Jackson Hole

This week we went on a mini-adventure to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We left early- way too early- on Wednesday morning. On the way up we stopped at Salt River pass so Justin could practice riding it (though on his mountain bike) for the upcoming Lotoja. For those who don't know, the Lotoja is a one day ride from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY. It's about a 212 mile ride which takes around 10-12 hours. Pretty insane. This pass is where the competition for "King of the Mountain" takes place. They just take the quickest time to ride up the pass and the winner gets the title. He only brought his mountain bike, but I was his support vehicle.

When we got into town we went to Cache Creek and biked Putt-Putt. It was a shorter, easy ride. (So, essentially, it was perfect for me.) I really enjoyed it after being totally defeated the last time I rode-which was on Slickrock trail in Moab. When we got to the parking lot we met up with Justin's three friends. Tyrel left Justin a blowfish on his car. So to repay the present, Justin coated his lips with chapstick, ate a few powdered donuts and then left him two blowfish. Haha! Take that! That night I slept in a tent by the river and Justin slept in his treasured Brazilian hammock and the three boys slept on a tarp. One of the boys-whose bike seat had bent OFF the bike earlier that day, woke up to a deflated air mattress. (Yay for Thermarests!) He wasn't having the best of luck. But I laughed pretty hard when I took this picture of Justin asleep in his hammock in the morning.
















After everyone crawled out of their bags we hit up Cache Creek again and did Hagen trail. It was GORGEOUS!

After biking we ran the river with three of his friends. I'm not an adrenaline junkie so it was a little scary to hit the rapids. But Justin's BFF did a great job guiding us. Even though the raft taco-ed when we hit Big Kahuna, nobody got hurt. And no fish ate me or jellyfish stung me. (Inside joke.) After rafting, we drove home! We took a minute to fry up some steaks on the side of the road, but that was it! Short and sweet!

My first real vacation in a year

I really love vacations. I love sleeping in, working out at the hotel fitness center, taking long naps on beaches, eating crazy local food, buying worthless junk that ends up in a landfill the following year, taking walks in new places, etc. But for the last year my life has been filled with stress, school, too much work, a family wedding and a horrible breakup.

A year ago my family went to Aruba for a week which was AMAZING. But waking up at 4:00 am and finding out on the hotel internet that $500 had been taken from my bank account by a certain boy who was a jobless druggie was definitely a downer. I was a little stressed out on that vacation. (Especially given that I was in school 40 hours a week and$500 was a month's worth of money!)

Okay, you know what... I'm really sorry for all this history. I just wanted to give a little background to fully express how much I enjoyed my recent vacation to San Diego. Justin's family took me to San Diego for 3 days to go to Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Mission Beach.
Honestly, I really can't stand theme parks/zoos. But getting away from everyday life and spending time with him and his family was totally worth it.

Day 1 we went to Sea World. I love dolphins (my fave animal since I was 6) so I didn't mind it too much. Justin and I spent most of our time near tanks and indoors since it was so bloody hot. I think the funniest thing that happened was when we went to do a ride at the Arctic exhibit and they brought us in to load. The doors opened and the operator walked through to check before we were seated. Just then he realized someone had thrown up all over the back row. So while we stood there for 15 minutes the janitors cleaned up the mess. Justin and I looked at each other and said, "Glad we're not in that row!"

Day 2 we went to the San Diego Zoo. I think everyone was pretty tired from the day before. I was just glad I got to hold Justin's niece, Oakley. She's really adorable at only 18 months old and it's rare that I get to hold babies. She fell asleep in 3 minutes while I held her. The rest of the time we just wandered around looking at all the animals in cages. My favorite was the reptile house. I also made friends with a baby goat at the petting zoo. I think he liked me because I massaged him. I've learned that I really have no idea how to pet animals anymore. I only massage them.

The last day was the best. Justin and I rented a sea kayak and paddled out through Mission Bay around Vacation Island for an hour. We really sucked at getting it to go straight. But the best part of the trip was when we saw an unanchored sailboat get blown away by the wind. So someone in San Diego, an hour later, was probably flipping out that their sailboat was no where in sight. I guess Justin and I could have jumped in after it to try and save it. However, neither of us can sail. Oh well! We also spent three hours on Mission Beach. (Which was a really crappy beach compared to the last three I've been to in Costa Rica, Hawaii and Aruba... but hey! it was a beach nonetheless!) Justin's back and chest haven't seen the sun since before his mission to Brazil (which was over 3 years ago) so he blended in with the sand. I've seen a little more sun than him, but I'm still pretty white!

