Washington DC: Days Three and Four

For me, Monday was the start of the National Bike Summit. While I spent my morning taking a quick bike ride to National Geographic Society to check out their bike facilities for employees, Em did some roaming by herself along the Mall. Since I had a break between noon and 2:30, I reserved Capitol Building Tour tickets for us at 12:30.

That morning I read the back of the ticket, where it noted that ticket-holders should arrive thirty to forty-five minutes early to get through security. My ride was supposed to return to our hotel at noon. I gave Em the tickets and told her to meet met at the Capitol Visitor Center and I'd do my best to get there on time.

The ride got back to the hotel earlier than planned! So I dropped off my bike and made off like a bandit headed for the Capitol (about a mile and a half away). I did a mixture of running, jogging and walking fast to get there in time to pass security and make our tour time. It's downhill and flat...until I arrived at the Capitol. At that point, it's an uphill climb to get to the Visitor Center. I finally made it and met up with Em at the entrance, where we made it through security in about two minutes. We were actually there in enough time to make the noon tour group!

We went straight from the Capitol to the Library of Congress through the underground tunnel (to avoid going through security again!). The Library of Congress is the most beautiful building I have every seen! I could not stop marveling at the ornate beauty of the main hall and the adjoining rooms.

I made my way back to our hotel for Summit stuff while Em did stuff on her own. We spent our night resting from all the walking by watching The Voice in our hotel room.

Day two started, for me, with a bike ride to National Public Radio. This was the coolest thing ever. NPR is practically all I listen to and I get most of my news from them. We were shown the indoor bike parking and the showers for employees. We then got to tour the newsroom! Sigh. It was awesome.

Em was off doing her own thing. She possibly saw the President drive by. She checked out a couple of the Smithsonian Museums. I didn't see Em again until about five, when we met up to meet our cousin after work. Scott works in DC and lives in Virginia. We stayed with them when I left NYC in 2009 and Em was out to help me move back to SLC. We met up with Scott at his usual bus stop near his work and rode the bus with him back to Virginia. We had dinner with him and his family and it was great to hang out with them! They live far away from most family (I might be the closest in Texas; most everyone is in Idaho), but Em and I are their second-most frequent visitors!

Scott and Nanette dropped us off at the train station (yay for public transit!) and we made our back to our hotel in DC.

Old Foto Friday

Since today is my cousin Rachel's birthday, it seems fitting I start my Old Foto Friday again with a picture of us at Snow College. Of course we were always cousins, but while at Snow we became friends. This is us one evening dancing in our living room. Fall 2001.

No, that is not a mark on Rach's face; it's left over sticky stuff from when a photo with tape on it was stuck to this one.

Old Foto Friday

I love this picture. It was our first semester at Snow College, September 2001, and we were all living on our own away from home for the first time. This is a night that the power went out, and we decided to make hot chocolate and show off our cool mugs--Rachel's from New York, mine and Lindsay's were ones we painted at ourselves at a ceramic place in Pocatello.

 Rachel just had a baby girl last week, and Lindsay-loo is coming up on her sixth wedding anniversary. And I live in Topeka (no kids, no husband).

Snow Patrol Concert

I'm finally free to do what I want on the weekends instead of slaving away on homework (although I actually still have one more presentation, but it isn't due til Thursday....so it can wait!). I totally slept in and did nothing until getting read to attend Baby Dane's Dr. Seuss-themed First Birthday Party. It was super cute and fun, and Pam did a great job with the food and decorations.

Then it was off to The Depot to check out Snow Patrol with cousin Phaedra. Her original companion was stuck in Idaho with car troubles, and her loss became my gain. When Phaedra texted me I immediately said yes, eager to get out and enjoy a Saturday with no homework!

I must admit the only Snow Patrol songs I know are the ones on the radio (and that one from that episode of The Vampire Diaries). When "Chasing Cars" was crazy popular how ever many years ago I got sick of its overplay and decided I didn't like Snow Patrol. But when I went on a Snow Patrol song-listening crash course before the concert, I realized some of their songs I liked from hearing on the radio but just didn't know it was them.

