I Was Forced

Remember in my last post [yesterday] when I stated I was not going to visit the City Creek Center until after April…

Yesterday, after staff meeting, my boss informs me that we are going to be doing new fixtures for a particular company and they happen to have a store at City Creek.  Then he told me we were going to the store at City Creek and then going to lunch.  Awesome.  I told him I was staying away until after April, but he laughed and told me it was mandatory.  Besides, who turns down a free sushi lunch and a field trip to the mall?  Especially with these two clowns…

Pretty sure I was the only one staring at the roof instead of all the retail.  But it only gets better.  As we are walking through the west section of City Creek, Zach texts me, “OG tonight?” – which meant he wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  I agreed, and when I left the office I met up with him at the downtown location.  As we were eating and discussing the events of our day, we decided to go back and explore the entire campus of City Creek.  The whole reason I have been avoiding this new downtown gem is because I have a whole cluster of a month ahead of me, three out of the four weeks of April I will be out of town.  I just wanted to protect my bank account by staying away from those glamorous shops until I had returned home from all my work/family/friend excursions.  We were good though, and only stopped at the food court (so Zach could get a smoothie for dessert) and picked up a needed ESSENTIAL at a cosmetic store.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Our FHE was complete after the Jazz game and a night run.  A couple of streets down from us, there is a trail that runs along Legacy Highway.  If you run to a certain area of our neighborhood you can cross a little bridge over to the trail and run on a nice solid surface for quite a while.

So yeah, my boycott of local retail lasted…less than a week.  But City Creek didn’t disappoint – it was everything we both hoped it to be!

Oranges to Fight Hunger [Games]

My office has been buzzing lately – now that this Ferrari project is finally completed, we are moving on to the next project.  I missed work on Monday, and came in Tuesday morning to a whole “kick off party” devoted to our newest client.

Brian, our party host, even dressed up like Rickie Fowler.  He went all out – orange drinks, orange candy, even orange golf accessories.

Now, as of this week, we have a whole new mass of design work needed – and it was just enough to keep me distracted before our weekend activities!

I have been waiting for this particular week/weekend for MONTHS!  My sweet friend (and the birthday girl) Whitney got a bunch of us girls (and Zach) tickets to the Hunger Games premier on Friday night.  Before we set off on our journey to the District, Zach and I went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Caffe Molisse for some pre-movie grub.

The only terrible thing about our dinner situation was that the restaurant is literally RIGHT across the street from the new City Creek Center entrance.  I have been doing everything in my power to avoid this mall until after April, and it’s been miserable seeing everyone posting pictures on Facebook and blogging all about it.  I am staying strong though, but it was beautiful – even from 50 yards away!

After dinner we met up with my friends for the movie.

Even Zach, who didn’t read a single line of text from the book, enjoyed the movie!  There were some parts left out, and certain characters that didn’t match up for me – but overall I LOVED IT!

Saturday Zach and I did our weekend ritual – a lunch date and running all of our errands.

Zach is an absolute pest in a grocery store, and honestly the only reason I let him come is to help me load and unload the groceries.  It’s the same thing every time:

K:  “Zach, is there anything particular you want to eat this week?”

Z:  “Soup.”

K:  “Soup is all you want?  Anything else?”

Z:  “No.”

Then the rest of the experience is him punching boxes of food in the aisles and laughing.  At least he got his soup.  I love food, and eat for pleasure – Zach eats to survive.  He doesn’t crave anything, doesn’t like desserts, and literally would have rice or soup for every meal and be content for the remainder of his days.  I don’t get it.

We had a relaxing night in – tried to get into the first season of Madmen (which didn’t stick), had food delivered, watched basketball, and hung out in our “comfy cozies”.  I didn’t have to go into work and didn’t clean my house for the first Saturday in a long time – so it was pretty perfect!

Sunday, after church, we went to my parents’ house for some more basketball and Sunday dinner.  My Grandma Fotheringham and my Grandpa Ross joined us too – which Zach was ecstatic about because my Grandma LOVES basketball as much as he does.

The Jazz put up a good fight too, with enough OT to give my Grandpa a serious anxiety attack AND to take out his hearing aid (which meant he was screaming louder than any other person in the room.)  We also had my Dad play us an interesting assortment of music on his iPhone…and then watched him dance to that same music…for a long time in the kitchen.  Of course it was the most entertaining part of the night, and I didn’t get a photo.  Next time, Pops.  I’ll be ready.

So to kick off this exciting week from the theme of our meeting, “It’s Go Time, Friends!”

San Francisco ’12

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I know, I know!  I’ve said it a thousand times – I love this city!  I never get sick of visiting SF, and probably never will.  A part of me still wishes Zach and I would have moved here – just for the experience!

Our trip was really low key – we didn’t make a ton of plans before setting off, and it was REALLY relaxing.  We stayed at a personal favorite hotel of mine, which has a gorgeous morning view.

