Shantel & Tom

Less than twelve hours after arriving home from Ireland, we headed to Seattle to attend Shantel's wedding. One of the first memories I have of Shantel is at a barbeque, after which she asked me if she could get a ride. I said yes and asked her where she wanted to go, "It doesn't matter. I just need someone to drive me 19 miles from here so I can run back." (She was training for a marathon). I thought, then, "this girl is crazy!" And I was completely right. When I think of all the crazy things we have done together, I can't help but smile. During law school, we spent nearly every weekend hitting the clubs--usually in Park City and usually ending up at some random house party. On breaks, we would hit the road to NYC, Vegas, Santa Barbara/Solvang, Seattle, Moab to Alberquerque, wherever. Each trip ended up even crazier than the last.

It wasn't all about having a wild time, though. During our first year at law school, Shantel practically lived with me and my roommate Mark, entertaining us with her Korean puppet shows. The second year, I practically lived with Shantel and her roommate Mark (Mark liked to get around) and, although Shantel and I were not moot court partners (Mark was actually my partner), we spent the most of our time together. Then third year, Shantel moved in with me. It made sense since we already spent so much of our time together. I can't even begin to count the number of nights we spent over a bottle of wine.

Her wedding was very elegant. And it was so apparent how much Tom loves her. He started tearing up when Shantel started walking down the aisle. I don't think there was a dry female eye in the house after that. The tables were topped with leaf wrapped vases and pretty pink orchids. The food was probably the best wedding food I have ever had. It was a full spread of gourmet appetizers and lamb shanks. They were passing around champagne with Frangelico (so Yummy!) and Chambord all night. I was tipsy after two, but that didn't stop me.

Our weekend didn't stop there either. When we first arrived in town, Shantel invited us to the rehearsal dinner. It was such a unique restaurant. There is no menu. The chef comes around to talk to you about what you like and dislike, then he comes back with a wonderful surprise. It is perfect for people like me who can never make up there minds.

The next day, before the wedding, Rod and I met up with Tracy and Dave to grab lunch at Pike's Place and check out the Seattle Art Museum. I can never get enough of all the great food at Pike's Place. Although I love modern art and have been to Seattle many times, I have never been to the SAM. I don't know what I was waiting for. It was fabulous! The exhibit started with a full size Ford in various stages of flipping. There were a lot of familiar artists--a few of my favorites--and even more new ones I had never heard of. I think Rod and I both liked Some/One by Do Ho-Suh, and the Titus Kaphar exhibit the most. Some/One is a coat made entirely out of dog tags, each of which represents a soldier who has died. Even though the coat is in the center of a large room, it fills almost the entire space. Titus Kaphar recreates fine art masterpieces and then reconfigures them to tell an alternate history. For example, one painting--A Conversation Between Paintings--he cuts out the picture of a little boy looking adoringly at a white soldier and superimposes the boy on a painting of a black soldier, which were traditionally depicted alone in paintings.

The next day after the wedding, we went to a barbeque on Lake Washington. It was so fun spending the whole day catching up with old friends and meeting Shantel's new family and friends. Afterwards, we went to Shantel and Tom's place. We had planned on going out, but were having so much fun just hanging out that we ended up just ordering pizza.

Sunday, we all had brunch at the Elysian Brewery, before saying our goodbyes and heading back to SLC.

Congratulations Shantel! I am so happy for you.

Ireland, but not really

I've been trying to narrow down the pictures I should use in a single post about Ireland, but the task is just too hard. Rather than make you wait until December to hear about what is going on with us, I'm going to (gasp) just skip Ireland. Well, kinda. I will do a full write up on my travel blog: http://www.whereisqt.blogspot.com/. Until then, you will have to settle for this:

As a part-Christmas, part-Birthday, part-Anniversary present, I took Rod to Europe (for the first time!). We spent 11 whirlwind days making a counter-clockwise trip around Ireland.

The highlights were spending time with our friends--Kara, Colby, Flannery, and Finnegan--exploring Howth and Dublin.

spending a night on the wrong side (depending on who you ask) of town in Belfast,

the Coastline,

(Giant's Causeway)

randomly ending up in the front row of a David Gray concert in Galway,

riding our bikes around the Aran Islands,
the Coastline, (Cliffs of Moher)

Dingle Peninsula,

Spending my birthday in the most incredible bed and breakfast




the Castles.
And did I mention the Coastline?

Ireland was so beautiful, but cold. It is the only trip that I've ever come back from whiter than I left. :) Everything was so green--in shades that I've never seen. It fully lived up to its Emerald Isle reputation. July is supposed to be its warmest month, but it never got above 65 degrees.






