#3004 pdin 23 maybe for the last time

Lakers vs Jazz tonight

I had the opportunity to go to the Jazz game tonight with a seat in the company suite. The company has had the suite for lots of years now, and I've been able to go fairly often over the years for Jazz games and concerts and now hockey games. In the past, I've been able to take family and friends to games in the suite, and I have always loved doing that. I haven't ever taken the suite for granted; it has been one of my favorite perks of working for Granite.

Tonight it occurred to me that this might be the last time I get to watch a game from the suite. It was a bittersweet realization. Of course I can go to a game whenever I choose to buy a ticket, but it won't be quite the same as sitting in the comfort of the suite with my co-workers. 

By the way, it was a good game although the Jazz did lose by two little points. They gave it their best in the final four minutes to get that close, and it could have gone either way, but in the end, the Lakers prevailed. 15,000 of the 20,000 people in attendance were thrilled. There were a LOT of Lakers fans in the building.

#2923 three things: Thanksgiving weekend edition

 I'll take a small break from writing about Italy to tell you what I've got going on this weekend.

1. Wicked. I got off work at noon yesterday (Wednesday), so I went to the 12:10 showing of Wicked at the movie place close to my house. I read the book about a jillion years ago, and I thought it was weird. I saw the play here in SLC several years ago and wept because it was so good. I was looking forward to seeing the movie, although I'm not a big Ariana Grande fan.

The theater was pretty full. I had empty seats on either side of me, so that was nice. I love that feeling of anticipation when there is a movie everyone is excited to see, and I could feel that excitement in the auditorium as the lights went down. 

I'll just get this out of the way: Ariana Grande was excellent. The woman can sing. She was funny, she looked pretty, and she more than held her own. Cynthia Erivo was phenomenal. That voice, the poise, the fearlessness. She made green look GOOD. 

My eyes leaked and my throat got tight several times. It's a long movie, over two and a half hours, and it is just the first act of the play. I am pumped for part two which will come out sometime in 2025. I actually can't wait to watch part one again when it is streaming. Of course I say that now, but will I actually do it when it becomes available?

2. Swap my clothes. I think I mentioned early in November that I was going to swap out my warm weather clothes of the cold weather clothes. I haven't, but I think tomorrow is the day! It takes a few hours because I Marie-Kondo that business. I take everything out of the drawers and off the hangers and get serious about winnowing. I hope I have it in my\e to winnow severely tomorrow. I may have mentioned that I have A LOT of clothes, and I want to have less. Thoughts and prayers, please.

3. Art time! On Saturday I am planning to be creative. I'll take the time to create the December zine as well as paint the wee calendar. I have a plan for the calendar, but not for the zine quite yet. Still kicking around some ideas. I'll also write in my journal. I think it will be a pretty great day for all of that.

BONUS THING: On Sunday T and I are going to the Jazz game! I got tickets from work. We haven't been for awhile, and I think it will be fun.

Here's hoping you all have a great weekend!

xo

#2866 all the fun we had

**NOTE: This turned into an extra-long post, but I think it's a good one. Lots of photos!**

October passed by in a blur. It was a busy month, packed full of a bunch of stuff. I did some leaf-peeping, did some day drinking, saw an annular solar eclipse, went to Dixon,  hosted family at my house and kept them entertained as best I could, went to Yellowstone National Park with the family, and saw the family off back to their homes. I also went to the dentist, and did a little work.

**NOTE: I could have probably stopped there, but I didn't. Read on...**

Pretty much immediately after I returned home from Dixon, I had a couple of days to clean up the house, then my cousins from Spain, Sonia and Nicole, arrived for a nine-day visit. My objective for the time they spent here was to show them around and keep them busy and entertained. When they arrived on Monday, the 23rd, MT and I picked them up at the airport, brought them to our house, and then took them out for dinner. That night there was chatting and laughter, then we all went to bed pretty early. Sonia and Nicole had been in New York City for three days, walking all over the place, and their travel day was LONG. It included a five hour layover in Las Vegas. 

I took all the time they were here off so that I could focus on having fun with them, and I'm really glad I did! Tuesday, we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The leaves were mostly off the trees, but it is still spectacular, because the Wasatch Mountains are so rugged and pretty. We went for a cold walk around Silver Lake.

Thanks to the nice woman who offered to take our photo!

 From there, we went over Guardsman Pass to Park City, with MT pointing out all the things he built along the way. He worked on some really nice projects in the Park City area. We had lunch, then walked along Main Street. Nicole said she felt like she was an episode of Gilmore Girls. We stopped at JavaCow for a coffee for the women, ice cream for MT.

Thanks to the nice woman who offered to take our photo!

(Note: I am not loving my gigantic arm in this photo. I like my hair, though.)

That night, we ate dinner at home. Sonia made Kraft mac and cheese, which she loves, and Nicole made fried egg sandwiches. It was a nice, quiet evening.

On Wednesday, I took Sonia and Nicole downtown SLC. We went to the Capitol to admire the views, and we even went inside to look around. I didn't take many photos, but I couldn't resist taking a pic of this creepy pattern in the marble near the restroom.

EEK!!!

