no more shoes

Oh no...all it takes is one rainy day (and a Cafe Rio) and these things are back? Really?


But also, at least Morgan (Fievel) is also back.

skills to pay the bills

The moving weekend went well, I will have more of that later. But more importantly, yesterday was my dad's birthday and I pulled out my crafty skillz for the occasion.

Boo-ya.

between hello and goodbye

Tonight I'm going home to pack up and begin moving out of 70 E Street. Turns out I don't really own anything (except I'm discovering, a crapload of vases), so it won't really take me much time which makes it easy.

But since I'm a baby, it's very bittersweet. We moved around often enough when I was younger, that in my adulthood I have felt that staying in one place feels like a real accomplishment. And I am definitely looking forward to the change because the past few months I've thought a lot about moving, feeling like it was time. Originally I told Naomi about my plans with every intention to find a place of my own. I've never lived alone and I would love to. But as I looked I didn't find really anything that fit what I wanted (and could afford). A few weeks into the hunt I was talking with my friend Michelle about it and she mentioned that she and her roommate Elin were also looking around for a new place. One with some of the things both they and I were missing; a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, perhaps an actual house with garden and yard space versus the apartments we are currently in. We decided to see if maybe looking together would work and quickly ran across a familiar house on Denver Street (familiar because months ago Frances lived there!). The kitchen is newly remodeled and big, there is space enough for a craft room, and most importantly- this girl gets her own bathroom.

But...I have lived at The Sula on E Street the past three years. And before me two other friends lived there, so it's been around as a social constant for a little over 4 years. And I have loved it. I love that apartment. I love the hardwood floors and exposed brick walls, I love the kitchen shelves loaded with colorful plates and serving dishes, I (mostly) love my little cave room and the entry way full of bikes. I've loved the parties and brunches Naomi and I have hosted, the friends who stop by and running at night through avenues streets. And this past year -as I may have mentioned once or twice- it's been so, so much fun having Nate and Joel living right upstairs.

I guess the thing I come back to is, stuff changes. When I think about the friends who have hung around over the past 3 years, it's been a shifting and changing bunch as lives go different ways. Naomi will finish up school in the spring and most likely leave the state. Nate gets married in a week and has moved out. Michelle and Elin have a DVR. So feeling like it was time for a change means that overall I'm looking forward this move. And you'll all think I'm ridiculous for dragging you through three paragraphs of boo-hooing when I say that Aaron took over Nate's spot living upstairs, so I'll actually see The Sula with regularity still (sorry!). Regardless, you're all invited to Denver Street anytime you like...I'll even let you shower in my bathroom if you want.

spinning top

So this year's Utah State Fair experience was not last year's experience, but it was still awesome because I finally rode the Ferris wheel for the first time. I think the last time I was on one at all would have been with my friends at Bonneville Jr. High's 9th grade Lagoon Day (which was a really great day because after thinking we were so cool at Lagoon all day, my friends and I went to see Weezer that night and thought we were so cool there too).

And Ferris wheel memory served me correctly because riding one of those things with 3 girlfriends is the most fun.







Oh and also, animal butts.

i can't stop this feeling i've got

This weekend was another Friday-to-today-in-the-same-shirt-cus-I-love-it-so-much kind of 4 days.

you are my face

I'm sure I've not only shocked myself, but all of you, with how long it's been since I've posted Morgan pictures. He's been busy though. And last night he took off (with his parents) to New York City for a few weeks.

But I did see him yesterday long enough for him to give me this face,

and this face,

and this face.


Which should hold me over just until he gets home.

wedding cake

Last night our little home on E Street hosted a fantastic bridal shower party for our friend Rachel. Naomi has been diligent the last few weeks planning and organizing and she put together a really adorable and fun shower.

the adorable:



yes that is a man on the cake)


and the fun:




We set up a place to take photos (Naomi doesn't usually wear a gnome hat), and once the really embarrassing have been deleted, I'll get up some that are just kind of embarrassing.

country road

For the first 18 years of my life I operated under the assumption that I was not athletic and therefore, unable to participate in any activity that gave off the appearance of sport. No throwing, no kicking, no sticks or rackets please because if it involved any part of my body needing to connect with a foreign object...well I was toast. And really awkward, undignified looking toast.

