dark rooms make my hands dry...

here i sit in the photo room waiting for my film to finish it's 30 minute rinse cycle. and my hands feel like their skin wants to fall off.

developer, fixer, hypo, all chemicals and acids that dry your skin out. and i forgot to bring my lotion.

well. my time is up. just thought i would let you know about my skin problems. :D

New years resolution complete... sorta....

haha so last night was awesome!

i was at my photo history class and betsy texted me and said that i should come to lauren's apartment on my way home from class. i got out about 20 minutes early and showed up earlier than they were expecting. in other words, no one was home. ahha. so i called betsy and she said, "SHOOT! you're not supposed to be there yet." anywho, so then she told me to chill there and they were going to be there in a few. so i did. and then when i hung up it hit me. my birthday is tomorrow. (well today now) good one betsy. you stink at being sly. so melissa and tara came to get me and they kidnapped me and took me to wal mart. and we just walked around and they kept telling me to pick out flowers. so i did against my will. and pick out icecream. they were sly too.... NOT! so then we come home and i walk in the door and there are chairs everywhere in the living room..... so then they all jump out from behind places and "scare" me. it was great. anna and betsy made me a nice dinner. it was delicious!

so then tara and josh rounded up people to come eat cake waffles and ice cream with us. :D it was so fun. tara is trying to rub ashley's "love handles" in the above picture. they are really just called hips though.

we played just dance on the wii

it was fun. i stunk at it. Trevor rocked at it. even though he said he didn't. psh. He's a really nice guy. his roommate Michael came too. and they were both wearing plaid. haha :D

the waffle cake and ice cream was mega delicious. :D

then lauren and mckenna had to leave. but don't worry because we got a picture with this attractive guy!

and then josh and betsy did the dishes. what cuties.

and then we played a mad game of swedish twister.

good night. and then at the stroke of midnight betsy told me happy birthday! isn't she the best room roommate ever?!!!

anyways, i have to go to dumb class in a half an hour again. on my 19th bday. LAME!

19 is going to be a grrrrreat year!

oh the title of my post is because someone thanked me for having a birthday. so i told them that i try to have one once a year, kind of like a new years resolution thing for me. ahhaahha

Ashleigh's Engaged!

Fun Facts about Ashleigh-

• she's my big sister by 14 months
• i once carved her initials into her little wooden jewelry box cause i was mad at her..... i didn't do my own initials cause then she would know it was me that did it... she still knew though. i was 5...
• we would play bride and she would always get to be the bride. ALWAYS. i was either the groom or the preacher guy. She was super bossy to say the least.
• we had a "club house" (just a little patch of nothingness by our house) and it had a wild strawberry bush in it that grew 2 strawberries the entire time we lived there. She ate both of them. I didn't get any. haha
• to get into our "club house" we had a serious of branches on the dead tress we had to touch/pull/twist and a piece of flappy bark we would remove and "punch in" our code. She always changed the password so it took me forever to get in.
• we once had a "circus" performance on our swing set and charged a 5 cent admission fee. we made 5 cents. and the people didn't even show up. They just took pity on us.
• we had a lemonade stand and didn't sell a thing. it was a bad day.
• we started a newspaper for our street... and had a questionnaire in it. and we went to pick them up and one guy put on his interests "watching the grass grow." haha. i don't know why i remembered this...

• Ashleigh had the longest awkward stage known to mankind. not even kidding. i'm sure Nathan is glad you grew out of it.... sorta...
• when i was a baby i would always steal her bopoos (our name for pacifiers) and she would cry and tell mom on me.
• when we were toddlers she would organize her shoes and i would go mess them up just to make her angry. bahaha.
• she painted my nails and i painted her nails once when we were toddlers and to say the least we looked like we got in a knife fight when we were done.
• when i was around 3 i dropped a towel in the toilet and she tattled on me when i clearly had everything under control.
• when she lost her first tooth i cried cause i wanted the tooth fairy to come visit me. but then she dropped her money down the toilet. hehe
• I cried when she left to kindergarten because i was bored at home.
• we watched Arthur together on a daily basis in grade school
• I tagged along with her and her friends in jr high and she hated it.
• We stand up for each other.
• she doesn't let anyone take advantage of me. especially boys. especially that one. And she ripped him to shreds.

