Debbie got married

Last weekend I went to California for Debbie's wedding. It was in Oakland, and so we took off Friday and went to San Francisco before hand. The weather fantastically cooperated despite the call for rain and we had an absolute blast. It made me miss the west so much.

view of Golden Gate from Alcatraz

the DC girls with the bride

I had a fantastic trip. San Francisco was awesome. Debbie was the prettiest bride and I loved being on vacation. Someone get married so I can have another. Please?


and for my embarrassment, the photographer had all the bridesmaids and groomsmen pair up. see how there are two separated, on the ends? yeah. one of them is me. i'm going to be forever single apparently.

yes I realize I'm being completely ridiculous.

Weekend Review

1. National Kite Festival at the Washington Monument

2. Watching General Conference while baking cake (and waiting for Elder Archuleta!!)

3. Moving Shannon's box spring up to our house. Yeah, we really drove like that.

 4. Making homemade ice cream (Roasted Pistachio and Fresh Banana) to go with the strawberry cake (although that's not my picture, it's the recipe's picture, I forgot to take a picture)

5. Playing catch, or watching catch while enjoying a beautiful sunny evening. (And it's DOMINEAU'S Birthday today and her birthday week so she gets to wear a crown a few days early)

So in other words, it was a super chill, awesome weekend.

Things not pictured:

1. the cake obviously

2. watching conference with two kids under 3. (didn't hear a lot)

3. trying on our bridesmaid dresses to figure out accessories for next week's wedding!

A special thanks to Allie, Domineau, Lisa, Shannon, Laney and Tracie for making the weekend great!

NYC BOUND!

Last year two of my coworkers read The Hunger Games. I was thrilled because I had finished them all about six months prior. They devoured the books and we found ourselves emailing throughout the day about what we thought and how we felt about the books. Then next thing I knew, they were moving away to New York. Well, one of the girls sent out an invite for our work calendars to see The Hunger Games Midnight Showing March 23, 2012. I kind of laughed, accepted the invite and thought to my self, "Like that'll actually happen."

Well, people, it's here.

And Lisa and I are on a bus happily reading our HG inspired mags on our way to meet them in Manhattan where they will be saving us seats (or spots in line) for our theater. And I am so thrilled I might not be able to take a nap.

POST EDIT:

I figured I'd give the movie rating. We love love loved it. I thought the movie was fantastic. I loved the scenes that were provided to round out the story on the screen (ie the control room stuff) and was so thrilled with the movie. Totally worth it. Here we all are post movie all excited with our US Weekly magazine.

Memorial Day Weekend

Because I'm awesome I took tons and tons of pictures at Duck Beach... Nope. Not a single picture. I didn't take a single picture at Duck Beach.

So here I am stealing them off Facebook and other blogs (read: Chelsea's Blog)

If you're looking for me I'm in a white shirt on the left sitting on the back stair.

We had an awesome house. I loved my house. And when I say I loved the house I'm not just talking about the actual house, I'm mostly talking about the people in it. Everyone was fantastic. And the house house was really great too.

We really had a blast. One of the highlights was the run-and-jump-into-the-pool-while-catching-a-football-but-avoiding-all-the-other-things-thrown-at-you-game.

What you can't tell in this picture is that this was a football catching jump. I was one of like four people who managed to catch the ball while having a giant beach ball among various other things thrown at me. (No real pictures, but I'm still awesome.) Also, I have a great sunburn...

I'm such a ham.

Intense hot tubbing. This was more of a challenge to see how many people we could get in the tub. The water didn't cover the jets when we all got out.

Things not captured on film or recorded here:
Developing a love for The Biebs
Enjoying the beach
Late night swims in the ocean (no moon, it was dark and scary)
Awesomely Bad karaoke on the Magic Sing
Hot tub girl chats
Poorly executed dance parties (not thrown at our house)
Cheering for roommates in the volleyball tournament
Getting woken up by a bird fighting with his reflection (read: banging into our window over and over and over, at 5 am)

The weekend was so wonderful. I loved everything about it and felt much more comfortable and in my element than I did last year. (But that was mostly because I knew what to expect.) But that being said, I don't hope to go to Duck next summer. And if I'm still single (most likely) I plan on going somewhere tropical. Anyone want in?

(Also, a very special thank you to the organizers: Chelsea and Melissa! You were/are excellent organizers, cooks and friends. I love you both!)

Lovely lovely

I had the most lovely wonderful weekend. Saturday was spent avoiding a softball game, that I could have played in, by getting a red pedicure instead. Then the afternoon was spent working on a summer tan at the pool. No burns. I deem it a success.

I spent Sunday morning getting ready to teach at church and making Snickerdoodles. The turned out mediocre. Something was wrong with the baker and her abilities to figure out the perfect amount of time for the cookies to be baked. (Convection bake, 375, 7 minutes, not the 400 8-10 minutes Betty Crocker was calling for. I'll know for next time.)

Sunday evening I made the most delicious pork recipe (Skillet Pork Saute with Peaches). I decided to cook it in my Sunday clothes with the apron. I'm so domestic...

