Noteworthy Pics as Promised...in no particular order!

The Newbies with our ties and Nalgene's! :D

The NW luncheon with all the alumni...the newbie couch

Singing on campus

Singing on campus

After a dress rehearsal

Just bein our goofy selves :D

After our January Concert with our great fans from Hillcrest High School

At Kelsey's Wedding

Fall Photoshoot

Backstage of The Sing-Off

Just hanging out

We love..yellow?

Backstage with Nick Lachey

Like I said, we really do love each other! :D

Takin' a walk around WB's lot in our snazzy outfits!

On set with Deke Sharon, Brian Rooker, Kelly & J.T.

Cassie and I hanging out on set!

After our first performance!

After our performance Nick Lachey came over to congratulate us!

High Fives!! :D

Before the 2nd show meeting the judges...Me shaking Shawn Stockman's hand :D

Rooker our fav. wrangler gave us a tour of WB's lot!

The Friends Stage!!

On the porch of the Gilmore's house!!! We love Gilmore Girls!

Katie and I before going on stage at ICCA

Performing Stayin' Alive at the 2010 ICCA quarterfinals in Eugene, OR

Celebrating the WIN! :D

Sunday morning at church with Jo from Divisi! We love you JO!

The Low-Down: My Experience in Noteworthy...so FAR!

I haven't really shared any of my experiences with Noteworthy this year, and as it has been a fantastic experience, I will now share many of the crazy things that have happened this year. WARNING: COULD BE LONGEST BLOG POST EVER. I tried out for Noteworthy last fall and was soo nervous, the only reason I tried out (again) was because my Dad and Michael told me I HAD to. I was really nervous, I hadn't been singing in any groups for two years and I was starting to doubt my abilities as a performer. I tried out the first Friday back to school, and I honestly did

n't know what was going to happen. I sang "Anyway" by Martina McBride, and felt great about my tryout. I knew that I'd done my best and that was all I could do. :) I remember that night laying on the couch talking to Michael who was already staying up late to do some homework. I asked him if he honestly thought I could make it, and he said, "Siri I have no doubt, you're going to be in Noteworthy this year." (I was thinking to myself, ok well you have to sound all hopeful because your my husband and you have to support me.) I fell asleep on the couch, and for anyone who knows me well, knows that I am not friendly when I wake up in the morning, or from naps...Michael woke me up at 12:30 and told me that I'd received an email from the girls...we read it together and I was invited to call backs the next morning at 9 AM. I was excited but at the same time, I'd been to callbacks before, it was definitely an intimidating experience. We went to bed that night extremely exhausted. The next morning I had the best tryout of my entire life in callbacks. I KNOW I had so much help from Heavenly Father that morning. Learning the music was simple, and learning the dance seemed effortless, which is definitely not so characteristic for me. :) (as the other girls in nw will now attest to haha). After a 4 hour call back with 19 other talented girls, they told us that they might call some of us for interviews, better known as the "circle of intimidation." Micha

el picked me up and we were on our way to lunch at Cafe Rio, when SURPRISE Courtney called and asked if I could come NOW for the circle of intimidation. We turned around and headed back to the HFAC, I felt the butterflies in my stomach start fluttering around more crazy than ever, it's good to be nervous, I kept telling myself. We arrived and saw another girl walking out, she told me good luck and Michael and I went in together. I was so grateful to have him there with me...seemed much less intimidating :). We started talking to the returning girls and some former members who were helping with tryouts. It seemed to be going well. And then they asked Michael what he thought of Noteworthy and what he would think if I were to be in the group, as it is a huge time commitment, not just inside rehearsal but for gigs, competition, traveling etc. I truly think his answer is what made the girls want me :) He said, "Obviously you've seen how talented Siri is, and I truly think that it'd be a shame if she wasn't able to share that talent and be in this group her senior year." He continued by saying how much he loved me and how willing he was to support me in this. By this

