Park City Panorama

So I know I told myself I wouldn't allow this to become a "journaly" blog, but tonight I can't help it. This week has been brimming with stress--moving back to Provo, going back to work, preparing to go back to school and making a vain attempt to come up with an accommodating fall schedule--and yet...none of that is what actually matters.

I'm up in Park City right now with Britt, Mike & Andy and life is just GOOD. I'm bursting with gratitude for being so lucky to have them. Because when it comes down to it, what matters most to me is right here. My friends and my family.

Andrew wants to jab in his two cents :). I miss his blog.

It is the weekend. Here, August 27th, about 9ish, Brittnee and Michael are sitting over on the other couch while Danielle and I are sitting on the other. We are in a state of boredom, tension, and anticipation for the next thing we decide to do next. We're up in Park City right now. In my House. My Parent's house. Danielle is picking out classes, asking, or no, she's asking what her minor should be, asking us for suggestions, she's lost, so it appears. here in Park City. my home away from home. It's rainy up here. Poetic. ha. Brittnee kind of looks like a uggghh.. what it's called..................just like the stereotypical hot tan blonde girl. if you know what I mean. whatevs. Mike can have her. ha. Danielle is hungry, for snacks. I am too somewhat. maybe we should go to freshmart or whatever albertsons is called now. The gosh dang grocery store. I haven't blogged like this in forever. Gangsters don't blog. But I guess Gangsters do whatever they want as well. and Gangsters don't need approval from anyone.. .. . . .. ... .... .. ha. Danielle's hair smells good. and she keeps sniffing my sweater hoody here, "ANDREW it SMELLS SO GOOD!". ha. "omg.." she says sarcastically to my typing it in all caps, exaggerating her exclamation of my great smelling hoody. It's black by the way. Michael mentioned, "I think that's my favorite jacket of yours". ha.

Back to Danielle. We're off to play. More to come later. And not so much fluff next time.

Over and out.

Things I’ll miss from this summer...

1. Interning for Good Things Utah
2. Nannying – I love my kids.
3. Road trips to Oregon, Bear Lake, Vegas & Cali
4. Early 5:00am runs with dad
5. Watching dad run with a pocket knife and mace :)
6. Seeing my family everyday
7. Kenz (patiently) teaching me guitar
8. Sleepovers with Clayne
9. Watching the Today Show and actually having time for it
10. Grocery store trips with mom
11. Runs in the rain on the golf course with Britt and Mike
12. Michael being 2 minutes away
13. Swimming in the Hellberg’s backyard
14. Running with Britt
15. Eating with Britt
16. Sleeping with Britt
17. Breathing with Britt
18. Doing everything with Britt
19. Shopping with Savannah
20. Sleeping in
21. Fireworks
22. Sweet hook-ups with GTU
23. Being so close to high school friends who are too faraway during the school year…
24. Blind dates (ok, maybe not so much…haha)
25. Visiting Kels in Provo
26. Dominating Nathan at the NKC :)
27. Wearing shorts and sandals
28. LONG HAIR
29. My own room
30. Bountiful temple
31. Sleepover with Sarah
32. Previewing for KBYU
33. Clayne’s dirty dancing ;)
34. Drives with Kenz
35. Orange Leaf
36. Alyssa’s wedding
37. G-chatting with Katja
38. Concerts (Tim McGraw, Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber…)
39. Drive-ins
40. Rodeos
41. Hiking
42. Bowling
43. Chasey
44. Lagoon with Shauna
45. Kifing Kenzie’s ipod
46. Eating Havarti with Mike
47. Park City with the fam
48. Eating exotic fruits with Clayne
49. Weight Watchers with mom (for as long as it lasted…)
50. 4th of July (my favorite holiday next to Valentine’s Day)
51. Mclayne walking around in his underwear (NOT)
52. Boating
53. Nights out with Kristy
54. Meeting famous people at GTU
55. Sabotaging the Smith’s fridge
56. Having a love/hate relationship with the mailman for missionary letters
57. Emailing Michael Marie every week
58. McLayne’s fashion tips
59. The SUN – I hate snow.
60. Reading (Hunger Games especially)
61. Phone calls with Andrew
62. Photo booth with Clayne
63. Tweeting

Things to look forward to this fall...

