Going Private

As much fun as I have had recording the details of my life on this blog, for personal reasons (mainly lack of time), I will be changing the format of the blog and making it private. Starting on April 15, I will only be posting photos and captions. Also, on that date, I will make this blog private. If you would still like to access this blog, you will need to email me for the password. You can also comment on this link and I will send a password to you.

August

The last week of July and first few weeks of August just flew. I was working a ton to get ready for my upcoming leave of absence.

During that time, I had a book club at Cristina's house in Layton, got locked up for Muscular Dystrophy,

went to the Steers and Beers Parr Brown party at Ken and Julia Tilou's house, had friends and family come to town,



had friends over for dinner,



went to the Mary Chapin Carpenter


and Chris Isaak

concerts at Red Butte Gardens, and just spent as much time with Rod as I could.


I left for Los Angeles on August 19. Just days before, Rod announced that he was coming with me to LA. I was ecstatic to have a few more days with him (especially to have ones that would not be interrupted by work). We stayed with his Uncle Eddie, who was the ultimate host. He took us all over Los Angeles to the best bars, restaurants, and shopping centers.

Mario Lopez

Flaming drinks

Other than a very strange taxi experience from Redondo beach to Los Angeles (our driver, a rapper moonlighting as a cab driver, tried to convert us to Islam), we had a blast, and cannot wait to go back to visit Eddie. It killed me to say goodbye to Rod. Three months is SO long! I'm torn between wanting the time to fly by so that I can be with Rod again soon and wanting it to last as long as possible because Africa is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Back to the 80s and Turning 30

For my 30th Birthday, Rod threw a Back to the 80's Party. This theme was perfect not only because I was born in 1980, but also because I HEART everything 80s (well . . . except big bangs, which I could never figure out). I have all of the brat pack movies and have more music from the 80s than any other decade. Sadly, I didn't even have to buy most of the clothes that I wore to the party. I did get my hair done, though. I have no ability to get my hair to go that high.

A lot of people showed up in some really great costumes.




My birthday cake was a tower of hostess snack cakes.

Rod even donned a mohawk and Slayer t-shirt.
The night was filled with 80s music and even fireworks (okay, so those were for the other big holiday-Pioneer Day).

On Sunday, my actual birthday, I did something I have wanted to do for a very long time: skydiving! I was truly scared stiff. While we were in the plane, I could not breath. The guy who was flying with me told me that the scariest part is stepping out of the plane. "Yeah right! What about the freefall?" He said that part wasn't scary. I thought he was just saying that so that I would be less scared--it didn't work--but he was right. After we stepped out, everything seemed to slow down. There was no "my stomach is my throat" feeling. It was just peaceful. It is hard to describe, but I LOVED it! I will definitely go again.






Cynthia went with me, and I was so glad that she was there. Cristina, her mom, and Rod were all there to support us the entire time. After the big event, we had lunch at Red Iguana with our friends and then Rod and I headed to Dave and Inga's house for some pool time.



It was the perfect way to spend my 30th Birthday: paying tribute to the past, but still trying new things and savouring the present. Let's see if I am as optomistic for my 40th. :)

Almost there . . .

Rod was out of town for work during most of the week leading up to my 30th birthday. While he was away, I went with friends to the first Twilight (Free) Concert of the year. It was Modest Mouse, one of my favorite bands. The new venue, Pioneer Park, was packed! and a bit scary. The concert was great, though.




The next night, I took dinner (from Sages) over to Clem and Joanna, who recently became parents to the irresitable Little Zee. She was making the most adorable faces!







Rod was sad that he missed it.

2 Years! +

You may have noticed that my last post did not mention the fact that it was our 2-year anniversary. Although that weekend should have been our anniversary weekend, we decided to celebrate with the family and friends that were in town and to celebrate with just the two of us over the course of the next week.

On Monday, our actual 2-year anniversary, Rod brought me flowers.
On Tuesday, we went for a bike ride near Parley's Summitt with Ari, Patty, Alex, and Seth, and were invited to dinner at Seth's place--a real treat since Seth is the executive chef at the RiverHorse in Park City--afterwards.

On Wednesday, we went to a Red Butte concert--Lyle Lovett and his Large Band!--with our good friends, Megan and Dasche.

I just couldn't help sneaking a photo of the girl below. The company clearly did not understand what HooHas are. :)

On Friday, we spent nearly four hours eating and drinking at our new favorite restaurant, Forage. I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. The atmosphere was very intimate with only a handful of other tables. Reservations are a must. The food was the single-best meal I have ever had in my entire life. The menu has two different options: a three-course tasting menu or a full tasting. The number of courses on the full tasting varies depending on the chefs' moods. For us, the full tasting had 13 courses! Each one was fantastic and all of them were made with locally grown ingredients, including vegetables out of the restaurant's own garden.