After the Capitol, we wandered around City Creek Center, a fabulous mall that MT worked on. I was happy to point out many projects he worked on downtown. Speaking of MT, we met him for lunch at Corner Bakery, then the four of us went for a stroll through Red Butte Garden. I love this pic of MT, Sonia, and Nicole:

Cute!!

In the morning, it was windy and overcast, but the afternoon was crisp and sunny. It was a gorgeous day to walk around "my" garden. 

From there, Sonia, Nicole, and I went to East High School for the self-guided High School Musical tour. Most of the movie was filmed at East, and it was one of the things that both Sonia and Nicole really wanted to do. It was fun to see them get all excited about all of it. We stayed there for quite awhile, then we went to Trolley Square so Nicole could take a couple of dance classes at Millennium Dance School. Sonia and I left her there to dance her face off, and the two of us went to the Delta Center for the Utah Jazz home opener. Sonia was so excited when she got to the suite and realized what she was looking at. A fun thing is that the Jazz gave everyone t-shirts that night, and we were able to get one for Nicole, too. I don't know if they will be Jazz fans, but they liked the t-shirt!

Thanks to my co-worker, Quin, for taking our photo!

MT picked Nicole up from Millennium, and we all met at home. Another successful day!

Thursday was less exciting, but still fun. We went to the grocery store to buy supplies for our trip to Yellowstone. We went to Trader Joe's, because...of course! We also went to Smiths. The Spaniards were slightly overwhelmed by the gigantic American-ness of it all. Another place we went was Delice Bakery. I picked up a cake for my mom and some kouign amman pastries for breakfast. That afternoon, we went to The Pie Pizzeria in Midvale for a late lunch, then it was time to head to the airport to pick up Mama and Lizzie!  We rented a big-ass Suburban to take to Yellowstone, so it had it's inaugural ride to and from the airport. We went to dinner at Copper Creek Pub, then to my house so Mama could meet Stella the dog. Sonia and I drove Mama and Lizzie to their hotel and made a plan for the next day.

On Friday, the six of us piled into the Suburban after pastries and coffee, and we headed up the road to West Yellowstone, MT. We stopped for lunch around 2:00 in Pocatello to have finger steaks and fries. They were not truly delicious, a little over-cooked, I think, but I still managed to eat all of mine. My BFF LA and her husband Rob stopped by to say hi, too, so bonus!

On the road to West Yellowstone!

The roads through Idaho were dry and good, but pretty much the minute we crossed the state line into Montana, the roads were snowpacked. We arrived in West around dusk, and found our Airbnb without much trouble. It was a great place for us, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Mama and Lizzie took the room with two twin beds; Sonia and Nicole shared a room with a queen-size bed, and that left MT and I with the giant room with a king-size bed. The living/dining/kitchen area, was cozy and perfect for us. That night, we did a little grazing, or peca-peca, with cold cuts, cheeses, nuts, chips, crackers, and carrots with dips, and cookies. We drank some beer and just reveled in the fact that we were going into Yellowstone Park the next day. Lizzie and I made a plan for the weekend (of course we did!) MT and Nicole started putting together a puzzle, and Sonia chatted with Mama. It was all pretty wonderful.

Saturday, Lizzie and I got up when it felt like it was still nighttime so we could make a bit of breakfast before we drove into the park. *SIDE NOTE: The host of the Airbnb provided us with a pound of coffee beans, a dark French roast that I wasn't sure I would like, but ended up liking it a whole bunch.* Everyone got up and had a little something to eat, and we were on the road into the park by 8:00, as per our plan. The road was snow-packed, but there weren't many other cars in the park with us. I'd never been there so late in the season, and the fresh snow from Thursday was still pristine. You could see animal tracks on the side of the road. Not too far in, we saw a good size herd of elk, so that was a nice welcome! 

Heading toward Mammoth Hot Springs

Our objective for the day was to go to Mammoth Hot Springs, then head east toward Tower Falls and then to Lamar Valley. We decided to go to the north entrance of the park, to Gardiner, MT for lunch. It was a wild west experience. Nicole had a bison burger, which she liked. I had a chicken fried steak, and it was pretty dang good.  What I will remember most about the side trip into Gardiner were the elk and the snow crystals floating in the air which caused the snow to sparkle like it was covered with diamonds. It was truly pretty.

We went to Tower, but decided not to go to the Lamar Valley because we wanted to get out of the park before sundown, so we headed back to West. We saw some buffalo along the way, and more close-ups of elk, so it was a good drive. 

Bull elk on an island

Back at the house, we picked up a couple of pizzas for dinner, then celebrated Mama's birthday a couple of months early with the cake from Delice and some cava. It was a special night, and a really good day.

On Sunday, we were a little more laid-back and took it all a little more slowly. Mama had a video chat with her sister in Spain. I read a book and drank coffee, two of my favorite things to do. MT, Sonia, Lizzie, Nicole, and I went to a place for breakfast. It wasn't really that great, to be honest, but there were a lot of people in there. Many of the restaurants were already closed for the season. Apparently, the park and West Yellowstone sort of shut down between Nov 1 and Dec 15. Some of the restaurants got an early start on their break. 

MT wanted to drive a bit less and walk a bit more that day, so per our plan, we made for Old Faithful. We stopped along the way at Lower Geyser Basin. Mama walked around the whole trail, snow-pack and all. It was damn cold, but not windy, so it was tolerable. 

