Momma in Town

For those of you who don't know, I have been in graduate school for the last year.  Even though I have six weeks of classes left, there is no summer graduation ceremony at my University, so, early ceremony it is!

The subject of this post is that my mom came in town for the week of the ceremony!

Day One:
I picked her up from the airport and had plans to take her to all sorts of fun places in Salt Lake.  We ended up talking on the couch, catching up on life events like England, Arches, job opportunities and my recent anniversary.  It was a nice catch up, and she didn't complain at all when the picture slide show continued until bed time. 
We did take a break to got to Red Iguana , ranked several years running as "the best Mexican Food in Salt Lake City."  Not quite glowing praise when compared to the best Mexican Food in a more southern border state like California, New Mexico, or Texas, but it is still quite good, and comparable to my favorite place in California, El Queso Grande, which I think is actually owned by Latin American people.  I encourage you to go to either of them if you're in the viscinity. 
While we were there, we bought Dale a Red Iguana shirt as his anniversary present.  Granted, the gifts he gave me were more elaborate, and in all measurable ways "better," but he does look really great in that shirt.

Surprises

My husband spoils me.  We had planned a trip to Arches on a weekend that happened to coincide with our anniversary weekend, and the actual DAY of our anniversary was on the following Monday.  Yesterday.  When Dale came home from work, he surprised me with:

Then a trip to Home Depot to pick out a new pet for us:


(I get really attached to my plants.  When the last one died I was TRULY distraught.  This one is named Phil II--Short for chloraphyl II.  The first Phil died when I left him outside on a snowy night.)

Then a toast to us back at the park where we had our first date in September 2008, and where Dale proposed back in February 2009.

While we were there, Dale suprized me with ANOTHER gift!  He bought me a soundtrack that makes my heart melt--How to Train Your Dragon--and then used it as the background music for a 16 minute slide show he had made of our adventures together in the last two years.  The whole compilation was really nice.  It had pictures of us exploring Los Angeles and Montana--where our families are--but also pictures from our trips to Las Vegas, Alaska, Wyoming, England, and local sites here in Utah.  We've had a lot of adventures in our two years together.

All of these gifts were tailored specifically to fill comments I'd made in the previous months.  I knew Dale was preparing a series of gift presentations, and when I asked him how he thinks of things to surprise me with, he responded "I listen to things that you say, and I write them down."

I love my husband dearly.

2nd Anniversary Weekend

Dale and I did Arches!  We drove down after work on Friday, camped in a TENT (which we hadn't yet done together), brought our own food and supplies, and spent 8 HOURS HIKING.  Yes, you read that right.  We saw about two thirds of what the park has to offer, including:

Double arch (Where I re-lived my childhood hike there and wormed through the rubble underneath)

Landscape Arch

And the iconic Utah Delecate Arch

The view behind this one was amazing.

Dale was a very sensitive husband when considering my speed and hiking intensity limitations.  He stopped with me, didn't tease me when I was wearing 7 layers in the windy hiking weather, and was his usual witty and chipper self.

One example of this: After the AWFUL night sleep I had on Friday where I seriously thought I could get frostbite on my toes (it was around 35, and I couldn't feel below my ankles for the ENTIRE night.  I didn't sleep much), on Saturday night Dale gave me the sleeping bag he had warmed up for me, then gave me an extra warm foot layer for the night, and helped me insulate the bottom of my sleeping bag with every extra piece of clothing we didn't happen to be wearing to bed.

It was all beautiful, and in general a great way to spend the weekend before our 2nd Anniversary.

We drove home on Sunday morning and collapsed as two cripples on the couch.  A tendon on the back of my right knee was aching like no other, whereas Dale's quads were ceasing in a way that communicated extreme disappointment in the central Dale decision making unit.

All in all, worth it.

The new Mr. Darcy

The end of the most intense semester of my graduate school career has left me with precious free time which I use very indulgently.  I have seen this move 3 times in the last week.

You know that scene in the end of the 3rd video of the A & E Pride and Prejudice?  Elizabeth Bennett is singing "Voi Che Sappette" from the Marriage of Figuero in Pemberly and the scene begins with Mr. Darcy staring at her with an adoration that fills the room.  Prince Albert is the new Mr. Darcy.  Maybe it's just because Albert's gentle devotion reminds me of my husband, but without fail, the movie leaves me feeling like a woman who can love someone intensely when it's done.

The Universe likes me!

I owe the Universe again!

