17 August 2010

Almost 18 months.


I recently altered my work schedule.

Well, to be lucid – I recently gambled hard and volunteered a considerable pay-cut so I could focus on the rest of my life.
You know, the one moving at express velocity without me as I sit at my desk counting money and printing reports.
I have a Human Biology lecture at 5 on Monday's starting next week, 
so I figured it would be good to take the entire day off with child.
It will be nice to get back to the maddening and exhilarating world of academia.
And for Fall to set in.
I feel its suggestion in the air now and then,
and it’s a complete tease, has my mind wandering and ready to take the last of Summer for granted.
When summer has been nothing but good to me.


Yesterday was the beginning of this new schedule where I just don’t work on Monday
it was brilliant.
We slept in bed together until 10AM
I set the coffee on
Made her breakfast
Did laundry
Cleaned in general
Shopped
Cooked
Rested
Played
Cuddled


Against numerous temptations, I refrained from updating Facebook status with my Zoe mania.
The cuteness refuses to cease, ceases to surprise me and makes me laugh my ass off.

What is it about being a mother that forces the terrible need to share these things with people that don’t care?


Maybe I’ll start her a private twitter.

09 August 2010

Still playing catch up

Not yesterday, but the Sunday prior, we went up to the Park City Silly Market.  I would like to thank Park City for keeping me sane.  Throughout my poor adult life it has acted as "pretend vacation" when I need one. It's nice to get up there and hang out with all the yuppies now and then and get away from the Wessiiiide.

We went to Wasatch Brewery for lunch. B.J. got a Jalapeno beer & I got this guy. Jalapeno beer? Reluctance befell me at first, but after awhile I really appreciated the most peculiar sensation of setting my mouth into flames and putting it out in one simple sip. It wasn't long before I really wanted his instead of my nitro cream ale.  So I supplemented. :)
After the brewery, we strolled down Main Street to the market...Zoe, in her umbrella stroller, hypnotized by all the booths and people.

Edited cause it looks coo this way.









We were walking along the market on Main Street when Zoe required milk, so I went to the nearby coffee shop that I love – Alpine Internet Café -- anticipating I could purchase some in there. However, my beloved café that is filled with sentimental value in my head had vanished, and in its place something claiming to be called “Atticus”. The shocking betrayal. I acted on my first instinct, which was to hate this place, especially after the several hippies in there that burned their glares into me for giving her chocolate soy milk (it was all they had offered in the drink case!  I pick my battles by now) instead of the boob or something. However, tey had this little children’s area in the back full of the neatest array of pop-out books and brand new toys, it was charming, so I guess I sort of forgive. =\

A lot of my favorite places on Main Street have gone out of business since the economy went to hell. 
It's very heart-breaking. 

Look at this sky!  This was Sunday evening after we came home.

06 August 2010

Shake it like we got no bones

Well, what do I say?  I wanted to write in depth about this concert because it deserves that kind of justice. From beginning to end, it was basically magical.  I would not have called myself a fan of Michael Franti, but that has all changed.

He played at Deer Valley Resort in Park City last week.
My friend Mimi invited me to a soundcheck/lunch she won from a radio station.  I blindly followed, not really knowing what to expect. 

I want to hesitate to say "it was my favorite concer EVER!!!!" because in the back of my mind I wonder if there is another concert from the past that I'm overlooking.  It's not unlike me to fall head over heels with live music and obsess over it for the following week. But...maybe I'll be bold and make that statement.  It was (probably) my favorite concert.  Ever.  So far. 

The day began when Mimi and I drove up the canyon on a boiling summer afternoon discussing death and funerals.  We got lost when we got to Deer Valley, but eventually located our venue after I got help from the hotel clerk.  We arrived, met up with her friend Lyndsee, got a free boxed lunch and sat down among about 15 other radio winners to watch the sound check.  The bass was rumbling in my chest, the venue was breath-taking, I hadn't realized it was going to be like this. I knew then that it was ON.  











In the middle of a song, Michael and the band slowly started walking out from the stage onto the grass where we were sitting.

This lady in pink was REALLY excited about all that was happening around her.

I don't know what it is.  Everytime I meet someone "famous" I turn into a gargoyle looking thing for the picture.  When I got up to him, I felt stupid.  I hate meeting "famous" people.  But he kissed my head and pulled me in and spoke softly to me...to everyone that he met.  We met a few members of Spearhead (the band), too, they were so genuine and kind.  I thought they would just be like, "OH HI", but they stopped to shake my hand, look me in the eye, and talk.  Of course none of us talked, just melted and blubbered out compliments then trotted away....ha.

After the soundcheck, we made a beer run and bought skirts at the most convenient store we could find -- Rite Aid. :)  I sorely needed to get out of my work clothes, so I got a long skirt that I wore as a dress.  Not the first time in my life to do that. ;)  And yes I did end up tripping over it and flashing everybody on accident later in the night.  Also not a first time in my life.

Mimi went to dance with "green dress girl", I forgot why we picked her out of the crowd, but we did, and she was brave/drunk enough to dance while I photographed from safety.  LOL.  She danced and ran away and green dress watched her flee with a sad look on her face.
Jimmy Cliff opened...amazing.
I LOVED her beer cozy..!



