I've got it!

I think I have figured out why drinking more water helps you to loose weight...... you spend a LOT more time walking down the hallway to the restrooms! Haha!

Not too much else going on here.... so, just popping in to say hi! :)


P.S.
Troy - at first I thought my friend Brian was talking about us in his email when he wrote this...
Quote from my friend Brian's email - "On Saturday night I joined some friends up at Deer Valley to watch Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture. I thought I was all prepared because I brought a blanket, water, and a jacket. But when I got there I got a lesson in being prepared. Sitting right next to us was a couple who looked like they had been there for sometime. They had set up a small wooden table that looked like it must have come from Williams Sonoma. They had evened it out on the slope with towels under the back legs of the table. They had completed their main course and were on to the cheese course. They had grapes, cheese, and cloth napkins. My blanket that my mother still does not know I borrowed from her house looked woefully inadequate when compared with the lounge chairs they had brought. And to top it all off, and I am not making this up, they had a candle in a wine glass to add ambiance to the whole event. As if a mountain setting with a live symphony was not enough. I realized right there if they could have a complete multi-course meal with candlelight on the slopes at Deer Valley then that I could gain a love of camping. That is of course if I can get that couple to arrange all the preparations."

I wish our new picnic bag had come with a table! That would be awesome! Haha! And remind me next time to pack candles! :)

It's HOT!

Askie and I had a great weekend..... lots of lounging around, relaxing in the A/C (to avoid the sweltering heat), and even a few short walks. :) Askie's age prevents too long of walks, and the heat just magnifies that of course. But, he still enjoys getting out of the house and checking out the neighborhood. He inevitably gets glowing compliments from all the neighbors and kids that we run into, and he just loves it when they all come over to pet him and say hello. It's been so fun for me to have all this time with him, and I am happy that he is staying through next weekend too! Yeah!! However, it's supposed to be in the mid to high 90's all week... hopefully I can get him to wait a little longer into the evenings for his walks, when it will maybe cool off a little more! I don't like this heat much myself! haha!

Let's see... a few other fun things we did over the weekend.....

~ Troy, Colleen, Tommy, Sherri, TJ and I headed off to a wedding reception on Friday night for one of Troy's cousins... it was nice for us to see the extended family, and the reception was very nice. And, of course, everyone teased us about when we are getting married... even Uncle Victor. He told me to be sure not to let Troy get away from me. :) Haha!

~ On Saturday Troy and I got together with David and Cheryl Pace, and had a wonderful time! David is the Development Director for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and we both get along so well with he and his wife, that we just love spending time with them. The four of us went up to a party in Park City that was being given by a supporter and patron of the Dance Company, who also happens to be a very fun and nice woman. Beano (the hostess) was throwing the party for Andy's graduation (her sort-of surrogate son and former Italian teacher... also a supporter and patron of the dance company... and all around fun guy!) and it was a great party. There was a band, a delicious meal, yummy desserts, etc. And even a GORGEOUS view of all of Park City from her back patio. The view was seriously amazing! Anyway, the evening wouldn't have been complete without an aria performed by Andy... and boy, does he have a great voice! It was such a fun evening... we are looking forward to, hopefully, introducing David and Cheryl to the Symphony's Deer Valley Music Festival next month! Can't wait!

~ Also had a photo shoot with Steve over the weekend... great fun, as always!! He found this empty building that before being a club, was an old boiler room for the buildings on either side of it... cool exposed steel beams, steel railings and doors, brick walls, etc. It was very cool and he had a lot of fun working on all the lighting and props to capture the perfect shots. I have every confidence that they will turn out amazing! I can't wait to see them!

~ And the last big bit of news is that Troy has listed his '32 Ford on eBay.... the auction has been going for just about 2 days and the price has more than tripled from the opening price. Hopefully it will keep going right on up, and up, and up! It's been a very emotional thing for Troy to decide to sell the Roadster... as many of you know, restoring hot-rods was something that Troy really loved to do with his Dad. Since his Father passed away a few years ago, Troy has been a bit torn-up about whether or not to sell his '32. I have told him all along that it was completely up to him, and that I would support whichever decision he made - this past week, I think he finally just decided that it wouldn't be as fun without his Dad and that he really just needed the money and peace of mind a little more. So... I am trying to be supportive and I am very hopeful that the auction will go well. But, at the same time I know this is hard for him....

Early start to the weekend...

OK – can I just tell you how very cool this site is - http://www.nowplayingutah.com/. It seriously rocks! It’s such an awesome tool for finding out what’s going on in Salt Lake….. use it!

Anyway, last night we got an early start to our weekend with our attendance at Ballet West’s Innovations – what a phenomenal show! Unfortunately I am paying for it today because we were out WAY too late for a school night, but it was such a fun evening!

