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Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

8.25.2015

summer re-cap.

i went to church on sunday only to discover the average age in the ward dropped to 18; westminster started.

paige became a full-fledged adult today and started teaching english to a bunch of eighth graders.

i added about 5 minutes to my morning commute (as of yesterday) because of the elementary that's located on my street, and because of all the freaking school zones on the the way to work.

summer 2015 is OVER!

for me though, things will pretty much stay the same. i've gotten over that gotta-buy-school-clothes-and-get-back-to-school feeling i grappled with post-graduation. and it's still warm enough to swim. so really, i'm good! it also means that city creek isn't so crowded and that i basically have the food court to myself at lunch. win!

nevertheless, here's a pictorial summer 2015 re-cap for your viewing pleasure:

at the beginning of the summer i went on a architecture tour of salt lake. man, we have some beautiful buildings in this city (see above). 

i continued to love burgers this summer and was ecstatic to find this burger seat at one of my fave spots: red robbin.

i went to a lot of concerts this summer. concerts are kind of my jam lately. here ^^^ is passion pit at red butte. we also saw death cab for cutie, father john misty, and black rebel motorcycle club at twilight. last week i sat on the hill behind red butte to listen to wilco and it was a DREAM! looking forward to a few more really great concerts this fall.  

i didn't hike as much as i wanted to this summer. i did timp last year and was yearning for another 10-hour gig, but didn't get the chance. fingers crossed for some good fall hikes. i did however, do a few short hikes here and there. above ^^^ is on the grandeur peak trail.
 ^^^ here's a view from the trail behind the draper temple ... i don't know what it's called ... bonneville shoreline?? which reminds me of a new bucket list item i have:  hike the entire bonneville shoreline trail, which spans from idaho to santaquin. on the day this was taken, i just hurried up the hill to see the sunset. boy was it worth it!

^^^ this is the desolation trail up millcreek canyon. it's lotr reminiscent no? 

^^^ lastly we have a hike-selfie from donut falls.

of course we participated in our annual moonlight ride on antelope island! this year was the BEST YET because i brought a portable speaker and we JAMMED the whole ride. actually, at one point, i was taking a breather at the top of a hill and led zeppelin's kashmir was playing. a couple people thanked me while they passed and said the song helped them up the hill. long live jimmy page.

many a sunday night (and a few weeknights) were spent out on the front lawn. this is a favorite pass time of mine and paige's. another favorite pass time of mine and paige's is TICKET TO RIDE. the best board game ever to exist (with monopoly taking a close second, obvi). 

a super big giant best highlight of the summer was our quick jaunt to disneyland for a two day spree. we drove from saint george early on a sunday morning and returned late (SUPER late, like we got home at 6am) monday morning. it was all in all a wonderful trip. i'm realizing the more i visit disneyland, the more i love it. the ears, the food, the fun. it really is a magical place.

BEFORE the drop on splash mountain.

and AFTER the drop on splash mountain. somehow paige still looks like a model ... 

this summer was momentous because it was my first time seeing 2001: a space odyssey. loved it! love that stanely kubrick. also a shout out to my uncle for letting us watch it in his theater. so good.

two of my oldest and dearest friends had babies this summer. brooklyn (on the right) is my birthday babe cause she was due on my birthday. although, when it came down to it she couldn't wait to make her entrance and came four days early. still, she's my birthday babe. 

^^^ here's another one of my babes i just couldn't help but include in the post. showing me her smile on a sunday facetime sesh. that face! oh that face!!!

i know this picture is really dark, but it was one of my most favoritest days this summer. it was my birthday week and i did a little ferris buellering (if you know what i mean) and spent the day with my favorite people at lagoon. we did lagoon-a-beach, rode all the rides (well, some of the group rode all the rides), played games, won prizes, and ate something called a "beaver tail" that i've been dreaming about ever since. SUCH good times.  

a couple of weekends ago, me and my two best girls drove up to bear lake on a saturday. we stopped in logan for breakfast at angie's (highly recommended, we loved it!), then made the rest of our way up the canyon to that SO BLUE bear lake. it was crowded, but it's so big it didn't make much of a difference to us. we laid on the beach, tanned, listened to poolside playlist classics, and rented a jet ski for a bit and rode around on the lake. it was such a great day we decided to make it a tradition. 