• She can't cook. (but she's getting better)
• Even though we have both gone our separate ways we still talk/text everyday.
• she's my muse for photography. she pretends to hate it, but she secretly loves it.
• she's knows everything about me.
• I hated her first 2 boyfriends. And these were the only two times that we ever fought for more than a few minutes without moving on. No boy would ever date my sister without my approval.
• i was the first one she told she had a crush on Nathan.
• I was the first one she told she was going to marry him.
• She showed me her ring in the store before anyone else.
• I knew the date Nathan was going to propose to her.
• i was the first one that she told she was engaged to him too.

Ash and I are best friends. I love her to death. Even though nathan takes most of her time up

now i know we'll be sisters forever.

don't forget about me when you are in wedded bliss.

Congrats to both of you!

To Nathan- I'm SO excited to get the big brother that i've never had but always wanted. Sorry i was a jerk to you in the beginning. you make my sister the happiest i've ever seen her and know that you will continue to do so for the rest of eternity. :D

LOVE,

Brianna

p.s. click here to see Ash's blog and story

and you can see more pictures i took here

i might actually fall asleep

p.s. thanks Lauren for the idea of the 3 story "link within" thing! click here to see her amazing blog!

confession- i have NEVER fallen asleep in a class. ever. i can zone out but i never can fall asleep. not that this is really a bad thing..... but i think i finally found the class that will cure me of this. it is called history of early photography.... which is kind of weird because when learning about it in high school i enjoyed this...

maybe, just maybe, this is because it is smack dab in the middle of the week (wednesday's only) from 4-6:50 at night. yeah this is probably it. And my earliest class of the week is on wednesdays at 8am.....

so it probably has nothing to do with the subject and most likely everything to do with the day and time.

i'm glad i came to this conclusion. it'll help me sleep tonight. :P

on a happy note- i'll be done with my visiting teaching for the month in apx 40 minutes. :D that's right, i don't procrastinate this!... or much of anything. it stresses me out.

i'm rambling now so i'm going to go eat something delicious. :D

have a wonderful wednesday night!

outside winter tanning.

yesterday it got to a whole 40 degrees! this is unheard of in january in logan!!!! the sun came out for about an hour and it was amazing! i'm so glad that we had the day off!

since it started getting cold, my roommate betsy has wanted to go tan outside. so today she mentioned it and i think it's a great plan. but then she didn't want to go anymore! she said she was just kiddin' around but i wasn't!

so... one thing led to another and we really did go get our swimsuits, beach towels, sunglasses and headed to the parking lot with a spring in our step. :D Ashley (another roommate) came too and her boyfriend took our pictures. :D

pardon my whiteness.... :P

The most wonderful things

People just make me happy. Okay well some people do. especially these people-

my roommates. (in alphabetical order cause i'm cool like that)

Anna- her ability to make the best lean cuisines ever. ;) She's engaged too! Anna is very caring, she gives me boy advice and is really good at listening.

this is us on a 4 passenger airplane.

Ashley- the other day i was having a bad day and ashley just pulled me up off the couch and gave me the biggest hug. I started crying. it was exactly what i needed and she makes me feel happy. She is really caring and i don't get to see her as much anymore because she has a BF. lame. jk ash.

this is us after the paint dance.

Betsy- my "room roommate" as i call it. Betsy and i go waaay back. from the time in 7th grade when she didn't come to the party i invited her to. :P Betsy hears all my complaints, opinions, goals, cries, and even eats my food concoctions. Betsy is the best friend a girl could ask for. Betsy has a 1 of a kind personality that is sincere. she's not fake at all and people like this about her. she tells it how it is.

us after skiing.