time I was crying, along with the entire group of girls :). I figured that was a good sign. We finished the interview and left. Michael turned to me when we were outside and said, "Was that an ok answer?" I started laughing and told him that it was a VERY good sign that he made all the girls cry. haha then he told me that he didn't think he'd ever understand women. Later that day I got a call from Courtney while we were on our way up to Draper, she said she had one more question for me..."Would you like to be in Noteworthy?" (Insert abrasive scream HERE.) I couldn't stop screaming, but I calmed down en

ough to tell her that yes I would LOVE to be in Noteworthy. She said our first rehearsal was Tuesday. Wow I couldn't believe it!!! That Tuesday I met the girls...2009-2010 lineup for Noteworthy: Lizzy Early, Cassie Crabbe, Kelsey Rapps (now Pratt, she got married while we were filming for the Sing Off...oh the things we sacrifice for Noteworthy), Katie Jensen, Courtney Jensen, Amber Catherall, Amy Whitcomb, Laina Walker, and Siri Alemany!

And that was the start of the craziest adventure ever. Rehearsals started we began bonding as friends, and then became increasingly obsessed with each other, forming an everlasting sisterhood (and while this may sound cheesy, it's definitely the truth). In October we had our first gig and it went pretty well, the new girls, were pretty nervous but it was sooo much fun singing on stage with your best friends, who you know you can trust. At the end of October a meeting was called, all husbands/fiances were invited (only Michael and Alec) so we knew this was probably super important. Amy and Courtney announced that we'd been invited to compete on a new NBC reality show called "The Sing-Off" (Insert multiple abrasive screams HERE). We were obviously all so excited and of course we said YES! Then Court and Amy looked at Kelsey and Alec and announced that we'd have to be in LA on November 28 and start filming the 29th. Kelsey and Alec were getting married November 28. Alec looked at Kelsey and told her that she didn't have a choice, she was doing it, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and there's no way he'd let her not compete. Talk about a supportive guy! Those were a couple of crazy months of rehearsals...and we couldn't tell ANYONE!!! Oh my goodness that was so hard. Finally the press release went out and we were able to tell people, what a relief that was. We worked it out with all of our professors (some more accommodating than others) and rehearsed, visualized, prepared, and rehearsed some more. We got to LA and met the other groups, oh my goodness it was like bonding with NW all over again. We love the other groups so much, it honestly felt like one big a cappella bash rather than a competition. We had so much fun filming for the show, and being "wrangled" around haha. (We couldn't do anything without permission, and couldn't go anywhere unless our wranglers knew where we were...kinda felt like elementary school again). Time for filming came and we performed our guts out, and felt so confident in each of our performances. We had so much fun, and I think that's the truly important thing. The night we got kicked off was so sad (contrary to the huge smile I had on tv when we got kicked off haha), we were sooo sad to be leaving. We had created incredible friendships with the other contestants, the staff, especially the fabulous stage manager Rob :) However we were so comforted and we knew that everything was going to ok. Funny story...the day after we got kicked off we were on our way to the airport and our wrangler (who will remain nameless) was driving. She looked at our plane tix said we were on Southwest and dropped us off at Terminal 5. We were already running kind of late, we got in line and thought we'd be fine. Well we get up to the check in counter and our tickets won't scan on the machines...the lady who was working there asked if she could see our tix, and then told us we were actually on Delta...which is in terminal 1. (If you've ever been to LAX you know how HUGE it is...kind of a big deal). So we picked up our bags and started RUNNING frantically through the airport, down the stairs, out to the shuttle, climbed on.......climbed off made it to Delta's line and started singing for people so they'd let us cut...well unfortunately we didn't make it in time. We missed our flight, which was actually pretty hilarious. We just hung out in the airport for about 4 more hours, making videos and coming up with ideas for our competition set. After Christmas break we had our show at the Covey Center the first week in January. It was sooo much fun (and props to the sound people...thank you for knowing how to do your job and mix a female a cappella group CORRECTLY, much appreciated). We were and are so appreciative to all of our fans who have supported us, written us letters, facebook posts, bought our cd's/tshirts/posters etc. and who in general are the BEST FANS EVER!!! WE LOVE YOU! After our show intense rehearsals started for the 2010 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella competition. We were so excited to find out that we'd be competing in Eugene with our best friends, Divisi--whom we love and miss so much btw!!! It was such an exciting night, we got on stage, performed our set from muscle memory and felt pretty good about it. We honestly had no idea how it was going to turn out though, because according to the ICCA officials it was the hardest quarterfinal ever. Standing on stage during the awards ceremony...

