On My Way!

This is the first of many posts to come regarding my trip to Italy!  First off, my flight was long but it included a long layover in the Philadelphia airport where I found this gem.

I found the Liberty Bell made of Lego's in the airport.  I thought it was kind of cool and it peaked my interest as well because my older brother, Jeff really liked Lego's growing up and had a huge collection and one of my friends from college, Kyle, loved the creativity of Lego's and it is his dream job to work for them some day.

Another Wedding

Another one of my old roommates (who I have lived with off-and-on for the last 4-5 years) got married earlier today.  I am so excited for Brenda!  She definitely deserves it and Jeremy is perfect for her.  Not that it matters much but I totally approve of him!

Brenda and Jeremy got married in the Manti Temple.  It was only my second time in Manti and both times have been with Quinn.  The first time I was driving through with Quinn, and his dad, Norm on our way back from St. George.  The second time, Quinn came with me so we could spend some time together during the drive as we really have not seen each other lately.  I felt kind of bad for him as he just hung out in his car during the wedding and pictures and then only knew me at the reception/luncheon.  I felt bad for him but the time we got to spend together was worth it!  A bonus to an already good day. :)

Jeremy and Brenda Griffith

 

Brenda and I.                                             Lauren (another long-term roommate) and I.

Me, Aliesa (one of Brenda's long-time friends from WA), Brenda, Rachel (another prior long-term roommate, and Lauren.

Hollywood

Hollywood came to my job today!  They are making a movie called "Waffle Street" (more info can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3881680/?ref_=nv_sr_1).  They were using a local film crew to help as they were filming a lot of it in Utah.  The locations that I know of are The One-Man Band in Lehi, Timpanogos Regional Hospital, and Orchard Park Post-Acute Rehab.  They brought in one of the best hair/make-up artists in Hollywood, the trailers, Danny Glover (not at my job though), the actors, the food trailer, the equipment, etc…  They were using the room right next door to my desk and as I had a rather large conference and sitting area behind my desk, I got to hang out with the crew all day.  It was pretty fun getting to know them and seeing some of the production side of movies.

You may say, "Waffle Street?"  It has a reason for the name.  The synopsis of the book that they are making into the movie is an adaptation of James Adams' 2010 memoir.  It is named Waffle Street as chronicles his foray into food after being laid off from the hedge fund that he worked at during the financial crisis.  James chose to work at a popular 24-hour diner where he claims "most of his financial knowledge has been gleaned" under the tutelage and friendship of Edward, the best short-order cook in town (who is also an ex-con).


I am really excited to read his book and to see how it compares to what I learned in school.  James took some time to do a speaking event and book signing at work that same night and I got to chat with him for about 20 minutes or so.  It was really interesting talking to him and about his experiences.

In addition to James, I got to meet the stars of the movie, minus Danny Glover.  Depending on what genre of tv and movies you watch, you may or may not know the actors.

                                        

Julie Gonzalo                                                                    James Lafferty

Julie has been in A Cinderella Story, Freaky Friday (the new one), Must Love Dogs, and a bunch of tv shows.  James was one of the main characters in One Tree Hill and has been in a lot of other tv shows as well.  James was a whole lot nicer than Julie and I had a good time chatting with James.  

Post-production meeting

Some of the trailers and other support vehicles from filming.

It was a pretty cool day at work today.  It almost rivaled this day:

Ummm, on second thought.  It was cool but it did not compare to meeting and talking with the current prophet of God and leader of the LDS Church, President Thomas S. Monson.

Salmon Supper

I just discovered hours before the event that every fall, Payson, UT does a salmon supper.  The firefighters of Payson cook thousands of pounds of fresh Alaskan salmon every August for their Annual Payson Salmon Supper.  They fire-grill the flown in salmon, serve you an ENORMOUS piece and pair it with a baked potato, sweet local corn on the cob, a fresh roll, and a dessert of some kind.  The food was all delicious, especially the fish.  I think the fish was the flakiest that I have ever had and was well worth the time I took savoring it.  The pieces they serve you at at least one-third to one-half of a huge salmon.  The pieces were bigger than my hand!