We also stopped at Middle Geyser Basin (it probably has another name), so MT could go see Prismatic Spring. I chose to hang out in the car with Mama. We chatted and I read a little. We made another stop after that, but only MT went on that walk. We got to Old Faithful about an hour or so before it was scheduled to erupt, so we killed a little time, and then got a front row seat to the show. It didn't seem to shoot as high as it has in the past, but it was right on time. Iconic! 

Old Faithful!

After that, we went to the General Store and to get some hot chocolate, then it was time to head back to West. 

That night for dinner, we had pasta, breadsticks, and a tomato and mozzarella salad that Sonia made. We drank a little wine, and talked about the day, and it was all good.

Monday morning, we cleaned up the house in preparation for leaving. I wasn't very helpful because I was reading and right at the end of the book. (Sorry family!) We checked out of the house at 10 am, then went to the main street of West Yellowstone to look for souvenirs and some breakfast. Like I said, most things were already closed, so we didn't have luck with breakfast, but we all got some souvies. 

Homeward bound! (No, MT is not asleep lol)

We stopped at Harriman State Park in Idaho to look around a little. We might have been the only people back there! We stopped by the river because we thought there were buffalo, but it was cows. We did see a bunch of water fowl, and eagles soaring overhead.  We had to commemorate the moment with this  ussie by Nicole:

BRRR

We stopped at the rest area in Hell's Half Acre between Idaho Falls and Blackfoot for a tailgate picnic, then we powered on through to SLC, and got home around 6:30 pm, I think.  For dinner that night, we picked up Crown Burger to bring home, along with Crumbl cookies. Mama and Lizzie checked into their hotel, and our phenomenal Yellowstone adventure was complete.

Mama and Lizzie went home on Tuesday morning, but the fun was not over for Sonia, Nicole, and me. We had breakfast with MT at Black Bear Diner (so American!), then we went to the Halloween store so Nicole could buy a costume. We came home, and she tried it on, but did not wear it to my office where we went to trick or treat and meet my co-workers. Sonia and Nicole got so much candy, and everyone was delighted to talk to them. Why wouldn't they be delighted? Sonia and Nicole are adorable, and their accents are really cute! The three of us then had a late lunch at In-n-Out Burger (delicious!), then back to the house to greet trick or treaters and maybe go to a few places ourselves. 

Nicole was Barbie, and she was cute as a button, of course. Sonia bought some cat ears. 

Nicole carved the pumpkin on top; Sonia drew the face on the other one, and MT carved it.

I love this photo!

Hi suburban Barbie!

We only got two trick or treaters, both special needs adults who live in the neighborhood. I have a massive amount of candy in my house because we were prepared for hordes. Sonia, Nicole, and I did not go out, to MT's relief. Instead, we all put on our relaxing clothes and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. (I only dozed off a couple of times.)

The next day, Wednesday 1 November, I had to work. I got up early and fired up my computer and a big pot of coffee here at home. Sonia and Nicole packed their bags, then MT took them to IHOP for a final American breakfast. We dropped them off at the airport at 1:00 pm, then we came home to a very quiet house. I kept working, and that is the end of my vacation story.

Looking back, I probably could have broken this up into at least two, or maybe three posts, but since I'm not posting as much, I decided to get it all out there.

Whew. Time to get back to regular life. 

Happy November!

#2842 weekly round-up

Did you notice I skipped the Wednesday post? I did because I was at the Utah Jazz basketball game. It's the first game I have been to in awhile. I went with some folks from my work group, and we were in the suite, which is always fun.  The Jazz did not win that night, but I enjoyed being there. The meal that night was pulled pork or brisket along with mac and cheese. For dessert, I had the blonde brownie. It was good. 

On Friday night when I got home from work, MT was already home. He was lying on the bed watching TV and just lounging peacefully. I thought a nap sounded pretty great. I was up late on Wednesday, and I'd had a busy week at work. I went to the guest room - it is dark and quiet in there, plus my weighted blanket was there waiting for me - with the intention of sleeping for about 30 minutes. Two hours and 30 minutes later, I woke up feeling a little confused and even more tired. I texted my mom to let her know I'd call her on Saturday night. I took a melatonin to ensure I'd sleep through the night, and went back to the guest room bed an hour after I'd woken up. That was around 8:15. I read for about 10 minutes, and then I was out. On Saturday morning, my alarm went off at 7:00. I scrambled around, totally disoriented, trying to figure out where I was and where I'd put my phone. I got up to see what MT was doing. He was still in bed, so I went back to bed with the intention of reading for a little while. Nope. I went back to sleep until around 8:30. Yeah...I slept for about 12 hours. 

I was feeling tired the way I felt tired when I had Covid. I tested myself on Saturday just to make sure I wasn't sick with the virus. The result was a solid negative. I feel fine, overall. On Friday night, though, I was exhausted. 

On Saturday, MT and I prepped for our tax appointment on Wednesday night. We have lots of parts to our tax situation, so we've been using a CPA for several years. We have a system: we gather all the info that I've been collecting over the year, then we complete some paperwork the CPA sends to us for the business and the rentals. MT will go to the CPA's office, and I stay home and look for stuff that CPA needs that we didn't anticipate. It works for us. 

