Visiting the Parkers

Quill, the goat, feeling very excited about things.

Last night, we went on a walk to the library. Both of us were exhausted from a long (but good!) weekend and not enough sleep the night before. After a long day at work (and at the mechanic's and working from a coffee shop all day for me), we got home to tackle the housework we didn't get to over the weekend. (Looking at houses + baking all day for the Girls' Camp fundraiser + Father's Day with all the dads = not enough time for chores at home.) Stephen was AMAZING and fixed our bathroom sink. I washed ALL the baking dishes and made dinner, and just as we were getting ready to settle down, we realized our microwave was broken. After poor Stephen's frustration with the sink (did I mention how AWESOME he is for figuring it out??), we were ready for a break and decided to go on a walk to our local library instead of staying home. Fresh air and a change of pace is good for our grumpy souls, it turns out.

I checked out two new books (this one to help us plan our one-year anniversary trip later this year, and this one, just for fun). I'm super excited for both! AND I've felt a renewed appreciation lately for my local library. I have so many books I want to read this summer, and it's nice that I can do it for free through our county library. Thanks, Ben, for the books!

On our walk home, we passed by our friends, the Parkers. We go to church with them, and they live really close to us. They also have a lot of land, where they have.... chickens! horses! cats! a bunny! and BABY GOATS!! I heard bleating as we walked past their fence, and lo and behold, baby goats were approaching us through the gate!

We had to stop and play with them, of course.

The Parkers were finishing dinner, so hung out with the kids (Get it? Ha.) on our own for a while. The goats' names are Quill, Gamora, and Rocket. :) The grumps melted away almost instantly once we were playing with these little guys. :)

A few minutes later, the Parkers came out, and we met everyone else! (Except the second cat, which is fine by me, on account of I recently found out from one of those poke-you-in-the-back allergy tests that I am a 5/5 allergic to cats, 5 being the highest possible. But good news: I am NOT allergic to horses.)

It turns out that playing with animals is also therapeutic for our grumpy souls. I even got to RIDE A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME, and it was really fun!

I'm grateful that we went on a walk last night, that it is *basically* summertime and stays light out much later, that we have such nice neighbors/church friends, and that they let us play with their animals (and also sent us home with a dozen fresh eggs + freshly picked cherries).

The moral of the story is: when the grumps have you down, go outside and/or visit some friendly animals!

Status Update: Life in Utah

I got to see my VL friends this weekend out in the Bay Area, and it led to a lot of "How is life in Utah??" updates. Instead of repeating this conversation over and over, I've decided to compile here for you how Utah is going:

How I feel most of the time about having my own apartment:

How I feel the rest of the time about having my own apartment (miss you, DC roomies!):

What my new job is like:

Living close to family again (LOL):

Life in my YSA ward:

On arriving in Utah and realizing that elevation is a THING but still trying to be outdoorsy (bc I really do enjoy it!) and then remembering I'm severely out of shape:

But it's SO pretty here, so:

The excitement at having some of my DC girlfriends here to help each other through the transition (!!!):

How I felt about dating when I first got here:

Then:

A little later:

When I realized I'm LITERALLY walking thousands of steps fewer each day, because I now drive to work and basically never move:

But possibly the best way to describe my transition is this:

Some good, some less than good but really, mostly good. :) I'm glad to be back!

The Weekend That Was All About Foodssss (and other things)

This weekend was a LOT about food. And when I say a LOT, here's what I mean:

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...

The Bee's Knees Waffles

Have you ever heard of a Hong Kong eggette? Well, I hadn't either. Until I saw Winter & Lee's Facebook post, that is.

Guys, THIS is a Hong Kong eggette:

You want one, fresh strawberries and cool cream, on this hot summer day, friends! Come get one today at the Bountiful Farmers Market and say hi to Lee!
Posted by Bee's Knees Waffles at the Bountiful Farmers Market on Thursday, August 6, 2015

Winter is a dear friend of mine from my favorite college singles ward, and Lee is her husband, who just graduated from culinary school. They have a delicious eggette stand (which, in case you can't tell, an eggette is essentially a delicious, glorified Asian waffle. Winter says it's a Hong Kong street food) at the Bountiful Farmer's Market, and I've been wanting to pay them a visit alllll summer!

Well, this Thursday, I finally did!



And Camille came with me!




Though in full disclosure, she ate at her neighbor's food truck, which I guess is OK, since she's lactose intolerant and couldn't have handled the cream on the delicious eggettes. ;) She says the Braza bowls were delicious, but HOLY MOLY... eggettes!!

I got the chunky monkey with coconut cream. So think of a delicious waffle/crepe, with sliced bananas, drizzled dark chocolate, whipped cream, AND coconut cream! WOW-eee!

