Concert #1

Alright, so I know I did a post last week saying I went to my first concert of the year. I have decided that it did not count as a concert, considering it was really just a dance party. I am counting the concert I went to last night as the first concert of the year! Mostly because it was absolutely fantastic! You know how I just love The North Valley, so it only makes sense to have them be the first concert of the year. Just sayin'

The last time I had this much fun at a concert was when I saw Grouplove in the summer. As of yesterday, I hadn't seen these guys play for a little over a month. It was so much fun to get to see them again, and I forgot how much I love their music. The North Valley was headlining, so they got to play a longer set than they usually get to. I think this added to the experience. I was so used to just hearing maybe five or six songs each show. It was awesome to get to hear them play a lot of their songs. They even played some old stuff which was fantastic! It really was just fantastic you guys.

My friend and I got there a little late, so our night started off with the 2:13's. I have nothing but good things to say about these guys. I have seen them play a couple times, and every time they just blow me away. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. They are disgustingly talented, and sometimes I couldn't help but laugh because I was so impressed I didn't know what else to do. They are unreal! They just released their first EP. Go check it out here or take a listen below. My favorite song of theirs at the moment would probably have to be Ruthless.

 

After the 2:13's finished their set The North Valley was up. It really was just a party. I have no idea who was controlling the sound and lights, but whoever it was clearly knew what they were doing. It really magnified the show. I was very impressed. You guys already know that I love these guys, so I am not going to say too much about it. All I have to say is this was by far their best show, and it is crazy how good they have gotten. You don't notice it when you go to every show, but after taking a little break I was pleasantly surprised at their skill level for this show. So bravo guys! Here is my absolute favorite song of theirs. You can find the rest of their music here. 

 

College Street Style: Kramer

So remember how last week I said that I had only done girls so far, but that I had it covered. This is what I meant by that. This is Kramer everyone. So remember that band The North Valley that I may have seen once or twice... Well he is the pianist. How awesome is that!

Name: Kramer

Major: Biomedical Engineering (possible double major in philosophy... I think)

What do you like to wear?

"Skinny jeans mostly. Lots of blacks, browns, and toned down earth color. I basically wear this same leather jacket everyday, and I wear a lot of cardigans."

Who or what inspires your style?

"Probably bands, actually. Not music wise, but style wise like The Strokes or The Black Keys. You know like lots of city looking stuff, but then every once in a while I'll wear like a flannel."

 

Isn't his style freaking awesome you guys? Another reason I like these North Valley guys. Their style is fantastic if you couldn't tell by Kramer alone. Just sayin'. A big thanks to Kramer for being the first guy on here, and for being willing to meet with pretty much a complete stranger! I had the most wonderful time getting to talk to you, and I will see you and the other guys at your next show. Not like I go to all of them or anything... because that would be weird. Oops.

 

Finals are officially OVER for me. I am so happy I could probably cry. To celebrate, I have some awesome concerts I plan on going to later this week. Any Eli Whitney or Officer Jenny fans out there? I sure hope so, because that would just be sad. Also, it is my birthday this weekend! Whoo! I have no clue what I am going to do, but hopefully there will be some awesome shows once the weekend rolls around. Wouldn't want to spend my birthday any other way.

 

I think it is time to post more Instagram photos. I am only doing this because I have failed to tell you about my weekend, and this will help me remember. Yeah...

1. Let's just say the stress of finals was getting to me.
2. My friend Kelly got married! Still not sure how I feel about people my age getting married, but it was kind of the cutest wedding ever. She had a milk and cookie bar. Uh, yes please!
3. Thank you Blue Star for being the only source of energy I had all week.
4. What I have to look forward to this lovely Christmas break! And there is more on the way!

1. This is what I do when I get bored at work... play with army men.
2. Oh yeah. I changed my hair. It is brown now.
3. I might have gone to see The North Valley again this weekend... Don't judge me!

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone! 

 

P.s- This will be the last College Street Style post for the year. Sad day I know. I will try to come up with something else for the next little while. Maybe some style posts on myself... I make not promises!