About the show - Three of the pieces were choreographed by dancers from Ballet West, and these numbers were all spectacular. It also seemed that the dancers really enjoyed performing the numbers, which made it that much more moving for the audience. The other two pieces were also very good and we enjoyed them very much. The whole show was more of the contemporary ballet style than Ballet West has done in the past, and it was welcome change for this show. It really was wonderful!


Saturday we have the last Symphony of the season, and while we are very sad for the season to end.. we are very much looking forward to the show!


Have a great weekend everyone!!

Slacker...

Sorry I have been such a BLOG slacker the last week or so! Things have just been a little nuts with Troy back in school and me editing the 2^nd edition of Money For Life (my boss’s book) and trying to make time to work on the brochure/proposal for the Children’s Foundation (SKIDS). But…. It’s still no excuse! So… I will just update and move forward with more timely blogging. :)

Memorial weekend was a fairly mellow weekend for us… school, work, etc took up most of our time it seems but we still found time for renting some movies and enjoy the rain. On Memorial Day we went to visit Troy’s Father’s grave and take him some flowers. We also took some flowers to Grandpa Hansen and Colleen’s Grandmother while we were there too. Then we headed across the valley to visit Colleen’s Mom’s grave and to stop in and leave some flowers for Grandma and Grandpa Streiff too. They have added some pretty new garden areas at the graveyard, which we were very happy to see. Next we stopped over to leave some flowers for Grandma and Grandpa Anderson… As you can see from the photos, a few other family members stopped in to visit the graves as well. It was a fun trip down memory lane and despite the pouring rain, we had a lovely day.

On Thursday night Troy and I had the opportunity to hangout with Avery for the evening while her parents were at the new Indiana Jones movie… they said it was great! Troy and I will have to go see it soon! We worked on my car which wasn’t especially fun for Troy who was doing all the work but Avery and I raced up and down the driveway, took turns pretending to drive the car and trying on all the exciting bracelets that reside on the gear shift knob of my car. Haha! After the headlights were all fixed, we loaded up and went for a drive… which Avery thought was very cool, despite the fact that it was only to Wendy’s and back. Haha! It’s not very often that Avery gets to ride in Jen’s car so it was quite the thrill apparently. The evening took a pretty boring turn for Avery after that as she was forced to watch a movie with us that was not at all her speed. Oh well, she seemed to enjoy climbing all over the couch and all over me…. Haha!

Saturday was the Symphony…. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. There was also a guest conductor who was very entertaining to watch… at least for me. Troy was less than enthusiastic about his style, but I thought he was hilarious. He would get very into the music in certain areas and start doing these dancing moves with his shoulders, or making these “jazz hands” type moves at the musicians. Haha! Anyway… I loved the piano concerto and the Prokofiev piece was excellent as well. I was not familiar with Prokofiev before that night but the piece had a dark, Russian kind of feel and it was very cool. It was Troy’s favorite piece of the evening.

Let’s see…. What other things do I need to catch up on? Ahhh.. yes, the latest Dog rescue. I am not sure what it is about Troy and I finding stray dogs in every neighborhood we go to!?! But, none-the-less, it seems to happen quite often. A little while back we were up in my old haunting grounds of Holladay and the surrounding area… we came across Newman (pictured below with Troy) roaming a rather busy street and getting increasing closer to Highland Drive (which many of you know is a very busy street). After several attempts to get Newman to trust Troy enough to let him grab his collar (attempts which included bribery with whatever snacks we had in the car… namely yogurt raisins and Doritos, neither of which are usually very good dog snacks) we were able to call Newman’s Dad. Unfortunately he was in Park City for the day but asked us if we would do him the huge favor of taking Newman to his house and putting him in the garage. So…. off we went. Newman was home safe and we were on our way. :)

This week we have the last Ballet of the season – Innovations, as well as the last Symphony of the season. We are looking very forward to the Deer Valley Music Festival and our picnics with the Symphony up in the mountains, under the stars!

Congrats Mom!

First off--- Congratulations to Mom on a VERY successful art sale! I am so very glad that it went so well! Although, I have to admit, it’s a little weird knowing that strangers have my mother’s paintings hanging in their houses… it makes me very proud of you too! Congratulations! I wish I had been there to enjoy the cookies too!

Troy and I had a fun weekend…. Friday we went out to dinner and then to a movie. While for some that is a very normal date, I think that this was only the second or maybe third time that Troy and I have done that, in our more than 2 years together… Haha! We rent movies from time to time and make dinner at home… but we very rarely go out to movies, and if we do, it usually seems to be a matinée to avoid the summer heat.

