folklife 2011

As you can tell, I didn't blog on Sunday with all my pictures of Folklife from the day before. I tried to take pictures, but right when I pulled out my dad's little camera that I borrowed to take a really awesome picture of the space needle, the camera died. Just my luck. So I didn't even get one stinkin' picture of the needle. But I'll talk about folklife anyways. What is "folklife" you ask? I've been trying to sum that up myself for the past few days with a good answer, but I can't. Basically folklife is for people who don't go to Sasquatch and pretend that they're hippies for the day (including me). I wore a pretty cool long skirt, jean shirt, lotsss of big jewelery, and a few belly-dancing skirts/belts that I bought from Egypt last year. Next time I wear it (and I have a feeling it will be soon), I'll take it with a camera that actually has a charged battery and post it. Anywho, Google says folklife is "A multi-multicultural arts organization dedicated to serving the ethnic, traditional, and folk arts communities of the Northwest".

And because I didn't have 300 dollars to go to Sasquatch for the weekend, I went to Seattle instead with Bianca. We rode the bus, which was ridiculously crowded, shopped a little in downtown, then walked to folklife where we went to every little clothing and food stand. I ended up getting a chicken tikka masala plate which was D-LICIOUS! Just wish I had a picture of it....

I ended up getting this at the end of the day because one, I can't resist knit sweaters and two, it's ridiculously warm which will be perfect for Idaho:

I also made Bianca and her little sister walk with me back into downtown to get this dress I was salivating over:

Want to know the origional price? 200 smacks. Want to know how much I got it for? 42 dollars. I have a really big grin on my face right now. I've wanted this dress since I saw it on the mannequin, but 200 dollars is a lot of money for a girl with a part-time job. I saw it online about a month later reduced, but it was 99.00. Still too expensive. I actually pulled out my debit card the very next day to splurge, but when I went back online, the sold out. I thought, "that's probably a good thing Allison. You don't need to spend 99.00 anyways".

Lesson learned: patience. I wasn't expecting this lovely navy blue dress to be on the sale rack, but it was there. Only one left! The EXACT size I needed too. For 42 dollars. Did I already say that? hehe.

Dear Seattle, you never let me down. I'll miss you when I leave. I'll miss you a lot...

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the big one-eight

I honestly never thought I'd be eighteen. I remember in elementary school looking at even the sixth graders and thinking that they were sooo old. Let alone in high school, the Seniors looked a lot older than I could ever be. I thought when I'd turn eighteen I'd feel this change, like suddenly I'd be more mature or look like a "real" adult. Well, that didn't happen. But I still feel awesome! Yesterday was my birthday and I was trying to figure out what I can do now that I'm eighteen. Here's what I came up with:

-I can vote (sweet. but honestly politics bore/confuse the heck out of me)

-I can purchase cigarettes (haha..... this won't be an issue though don't worry)

-I can enter contests (!!!)

-I can buy pets (this is awesome. and dangerous. I went to petco yesterday, but I ended up only teasing myself. I would have taken home a ferret right then and there, but I already have an issue of what I'm going to do with my pets when I go to college...)

Anyways, this is me eighteen years ago:

I think I'm a pretty cute baby if I say so myself :)

And here's a few things that I got for my birthday:

To me, from me. Bakers twine. 240 yards of bakers twine! I'm in love.

To me, from me. An alphabet rolling stamp. I was thinking this would be awesome for scrapbooking and pretty cute with my typewriter.

From Paige. I like when my sister gives me lotsa scrapbooking supplies for my birthday. This years she gave me thickers, stamps, a crochet kit, washi tape, ink pads, glitter paper, and more. Thanks Paige! The only problem is how I'm going to store that in my apartment at BYU.....

I also bought this for myself yesterday with my birthday checks from my grandparents:

The Yudu Machine! Probably the coolest invention Provo Craft has created yet. A customer at Ben Franklin was telling me how this new screen printing machine came out and her son wanted to buy it and make screen printed apparel and sell it while he was in college. Except it was 400.00. I thought, crap, that's expensive. Low and behold, Michaels was having a Memorial weekend sale where the Yudu Machine, plus all of the basic supplies, were packaged into one and selling for 99.00! I had to get it. 5 minutes after I saw this ad online, my mom and I rushed to Michaels and bought it. I'm a happy lady. My plan is to steal that boy's idea and take this to BYUI, making screen printed shirts using American Apparel tees, and sell them. I'm determined!

My mom also gave me a BYUI sweater (which is ridiculously soft) and my brother gave me a basic American Apparel tee. Overall, this birthday was my favorite. A lot of people have been telling me that this year is going to be the best with leaving the house, being a freshman in college, etc etc. And I'm falling for it. I'm so excited to see what my eighteenth year has ahead for me.

On another note, It's my sister's birthday today! She always tell's me that I "stole her thunder" because the day after I was born was her birthday, and my mom was still in the hospital when it was supposed to be her day to shine. Sorry Paige :). But actually, I really like having our birthday's close to each other. I think it's a pretty cool story to tell and I feel like it gives some sort of sister bond that brings us closer together. So, happy birthday Paigey! Hope this one is the best.

p.s. Another blog comin' right up (tomorrow). Today I'm going to Seattle for the Folklife festival. Guaranteed there will be some cool and funny things to talk about. ta-ta for now!

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Attempt #2

So it's obvious my first blog didn't work. Honestly? I just wasn't inspired because my layout was fugly and the pictures i'd upload were way too big. But with the help of my sister, a new banner has been created and I am in love with how it looks. I'm inspired now. And now that it's almost time to go to college in 12 weeks (but who's really counting) I need to seriously start a blog. I was going to wait until I had my own computer, but I keep on thinking of things that I'd like to journal before I leave. I'll be a state away and I want to document my adventures and pour my feelings onto this page... I mean computer screen.

You know how when you open up a new notebook or journal it's hard to decide what your pen will write first? Well, that's how this post is right now. But who am I trying to impress? This blog/journal is for me. So let's get personal here.

Current likes:

1. My Morning Jacket's new song, "Circuital"

2. Sliced apples with almond butter

3. My seven month old pup, Gypsy:

Haha tender.

4. Etsy. This will always be a current like. I can honestly spend hours. Literally several hours on it. Etsy consumes me; and I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing.

5. Rollerskating on the Marymoor trail

6. Online classes. It's. been. awesome.

7. My 14 dollar chest of drawers from Value Village:

I'm trying to replace all of the knobs with cool ones from Anthropology or wherever I see a good find. Did you read that right? Yeah, I said 14 dollars! holla.

8. Girl bands. For example, Warpaint and Stealing Sheep

9. Ellen Degenerous. Enough said.

10. My beloved typewriter that I ebay sniped. I'll let the picture do the talking:

Isn't she perfect? Her name's Charlotte. I'm really excited to type letters and scrapbook with this bad boy (or girl?). I'm tempted to buy more on ebay and sell them for twice as much on Etsy because it's been done. But i'm too poor to buy them in the first place so maybe later.

So there you have it. First post second attempt, accomplished. And I think I nailed it.

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