Melissa- the woman of every talent. She can even fix the garbage disposal. :D Melissa is there for me all hours of the day. i know that i can talk to her about whatever and she will give me the neutral advice that i need sometimes. she's going to be a great missionary too. :D

us after christmas caroling in the rain.

and adopted roommates-

Lizzy- we make funny videos. she has an infinite knowledge of everything. from instruments, to the gospel, to.... unmentionables too. She even has some quotes on our quote wall now. hahahahha. Lizzy can put a smile on your face 24/7. or even 24/8

us sliding down the stairs in a sleeping bag.

Tara- LOVE this girl. tara and i come from a similar background and we bonded over understanding each other. It's nice to be able to talk to her and know that when she says she understands she really does. she is adventurous and we keep a list of_______ together too. which i still need to write down officially. ;)

at a football game.

Lauren- my little laurenita! i love when she gets into these random fits of laughing. it makes everyone laugh. she will even watch miss america with me. lauren loves life and she radiates with the light of the gospel and her joy for life. Lauren knows who she is and won't let anyone's opinions change this.

playing at a toy store.

Mckenna- she has the best personality. she is SO beautiful. honestly. the boys are probably all after her! Mckenna can have a fun time with a roll of paper towels. She is caring and is a very true friend to everyone. She also has a way of getting out of situations that i don't know how to get out of. haha.

playing where's walso while waiting to clean the sink.

Hope- she is so kind. SO kind. I don't think that she has the potential to hurt an ant. Hope is real and does not conform to the worlds standards of who she should be. I can see why people are drawn to her.

taking friend pictures.

and how can i forget the amazing....

Carrie- i met her my first day in logan. she is one of the most wonderful girls i've ever met. She is nearly perfect. she is a hard worker, SO smart, she is one of the greatest example of showing a Christlike love toward everyone that i have ever met. I need to do more with her so i can learn from her. She is one of those people that is good at everything but you can't dislike them because they are so stinkin' sweet too!

before going to sing at the BYU devotional.

these are the girls. such wonderful people. i love them. They keep me sane... sometimes make me go insane.... but you know what i mean. :D

Options from Lizzy.

So this sunday afternoon my roommates and i got to talkin. not such a good idea sometimes. umm... and it led to this.....

so i made a video of it. good luck trying to figure out what it is for.... hahahahahahhahahhah.

Miss America, Mullets, Skiing, and some redecorating.

I have nothing to do. okay that's a lie. i have plenty to do. i just don't want to do anything.

so here i am

#1 MISS AMERICA IS ON TONIGHT! I cannot remember a year that i haven't watched this. most years i'm into researching some girls and then figure out my top 10 list and usually i'm right with about 5-6 of them. but not this year. i don't even know miss utah's name! i am a disgrace to my state. lol.

last night i went to the gymnastic meet. it was so fun! All the girls are like 4ft nothin and weigh maybe 80 lbs. it's ridiculous. they make everything look simple too.

then we cried while watching time travelers wife. "do you guys want to dominoes?" "okay, can we switch the dominoes direction?" haha.

good news! we got a new cardboard cut out. i think he's from the Lord of the rings... but i've never seen it. his hair is butt ugly if you ask me.

these two are my favorite. but mostly just sexy hunk of burnin' love cpt kirk.

it's just our quote wall in the back.....which we had to add another sheet of paper because we ran out of room....

also more good news. our hot guy wall exploded!!! thanks to the sexiest man of the year people magazine. my grandma got me addicted this issue..... haha.

last piece of good news. my cowboy calendar is up. :D

but to end on a confused note. I don't understand the deal with mullets. seriously. why is everyone trying to grow one? like i just barely got through no shave november without barfing and now i have to deal with mullet 2011? It was cool in the 60's maybe even until the 80's alright and i'll add the 90's for good measure. but not in 2011. says me. and probably all the normal people in the world.

you canNOT tell me this is attractive.... and if you think it is, you should be drop kicked to zimbabwe. or liberia.

oh. and i went night skiing. :D it was fun! Betsy is SO fast! only one lift was open but i still enjoyed myself. thanks Mike and Alex for driving Betsy and i up!

It's a rough life.

Have you ever had one of those weeks where nothing seems to go your way?....