After a solid morning of doing that - I was well-rested, after all! - we decided to go out for lunch to have a lobster roll. MT has never had this type of sandwich. I've had one, so we went to the restaurant where I went several years ago, Freshie's Lobster Co. If you like lobster, you'll likely enjoy a lobster roll. It's tasty. MT said several times, "That's a f*ing good sandwich." It's a little pricey, of course. Lobster doesn't exactly live in our part of the world, so it has to be flown in. It was a good treat. It won't be our normal Saturday afternoon go-to lunch spot! 

After the sandwich, we needed a little dessert, so we went up the street to Dolcetti for gelato. It is a funky little shop on 9th and 9th. I had caramel cashew, and MT had coconut sticky rice - one of their specialties. I like gelato. MT loves ice cream in any form.

Take a look at that blue sky behind MT. It was a nice day, cold but sunny.  When I woke up this morning, we were having a blizzard! I was demoralized and dejected. Usually on Sunday morning, I like to go to a little bakery in Magna for a sweet roll, and then to Brew Monkey for some delicious coffee, all of which I enjoy at home while I read for awhile. The weather was so gross - it was a white-out! - that I made some pancakes and brewed a K-cup. It was fine. MT and I finished up the tax prep. I took a nap and woke up in time to see SDSU win a trip to the Final Four, then we went to lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. 

By then the sun had come out and the snow was mostly melted. Spring in Utah: if you don't like the weather, wait a couple of hours and it will be different. I played outside with the dogs. It was muddy, of course, but they were glad to be outside hunting for kibbles and catching a frisbee, respectively. I ended our games early because I was cold.

This past week, March has definitely been in lion-mode. I hope next week will be more meek and lamb-like. I need some sunshine and warmer temps, please Mother Nature. 

Here's some art I made this week:

The art group had a prompt to draw something you don't like. I hate pickles. I drew this jar of pickles, and added a cheeky pickle sticking his tongue out at me. 

This next one was the prompt we had in the group to draw an upside down umbrella filled with flowers. I painted the colors on first, inadvertently making it look a little like a rainbow. When the paint was dry, I drew in the umbrella and the scribble flowers. It is imperfect, and I kinda like it.

This last little dude was fun. I doodle daily from monthly prompts I find on Pinterest. For March, all the doodles are green. One day, the prompt was a dinosaur, and the next day was an alien. I drew each of those, then I drew this little fella as kind of a combo alien dinosaur. He is based on a sticker I have. I love how one eye is bigger and bulgier. 

Have a great week! 

#2761 three things: sad, sad, silly

1. It will be better in the long run. My local Starbucks is going to be closed this month while the shop undergoes a major remodel. A week or so ago, there was a sign on the door that the store would be closed for a couple of weeks at the end of the month, but this morning, a new sign declared they would be closed starting tomorrow through the end of the month. I am sad about this, and to get over my sadness, I remind myself that there are many, many Starbucks around the valley, so I will be able to get a coffee treat at another location.  I also tell myself that based on what the baristas told me about the remodel, the new look will be nice and we will all be happy. I will miss the convenience of my Starbucks, though. Thursday mornings will not be the same without you, Starbucks.

2. It's gonna take a long time to get better. The Utah Jazz management completed their annihilation of  what used to be a good team by trading All Star Donovan Mitchell today. A couple of years ago, we had three All Stars on the team, and two of them have been traded this summer. I'm sure the third is looking to get the heck up out of Salt Lake City. I sort of lost my shit right there in the office when I found out about the trade. I very nearly cried. My eyes were hot and my throat was tight. I don't have a lot of hope for the team this season. T thinks they will only win 15 games. Ugh. No longer must-watch TV for me. I'm annoyed.

3. Time to lighten up. Last night I volunteered at the Joss Stone concert at RBG, and I had the good luck to work alongside a lovely woman called Libby. I've met her before and enjoyed working with her. We were stationed at the Donor Terrace, checking tickets and giving wristbands to the guests in that area as they arrived. A blonde woman, who was alone, stopped to chat with us. She said  to Libby, "Oh! I talked to your husband the other day! He gushed about all of your accomplishments, and told me how proud he was of you. I wanted to let you know!" The woman probably talked for about a minute, and I was watching Libby's reaction. She was smiling, but she seemed kind of stiff, and a couple of times, she looked over at me,  widened her eyes, and raised her eyebrows. 

I wondered what was making Libby react this way. Was her husband fooling around with the blonde woman? Had Libby's husband recently passed away? Maybe Libby wasn't married at all. I don't know her at all, except that she volunteers at the Garden and at a couple of other places, and that she is from southern Georgia.

The blonde woman left us and went to her seat. Libby watched her walk away, then turned to me and said, "Huh. I've been divorced for 50 years. I really don't think she talked to my husband!"

For some reason, the whole exchange tickled my funny bone. The blonde woman was so sincere about telling Libby all that her "husband" said about her, and Libby was kind of bemused by the whole thing. Libby and I had a giggle about it. 

   

#2575 watching basketball

 

Hey friends! Happy June!