I learned about the event at work and promptly decided that I needed to go and that it would be well worth the $15.  If nothing else, the size of the salmon I was served was well worth over $15, especially considering it was fresh Alaskan salmon that was flown in.  I asked one of my old roommates, Sarah, to go along with me and partake in the bounty.  The wait in line was worth it and we had a good night.

Photo credits got to: www.paysonutah.org/news_events.salmonsupper.html

In Where I Am A Bridesmaid

One of my best friends, Katie Fullmer got married this last week.   Her two sweet little daughters, Adey and Paisley, and I made up the bridal party.  It was fun helping Katie prepare for her wedding and going to a dress fitting but I am sure she is glad to have it all done so she can get back to regular life.  I was able to leave work a little early to head to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to help Katie get ready and to act as her escort.

Katie and Nate Mihu

Katie and Nate got married on a Wednesday evening and then Thursday morning, there was a whole wedding party hike up to Timpanogos Cave.  It was my first time hiking up to the caves ever and I have been in Utah for 6 years now.  The views going up were gorgeous and it was pretty cool inside the caves.  Nate's family is mainly comprised of men with deep voices and this led to the men in the group I was in to start singing one of the dwarf songs from "The Lord of the Rings."  It sounded pretty cool deep in the caves with the acoustics.

 





Views on the way up.


 Katie and I just outside one of the tunnels.

Me, obviously.

                

 

Inside the caves.

The weather cooperated for a very nice outdoor reception on Saturday evening.  Lots of pictures were taken and even more food was eaten.  I loved the chance that I got to see Katie's parents again as well.  It has been a while since I have seen them and even better, I got to see one of my best friends get married in the temple not just for time but also for eternity.  :)

Only Fools Run In = RAGNAR

I ended up running RAGNAR Wasatch Back in June.  One of the girls in my ward that I was friends with had joined a team with people she knew and knew that I had been running a bunch so I was asked to join.  RAGNAR was another one of those oh-I-might-run-it-at-some-point-in-my-life-things but I am so glad that I did it.  I had an absolute blast despite not a lot of sleep and not knowing anyone in my van initially.

I was in van 1 running leg 4 and the only person I knew prior was in van 2.  I got picked up Thursday evening so we could head up to Logan and have a get-to-know-you dinner as the four guys in my van knew each but the other girl and I did not.  We had pasta and pizza at Pizza Pie Cafe in Bountiful as the other girl lived in Bountiful and so we decided to get dinner there.

We ended up going close to closing time and as a result, we ended up with A LOT of free pizza.  It ended up getting refrigerated overnight and brought out the next day.  The pizza ended being a joke and us trying to pass it off to our runners and other team runners; hence, some of the pictures that feature pizza.

And as time went on, the pizza morphed into this.

We woke up bright and early as we had a start time of 7:15 AM.

And we are off!

               

Both Paul and Chad going for the pizza.

Some of the lovely scenery we ran through.

Waiting for van 2 to finish up and arrive at the exchange point before we start running again.

           

And we are off for our second round! Plus an Energizer bunny sighting.

   

More exchange point pictures.

And we finished!!! For a team made up mostly of novice Ragnar runners, Only Fools Run In finished

155 out of 930 Overall

117 out of 803 Coed Mixed

Not too shabby if I say so myself.  Even though there was definitely not a lot of sleep involved, not nearly enough food either, some throwing up, lots of pizza, lots of talking, lots of driving in the van, and even way more running, it was an absolute blast and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Van 1 and Van 2 at the finish line.  We all ran in together with it being only the second time our whole team was together during Ragnar.