Waiting in line.  We came prepared.  Well, Lyndsee did.  And was kind enough to share the wealth.
These guys had cool dreads.  I didn't want to touch them because I was afraid their woman would get the wrong idea, but Mimi is fearless.
Lyndsee and her friend Winston
Let the second concert begin!





This type of music will effortlessly cause most live bodies to move, it’s just a natural reaction. Everyone was dancing with everyone, as the night went on strangers turned to friends/dancing buddies. Everyone around us was so kind and so happy. Mid-concert Michael came out to the crowd yet again (hella denser this time) and played a few songs at the back of the amphitheatre so the latecomers could have an intimate concert too. That is when the sky began slightly sprinkling erratically. For the closing song, they played the most popular "Say Hey (I Love You)"... (all of his songs are feelgood soulshine type, but this one is probably the most feelgood soulshine song of EVER) he invited children and old people up on stage with him. At one point in the song a couple jumped up on stage and the dude proposed. She said yes and they stayed on stage dancing so feverishly to the music. It started to rain harder at this point. I stopped bouncing around for a second to watch the newly engaged couple move so passionately and blissfully together, still on the stage, and almost started crying, it was such a sweet moment for them, for us all, to share. The song went on, and the sky emptied itself without restraint all over us. We continued to dance and sing, soaked and slippery. We threw a little fort together with the blanket to protect our electronics, and the moment the concert was over we hastily drew together our soggy belongings and scampered for the safety of the Subaru (mostly because we were worried about my camera). As we were running I suddenly felt a tug and a sudden extra weight at the bottom of the blanket that I was holding, but I didn’t bother to look at what it was since it was dark and there were so many distractions. When I got into the car, I pulled the blanket up to see what the weight dangling at the end of it was and it was my clutch with all my stuff in it – iPhone, debit card, drivers license, etc. Holy crap. I can’t believe it fell out of the camera case I was carrying it in and somehow snagged on the blanket on it’s way to the ground. Had it fallen to the ground and I had lost it, it would have spoiled my experience of this night…but it didn’t! It further reinforced my love and appreciation for it all.






It’s been like 10 days and the high from this concert still hasn’t completely worn off.
And yeah, I carry the laptop around my house blaring Michael Franti. 
I also listen to him all day at work. 
I think I'm obsessed!


Thank you for this memory.

I'll miss you, July.

A couple weekends ago my friend Jill invited Zoe and I along with Lindsay and her two boys out to the pool at her apartment complex. It was the first time for Zoe in a swimming pool, I had been anxiously waiting this landmark in time since she was born and it had arrived at last! I was sort of nervous how her fickle reactions to water would fare. (Mostly she loves it, but sometimes she refuses the bath tub.) I waded in with her snuggly in my arms as her body sank with mine and cool pool water encased us and a giddy smile immediately came across her face. The one that invites the question, “what is all this?!?!” We bobbed up and down she tried to back float and I put her in the ladybug floaty that had been patiently awaiting utilization in her closet for six months. She loved every moment of it. I got out and made her aunt Jill pose for pictures with her.

Jill and Lindsay were two of my best friends in middle school. The fates of High School teenage theatrics tore us apart and I never really heard from them again. A few years ago, B.J. and I were dining out at Market Street Grill (this was before baby, when we could afford it), and a cute little boy in the semi-circle booth next to us kept popping his rosy-cheeked face over the back of the seat and saying hi. When his mother got up and walked past our table toward the bathroom, the realization struck that it was my old friend Lindsay! We talked tentatively and made preparations to get together with Jill at Chili’s a few weekends later. We have been hanging out regularly since. Spending time with them is as comfortable and enjoyable now as it was then. It’s amazing how even after years and so many life changes your chemistry and care for certain people never changes. Our personalities still mesh perfectly together.


Hehe.  Koby is the cutest!  Even when I make him cry heavy saddest sobs when I poke his belly.

We had to make a sudden break when Zoe got sunscreen in her eye and Jill and I endured the longest walk in the blazing hot sun with a hysterical toddler, it was so sad, but she fell asleep on the car ride home.  Later that afternoon we drove out to Bountiful for the annual 24th Of July Parade in front of my Aunt DeAnne's apartment.  It's a tradition every year, and BJ was able to make it this year.  It's way fun to see all the kiddos and hang out making the occassional sarcastic comments to my sister and BJ about the "floats" as they go by. 


My cousin Katie and her youngest daughter Makenna. :)


This little girl instantly stole my heart. She was adorned in her princess dress and stood keyed up and devoted at the frontlines of the parade, cheering every passerby on and catching airborne candy. At one point, she came over and gave some of her candy to the babies, very sweet. I was so afraid her parents thought I was a creepy stalker as I stealthily snapped photos of her, but my desperation to capture her endearing spirit was stronger than fear of being a creep.


Pretty sister and her son Bentley.
Nana, Zoe, Makenna
Dad and my cousin's daugher, Katelyn.  All her kids are ridiculously gorgeous.

Zoe is fearless and seemed to think she belonged in the parade instead of just sitting on the sidelines watching. My mom is hooking into the back of her skirt to prevent that from happening as Zoe grins that mischievous grin.
Breast cancer awareness has never looked so cute!
Playing with her second cousin, Lindsey.

About Me

My photo
I guess you're just what I needed.

About Me

My photo
I guess you're just what I needed.