^^^ dancing AND tanning. best of the best.


last weekend was a last-days-of-summer-celebration of sorts. we did slide the city. please note that, although my burger is so adorable, it is not a tube and therefore, was not ideal for sliding down the three block water slide. 

paige WAS wearing a swimsuit. just fyi. 

after slide the city we had snow cone chasers. interestingly, this was my first of the season and it did not disappoint. please give me coconut ice cream with my snow cone ALL THE TIMES.

in the evening we attended a concert at the sandy amphitheater. which was so delightful. oh! and then we went to bill & teds excellent adventure at the tower. 
perfect way to end the summer.

looking forward to football games, horror movies, pumpkin EVERYTHING, and all else that comes with fall.

6.28.2014

welcome summer.


summer is now a week old! can you believe it? it all goes by so fast. i spent the summer solstice serving the homeless, showering a friend with baby gifts, but best of all, at a "mid-summer mingle". check out #amidsummermingle on instagram, but basically all these gals (and a few men) got together in their whites to sip on pressed juice, munch on fancy cucumber open-faced sandwiches, and chit-chat the night away. it was so delightful. new life goal:  move to a house near rock canyon park, have a pool and tennis court in your back yard.

if all my summer nights are like last saturday's, i'm good. but here's a list of some other things to look forward to this summer:

eating/lots of caprese salads. amelia bought a big tub of mozarella and grape tomatoes from costco ... i been on it ever since.
drinking/sonic diet cokes, filled to the brim with ice (but mostly just eating the ice).
practicing/my hot yoga. i leveled up after learning hydration is the key, DUH!
learning/how important it is to be compassionate. how great is this verse of scripture? <true charity.
trying/to keep my plants alive.
hiking/mount timpanogos and lone peak.
watching/mad men, and every outdoor movie this city has to offer.
finishing/my 26 things list. i've got a lot to do.
reading/the continuous conversion, a follow up to this book, which i finished is RECORD time.
remembering/what it was like without paige last summer and being SO happy she's here to keep me company this summer.
wearing/my swimsuit under my clothes MOST of the time.
cooking/home-made ice cream and gelato. <what summers are made of.
working/on my triathlon muscles. how come no body ever told me swimming was the HARDEST?
traveling/to washington state in august! what recommendations do you have for me? i'm most looking forward to biking the hiawatha trail. seems like a dream!
wanting/a new swim suit but i can't justify buying one every year ...

**thanks to bleubird for the inspiration for this post.

7.12.2013

10 days in the sun.


woo! it has been quite the adjustment going back to the whole working thing after my vacation. i think i could probably stand living in st george; a thought that wondered through my mind a couple of times during my stay. although it was quite the scorcher >>>


with a pool and working air conditioner, i'd live. here are a few pictures from my days in utah's paradise (imo):



^^^ this was my monday. i worked hard to save up a week's worth of vacation, and this is exactly how i pictured using it.^^^


^^^ we went to vegas on tuesday, after a lovely brunch at the egg & i. paige and i usually have to talk our parents into driving down there just to go shopping. this time my tactic was to find exciting things to do and those activities would do the convincing. i found a neon sign museum online that seemed just our cup of tea ... but i couldn't figure out if you needed an appointment. then i found a lion habitat at the mgm ... but found out that it has since closed (only after walking from caesar's to mgm in the 115 degree weather). instead we ate at cheesecake factory, did a little shopping, walked to the mgm, stopped at the coca cola and m&m factories on the way. we picked up some personalized m&ms to send to paige. as you can see from the picture, it was a blast!^^^


^^^ here's a glimpse of the swimsuit that took me ages to find! and my book ... yes, i'm still reading the same book i was reading in november. but hey! at least i was reading it on my vacation (if only for like 10 minutes).^^^


^^^ for the fourth we woke up, caught the last half of the st george parade and got breakfast in the park. we tired of that pretty quickly and stopped at swig before heading to the lone ranger. then we swam and lounged, ate at texas roadhouse, and ended the day with card games and fireworks. just what i always wanted in a holiday. oh, and i bought this festive shirt.^^^



^^^ we went on a few hikes during our stay. first to red cliffs; i've heard this is a great hike ... but not in the middle of summer. all but two small, allege/creature infested pools had dried up. best to see it in early spring, now i know. second was this ^^^ falling man petroglyphs near mesquite. what a bizarre area this was. on the twenty mile stretch from the exit on i-15 we saw (mind you, in the middle of the desert): a white pyramid atop a mountain, a deserted (it seemed) oasis-like resort, a little house, and a dam with some stairs up to the top. huh? yeah, it was fun.^^^


^^^ another hike we attempted, were the lava caves in snow canyon. it's like a refrigerator in there!^^^




^^^ the last night we were there i just wanted to soak in all the goodness. we ate at cafe rio and somehow i managed to down a whole burrito. eating outside on the patio was just perfect and the light was just gorgeous! after dinner we watched the sunset on the red hill (and on our trip). i just love these two ^^^ sometimes i feel silly going on trips with them at 25, all by my lonesome. do 25 year olds do that? but that feeling lasts a split second cause they are the most fun, adventurous, nicest, lovingest, bestest travel companions and parents i could ever ask for.^^^


^^^ on the drive home i realized (thanks to my timehop app) that was the day, 4 years ago, that i got my mission call! what a great day!^^^


^^^ and here's a selfie for the road.^^^

happy weekend!