I'm also a fan of live music and concerts and believe that even if you don't know the band it'll still be a good time. Snow Patrol put on a great show! I loved it!! There's just something about hearing music that is so awesome. Lead singer Gary Lightbody is incredibly charismatic and an amazing singer. I've never seen a person so genuinely happy to be doing what their doing; most lead singers are just reciting banter they say during every show or are overly manic (I'm looking at you Billie Joe!) but Gary seemed to be completely himself. He'd get this happy smile on his face in between singing lines while he looked out on the audience.

They even sang my discovered-that-day favorite song, "New York." It was awesome. They definitely have a new fan.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween I was a flapper. It was a ton of fun wearing fishnet stockings, a feather headband, pearls, and red lipstick. Friday at work tons of people were dressed up, and my co-worker was 1st place in the costume contest for her truly scary zombie makeup and clothing. I basically ate food and walked around for most of the day, and even got to sit in one of our auditoriums and watch the full-length version of Thriller with popcorn to boot! It was quite awesome.

Saturday my sister and I headed up to my cousin's house in Bountiful for their Costume party. This was rather momentous because Emily dressed up, too!! She hates Halloween and everything associated with it. I can't seem to find my camera, but I have pictures to prove that she dressed up. My cousins Phaedra and Marilyn put on an awesome party with prizes, games, food and entertainment. Check out both their accounts of the night to see pictures. Thanks for a fun night!

Friday Night With Cousins

Friday night, before heading to Abravanel Hall to check out some awesome music, I stopped at Temple Square to check out the blooming tulips. It was gorgeous and peaceful and magical and lovely. The smell of the pink, purple, yellow and red tulips permeated the entire area, mixing beautifully with the serene surroundings.













Then it was onto some classical music with my cousins. Phaedra has season tickets to the symphony, but sometimes she gets VIP tickets from her dad's boss, which was the case last night. She invited two of the coolest people she knows, me, of course, and our cousin Eric, who has been in Japan the past year or so teaching English. He has been everywhere (thanks to an early-out with the airline he worked for and getting to fly for free) and has even rode an elephant!

The music was the piano concerto no. 2 by Saint-Saens, a composer born in Paris who I had never heard of. It was amazing. After the first few bars, Phaedra and I looked at each other with a knowing glance of, "Oh yeah, this is awesome and I love it!" It ended all too soon, with a stunning finale of piano and orchestra combining to create an ending of 'fiery virtuoso'.

As always, I was moved by the music and reawakened my long-lost dream of being part of an orchestra making beautiful music for the masses. I'm glad that even though my skills are lacking, there are people out there whose skills are most definitely not lacking and they choose to share them with me.

A Concert with Cousins (And a Sister)

Thursday night I rocked out to Daughtry with Emily and my cousins Phaedra and Marilyn. I got to the concert late and missed the opening opening act of Cavo. I have class Thursday nights, and I must admit that when I left class to make my way to the concert a few minutes away, I wasn't in the mood for rocking out or talking with people. I was frustrated with my class and my inability to figure out my final project and felt like even though I aced my tests, I was having serious problems converting that knowledge to actual map making.

But I arrived, mere moments before Lifehouse went on stage. These guys' biggest hit, for me anyway, was Hanging By a Moment, which came out at least ten years ago because I was in high school. I had the song (illegally) downloaded from Napster and it was ubiquitous on the radio. And I remember the video that played on VH1 and MTV because the lead singer had some awful hair that veered dangerously close to being called the "butt-crack" hair cut. At any rate, they fell off my radar years ago. But they put on a good show, rocked out, sang their most famous hit, and did what an opening band is supposed to: get us ready for the show.

Then it was Daughtry, the real reason everyone came to the concert. This guy somehow didn't win American Idol when he had the fortune of being on it, but that really doesn't seem to matter as he has an amazing career, credibility, a good voice, and two number one records. Also, his music appeals to a large base of people.

