february 29th is a fake day

and here's why.

me: hey today. i have an extreme headache and more work to do than i have time for. i don't know how i'mma get it all done.

today: ....

me: what, you're not gonna fight me on this?

today: ....

me: erm...this is unsettling. k, i'm just gonna start then....

today: [vaguely nods]

me: *makes a fancy to-do list, works with incredible focus that i don't hardly ever remember feeling (EVER), completes last paper for block class and sends it, finds some awesome listen-while-i-work bands, reads professor's complimentary notes on my papers, headache slumps off sometime in there, finds evidence to support thesis and gets most of research paper written, looks up, blinks, and rubs eyes.*

me: WHAT.

today: [giggle] happy fake day.

me: WHAT.

[end]

we'll go with that.

i've noticed a few things lately. i would write about them in immense detail, but i think they've been correctly summed up below:

via pinterest.

the fun theory

isn't. this. awesome. (?!)



why don't we do this with everything? i love this whole concept. let's do it.

ps, anyone have any ideas on how to make eating veggies fun? i know i'm like five years old or something, but i still have trouble making myself eat 'em....

a letter to my hair

{preface: 1. this was originally written may 15th...the day it happened! 2. there are approximately a billion photos of me in this post. i'm feeling sheepish posting so many of them, but zach is getting good with the camera and i wanted to take photos of my hair before i did anything. they turned out really well (thanks zachary!) and i have fun editing stuff that wasn't client-related. as i explained my hesitation of posting them to jeff, he said, "we photogs don't get to be in the front very often so, yeah, i totally get your excitement." i know a bunch of you requested photos, so here they are. forgive me this one time for the excess. maybe it makes up for my current lack of NY pictures...heh.}

dear long hair,

we've been great pals for years now. in fact, i haven't cut you since 7th grade (when i let that lady who didn't speak english...bless her heart...cut you...i've never let any shears get you past my shoulder since). i've loved you and cared for you.

i like you in ponytails, pigtails, straight, curly, and wavy. up, down, this-and-that...those days you make me look like rapunzel (thanks, sara =D). it's especially fun to flip you around or feel you blow in the wind (especially while i run or in the car with windows down!). we've had good times.

before i knew it, you grew to be about 28 inches. however, you were kind of heavy (no offense, hair, i know you take pride in being thick) and i'd get headaches. i got super busy and i didn't get to trim you often or make you super pretty. although when i did, i loved doing it.

i talked about cutting you for a long while, but people kept talking me out of it. pretty soon, no one took me seriously about cutting you. but that was okay.

i had heard about locks of love. i found out that they take donated hair and make wigs out of it, specifically for children 18 and under, who don't have any hair due to disease and other health-related problems. it says, i saw the before/after photos of the recipients of the kids. it says,

 "The children who receive these hairpieces have lost more than their hair; they suffer from a loss of self. Many children have been teased by classmates and/or embarrassed by the attention they receive because of their hair loss. They often will withdraw from normal childhood activities such as swimming, going to the mall or even playing with their friends. While wearing a hairpiece is certainly not a cure for these children, it can help restore some of the normalcy to their everyday lives that most of us take for granted." (via here.)

with my new york trip coming up, i didn't want to have to worry about you in the mornings, and felt this was a very worthy cause. so, i decided that i'd do it. i know that it was scary for us both, but i think we were excited.

...

so, hair, i gave zach the camera (so thank him for the great photos!) and was expecting a before/after shot. but he decided to document the entire process! so here's how it went down, in picture form:

1-- i wouldn't have just trusted anyone to cut you this dramatically. so i got natalie. she. was. amazing.

2-- so, hair, with locks of love, you need to be a ponytail or a braid, so she just cut that off first.

3-- halfway through cutting, she had to get a bigger or sharper pair of scissors because you were so thick. that made me happy...you should be proud. :)

5-6 -- between these, i walked to the sink and could not believe how much lighter my head felt!! it was incredible!

