When UTA is the Highlight of Your Day

 The life of an unemployed, non-student, 22 year old is not as glamorous as you would expect. I find myself riding Trax. For fun. With no destination. However, there have been some highlights since returning to Zion: 

We got to join in on Danielle's Cinco De Mayo surprise birthday party at Los Hermanos. No, she's not pregnant (come now, have you seen this skinny girl!) Her friend just gave her the baby dress for the future, the far and distant future. Jesse looks thrilled, ha. Happy birthday Danielle, I'm so happy we live closer to you guys now!

We went to the Yelle Show at Urban Lounge, which Dan bought tickets for about 6 months ago. It was a soldout show and I'll admit it was pretty darn good. I thought Dan had died and gone to French Techno heaven when Yelle emerged in Ghelli suit. So many of Dan's fantasies rolled into one. 

Our good friends The Streeters came down to see our house and hang out. They introduced me to my new favorite running spot: Memory Grove. They also introduced Dan to his new favorite eating spot: Bruges Waffles and Frites. Copious amounts of fry sauce plus an owner that speaks French? Dan is probably there right now. 

One day while driving up by the U, Dan pointed to a peak and declared "We should climb that. Like right now." Being that we had a big fat nothing on the docket, we did just that, we climbed it right then. It took about four hours round trip. It was brutally steep. And once we got to the top, a firefighter dude heckled dan into climbing the tower. I get sweaty palms just looking at this picture. It was lovely. 

MSLA (Mealy Salt Lake Adventures) had its first overnight guest: Kiersty Kat. There was snuggling,  baking, power walking, shopping, rare pastry eating, and fun beyond words. Come back soon Kat!

Other Updates that Sadly Do not have a Picture Collage:

-We finally got Dan all situated at the U, only to learn that I have been kicked out of BYU.... AGAIN.

- Our new ward blows... It's very "west side". Oh how we miss our Monterey Ward and Friends.

- I have yet to find somewhere to Spin. Bonni, can you please just move to SLC solely to teach me?

- It was 50 degrees today. And it snowed. I'm not sure what grievous sin I committed to deserve this. 

That's enough updates for now. I've got a light rail train to ride. 

MIRACLE MONEY

The other day we were driving down south temple when all of the sudden Dan shouts "Money! In the road!" He veers off to the side, parks, hops out of the car and darts into traffic. He returns with a $20 bill and a new outlook on life. Apparently he saw the money fall out of the pocket of a speeding bike messenger, who we tried to track down to no avail. "This, this is miracle money, It's a blessing." 

My favorite part: 

"And the guy who dropped it, I'm pretty sure he was one of the three nephites."

The Time We Moved to SLC

Much has happened since my last blog. Let's rewind a few weeks:

Dan graduated from DLI and I took some really bad pictures of said event. Right after the ceremony we headed to the promised land... But not before enduring this:

We decided to move ourselves and then have the army reimburse us (DIDY) vs. having them do everything. Next time we want to make a little money in a grueling way, we'll sell our internal organs on the black market. It would be less painful than this move. After driving FOREVER through the world's ugliest terrain, we made to STG where we spent two nights waiting for our house in SLC to be available.

While there we went on a nice Red Cliffs hike w/ the family. Kat found a frog. And then we moved into our new (well its a 100+ yrs old) house on Capitol Hill. 

We love our new house. And we love Salt Lake. Things we don't love: being jobless, being internet-less, and trying to make the army pay for Dan's school.  But overall, we're happy to have arrived.

THIS IS THE PLACE. 

No longer HomeLESS, Just JobLESS and SchoolLESS

Dan and I are LESS a lot of things right now. Last week I set off to Utah to try to remedy the homeless part. On my lovely United Flight (I HATE YOU ALLEGIANT AIRLINES), I made a list of what I was looking for:

•  Dishwasher
• Washer & Dryer
• Not part of a Giant Noisy Complex 
• Near Public Transit
• Wood flooring
• Allows Dogs over 25 lbs
• Isn't crazy expensive

(Let it be known I've lived without ALL of those things for 3 years, I'm sick of it).
I didn't think my list was too demanding, but I quickly discovered I'd more likely find a unicorn roaming the street of SLC than find an apartment that met all my criteria.

