the weekend.

went to the park with the munchkin. it was sunny and bright, we packed a picnic lunch, took a walk, played on the swings, read my book, and met new friends & a dog. i invented a game called "run to that tree over there as fast as you can and i'll time you!", she thought it was wonderful and wanted to play over and over and over again-until sweat was beading on her little forehead & i was extremely amused {simple pleasures for us both}. the baby drank her entire sippy cup AND was completely tuckered out for nap time. that is success. i didn't mean to cut our heads off... but look at her cute lips and dress!

had dinner with these girls. i love them a lot. whitney is leaving us in just a few weeks and we are so sad. then alli is taking off the end of june. lex and i will be out here for a while yet. over the past 10 months we've had our girls night dinners fairly regularly and it's been so fun. schedules are crazy and because we were nervous this would be our last one, it lasted for a long time. 5 am. yep. had dinner, went to alli's house & reverted back to middle school. {nail polish, gossip, magazines, junk food}. luckily- we're all {kind of/temporarily} utah girls and once we leave the east coast it won't be the end. btw- we're spelling "love" with our hands. cheesy? maybe since some high school kids were making fun of us in the park for it, the answer is "yes".

finished the book "wuthering heights" by emily bronte. regan recommended it to me, and it did not disappoint.  it's a love story, although you can hardly call it that, more like an anti-love story of twisted obsessions, thwarted longing, and endless misery that result from the meeting of the gypsy orphan boy heathcliff and the young aristocrat catherine. it was captivating and so full of beautiful imagery.

this was my favorite passage:

"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it."

& this one too:

"He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine..."

so exquisite, isn't it?

happy memorial day!

a really good day, a really bad outfit.

Ever heard of the Hell's Kitchen International Food Fair?

I hadn't. Luckily, Alli has a special book that tells us about fun things to do in the city.

And Saturday we checked it out.

So overwhelming and incredible. A bazillion booths of crafts, treats, snacks, clothes, jewelery, and amazing food. My favorite was the "teas and spices" table. It was lovely- my heart wished my Mom was with me, she would have appreciated it.

It was a hot day, 75 degrees and humid. I had on jeans and a black shirt. I had to buy a cheap $15.00 tie-dyed sun dress from a vendor and change my clothes in the middle of the fair, literally, in the middle of the fair.

As discreetly as I could; which was not very.

Got a few looks, but it was so worth it for those few miserably hot hours.

My outfit was priceless. Every time I looked down I had to laugh when I saw my floral tennis shoes, tie-dyed dress, and funny sun hat.

I secretly loved it.

We met up with my friend Gunnar that afternoon, he was in town for an interview.

Thought it would be fun to take a little trip down to Coney Island.

Ate a hot dog-first one in years-but I figured I had to, it being Coney Island and all.

We lazed in the sand, Gunnar built a funny something with his lemonade cup, we laughed, chatted, reminisced and watched all the silly people.

Coney Island is ghetto, like, Oakland ghetto {fyi}. You should see it sometime, it's comical & wonderful.

That night we stayed in Brooklyn for dinner.

Mckay drove down and met up with us after his 8 hours of studying {ouch!}.

We ate at a cute Italian place.

It's sad when a good day comes to an end...

& it was a really good day.

{a blurry cell phone picture of my outfit. i sent mckay a text asking

 him to "please match me for dinner".  in reply, "i can't match you

 for dinner". i guess if he could, it would be a nervous situation.

1 crazy person per relationship please.}

Boston in 26 pictures

Mckay's brother Jared was in Boston this weekend for some conferences so we took a fun little road trip to spend a few days with him.

This is what we did:

Saturday afternoon we drove the three hours to Boston. I got so sad when we missed the "Welcome to Massachusetts" sign, darn.  We arrived at our hotel at 5:30pm and met up with Jared {i was nervous, but he wasn't so scary}.  After everything was settled we walked The Boston Freedom Trail for a few hours and saw a plethora of awesome historical sites-

Old graveyards, statue of George Washington in a pretty park, Samuel Adams' grave, The Old South Meeting House {where Samuel Adams gave the signal that started the Boston Tea Party}, Feneuil Hall and the North & South Markets and the site of the Boston Massacre.

