Monday 29 August 2011

first anniversary weekend. . .

i love surprises.
there's nothing better than something totally random and unexpected.
unfortunately, i haven't had too many genuine surprises in my life.
this is due to the fact that i am the world's biggest snoop.
if i have the slightest inkling that a surprise might
be coming my way- you better believe i'm finding out about it.
most examples of this come from my adolescent christmas years.
one year i wanted a furby.
yes, i was one of those kids.
i desperately asked my parents to get one for me-knowing that it
would be near impossible because that year furby was the "it" toy.
i just HAD to know if my parents bought me one.
therefore, i snooped over the entire house, and discovered a furby
in the furnace room.
another classic christmas example was when i was about to turn 16.
i wanted a car.
i therefore took it upon myself to snoop around the tree looking
for anything that looked like it could hold keys.
i selected one box and carefully tore open the paper only to reveal
a bracelet box.
i couldn't stop there.
i opened the box and discovered the keys to the car my parents had bought me.
you can imagine the acting i had to do christmas morning
when i opened that box.

anyways, the real point of these stories is to demonstrate the fact
that i have spoiled many surprises for myself over the years.
i am proud to say that i have met my match.

logan is the king of surprises.
i'll never forget the day we got married & he surprised
me at the temple with a wedding band.
i told him i didn't need one and that i liked my ring without it.
he knew me.
he slipped it on my finger along with my wedding ring
and my mom said that she could literally hear me gasp.

after last weekend i can add one more thing to this list of ultimate surprises:
our first anniversary getaway

logan & i had talked about what we wanted to do for our anniversary
a few weeks before it actually came up.
i told him i thought it would be really fun to go somewhere
like park city because logan had never been before.
my snooping senses would not leave me alone, therefore i "accidentally"
discovered some park city hotel searches on our ipad.

last thursday was our actual anniversary.
august 25th.
we planned to go eat at india palace, since this is where we ate the night we got engaged.
our food was delicious as always & it was the perfect evening.


when we got home we busted out our wedding cake.
typically people save the nice top layer of their cake
& preserve it nicely so they can pull it out & take pretty pictures of it.


this is what our cake looked like:



we were nervous to eat some, but it actually didn't taste all that bad.
it was suuuuuper sweet tasting, but we ate a few bites & called it good.

the next day i flew home from work as fast as i could.
i had it all planned out in my mind.
logan would be home before me and would have made a bag
with all our stuff in it for our getaway to park city.
he would stash it in the car and then he would say we were going
on a drive somewhere.
then we would end up in park city at some great lodge and
we would shop and eat and have the best anniversary ever.

when i got home logan told me we were going on a hike & then to a mexican restaurant.

he said he had been planning it for a little while & he was super excited.
my heart sank and i actually cried.
i told him that i found hotel searches in park city & that i had thought
we would be spending our first anniversary there.
i was mad at myself for snooping & jumping to conclusions.
i made logan promise me 38508475 times that we really weren't
spending the weekend in park city.
he promised.
quickly he said he felt bad for not planning a park city weekend.
he told me we would just pack our bags and find a place up there to stay.
i told him 480957047 times i didn't want that to happen.
i wanted to do the anniversary he had planned.
i got over it & realized what a jerk i had been for getting upset.
he packed our bags anyway and threw them in the car.
"just in case" he said.

we drove up provo canyon and ended up at the most beautiful nature preserve.
cascade springs is about 15 minutes west of midway, located on the alpine loop.


it was so serene and gorgeous!
there were little waterfalls and the ponds were crystal clear.
we had fun walking around taking pictures, including
this one where logan successfully managed to snap
a photo right as a huge bee landed on my forehead.
perf.


the nature preserve had these neat boardwalks all around it, making
it super easy to walk around and see everything without
getting extremely muddy and gross, which is always a plus.
as we made our way to midway towards the mexican restaurant we saw these huge clouds.
it's probably just me, but i thought these clouds were beautiful.
they just looks so fluffy and cotton-like.


when we got onto the main street in midway logan said he
wanted to drive for a bit to explore the city.
i had absolutely no suspicions at this point.
we passed the mexican restaurant & i told logan to turn around.
he drove a little further & pulled onto this random looking dirt road
that seemed to go on for a while.
"let's see where this leads" he said.
i was slightly annoyed because of how hungry i was, but down the road we went.
as the road ended we saw this cute little cottage-like house.
logan pulled up and turned off the car.
"this is where we're staying" he said.
i just stared at him.
"what do you mean?" i asked.
"this is where we are spending the weekend!"
i was still confused.
"wait. . . you mean we actually have a reservation here!?"
"yep!" he said.

i looked at him and just wanted to cry.
he HAD made reservations for a place to stay- just not in park city.
i felt like the world's biggest jerk.
the place we were staying was called johnson mill, & it was the most
beautiful little house ever.
needless to say, logan surprised me big time.


before we went to dinner we explored the grounds.
they had a lake in the back for canoeing (which we did end up
doing but i didn't bring my phone out as a precaution).


and the grounds were also filled with lovely snakes!
on our way to and from dinner the same little guy
slithered out from under this rock.
logan & i both jumped about 10 feet high.


there were menus in the lobby of all the nearby restaurants.
logan checked out the menu for the mexican place
right up the street we were planning on going to.
he had heard it was the best mexican food in utah, and it was!


the restaurant we went to was tarahumara.
it's named after an indigenous people of northern mexico who are
renowned for their long-distance running ability.
this was logan's attempt at looking like the runner on the sign.