If you're anywhere in the area, might I suggest you get thee hence to the Bountiful Farmers Market next Thursday night for a Bee's Knees Waffle? I promise you won't regret it! (Well, unless you're lactose intolerant.) But it might still be worth it!

Oh, and the rest of the farmers market is good, too. ;) There's even an Amish jam and honey stand!! (Totally took me back my favorite East Coast day trip ever.)

PS In totally unrelated news, I wanted to record here for posterity that yesterday, I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird (how I never had to read it in high school, but I did have to read Heart of Darkness is beyond me). It was such a beautiful book, and I'm dying to discuss it with somebody. Talk to me about it next time you see me, OK? :)

Isn't it Ironic? (And Also Jordan Came to Town!)

I find it of the utmost irony that the day after I published my last post, I had great need to heed my own WORDS from that post, as a promising relationship came unexpectedly to an end. (dating is. the WORST. thing. EVER!!!)

The older I get, and the more I unsuccessfully date, the more I'm tempted to become jaded and lose hope, but I'm grateful that my own stinkin' words posted yesterday were a source of comfort to me today.

I'm also grateful to have found peace today in my default place of peace and with these lovely ladies no less:

This temple trip was already planned, and I know it was no coincidence that it fell on a day God knew I would desperately need to find peace. I've expressed my feelings about the temple on this blog before (shoot, I have an entire blog label called "Temple"), and it's because I know if I ever need guidance or am looking for peace, I'll find both here.

Now on to something a little more fun.... The REASON for the temple trip was... Jordan came to town! It was SO lovely to get to see her while she was here. Jordan is the kind of friend you can always count on to have something positive and cheerful to say (and something delicious to eat!), to make you feel beautiful when you're not feelin' even remotely cute, to bring you up when you're feeling down, and to immediately come to your rescue when you need it. I'm sad she can't stay longer, but it was lovely to get to see her twice while she was in our lovely Deseret.

The first occasion was a gorgeous and oh-so-delicious garden party hosted by Addison on Sunday night. I mean, seriously, look at this spread! Addison and Jordan cooked EVERYTHING, and Addison and his bf Austin created the tablescape and ambience.

And oh, my goodness, the food! A zucchini mascarpone gallete. Fresh caprese salad. Yummy risotto. The most beautiful cheese plate. Mixed drinks and mocktails. Salmon a la Addison. a HOMEMADE (from scratch by Jordan!) strawberry rhubarb pie that was everything I'd ever dreamed a pie should be!



I'm grateful again that the Lord saw fit to give me friends, the Temple, and delicious food (SO bad, I know, but I totally ate my feelings today. And by "my feelings," I mean a Neapolitan style pizza + cannoli + two flavors of gelato from Settabello, Shoyu fried chicken and cole slaw from Rye, and the famous Tollhouse pie a la mode from The Dodo in Sugarhouse) on this gloomy day.

What a blessing to have dear friends in town!

Miracles Happen: Erika & Matt's Wedding!

(warning: slightly mushy post ahead.)

Payson, Utah LDS Temple

I mentioned in my last post that my friends Erika and Matt got married earlier this month. I'm SO, so happy I was able to be there for their sealing and to celebrate their big day!

Erika and I became friends almost three years ago in the DC 2nd ward. She was a newly-baptized convert, and I was the lucky duck who was called as her visiting teacher. :) We quickly became friends, and it's just another example of the blessings that come from visiting teaching. I love Erika so much and am so grateful I got to know her and become dear friends with her.




I also mentioned in my last post that Caitlin came out from DC for Erika's sealing. There was a beautiful spirit in the sealing room, and Caitlin and I may or may not have cried through a good portion of it. ;) We were both struck by the beauty and simplicity of the sealing ceremony and by the miracle – the SERIOUS MIRACLE – it was that Matt and Erika found each other.

Erika grew up in Brazil. Matt grew up out here in Utah. He grew up in the Church; Erika did not. Who could have ever imagined that somewhere in São Paulo there was a little girl growing up, and that she would be the eternal companion of this little boy growing up in the middle-of-nowhere Utah??

The path they each took to get to the place – physically, emotionally, spiritually – where they could meet, date, and fall in love is a miracle to me. Honestly, any time two people fall in love and get married is a miracle to me.



It was a beautiful experience to watch the culmination of this miracle in my friend's life. I can remember so many conversations we've had where one of us has felt discouraged in dating; like it was never going to work out for us.



And being able to share in her special day just gave me so much HOPE that one day, I'll get to have my big day. That I'll be able to see this miracle in my life, and that somewhere, there is a special guy being prepared to be my eternal companion. (And umm, if you happen to know where he is, feel free to set me up with him! ;) Heh heh.)



Congrats again, Erika and Matt!! :) xo

A partial summer update!