7--  natalie was so great. about three times, she gladly cut the entire length of my hair shorter upon my request. (if anyone is thinking of cutting their hair, they should talk to me and i'll recommend her. she even gave me a two-week policy where i could go back and have her fix anything i didn't like. for awesome!)

11-12 --  she then styled it and taught me fun tips and tricks on styling techniques. these photos don't even show how high she got my you, hair...i looked like jon bon jovi. rock on.

i really wish these photos blew up more; they're great shots.

*author's note: there are many more 'before' photos than there are 'afters'. i figure that because it's what i look like now, so 'after' is now 'current' and ... yeah. you get the idea. (?)

...
and here are the official "after" shots (see above note). in addition to that note, i didn't really have time to take after photos- i cut this just days before my trip to new york. i didn't tell a lot of people previously to cutting you, just so i wouldn't get talked out of it and to add a fun surprise element to seeing friends before i head(ed) to NY. i'm sure you understand.

so. thanks, long hair, for willing to be donated. i'm sure you'll make some little child very happy! and i'll see you again, i'm sure. short hair is pretty fun, but i'm blessed to have the option.

sincerely,

*kristin
(you know. the person that was underneath you all those years)

tally hall, no one's better than you. {part V}

{{the rest of the concert + after party}}


[because i wrote all 5 tally hall concert posts around the same time, then added videos and pictures later, the entries were all in varying degrees of finished-ness. tragically, a few days after i posted #4, i read what i had for this one, #5, and it said a lot of the same stuff #4 did but so much better and was so much more organized. alas, it will not be published on this blog to prevent repetition. sorry, reader. maybe i will edit #4 one of these days....]

this is the final episode in this series. :)

the rest of rooney::
i spent the rest of the time between rocking out with jessie and brooke to rooney and talking with jeff and the other guys with tally hall. rooney was good; i knew more of their songs than i'd previously realized. i was glad that jessie is a die-hard rooney fan- this was her first concert and she got to see both them and tally hall. by the end of the night, though, tally hall was still my favorite.

the task::
it was great fun to talk with the guys after the concert, but we had to wait our turn. see, we knew we had a task, a feat worthy of the wait. so they visited with the rest of their crazy fans while we kept, well, taking pictures of ourselves and talking. we waited until the end when most everyone had gone, to continue our long-standing tradition: THE photo.


the history::

we've taken the same photo of ourselves ever since their first concert, each person in the same position, and adding a band member each time, starting out with rob. it was sort of endearing; andrew seemed pretty excited to be the added member this time.

maybe i will post the others some time.


the photo::

it was hard to get all the guys together this time. by the time we had one we'd lost another, and so on. the bouncers were getting pretty upset that people were still hanging around, and started yelling that we all needed to get out (probably so they could turn the venue into a bar again by a certain time). so, being the awesome people they are, tally hall came outside in the front of the venue with us. all except for joe, who was nowhere to be found. [joe seemed a lot more silent and introverted this time around, it seemed like rob had taken the lead. interesting how band dynamics change. ]

we assembled together and took it: THE picture. it seemed kind of huge this time--so many people! it was way fun, and then we took a few individual shots and let them get pictures with the only other group of fans who had stayed around that late. after receiving a possible reprimanding call on his phone, andrew politely told us they had to go. with quick hugs goodbye and lots of laughter, they disappeared back into the venue.

so until next time, tally hall, we'll miss you.

concluding in the end, i'd like to say no one's better than you.

tally hall, no one's better than you. {part IV}

{school is over and i'm back! please forgive my absence. i missed my blog, too.}

{{the big kids' concert}}

the original plan::
location: in the venue
concert time: 6:30pm
our departure time: as soon as jeff got off work (4-ish pm)
driver: jeff
the group: cheryl, blake, me, rocio, jeff, my friend jessie, and jeff's friend brooke

in actuality::
location: in the venue
concert time: 6:30pm
our departure time: 6:10pm
driver: brooke
the group: brooke, me my friend jessie...and later, jeff