I’m sitting here on my couch watching the Jazz play game 5 of their first round series against Memphis. Jazz are up three games to one, so if they win tonight, they will move on to the second round against an opponent to be determined. The menfolk and I did go to the sports bar on Monday. It wasn’t crowded and we had a good time. The food was good and large. We all had burgers that left us all with a bulging gut. I know that I was extremely uncomfortable at night and the next day, Tuesday, I didn’t eat anything until noon. All I did was drink ginger tea to calm my tummy. I think we will go back to the restaurant to watch another game, and next time I will just order an appetizer and save the yummy burger for daylight hours. 

Here’s what I’m looking forward to this month: Saturday is my birthday. It’s a significant one. We don’t have any plans that I know of.  The next Saturday I’ll be visiting Mom and Lizzie in my first journey out of Salt Lake since the pandemic began. I’ll be gone for a whole week. I’m feeling excited! I don’t think there’s anything else going on in June. Just regular stuff, I guess.

Okay, I’ve gotta go. I can’t focus on writing and watch my Jazz dominate.

The best thing about today is that I took my car to the shop to get a new bumper. Hopefully it will ready for me to pick up tomorrow night.

#2429 the 'ber months are here

 

One of the women at work posted "Happy 'ber months!" on our Teams page this morning. I was like, "Whaaat?" but then I thought about it and these last four months of the year all end in "ber", hence, the 'ber months. 

Today the weather here was perfectly wonderful. It was actually a little chilly this morning. I had to wear sweats when I took Mac out for her walk this morning. I also wore socks in my house because my tootsies were a bit cold. This evening's walk was delightful. I'll take another 60 days or so just like this please. I think the high temperature was in the mid 70's, so it felt great after the blistering hot and dry weather we have had. The temperatures are supposed to climb back to the mid-90s by the weekend, so we are not completely finished with the summer weather, but a change is in the air. 

There's a full moon out tonight. Go look at it.

I'm sad tonight because my beloved Jazz have been knocked out of the playoffs. It wasn't supposed to be like this. The Jazz were up three games to one in a best of seven series. The upside is that now my evenings will be free again. Jazz basketball is must-watch TV for me, and now that they are out, I may or may not check out basketball games. Maybe during the Finals; it will depend on who is playing, I guess.

Happy September. Stay safe. Be kind. 

#2412 three things: expensive backache, hangry dog, and sports

1. I don't think that's what it was. On Monday morning I went to the ER because on Sunday and overnight I had the worst pain in my back. I couldn't get comfortable at all. I was miserable most of the day on Sunday and didn't get a good night's sleep. I thought for sure I had a UTI that had gone into my kidneys. The doctor said I had traces of blood in my urine, but no bacteria, so no UTI. He thought I had a kidney stone, so I had a CT scan so we could see what was going on. My kidneys were clear. No stones. The doctor, who seriously looked just a bit older than my son, said I had probably passed a stone and had leftover pain. Wouldn't I feel it if I passed a kidney stone? He prescribed some heavy-duty pain meds and a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way. 

It's been a few days and my back feels better, but still tender. I can mostly move freely, but there is still a twinge every now and then. I just don't think it was a kidney stone, though. I must have twisted my back at some point on Saturday (that's when I first felt the pain), but I sure don't remember anything in particular. I already know this is the most expensive backache I have ever had.

2. The dog gets HANGRY. Oh my dog. She's super energetic, borderline annoying, and quite entertaining.  I don't have a problem with the energy level. I think it's fun to watch her play and to play with her. What I don't like is the way she behaves when she gets hungry. She gets kinda mean. She barks and leaps and nips more than usual during the hungry times. I think she is going through a growth spurt because I can't seem to get enough food in her little body. It's a fine line, though, because the other night I must have given her too much because it looked like she had an explosion on the rug. She's been good with the house training, so I know she must have been miserable.  I'm learning to read her cues and figuring out how much to feed her to keep her healthy and satisfied. She's growing so fast!

3. I'm watching sports! Today is Opening Day of baseball season. I am watching the Washington Nationals play the New York Yankees. There aren't any people in the stands, but there is crowd noise LOL. At 6:00 I am going to change the channel to the Utah Jazz scrimmage against the Phoenix Suns. The NBA season will start next week. A bit later tonight, I will check out the other Opening Day game, the SF Giants against the LA Dodgers. I have been okay without sports, but I'm excited that they are back. 

#2337 fav photos from February

Today is supposed to be the end of the month, but since it is a leap year, we get a bonus day tomorrow.

I'm going to recap the month a little differently by sharing some of my favorite photos from the month.

At the beginning of the month, I met up with four other women who read with #EkpesBookClub. The woman closest to you is Rebecca, then there's me in the yellow shirt, Michelle, Melanie, and Jessica. It was fun to talk about books and get to know each other a bit. We are planning to meet again in March. Maybe a couple of other people will be able to join us.

Last Friday Lizzie and I went to Disneyland, and these next few pics are all from that day.This first photo is in the new Star Wars land, Galaxy Edge. That's the Millennium Falcon! So cool!

Here are Lizzie and I taking a selfie and making silly faces. I knew I was making a silly face, but I didn't know she was too.

The afternoon was postcard-perfect. Doesn't the sky look like a Hollywood backdrop?