Even though I don't own any of their cds and wouldn't call them my favorite music, I do love most of their radio hits. Daughtry sings with a lot of emotion about important things-- mainly love, getting your heart mashed, and love. He's very fond of equating his love for someone with dying, which is sort of how you feel sometimes. My favorite song was performed, Over You, and it really was powerful. When he sings, "I got over you," it's with such emotion and, honestly, a little bit of anger, that I really feel it.

By the end of the night I was really feeling the music and the energy of the crowd (although some of them decided to leave before the encore. There's always an encore people). It was an awesome night, and made me remember that there's something about musicians that is totally hot and infatuating.

Jazz Game: A New Thanksgiving Tradition

My usual Thanksgiving tradition, besides turkey, cheese rolls, and pie, is going to see a movie. This isn't a long-standing tradition; I've probably only been doing it the past four years or so. This year, though, the Jazz had a home game on Thanksgiving, and my mom and sister (along with my cousin Phaedra) have season tickets. So I put my movie tradition on hold for a day to attend the Jazz game with my my mom, sister, brother, nieces, nephew, and cousins.


















All the kids have their own jersey and looked so cute all dressed up for the game. It was all little Mo could talk about from the moment he woke up on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, he refused to take a nap before the late-starting game and ended up like this during the fourth quarter:

And to mark the momentous gathering of cousins, we took this picture to send to Grandma. Jared bought his jersey that night so he wouldn't be out of place, Marilyn was forced into buying the Jazz jacket she's sporting, and Phaedra bought the Men's Medium shirt for Karen all so when Grandma shows it to visitors we look good.

A Cadre of Cousins

That's my brother Jared, cousin Phaedra, me, cousin Marilyn, sister Emily, and cousin Karen. we are pretty awesome. It was a super fun night.

Koat Drive

No, that is not a misspelling. There was a coat drive tonight at the Jazz game hosted by one Kyle Korver. I don't know if you've heard, but apparently he's pretty cute. All the girls in Utah have gone crazy over him, including my sister and cousin. They enjoy basketball anyway, but having Korver on the team makes them enjoy it that much more. My cousin Phaedra spends most of the game looking through her binoculars checking out KK's every move. They are avid fans and cannot understand why I'm not in the same boat with them. They were sure that when I saw him up close tonight, the reward for donating a coat for Korver's annual Coat Drive, I would immediately see that I had been crazy and join their obsession.

Last year, Phaedra said she nearly hyperventilated when she got up to the table. This year she was much better, but was visibly nervous as we stood in line. When her moment finally came, she handed him her matted picture to sign (which cost more for her to ship to get here in time than the photo itself cost), he said, "Sure, no problem," when she asked to take his picture, and then it was over. She handed her camera to me afterward to take a picture and her hands were shaking!

Emily and Phaedra with their signing pictures, and me with nothing (he had 4x6 photos there for those who aren't obsessed).














Well, I'm still not on the Korver train. Sorry ladies. It's not that I think he's ugly, he's handsome and nice and has a slight midwest accent, but he's just not my cup of tea. Perhaps if he could grow some facial hair, but until then, my only interest in him is when he's playing on the court and helping the Jazz win. And really, I'm just glad that some little girl will get to wear a super cute coat this winter because of the Korver Coat Drive.

A Concerto and a Symphony

For a couple weeks I had been hearing commercials on the radio for the Brahms Piano Concerto at Abravanal Hall. My cousin Phaedra, who has season tickets to the Utah Symphony, came through as she always does with a ticket for me. The show was amazing! I don't know a lot about classical music, I don't know the difference between a concerto and a symphony, I don't know what a Maestoso or Adagio or Rondo is; I have no idea what's going on most of the time. But I do know the way the music makes me feel and the grand power of it all; I know that I can be deeply moved by the sound of a violin, a triangle, a piano, a cello, and the entire orchestra working together to create something beautiful. I have a secret dream of being a great musician and playing violin with an orchestra in a grand hall. Unfortunately, my musical talents were thrown by the wayside when I stopped taking piano in junior high school. So for now I'll just have to be content with experiencing the talents of others.