Then we had dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant on the North side of Boston.

After all of the walking we were beat-we made it back to the hotel, ate some pastries, and went to bed.

The next morning Jared was off early for more lectures & we got to sleep in. I called my Mom and Grandmas to wish them a happy mother's day, lots of love in my heart for each one of them.  We finally got out the door and bought trolley passes to finish our tour of Boston.  Mckay went shopping with me on Newbury St. {it's love} and we bought fresh fruit for breakfast at a fruit stand.  My favorite part of our trip was the Battle of Bunker Hill Monument.   It was built between 1827-1843 and we climbed all 294 steps to the top! My legs were jello after that, but the view was lovely and so worth it.   

We consumed a frillion calories between the three of us from Mike's Pastry; cannolis, Boston cream pies, cream puffs, chocolate and pb cups, and other disgustingly deliciously rich treats.

We saw Samuel Adams' house, the oldest preserved house in Boston.  We drove through Cambridge and over the Longfellow Bridge.  And last on the agenda was the Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway Park.  In the freezing cold.  Which meant lots of snuggling, even more unnecessary food consumption {steaming clam chowder, hot dogs, hamburgers, pretzels & diet coke}, an overpriced $50.00 sweatshirt to keep warm, and leaving during the 6th inning because we couldn't take the cold.

After the game we said goodbye to Jared and had a very late drive home Sunday evening.

It was a super fun, albeit short, road trip! Boston is such a cool place with tons of history, I would love go back for a longer stay. 

I am having issues...

Serious issues. This morning I woke up and it was raining. I feel like that automatically makes for a lazy day.  So instead of getting out of bed, I just pulled my computer up onto my lap. Checked e-mail, went to blog, went to friend Rach's blog. Noticed that her blog roll updates according to latest post. Which is convenient because she just clicks on the top ones to see new posts, instead of clicking on all of them [like me] to see who has posted something new.  I decided I really liked that, no brainer, right? Next, I spent way too much time turning my "link list" into a "blog roll".

At this point I have my "link list" and "blog roll" both on the side of my blog. Obviously repetitive and taking up excess space, but I almost let them both stay-to serve two purposes. 1 To be easily updated via the blog roll and 2 the link list looks so much better! The blog roll is not centered with my other thingys [notice that please], the font is different, the font is bold, and the fact that it's not alphabetized [& I know that's kinda the point] is KILLING me. I miss my perfectly organized link list. Sigh... Some lazy Saturday morning in the future I might just change it all back. For now I just needed to vent. This really is giving me abnormal levels of anxiety.

Luckily, this regret and confusion and my momentary lapse in organization and conformity is short-lived because today I'm leaving for Boston! Stay tuned for those adventures.

Regretfully yours,

Sloppy blogger.

{This picture just makes me feel better about life}

horses and heartache

For convenience sake, I am combining the last two days...
4.20.10

My dear friend April invited us over to her house for a lovely patio lunch.  Ariana loves horses so April let us come before the other guests and took us to the stables to see all the horses and feed them carrots and peppermints. After lunch she let Ariana collect eggs from the chicken coop. Both activities I would never voluntarily do, it's a good thing Ariana has April {& Mom to help her with the chicken eggs, yuck.}! The lunch was delicious and it was fun to visit with my friends and have Mom with me.

4.21.10
On our very last day together Mom taught me how to make homemade bread. A few months ago I tried to teach myself and it was nothing short of disaster, so this time around I was happy to have her expertise! It came out beautifully! We shared hot bread together before it was time to drive to the airport. A great way to end a wonderful visit.

I drove her to the airport that afternoon and to say that we were both a tad melancholy is acutely accurate. When it was time to say goodbye we hugged extra long and cried a little bit. Ariana had fallen asleep in the car and as I drove home I cried a little more.

It's funny to think of the progression of our relationship. Over the past few years it's morphed into a stronger friendship, I am so grateful for that. As a kid she was the Mommy who snuggled me and wrote notes on the napkins she put in my brown bag lunches. As a teenager she was the Mom who had to know "when, what, where & who?" and told me, "You could argue with a fence post!" {sorry about that one, Mom}. And now, as whatever I am, she's become my best friend, my shoulder to cry on, my outlet, my confidant, my go-to, my foundation and my example. I love it.

