Thursday, November 28, 2013

Turkey Day...


.... this year, was quite relaxing and mellow.


Which is really a great thing,
considering our other Thanksgiving (of the Friends sort), which I will post about soon, was possibly the opposite
... in a good way. 

Thanksgiving Day, we woke up slowly
and just hung around the house for a bit
until we decided to finally get dressed and go out. 
We wandered over to Liberty Park
and walked Tundra around.


This is a very telling photo... 


We drove to Sandy 
and had Thanksgiving Dinner with the Jensen's. 
Of course we did the usual....
Shirley invites us to, "say what you are thankful for"...
and we all watch each other try to weasel out it. 
Which is actually pretty entertaining in itself.
The truth of it is that we all have so much that we can, and want to say.
It's almost like we revert to being children,
and we don't want to be that sappy kid 
that says embarrassing things and everyone makes fun of!
Of course Derek is still that kid... that points the finger,
so it makes sense I guess! ha!

One exciting thing that happened
was that we got to meet a new member of the family!
Bounder
Shara and Ricky got a new puppy
and we hadn't met him yet. 




** Just a few things that I personally am thankful for this year....

My handsome, easy-going, understanding, forgiving, class clown of a husband.
New friends.
The courage to realize when to let go of people you no longer need in your life.
The giant marshmallow of a best friend we call our muffin.
Those who brought me into this world, in all their wonderful differences.
Those who love me as if, they too, brought me into this world.
Succulents... just succulents.
Salt Lake City and it's perfect mix of cityscape and green space.
and... CEREAL... always grateful for cereal!
~

I could go on forever... but this will do for now. 


Oh! And ALL PUPPIES.... of course!!






Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Friendsgiving


The idea began when we found out that Ms. Duler
had yet to experience the tradition of
THANKSGIVING
Crazy right?.. and kind of sad
This needed to be fixed. 
So Der mentioned doing a FRIENDSGIVING
the day before Thanksgving Day.

Although we were only like 2 days away
we thought that this sounded like so much fun!
Especially since so many of our friends
including myself
do not have family near by. 

It was decided!
So Der sent out this clever little message
and we began planning. 


Luckily, we have really GREAT friends
and we had an amazing turn out!

As usual... Tundra was the first to show up....

Where there's food... there's a Tundra!



First time wearing my Anthropologie apron


The FEAST


The BIRD

Thanks to Ry and his amazing cooking skills

I feel it is only necessary..... 


You're welcome

The chef carving away

This was my doing.... 
and yes, there were flames
and minor panic

 and on my FAVORITE Thanksgiving item! Candied Yams!
I must be telling such a great story.... But Tundra never took his eye off the prize
There's my adorable hub stuffin' his face... 



And the battle begins.... 


Between the Newbie and the Bird Chef himself


And we have your WINNER!

Rightfully so...

For dessert... mini pecan pies... compliments of Kris!

After the feast...
we went around the room and said what we were thankful for
It's much more fun when you feel like it's your idea... 
and not some painful thing your mother came up with :) 
Although.. I am pretty sure I panicked under the pressure 
and said something really dumb


After the Friendsgiving festivities
we walked over to Dick N' Dixies
for a little bit.
Where we decided it would be a great night for a photo booth sesh.
Yes, all 4 of us crammed in there! 



Made for a good ending to a great night.

Besides the Candied Yam Marshmallow Fire incident... 
the mishap below, was really the only other fail of Friendsgiving

Kris has STILL never had Sparkling Cider.
I tried to remedy this fact
but ended up forgetting about them in the freezer. 
This is what happens to sparkling cider in the freezer. 

Maybe next year we will just put ice in the cups... duh


We will learn from our mistakes. 
No fires or broken bottles next year.
Although... I am excited to see what hilarious "mishaps" we will endure next Friendsgiving.



Monday, November 25, 2013

CAT not so POWERful



My heart felt a little broken after this show


Cat Power has been my melancholy go-to
for about 6 years now. 
I used to spend my sad, confused, mellow, sappy, stressed, and even peaceful nights
falling asleep to the serene voice of Chan Marshall



Around the time I bought the tickets to this show
I discovered her brand new album called "Sun"
It is a bit different than her usual style
but I loved it! 
While discovering this new album, I also discovered
the "new" Cat Power. 
Not such a great sight. 
She was literally unrecognizable.
I made the mistake of watching an interview with her
that made me worry about the result of her upcoming show. 
Rightfully so....





I just want to preface with....
Chan Marshall is an amazing artist, and that rang true 
through this entire show. 
Her voice is absolutely amazing
 and the songs, that she actually made it through, were perfect.
That being said....
She has some major issues. 
Watching the show... all you are thinking was...
 "what and how many drugs is she on?"

After doing some research I found out that 
this was not the first disastrous show. 
In fact, I think it went really well considering some past performances. 
It was really heart breaking to see someone that you look up to
and that you have this beautiful image of in your mind, 
experience sort of a mental breakdown.
Not only in public, but in front of the people who think the most of her. 
Many moments of the show were just painful to sit through. 
Eventually we became literally terrified to talk or even move
in her presence. 
She was yelling and swearing at all of us. 
She was forgetting lines
and pausing to read her notes in the middle of songs. 

Luckily we got a couple great videos
that make it easy to pretend the show was more enjoyable. 



I do not regret coming to this show... 
but I will say that I don't think I will ever listen to her music in the way


See the difference for yourself.....


She explains things a little in this one...






Friday, November 22, 2013

ALAMEXO



This new place called ALAMEXO
is supposed to be all the rave!
We have heard so many great things...
and guess what??!!
It's not only Mexican food, it's high class Mexican food!

Der and I hopped on TRAX 
and rode down to Main...

Since this has become quite the little tradition
for Derek and I, 
I decided to document this particular 
date night.
Even though it was quite the simple night. 
Sometimes simple is perfect. 


We walked through Gallivan Center...


We ate yummy guacamole that they made right in front of us,
we had Mexican beer
and then we walked home.
Simple.
Perfect.

And then we did this.....

Chillin' with the Tun is the best reason to come home early.. 


I think that playing/laying in the bed with our Tundranator 
is just about #1 on mine and Derek's priority list 
these days.