Long time, no blog.

I've felt like it's been too long since I've written a real blog so I'm grateful that this past weekend is giving me the opportunity. On Friday Cara and I cleaned the house, did the laundry and went to the grocery store. The fun doesn't end there, don't worry. We braved the crowds at Cafe Rio for dinner, where we were surrounded by the smell of bad breath that seemed to be coming from the woman next to us. Said delicate female was wearing the classiest of tie-dyed swimming tank tops (you know, the kind people wore back in the 80s to the pool yet for some reason some people persist in bringing them out when the temperature even inches above 60 degrees? Yeah) and the smell was definitely a wafting one, hence our blaming her as the source. One delicious steak burrito later, we found ourselves in Jetta heading for Cafe Rio's Friday night complement, Cold Stone. When we got in the car we realized, to our perplexity and disgust, that the source of the old man's bad breath smell was actually our cups from the River Cafe and not the aforesaid woman. Oops. I don't know what the secret ingredient is that they use in making their cups, but it doesn't smell legal and is definitely not non-toxic. Anyway, we went to Cold Stone, then to Blockbuster to look for the movie Penelope, which stars two of my favorite actors, Christina Ricci and James McAvoy. Sadly, the ol' B-Bust did not come through for us, so we went home and watched Be Kind, Rewind with the fam. Jack Black was a freaking riot, as usual, and Friday ended on a good note.

My family is very outdoorsy so we decided to go hiking on Saturday morning. Having stayed up late the night before, there was no small amount of mumbles and grumbles as we got ready to go. But once we were on the road and in the mountains everything calmed down and we really enjoyed ourselves. My dad, who is pretty much professional when it comes to finding cool places for us to hike/camp/boat/have fun (but not at finding buffets, hahaha...family joke), took us to a new place called Deseret Peak out west past the Salt Lake and Tooele and Grantsville.
The hike wasn't too bad; we went up about 2 miles, ate lunch and then hiked back down. We plan on returning again and hiking the last mile and a half to the lake--we were all pretty tired this time around. That night we went to dinner at Sampan, which was delicious as usual. Cara and I went to Smith's because she wanted to get some presents for Clarence, who is moving to Utah from Montana tomorrow. I'm really excited to finally meet him! It's so weird to think that my whole family has met him and I haven't. I know he's awesome though because Cara wouldn't be dating him if he wasn't. But yeah, I'm really excited for them because the whole long-distance thing has sucked so it'll be great for them to finally live near each other.

After Smith's we went to good ol' Wood Ranch park and hung out on my Stonehenge picnic blanket. Jess met up with us after a while and told us about everything going on with her; it was good to see her after so many months. Today was the usual church going where we had a really good lesson about obedience. I know it's something I need to take to heart more actively. It's one thing to be doing good on the big things like going to church, but I need to work on little things like not being bratty and ungrateful. One of the best things about today was that my Aunt Nonnie, who's visiting from Denver, was nice and brought my grandma and her husband to our house from the nursing home so they could eat dinner with us. Cub, mom, and I made a sirloin roast, mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli and carrots, apple salad, green salad, and rolls. Kinda delish, I'd say. It was good to see my grandma and let her get out of her room for a little bit. Nonnie also let her new little Yorkie stay with me tonight. Her name is Chloe and she is absolutely darling.


She's four months old and such a good dog. We took a nap together today and then went for a walk with Abby, who is ginormous compared to Chloe. So that's this weekend in a blogshell. Tomorrow I have to run errands with Derek for his Eagle Scout project, but other than that it shouldn't be too bad. This week's going to be crazy, what with getting ready to go camping and all, but I'll try to find time to write again. I have some books I want to recommend. So until then :)

Poetry, just because.

The Builder

I chose my own illusion,
from frozen salt I made its likeness--
I based my time on the great rain
and, even so, I am still alive.

It is true that my long mastery
divided up the dreams
and without knowing there arose
walls, separations, endlessly.

Then I went to the coast.

I saw the beginnings of the ship,
I touched it, smooth as the sacred fish--
it quivered like the harp of heaven,
the woodwork was clean,
it had the scent of honey.
And when it did not come back,
the ship did not come back,
everyone drowned in his own tears
while I went back to the wood
with an ax naked as a star.

My faith lay in those ships.

I have no recourse but to live.

-Pablo Neruda

My new favorite hobby.

Music. Reading. Writing. Swimming. Art. Fashion. Next to be added to my pantheon of hobbies is cooking. I've recently been hired as the Executive Chef of Chez Spohn, and let me tell you, I've taken up the challenge with relish. I've always loved to cook, but have never had to do so for five people. It's so relaxing and fulfilling to me to cook good food for people and to have them enjoy it. And the best part is that I know I'm learning skills that I'll have for the rest of my life. The domestic goddess in me has been screaming to be let out, and my parents have gratefully conceded. Let's face it, I didn't give them much of a choice. Now if only I could convince them to let me decorate our new house...

Favorite website of the week: Williams-Sonoma. The utensils! The baking dishes! The gadgets that only Emeril knows how to use! It's heaven.

We'll be right back after these messages.

The first blog of July! To be continued after Florida...I know I've been a class-A slackerton. So far I have three blog drafts saved but haven't had the time to flesh 'em out like they deserve. Here's a preview: Be prepared for one blog started in London called "Oil Dependency," another titled "Foul Phrases," and finally, "The Day Humanity Melted." Patience, friends.