1. CHICAGO!!!
2. Structure
3. Directing
4. Reporting
5. John Mayer Concert
6. Watching my kids again
7. Best friends coming home from missions
8. Sara Bareilles concert
9. Living with my best friends
10. Meeting new people
11. Working my third year at KBYU and moving into the new broadcast building!
12. Football & basketball games
13. Fall leaves
14. Fires and hikes in the canyon
15. Yozone
16. Homecoming festivities
17. Karaoke night at Applebee’s
18. Visits to Logan
19. Kaleidescope Heart
20. One year closer to getting my degree!
21. Sparing my eyes the joy of seeing Mclayne in his underwear every morning
22. Dance parties
23. Late night drives blaring BIEBER FEVER
24. Dad and I both going to BYU
25. Morning Glory
26. Harry Potter 7
27. Weekly sushi runs with Andrew
28. Eating the same thing everyday (yes, I actually enjoy this)
29. Indian Food Palace!
30. Daily phone chats with mom and Shauna
31. Mac discounts with my press pass
32. Scarves & boots
33. Bed dance with Britt
34. Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin!
35. Girlfriends getting called on missions
36. Holidays
37. New phone
38. Tweeting
39. Blogging
40. Finding more fun than the list I've come up with because I'm still loving summer too much...:)

IN TWO DAYS...

I will finally be reunited with these beautiful faces.

Andrew & Katja. Two of my very best friends (and in-law in-laws, ironically enough). After 4 months without these two, I'm more than ready to have them back where I wish they could have been all summer--with ME :). While I'm extremely grateful for modern technology, weekly exchanges of phone calls, emails, facebook messages, and g-chat just didn't do it justice. Time to bring them HOME.

Andrew moved to Texas for the summer where he braved the streets as a pest control salesman. I seriously don't know how he put up with 4 months of crazy people and slamming doors (neither does he). Nevertheless, he lived up to his own motto - GET DAT MONEY - and made bank this summer. In fact, he's going to buy me a brand new car. (Right, Andy?;) ) I'm so happy he's moving back to Provo with me. I've missed our weekly sushi runs.


Katja and her brilliant little body went to England to study at Cambridge University--I know, right?? Even seven years after claiming her as a BFF, I still don't know how I got a smartie like her to be friends with a dummy like me. :) I'm so proud of her. Although she won't be living with me and the besties this year, I'm still VERY happy to have her close to me in P-town. We are siamese twins, after all.



2 days 3 hours 41 minutes. I can barely contain myself.

I know a place...

where the grass is really greener!

CALIFORNIA.

The haven where Mike, Britt, Kels, JC & I spent the last week partying it up--Katy Perry style.

The first day we departed early to Vegas where we spent our first night at Mike's aunt's and cousin's house. Aunt Barb and Lindsay couldn't have been more hospitable, waiting on us like kings and queens and offering up every cupboard of food in the house. That night we hit up the strip,

gawking at the Bellagio fountains,

glazing on massive amounts of sparkly lip gloss from Sephora,

goofing around at the m&m factory,

and being pestered by creepy porno people,

all the while dazed and half awake from our lack of sleep from the night before.

The next morning we woke up to yummy blueberry pancakes (courtesy of Linds and Mike) and hit the road to our ultimate destination--NEWPORT. After a little confusion and annoyance with a mix-up in our hotel arrangements, Britt (thanks to Alyssa) scored us a 4 night stay at a Marriott for only $40 a night! The girls designated themselves to the king bed and the boys got stuck with the springy pull-out (hehe).


We proceeded to book it to the beach to soak in as much sun as we could before it got surprisingly chilly and we made a dinner stop at Joe's Crabshack. I'd give the place a 2 out of 10 considering I was STARVING Marvin and my barbie sized enchiladas gobbled 15 bucks out of my pocket. Everyone else seemed to love their food though, and our waiter was a chill guy. He let us dance with the shack crew and even gave us personalized bibs.

Friday was probably the BEST day of the entire trip, if not my entire summer. Back in January, Kels, Britt and I made care packages for earthquake victims and earned ourselves free passes to Disneyland through the "Give a Day Get a Disney Day" program. With these convenient little babies, we were able to treat ourselves to the happiest place on earth AND California Adventure for super cheap. They even gave us some cute little volunteer pins to make us feel special. :)


The day was chock-full of California Screamin', Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain (sheesh, I think they need another mountain), Peter Pan, Bugs Life, Captain EO, and Michael's favorite (he won't hesitate to tell you): Fantasmic! I almost died on Tower of Terror. If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself:


The boys thought it was so funny, that they took me again. Needless to say, I wasn't holding up any better.
We topped the night off with the Finding Nemo ride, which I thought was super cool but everyone else decided to boo hoo about it. Go cry about it, guys.