CM Recap: Wheels on the Bus

Alright, so today I should be telling you all about the fantastic things I found on pinterest this week, but I didn't use pinterest this week so I have nothing. Sorry. Instead, I am going to do my Criminal Minds recap that I should have done on Thursday, but it was Thanksgiving so I didn't want to.

 

There are very few things I have to say about this episode. It was a TON better than last weeks episode that is for sure! This whole episode was based around a video game, and the unsubs created a live version of the video game using real freaking people! How insane is that? I thought it was good, but I feel like they could have done a lot more with that idea. It was pretty intense, but there was a lot of slow parts throughout.

 

The only other thing I have to say about this episode is this... Freaking Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Yup.

 

I wouldn't say I am disappointed with Criminal Minds, but I still am just freaking out because I don't know who freaking Reid's girlfriend is. I need to know! Like right now. They have dragged this out for to many episodes. They can't have this mystery girl be all, "I love you", and then never hear from her again! What the heck is this? If they don't bring her back into the story soon, I am going to throw something. Probably like a chair, or something big like that. It just needs to happen.

 

So remember how I said that I had no idea what I was going to do this weekend, because there weren't any I had the money to drive and go see? Yeah, well I lied. The North Valley decided to be sneaky and announce on Thanksgiving day that they were playing at the Spedelli's benefit show yesterday. Freaking stoked you guys, but kind of didn't know what to do at the same time. This was definitely the FOURTH show in a row that my friend Emily and I had been to. As in four weekends in a row we have been going to see these guys play. That is a freaking month you guys. That could totally be thought of as creeper status. Heck, that is creeper status! It turned out to be a fun night though! We got to talk to some of the guys after the show, and they are all pretty darn rad. They are pretty much as cool as there music, which is pretty much the coolest thing on the planet. Just saying. Emily and I are hoping that they take a break this week from playing shows, so we don't reach level expert of creepers. That would be FIVE weekends in a row. Especially since in two weeks they are playing two shows. Are we going to both... duh.

 

On a completely random note, we had a mouse. I say had, because we finally caught it after a week of trying. They little thing was sneaky. I don't know how, but it just kept licking all the peanut butter off the traps without getting caught! He was lucky for a while, but then one of them snapped. I was very disappointed. My dad got one of those catch and release traps just for me, but of course it went for the deathly head snapper thing. Oh why little mouse couldn't you have gone for MY trap. I tried to save you, but you decided to go through the death row (aka like 5 deathly head snapper things) and you failed. I am sorry little mouse. RIP.

 

I hope everyone has had a fabulous Thanksgiving break, and a fantastic Sunday. I know I sure have! 

My Weekly Pinterst Roundup

light

what to wear
 when i'm a mama

b&w inspiration

boys take notes

Well there is that. These are the things that inspired me this week. I find it crazy that just a photo can inspire you to either create something, or do something amazing. I think that is the only reason I continue to use Pinterest. I find so much inspiration on there. It is quite lovely.

 

I had one of the best weekends I have had in a really long time this past weekend. Everything really was just perfect. It isn't like anything extremely spectacular happened. It was just a good weekend, and nothing went wrong.

 

I was kind of nervous about this weekend mainly because of things that had happened earlier in the week, and because of possibly outcomes I knew could happen. I was kind of stressing out about it the whole week. I knew it wasn't something that I should stress about, so throughout the week I decided that I wasn't going to be upset with anything that happened. I wasn't going to expect anything, and I wasn't going to be upset if things didn't go my way. I know that is why I had such an amazing weekend. I just decided to stay postive no matter what, and because of that everything was great!

 

On Friday I drove down to Provo to go to a concert at Muse Music Cafe. I was super excited because a) I got to see one of my best friends that I haven't seen in forever, and b) I was going to see The North Valley play again (have I mentioned how awesome they are?). From the start I knew it was going to be an amazing night. Remember earlier in the week when I said I accidently added some random guy on Facebook? Yeah, well he played at this concert.... you guys, he is incredible! I seriously was just blown away with how good he was. I am definitely a fan, and plan on going to more shows. He is quite the performer. You can look up his fantastic music here. You can also look him up (Officer Jenny) on Facebook. I would highly recommend this.