After the trip I have realized two things:

1. I am so lucky to have Justin. I love him more than ever. And I think he's way hot. :)
2. I need another vacation.

I am a food lover

One of the unique things about my family-well, mostly my Dad's side- is that we are complete food snobs. Being LDS in Utah means that typical meals resemble 1950's comfort food or warped versions of what I consider normal meals adorn most family's tables. Dishes like "funeral potatoes," "jell-o salad," "carrot casserole," etc. are common additions to most meals centered around mass quantities of meat and white, refined breads.
My Dad is in the restaurant business. He has worked for Sysco Intermountain Food Service since before I was born. He currently is a sales rep and has clients like the Alpine Country Club, Pizza Factory, Flour Girls and Dough Boys, Ottavios, La Vigna, etc. He has worked with chefs around Utah developing menus and watching them cook. So growing up he was always experimenting with recipes infused with strong spices. I am not a stranger to intensely hot dishes or strong flavors of garlic, onion, cumin, etc.
My Aunt Catherine, who is not in the food business, (she is a judge in SLC) also has a talent with food. I moved in with her my sophomore year in college and haven't been the same since. In a good way. :) She is obsessed with cooking food from any ethnicity. Dishes like shrimp curry, baba ganoush, falafel, etc. are regular meals around here. She has cookbooks on Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern and Latin American dishes.
So when Justin and I started dating I felt disappointed to learn that he was a picky eater who hated the things I loved most. Namely fish, strong spices, ethnic food, and sushi. He loves Mexican food (the gross kind with hoards of melted cheddar and beans), milk (I can only stand soy milk), and Mormon comfort food classics. Since we can't seem to agree on food to cook, we eat out quite a bit. A few weeks ago we made an agreement to limit our eating out to conserve money. We also decided it would be best to try and eat at new places each time.
So I thought I would write reviews on the restaurants we eat at. My point of view, however, will probably not be the typical Utahn opinion. I am a food snob and am accustomed to fine dining so I am a demanding customer.
Last week we ate at The Blue Plate Diner for breakfast and Bangkok Talay for dinner.

The Blue Plate Diner:
The location and decor of this diner is really unique. There were vintage bicycles (which Justin appreciated) and typical retro diner embellishments. Althought 21st and 21st is pretty busy, it was a fun place to sit outside with the shaded patio and bustling street. The service was too slow and on the unfriendly side. We waited unreasonably long for a greeting and water. However, the food was tasty and classic. I ordered the heuvos rancheros verde. The verde sauce was extremely spicy, though delicious. My fried eggs were just right with barely runny yokes and the thick tortilla covered in black beans went well together. It would have been better with a side of pico or freshly sliced tomatoes. Although the breakfast potatoes were nothing to write home about, the dish was overall good breakfast diner food. Justin ordered biscuits with sausage and country gravy. His food was decent, but definitely needed more attention. The biscuits were dry, the gravy ordinary and sausage bits tasted artificial.
Overall, if you like typical diner food, I would recommend this place but be prepared to pay more than what the food is worth and to receive slow service.


Bangkok Thai Talay:
This place was a great find. Close to home (Highland Dr. and 33rd S) and excellent, standard Thai made this one of my new faves. The decor is plain, the service definitely is too slow and when we arrived they were unprepared for the dinner rush. But the food redeemed the entire experience. The menu features typical favorite Thai dishes including curries, stir frys, noodle dishes and salads. For appetizers we had fried spring rolls which were hot, crunchy and good with the rice noodles and cabbage and pork dumplings which were also hot, but chewy and flavorful. I ordered the Lemongrass Stir Fry with chicken and brown rice. Justin had the Sweet Bean Noodles. My dish was fragrant and hearty. With coconut milk, thai basil, thai eggplant, baby corn, red pepper, chicken, onion and fresh lemongrass it was perfect. Justin's dish was also fragrant and delicious filled with veggies, steak and flat egg noodles.
I would definitely recommend this place. It's affordable, delicious Thai food. (All things I love.)

"This is the new deep"...

Yesterday Evelyn and I made the final step into our quest for musical nirvana. In April I bought two tickets to see today's god of guitar. The man who successfully brought blues and soul back into the mainstream. Who pulled himself out of the wreckage of his pop hit "Your Body is a Wonderland" and was reborn. After 'Room for Squares' he created a deeply emotional and intimate sound with 'Heavier Things.' But no one really expected the alternative artist to jump headfirst into blues with his Trio. He blew us away with his live album "Try." What an incredible leap for a pop artist to make! But he pulled it off and everyone embraced it. After that, working with Alicia Keys, they wrote "Lesson Learned." Maybe the soul queen inspired some of his R&B rifts in his next album, "Continuum." His Jimi Hendrix covers rocked, his guitar and vocal skills were more refined and he had brought blues to a new crowd who were illiterate to the genre. But in this fan's opinion, no album was quite as satisfying as his latest. "Where the Light Is" (lyrics from 'Gravity') was a live album that blew us away. With five acoustic songs, including a soulful version of Tom Petty's 'Free Falling', eight songs with the Trio and six songs with his new eight member band, this was a masterpiece. His guitar skills more complex and intense, vocals deeper and precise and the band's revival of old songs, "Where The Light Is" is definitely this summer's best album. And I'm not just talking about a great pop chart hit. I'm saying that no one today has the same appreciation and respect for music the way that Mayer does. He takes it to a level we haven't seen in decades. He fuses jazz, blues, and rock with emotional intensity and intellectualism.
Last night Evelyn and I got to see John Mayer for the first time, live. After seven years of music worshiping, we finally saw him in concert! I would just like to say that after all these years, seeing Mayer was unbelievably satisfying. His music was just as brilliant and touching as it as has been. Yet at one point when the lights lifted onto the audience and all you saw was the band sillouhetted on stage while "Gravity" was taken to a new level the lyrics "Just keep me where the light is, love the perfect you, just keep me where the light is..." I felt this euphoric connection to the universe and to everything in it. I knew I was in musical nirvana. And now I know I need to see no other artist to experience that feeling.
I don't really know how to end this blog entry other than to say, if you haven't listened to anything but Mayer's pop hits, it's time to experience his music. "Where the Light Is" is also a DVD for anyone that has a short attention span. So do it!