explanation:: jeff was going to take me and jessie and rocio. rocio decided to do something else that night instead. okay, cool. still left me and jeff and jessie, all was good. but---[brace yourself for the run-on sentence]-- i couldn't reach jeff and he was supposed to drive us and my mom's van doesn't go past 40 mph cuz it's broken and jessie and i needed to get to the concert and i still couldn't reach jeff and it was getting late and i called cheryl and she'd already left with blake and i started to panic and i made cute hair flowers (irrelevant) and i told jessie i'd just come pick her up in the van so we'd be in one location and i did and we went to jeff's and he wasn't there and it was getting later and i called rocio and she said she wasn't going so she called brooke whom i didn't know and brooke was late coming anyway but she had a car so she met me and jessie at jeff's and the three of us girls got into brooke's car and brooke turned out to be awesome and we went to wendy's cuz we were starving and it was good and i got a jr frosty (irrelevant) and we raced as fast as we could up to salt lake and the three of us girls had compatible horoscopes and decided we'd be good friends and now we are and we drove and drove and finally got to in the venue and brooke was really good at finding it without a google map and we parked in some shady parking lot and brooke put on her new shoes with red laces and then we ran in the freezing cold -- ran-- to the place it was at and almost went in the wrong door so we backtracked and got to the right door and the bouncer let us in.

whew.

[note the shoelaces]

still couldn't reach jeff. until we got there. apparently, his shoot (he was working on a commercial in the middle of absolutely nowhere) went super long and was crazy and he hadn't gotten reception. sad. day. here's his side of the story.

when we got there::
we walked inside, and a really loud band was finishing their last song. i really didn't care for it, and neither did the other two girls. tally hall started to set up as soon as that song was over, and we were ecstatic to realize we got there in perfect time for tally hall.

jeff texted, saying he was still an hour away and wondered if it was still worth it to come. i said that of course it was; jeff was one of the pioneers of tally hall in utah! we had to take THE picture, dangit! so he said he was on his way.

we found allie and her husband. allie was there the very first time we met tally hall in this very venue. that was a happy. cheryl was nowhere to be found, though, and we found that she had a family emergency and had to race to that. that was sad. bless her heart.

the concert part::so, tally hall started their concert, even without jeff or cheryl. they started out with a slower song, which i thought was gutsy. usually bands start out with fast rowdy songs to get the audience into it. props for them for taking a double gamble: the song was slow, and it was a new song. but i loved it. it's called 'never meant to know' and it's the one that i had filmed backstage at the kid concert.

since i already blogged that one, here's another called "turn the lights off":



and here's how they laid the songs down:

Never Meant To Know
Welcome To Tally Hall
A Lady
Sacred Beast
Good Day
Turn The Lights Off
Cannibal
Spring & A Storm
You & Me
The Whole World & You

i sang along enthusiastically to all the songs i knew. maybe more enthusiastically than normal? [nah, probably the same. but i tried, and it was crazy] because a) the audience was pretty lame and didn't dance or anything and b) i had to sing for jeff and cheryl's sake. they deserved to be there.

right after they finished, i turned around and saw jeff. tragically, he'd just barely arrived.

the rest of the concert::
jeff was visibly disappointed he missed the concert, and more so, was shaking all over. he'd had an exhausting day and the mixture of freezing cold + middle of nowhere with no reception + full day's work in previously stated conditions + running to the concert + just barely missing it = one sad jeff. brooke and i felt so bad. we all wandered over to the swag table, where my new friend mike (the tour manager) was manning the merchandise. [check out mike's awesome hat.]

sad has a way of turning to happy, though, in the company of good friends and good music, and...tally hall. and tally hall's guest book.

they had a book on the table, open for anyone to sign it, so jeff and i took on the responsibility of pasting in each "the picture" from the previous concerts, along with a memory from each one. we wrote 3 entries, one on the inside of the front cover, one on the back, and one in the middle, with a dotted outline of the picture we were sure to get later that night.