Outstanding Soloist goes to Amy Whitcomb of Noteworthy for the entire set (Insert abrasive screams and jumping up and down HERE)
Outstanding Vocal Percussion: Courtney Jensen of Noteworthy (Insert abrasive screams and jumping up and down HERE) and Danny Cavero of UC-Santa Cruz Acquire for "Circle of Life"
Outstanding Arrangement goes to: Haley Steinberger of Divisi for "Fallin'" and Catherine Papworth of Noteworthy for "Stayin' Alive" (Insert abrasive screams and jumping up and down HERE)
Outstanding Choreography: Megan Schimmer of Divisi for "He Lives in You" and Courtney Jensen and Amy Whitcomb of Noteworthy for the entire set. (Insert abrasive screams and jumping up and down HERE)
3rd place goes to: Oregon State University Outspoken (289 points)
2nd goes to: University of Oregon Divisi (391 points)
1st place goes to: Brigham Young University Noteworthy (400 points)

Finally, all of our hard work and effort paid off! ICCA quarterfinal champions!!! Wow what a feeling! We are now preparing for semifinals which will be held on March 20 (the day after my senior thesis is due..yikes) in California at USC!! We are so excited! Thanks for everyone's support, I love you all and am so appreciative!!
Especially...thanks to my husband Michael who is by far the most supportive, hardworking, loving husband ever...I love you babe! Thanks for always supporting me, even though it takes soo much time! You truly are the best and I don't know what I would do without you!!!

(More pictures of NW to come in a crazy upload of the whole year!)

Goals--Revamped!

2010. A new year, and along with new year's celebrations comes new GOALS, as usual. I'm really good about setting goals, many of them, all the time, but I sometimes have a hard time reaching ALL of the goals I set for myself. I could go on and on about reasons, excuses etc. but I don't think that'd be beneficial to anyone. The true reason for this post is because I'm already falling well behind on some of my goals, begun a mere 2 months ago. I sometimes feel like there's always a piece missing, and I can't ever quite figure it out. For instance, no matter how hard I try I just seem to not want to get out of bed every morning and go running. (Not to mention that I absolutely hate running in the first place, I'm trying to change that, but so far I still hate it.) Anyway, I've decided to take it one week at a time, that seems manageable enough, and to be realistic about goals. I also figured that telling more people would help me feel motivated to do better and succeed! So my goals for this week are as follows:
1. Exercise at least 3X this week
2. Complete a 15 pg. rough draft of my senior thesis
3. TRY to stay on top of my other homework :)
4. make dinner at least 4X this week
5. study and get an A on my Humanities test
AND to top it all off...maintain a very happy attitude while I'm at it!
I seriously am so excited about everything that I'm doing in life right now, and I'm trying my best to live in the moment and not be too anxious for things that are coming (aka GRADUATION!!) ahem, anyway, I will update ya'll on my progress this week and let you know how it goes :) Thanks for listening (or I guess reading) it gives me more motivation to get all of this done!

So here's to new beginnings and the start of a new year, and to keeping our goals!!!
What are some of your goals this year?