My mom picked me up and we got right to work:  scouring Craiglist, KSL, the institute housing board, and just driving around looking for "For Rent" signs. The first few houses we saw looked a little like this:

Except worse. The very first house was one we found on the institute housing board and met my budget criterea, but offered no information about the home other than "Comes with a Free Boat Ride!" We were intrigued. Turns out the boat ride was indeed the only selling point of that place: basement apartment, holes in the floor, exposed wiring, broken whiskey bottles, etc. etc. The trend continued as we looked at apartments which fell in my initial price range, yet coincidentally all fell in super sketchy areas. Living next door to bees stadium anyone? We quickly developed a "Nothing west of 9th, or south of the I-80" rule. Which led to an upping of price range.

this is what happens when you forget to take pictures and resort to googeling "clawfoot tub"

After a few days of dismal searching, I got a message from a landlord of house I had called on the very first day we were there. It was a darling victorian home in the avenues/capitol hill. Had all of my specifications. EXCEPT no dog. I guess all dreams can't come true. But it does have a clawfoot tub. So we'll make do.

Once we finally found an acceptable option and submitted an application, we proceeded to devour a celebratory half baked cookie at The Pie, and the went straight to the paradisiacal glory that is St. George.

A few highlights from my happy time:

There was frozen Yogurt eating

There was "eastering". My dad is the egg decorating master. My mom is the best easter bunny to ever live. Cute dresses, Glitter Toe nails, money... This bunny hides sweet eggs.

photo courtesy of kiersten

There was this. This is the face of pure evil. It is my sister Anna's ferret, "Finn" or "Satan incarnate". He stole my beloved Garmin watch. Apparently he has a fetish for plastic objects. He took it down the vent.

My father descended into the crawl space under the house and ripped apart the duct work. He recovered my watch, as well as many other things Finn had in his little treasure trove. Not cool.

There was visiting Sister Kiersten and her gentlemen friend in Cedar City and checking out SUU.

There was lunch with an 19 month old who doesn't like me all that much. But I love him. And his beautiful mom, my bff Branda.

I cried when dropped off at the snazzy new st. george airport. I love my family. I love st. george. I love being warm and stress free. I love everything about home. Except that damned ferret. 

Showering "Baby on Board" Sue & Baby Silver Bullet

I love Sue, she is one of the sweetest people I know and has long wanted a baby (It blows my mind, but I can respect it). Baby Maloy was long anticipated, Bonni and I were excited to put together a shower for her. When we began plotting this party Sue had just had an ultrasound where the doctor was "75% sure its a boy" due to "suggestions of a penis".  We proceeded on this information to plan a boy pirate baby shower with the tag line "Ahoy, its a boy!" Well, a few weeks & another ultrasound later and Dr. Walker now was "90% its a girl." hahaha. 

So we transitioned to a somewhat gender nuetral but in all honesty girly palate of spring pastels and easterish animals with a tagline, "A baby is about to hatch!" Then, 2 days before the shower, Sue has a 3rd ultrasound where Dr. Walker now pronounced baby Maloy "99% a boy, look at that man missile!" Despite "baby silver bullet" lack of cooperation, I think the shower was a success!

 For me, any type of gathering is all about THE FOOD! We had Creme Brulee French Toast, Poppy Seed Sandwiches, Fruit & Dip, Banana Bread, Coconut Cupcakes, and Frosted Sugar Cookies! Yeah, I'm still reeling.

I saw mini glass bottles and striped straws on a party blog and could not sleep till I made them mine!

I don't care for coconut, but these cupcakes were too well coordinated to the theme to pass up.

Sue insisted on making her own favors, these darling caramel apples that turned out just like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's!

That's right, I sewed a bunting flag banner. I'm one wallpapered closet away from being a mormon mommy craft blogger. Kill me now.

Thank you to everyone who came! There were some really fun girls who supported and I definitely had fun chatting it up. As well as talking, we played the "candy bar diaper game" and a quiz game where we had Sue try to match Rick's answers to baby related questions. 

Sue scored some great presents.

Yeah for Rick & Sue on their upcoming BOY!

May all his gender confusion be over forevermore.

We love you Baby Silver Bullet. 

Congrats!

Another Happy Week Gone By

Happiness in it's many forms...

I got home from a long day at work to discover a lovely surprise package from Branda! Of all holidays, I think Easter has the best candy, by far. And the Reese Pieces Eggs Branda sent me are no exception. They lasted all of 2 minutes in our house. And let's just say Mr. Bitey wasn't eating any...

Conference makes me happy, I really enjoy listening to it and feeling like I need to be a million times better than I currently am. Other thing I love about conference = food. The BYU co-ed in me can't enjoy the first weekend in April without a "Conference Party". Luckily Sue hosted one and I was able to make & devour a Chocolate Sheet Cake. I'd been wanting to make one all week, but decided it was inappropriate to make a jelly roll pan full of cake for one person. Not that I haven't done it before... (Freshman BYU year).....