we also took another cool picture:
and i liked rooney, too, so here's a well-known song of theirs. forgive the shaking; i was aware of it...i just couldn't help but dance to this one:




i really enjoyed just hanging out with my friends and the tally hall guys in the back by the table, though. andrew came out in normal clothes and smiled when he saw me. it was fun to see him since we'd been interacting all day, then almost as old friends after an 'official' concert (note that i'm not a psycho fan who imposes herself on strangers and celebrities. i know we aren't old friends. it was just sort of a cool feeling :D)

we all talked. words. i honestly can't remember what we talked about (this is the part that i didn't finish in december when i wrote this...it's now april)...which is tragic. i remember some stuff. contacts and dry eyes (as shown in picture above). mittens and their awesomeness (his were homemade). his impressions on the school concert. oh! he said that was one of the most interesting performances they'd given, and we asked what was the weirdest. i think he said it was earlier in their career and there was some sort of snow storm, so only a few (like, 3) people showed up to the concert and they performed for just them? something like that. all i can say is i wish we had a snowstorm concert.
the next and final installment of this tally hall series will come soon (no, really. i promise it'll be soon this time).

tally hall, no one's better than you. {part III}

{{the kiddie concert}}

keyboard, guitars, bass, drums...all on stage. a small one. behind a blue heavy curtain.
half curious, half amused adults lining the venue. teachers.
the venue: a school cafeteria.
one huge audience.
all under 5 feet tall.
oh boy. (!)

the concert was about to start. kids filed in, carrying their own chairs (i forgot we used to do that) and, of course, their tally hall signs. they were beyond excited. i was just as excited.


an entrance::
while the principle introduced cheryl, who introduced the band, the band snuck up on stage with fabulous fake mustaches on their faces and disappeared behind the curtain. what a fantastic sight. a few moments later, the curtain opened. the kids. went. nuts.

the concert::
i'll let pictures and movies tell this part. it was, after all, a concert.

fyi, the videos are super loud and noisy because my, can those young'ns wail....

rob [yellow tie] kind of headed up the group in interaction with the students, though the rest of the guys chimed in as well. i could tell that there was a mutual wonder between band and audience alike; neither had experienced this before. at the end of the first song [good day], there was a bit of silence, and i started clapping, [i'm sure some of the teachers did, too] then it was a ripple effect and the place was soon filled with tons of applause and yells.



at one point, they tried to get all the students to sing on one note....




other concert highlights::

-rob asked the most random and obscure questions to the audience, and it was perfect. questions like, "do you guys like sports?" and so on. it kept the kids amused and involved.

-the kids...loved dancing.

-comments like this: "of all the elementary schools we've ever visited, you are the most unique...?" can anyone else figure out what he says here? i remember he made some comment about how the kids liked dancing...anyway, brownie points (maybe even a brownie) to the person who can decode this:




-i enjoyed being backstage-ish. mike was cool and let me chill back there. we also talked cameras a bit. it was cool to see sam do his job. so i took a video of one of their new songs from back there. the video doesn't do it justice because i was just on one side of the stage (and it's a cheap camera). i have so many "normal" tally hall videos that i wanted to capture all the stuff you usually don't see. take a gander.


-the swaying of hands (i think one of the teachers promoted that) and the applause. the kids were told by a teacher before the concert that it's not polite to whistle, though. :)

-they ended with this song:



it was an elementary school. how perfect is that? they even had kids come up and give suggestions (that's the part that the camera drops (literally), so i could take photos of it. so beyond awesome.)

have you ever seen miss skinner, eating some dinner?

-and then they topped it off with this:
(rob's epic and very rebellious jump off of school folding chair. there were no smashing of guitars, however.)

...

the after party::

after the concert, the guys came back out and cheryl presented them with school shirts, as they are now honorary elementary schoolers. :)

as such, they took a class photo

or two

and hi-fives were had all around

and posters & clothing got signed (the latter with parental permission...for the most part)

and cheryl and the principle were given awfully cool stuff by the band

and things were happy.

next up: the night concert. there will be a lot less squealing from those videos.