*Disclaimer: Yes, I realize I'm posting about this well after the January-ian tradition, but still... :D

Share the Love! Why I Chose Art History

Whenever I get the question "What are you studying at BYU?" and respond with "Art History" I receive very mixed reactions, some leaning to the "Oh wow that has got to be sooo boring," position while others seems to say (with their eyes of course) "Now how practical is that?" and still others seem mildly interested but don't really care to know more. I've grown accustomed to these responses, to the point where I began to question myself, why I am studying art history? I can't make a lot of money as an art historian and so it certainly doesn't seem practical, and the art history world is insanely competitive anyway so who's to say I'll even find a job doing anything involving art history? Not to mention these past two semesters, my final two in the program, have have been the craziest of my life, with everything I'm doing (Noteworthy, school, family, church callings, internship) seemingly pulling me in different directions all the time, some of the passion seems to have dissipated. However while sitting in a lecture this morning, I had an epiphany, and all of a sudden the passion returned. I love art history! I've been inspired yet again by one of my favorite professors here at BYU. I had the realization that not only do I get to study different cultures and time periods, but I do so through the most common medium known to any given civilization or culture in any period of history, images. One of our professors recently returned from the annual College Art Association Conference in Chicago, IL and reported on the new scholarship and research being done. It was fascinating to hear what new arguments and new view points were presented, on pieces that I thought I completely understood. I realized yet again, that I love my field not only because as an art historian you realize that art speaks differently to each person who views it, and there is not one "correct" way to understand any given piece, but also because art can teach you a lot about yourself. This concept is continually being brought before my attention, especially with the piece I am working on for my senior thesis. It's called the Master of Trebon Altarpiece and it was completed in the late 14th century in Bohemia (modern day Prague).

I initially saw this piece on my first day in Martha Peacock's Northern Renaissance Class. As it occupied the first full page of our textbook, I glanced at the image the first day of

class and moved on to the reading assignment, not really too intrigued. However I kept coming back to this piece, not only because of the rich colors and unsophisticated rendering of the figures, but also the subject, quite obviously identified as the resurrection. As I continued to study the piece I noticed that the Roman soldiers were wearing unconventional armor. The sharp tips and points on the edge of the helmets, shields, and clubs create a circle around Christ. I realized that the points could possibly represent the crown of thorns, thus giving a much deeper meaning to the painting than I had originally read. I asked Martha what she thought, and she said, "You know, I've never noticed that before, but I think that would be a fascinating topic for your research paper this semester." I immediately began researching and writing, completing my research paper for Northern Renaissance in December, and researching/writing now for my senior thesis. The process of researching and writing has taught me so much about who I was in high school when I originally took the AP art history class and who I've grown to become. I've learned especially writing about this resurrection piece, why I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel, and of the Plan of Salvation. I've gained a stronger testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ in researching his life, and his miracles. These past two semesters I've learned that it really doesn't matter what you study, you'll get a job if you have a degree, so study something you're passionate about. Today I was reminded why I originally fell in love with art history. This experience has given me the motivation I really needed to continue to work and research the Master of Trebon Altarpiece, not because I "have" to write a paper on it, but because I want to be able to convey the love I have for art and share that love with others! So next time you look at a piece of art, don't start by asking what is the artist trying to say, but rather, ask yourself what is this piece saying to ME?

New York Adventures

So as I was looking over the blog I realized I left out pretty much our entire experience in New York, we had so many crazy fun adventures and I need to share them! Here goes an upload of pictures of our fun NYC adventures in no particular order :)

Happy to be living in NY! YAY!

The most delicious Italian restaurant ever!!

Oh love... :)

The Guggenheim Museum--absolutely loved it!

At the beach in New Hampshire, standing on the front porch of our (well Michael's friends) beach house!

It was so gorgeous!

The Subway

All of us in Times Square!

Haley and Dee came to visit in NY!! We had so much fun!!

Michael and the Bull

The New York Stock Exchange

Michael and I riding bikes across the Brooklyn Bridge!

The Bronx Zoo!

Our friends Broc and Natalie Buttars! Fun day at the Zoo!

