happy birthday!

i couldn't have asked for a better birthday. i mean, i did have to teach and do parent teacher conference. but i also got to go out to dinner with my mom and sister and some friends to this amazing bbq place, sean's smokehouse, in saratoga springs (the sauces are to die for!) and then eat tres leches with my friends and laugh myself silly with all of the funny gifts. the best might have been the irish setter puppy stuffed animal my mom got me that everyone was fighting over because it was so soft like a real puppy! or maybe the alpaca sweater crystal got me from peru which looks like it could be from zelda, which inspired me to run around to the zelda theme music. 

i'm so excited for this upcoming year!

xoxo

23

So today is my 23^rd birthday. Isn’t that insane? While I was at school, I got stopped in the hall by a principal asking why I was out of class. She then realized that I was a student teacher and said I just looked so young. Made my day!

Well seeing how this is my last birthday in college, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane of birthdays past.

Freshman Year: I was barely turning 18. No one knew who I was. Yet somehow my home teacher and now good friend, Moroni, brought me a Dr. Pepper. My roommates made me a cake. For a little lost freshman, it meant a lot.

Sophomore Year: My roommate Jenny threw me a surprise birthday. It was an extra surprise because it was actually the day before my birthday. The apartment was PACKED with people, none of which I knew. I started getting hugs from all these strangers who knew my name.  It was a blast! They made me wear a crown and I played a song on the guitar. The actual night of my birthday, I went to a bonfire in Vivian Park with about 20 people. I walked up to the bonfire to find a random boy playing my guitar about 15 ft up in a tree. We also had a girl that no one knew dressed up like Lady Gaga show up with her dog and they ate all of our marshmallows. I then somehow got talked into camping in the park that night. And by camping, I mean 20 people squished on two tarps with limited sleeping bags and pillows. It was one giant spoon and the longest night of my night haha. However, it was the night I met the boy I would continue to date the rest of that school year.

Junior Year: I went out to dinner at Guru’s in downtown Provo with my friends, watched a movie and then got dumped by a guy I wasn’t dating (who I would actually end up dating on and off for years to follow)… Now I laugh about it, at the time I was completely confused.

Senior Year: I went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with a group of friends. We then went and watched Mean Girls (the best!) and I had my first kiss with the guy I started dating.

Super-Senior Year (Yikes!): My roommates threw me a party in my apartment. There were so many people crammed in my apartment! It was full circle from my sophomore year because it was the same situation except I knew everyone! It was awesome to see all my friendships from college all in one place.

Student Teaching (or Super, Super Senior): Teaching all day and Parent-Teacher Conference… Ha it’s not all bad. My mom is coming into town and I have some plans with friends. Let’s see if this birthday can top the others :) 

byu class of 2013

i graduated today which is insane. there was something about graduating on the same stage that i had countless performances throughout my university career on that really touched me today.  as i was sitting there, my very first choir concert came back to mind. as a little 17 year old, i was so lonely in provo. i had never even thought about attending byu and yet somehow i had ended up at this huge university. the lord blessed and lead me to byu and to women's chorus because that is were i really felt at home in provo. even though i had no family in the audience for my first concert, i am so grateful for that performance. it gave me a confidence that i would find friends and belong that semester even though i was alone. that stage was for the future for me as i became a music education major and somehow managed to struggle and eventually thrive in the program. i am so grateful for the woman i have become because i attended this university, even through all the many highs and lows . although what lies ahead is daunting, i know i will be guided to become who i am suppose to be. faith in every footstep.

xoxo

first communion

i have been tutoring yolani since january. it is random because i don't speak spanish but luckily her english is good. it has been such a growing experience. her mother invited me to yolani and her brother's first communion. i had never been and it was a really neat experience. the whole ceremony was in spanish but it was interesting to experience another religion.

the best part of the day probably was the after party. i showed up with my friends, jason and crystal. we walked in to have every single person in the party look at us. i especially stuck out being a tall blonde. it was incredibly awkward and part of me wanted to turn and run away! but i went and grabbed yolani instead so that she could take me to her mom. and let me tell ya, authentic mexican food is sooooo good! i want some right now! 

although the experience was enjoyable, i went to my own nephew's baptism the following and their is just a spirit in that ceremony that was missing from the communion.

xoxo

the postal service

on saturday, i got a random chance to go see the postal service. the awkward situation around how i got the tickets involved getting asked out by one person for his friend but then he ended up coming as we doubled with their married friends so i ended up being the fifth wheel... it was a little crazy and stupid but also fun!

also the postal service was great live! and the light show was amazing also! it was such a fun show.