Whenever I ask Dan what I should blog about, he responds, "Blog about how awesome I am."

Dan is awesome. This week he vacuumed and dusted the apartment, WITHOUT ME ASKING. He test drove BOB strollers with me at REI and agreed they are a necessity before we procreate - thus making me more awesomely in love with him. And at lunch yesterday he let me have some of his french fries, even though I should've just ordered my own instead of pretending to want salad as a side dish.

Let the record state: 

LAUREN FINDS HER HUSBAND, DAN, TOTALLY AWESOME. He makes me Happy. 

And finally, a mixed happy/unhappy thing: Friday was my last day at work.

It's been a good job:

• I really loved my co-worker Natalie. We share a love for Lululemon that no one else understands and go to random classes at the sports center together in aforementioned overpriced gear. 
• Dr. D was great to work for, even if my "mormoness" blew his mind. He was always generous in taking me and Dan out to fancy Carmel restaurants and letting Natalie and I spend his store credit at the fancy Carmel boutique Paloosh. 
• I had good hours, good pay - I can't complain too much. But I still did. There were days when I would have rather poked my eyes out with rusty spoons than fill another Botox syringe for a condescending patient. Most the time I felt like it was just a menial job that I was tolerating for the time being and couldn't wait to move on to bigger and better things....

I really thought when quitting day finally came I wouldn't miss it at all. 

But on friday, I clocked out for the last time and I cried. Maybe it was the hug Dr. D gave me. Maybe it was the fact that I got MY LAST paycheck. But mostly I think it was just the finality of it all. The end of a job means change. And I hate change.

But I better get use to it. Three more weeks, and it all changes. 

Wow, that sounded incredibly melodramatic. 

I should stick to happy thoughts. Until next time. 

Running in the Mud

Way, way back when I used to be a "runner"(like last November), our friends put together a Mud Run team. I kind of forgot about it. And I I kind of stopped running (except for that brief moment a month or so ago when I though we were going to do a 10k). And then all the sudden it was here. And we were on a team. And though I was about as prepared as FEMA for Hurricane Katrina, it all worked out. 

We gathered Friday Night for a pre-race shirt marking/ wholly unecessary, but delicious, Carbo loading team night. You need to eat a lot of brownies to fuel for 5 miles, trust me. 

I wasn't expecting much for our team shirts, being that we threw them together last minute and all, but turns out Rick is an artist. And he owns a airbrusher. All things previously unknown. 

"The Dragon Army" (note: the boys were in charge of names/designs) all ended up with lovely dragon encrusted shirts. It took till midnight. Poor Rick exacto knifed and sprayed them, while the rest of us "helped." The later it got, the funnier everyones jokes got... Let's just say good times were had by all of THE DRAGON ARMY.

Team Line Up: 
The Silver Bullet (Rick), Monster (Pete), Bjorn Jorn (Bonni), Jolly Green Giant (Dan), and Lo ( I lack creativity).

All of these pictures made possible by our lovely 6th teammate/photographer/support crew: 

Sue "BABY ON BOARD" Maloy!

Saturday morning we gathered to more of Monterey's KA weather: cloudy, cold, rain. Awesome. 

We were entertained, as we waited in the rain for the race to start, by the creativity of other teams and their costumes... I have great admiration for the Village people team that ran the entire thing in jean and leather cut offs. Sweet.

The Dragon Army then proceeded to run over 5 miles (I swear it was uphill the whole time) with mud pits, climbing walls, and pushups interspersed. Let's just say I was a bit of a Dragon liablity (being that I can't run, climb walls, or do push ups).... However we were able to make up time as all other teams stopped at the BEER STATION, and the sole Mormons pressed on...

We kept a good pace and I was pretty darn proud as we linked arms
and crossed the finish in true cheesy fashion. 

THE BIG SUR MUD RUN 2011 was actually a legit race (organized by the same people that do the half and full big sur marathon). There were t-shirts, space blankets, medals, and BABY BANANA refreshments.  Though we really could've used some sun/heat/non-monterey blows weather, it was really fun. Nothing brings friends together like running 5 miles. With obstacles. And Mud. Oh, and add rain for good measure.
I would totally do it again next year.*

*Note: If we are still living in Monterey this time next year to run this race again, I. will. kill. myself.