Saturday was obviously the holiday – and even at 10 am there was a parade, plenty of drunk individuals, and A TON of Irish flags.  We walked, talked, ate, and shopped the entire day.  We went to some of our favorite stores that aren’t native to UT and stopped for lunch and treats at various locations near Union Square.

After our dinner at a nearby Italian resturaunt, Zach suggested we see a movie!  Sounds strange for someone on vacation to go to a movie, but it was perfect.  The city was still buzzed off of their St. Patty’s day celebratory beverages, so it was a great place to be around midnight – and the movie was fantastic!  Not to mention, the theater had Red Velvet cake gelato.

The next morning, Zach had an idea…an activity he had hoped to participate in rather.  He wanted to go to the horse races in Berkley.  I remember when we were on Study Abroad and we were in London, we saw the gentlemen and ladies on their way to Ascot.  It was the most glamorous thing I had seen:  Men in old fashioned tuxedos and top hats, women in beautiful dresses and gigantic head pieces and sun hats!  It looked like something out of Downton Abby, and I figured it would be similar?  Needless to say, it was NOT as classy as Ascot – but my horse Goldilocks did win second place (which means nothing by the way), Zach made a new friend…

and I got pretty enthralled in which horse would take the lead at the last second – notice the demographic at this place….

There were fancy hats, but most of them were worn by a different ethnic version of the Kardashians.  We didn’t win anything, but it was a very entertaining and a unique experience!

After Golden Gate Fields, we took the BART back to the city for our dinner reservation.

Foreign Cinema – surprise, surpise.  We love this place, I would say that it is my favorite restaurant.  Romantic, a free movie, outside under string lights, and the best food we’ve had in San Francisco thus far.

Later that night, Zach wanted to go to the Karaoke Bar for some new memories, and I thought it would be fun and some more free entertainment.  Besides, last time we went we had a guy dressed in a Jacksonville Jaguars jersey – wearing full make up and a neck tie, sing a song from the popular musical Jesus Christ Superstar.  It got really weird fast, and we LOVED it.  This particular establishment is a gender free zone – the Host is most always transgender, and the majority of the other attendees are ambiguous in terms of sexual preference.

Things were hilarious and fun, Zach made another friend named Lenny (which is one of his gamer names), until it was my turn to rock the mic.  I got up, started singing my song and these two ladies walk right up in front of the stage and start dancing and cheering for me – how nice, I thought!  But it once again, got really weird when she made an X-rated comment about, her exact words, “licking me”.  I stopped dead in the middle of my song and stared at her before she replied, “sorry – didn’t mean to weird you out” but she continued to dance provocatively with her weird “friend”.  You can see them in the photo below – note to self, it’s never good to wear a neon shirt on a karaoke stage…because you could look like a giant traffic cone in all the pictures.  That was about it for our night – I think we were both a little over stimulated…and me a little violated.

The next morning, I wanted to go down to the Marina and walk around – so we took the MUNI to Fillmore Street and walked.

The view once you get to the top of the big hill is amazing.  We stopped at tons of furniture stores, specialty stores, and some cute boutiques.

Zach wanted frozen yogurt, and I stopped at Susie Cakes for a “cuppy” (Zach’s made up word) and a coke.

We love the homes around this area, and there are some pretty delicious restaurants.  We stopped and ate at my favorite Thai place – which is SUPER ghetto but has the best Pad Thai and Yellow Curry!  After walking all the way down, we caught the MUNI back to Union Square to pack our bags and get ready for the journey home.  Before heading to the airport, we stopped at a local seafood and steak place in the Financial District – the only disadvantage of good seafood is smelling like good seafood afterwards.

I was not excited to come home – returning to all my responsibilities.  What is it about going on vacation that makes you feel like a million bucks?  Maybe it is the change of scenery, or the fact that someone else makes your bed every morning – either way I’ll take it!  March and April will continue to be crazy months – so I am glad that I got to get away with Zach before the madness unfolds.  Here’s to keeping sane at work these next few weeks!!!  I think this little trip was enough to hold me over.

Moldy Leopard

I have loved this week already, and it’s not even the weekend.

Zach and I got to go out to dinner with my Mom and Brother to PF Chang’s for family night (my Dad is out of town on business).

Tuesday I met up with my ID friends for some Market Street in South Jordan – we try to get together once a month, but that never happens.  So realistically we have settled to every three months.

Chance and Meg are missing from this Kodak moment.

After dinner, I invited myself over to Whit’s to see her new crib – a darling modern home in Daybreak!  Someday, in my dreams, I have a modern home with glass railings and ventless fireplaces.  Not everyone appreciates modern architecture in Utah, but that’s why I love the Lynch’s new home!  Besides, I got to see one of my favorite Misters, Maddox!

Wednesday I had a few girls from my neighborhood come over and have a Pinterest Night at my house – we each brought our own project and ate treats and sipped on soda while we worked.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I need to make these regular because I have enough DIY projects pinned to last me years.  Having a night set aside really will help me accomplish a lot!  I love the ladies in my neighborhood, they are always down for something fun!  I made a valentine craft that I didn’t get around to in Feb.