xoxo

the hush sound

the hush sound got back together and came to salt lake city for 13 dollars. um duh. i couldn't not go. sheynah and her roomie came too and it was great! the venue was really unique but it was so small that it really felt intimate. and nothing is better then everyone in a room singing the same lyrics! 

it was such a fun night. and if you haven't listened to the hush sound, look them up. they are such an interesting mix of voices but it somehow works perfectly.

xoxo

a perfect ending

so one of my first weeks in the music education program at byu, an incident occurred that has been a running joke in my class ever since. we were listening to a music philosophy lecture by doctor broomhead at 8 am. i had shown up in a classy outfit of sweats, a greasy ponytail, and glasses. dr. b posed a question so i raised my hand and before i could answer, he said "neisah, i like your glasses. did you wear them because you didn't have time to put in your contacts?" then he realized his error and said "i mean i like them.. err... could you just answer the question." it was unbelievable and has been a long-standing joke ever since.

well fast forward three years, we are sitting in pre-student teaching and dr. b turns to me before i make a comment and says "hey i really like your new glasses." we all lost it. it was too perfect! with just a few weeks of classes left until i am done with the program, it came full circle 

sometimes life is too good.

xoxo

the black keys

sometimes my life is just too much fun. and yes i am weeks behind in posts and i don't have an excuse and i don't care. anyway a few weeks ago, i was working out to the black keys alot. and if you haven't listened to them, you need to make some better life decisions. they are one of the only true rock bands out there right now. they just have the most amazing groove. as i was working out, i thought "they are the number one band i want to see live. too bad i don't have $100 to drop on them." well ladies and gentleman, a week later they just happen to come to salt lake city for a private concert for the adobe convention and this lucky lady got a free pass to go in. i found out an hour and half before the concert. i also had an extra pass so i grabbed my next door neighbor who had introduced me to them in the first place. he quickly changed out of is pajamas and stopped his netflix and next thing we knew, we were being wined and dined at the adobe convention with a private show from the black keys to boot. 

their performance was magical. honestly there are few performers who, when they are done, i can honestly say i wished they had kept playing for another hour or two. this performance was one of them. not only did they play most all my favorite songs, but the encore was incredible. three minutes of a spectacular light show and guitar solo.

i want to relive this night over and over in my mind.

magic.

xoxo

daylight savings is the worst...

on the bright side, i ran in my new blue capris on my run today. 

also my apartment passed it's cleaning check (which by the way, being 22 and still having to have someone check to see if my apartment is clean is ridiculous)

i re-did my own high lights and they didn't turn out terrible.

i also finished the dead sea scrolls project for good today which is crazy. 

!!להיתראית מגילות ימ מלח

happy monday

xoxo

#5

i went laser tagging the other night and i thought this picture was too epic not to share...

and i was in the top 5 out of 30 people. wha??? i'll take it.

xoxo

only my life...

does a hot balloon almost land on my car...  

well as my mom always says, my life isn't ever dull.

love it.

xoxo

#holidaygrams

i've got the holiday bug here is provo. we set up two christmas trees (one in my apartment and one in crystal's house, basically my second home) made homemade apple cider, and played in the turkey hat my mother gifted me. i love the holiday season and pandora christmas stations!!

xoxo

happy birthday to me.

i am now the old age of 22. yesterday consisted of being woken up by my roommates singing happy birthday at 7:30 a.m., the living room completely decked out, lunch at olive garden, and party with my 50 closest friends. i am trying to forget the 4 hour evening class i had. the worst. overall it was pretty great.

xoxo

that morning, i was listening to the radio while getting ready for another day of 6th grade. the dj's were talking about this twin tower that had been hit by an airplane in new york. i didn't think their joke was very funny. i finally went and asked my mom what the twin towers were and she asked me why. suddenly our whole house was listening to that radio.

i went to school and spent the rest of the day watching the news on channel 1. as a little girl who had just gotten back from a year in the war torn country of israel, i couldn't figure out why this was such a big deal. if something similar to this happened every week in israel, it shouldn't be that weird that it would happen in america. but it did scare me to think that the war had followed us back to america. 

because this is such a rare event in our country, i hope we never forget and try to live our lives in such a way that other countries can respect us, rather then hate us.