(*cough* Brittnee*)

:)

Overall, our day with Disney was nothing short of magical. JC got some rich movie footage that we couldn't help watching until 5:00am. Yar cha char!


The beach made up the majority of Saturday and our dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory was EXQUISITE. Kelsey and I got this cashew chicken that I've been craving ever since. Seriously, I'll be making another trip to the Utah one this week. Afterwards, we hit up another Marriott and met some cool cats around the fire. I was flattered when this older guy said, "With all you young people I would expect you guys to be downing beer and drugs and partying and what-not." That's right, sir. We fly high with a different joint :)

Biking all day Sunday hammered our butts raw, but it was so fun and so breathtaking to draw in all the beauty of Newport and Balboa Island. California is such a beautiful place. I definitely wouldn't mind living there sometime.


Monday was a bittersweet day as our last opportunity to absorb California sunshine, but we enjoyed every last minute at the beach nevertheless. It was the first day I was actually brave enough to venture out in the water because it had been so cold!! JC made a bet with me that the couple sitting next to us on the beach was lesbian and I totally didn't believe him--I thought I had just won myself 5 bucks easy. To my shock and dismay, 2 hours later the "guy" revealed "himself" as a GIRL!!! and JC kifed himself a footlong at Subway. Dang it. I wish I had a picture. We drove back to Aunt Barb's in Vegas that night as a rest stop to our sad journey home.


The rest of our drive Tuesday was full of nostalgic memories from not only this trip, but many years past. I feel so lucky and blessed to have known these four for such a significant chunk of my life. We know each other like family and it's almost crazy that our bonds of friendship have lasted so long (we're at a decade!!). Thanks for a stellar awesome trip, JC, Britt, Kels, & Mike! I love you guys more than life itself, and can't wait for our next big adventure :)



Other highlights from the trip:

• JC filming almost every moment and interviewing random people in line
• Mike walking in on Lindsay and Rich making out :)
• Danielle eating every 5 minutes
• Burying Mike in the sand
  
• Michael and Danielle holding hands with Britt's in between--against her own will
• JC wolfing down a can of tuna like a homeless man at a gas station parking lot
• Michael's turtle head dance to practically every car song
• Kels, Britt, and Danielle ALL kissing Michael :)
• Michael instructing yoga in the Vegas valet and on the beach
  
• TRIP THEME SONG - I Love U - Chris Brown

Epic quotes:

• "I'm baby hungry but I'm also smart." - Britt
• "I hate you and your beautiful face and your perfect hair and your tight abs and your baggy pants, and you're just so nice to everyone...I just can't live up to your expectations!" - JC
• "Some imagination...hehe!" - JC/Mickey
• "Michael...I'm disappointed." - Kels
• "Yeah, ya freak." - Danielle
• "I just stepped over the line! He probably thinks I'm such a jacka$$!" - JC
• "Brittnee, I'm glad you finally warmed up to the idea of food." - JC
• "Disneyland was great...FANTASMIC was amazing!!!" - Mike
• "Lindsay, is it sanitary to sleep in the bed?" - JC

California Bound!

Me + Britt + Mike + Kels + JC

Last night we were HERE (Alyssa's wedding):

And in less than one hour we will be on our way HERE (no, I haven't slept all night, and yes, I'm crazy enough to blog at 5:30am):

California bound, baby!!! Can't wait!

My Newfangled Notion

I think I’ve been thinking about this blog for roughly 6 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days.
Haha, I don’t really know how long, only that it’s been TOO long that I’ve sat and thought about this thing without doing something about it.
I get silly like that sometimes.
I’m such a perfectionist.
If I have a vision but can’t immediately conform to it, I simply contemplate it—let it swim around in my subconscious until it’s ripe enough to burst through my brain.

Tonight is when that changes.

My name is Danielle Ycmat and this is my imperfect blog!
My new means of documenting life and expressing my ideas.
Nothing optimal, nothing fancy, and far from my world of “ideals.”
Just me.
Raw and real.
Bonafide.

Maybe now I can actually get this thing going :).