The La Di Das

Folks!

February saw the debut of my life-long dream: being the lead singer in a band!

Now 'band' might be too generous of a word for what we do and "lead" isn't much of a superlative when its out of a total of two. But still! Now that Lottie's not in classes or working full time she has a lot of time on her hands and decided to dedicate it to music! She got all serious about reaching out to venues to perform there and now we have gigs!

So far, we've performed twice at this place called Terra Mia in Orem. It has Italian food like pizza, pasta and gelato. Most important for us, there is a little stage in the corner and actually a really good sound system that carries us but still allows us to be background music.

I was so nervous the first time we performed which was a Thursday night. But it went well and people actually gave us tips! It was the first time I've ever been paid for making music! Very exciting.

And I guess they liked us because they immediately invited us back for a SATURDAY. Now that seems like the big times. But once we new the venue and the vibe we weren't too worried about going back. And actually the next time that we performed happened to be the weekend that my friend Stuart from high school was in town so he got to see it too! More on that later.

We got so much support the second time we performed. A bunch of Lottie's in-laws came as well as my fitness coach, some peeps from my ward, and some of Lottie's friends. It was great! And we've developed a good setlist of about 15 songs. They are all covers though which makes us less legit...but whatever. People seem to really like us! The La Di Das are in business!

Here are some pics:

A great picture from our debut! 

Not as good, but from our second show!

So yeah! Come to one of our shows sometime! They're pretty awesome :)

Once Upon a Time in the Cotswalds

So I was going through my camera this week and found some pictures from England that I had forgotten about! A few days after Christmas I met up with my friend Megan Hodun who is an American living in England and together we explored Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswalds as well as Croome Park in Worchestershire. Looking at it now from the perspective of being a student in Provo it all seems quite fairy-tale like. Enjoy the pictures below! 

Idyllic Cotswald Cottage

Beautiful countryside

That green

In town

I love the stone of the houses

still christmas decorations up!

Definitely qualifies as 'going into the village'

Look at that wall plant!

Great window shopping

I think this is where the normal people live!

A more humble house that is still probably millions of dollars

This may be the pub where we ate...can't quite remember

At night we wandered around the church cemetery....
always a good idea for two single girls to do in a foreign country! 

Such old gravestones!

Cottage at night

Then the next day we went to Croome Park which is an old mannor house that went bankrupt (think Downton Abby) and it was super beautiful!

Can you imagine if these grounds were your 'yard'?

So green even in winter!

It's like the shire! 

beautiful view of the tiny chapel

I think this is the greenhouse or 'orangerie' as the fancy people called it

"The woods, the hills, the little rivers...."

The colors are just exquisite! 

little lens rainbow 

If you lived here you'd be home now

I wouldn't mind that being the view out my window!

They are renovating the main house right now so inside it has some really random modern artwork-
like these feet disappearing into the wall!

Or these balloon arm hands that blow out when inflated with air!

There were also families there for a stroll in the park

Exploring!

Windy!

My friend the sphinx 

Not a bad back door

There's something so charming about little bridges

Beautiful Megan 

Le paysage

The estate was quite large including many smaller buildings 

The river was brown at parts and the trail sometimes got muddy but it was totally worth it

Being cool...

...again...

...and again...

and again!

walk back up to the parking lot

Makes me feel like Robin Hood or something looking at this

a glance back at the beauty 

Well friends, there it is--My magical England. I'm so lucky to have gotten to be there. One day I'll be back.

Soon.

Where's Jenny 2016?

Alright, since it's still technically January I'm still allowed to talk about goals and the changing new year, blah blah blah.

Well, let me begin with just a brief reflection- this past year has been absolutely incredible. The day that things really started coming together for me last winter semester (with getting good news on my potential internship in Holland / trip to Uganda) I walked out of my apartment and saw the funniest thing written in chalk on a driveway. It was so random but it just said in big letters #WheresJenny2015? 

I thought that was pretty good. And since then, that's been my little inner theme for myself as I go on all these adventures. In 2015 I found myself in St. Louis, Chicago, Salt Lake, Provo, Rochester NY, Gulf Shores Alabama, London, Kampala, Gulu, Manti, Amsterdam, The Hague, Antwerp, Paris, Berlin, Oslo, Flam (Norway), Harlem (NL), Delft, Vienna, Yorkshire, Nottingham, Birmingham, Cardiff and all sorts of places in between! 

To sum that up in a more compact way this past year I have been in 9 different countries! I lived alone in Europe doing a professional internship. I started my own Solar company (with mixed success, but I did do it!) and I successfully completed another semester of school. Not too shabby and some good things to remember when I feel down on myself! I've done a lot in the year since I returned home from my mission! 

Which kind of sets this year up for some great expectations. How could 2016 possibly live up to 2015? Well, I'm graduating for one thing! I'll walk in April and then finish two econ classes that I need spring semester and be done by June. After that I'll be moving who knows where! I want to move to DC or Boston to work but there's really no saying. I'll probably have an excuse to go back to Europe for a friend's wedding if I can muster up the money, my brother will get hitched and I'll become an aunt again!  

And all this is just the stuff I know of! So, yeah 2016 should be nothing to stick my nose up at! Here's to many more adventures in Provo and Beyond! 

To start the year off, here's a review of my January in pictures: 

I made the questionable choice of flying out on New Years morning from Birmingham.
There was no personalized in-flight entertainment.  Luckily the Shipps gave me
 the latest season of Doctor Who to downloaded from iTunes.
I binge-watched while eating Jelly Babies.

I was very tired and had no voice when I got to Utah.
Luckily Mike and Lottie were nice enough to pick me up from the airport and let me stay at their house. 

As you can see, I really invaded their personal space. 

I got to see an American friend that I met in Holland who also just moved back to the states!

I reunited with Kristy! 

And we were so inspired by the hipster jewelry that we
decided to see Star Wars for the second time that night!  

After that I went to my first ever BYU basketball game with Lotterbeth!

I got some priceless wisdom from Tina Fey in point #4

I binge ate healthy food sporadically with cookies.

I got the most awesome Storm Trooper shirt ever from Emily!

I checked out the new Provo City Center Temple open house. It's absolutely beautiful!

Emily sent me a cool antique map water bottle! 

Ashley and Dieds visited from Holland and we got Indian food and belgian waffles! 

Lottie performed at Velour

On my road to spinsterhood I decided to start painting modern art!

And I spent a lot of time on campus!

Well, that's 2016 so far! Here's to 11 more months of painting and invading Lottie's personal space!