A very friendly peacock, and two baby gorillas fighting--funniest thing ever!

Mom won the lottery for Wicked!! So we all got to go see it! :D

My family came and visited us in NY!

The stage for our new favorite musical "In the Heights"

Times Square Billboards

The Little Mermaid on Broadway! I loved it!!

On the Subway!

Michael and I enjoying a Mets game at the new CitiField!!

Here and Now :)

So clearly I am terrible at keeping up on my blog, but I've been inspired recently so here goes another shot. I last wrote about our move to New York, with pictures of our first apartment, well that was awhile ago :)! We loved living in New York, we had the most incredible summer together, and were really sad to come back to Provo and start school again :( However we're now almost DONE! And we can't wait! Michael got a full time offer from Citi group which we've accepted, so we'll be moving back to New York this summer, we are incredibly excited! We're both getting Senioritis pretty badly and can't wait to graduate!

Here's a quick recap of major events in the past 7 months:

September:

I tried out and made Noteworthy, a 9 girl a cappella singing group at BYU.

We signed up for our 2nd to last semester of classes!

Moved back to Provo.

Michael was offered a full time job with C

iti group which we accepted!

Michael starts his last year of teaching, as an American Heritage TA.

Michael on the first day back to school! haha :)

October:

First gig with Noteworthy at the Utah Women's Dairy Association.

My birthday! :) I'm now 22, weird. Michael surprised me with some beautiful pink roses and some new shirts that he'd seen me admiring, he's so sweet!

Noteworthy invited to compete on the Sing Off and sworn to secrecy by NBC, wow that was hard! But we were so excited! (By the way I have to put a plug in here for Michael, he's the most incredibly supportive husband ever! When I told him about the Sing Off I told him we'd be gone for two weeks in December, and just like he did when I wanted to try out for Noteworthy, he told me what an incredible opportunity it would be and told me I had to do it!)

Noteworthy after our interview with KSL in Salt Lake.

November:

Trying hard to get ahead on school projects etc. and constantly rehearsing with Noteworthy for the Sing Off.

Thanksgiving in Rexburg with the Stones, such a fun weekend!

Press release is out,

so we can finally tell people!

December:

School.

Rehearsal.

TRYING TO FIND TIME TO SPEND TOGETHER! :D

Madness!!

The Sing Off.

Finals.

We bought our Christmas tree a week before Christmas! It was so fun to decorate together!

Our First Christmas Together!!!

Trip to California with the Stones the week after Christmas for Disneyland and family time! Soo much fun!

Our First Christmas Tree! Michael and I at the San Diego Zoo's Animal Park Noteworthy Opening night of the Sing Off

January:

Back to School for our final semester!! (Or so I thought)

My schedule didn't quite work out so I find out I have to take a class over the summer and live with my parents while Michael starts his job in NY. BUT we then figure out that this little "bump in the road" will work out better because Michael will be able to move out there and scout out apartments and I'll be able to drive all the furniture out (With my grandparents help of course, yeah right I can drive a U-haul! haha!) and he'll have an apartment all set up! :D

Getting back into the swing of things.

February (so far):

Siri:

stressing out of my mind because my senior thesis deadline is creeping closer and closer! YIKES!

Competed with Noteworthy in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Quarterfinals in Eugene, Oregon and took first place! Moving on to the Semi-finals in March in sunny California! :D

Michael:

Planned the most incredible Valentines Day which I enjoyed so immensely! We went to dinner at Zupas and then went and saw New Moon (for the first time!) which we both liked and then he took me to the new Cocoa Bean Cafe for yummy cupcakes! Thanks babe!

Working hard to finish his last semester of being a TA and his last semester of classes! Yay for Michael!

So here's a little update from our neck of the woods, we're loving life, loving MARRIED life, and we are so happy! We're not exactly loving all of the cold and the snow, but maybe sometime soon we'll be able to get Michael up into the mountains and on some ski's!