#1929 and we're off

It is vacation eve at our house! MT and I are all packed up for our trip to the Outer Banks, NC. We are keeping an eye on the progress of Hurricane Jose which has decided to turn north from his path in the Atlantic. Our vacation area is now in the "Cone of Uncertainty", We think all we will see in the OBX is rough seas and some wind and rain. I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to tell when we get back.

Weather aside, it will be nice to get away from regular life for a few days. I'm looking forward to being at the beach, being able to hear the ocean and put my toes in the sand. Hanging out with family, reading, relaxing...it's all gonna be pretty great.

#1928 Sheryl Crow at Red Butte Garden

Tonight MT and I went to see Sheryl Crow in concert at Red Butte Garden. A couple of things: first, the venue is fantastic. I really enjoy going to concerts at RBG. You can take in your own food and beverages (including grown up drinks). It's super casual. You take in your blanket or low-back chairs and you find your spot and enjoy the show. Tonight we got a great spot at the very back of the amphitheater so we had a wall to lean up against. We also could stand up and dance when we wanted without worrying about anyone behind us and we had a good view of the stage. I could see Sheryl all night. It's beautiful in the garden. The sound is very good. The venue only holds about 3,000 people, so even when it's sold out (which it is for nearly every show), it doesn't feel crowded.

Second: Sheryl Crow herself is pretty damn great. The woman has been making music for a long time and she has plenty of hits. She had us rocking and singing along all night. We have seen her at least once but maybe twice before and I thought this was the best show. She's quite petite. Next to some of the guys in her band, she seemed very small. What a great voice.

MT said that this was his favorite show he has seen this year. It was fun and I think part of that has to do with the fact that we are familiar with her music and so we were able to sing along for a lot of the songs. I believe knowing the music adds to the fun factor.

One last thing about the evening: the weather was perfectly gorgeous. September in Utah can be spectacular. It rained a little bit off and on during the day and I was a little concerned about having some rain this evening or the temperature cooling off a lot or winds picking up out of the canyon. None of those things happened, though. There were some clouds, but they were puffy and pretty. The temperature was in the upper 70s and there was no rain or wind.

Overall a wonderful night!

#1927 Snap Judgement

Sometime in the last year or so I found a program on NPR called Snap Judgement. It is "storytelling with a beat". I hadn't really thought about oral storytelling before, but it is pretty freakin' dope. The program comes on my local NPR channel at 11 AM on Saturday. Sometimes I catch it, but most times I don't. But now I have figured out how to subscribe to the podcast on my beloved iPhone, and I can hear every episode!

Last year during October, Snap Judgement had daily Halloween-type episodes for a week. I really enjoyed those episodes. I have a fascination with the paranormal, I guess you could say. I don't like scary movies or these haunted houses that are theatrical productions where you get chased by zombies, guys with chainsaws or clowns, but a good ghost story is usually something I enjoy. I freely admit that the show Ghost Adventures is one of my most favorite TV shows. Sometimes the show is a little on the goofy side, but lots of times the crew finds things that make me say, "Hmmm."

Back to Snap Judgement, though. Now those fabulous people have come out with a new podcast: Snap Judgement presents Spooked. I listened to the first show today on my way home from work and it was a good one! Glynn Washington, the host of Snap Judgement, says that the stories are from real people which makes it even more fun.

Here's another fun fact: at the end of October, I will get to see Snap Judgement live here in SLC! They are doing an eight city tour and when I heard about it, I quickly bought a pair of tickets. One of my little fantasies is doing oral storytelling. I haven't done anything about it yet besides looking online to get some idea of how to go about getting started. It's just an idea. It will be fun to see storytellers doing their thing for real live and in person.

Side note: when I just looked on the SJ website to see how many cities were on the tour, I noticed that San Diego is one of the cities. Thoughts are percolating...

#1926 three things: naps, hurricanes and football

1. Naps. I just woke up from a nap. It was just a mere 30 minutes worth of sleep, but it felt so good. I enjoy a siesta. I prefer to nap on my bed so I can fully stretch out and really relax as opposed to falling asleep on the couch. Maybe falling asleep on the couch reminds me of when I was recovering from my knee surgery. The couch was my usual nap spot then because that's where I spent most of my time. When I nap on my bed I usually set an alarm because I think I will sleep too long and not be able to sleep through the night. My point is, napping is good.

2. Hurricane watch. Irma is now making landfall in Florida. The latest track has the storm heading north and west, away from North Carolina, particularly the northernmost part of North Carolina where I will be heading next weekend. I hope everyone in Florida and in beautiful Savannah and Charleston (and all the other places the storm will travel) will be safe and I hope that Irma loses more and more strength as she comes the the U.S.

3. Football. We are now just a couple of hours away from kickoff in the #holywar - the football game between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. This year the game is being played in Provo. I will be happily seated on my comfy couch, watching the game on my big-ass TV, belly full of grilled burger and pasta salad and munching on a cookie, cheering for the Utes. This football rivalry goes all the way back to the late 1800s and the teams have played it each other more than 90 times. Currently Utah has a six consecutive game winning streak. Here's hoping tonight is number seven! Go Utes!