I went out today to get my seasonal tire change (for those of you--like me before I got married--who don't know, when you live in a state where it snows, you have to get your car's tires changed so they can drive in inclement weather.  The inclement weather is now mostly over, so we go back to using the less-expensive tires.) at DISCOUNT TIRE.  I just wanted the one closest to my house, and when I was calling for price quotes in my neighborhood, this one won with $15/tire and only 2 city blocks away.

I had set an appointment, but ended up getting there early, but they took me anyways.  The agent took a lot of my information, as it was my first time there, asked me to sign the pad, even though the price showed $0.00.  I figured they needed my signature on some confirmation document or something and I'd pay after the service was done.  I sat and worked on a final paper for 45 minutes, and when the agent came back with my keys, I started cleaning up and inquired about where to pay.  He had to reiterate 3 times before I understood him:

"There is no cost"

"We don't charge for tire changes or rotations, we only ask that the next time you're in the market for tires, you consider us."

FREE TIRE CHANGE!!! That just saved my husband and I at least $30!

5 years ago, I would have thought he was doing it cause I'm cute.  I'm still cute--or should we say "sexy awesome"--but as a married woman, I've come to realize that that kind of quid pro quo stops when you move out of singles wards.

Writing this down, I feel like I'm describing that country music song My Name is Joe and that the world is telling me I can give back more.  $36.00 of good samaritan savings in the last two days is worth me being a little more open for the next week.

Either that, or I just really like being around people, and I've been spending too much time in my apartment for the last two weeks.

Either way, if you're in the market for tires, go to the Discount Tire store on 6180 South Van Winkle Expressway in Salt Lake.

Grocery Store Spring Cleaning

I went to my local Dan's foods yesterday to pick up some essentials and was met with an experience I had never considered: How does a grocery store re-organize without anyone knowing it?  The answer is: they don't.  Everyone knows it when a grocery store re-organizes.  Crates packed with food items were piled in walk ways, entire aisles were empty of product, and product piled in the center of the aisle waited to be re-shelved in it's new location.  I was mostly confused, then annoyed, then the little girl inside of me felt very helpless!

I had 6 things I needed to get and was then planning to be out of the door.  I got three of those things without help, but then needed an employee to guide me around the store to find each of the three others.  I think that Dan's had known how this re-org might affect their business, so they had trained their employees to be five times as friendly while the merchandise was being moved and re-assembled.  Everyone was really nice... in fact, I kindof want to change my shopping day to Tuesdays to see if everyone is that nice all of the time.

One experience that summarizes the whole event was my effort to buy paper towels.  They sat in a pile 7 feet high and 15 feet long in the middle of an aisle whose racks were completely empty.  There was nowhere that prices could be labeled, so I went for whatever cheap brand usually was the least expensive while still meeting my needs.  It doesn't help that I am somewhat morally opposed to the concept of paper towels and have never bought any of my own free will before in my life.  My husband wanted them, and I was trying to be a good spouse.

The brand I needed was in the middle.  When I took it out, not only did the pile begin to crumble, but a piece of a metal rack started sliding at a dangerous angle that would eventually collide with my head.  As I was trying to re-balance the goods, a nice employee with a 7-year accomplishment pin offered to help.  When I inquired about prices, he said, "We'll just say it's $2.00."  Me, not knowing what paper towels usually cost, and not wanting to get a price dictation from a person who didn't check the price per ounce, stated "but this tag stapeled on another one says $1.39."  "$1.50 then."  It still didn't make sense to me, but I decided to let it go.  He was a nice man, and I already felt pretty powerless.

It wasn't until I got home that I realized that a 6 pack of extra large paper towels usually cost $8.00.  I feel bad.  I should have been more gracious and thankful to a man who was giving me a $6.00 discount.

Leave it to me to stiff a generous person for an extra 50 cents.

Lets all shop at the Dan's on Highland and Fort Union this week to make up for me being dumb.

England--for now

Many of you may have wondered why I haven't blogged about my England experience.  I've wondered the same myself.  I could chalk it up to "If I write about it, it means that I'm home and not there anymore" or "I'm in the end of a big semester for my grad school, and am therefore very busy," but it all comes down to the fact that it was fun while I was there, and I would have been excited to write about it at the time if I had HAD the time.  I was busy with the vacation and family--which is as it should be--and writing about it now feels too much like work.  I guess I'll get into it when my next semester is closing and I've recovered from the pain of my internship and the mind numbing effect of my paper writing, but for now, this is all you get.

This was my favorite:

And this was my happy average:

And I had a great time.

Future posts are currently being compiled, but I won't put up any until they're all complete.  Until then, this is your teaser, and my fill in for my blog so I can continue to post on the little silliness-es of life after having acknowledged the momentous awesomeness of the big experiences.