First, I channeled my inner urban hipster yuppie (is that even a thing?) and rode a bike to the Salt Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. I spent a lazy hour or so wandering all the booths, sampling all the peaches, and picking out m'goods. (And giving advice to a former co-worker. Gosh, I miss those girls! I'm really happy we still chat!)
Once I had my haul, I happily filled up my bike basket and rode home.
Earlier this summer, I took Melanie to Rye for her birthday dinner. I had the pork belly lettuce wraps, which were DELICIOUS. I left slightly hungry (small portions... geez) and obsessed with pork belly. Thankfully, Trader Joe's helped me get my fix. (They sell pork belly.) And I decided to use said pork belly in a lentil soup this weekend. (And I got to use some of my farmer's market haul! Tomatoes, onions, cilantro.) And that's how I spent my Saturday afternoon.
Somewhere in there, I also made a second grocery run to Smith's (where I also bought a vacuum cleaner (#thingsyoubuywhenyoureanadult) and a Magic Bullet. you know, for green smoothie-making. Also, don't worry; later that night, there was yet another grocery run to Trader Joe's. I've basically used up my non-existent grocery budget for the rest of the month.) annnnd finally checked out the vintage shops on 300 South (Maeberry Vintage -- lots of good stuff, but nothing that was calling my name -- and all its overpriced antique store neighbors). I saw some cute things, but I've decided the DI is more my style. Mostly because I can actually afford the DI. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but antique stores here are seriously overpriced!
So obviously, when one has a giant pot of lentil + pork belly soup, one needs homemade bread. And that's exactly what I made Sunday morning before church. Sixty-five delicious rolls using my favorite roll recipe. (Don't worry; I froze half and gave some away to my family.)
Fun fact: that placemat looks like graphing paper, which came in handy earlier this week when I was helping my brother Spencer with some math homework. ;) You'd probably never guess, since I work in Comms/politics, but I'm actually really good at math. It's rather a point of pride with me, and I've considered taking a calculus class for fun, since I've forgotten so much of it! (The last math class I took was first semester freshman year -- Calc II. Eeeep!)
Sunday evening, I continued to get my domestic goddess on with the world's best brownies. (That recipe is seriously amazing. Click on the link, and go make some right now!) They were supposed to be for my brothers/mom, who were going to visit, but they ended up not having enough time for more than a drive-by to pick up rolls and soup, sooooo I now have a whole pan of these babies. Minus the one brownie I already ate. ;)
But lest you think my whole weekend consisted of making + eating foods, let's not forget I also did a lot of cleaning of the house and washing of the dishes (seriously, that much cooking requires a loooot of dishwasing!).
Oh, yeah, and I had some brief social breaks. Most notably, my old roomie Amanda came into town! I was looking forward to meeting her fiancé, but instead, I met her HUSBAND! (They eloped last Friday in Annapolis.) We took a group selfie on John's phone, but here's the one of Mandy 'n me from my cell:
And I got to meet Mandy's mom, of whom she is basically a clone. It's always nice to meet the people the people you love love. :)
I also went to the end of a Liberty Park picnic DC reunion Mel had organized. I wish I could say I feel bad I missed most of it, but what I can truthfully say is that I'm glad I caught a bit of it.
The other thing I did a lot of this weekend is watch How I Met Your Mother. I'm in a bit of a funk right now. (Hence my anti-social feelings, even with people I love – like the DC picnic crew from Saturday.) Hopefully this isn't over-sharing too badly with the worldwide web, but I'm just a bit worn out from dating right now. The last guy (I think I referenced this recently when I mentioned a promising relationship ending abruptly almost two weeks ago? Oh, and via text. Yep. Via text.) really shook me up. I guess that's why I'm especially loving HIMYM right now.
Steph likes to call me "Ted," as in Ted Mosby. Because, like Ted, I am a complete romantic. It's hard for me to go on a first date and not start considering from the get-go whether the guy has potential to be The One. Try as I might, like Ted (well, at least as of Season 8 Episode 1), I still haven't found my Lebenslangerschicsalsschatz. I've been guilty time and again of getting so excited about someone, I don't see until much later that he was really just a Beinaheleidenschaftsgegenstand. (Oh, also, Ted and I are both brunette grammar snobs who enjoy Star Wars and wearing our favorite boots. ;) Heh heh.)
In one of this weekend's episodes, Ted admitted that, for the first time, he had lost hope of finding The One. That's almost how I feel right now. Except I haven't lost hope; I'm just emotionally tired and need a break. Plus, I mean, I have so much I could be doing right now! I haven't even finished unpacking yet! My office walls are still empty. My back room isn't organized. Oh, and I just started violin lessons! (I've been playing since 7th grade but haven't played consistently in more than a decade. Since I played in the U's Symphony Orchestra during college. And I never took private lessons, so I figured it was time.) See? Lots to do besides even thinking of dating. ;)
Probably my journal is a better place for this type of stuff, instead of, you know the internet. But there it is. Ted took a break from dating in Season 7 to recoup and find himself. And since I'm basically Ted, I guess what I'm saying is... I'm taking the rest of August off. Hence all the cooking and not-so-much socializing. I love cooking, it's therapeutic, and I haven't been doing it nearly enough this summer. And if I have to do this dating thing at least once more (please only once more??), I need some recovery time. But maybe I'll see you again in September, dating world. Ttylz!
**EDIT: I just realized August ends in a week. So, my moratorium will now last until as long as I feel like it.**
PS Important sidenote: I had my very first press conference of my new job this week, and it went reeeally well! We had coverage from every major TV/radio/print news outlet, and I knew we'd really struck a nerve when the opposition issued a response. ;) The sun was in my face, but here is my face of excitement right after the event had wrapped up.
OK, that's all for now. Over, annnnnd out...