#1925 couch potato night

Usually I go to the gym on Monday through Thursday evenings. Tonight I just didn't feel like it. Also, I'm going to the gym tomorrow night. There will be a special Zumba party from 8:30 to 10:00 with guest instructors. I think it will be really fun so I rationalized that it would be all right to skip my regular class tonight, even though it's a class I really like taught by an instructor I really like. Okay, I feel kind of bad and guilty about it. Oh well.

Instead of exercising, I am doing something I haven't done for awhile: I'm sitting on my comfy couch, watching my big TV. I've been flipping the channels between CNN, the Weather Channel and NBC. Tonight is the first game of the regular NFL season and the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots is on NBC. CNN and the Weather Channel are full of information about Hurricane Irma. All of it is riveting TV.

I don't think MT is all that thrilled with one-third of my viewing choices. Oh well. He usually has sole control of the remote and binge-watches shows I don't care to see. I needed a little TV/down time, I guess.

Gotta get back to TV time now friends. Stay safe! Love you!

#1924 water and fire

We are a couple of weeks away from our vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but it is hurricane season, so we have to pay attention to what is happening. It looks like the beast of a storm that is Hurricane Irma is going to plow through the Caribbean and through Florida. I have a friend who lives in Florida that is gathering some family photos and getting away from her house. How awful.

I saw on the Weather Channel that there is another storm that could turn into a hurricane, Tropical Storm Jose. Hopefully he will just wither away out there in the Atlantic and stay off the islands and the US coast.

Salt Lake City is blanketed with smoke from fires. There is a big fire in the Ogden area, plus there are terrible fires happening in seven other western states. The moon tonight is full and orange from all the smoke. I stayed inside, but between my allergies and the smoke, I am having a yucky cough, lots of sneezing, a runny nose and itchy eyes. I just took half a Benedryl so I could get some good sleep. Tomorrow is one of my busiest days at work and I need to be ready to go.

One side of the country has too much water and the other side is on fire.

#1923 allergies and retail therapy

Last night I volunteered for a wedding at Red Butte Garden. You might think that being a wedding volunteer is a lovely magical thing, but the reality is that I don't have any contact with the actual wedding at all. My job is to sit by the gate and make sure only wedding guests come in to the garden, then I wish them a good night when they leave after the reception. You might think it's not a very good gig, but I would tell you the opposite. I enjoy it.

For one thing, it's quite peaceful. Usually the wedding ceremony is around 6:00. I get there between 6:30 and 7:00, so the guests have all arrived (unless they get lost), so there's not a lot for me to do. I chat with the other volunteer who drives the tram. Lately I've worked with a lovely lady named Trish and we talk about North Carolina, where she lived for many years. Most of the weddings have a cocktail hour and then dinner. Sometimes there is music. Last night there was a good jazz ensemble that played through the evening. The acoustics in the garden are very good, and I liked listening to the music.

When Trish takes the tram to the wedding site to pick up guests who are ready to leave, I play on my beloved iPhone. I put it away when people come along, but mostly I have plenty of time to check Facebook or Twitter or even to read a book. Last night I watched the last quarter of the BYU vs LSU football game. (BYU looked awful.)

When the sun goes down, the breeze turns cool as it comes down the canyon. Last night the breeze was particularly cool and full of something that triggered my allergies. I spent the last 90 minutes of my shift with itchy watery eyes, a runny nose and frequent sneezing. By the time I got home I could only breathe through my mouth. I was a mess. I took a generic Benedryl so I could get some good sleep. Benedryl works really well for me. I sleep like the dead. The bad part is waking up. I slept for 10 hours and had something I call a Benedryl hangover that includes dry mouth and overall out-of-it-ness.

Late this morning when I finally got up, MT and I went to breakfast with his parents, then we went out to Lehi to the outlet mall. MT and I love going to the Columbia store. There was a big Labor Day sale going on and everything was 25 - 40% off. MT just bought a belt, but I bought four t-shirts, some capris, a sweatshirt and a winter coat, all for just over $200. For every $100 we spent, we got a $25 gift card that can be used next month, so we have $50 to spend there in October. YAY! MT wants to get a groovy coat like mine. Linda and I went into the Clarks shoe store. There was a sale in there: buy one pair, get another pair for $20. We each got a pair of shoes and split the cost.

Shopping made my Benedryl hangover go away. MT said I looked cute when I was spending money. I'd be happy to show him how cute I can be at the car store. ;)

Jake and Linda left after our shopping spree. Since then I have been reading and napping and as T would say, just chillin'. I'm glad I have all day tomorrow to do stuff around the house.

OH! HEY! Check out the 2017 Reading List page. I updated it with all the books I've read since I took my blog sabbatical.