Memorial Weekend

Memorial weekend started off with a bang… well, more with a crash… literally.  I had just left work to start driving out to California to visit my brother Jeff, and one of my best friends, Jodee.  I made it maybe one-half mile away and hit someone.  There was a guy sitting in the suicide lane waiting to turn across traffic into a parking lot.  When he originally started turning, there was plenty of space for him to complete the turn but for some reason he was moving so very slow (kind of like he pressed the accelerator to start the turn but forgot to keep pressing the accelerator afterwards.)  I saw him start to turn so I slowed down a little bit.  As I continued to approach and he still was not moving very fast, I slowed down even more.  At this point, I went through the green light at the intersection and he was maybe half-way through the lanes and I was maybe 300 yards away.  I slammed on my breaks as I did not know if there was someone in the lane next to me or not in an effort not to hit him.  I even still turned my wheel in another effort to not hit him but I still got him in the back passenger bumper.

This man should not have still been driving.  He could barely write and kept repeating over and over again that he could not see me.  Ummm, my car is blue….. How could you not see me? (And no, he did not say anything about being color-blind.)  Even though I hit him, it was still his fault as he was crossing traffic.  Ultimately after exchanging information, talking to my insurance company, and determining that my car was still drivable and that nothing was leaking, I continued on to California.

It has been a few years since I have made that drive but I do not remember it taking that LONG!  Maybe it was because I left right after working all day.  I kept having to stop and take naps; better to take multiple naps and arrive safe and in one piece then in less than one piece…

I finally arrived in Walnut Creek at Jodee's about mid-morning.  I took a most heavenly shower and then Jodee and I were off to get brunch at Denica's Cafe!  I tried Eggs Benedict for the very first time and it was better than I was expecting.  I am not a fan of any eggs with runny yolks, which is why I have not tried them before.  I like my eggs hard and kind of dry without any chance of anything being runny.  I think this goes back to growing up on a farm with chickens and every now and then finding something in the eggs.  I would not go as far as saying Eggs Benedict is my new favourite dish but I would probably eat it again.  Denica's had free chips and salsa (so good!) and they even had cinnamon rolls that are bigger than your face!

Jodee and I then went to go visit the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.  The whole premise of the house is interesting in and of itself but part of why I was excited to go see it is because a couple of months prior, I had listened to a podcast about it.  Initially, I did not put two and two together when Jodee first mentioned it until she started talking more about the history of the place.  It was just kind of cool to go see something that I had learned about randomly on a podcast.  You can learn more about the house on their website (www.winchestermysteryhouse.com) or you can always wikipedia it (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House).

Until you do, enjoy some pictures in the meantime.

                



After the Winchester Mystery House, we hit up the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  I have never been before and even though it was starting to get a wee bit chilly, it was still a lot of fun.  We walked around for a bit, rode one of the aerial view rides over the boardwalk and then rode my first roller-coaster in YEARS!  I may or may not have pulled out my camera while we were on the roller-coaster in an attempt to take a few pictures of Jodee and I on the roller-coaster.  I did so well that the picture they always take of you on a ride for you to purchase shows me taking a picture of the two of us!

 

The next day, I drove into San Francisco to spend the day with Jeff.  We hiked around in Land's End, headed down to Golden Gate Park, walked up the Sunset stairs, explored the park around the Golden Gate Bridge, and then finally ended up at Mels Drive-in eating some delicious food.  Long day but SO MUCH FUN!

 

 

 

The adventure did not end though!  Jodee, Jeff and I met up in Walnut Creek do have some more fun before I had to start the LONG drive back to Utah.  We headed out to Lafayette Reservoir to walk around, explore, and rented a paddle boat.  I am so glad that it was more of a relaxing paddle boat ride than a vigorous one as my calves were so sore from all the hills and stairs Jeff and I had done the day before. 

We finally reluctantly headed in to have lunch at Fenton's Creamery in Oakland.  Fenton's has really good food and delicious ice-cream.  And if that is not enough, their servings of ice-cream are ENORMOUS!

On the way home, we made one final stop for some goodies at an old-fashioned candy shop that even carried some international candy.

The weekend was fun and lots of new memories were made that definitely made the long drive worth it.