"in memory of our God, our religion, our freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children"

-captain moroni

today

annoying: last week i bought a 200 dollar book for the bookstore. later that day i found it for 100 dollars on amazon later that day (still in the mail).

ecstatic: that i was able to return the book for full price today, even though i was only suppose to get 80%.

stressed: when i realized i had to write a four page paper referencing a chapter in that book.

embarrassed: because i was sitting on the floor of the bookstore with a copy of their book while writing down the citations from the book

feeling like a champion: when i finished the paper in 1 1/2 hours before my classes started

birding

so i am a bird watcher. i have been for as long as i can remember. it started because my dad and brothers would go all of the time. as a kid, i would look through the bird books for hours, fascinated with all of the different colors and types of birds. now it has become a real hobby of mine.

while i was in texas, i was surrounded by amazing birds! i mean really. i could have spent the whole trip just bird watching.

i made this video for my dad so he could see some of the cool birds i saw. and i, of course, used music from one of our favorite movies Hatari.

Also that video of the pelican eating the fish. One of the funniest things I have ever seen an animal do. He came down and sat on the edge of that box of fish and ate at least 5 or 6. Every time the fishermen turned around, he would look up and over his shoulders like he was saying "Oh me? I'm just having a casual sit here..." haha so great!

xoxo

byu secondary music ed class of 2010

yes. we are adorable. and slightly crazy. but i will seriously miss these people. they have literally become my family over the past two years. i have spent so many countless hours, late nights, happy moments, and moments of complete hopelessness with them. i just don't think you can understand the intensity of the byu music program unless you are in the thick of it. i look back and wonder if i knew how difficult it would be, would i have applied? (well of course. because i'm a gluten for punishment ha)

i remember getting in and thinking it must have been a joke or some sort of mistake. see, i applied my freshman year and got denied. i thought i had a respectable and even impressive resume, but i was wrong. so i went and talked to the head of the department, dr. broomhead, about what i could improve.  he basically said i was arrogant and had no self-esteem all at the same time. i'm still not sure i understand what he was trying to say...

anyway.

well i applied again, against an even larger applicant pool. which meant there was a 8% chance (that is an exaggeration, i don't really know that) of getting in. i thought my interview went terrible and had resigned myself to being a middle eastern studies major. then one day i got an email about a music ed scholarship application. how could this be? was this an accident? because i would know if i had been accepted right? i emailed the department back and they told me that apparently the acceptance emails had not gone out yet, but... congratulations on getting accepted! i just sat at my computer and cried.

fast forward a couple of months. the first semester of the program is probably the hardest of them all. the thing is, the professors are still trying to weed people out. as if the portfolio of teaching videos, music auditions, grueling interviews, and multiple essays wasn't enough. it worked though. half of the class of 2010 changed majors. that semester involved being up by 6 am every morning. we had to learn multiple instruments with enough competency to teach students within 6 weeks ( i still cannot play trumpet to this day... but i will always love the laughter is brought when i did try to play). we taught lessons to public school children without any instruction on how to teach. basically every day was a day of chaos. but the bonding that occurred because of it was incredible. i never will forget staying up til 3 am composing pygmy style music, getting insulted by my professors at 8 am (my glasses and sexual harassment. stories for another day...) laughing til we cried because we literally were going crazy, or the car rides to our schools to observe or teach, or the epic road trip to st. george for a convention.

i don't know if the following semesters really got easier, or if we just figured out how to live like crazy people. i think we just embraced the crazy. we made the hfac our home. singing children songs and dancing with sister kenny. being the first violinist in the second violins of the orchestra and living on timpani island. playing drum pads and cursing. taking pace tests for sight singing. composing things that barely pass for music for music theory. making beautiful music in our choirs.

this program has crushed my self esteem and then raised it back up. the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. the hours and hours of practicing for juries and recitals. the moments of tears in practice rooms with each of my friends after auditions or just simply not being able to sing that song you have practiced 10,000 times once more. the fear that comes into your heart when you feel a scratch in your throat because the worst thing in the world is you getting sick one more time. the late night vent sessions. the hysterical laughter that comes when you have been running on four hours of sleep for over two weeks. ice cream for breakfast because it is the ONLY thing you can think of that will make you happy. 

i would never have survived without these precious souls. and now we are splitting up. some of us are going on missions. some of us are doing student teaching. some of us are taking it slow because we need a mental break. it is really sad to split, but i know we will be colleagues and friends forever.

i know i personally have taken a mental and physical break from music. was i suppose to take classes this summer? yes. did i? nope. best decision ever. i haven't sung a real note or touched a piano key in over a month and a half. i kind of thought i had given all my musicality away and would never get it back. but i can tell you that two days ago i played through rachmaninov's prelude in c# minor for the first time in months. and i missed practicing. maybe i miss the adrenaline of performing... maybe there is hope.

it's not even a maybe. there is hope.

xoxo

ya...

remember how i have been studying music for three years? well i composed this. isn't it great? ha

xoxo