*Disclaimer*

It has been brought to my attention that maybe I got a little too personal with my "More on Running" entry. Here is a statement for all, but one fellow from Arizona in particular:

This blog is a online journaling website. All that is written here is stuff going on in my life. If you are unable to handle it or are embarrassed by health details, feel free to abstain from reading. I have NO problem if you don't want to read this. I'm doing this blog for myself, mostly, but also for any friends/family to keep up with me. I personally feel that I have done a good job leaving out the intimate details in my life. However, coming from an open (maybe too open) family has made me realize that life is too short to have so many hidden windows. I'm an open book.

There. I apologize if that sounded harsh/rude. I just want to be clear that I am not really a closed off person. So if you don't want to know, don't read. :)

That's all!

My Fun Job! Nannying...

I watch three kids. They are surprisingly fun to watch. Grayson is 8, Luke is 6 and Quinn is 3. Grayson is the typical quiet, responsible oldest sibling. Luke is the most challenging being the middle child who finds it his personal goal in life to torment is younger sister. Quinn is adorable, smart and manipulative. I love them all. They have been an awesome break for the me this summer because massage therapy can get really annoying if it's all you do. My job with them ends next week. But here are some pic uploads from my cellphone.

More on running....

So I'm a fourth of the way into my training for the marathon. I thought I should write SOMETHING about how it's going in order to keep track of myself with my own progress and maintain more accountability.

So.... so far so good. As far as my body goes, I'm doing well. I've almost got my time down to a nine minute mile. It's just being consistent about it. I've found that my ankles and shins bother me after long runs or if I don't properly stretch. Particularly my tibialis anterior and peroneal muscles. I do my best when I'm really well hydrated (like 2-3 L an hour before) and when I have complex carbs in my system two hours before hand. Last Saturday I drove 8 miles up Millcreek Canyon and ran down the canyon and two more miles to Justin's house. However, I did quit 1/2 mile early because I started to recognize that I was experiencing heat stroke. (Nausea, no sweating, chilly.) I had Justin pick me up. That run felt great through the canyon though! Lesson learned.... don't run in July at 3:00 pm when it's 93 degrees.

The hardest part so far is the mental aspect. I do so much infinitely better when I have someone running next to me. My running partner hasn't been running with me for the last month and there really aren't any takers to be a new running partner. (Hmmm... I wonder why...) Caroline, Justin and work friends have all declined. To be honest, I don't blame them.

Anyway, I just need more motivation to keep with the training. It's tough for me to get out there after a long day of work and go "yeah, I'm way excited to run 6 miles tonight!" when I could instead be watching episode after episode of "Lost" with my hot boyfriend.

What else?? I'm noticing that running is really hard not only on my muscles, joints and ligaments, but also on my body systems. My digestion is much more sensitive. I get way sick if I drink milk or have more than one serving of dairy a day. I also can't handle more than three ounces of meat or else I have horrible stomach cramps. It's also really messed up my menstrual cycle. I have no idea what's going on in that department. The doctor didn't know either. She suggested putting me on birth control... like all the other OBs in the world. I personally feel that I should only be on that if I'm using it for what it's intended for. And since I'm not married, I really have no use for it. Natural, normal cycles are healthy and I feel emotionally and spiritually unstable without them. Anyway, I think it's just the running sending it out of whack.


Welllll.... that's all I have about running. Lets see... what else is coming up? I'm going to San Diego with Justin's family in August for a beach/Sea World trip. Yay! My nanny job ends in two weeks. That's both good and bad. School starts at the end of August and I'm enrolled in 16 credit hours. Justin and I are looking at the possibility of going to Brasil in December. Provided that we're married by then.... maybe the trip could even be a honeymoon.... we'll see.

Tchau!