As I mentioned in my previous post, we walked a lot at Disneyland. Here's a screenshot from my Apple watch to prove it. 20,675 steps, just over nine miles. No wonder I needed a recovery day.

On Sunday Lizzie and I went for a nice walk on the Castlewood Trail. I love the smell of eucalyptus, which does not grow around here in Utah. There was also a lot of wild rosemary growing along the trail. The combination of those two scents was wonderful. I think we walked about three miles. Here's Lizzie and her glorious hair on the trail in front of me.

For Christmas MT got us tickets to a Jazz game. We wanted to sit in the lower bowl so we could be a little closer to the action. We were in section B, row 13 on the Jazz sideline end of the court. It was pretty great to be that close to the floor. Even though the Jazz lost (badly), it was fun to be there.

I was bummed when I looked back through my photos and realized I hadn't taken any pics of my mamacita. Next time for sure!

I hope y'all had a great month and are planning something fun to do on your bonus day tomorrow!

~~~~~

I finished six books this month! Check out the 2020 Reading tab to see what I read and what I thought about each book. Have you read any of these novels? What have you been reading lately?

#2320 weekend wrap-up

I have been kind of miserable all day, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose. Will this cold ever go away?

Mostly today I have been reading and watching football. I did finish the book I was reading on Friday. It was kind of weird and kind of cool. It was called "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern. She wrote "The Night Circus" which, as I think back on it, was also kind of weird and kind of cool. Today I was reading "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett. I got it from the library on their Lucky 7 rack, so I only have seven days to read it. It's due on Wednesday. I have about 100 pages or so to go. I'll finish it easily. It's very good and easy to read.

By the way, I'm very pleased with the teams going to the Superbowl this year. The Kansas City Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers. Should be a great game on February 2!

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the Jazz game with a bunch of my male co-workers - not hard to do when you work for a construction company. I was the only woman in the group and I knew most of the men and they knew me too. The Jazz crushed the Sacramento Kings, so it was extra fun.

Sometime around the third quarter was when my nose completely closed up and I became a mouth-breather. I had a hard time sleeping last night because my mouth would get all dry since it was hanging open, then I would cough and sniffle. My lips were chapped and cracked this morning. So awesome.

My brother-in-law Kelly is coming over tomorrow. He is going to help MT with the houses. We've got two places that are empty. One is the newest house we bought. We were planning to flip it, but MT has decided to rent it. He has a renter all lined up to move in on February 1. The place isn't quite finished, and that is the house that Kelly will be working on. Kelly does the same thing MT does, except in Pocatello. He is very good at what he does. MT is so happy that Kelly is willing to come and work for him. Kelly will work on the Magna house while MT is working for a customer. Kelly will work four days a week and stay with us for three nights. He'll go back to Poky on Thursday night and return on Monday morning. MT can definitely use the help. He's super busy. Besides the house in Magna and the now vacant house in SLC, he has outside jobs lined up through March.

That's all I've got for tonight. I'm going to take some more cold medicine and try to get some sleep.

#2306 book club and basketball

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I was having a book club meeting and that we were going to the Jazz game. The Jazz fandom and book club worlds met at the game and it was kind of magical. Let me tell you about it.

So there I was on Twitter with the rest of #Ekpesbookclub discussing The Haunting of Hill House. Some people, people much more cerebral than I am, were telling those of us who didn't love the book (like me) about the brilliance of Shirley Jackson's writing. They were explaining Eleanor's descent into madness and how the house itself was a character. While I appreciate their comments and the discussion did give me more to think about, I still didn't care for the book. We all agreed that books affect and touch people in different ways and we all still appreciate each other's perspectives. It's a  friendly group. It's kind of amazing how you can develop a bit of a relationship with the people in the group even if you haven't met them in person. Some of the people I have been fortunate to meet through the Author Talk series that Ekpe hosted while he was here, but it has been awhile since we had one of those meet-ups.

As it was a Jazz game night, a few people mentioned that they were going to the game so they had to leave early to have dinner or whatever. I tweeted that I would be going to the game too and that it would be fun to meet up at half-time and maybe take a group photo that we could post on Twitter and tag Ekpe and the book club. To my surprise and delight, four people agreed (all season ticket holders, lucky dogs!) and we did meet and take a photo!

I have actually met all of these people before, so that was cool. From left to right: Bentley, Blair, me, Melanie and Stacy. We are all doing the peace sign because Ekpe almost always uses the peace sign emoji on his tweets. We took a few minutes to talk about our favorite books we read with the club this year and why. Bentley's favorite was a book we actually read last year, Just Mercy. He is an attorney, and I remember that he had a lot of opinions about the book and the justice system. Blair loved the book Belonging, which was the book about the German woman finding out that her grandfather was a Nazi. Melanie loved The House of Salt and Sorrows (she says she has read it like five times!) and Stacy liked Becoming. My favorite was The Nickel Boys. It's funny that each of our favorites were books we recommended to the club. LOL

I started reading with the book club last year in April, so 2019 was my first full year. We have read some great books and some meh books. The beauty is that books I might consider great others would consider meh and vice versa. That's the beauty of it though, isn't it. I can say with certainty that there were books we read that wouldn't have come up on my reading radar, so I'm grateful to the club to have expanded my reading horizons.