Courtside Photo Shoot

My mom, sister, and cousin are Jazz season ticket holders. Along with getting to attend all home games (and becoming quite obsessed...in a good way) there's a multitude of other perks only available to the season ticket holder. Tonight it was getting to take pictures in the empty arena (the Jazz were away in Dallas losing their second straight) with life-size player cardboard cutouts.

We brought along the grandkids, and they had tons of fun just running around the court and playing with the empty chairs. How often will they get to do that?! Very cool. Heck, I was even slightly in awe of being in the middle of the Jazz court. Granted, it was empty, but still a cool experience.

So here's a few pics from the night. I didn't have my camera that night (of all the time to forget it) so thanks to Phaedra for letting me use hers; my mom and sister are unfortunately slightly camera-picture-transferring-to-computer-to-email-to-people deficient.



Aren't they adorable in their Jazz jerseys, posin' with the ball. They're such cheeseballs, especially Moses. He would pose and say cheese with every photo taken.

And I just couldn't resist posing myself...

Apple Pickin' On a Perfect Fall Day

Today was the perfect weather for apple picking. If it weren't for the brightly colored trees to signify that it was fall, one would have thought it was spring, or even summer, with the 70 degree temperatures. Phaedra and I drove south to Provo to the McMullin Farms to get some apples. We were a little curious why there weren't any other cars on the small road to the orchard. It seems that it's not the usual, commercialized version of an apple-picking-orchard. We were actually afraid we were trespassing as we parked and walked around the trees. We finally saw a man with a tractor and asked if we were allowed to pick. He gave us the a-okay and we filled up my bag with beautiful, delicious, red apples.

Afterward, as we wanted to finish off the perfect fall day with some cider and perhaps a caramel apple or cinnamon roll, but needing some actual real food first, we headed over to the Arby's/gas station combo and "kicked it in Payson." It's amazing how exciting Payson....isn't.

We went to Winder Dairy, but unfortunately, no apple cider until closer to Christmas, so we settled for soft serve ice cream in a waffle cone. I also made out like a bandit with bread and a bag of bananas for 99 cents each!! I'm hoping to make some banana bread once they start to get brown and to make something with all the apples I now have sitting in my kitchen. Does anyone know any good apple recipes?

A Post for Phaedra

I was slightly chastised by my cousin for not blogging enough lately; normally my blog is on the top of her reading list but lately it has been falling in recentness. To slightly help explain, let me just say that after moving into my recent housing settlement I immediately felt like it wasn't right and tried my hardest to do things after work to avoid having to go home until absolutely possible. But that doesn't mean I didn't have things I wanted to blog about; I started a couple posts but abandoned them when I felt like my writing skills were slightly on the fritz.

Some of the things I was going to write about: time management, the first Jazz pre-season game, attending the blessing of my cousin's new baby girl, family dynamics (check out my new blog dedicated to The Perkes Girls), the irony of me getting a job at Myriad Genetics when in high school I wanted to be a geneticist before taking a film class my first semester at Snow College, the dating coach that spoke at my Singles Ward FHE and my own quest to be proactive in dating (check out my other blog project, The Cat and Julie Project), getting to 3 Nephi 22 again in my reading and remembering how comforting it was three years ago when I read it in the Conference Center waiting for conference to start, identifying with the lyrics of Yellowcard's Back Home while riding TRAX, and my newest obsession (and waste of time), Farmville.

Since I don't like blogging about things that are long past, let me start my blogging re-energization(that might not be a word; Firefox doesn't recognize it, so hopefully Phaedra won't be upset if it's spelled wrong) by telling you, oh faithful readers, about my attempt later today to make Pumpkin Lasagna for my family. I saw the recipe on MSN and thought it would be a great way to celebrate the fall season. I bought all the ingredients yesterday, including my first-ever purchase of chard, and will be starting to make it shortly. Updates, and pictures, to follow...