And I feel like the weekend was absolutely perfect. Movies, pool, a little bit of dancing, baking, laughing a lot with friends and ice cream.

Needless to say, it was really hard to come to work this morning.

Humility

I think it has been established that I like to bake. Like a lot.

So when it came to my attention that my roommate was throwing a birthday party for her sister at our house I decided I would volunteer myself to be the cake baker.

My inspiration came from these two cakes:

Meaning, I baked the cake on the left and then did whipped cream and strawberries like the one on the right.

It was delicious. Lots of people liked it. Many told me how good it was. I was feeling like a really awesome cake maker. (You know, thinking stupid things like, "I should always make cakes." "I wonder if I could open a bakery." "I hope everyone here wants me to make a cake for their birthday.") Until I walked into the living room and talked to some new guy who I--

a) had not met, and
b) didn't know his name, but he has a stupid name, think Mormon church history type name*, and
c) have since decided we probably won't be friends, which I told him so later...

--told me that the cake was dry*.

Who tells someone they don't know that their food was bad??

Someone with no tact*. That's who.

And the worst thing is, he was right.

There were some inherent problems with the cake. The fact that I baked it the day before and left it in the fridge for almost 24 hours before releasing it from it's cling wrap binding; or that I  didn't give it enough time to warm up to room temperature before serving; or the fact that the whipped cream didn't get a chance to seep into the cake and soften it up a little either, all contribute to the problem.

But give me a break! I had a really busy day!

(I was also humbled at my softball game on Saturday, did I tell you I'm on a softball team? I'm on a softball team. But I was humbled at the game when I showed up to play, feeling really awesome because I had had a really good practice the week before and had been told that I had gotten, like, 110% better, which is saying a lot really because I'm not that good, but I think I could be good, but this is my first time ever playing so cut me some slack ok? But at my game Saturday I stunk it up so bad (try striking out more than once) that I was actually subbed out for more than one inning, try half the game. And you know who subbed me out? My roommate's boyfriend. Yup, that hurt. And I had thought the league was all about having fun! Guess I was wrong there...)

So since this was a really long story I'll give you the quick summary of what I learned this weekend:

1. I'm not that great of a baker.
2. I'm an even worse softball player.
3. Guys with church history names* aren't that nice* and probably won't be your new best friend.
4. Strawberries purchased at Trader Joes are DELICIOUS.
5. Even if one person says your cake is bad it's ok because this cake was gone in record time. So, it must have been really good.

*deal-breakers.

picture are from Martha Stewart and I am Baker

Good Things

Even though the weather is gorgeous this week I'm heading out to warmer weather 

for a last minute weekend trip:

I'm meeting my sister, parents and cousins down in Orlando.

I can't decide if I'm more excited to 

a.) see my family, 

b.) go to Harry Potter World again, 

c.) enjoy summer weather.

Actually, maybe I'll combine all three...

Hooray!

Marriage?

I caught the bouquet this weekend! 

It helped that I probably had a good six inches on the other bridesmaids...

But still, it means I should be getting married soon.

Miss Lacy

Miss Lacy here is getting married this weekend. And I'm so excited for the wedding.

Remember when she came to visit me in August? She came out partly to visit me and partly to visit a guy. But guess what? She's not marrying that guy! She's marrying that guy above. And the other guy? He's also getting married in two weeks. Funny how life surprises you.

But, she's probably going to be the cutest, prettiest bride out there. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures. I do have a camera...

Kirtland

I'm blogging on a Saturday night... I feel pretty lame. But, to redeem myself, I am waiting for a friend to pick me up, so I decided to post a couple pictures from last weekend's trip to Kirtland, Ohio*.

Lisa's old friend is serving her mission in Kirtland, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visitors center and will be going home next month. We wanted to go before she goes home and have her give us a tour of the Historic Kirtland visitors center, and since it was a long weekend we decided it was the perfect opportunity. (The weather was surprisingly nice, no snow until the drive home day.)

Here are a couple of the highlights. Pictures by Rebecca Reed, my awesome and talented, photographing roommate.

In front of the Whitney store. The Smiths lived here in the upper floor. The store was a meeting place for people in town and a place to do all their shopping. 80% of the house was original I guess technically Rebecca didn't take this picture since she's in it. But we'll still give credit since the picture was from her. And, I have HUGE hair! Wow. I should move south...

School of the Prophets. We sat and listened to the sister missionaries tell us how they begin their missions in this room, dedicating their service to God. It was really neat to be in there and think of the great things experienced there by early church leaders.

The Temple. I was so impressed by the dedication of the people and their hard work. It's a lot bigger than it looks. The second story is just as big as the first and the ceilings were high. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside, it's still a sacred place, but the wood carvings and attention to detail were beautiful and humble.

The visitor's plaque by the temple read: "Kirtland Temple symbolizes the empowerment that comes from spiritual preparation and dedicated stewardship while inspiring continuing efforts to build up the communities in which we live."

We all liked the quote and liked how the early saints lived their beliefs every day and sacrificed so much for God. We came back wanting to continue in that vein and have that same empowerment, knowing who we are and what we stand for and following what we believe.