Here's a pic of most of the books we read this year:

There are five books that are not in this pile. I lent them to MT and I didn't bother to put them back in my finished pile. Those books are: Becoming, Where the Crawdads Sing, Educated, and The Guardians. We also read The Autobiography of Malcom X which I have on my Kindle.  Three of the books in the pile are signed by the authors from when I met them during Author Talks: Heavy, The Courage to Be You, and The Rent Collector. Gail Miller just wrote her name in the book, but the other two have messages to me. SQUEEE!

As for the Jazz game itself, that was fun too. The Portland Trailblazers were in town. One of their superstar players, Damian Lillard, played his college ball in Ogden at Weber State, so he always gets a lot of love when he plays in Utah. He's very good. 

The Jazz had a big lead for most of the game, but watched it get whittled away so that at points in the fourth quarter the Blazers were within one to three points. The Jazz dug deep and prevailed and there was much joy in the Viv.

Here's a photo I took of T and his friend Spudz, aided in lighting by Emmy award-winning videographer Darren Bailey:

Have a great weekend! More words tomorrow!

#2277 WW Wednesday - a new program and follow up on Post Malone

WW rolled out a new plan on Monday. They are calling it MyWW and the member gets to choose between three plans. One plan offers more daily points, but fewer zero point foods. Another plan is basically the current plan with zero point foods and points, and the third plan gives you over 300 zero point foods and even fewer points.

I am a bit like my mom in that I don't really love to make decisions. I feel a little stressed about what plan to choose, but I am not going to worry about it now because I'm going on vacation and I won't be worrying about WW.

I have lots of thoughts about all of this, but I'll save it for another time.

Last night our little family had the opportunity to go to the Jazz game. I was happy that T came with us. We all had fun and the Jazz won.

The night before, on Monday, T and I went to see Post Malone in concert. It was a great show. Post didn't chat much, but he sounded good. I was dancing and singing and having a blast. T had fun too. We were both glad to be there. Click here to read a review of the show from The Daily Herald.

It was a late night; I didn't get to bed until well after midnight and it was hard to fall asleep.

It's pretty unusual for me to have back-to-back nights out during the work week. Today was tough and I'm tired! I'll be going to bed soon. Tomorrow I'll be busy getting my stuff together for our trip. We leave on Friday! I'm not quite as prepared as I usually am.

It will all work out!

#2274 three things: a night out, it won't go away and book club marches on

1. A night out. Yesterday MT's brother Kelly came over for a visit. Kelly has been working south of Salt Lake, and his job finished, so he decided to stop over to see us on the way home. He helped MT at the flip and spent the night. I was fortunate to be able to get three tickets to the Jazz game last night, so MT, Kelly and I went to the game. It was the first time Kelly had ever been to an NBA game. We had seats in the suite, so it was super comfortable and a friendly environment. We all had fun, it was a good game, and the Jazz won!

2. It won't go away. T, MT and I all have a cold in varying degrees. T started it, I got it from him, and now MT got it from me. It's not one of those colds that knocks me on my ass and calls me a weakling, but it is lingering and it's making me tired and cranky and sad. This week has been very busy at work, but today it eased up a little so I was able to leave early to come home and get in a nap. I do not want to be any kind of ill when we go to Mexico!

3. Book club marches on. Even though Ekpe is in China, his book club continues and is going strong. We are currently reading the latest novel by John Grisham, The Guardians. We had our first discussion about the book tonight. An interesting thing to me about the book club group is what these people think about as they are reading. Like tonight, Ekpe's first question to the group was "What do you think about prisons?" Another person posed the question, "What would you choose for your last meal?" We talk about large existential questions and also the typical "What do you think is going to happen?" questions. When I read a book, I seem to focus mainly on the writing itself, the character development, and the plot. MT says that literature is supposed to make you think, and it does make me think. It makes me think about what makes a good story.

#2268 the remote got a workout

Tonight was basically a perfect Sportstober night for me.

First up, World Series game 4. I watched the first few innings without interruption until...

...it was time for Jazz basketball. I flipped channels between the basketball game and the baseball game until...

...it was time for Utah football. I have mostly been watching football since it came on because the baseball game and the basketball game were both blowouts.

Technically, as of this moment, the baseball game is still going on. The score is Houston 8 - 1 Washington. That means that the Series will be tied 2 -2. Game 5 is tomorrow night. I like both teams, so I'm hoping for a long series of good baseball. I'll be watching tomorrow!

The Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings 113 - 81. The Jazz played well and the Kings really didn't. With so many new guys on the Jazz team this season, it was fun to watch them gel on the court tonight. Another cool thing about tonight's game was the reappearance of the so called purple mountain jerseys that were worn back in the glory days of the late '90s with Stockton and Malone. Lots of people don't like the jerseys, but they remind me of a happy time in Jazz history.

Now I am watching Utah football. It's halftime and the Utes are up 28 - 0. All is well so far.

My remote is now getting a rest since I'm done flipping back and forth between three channels.

#2260 a full day of play with LA