 

Next up was Tighty Willis... I can't even describe them. They were also fantastic! The energy these guys had was unreal. They really just set the best mood, and the entire audience was just going crazy and having fun. They have very good music to dance to. I think that is half of why it was so great. Everyone was just dancing, and having an incredible time. It really was just unreal.

 

Last but definitely not least was The North Valley. This was seriously BY FAR the best show I had seen them play. Everyone was just dancing and singing along. It really makes a difference when you know the words to the songs that people are playing. It makes it a million times more enjoyable. They really are just so awesome you guys. Seeing them play once again was the perfect end of a fantastic night. I actually got one of their shirts this time! Whoo!

 

I hope everyone has had an amazing weekend. I definitely have. I will have pictures tomorrow! Yay!

Things I Love: Concerts

So if I had to pick one thing to be my favorite thing, it would probably be concerts. I absolutely love going to concerts! I always find that I am most happy at concerts, or just enjoying music. I am NOT musically inclined, but music has always been something that has been extremely important to me. I think it is important to everyone in some sense. I don't really know where I would be without music.

 

I guess I should try to explain why I love concerts so much. The truth is, I don't really know. It isn't something I can really describe. It is just something I feel. It is one thing to listen to music through speakers, or headphones. Listening to music live, like the band is in front of you, going crazy, and playing music... I seriously can't even describe it. I think I like it because you can SEE there passion. You see them play these songs, and you know that each one has a deeper meaning than you could ever even begin to understand. They wrote every single song for a reason, and because of some kind of experience. Music is life. It tells people's life stories. It is just crazy how you connect with someone you have never even met all because of some words and chords. It seriously boggles my mind! So I guess it is the passion.

 

I think another reason I love concerts is it is the only setting where I feel completely comfortable letting loose. I don't care what people think about me anymore. If I want to dance, I am going to dance. If I want to just stand there, I am just going to stand there. It is a time where it is just me, the band, and the crowd. It isn't about individual people. It is about all of us coming together as a group to enjoy something we all love. To feel the music, and just rock out!

 

I am not going to even try to figure out how many concerts I have been to. I seriously have lost count. I know it exceeds all my fingers and toes...by A LOT. I guess it is because concerts are the only thing that I think are worth my money. Concerts are one of the only things I am willing to spend money on. It's because I know the experience is always worth it. I usually don't go to concerts where I don't at least know one of the bands playing, and if I do the concert is usually only like $5 or something. Worth it right? It can either be a disaster, or it can be amazing! I haven't ever had an experience where I have gone to a concert, and didn't like AT LEAST one of the bands. Therefore, I am pretty much always willing to check it out.

 

I guess the reason I brought this up is because I go to a lot of concerts, and I post about a lot of concerts. It is something you will frequently see on my blog. Of course I have to talk about it afterward!

 

So yesterday I went to a concert. Haha You guys, it was fantastic AND I found a new awesome band. My friend and I traveled the long journey to Mojo's Cafe which is in Ogden. We both had never really been to Ogden before, and we were pleasantly surprised by the cute little town that it was. Of course it was practically a blizzard outside, so it felt like quite the accomplishment getting there in once piece, and ZERO close calls. Anyway, Mojo's is probably my favorite thing on the planet. It reminds me of Muse Music Cafe, but the people are nicer and more laid back. You walk back to where the stage is, and it is just a room full of tables, chairs, couches, awesome art, and cool lights. It seriously has one of the coolest atmospheres ever.

 

Here is something you probably don't know about me. One of my biggest dreams is to one day open a little coffee shop, and have a stage where I can invite local bands to come and play. If I needed a model of what I have in my mind, it would be Mojo's. It really is just awesome, and I plan on going to more shows there.