There's nothing like a week of having your Mama all to yourself... can't wait until next time!

Mary Poppins

Day 5, 4.19.10

Lessons learned:

Double check addresses in the city.

Allow for extra time to make dinner reservations if you don't have the right address.

When you can't find the restaurant and miss the reservation, stay calm. {that one was for me, mostly}

Don't decide to drive to the theatre, leave your car where it is and take a taxi.

But if you do decide to drive into Times Square {don't} have your boyfriend {or any calm, rational, and patient person who is removed from the situation} on the phone with you.

When you find a metered parking spot on the street, take it, because 50 cents per 12 minutes, even though it sounds outrageous, is really only $2.50 an hour {your calm significant other will tell you that.}

Stay in that spot.

Don't leave it.

Don't try to drive closer.

Don't get so frazzled that your Mom says, "park anywhere!"

Because you'll park in the parking garage called "Times Square Parking" {$$$}

By this point you might be near tears, and stressed, and bugged... just get to the Amsterdam Theatre quickly & the Mary Poppins music will make all those feelings dissipate.

Then sit and enjoy the best Broadway show you've ever seen. THE BEST.

After that get yummy salads and cheesecake together in the middle of Times Square at Europa Cafe.

Now is when you'll pay $50.00 for parking {instead of the $10.00 you would have paid had you stayed in spot #1}, but just laugh and quote Dad and say, "Lesson learned!"
Thank Mom for paying the bill!

Then drive home the way you know, call Dad and tell him the story and make him guess how much you paid for parking. When he guesses $100.00 you'll tell him that you actually saved him $50.00, he'll just laugh because he's the best and he loves his wife and daughter.

Then call boyfriend and tell him how calm and collected you are on the drive home, so he knows that you're not crazy all of the time.

Then despite the mishap{s} of the night, be in such a great mood, because it turned out so well in the end.

And you love your Mom a lot, she's great company.

And now you just have a really funny memory.

Bon Voyage {ethan}!

A fairly uneventful Sunday. Mom was a good sport and did my normal Sunday thing with me. Church, munch and mingle, play with friends until the weekend has to end... ya know. Our dear friend Ethan is leaving us, he's off to Alaska to work so we {Alli} made him brownies and then she let me ugly it up with my sentimental frosting job. We played games and ate yummy food and were sad that it was our last night with him. Mckay and I are having a hard time letting him go (hence the clinging in picture #2). Funny and slightly long story, but Ethan is the one who introduced the two of us, so we like him extra for that.

Day 3, the cit-ay.

The Brooklyn Bridge 4.17.10

1.14 miles long, we walked across it and back on Saturday. It was still kind of cold, but not raining.  Made for a lovely sky filled with clouds of blues and greys. This was our last activity after an entire day in the city. {My favorite picture we took}.

At the train station, excited to head in to New York City. We went to FAO Schwarz, Mom lucked out and found her most favorite yucky licorice candy ever. Look at her cute grin, simple pleasures! 

Then we took a walk in the lovely Central Park. Had to take her to Times Square, and then listen to some fake Scottish man harass us about a comedy show and being Mormons. Alli {randomly ran into her that afternoon} lost patience real quick and told him to beat it, it made me laugh.

Other memorable things we did on Saturday:

Mom's first ride in a NYC taxi cab.

Had brunch at Alice's Teacup. Two Scones Benedict please!!! {&thank you}.

Walked a ton, and didn't get blisters and didn't get lost.

Rode the train, rode the subway, took a taxi. Felt very NYC.

Went to Rockefeller Center.

Shopped at the massive Anthro in Rockefeller Center {found a lovely silk shirt stained with rainwater and demanded, nicely, that they give me 50% off- came home with my newest favorite article of clothing}.

Perused Tiffany's on 5th Ave like we could actually afford to buy their diamonds and other delicious treats.

M&M factory, so crowded and short lived, we were looking for the coconut M&M's but they were fresh out, dang.

That evening, so ready to drop, we got back on the train and headed home.

Shared some of our Godiva goodies and called it a night.