I sure was hoping for everything to work out with my classes but they haven't.

first off. I found out that the shuttle to take me to my 2 brigham city classes has been canceled. Thanks, shuttle people, for thinking about us poor art students that don't have cars. 'preciate it.

second, first class (photo 2) find out that even though i had bought my film camera and a new lens that there was even MORE that i had to buy. I'm now well over a thousand dollars for this class and i have only gone 2 times. joy. to. the. world. I must really love photography or else i would have dropped out of life this week.

next. i get my list of items i needed for painting and drawing. so being on top of things like i try to be, i go to the art store to get the stuff i know what it is early. just to get to class and find out that the cad medium red hue oil paint that is 6 bucks for an itty bitty tube is the wrong kind. it can't have hue at the end. so now i have to go back to the dang art store, pray that they will return the "hue" colors i bought and buy cad medium red in the same size but 3x as expensive. why? I'm wondering the same thing.

and i still have yet to find the non odor spirit thing and mat medium ground for acrylic....

next- my package comes but ya know how i had to buy the "bulk loader" shinanigan. well that is coming in a separate box. so now i can't use the film i bought for this weeks assignment. so i had to go buy a roll from the store thing for nearly 4 dollars. which they didn't have in the ISO i needed. great. thank you B&H photo.com.

and last (knock on wood) i go to use my 400 ISO (which i hate 400 iso) film today in my Nikon F100 that i have never used before and bad news- the camera is FILTHY inside. like you can barely see through the lens. i thought it might be the lens. so i took it off and nope, it's the camera. so, i called inkly's camera (the only camera repair place in Logan) and they said "oh, your camera is too old for us to clean." it's 11 years old. one of the newest film cameras. they don't make film cameras anymore! stupid! so they said, "let me call corporate in seattle and see if they can do it." ring ring. hour later inkly's guy calls back and says, "good news! they can do it!" (thinking to myself what a relief!) "it'll be about 250 dollars." all excitement disappears. I didn't even spend that much money on the camera! AHHHHH. so by this point i'm practically (okay i really was) crying. i already ruined a whole roll of film because it is going to have spots all over it from the dust inside. then the cost to get it cleaned and the time and ah! so then i decided that there is no way that i was paying that much money. i finally thought of KEWS camera in provo. this is the place i've taken my DSLR camera to get cleaned in the past. I talk to the owner guy and ask him and he was SO nice. and so helpful. he told me that it sounded like an easy fix and that he'd do it over night. relief! ah! so i shipped that bad boy right after that and i (cross my fingers) hope it'll be back by next thursday.

so then i ate some chocolate. So life is good.

so now i'm going to relax.

here, how about you just take my whole wallet.

i picked the most expensive major. great. i should have been born rich.

here is the list of supplies i need for painting class.

oh, and this is just for the beginning of the semester says my professor....

Oil colors in 37 ml tubes

Cadmium red medium

Cadmium yellow medium

Ultramarine blue

Raw Umber (does anyone even know what this is?.....)

Titanium white (in 200 ml tube)

Walnut Alkyd Medium or linseed oil

Odorless mineral spirits (i have to buy spirits?...)

Brush cleaning jar

Small cheap containers w/lid for medium

Brushes:

Large (10 ish), medium (6 ish), and small (2 ish) filberts

Medium round

Large and small flat (or bright)

2-inch house brush

Palette knife

Palette paper

Palette paper holder

Paper towels

Q-tips

Masking tape

Rags

Surface of my (o goody! i get too choose!) choice (canvas pad, canvas boards, gessoed panel/paper), 9x12 – 16x20

Big masonite board to tape canvapaper or paper onto

Gesso

Supply case

Smock

here is for drawing 2... luckily i already have about a fourth of this stuff.