Of course we had cupcakes, or “cuppies” as Zach calls mini cupcakes.  He can tolerate sweets in small doses.

My sweet co-workers always come up with the most creative titles for my outfits, and I believe the award goes to B for calling me a “Moldy Leopard” with my leopard sweater and green jeans – who doesn’t love colored denim right now?  Well, the men in my office don’t – and they make fun of me daily.

The rest of the work week was spent working on new projects at work, fancy lunches with clients, Zach’s hockey team winning Second Place in the ice hockey tournament, and planning our weekend.

Just the Two of Us

Dinner to celebrate Mark and Jeanene’s birthday with the Hendersons at Tuscany

An AMAZING Christmas gift from my friend (and former Co-worker) Janette:  She saw these wood place card holders I pinned on Pinterest and MADE them for me – but out of my favorite wood:  Quarter Sawn Oak!!  Love her.

My boss surprised me with a stellar gift card to Nordstrom – and I made Zach go with me to Fashion Place so I could spend it…it didn’t last long to be honest.

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Meetings at Sportsmans Warehouse with the guys I work with (of course that’s where they pick to meet…why not?)

Lunch at the Corner Bakery

Date Night with Zach at Bistro 258 in Ogden

iFly – screaming so loud that I had drool all over my cheeks when I came out of the wind tunnel

Girl Scout Cookies

Not setting an alarm and sleeping in

Folding laundry together while listening/dancing to music

Going through old photos of little Zach (pretty much every photo he is in Jammer Pants and Jordans)

Saturday bagel brunch

A great movie selection by Zach – my favorite being “The Art of Getting By”

Sushi for dinner

Put up my first and only St. Patty’s Day decoration

Singing in Mark and Jeanene’s ward (Zach’s favorite song, Come Thou Fount)

Sunday dinner at the Hendersons – with my favorite dessert, topped with homemade whipped cream and strawberries

Zach and Mark watching sports

Planning an upcoming vacation – for just the two of us

We are taking full advantage of our time together before little kidlets bless our home. So as of now, our weekends consist of this…and we wouldn’t change a thing!

Golf vs. Gals

Working with 12 men all day almost every day, makes me value my time with women.  This week/weekend was literally almost ALL GIRL TIME.  Thursday of this week, Zach left for a golf trip/weekend get-a-way with his friends – so I spent all my extra time with mine!

Wednesday, some girls in my neighborhood had a Recipe Exchange – which I hope becomes regular because I have ideas for WEEKS for delish meals!  It is always nice to break out of your cooking comfort zone – next on my list to make is Dena’s baked oatmeal and some Wendy’s chili.

Thursday, I helped throw a shower for my friend (and Relief Society presidency partner) Ashley.  It was such a blast and the food was divine (no, I didn’t make any of it – I only did the decor)…

We had fruit pizza (sugar cookies + frosting + fresh fruit), Lionhouse Rolls, chicken salad, pasta salad, apple + feta salad…

Talk about timing – Ashley gave birth THE NEXT DAY (Friday, the day after the shower).  Caleb, her sweet baby boy, was 5 WEEKS early…but both mom and babe are doing great!

Friday after work I met up with my Dad downtown to go to the Jazz vs. Heat game.  Zach was really disappointed he couldn’t go to the game with me – but he convinced himself the Jazz would get “killed” by the Heat anyway.  So, I asked my Dad to go with me!  He was so excited to see the best team in the league, and I was excited to check out LeBron and Wade in real life.

We snuck in candy (well, my Dad hid lemon drops in his pocket – one of the many candy cravings we have in common) munched on pretzels and downed some Diet Cokes.  The best part of the night – WE WON! We both couldn’t believe it, we were high-fiving, hugging, and screaming with our seat neighbors!  It was my favorite sporting event I have EVER attended;  great athletes, great outcome!  My Dad could NOT stop talking about it all the way home – I think our Daddy Daughter Date was a success – especially because we ended it with ice cream!

Saturday, I met up with some girl friends to eat Brunch at Ruth’s Diner.  It was delicious as always, and the conversation was extremely entertaining.  On our way back, I made Sydney (my carpool buddy) stop at J. Crew and get some new digs with me.  I’m in love…

After our Gateway visit, I had to run into work to finish up a few plans for a new project, but didn’t return home until I had some Sawadee with my Mom!

Sunday two of my friends came over to visit and for lunch – and entertained me until Zach came home!  Later, Zach, my Mom, and I went up to Kaysville for the blessing of my cousin Tori’s baby.  We got to visit with a lot of my aunts and uncles and then drove to Farmington to see our nephew, Will!

Will has been a long awaited blessing in the Wayland home, and he couldn’t be cuter!  His older sisters, Olive and Lola, are very excited to have a little brother – you can observe the excitement…Olive was literally climbing all  over everyone to be nearer to Will!

I am so thankful to my family and friends for keeping me entertained while Zach was out of town – it is never easy when he travels, but makes me appreciate him that much more when he arrives home!