What I Learned at the State Fair

Pigs are awesome, and not just because they give us bacon, ham, and hot dogs, but because they also help save lives,

have cute little piglets,

and sleep like this.

I also learned that in Utah they call their scones Elephant Ears (in Idaho they're Tiger Ears), even though the worlds smallest woman has no bones and is part snake she will still talk to you, 4H girls and boys can do amazing things, cow auctions are very interesting, and if you want an imminent storm to somehow not produce rain go with someone who is experiencing their very first Fair.

Good Seats, Great Concerts

Sunday. Green Day Concert. My cousin Phaedra and I present our tickets to the ticket-taker. Told our tickets cannot be accepted and we need to go to the Box Office. Nervousness. Bewilderment. Box Office agent proceeds to exchange our upper bowl seats for two in the lower bowl. Complete Awesomeness.

Monday. Sundance Outdoor Theater at the Sundance Resort. My cousin Phaedra and I arrive five minutes before scheduled start time. General admission. No blankets. All seating not on grass seems to be full. We find spot big enough for two... six rows up, dead center. Perfect. Play starts shortly thereafter.

So the Green Day concert was awesome, and not just because of our great seats. For my first Green Day concert, my brother, his wife, and I bought tickets. Months later when the concert arrived, brother and wife were divorced. Both still went. I sat in the middle. Talk about awkward. So this go around was a little bit better.

Green Day came on around nine and played for a good two, two and half hours. For that amount of time, they surprisingly didn't play a lot of songs (considering they've been around since '94 and have released 6 cds). Most of the stage time was for Billie Joe and his manic stage presence/antics; he enjoyed pulling people from the crowd (which he did about four times), making his mom come on stage from her seat in the arena (which was actually kinda cool), insisting on making us sing "Hey, ohhhh" with him between every song, and using a supersoaker and toilet-paper gun on the pit audience.



But I completely enjoyed it. Going to a concert should be a different experience than just listening to a cd, and this was. There was pyrotechnics, Billie Joe's aforementioned stage show, lights, and, yes, the music. I've never given Billie Joe much credit as a singer, assuming that a lot of it was made in the studio, but I was really impressed with him; he has a lot more singing talent that was showcased during the concert than I ever thought.





The next night we went up to the Sundance Resort and with the backdrop of mountains and sky watched a performance of The Fantasticks. I had no clue what it was about, but was completely enchanted within the first couple of songs. And nothing is funnier than Henry and Mortimer doing classic Shakespeare line readings and classic death scenes. It was a first-class production. Beautiful all around.

A Movie Outside

I love summertime for the sheer fact that I get to watch movies outside on the grass downtown. After experiencing it in New York and falling in love with it, I knew it had to be something I continued doing even if I wasn't in New York. There are tons of Movies in the Park all over the valley, but most of them show family films. And while I'm certainly not one to disparage family films, there's something romantic and lovely about watching an old classic in the park.

Thankfully there's the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake, which plays host to many, many free things throughout the summer, and this month was celebrating the auteur filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. For anyone that was a film major, all of Hitchcock's films are classics and masterpieces. Monday night Phaedra, Emily and I were treated to Vertigo, one that I'd never seen. It stars Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak (in the blond role) as a retired detective and the friend's wife who is possibly having her body inhabited by a dead lady. Never mind the entire scene where she wakes up in a strangers house and is not at all weirded out by it, or the fact that they fall in love after having spent ten minutes together, or the fact that poor Midge gets the shaft. It's still a great film from the master of suspense. There were moments when I was truly shocked and felt moments of anxiety for the characters, despite the way-over-the-top music that told you what was happening and what you should be feeling.










I loved the feeling I had while sitting there with snacks and my sister and cousin, with the sun going down and city lights coming on, and feeling like I was in New York.