7.04.2013

"happy happy birthday merica ..."


things i love about america:
- diversity! in people, in culture, in food. i love living in a salad bowl
- the cities, the plains, the mountains, the hills ... i love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills ... oooooooooooo beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain!
- we've got some great songs ^^^
- the art! warhol, hopper, rothko! fitzgerald, sinatra, dylan! the other fitzgerald, steinbeck, twain!
- 64 ounce drinks, burgers & fries, cronuts!

happy birthday america!
i'm glad to call you home.

for more fun click here.
image via.

6.28.2013

i'm off ...


in just a few hours i'll be on my way to my favorite vacation spot. i've been looking forward to this 10 day trip all year! 

so if you're looking you can find me: 
- eating good food (mad pita, the egg & i, pizza factory ... and then arugula & fennel salads with shredded parmesan, sweet & sour chicken stir-fry, classic st george sandwiches, fish with veggie pancakes ... i could go on. mmm.)
- hiking at red cliffs and sipping on swig (both of which will be NEW st george experiences for me)
- shoppin'
- seeing mary poppins at tuacahn
- vegas baby!
- visiting the temple
- shuffling to the sounds of poolside, 1960
- swimming swimming swimming (wearing my new swimsuit in the process)

in closing i have to add that i'm 
SORELY DEVASTATINGLY SADDENED
by the fact that we are missing the social event of the year, taylorsville dayzz. HERE is the list of festivities if you'd like to go in my stead.

6.21.2013

what i eat at work + some odds + some ends.


if you haven't noticed lately by the absence of posts, i'm lacking inspiration. i guess i'm just in a funk lately of feeling like every day is the same; there is nothing note worthy. I HATE THAT. a dear friend suggested that every time someone asks me "what's new?" or "how's life?" or "are you dating anyone?" i try and think of something that is new, whether that be that something exciting like i bought a new ipad, or something like ... i scraped my knee jumping on the tramp and it has taken like 2 months to heal ...

but neither of those stories are BLOG worthy. let's place all of that aside for now cause today is the first day of a new season, arguably the very best season, and that deserves some recognition.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


my mom and i went to cucina for lunch today. they are on second avenue between q and r streets. my mom and dad have been going there for years, getting their famous curried chicken salad. i'm pretty sure it used to be in a house. they have recently remodeled but the food is as good as always. i MIGHT even say this is one of the best lunch options salt lake has to offer. i'm never disappointed. today i got the torta rustica filled with ham, squash, eggplant, and cheese, with a caprese salad on the side. oh my! that salad. i have ... no words.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

lastly, i just ate at buffalo wild wings and it was way good. i felt really young last night at a 90s band concert. there are like 4 movies i need to see this weekend; monsters university, much ado about nothing, the kings of summer, and the bling ring! my sister gets home in one hundred and sixty one days. i will be in st george in seven days. i will be in st george in seven days. i will be in st george in seven days (sorry, i'm really excited about that one). 

happy summer solstice!

*image via shaylalilian

6.10.2013

summer things.

this past winter in utah was BRUTAL. i remember going to st george in march and feeling this glorious warm sensation on my skin. it took me a minute to remember that is what the sun feels like. you can imagine my excitement then, upon seeing 90 degree pink on my blue app. here are a few snapshots of my recent days (realizing as i add them that they are mostly of food) ...

first home-grilled burger of the year. the stuff dreams are made of.
 
PROUDly got this fire started after ... maybe 45 minutes of attempts. it felt good.

yellow field near willard bay.

#whataview!

memorial day breakfast. my veggie omelet with feta was the PERFECT way to celebrate.

grilled brussel sprouts.

cutest lil' fresh picked strawberries!

wild strawberries near provo upper falls.

poppa and i at provo upper falls, up mirror lake highway. 

summer has been good to me thus far. looking forward to (at least) one trip to st george, 2 trips to california, and saying "paige gets home next season".