Graphite pencils, 2B, 8B, Ebony

Graphite sticks, 6B

Graphite powder

Charcoal sticks, 6B

Charcoal pencils, 4B or softer

Kneaded eraser

Pink pet, vinyl, or gum eraser

Chamois.... (which is pronounced shameeeeeeeee)

Paper towels

Gesso

Golden’s acrylic ground for pastels

18 x 24 sketch pad

18 x 24 bristol pad

Drawing board

Fixative

Carrying case

Old clothes or smock

so if you ever wonder why i say no, i can't go to that movie you can blame it on the art materials. k?

love,

Brianna :D

bye bye money

here is a list of all the items i have to get for my photo 2 class-

Nikon F100

50mm 1.8 lens

sekonic light meter

Stainless steel developing tank (32 oz so i can develop 4 reels of 35mm film or 2 reels of 120mm film)

therefore i need-

4 35mm reels and 2 120mm reels-

250 pieces of ilford multigrade B&W Fiber Based paper . did i mention that this is more than a third of how much my DSLR camera costed me?

Delta-100 Professional 35mm 100' Roll B&W Print Film (ISO-100) (not as expensive as regular 36 exposure rolls because it's bulk! like costco size film. :D)

but because i'm buying a HUGE strip of negatives i have to get these bad boys to roll it into my "cassettes"

this is a cassette (which i also have to buy.)

my own thermometer (because heaven forbid i should borrow one)

a cable release for my camera. (is it just me or does this thing look like a doctor tool?)

and i have to rent or buy a medium format and large format camera.

and i haven't even mentioned the film for this yet. boo!

this with the class fee is going to cost well over what i payed for my DSLR camera.

i'd prefer to buy a new camera that i'll actually use after this class.

up next- all the supplies i have to buy for my painting and drawing class! be excited.

and so it goes from 10 to 11

Happy 2011 ya'll!

gooooooood heavens it's been a while. like last year since i posted! woooah!

Is it possible that a ton has happened since the dumb dr pepper can exploded but nothing at all at the same time?

good news! i curled my brother's eyelashes today! haha.

here is a list of not so exciting things i've done this break.... in no particular order of non excitement-

1- i left my journal in logan. :( so i had to write about my life in a separate notebook and then my friend laurenita brought it up when she came. so then i stapled all of my life into my journal. i was gonna glue it.... but then it was taking too long. so don't worry, i still haven't missed a day in 3.5 years. :D

2- my blind date texted me and said sorry for being boring. ummm... boring was not my problem with him. oh did i mention he swore in the text he sent me? so i told him i don't like cuss words. he never responded back. well see ya!

3-ash got us lost. TWICE! she took the wrong freeway and we were headed probably to italy or something. But i'm un-lost now.

4- the award that is above ashleigh's bed. hahahaha. umm... not gonna say what's it's for.

5-when i accidentally said the word that i really didn't want to say.

6-finding out that my roommates aren't the only roommates who try to educate me on things of the world.

7-ash can dance! she's got hips!

8-i read matched. by aly condie. :D

9-Q and Em's band concert..... the most annoying lady was sitting behind me and she kept yelling things like Halverson (the band teacher) for president and halverson's hot. i wanted to strangle her. or something.

10 bridger (Q's friend) saying "i broke my butt over summer.......aren't you gonna ask me how i broke it?"

10- i met david archuleta. okay i really didn't. but i saw him in person. and he is a b a b e. i'm going to see him at the temple one day....

11-finding out my GPA. yeah. 3.85. jealous? Ash is.

12- the USU vs UVU BBgame. we WON! booya!

13- car following. 2 "attractive guys" that turned out to be 1 ugly guy and 1 girl with short hair. I don't succeed at looking. haha

14-learning that my friends and i are the only ones that didn't have a date the car following night.

15- ash being a baby hog at church. here's ash holding a happy baby. happy baby. oh crying baby here bri, you can have him. gee thanks ash. don't worry i rocked said baby to sleep.

16- harmons. i like my new managers a lot better than the old ones.

17- Taylor at work not being able to subtract. hahah. p.s. you better come visit me in logan!

18-the letter we got in the mail that was addressed to "the parents of dean" my dad. hahah. it was like jr high grades coming in the mail all over again.

19-taking our family pics in our living room. Ash and Q acting like their legs hurt from it. as if! haha it was really funny.

20-the picture frame i got for nathan and ash for christmas. kandi jumped on it and it shattered. thanks dog.