Needless to explain, the weekend was fabulous. We also hit up Pittsburgh, ate tasty food, visited the Andy Warhol museum, perused the local mall and an awesome gigantic grocery store, saw True Grit, slept for 13 hours in one night, and made a synchronized car dance to Justin Bieber. It was a great and a most needed road trip.

* If you aren't Mormon, Kirtland is a small town in Northern Ohio, close to Lake Erie, where many church members gathered before moving west to Missouri, Illinois and eventually Utah. Moves were necessary since the Mormons were forced out of town by angry and antagonistic members of the community. Kirtland is one place they had expected to stay for a long time, and because of that they built a temple for worship, instruction and for their community.

Procrastinating

I want to procrastinate right now. So I am. I can't write a lot because I have a lot to do.

I had a fabulous weekend. Peter, a friend from college, was in town and I haven't had so much fun in a long time. Maybe it was because he mixed up a bit. But that's probably mostly because he's male. Or maybe because he's really funny. But I feel like the majority of my social life is spent with women, which is usually more fun anyway, because then I don't have to be on "good behavior". And you know what? The weekend might have been fantastic for the sole reason that we cooked ALL day on Sunday! Woohoo! I love cooking! I made apple German pancakes with buttermilk syrup for breakfast, then helped Lisa make a delicious rainbow birthday cake (that is the birthday girl in the link. Yes she's only 2. Yes she needs a six layer cake...) while preparing a roast for dinner.  Everything turned out delicious. Well, except my roast. I felt like it was a little dry. Gravy was necessary.

On Monday we hit up the Wizards/Jazz game only to have my first time rooting for the Jazz be a bad luck charm because they lost to the Wizards. The worst team in the NBA. How embarrassing for Utah. Better luck next time Jazz fans.

The long weekend was closed out with Good Stuff Eatery, SNL videos and Grey's Anatomy. I think it was basically the best weekend ever. Well, the best long weekend staying at home and not venturing off to some new city.

Oh, and I cleaned my room really really really well on Saturday, so I was really productive too, getting the one thing done that I really needed to get done. I'm awesome.

Cooking

Last Sunday I went to a Fall potluck at the house of some friends. I have been really into cooking and more importantly, baking lately so I decided to make a butternut squash soup. I found a recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple soup and took it to the potluck. I think it turned out really good. (Probably because I added some left over heavy cream...) But it was an easy recipe so I decided to make it again last night so that Lisa and I have soup to take to work this week. (Yep! Lisa is back from India/Philippines!) But unfortunately I wasn't thinking late Saturday night at the grocery store about what I needed. I forgot to buy onions. And, that soup needs something to cut the sweetness in the squash and apples. So, unfortunately we aren't eating the soup today for lunch but will tomorrow after I cook up those onions tonight.

Yesterday I also made the most delicious, chewy cookies. They're almost like candy. (Not kidding.) Brown Sugar Cookies with Maple Icing. Mmmm!

And, thanks to Miss Lisa, I have been watching Veronica Mars on Netflix. I'm really late to this band wagon, but it's good. And addicting. (I'm thanking Lisa because it's her netflix account.)

Jess' East Coast Weekend Extravaganza

Picture taken at Portland airport right before I headed back to DC and Emma was heading to Provo last month.

 Or at least that's what I entitled the joke itinerary I made for Jess' trip this weekend. It's including lots of eating. Me at work. Us in NYC with Carly and Liz. Me "sick" on Monday, a bus ride with Jess and a bus ride without Jess. 

She just landed in DC. Now she has to figure out her own way to get to to Pentagon City. (I'm still at work and can't pick her up and it was cheaper to fly into a far away airport.)

But, I'm excited. 

And kind of wishing Emma and Cami and Rach were here too.

Weekend Notes

The theme of Saturday seemed to be, "Who says money can't buy you happiness?" Because Lisa and I were certainly happy with our weekend purchases.

• Bought curly hair product at the beauty store. My hair looked good Sunday.
• Bought a bookshelf for my room. I like how it's coming together. (One of these days I'll show a picture.)
• Bought a croquet set for Sunday Summer evening games.
• Had a delicious dinner at 2 Amys and tried a pizza with anchovies. (I wouldn't recommend it, and the thought of it almost made me gag, but at the same time, it didn't actually taste bad, it was just salty.) I actually got the margarita pizza but ate some of the anchovies one.
• Got rear-ended. Well, Lisa got rear-ended and I watched the car coming from my side mirror and may have screamed before we even got hit! But Lisa's Subaru dominated that little Miata and we walked away with only bumper scrapes and bruises instead of smashed headlights, a puckered hood, a cracked windshield and deployed airbags like the car that hit us. 

On Sunday we went to church, took naps and had a competitive game of croquet in the front yard. I will admit that despite talking the talk before playing, my team collectively came in last despite one member coming in first. I was one of the last. And I was slightly ashamed. Maybe I'll start practicing...

Hope you had a good weekend too!

PS. Jess is visiting this week!