Late Saturday morning, MT and I headed up to Park City to meet with our friends Rob and LA who were visiting from Pocatello. We have been friends for, well, let's see... I started working at the paper in Poky in 1988, and that's where I met LA. I think we started hanging out regularly in  early 1989, so that's 30 years. Rob and MT became climbing and skiing buddies, and the four of us were tight. There was a lull in the friendship when MT and I moved to Salt Lake and were getting settled in, but we have stayed in touch and visited each other as much as we can.

We planned this visit so we could hear about their recent trip to Iceland and to get in a bike ride. Of course, it is getting cold now, so we decided to meet at noon at the outlet mall at Kimball Junction. We had a good time shopping in Eddie Bauer. I got a pair of jeans, a vest, and a sweatshirt, if you are interested. I can't wait to wear that down vest!

For lunch we went into Park City itself. LA mentioned a place she and Rob had breakfast once that she remembered as being very good, but she couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. She did remember the approximate location, so we started walking up Main Street. She led us to The Eating Establishment, which happened to be the place Lizzie and I had dinner before our ghost tour back in June, so I knew it was good too. We wanted to eat outside because even though it was chilly, it was sunny and we were all eager to get a bit more sun before the grey, cold winter sets in.

It should have been a clue to us that at 1:30 in the afternoon the breakfast dishes had not been cleared from the patio, but we did not heed the clue. Inside, the restaurant was very busy, but the host had someone clear the tables outside and we were seated there after about a ten minute wait. We got menus and that's it. Soon other diners were seated, their water was poured and their orders were taken. We were still sitting there with just our menus. We sat there for about 20 minutes before we decided to find another place to eat. Very disappointing.

We wandered down the street to a place called The Spur Bar & Grill. They have a patio on the second floor. We were seated immediately, given water and menus. I have to say it was a lot warmer up on that patio than down on the street level, both in temperature and in welcome. The smiling server quickly took our order and made sure we didn't want anything else to drink. Rob and LA told us stories about their time in Iceland and showed us some photos. LA gave me a gift: a unique and beautiful bracelet handmade from native volcanic stone. LOVE!!

The food at The Spur was delicious. We all had the same thing - the Spur burger. I like it when you can taste the beef in a burger. So good! I would have been happy to sit up there drinking a beer or two, but we all wanted to ride our bikes and temperature was at the warmest it would get that day, so after lunch, we drove back down to Kimball Junction to start the ride. We all agreed it would be nicer to do the hard work of pedaling uphill at the start of the ride, then coast back down to our cars at the end.

My personal goal was to make it to the barn, which is four miles up from Kimball Junction. I don't know if I have ever ridden wearing so many layers of clothing. Going uphill I got plenty warm. The menfolk got out to a fast start and were pedaling ahead of us. LA has a bad back, so she has an electric bike. She still has to pedal, but she gets an assist from the motor. I was the slowest and the heaviest breather (and heaviest in general) by far. The air was brisk, but I got warm and sweaty.

We made it to the barn (YAY!) There is an underpass that you can take to get from the west side of the road over to the barn, so we did that. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so I took photos of course.

Fall is definitely in the air and you can see it in the changing colors of the leaves.

Over on the east side of the highway, we noticed there was a trail that would take us back to Kimball Junction. We would be farther away from the highway, so it would be more quiet plus there was the added bonus of the view of the quaking aspen trees.

I mean, that's a pretty trail!

So we rode our bikes down this trail and it was gorgeous and we were happy. The men picked up speed and zoomed down. LA and I took our time, chatting and taking photos.

selfie!

We met up with the men. Rob pointed out that we would either have to cross the highway - without a light - or ride uphill a little ways until we could find a light. There was no way I was going to cross the highway without a light, so we had to pedal. It was steep. I was in the lowest gear I have on my bike and I was struggling. We got to a place where the road was being repaired, so we had to get off our bikes and push them around some construction machinery. The road after the equipment was even more steep, so LA and I ended up pushing our bikes for maybe a quarter of a mile uphill. I am saying now that I *probably* could have rode up that small but steep hill, but I didn't. No shame!

After that, it was all literally downhill. We safely crossed the highway at a light, then coasted down the rest of the hill to parking lot. We were out a total of one hour and 24 minutes; total distance was 8.3 miles. My average speed was a blistering 5.8 MPH (lol). Don't judge me! hahahaha At least I was out there doing it even though my personal rule is that I don't ride if it's not at least 70 degrees. LA must be a damn good friend for me to lower my temperature rule by a good 15 degrees.

After the bike ride, our fun was not over! We were fortunate enough to get tickets to the Jazz game. It was the first preseason game of the 2019-2020 season. The Jazz were playing a team from Australia. The big three stars for the Jazz - Conley, Gobert, and Mitchell - did not play, but it was still fun to be in the suite and see the new guys on the team. Since the game was a blowout - the Jazz won by over 50 points - we talked more about Iceland and looked at more photos. I liked that!

Extra bonus: one of the guys on the other team missed two free throws in the fourth quarter which means we all get a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. HOORAY!!

When the game was over, so was our day of fun. We bid our pals farewell until we meet again. They went back up to Park City where they spent the night at a hotel. They went back to Idaho this morning.  Both MT and I miss Rob and LA. It is fun to do stuff with friends!

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and have some fun plans for the week.