i am already looking forward to going back through my blog in the future and finding this post to help me remember how much i really love this movie. i just love old feel good movies. (well i love any old movies really, this one is also a favorite.. so witty, i can watch it over and over). now i am so motivated to find something to be glad about in everything. i love that little pollyanna.

the polaroid trend is totally overdone but hey... it's still fun to me

on our drive to utah we listened to "the hunger games". audio books have just become a necessity for our road trips. as long as its a story... i really like it. however church talks or any self help books, i'd rather just read so that i can study and remember them better.  i definitely recommend this book though. we were very into it. and since monday, i've had dreams every night that i'm fighting in a forest and sleeping in a tree. the story made me so happy and SO mad at times. we are looking forward to reading the next book.

our friends (the brown's) introduced us to pepper turkey recently. now every grocery shopping trip includes me visiting the deli and almost eating a half a pound of the pound i usually buy. i love it so much and it makes me really look forward to making sandwiches. mmmmm. so yummy. we are also still obsessed with blue bell pistachio almond icecream. it NEVER gets old. NEVER.

the last two nights we have been watching "gone with the wind". grant had never seen it and it is a classic that everyone has to see. right? i really hate that scarlett o'hara. i wish i could jump into the movie and tell her off. i do think it would be fun to be her for halloween. can't you just see grant being a perfect rhett butler?

grant and i are doing a lot of pondering these days. trying to figure out our future. my full time (and i do mean full time) job is thrifting. it's the perfect job. very flexible. i do my own thing and whenever i feel like it. the only problem is that i don't get paid. no really though, i go practically every day. i choose to do that instead of making flowers or figuring out what i want to do with my life. i'm really good at choosing to do something fun over what i need to be doing. maybe i should do another thrifting post. i keep saying we need to do more on haiti on this blog. it is difficult because grant's journal is a lot of writing and it is not organized in what we did each day. which is because everything was just so smooshed all together. i look at our pictures often and wish i could just go back tomorrow and play with all those kids. remembering them helps me to be humble and more grateful.

i get my hair done in a week or so. looking forward to it too because i haven't gone to a salon to get it done in probably..... five months? and i absolutely love that. i hate being tied down to hair appts every 8 weeks or whatever. ugh. yuck. i keep wearing pants every day because i only have two pairs of shorts. i just need to get some more skirts because i am dying. really. i just want cheap stuff. i don't need anything expensive when i'm just gonna sweat to death in them. i'm trying to still figure out how much of this or that my skin needs because i truly am living in a desert. which i still like. it's funny how different each state can be. even if they are next door neighbors.

usa sevens

well, we are off to vegas this weekend. february it's quite the traveling month for us, we'll be gone more than we'll be home.

this is what we are going to see. and we can't WAIT!

"he doesn't know english so he sings the sounds he hears"

at least 5 times a day.

i can't stop listening to this song. found the gem via pandora and my life hasn't been the same since. plus i love the dancing and i wish sooooooooo so so so bad grant and i could dress up like this and go to a masquerade.

p.s. question. what did everyone do with their bridals? did anyone else get like a 16x20 and not know what to do with it? and another question. what does everyone do with old makeup? i really just like the idea of finding a product and sticking to that. the same mascara, eyeliner blah blah. however the process of finding your signature lipstick comes with trial and error. ya know? in my drawer i use about five things but the drawer is full. which is fine, i guess. however under the sink there is this basket.... and it's full. and no i'm not talking about old mascaras, more stuff like this, that i just don't want anymore. ???

invictus

we saw invictus friday night and just loved it. i think all my favorite movies are sports movies. i appreciated this one even more though because of all the years of watching grant play rugby. he played in high school and then BYU for five years. i've grown to love the sport and since grant ran out of eligibility he has missed it like crazy. i will never forget when his coach, said to me in our wedding line (to tease me), "in all my years of coaching, nobody has ever hit as hard as grant barnes".

we also always appreciate a good clean film. it's not that i only like the warm fuzzy kind but it's a great feeling when your mood can change from ordinary to inspired after watching a movie. that's when a movie is really worth your time. the history in this was great, i loved learning more about nelson mandela. what a brilliant and honorable man. if you haven't already, go see it!

p.s. speaking of movies.... can't wait for this.