Then for some reason I gave running a try right after high school and though I was (am) slow, I could in fact, continue to put one foot in front of the other for a set amount of time without mishap...and even improve my endurance and speed over time. Plus, it didn't and doesn't cost me much of anything beyond shoes and race entry fees, so it has seemed like a manageable way to keep myself active. With a marathon and other lengths of distances behind me, I've wondered a time or two about the move to triathlons because I like to think of them as the baddest proof of athleticism possible without any hand-eye coordination involved. But the road bike part is what always stops me up because I am apparently terrible at saving enough money to buy one...and all the gear it requires. And you can't very well train for a bike race without a bike.

Last week though, I had the pleasure of babysitting a road bike while a friend has been in the moving process. With two brothers who have been long time cycling enthusiasts and Aaron spending the summer saving for and accumulating bicycle gear himself, it didn't take much to get talked into trying. So Aaron and I did about 20 miles on the Legacy Parkway last Monday and then we planned on meeting up with Logan and Kristen in Logan over the weekend for another ride.


I've mentioned a time or two before that Cache Valley is one of my favorite places on earth and riding 30 miles on those long, fielded roads out to the western mountains and back again just might have planted the cycling bug inside me.

I stayed about 40 feet behind the rest of them the whole ride despite my best efforts to keep their pace and I slept for 12 hours on Saturday night after the ride because I was so exhausted, so I've got lots of room for improvement. But I thing in the spring I'll get a bike and start practicing my own finish line victory arms.

chief

There is a particular designer at work who I trade music with from time to time. In the past few months she has blessed me with Land of Talk and Uh Huh Her among others. We've got pretty similar taste so when I noticed a live performance from Patty Griffin on Hulu today I sent it to Melissa assuming she's an artist we've bonded over before. But we hadn't cus Melissa didn't have any Patty Griffin. And I thought "what if there are others out there like Melissa?"

You definitely have to be into that womanly, folky sound, but man oh man...does this lady get it right.

I love when I remember something I love.

fruits of my labor

After lunch on Friday Bob brought back a surprise from Big Lots.

A puzzle at work! How productive!

We only got this far before the weekend because it was a difficult sucker.

Luckily for our jobs though, a puzzle fairy appeared and magically it was finished this morning just in time for us to make sure our children didn't listen to the President speak.


In other news, it's been a couple of weeks, but my hair is now this short all over.

nature of the experiment

Okay so I've totally slacked on the Iron & Wine mixes, but never fear...they are mostly addressed and I will mail them by Saturday. And TGIF tomorrow right? Right? Am I right?! (just kidding...never really say TGIF)

In other news, I have been avoiding blogging a little bit because of the following story.

So Jamie came to town a few weeks ago and not only were we able to keep a consistent conversation going for oh...about 7 hours straight, but we decided in the middle of it to take a leisurely walk around Cecret Lake at the top of Alta. A nice family showed up after us and offered to take our photo.

Here we are at the lake, enjoying nature.

After enjoying nature, we started on our way back. Here is Jamie, on our way back.

And then! There appeared, two huge moose right on the trail.

Here is Jamie, with the moose.

Then that nice family from the top who had taken our photo came down after us. And they didn't have their camera with them for like, the first time in all their hiking days. But this was the fist time in all of their hiking days that they'd actually run across moose. They never had in The Tetons, not in Yellowstone, not anywhere. So of course we offered to use our cameras to take their pictures.

The family, with the moose.


We had to find someone else on the trail with a pen to write down their e-mail address on the scrap of paper I had with me. And since I lose things I vowed to keep this safe because they were soooo excited about the photos.

But then I went to find it two days later and I had lost it. I emptied my bag from the hike twice. I went through all my pockets. I called Jamie to see if she had it. And I felt terrible. So I figured I could start a blog called FIND ME THIS FAMILY and through the power of Mormons and the internets I thought I had to be able to find the very nice family from California who now lived in Sandy.

And then yesterday I was looking for something in my purse and there it was, well placed in a pocket that I was sure I would remember to look in (duh).

So besides me being an idiot, all is well in Zion! Now I don't have to use my blog to start a family finding campaign because the family now has their photos. And I can go back to using my blog for the powers of TV.