Anyway… I have been very excited for The Forbidden Kingdom to come out and we thought it would be a good idea to use our Christmas Gift Card from Tina and Darren (Thanks!!!). For those that are not familiar with The Forbidden Kingdom… it stars both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, so how could I resist?!!?!? And for those that don’t know who Jackie Chan and Jet Li are…. Well, that’s just very sad! Haha! They are both amazing martial artists and are so entertaining to watch on screen! Their techniques are so fluid and smooth that it almost makes it look it easy to do tornado kicks or double flying side kicks but let me tell you… neither of those things is easy to do! Not even close! Anyway… Troy and I both loved the movie and are anxious to go see it again!

Saturday night we went to the Carmina Burana concert, as I mentioned before…. Which was EXCELLENT! And as a bonus, before the concert we ended up meeting Troy’s sister Tamara for dinner at one of our favorite places – Café Molise. The food and company were both excellent! We all had a lovely time!

Troy and Tamara both have far more critical ears for the music than I do, and while they had some complaints about the choir... they both very much enjoyed the show. I thought the whole thing was excellent... I especially loved the voice of the baritone soloist. He was awesome, even with a sore throat!

Now I just have to get through a few days of work so that I can run off and play with Elliott for a whole weekend!! Yeah!!

P.S. Don't worry Carly... there are plenty of things that I like to eat besides cheetos and cheese. Haha! How does Elli feel about fruit? I love strawberries, apples, grapes, apricots, oranges, pineapple, cherries and maybe a banana here and there. I also like carrots as a snack? And dried apricots, mangoes, or cherries are always yummy too! Can Elli eat nuts? Trail mix is something I enjoy as well... CostCo has a yummy organic one that I love, at least the one by me does. :) And how about pasta? or rice? Always easy to add sauce and/or veggies? And if none of the above works... cereal and toast will be great! :)

New photos!

It has been so fun to have Askie the last few days! We even took advantage of the time by using it to get some new family photos. One of my girl friends is a photographer (http://www.lambournephotography.blogspot.com/) and needed to expand her portfolio so she has been offering free sittings. So Askie, Troy and I bundled up and went to the park on Saturday morning in the rain and snow for some photos… Haha! It wasn’t the best weather for a photo shoot but the pictures turned out adorable anyway. :) Here are a few favorites…

The rest of the weekend was filled with a night at the symphony for Peer Gynt, the inaugural concert of the Salty Cricket Composers Collective and lots of work on the RWDC fund raiser coming up in March. Peer Gynt was very cool, by the way! It’s a composition by Grieg that is then paired with a fairytale of sorts (I am not sure who wrote it). So while the symphony is playing, there is a narrator telling the story, some featured artists singing other parts, and then the Utah Symphony Choir singing as well. It was very fun!

And a few more photos...

Gotta love ballet dancers in drag! Haha!

Cinderella was great! We just loved it! As we have gotten to know a few of the dancers more, each show just becomes more entertaining to watch. The new artistic director changed a few things up from the last production of Cinderella that I saw, but all the changes were excellent. :) Next month we have Cinderella, the Opera, and we are very much looking forward to that as well!

Before the ballet we had dinner at Bambara – excellent food and phenomenal service! We even decided to go back after the ballet for dessert… we loved it and may make this a new tradition. :) We chatted with our server for a while too and found out that she is a composer, so next weekend we are going to try to introduce her to the new non-profit composer’s collective that some friends of ours started.

We also went to the Symphony on Saturday – Greig’s Piano Concerto, which also featured a Bartok piece that was wonderful! I think due to it being Valentine’s weekend, the place was packed! It was great to see, but also made it a bit warm in there… not good since we had been up so late the night before! Haha! Despite all that, we both thoroughly enjoyed all the pieces and the conductor was a riot to watch! It was a guest conductor, from Germany, I think and he was very enthusiastic!

This week will be a little crazy… we have a dance show in Park City tomorrow, Askie arrives on Wednesday (Yeah!!!), I have a planning meeting for the fundraiser on Thursday, symphony on Friday, and then a birthday party and the Salty Cricket Composers concert on Saturday…… I am tired already! I better get to bed early tonight!!

Plus we are hoping to find time to go see Menopause – the musical! It’s been getting great reviews and they are donating to the MS Society for every ticket purchase – you all know what a sucker I am for stuff like that! Haha!

From the Asthma Walk to the Symphony

I think I have said before that I love weekends... but I will say it again anyway... I LOVE WEEKENDS! :)

After having a very long, tiring week for both Troy and I, we were happy to spend a relaxing Friday evening having dinner with Friends. Along with Dave & Rachel and Kevin & Kim, Troy and I headed out to Cafe Trang and had a delicious dinner with a GORGEOUS view! The new Cafe Trang in Draper looks out over the valley where Draper sits and up towards the snow covered peaks. It was just beautiful with a new dusting of spring snow and plenty of rain.