the food here was literally amazing.
they had a salsa bar with at least 25 different types of salsa.
i didn't try them all, but i fell in love with their pico.
it was so fresh and had the perfect spice to it.



after living in mexico for 2 years on his mission, logan has a pretty
picky palate when it comes to mexican food.
he agreed however that this food was pretty legit.


after dinner we drove down to heber & walked around for a while.
i have never really hung out in heber- i've only drive through
it on my way up to park city.
the town was actually pretty cute and it was fun to walk around downtown.

that night logan watched 3 movies.
i fell asleep during the first one.
the next morning we had an amazing breakfast.
the chef prepared these amazing german pancakes.


after breakfast we took the canoe out and got like 3 feet away
from these swans that were out on the lake.
we packed up, said goodbye to johnson mill & headed up to park city.
sadly my phone died, but we had fun shopping & eating lunch.
it was the best first anniversary ever & i am grateful
for a husband that can actually keep a secret from me:)
i love him.









Tuesday 23 August 2011

trip to NYC. . .

my madre & i went to NYC last week to visit the big SJ.
it was a much needed vacation & it was fun to see
the city where my sister will be living for the next 2-3 years.
we were in the city for 5 days-and you better believe we made each day count.
basically every day was the same:
wake up.
run.
eat.
shop from 11am-7pm.
eat.
sleep.
repeat.
needless to say, my feet were tired the entire trip, but it was worth it.
SJ wore her nifty nike watch for the entire day after we ran in central park.
that day we ran/walked a total of 16.9 miles.
snaps.
here are some highlights of the vacation. . .


SJ & TY live in downtown manhattan.
yes-that minuscule object on the far left is indeed the statue of liberty.



we felt justified eating so many treats because of all the exercise we got.
levain bakery was by far the BEST cookie i've ever had.
i think it weight like a pound.



we also ate these adorable mini-cupcakes at a place called baked by melissa.
you gotta eat at least one cupcake when you're in NYC, right?


we went in the heart of times square and checked out the
FOX news building where SJ works.


one of the coolest things we did was venture over to brooklyn to eat at
a pizza place called grimaldi's.
this place was the quintessential hole in the wall restaurant.
and it was delish :)
i got to meet up with meera!
it was fun hanging out with an old friend and eating amazing pizza.
the coolest part was walking across the brooklyn bridge back into the city.

we also saw "how to succeed in business without really trying"
starring daniel radcliffe.
don't know who daniel radcliffe is??
it's harry potter.
to tell you the truth- i'm not the biggest HP fan in the world, but now
i am not ashamed to say i am a DR fan.
the boy can sing & dance & the fact that he is like 5 feet tall doesn't stop him.


i may or may not be a shop-a-holic.
when i have amazing stores all around me it's hard not to be.
i may or may not have bought:
3 pairs of flats
2 pairs of boots
one skirt
3 sweaters
3 shirts
jeans
a necklace
a ring
2 bracelets.
i can't wait for fall!

perhaps the funniest/most random store we went into was
a place called "so good".
it was like claire's on steroids and looked like one giant sparkle.
everywhere you looked there was something shiny.
this picture only captures one wall of "so good".
imagine 3 more just like it.

i bought a bracelet here which now i somewhat regret.
i go through bracelet phases.
i bought another bracelet off the street so now i am stuck with
these 2 bracelets that were fabulous in new york but
now that i'm back in provo i don't love them as much.
oh well!
now it's back to provo & back to reality.
work started yesterday!
it was a fun summer break but now it's back to timpview high.
goodbye summer- you've been good to me.


Thursday 11 August 2011

out with the old & in with the new. . .

logan & i have been searching for a new car for a while now.
my little silver beetle has been acting up lately, & we knew
it would eventually have to go.
we decided the time was right and began the process of selling our car.
we posted on ksl.
we put up a for sale sign in the window.
we put ads up on campus.
after almost 50 days of hearing nothing-we were starting to give up.
why in the world wouldn't anyone want to buy my fabulous car?!
it's cute!
it's zippy!
and it's a convertible!
alas, nobody was interested.
we knew our last resort was taking it to a place like low book sales.
honestly i warmed up to the idea after thinking about how
hard it would be for me to sell it to someone in our town
and see it being driven by someone else.
also i just couldn't cope with the idea of selling to someone knowing
that it is starting to have some issues.

yesterday logan & i went to a dealership to look at a car
that we had test-driven a few weeks before.
we really liked it and it seemed to be a good fit.
while we were test driving it again, i got a call from someone at
low book sales asking if we were interested in selling our car to them.
it was a sign.
we told them we would come in later that evening.
we bought our new civic from the dealership & sold the bug to
low book all in the same day.
i cried as we were leaving low book sales.
this car has been my life for the past 7 years.
it was the perfect car for me during high school and college.
but as they say, out with the old and in with the new.
here are some pics of the "mare-bug"- a nick name given by my roommates.



the bug has huge sentimental value for me.
alllllll my friends have driven in it and it was always
super fun to drive.
logan & i even drove off in it after our wedding reception
& we drove it all the way to our honeymoon in aspen.

now we have this car. . .



i cannot tell you how thrilled logan is to actually be driving
a car that is pretty gender neutral.
he was getting pretty tired of the looks people would give
him whilst driving the beetle alone.
this new car will last for a loooooong time & it's always
exciting to get new things, but last night as i said
goodbye to the beetle it was really hard.



when we got home logan promised me that when we get older
and our kids are all grown up etc. he will get me whatever convertible i want :)
that helped a little. . .

r.i.p. mare-bug.
r.i.p.