Something Old

A symbol of continuity . . .

For our something old, Rod and I are having one of his Grandma Meme's handkerchiefs worked into my bouquet. Meme passed away two years ago. I only met her once. It was the first time Rod brought me to Louisiana to meet his family. Rod and his dad were out looking through Rod's Papa's shop. Meme and I started talking about Rod and me. She ended up showing me Rod's baby pictures. When Rod was younger he would spend a lot of time with Meme. She watched him while his parents were at work. There were a lot of great pictures of him playing with his Papa's hammers and hanging out in his Beau Duke outfit.

It was a short visit, but at the end of it, she told me she loved me. It surprised me, but I said it back. I think it surprised Rod too. Apparently Meme doesn't mince words and also isn't always the easiest person to get approval from.

Meme left a lasting impression on me and has clearly been an incredible influence on Rod's life. We will certainly miss Meme and Papa on our wedding day.

The Vertical Hour

Salt Lake is so lucky to have the very talented Pioneer Theater. Each year, I get season tickets with my friends. I have never been disappointed. The plays are always well done and generally have very interesting plots. Although I have not been blown away by every play, I have only ever truly disliked one of the play.

This month the play was The Vertical Hour. It really struck a chord with me. At the most superficial level, it is about the war in Iraq. It had a surprisingly fresh perspective on a topic that has been overdone. The true conflict in the play, though, is the protaganist's internal conflict between what she thinks she should want (the American dream) and what she really wants (you'll have to watch to find out). I thought it was very powerful.

New entries for Where is QT

For those of you who are interested, I am (FINALLY) finishing blogging about my trip to China on my travel blog. Why now? I have several trips coming up and I feel compelled to finish the last one before I start the next.

SO EXCITED!

For Christmas, Rod got me a beautiful jewelry box. Unfortunately, it didn't quite match the rest of our furniture (or fit my jewelry). So we ordered another box from Pottery Barn. It came today, and I couldn't wait to fill it up.

Flowers, check (hopefully)

Over the years (especially the last three years), I have been to a lot weddings. They were all beautiful and unique, but the flowers at one wedding in particular were especially memorable. My friend Melanie was kind enough to share the name of her florist with me. Rod and I (mostly me) spent several hours looking at pictures of flowers with Svetlana from Posh Posy. I loved that she not only incorporated my ideas but built on them. She sketched out several versions of centerpieces right there. We have a meeting with her on Saturday. I'm so excited to see the mock ups and, hopefully, her prices will be as great as she is.

I have been collecting the above pictures for a long time, so I don't really remember where I got them from. Several of them are from Michelle Rago's Signature Weddings, others are from Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot Texas, Brides, and Style Me Pretty.

The Sweetest Thing . . .

Word to the wise . . . never go to a cake tasting on an empty stomach. By the time we finished, we both had a sugar headache. I think we came up with the perfect combination though: almond poppy with rasberry filling, carrot cake with cream cheese, and white chocolate macademia and coconut. Mmmmm . . .

We were surprised by our choices. We thought for sure that we would want chocolate and would not want fondant. We didn't like the chocolate, too dry. We did like the fondant, surprisingly tasty.

We were really happy with the service we received at Granite Bridal. We were originally interested in another bakery, which will remained unnamed, that completely ignored us when we went to talk to them. Granite immediately sat us down, no appointment necessary, handed us a book of cake pictures, and started bringing out samples.

We had a design in mind when we came in. I showed them the pictures, and they were confident that they could recreate it.

Credits: I apologize, but when I started gathering the above photos, I wasn't paying much attention to where they came from or who took them. I can tell you that the Top Row, second from the left is from David Michael Photography and made by Rosebud Cakes; second from the right is by Michael Dwornik; far right, La Tulipe Desserts; Bottom second from left, by Granite Bridal; far right by Martha Stewart Weddings; the center and second from the right are from Style Me Pretty.

Geaux Tigers!

The only thing better than watching the LSU Tigers beat the Buckeyes in the National Championship game is watching it with 12 or so friends and 13 1/2 quarts of gumbo. We were worried after the first couple plays, but that didn't last long. Neither did the gumbo . . .

Dream America

"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one that the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the president knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."

The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), 1975.

Andy Warhol 1978


This was the last weekend of the Andy Warhol exhibit at the UMFA. Even though Andy Warhol is not my favorite Pop Artist, I am intrigued by the philosophy and purpose of the Pop Art movement: to make art accessible to the masses by incorporating popular culture into the artwork. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see such an impressive collection in Utah. I roped my friend Patty into going with me. We spent hours debating over which Marilyn was our favorite. Seriously though, we did spend a lot of time comparing the different pieces and reading about his philosophy and how his art changed from the time he started painting. It was fascinating.

1976
1967

The following quote struck us both, "Everybody has their own America, and then they have pieces of a fantasy America that they think is out there but they can't see. . . . But you can only live life in one place at a time. And your own life while it's happening to you never has any atmosphere until it's a memory." America, 1985

Kiss the Girl

It is so depressing to put away all the ornaments and lights and to throw the Christmas tree to the curb. After all the planning and building up to it, there is almost a period of mourning when it is over. While I was trying to fit all the ornaments in the box, I saved our new ornament for last. Each year Rod and I get a new ornament for the tree. Last year we got two cute monkeys hanging on each other: "Bananas For You". This year I wasn't able to go out with Rod to pick out the ornament. He brought back a Little Mermaid ornament: "Kiss the Girl". It seemed fitting since we have a pretty important kiss in our near future.

You know it has been a good party when . . .

Welcome 2008

They" say that how you ring in the new year sets the tone for the rest of year. I have feeling this year is going to be very memorable. :) The night started off mellow enough. Our good friends Carrie and Joel came over to help us get things started. Within two hours, the house was packed, the champagne was freely flowing, and some of my co-workers and friends were tossing chocolates at each other's cleavage. By the time midnight struck, the party was (of course) in full swing. In the mess of champagne, noise blowers, and singing, Rod and I found each other for our New Year's kiss.

2007 in Review

What an incredible year!

Resolutions for next year:

1) Be better at keeping in touch with friends. I have been so lucky to have many wonderful people in my life. Last year got so busy with work and planning the wedding. I was bad at making time to see everyone. This year, I am going to make more of an effort to spend with my friends. I realize that work is always going to be there (and hopefully my friends will be there too). I need to make time now.



2) Each Earth Day, Rod and I make a committment to do one thing that will improve our environment. This year, I decided to make my committment early. For the last year, I have been bringing home my water bottles from work to recycle. This year, I am not going to recycle water bottles, I'm going to bring my nalgene bottle to work rather than waste the bottles in the first place.


Photo by Rich Pedroncelli for Associated Press
Americans throw away 60 million bottles per day.

3) Get stronger. Last summer I got a road bike and, by the end of the season, I could get up Millcreek Canyon. This winter, I am going to take up skate skiing so I can start out the biking season strong. I am also going to try to ride my bike to work more and I have promised myself that I will do at least one mountain bike race (even if I get my butt kicked).



4) Be healthier. Rod and I are both pretty active and eat healthy food. We try to avoid preservatives and buy local, organic foods as often as possible. This year, I would like to focus on other aspects of our health both mental and physical. Specifically, I need to moisturize more often, drink more water, and get monthly facials and massages (for mental health really). I would also like to incorporate more weightlifting into my workout routine.