Cleavers Win!

Last Saturday night, the Leave it to Cleavers beat the Sisters of No Mercy 125 - 68 and thus remained undefeated and league champs for the second year in a row! I am so proud of my team. They are a spectacular group of women and I am fortunate to call them teammates and friends. Check out Bill Frost's game report for the City Weekly here or Veronica Scar's report for the Salt Lake Tribune's Culture Vulture blog here.

I Gotta Feeling

Go ahead and laugh, but I am a sucker for a good flash mob dance number. Whenever I see video of one I can't help wishing I was a part of it. Looks like fun, right?

Weekend Home Improvement Project

My living room is large. One end of the room has been a mishmash of hand-me-down furniture and therefore, not very well utilized. I had an idea of what I wanted but was unable to get a clear vision for the space. I needed storage, book shelves, and somewhere for both Ban and I to keep our laptops (mine has been living on the dining room table for years).

On Friday, Ban and I made the pilgrimage to IKEA and bought four Expedit shelving units, a desk that hooks in, and two office chairs. This is what my car looked like after we loaded up.

We spent the next seven hours assembling our purchases while trying to make sense of IKEA's wordless instructions.


On Saturday, we cleaned out the old desk and gathered books, office supplies, printing stuff, etc. which has previously been scattered in various places around the house. Once everything was organized, we started filling up the space.


Here's the final product. I'm thrilled with the way that it turned out! One final postscript, while I was cleaning out the desk, I found this photo of what the space looked like when I bought my place six years ago. Quite a transformation, don't you think?

How to Make Olive Bread: Stop Motion Style

Have you seen this video? I don't know what it is about stop motion but I love it. It may just be that I have a huge amount of respect for anyone with the patience to make all those incremental moves. But seriously, this is awesome.

Old-style carny sideshow attraction offends some State Fair attendees - Salt Lake Tribune

Old-style carny sideshow attraction offends some State Fair attendees - Salt Lake Tribune

Did you see this article in the Salt Lake Tribune today? I love the fair, although, I've never been a fan of the sideshows. In fact, they kind of freak me out. So, it was with a sense of trepidation that I read the article after the headline caught my eye.

I guess I didn't realize that some of the sideshows contained human beings. What must it be like to sit in a dark trailer or tent 12 hours a day? Has Lina really consented to this lifestyle or is it yet another case of someone being exploited? Read the article and let me know what you think.
Have any of you seen this particular sideshow? I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Harvest and Bounty

For the last few months I've been on a kick to improve the way I eat. I typically eat pretty healthy food but I've been making a conscious effort to really reduce the amount of processed food that I eat. So, last weekend, my girlfriend Liz helped me can 28 jars of marinara sauce and 18 jars of chili sauce. Seriously awesome, right?

Ban and I already tried the marinara on calzones and I can tell you that it is garden-fresh garlicky goodness in a jar. Additionally, my step-dad loves chili sauce on scrambled eggs as much as I do, so it was very convenient that he had a birthday on Monday and I could give him a jar.

It took Liz and I about eight hours to make the sauces and then process the jars but in the end it was worth every second. I'm so inspired that I'm considering making a double batch of chili verde and canning that too!

So Proud!

Look at the big brain on Lauren! Her diploma arrived this week and although we did not know it during the commencement ceremony in June, she was graduated Cum Laude! (see arrow above)

Garden Fresh

Last night we raided Ban's Mom's garden. She grows tomatoes, squash, tomatillos, peppers, parsley, basil, eggplant, and swiss chard. We cut some small, tender swiss chard leaves to have with dinner. As Ban was washing the leaves this afternoon, he found this little guy. I've never seen such a tiny snail!

More Random Pictures from New York

Lady Liberty, up close & personal from a boat

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

Times Square (social anxiety nightmare)

My favorite sign in Greenwich Village (wish they were all over the city)

Lauren in Queens

I went to see Lauren's new apartment in Queens on Sunday. I was so nervous about it beforehand. What if it was roach-infested rat's nest? What if the neighborhood seemed filled with shady characters? How could I be expected to leave my baby girl in New York under these conditions?

Happily, the place she found is newly remodeled. She shares the place with two roommates and her room is quite spacious (so rare in NYC!) But my favorite thing about her place is the street that she lives on. It is a dead end street so there is very little traffic. While we were there on Sunday several kids were riding their bikes and scooters on the block and many neighbors sitting outside on their stoop enjoying the gorgeous weather.

I was so relieved and am now really able to be excited for her! Good job, Lauren!

Central Park

Last Thursday Ban and I spent the day in New York City. I am pretty sure that we must have logged over five miles on foot. We also spent a few hours exploring Central Park on bikes. In case you don't know, Central Park is over 800 acres smack in the middle of Manhattan. I would recommend exploring the park on bikes. We covered quite a bit of ground and it gave our tired feet a break from walking. The weather was magnificent too!

Here are some photographs that I took from our explorations within the park.


This photo is of the Dakota building. Beatles fans will recognize it as the home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Sadly, John Lennon was shot down outside of this building.

The picture below and the one of Ban and I were taken at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Quite spectacular, right? I just wish that I'd remembered to take my bike helmet off before I snapped the picture.