The Guiness deserves its own paragraph. If you can believe it, it tastes even better in Ireland. It was silky smooth, great for cutting the grease from all the fish-and-chips and full Irish breakfasts, which include bacon and sausage, eggs, tomatoes, two types of bread, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and cereal.



All of this completely made up for the fact that they drive on the wrong side of a very narrow road, the overabundance of fried foods, and turning 29.

Mellie, Book Club, and other Random things before heading to Ireland

In the weeks leading up to Ireland, we did so much that it's hard to remember everything. There were a few book clubs--Book Club #3: Round 2 of "Animal Vegetable Miracle," which I still haven't read, and Book Club #2: "All the Pretty Horses," which I loved. We met the summer associates and Clay Parr (the Parr of Parr Brown) for dinner at Porcupine--our favorite pub.

One of my best friends from law school, Miss Mellie, celebrated her 30th Birthday. Nici, the hostess, threw a fabulous bash complete with pinatas, Carluccis, and We Take the Cake. The cake, flown in from Florida, was to die for. I can see why it's one of Oprah's favorite things. I actually (discretely) licked my plate.

Stacia and Dave were there with their adorable son. I have a weakness for redheads. I tried to sneak him home, but I didn't get very far before Stacia noticed. :)

One Year!

Wow--365 days of marital bliss. I can hardly believe that it has already been a year since our wedding! There have been so many days where I think about how lucky I am to have Rod and I just want to pinch myself.

Because we were both so busy trying to get out of the office (for our two week trip to Ireland), we celebrated our Anniversary in pieces over a series of days. We started on Friday with dinner at our favorite restaurant: Wahso. The food was (is always) unbelievable! I can't remember the exact menu now, but we started with some fancy app, had banana-wrapped halibut and duck for our entrees. Rather than eating our freezer-burned cake (we didn't even bother saving it), we had our bakery recreate our wedding cake for us. Our waiter was happy to serve it to us for dessert. After all the sake and good food, we wandered around the lively streets of Park City, found a Halloween costume for Rod, and got our picture taken with a moose.

We exchanged gifts that night too. I got a Kindle! Thanks honey! I. LOVE. IT. I got Rod a gift card for an iPhone (the 32 GB) and my promise to switch to AT&T. This may be the (second) biggest committment I have ever made. I have had my number for over a decade. In addition to the disposable electronics, we gave each other sentimental gifts. :) For our paper anniversary, I made him a photobook of our first year and he had one of our wedding invitations framed.

On Saturday, we took Rumba for a hike to Dog Lake. The weather was great; the sky was bluebird blue. All of us were a little sore afterwards. That trail is so much faster on a bike!

Then on Sunday, our actual anniversary, we both had to work during the day. But I surprised Rod with candlelight of his favorite burger place: Five Guys Burger and Fries.

It was a cozy way to end our weekend.

But the fun didn't stop there. The next night, Monday, we went to Utah's best concert venue (Red Butte Gardens) for one of my favorite recent bands: Death Cab for Cutie. It was one of the happiest nights I can remember. We cuddled. We danced. The weather was perfect. I almost started crying when they closed the encore with "Transatlanticism." I was overwhelmed with joy when Rod pulled me close and whispered "I want you so much closer . . . ." Does life get any better?

Independence Day

Call me weird, but the Fourth of July is my absolute favorite holiday. The Fourths of my childhood were filled with getting up early to get a good spot for the parade (and, later in life, competing in the parades); having all day barbeques with my family; heading to the Greenbelt, where you see everyone you know and meet others, all while watching "the best fireworks this side of the Mississippi"; and then heading out with friends to set off our own fireworks, play with sparklers (my favorite), and make s'mores. I love it!

Although it wasn't the Fourth of my childhood, our Fourth of July weekend was jam-packed. Friday night we went with some work friends to the Real Salt Lake v. San Jose Earthquakes game. It was quite tame compared to the last soccer game I watched. :) It is such a strange sport. One of the most important skills seems to be acting. It is also the only sport I know where tieing feels as good as winning. After our victorious tie (coming from behind to even the score during the make up time), we all snuck on the grass for the VIP show, which included David Osmond and other teen pop stars I had never heard of. I was much more impressed by the fireworks show.


On Saturday, the actual Fourth of July, we went to a BBQ at my BFF CarleyAnne's house. Her baby J. is so freakin' adorable and Carley is such a cute mom. I made a strawberry and blueberry trifle to be festive.

After dinner, we headed to Jeremy and Leslie's to watch the Sugarhouse fireworks. The most amusing part of the night was watching the little kids go crazy over sparklers and the little fire crackers in the street.