Saturday started very early with the Asthma Walk (http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/team.jsp?id=1425&tid=333) at Sugarhouse Park. As many of you know.. I am not a morning person, but perhaps you do not know that Troy isn't either. Needless to say... getting us both outside at a park at 8am on a Saturday (on a rainy cold morning) is not an easy trick. Haha! We were happy to support such a great cause though and we were happy that we went. There were these two little boys (Isaac and Nathan) that wanted so badly to cross the finish line first so Troy, with them in tow, took off ahead of everyone else. The three of them did a little jogging, running and walking to get to the finish WAY AHEAD of everyone else. And despite a small asthma attack, the three of them crossed the finish line all at the same time. They boys thought it was so fun and Troy really enjoyed it too.

Saturday night we had the Symphony and we had a wonderful time! I made dinner for us beforehand and then we headed downtown. The Symphony was titled Pavel and Ravel and we both thoroughly enjoyed all three pieces. The funniest part of the evening however, was the fact that the Utah Jazz were playing in game 7 at the same time. The people next to us had gotten a message during the first half with an update on the score.. and during intermission, Troy logged on to the fox sports site and gave us all real time updates. By the end of the symphony there was only 10 minutes left in the game and our neighbors were anxious for updates. Troy gave them the latest and then we ran out to the car to catch the last few minutes on the radio. Needless to say... the Jazz won! They play in the next series starting on Monday... go Jazz!

Happy Birthday to me! :)

I had a wonderful birthday weekend! And since I have now had three birthday celebrations, I guess I had better say that its been a wonderful birthday month! Thanks again for the early celebration in Newport! :)

Troy took me out for a wonderful, romantic dinner on Saturday night and then we were off to the Symphony for Brahms Requiem. It was a wonderful performance and we had such a lovely evening, after spending most of the day playing and goofing off too!! That's the way birthdays are supposed to be, right?? Haha!

Yesterday Troy and I spent a wonderful day goofing off some more and enjoying a beautiful spring drive. We went through a few canyons, saw a few lakes and just enjoyed the gorgeous day! Troy's brother and sister-in-law made a delicious dinner for us all and Troy's Mom got me a delicious birthday cheesecake! :) They all made me feel very loved and appreciated!

Tomorrow my girl friend Erica is taking me out for a birthday dinner and on Wednesday Steve and I are having dinner so.... happy birthday to me agian, and again! :)

I have such sweet friends and family! It's been so wonderful to get so many calls, emails, texts and e-cards!!! Thanks to everyone! Love ya!!

Weekend of Indulgence...

What a fun weekend!

Troy and I attended a Surprise Birthday Party for one of our buddies on Friday night. It was held at the Fast Kart Indoor Track.... everyone had fun racing and running over each other. Troy and I were very entertained watching everyone and cheering on our buddy Bunker! Can I just add in here that I am so happy that Troy and Bunker get along so well! It has been so fun for me to have my ole' pal to hang out with! And those two are so entertaining to listen to!

The weekend was filled with tons of goofing off, being silly and just enjoying some down time! We had Symphony tickets Saturday night, which was wonderful as usual (except the cellist was irritating Troy.. haha! He was a little too animated for both our tastes)! And the rest of the time we were drooling over a Ferrari at the dealer, shopping, looking at cars, eating out, more shopping, more eating out and more shopping.... hahaha! We usually have these long "to-do lists" for Saturdays and it was so nice to just relax this weekend and have time to goof off! I felt so indulgent.. it was great!

Sunday we got to visit with Mandy and Luke for a little bit over at Natalie's and that was great fun! It was great to see Natalie and her whole clan.... but I was most anxious to see Luke of course! He's grown a ton since Christmas! I didn't get to see any of this walking that he is supposedly doing yet, but I'm hopeful I will get to see some on his birthday!

Last weekend Mahler, this weekend Brahms

Honestly, I never thought I would enjoy the Symphony so much... or at least I worried that I would get tired of it when we go almost every weekend. But alas.... I am loving every minute of it!

Last weekend the Utah Symphony performed Mahler's Symphony No. 7. It was great! The conductor is always entertaining to watch, and this time was no exception! Especially during the final piece!

Another fun thing we have started doing is people watching! Last week there was a guy a few rows up who was just kicked back, hands behind his head... He was very relaxed. Next thing we know he is bouncing around with his head and shoulders moving to the beat of the music... he was throughly enjoying himself! As were we... we just didn't display it for everyone around us. Haha!

This week is Brahms.... can't wait!