 

So my friend and I traveled all that way to go see The North Valley. Yes, that is the band I talked about last week. Yes, that is the band we say LAST weekend. Definitely don't see a problem with this... especially since the same friend and I are going to go see another one of their shows next weekend. Three weekends in a row seeing the same band... I pretty much see nothing wrong with this. You guys, they are so good! Like seriously, it is unreal. The guys are hilarious, and their music is kind of indescribable. I seriously have tried to explain it to people, and I just can't. You HAVE to listen to it yourself. They played with two other bands. Up first was Mermaid Baby. They were fantastic! It is just three guys, but they are awesome. Plus, the lead singer has pretty much the coolest hair on the planet. I love me some long curly hair. We have already discussed how this is a problem. Anyway, they played first and then it was The North Valley's turn. I definitely loved them a lot more this time than I did at Kilby Court, which is saying A LOT because I love them. I have only seen two other bands multiple times (Thrice and Flyleaf), and they were both over the space of several months or a year. I have never seen the same awesome band two weekends in a row. I don't know why, but it really makes it so much more fun! It is like you recognize how each band member feels the music, and it is funny to see that they always act the same. I don't really know how to explain it. It is just enjoyable. Plus, the played "Dianthus" which is one of my favorite songs by them. I don't think they play it that often, because the song is like seven minutes long. Haha It was so good though! My friend Emily and I are also obsessed with the song "Riverside", so it was so fun getting to hear that. I think the best part is we are still learning the music, and it is getting more fun now that we are starting to learn the words to their songs, and knowing which song is which. I don't know people! It was just so much fun!!

 

The last band to play was called Hectic Hobos... they were interesting. Haha They are insanely good musicians, but we both weren't digging the guys voice. We left after a couple of their songs.

 

Well I guess all that's left is to show you some instagram pics of the event. That is kind of a must right?

 Mermaid Baby

The North Valley

 

I will also leave you with this link to watch The North Valley singing "Riverside." I seriously have had this on repeat since they posted it on Twitter a couple days ago. It is sooo good!

P.s- Sorry I am not smart enough to get the video on here. Anyone know how to do that?

 

 



The North Valley

Alrighty my friends. Yesterday I went and saw The North Valley play at Kilby Court with my good friend Emily. You guys... we are kind of obsessed. They seriously killed it! It is kind of crazy how I found out about this band. So first off you should know that I have a super soft spot for black and white photos. I don't really know why. They are just my favorite. I love the mood of black and white photos. Anyway, I was on Instagram and one of my friends had like one of The North Valley's photos. It was in black and white, so naturally I clicked on it to see what it was. I found out that it was a local SLC band, so I decided to look them up on Facebook. The rest is pretty much history. I listened to one song, and was completely hooked. It helps that the band members are all pretty easy on the eyes. Just sayin'.

 

Two weeks later I found out they were playing a show at Kilby, and I frantically asked friends to join me. Emily so kindly accepted, and we were off to see what is now one of our favorite bands. They seriously are just awesome. You know those bands that are just fun to watch? The bands that are just so into the music, so it makes you really into the music? Well if you don't know a band like that you are seriously missing out, and if you do that is The North Valley. You can tell these guys really just LOVE what they are doing. It is purely for fun, meeting people, and making music with their buddies. They have got a good vibe. I usually don't say stuff like that, but it's the only thing that seems fitting.

 

They have a couple upcoming shows, so if you guys want to check them out I would definitely recommend it! Tickets are usually under $10 as well! How could you say no to that!? There upcoming shows are:

 

11.9.12 at Mojos in Ogden

11.16.12 at Muse Music in Provo

 

Listen/buy their music here!

 

Here are some videos as well! I couldn't find any newer videos, so here are some posted by the band early this year.

 

 

I tried taking pictures of these guys, and I failed miserably! I do not know how to operate a digital camera. I just don't. All of my photos came out blurry, so you are getting some blurry photos. I really am so sorry. Again, WARNING: PHOTOS ARE BLURRY. Ok, now you can't get mad at me. I have clearly stated that they are blurry. If you can't handle blury photos then DO NOT scroll down!