This summer has been a good one, and rather than trying to catch up on e'rrything, I'm just gonna do a quick, partial update – but with lots of pictures!

DC FRIENDS

This might be a bad thing, but I'm gonna look at it as a good thing Aside from becoming friends with my co-workers, I haven't really expanded my social circle much. I have a small but good group of DC friends who moved to Utah before I did (and Maggie who has since joined the fold!). Between that, my family, and DC friends visiting Utah, I've had my social calendar covered. :)

Some of our summer adventures –

On one of Maggie and Bremen's first weekends in Utah, a group of us headed down to Pleasant Grove (my first time there) for the Strawberry Days rodeo. Of course, our experience would've been incomplete without trying the strawberries and cream.



(more photos after the jump!)

#ATXyall (Part 1) + I found an apartment!

Helllllo, blogging world! I'm popping in tonight from the comfort of my very own.... apartment!! That's right; my OWN apartment! It's my first time having an apartment all to myself (the tiny private room + bathroom I had as an RA in college doesn't count!), and I couldn't be more excited about it. (Though it was kind of sad this morning when I was getting ready for church and had no one to consult about which heels I should wear? But overall, it's been great!)

There's not much to see yet, but... in time! :)



I also wanted to take a moment to preserve for time and all posterity the photos from my recent trip to Austin! My friend Jordan was planning a trip home (she's a bona fide Austinite!) and invited a few of us to join her. The group consisted of Jordan, Maddy, Addison (another Austinite), and moi; I couldn't have asked for better travel companions!



I booked this trip after I'd accepted my new job in Utah, but before I actually left DC, because A- I've been wanting to go to Austin for foreverrrr, B- I was afraid I'd be experiencing DC withdrawals a month into my new life in Utah, and I wanted to make sure I had something to look forward to in case things weren't going so smoothly. Plus, honestly, I was worried I'd feel claustrophobic and landlocked. One of the BEST things about the East Coast is it's SO incredibly easy (and relatively cheap) to travel, whereas in Utah, you can drive for FIVE HOURS and still be in the same state. I'm going to sound super yuppie and spoiled, but I became accustomed to traveling at least once a month, either for work or for pleasure, and I definitely already miss it! Though, actually, between Arizona (a post for another day) and Texas, I've managed to maintain my one trip a month quota thus far! :)

OK, so the most important thing to know about this trip is we essentially ATE our way through the city of Austin, with a few activities squeezed in between meals. (Gotta work up an appetite somehow, right??)

We started our trip off right ... by eating at every breakfast taco place within a few miles of Jordan's house. Let the record show that the BEST of the tacos was The Democrat from Shaky's.



Next, we explored a bit of our Mormon heritage at scenic Mt. Bonnell. ;)

Aside from the amazing view of Austin and the water, Addison's hair in that last photo was a highlight. ;)

Then, we were off to Barton Springs!

But first, a quick pitstop with some Texas wildflowers! Little did I know at this point that this would be my only wildflower photo of the trip. *sniff*



OK, back to the story. Barton Springs is a set of, well, natural springs (ha) that has sort of been partially turned into a pool. The coolest part about this place was how perfectly clear the water was. As you all may know, I'm VERY much afraid of water, but it was just so pretty, even I ventured in! (Not to swim – let's not get crazy here – but just to say I at least went in the water.) Maddy lent moral support while Jordan and Addison were catching some rays (and some zzz's). :)




After a healthy lunch of Amy's Ice Cream, we went home to clean up and change in preparation for the most luxurious dining experience at Paul Qui's new restaurant, Qui! It was voted GQ's Most Outstanding Restaurant of 2014. Jordan's generous parents joined us – and then treated ALL of us to – this amaaaaayzing dining experience! Maddy and I ordered the vegetable option (I'm so glad I did, because several of the courses were seafood, and I don't particularly care for seafood. Mostly because of the smell... Have I mentioned here yet that I'm a very smell-oriented person? I once went out with someone whose cologne I didn't like; things did not work out.), and the others ordered the regular menu. We all just ended up sharing, but ALL of my courses were amazing! If you're ever in Austin and feel like spending $55-70 on dinner, try Qui!




After dinner, we killed some time at THE original Whole Foods, and thennnnnn we went to...




GOURDOUGH'S PUBLIC HOUSE!!

Of ALL the incredible places we ate during this trip, this one was my FAVORITE. I'm super picky with sweets, but the donuts here were to DIE for! I will DEFINITELY be returning to Austin, if only to eat the Glory Daze donut (+ vanilla ice cream) one more time.



And guys! This was JUST the first day!! I now realize I took WAY too many photos to share this entire trip in one post, soooo.... Stay tuned for Day 2 with these crazy kids probably later this week! :)




And