Our menu included:

Amuses

Asparagus croquette

Soft boiled egg with maple and sherry cream (seriously the best thing I have ever tasted)

Potted carrot

Penn Cove Mussels with tomato confit

Zucchini Risotto without rice

Fresh house made cheese

Vegetables and herbs of the season

slow cooked wild sockeye salmon

Local Rabbit roasted with juniper, young beets, and pickled cherries

Beef tasting with dry aged prime strip loin and lightly smoked tenderloin

Melon sorbet

Frozen rasberry with yogurt crumble

Carmelized white chocolate mousse

And, after all that, they sent us home with cookies.

We spent the whole dinner talking about what an amazing year it had been. It is hard to believe that two years has passed so quickly. I am constantly amazed by Rod, and the love I feel for him is sometimes overwhelming. He is constantly thinking of little things to do for me to let me know that he is thinking about me. He always saves the last bite for me. Even when we are doing something mundane, like the dishes, our song will come on and he will grab my hand and start to dance. We have a hard time falling asleep together because we cannot stop talking to each other. Everything I do is more fun because he is there. I do not know how I got to be so lucky! But I am so glad that I have Rod in my life.

As our gift to each other for our "cotton anniversary" we had our vows calligraphied on cotton paper, which we will eventually have framed with one of our wedding photos. For our less traditional presents, I got Rod a smoker and he got me the new Adobe Creative Suite. Yay!

The next day, we had a BBQ up Millcreek Canyon to celebrate Cynthia's birthday.

It was at this event that Cynthia and I cooked up our crazy plan for my 30th Birthday--Skydiving! After the BBQ, we went to Patty's parent's house, to spend some more time with Ari and Patty before they took off.

That Sunday, we had a play date with Tobin and Diana and their adorable children, Kaira and Archer. I went with them to the Fairmont Aquatic Center. Kaira and Archer are little fish. They loved the pool, and we had a great time. After the pool, we came back to our house, where Rod had been manning the smoker, preparing a wonderful pulled-pork meal. We finished it off with our Anniversary Cake.

Archer's Crazy Eyes

Anniversary Cake

The whole week, and the year for that matter, was wonderful. I can't wait to see what year three has in store for us.

Sundance

Although we had not fully recovered from our Fourth of July extravaganza, we plunged headfirst into the second weekend of July. We were fully booked and had very few moments to ourselves. Of course, we loved every minute of it.

On Friday, we headed to Sundance for the annual summer associate overnight trip. Alison B. and I were in charge of planning the trip, and after the Fantastiks disaster last year, we were stoked to find out that Sundance was hosting a BlueBird Cafe on July 8. The BlueBird Cafe is a cafe in Nashville where many of coutry music's hottest stars and songwriters (including Garth Brooks and Faith Hill) have gotten their start. The night we were there, Pat Alger, Tony Arata, and Roxie Dean were there. I had never heard of any of these people, but I was surprised and pleased when I realized that they had written some of my favorite country music songs--Pat Alger's rendition of "The Thunder Rolls" was chilling. The experience was very unique and surprising. Rod and I definitely plan on going back next year.






Before the show, we had dinner at the Tree Room, which remains one of my favorite restaurants in Utah. After the show, some of the summers, other attorneys, and I shut down the Owl Bar. At first we were just having drinks on the patio, but when it started pouring, we moved the party indoors. We did not plan to stay long, but then we started listening to the band. The lead singer, a mesmerizing girl who seemed to play every instrument as well, had on a shirt that said "Soak Your Meat in This." The mystery was soon explained, their band was called Marinade. The girl was so intense, it was impossible to take your eyes off of her or to not want to dance.

Despite the late night, we got up early the next morning to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to SLC to meet up with Jayde and Ryan, who were in town for the weekend. While they were there, we went from shelter to pet store in search of the perfect dog for Jordan. In the end, we found Olivia ("Livvie") at a very secretive shelter that rescues dogs from puppy mills. The experience was heartbreaking. So many of the puppies in that shelter had been damaged by the poor conditions at the puppy mills. A pug was blinded in one eye from a wire in its cage, another little dog dragged its legs behind it. I had to go outside to stop crying. At the end of the day, though, we went home happy. We gave Livvie a bath and she was so scared and shaking, she wouldn't go to anyone but me. Now she has that same attachment to Bug.





Sunday, after Jayde and Ryan left, we headed to Alex's house for a party for Ari and Patty. Ari and Patty are some of our best friends, but since they have moved to Philadelphia (Ari is in dental school), we almost never get to see them. It was such a treat to have them here (and we did not want to let them go).