21-I met caitlin! she's a doll. and my favorite 7 year old girl.

22-this drunk guy that came into work in a long black coat made of fur. he had pink pj bottoms on underneath it and then said he had a fish in his pocket. he told me his wife was pregnant and she sent him to the store for pop corn kernels. keep in mind he was in his late 50's. weird.

23- the riverwoods with laurenita and papaanne.

24 sitting in santa's chair and eating candy out of his bag

25- getting a ride in a golf cart limo. just for fun

26- dressing up at the toy store

27- riding weird bike things in the toy store.

28-playing yatze with grandma and Q and Em. haha. grandma having the biggest freak out session of life when she got a yatze! haha.

29- Q pretending to be paula dean. "what would paula dean do?" "paula dean is with us tonight!"

30- our annual christmas eve carols. Q's singing. hahah.

31-Q's wrapping of my presents. they take like 5 minutes to open.

32- the quilt that betsy made me. :D it is ALL COWBOY STUFF! :D

33- hangin out with my old pal charlie. We went to his sister, heather's apartment and played harry potter clue and ticket to ride. it was fun. they have good candy too. :D

34-the cool fog photo shoot. :D

35- the countdown till my birthday.

36-taking nathan and caitlin's pictures.

37-making my photography website- wix.com/blueyedbrunnette/brianna-nichole-photography

38- mom making the BEST pancakes i've ever eaten. they were wheat, white chocolate, blueberry, pumpkin. yum! they sound gross but you have no idea!

39- seeing life as we know it. "they said the same thing about taylor swift and that twilight kid too."

40-getting my film camera. Nikon F100

41- mario kart at papa annes' house. i think i got last place in every race except one. video games are not my best point.

42- o my gosh! the night i worked and then entire night the same 20 minutes of music played over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER again! i've never been so sick of billy joels' uptown girl before. apparently the satellite was covered in snow so the radio signal was blocked. taylor said he didn't think it was playing over and over again. you were wrong. i was right. :P

43- taylor broke the toy car i was playing with too. But he did give me chucky cheese coin back. haha.

44-decoratin Nathan's house with ash. for his bday.

45- falling off his couch and breaking his fern. betsy said, "aww cute! they have a love fern!" yeah, and i broke it. I'm sorry !! it was ashleigh's fault. she's a bad throw.

46- emilie breaking his chair while decorating. hahahahaha.

47-ash texting him and saying that her ding-bat sister broke his legs and another limb. haha

48-SLEEPOVER WITH MY BESTIES!

49- that stupid austin kid that ruined our hot tub plans.

50-"Brianna! this is the first time that you have liked an actual hot guy! I'm so proud of you!"-Betsy. haha. glad you approve.

51-iceberg fries.

51.5 hot tubbing!

52- Betsy falling on the ice pushing melissa's car out of the snow.

53-i WON a game of MARIO KART! yeah, the same girl that lost every game the week before. i almost cried.

54- a special new years eve. Bucket list item checked off! dippin dots. hahahahah. FINALLY! after like 3 years of planning!

55-fitting into jeans 3 sizes smaller than what i fit into at graduation. :D yeah that's right. still have about 3 to go till me goal though.

56-the bird that flew down our chimney and caught on fire.

57- our house smelling SO bad because of the dumb bird on fire.

58-being not a wimp and getting a guys number that i had been wanting to get since summer.

59-MARCOS coming to visit! i love this cousin! he's awesome. "this picture give's me butterflies." "then ask her out!" " i can't. i'm too old for her." "do it!" "i'll ask this guy out if you ask her out." "no! you can't ask him out! he has to ask you out! If he doesn't then he's not worth it." "okay i won't ask this kid out if you do ask her out." good advice marcos. thanks!

60- Melissa my roommate turned 21!

61-THE BACHELOR! it started again! woot woot woot woot!

62-i visited miss tuttle. I just love this teacher! she's amazing!

63-went and saw a dumb movie with betsy.

that's all for now.

gee whiz that took forever to do!

loves and hugs and more loves.

i can't wait to go back to logan!