Picaso or Monet?

August 25, 2014

#1 - Paint a Picture

I have a couple friends who are incredibly artistic and make me jealous with the things they can create.  My friend, Holly Andersen, is one of these people.  When we were in college she would decide to create some piece of art work for the walls of her apartment.  It fascinated me!  As I was creating my list, painting a picture was one of the first things to pop into my mind.  Shortly after writing it down I got a notification from Groupon about a thing called Paint Nite.  I read the description and realized that it would be the perfect way to complete adventure #1 on the list.  Here is how a Paint Nite works...you sign up for the event based on picture.  They have events happening multiple times a week all over the Salt Lake area.  Each event is listed with a picture of the painting, information about the instructor, location information, and event date.  We chose our event because the date worked for us and we like the picture.

On the night of the event, Whitney, Susie and I showed up to a bar in West Valley called Lokals.  As we walked in there were 3 or 4 tables set up with canvases lining both sides of each table.  Each canvas had a paper plate with 4 colors of paint (red, yellow, white, black), cup of water, and two paint brushes.

After we checked in and picked up an apron, we were able to pick our spots.  Because the event is held in a bar you have to be 21 to participate.  Paint Nite's catch phrase is "Drink Creatively" and people were taking this as a challenge.  Drinks were being consumed and refilled regularly through out the course of the evening.  My drink of choice alternated between peach lemonade and mango lemonade.  Not sure they helped my creativity but they were delicious.

Our instructor was a nice girl name Grace who was very patient.  She walked us through step-by-step instructions as we created out masterpieces.  Once she gave us instructions, she would walk around helping people and answering any questions we might have.  I found it fascinating that she gave all of us the same instructions but none of our pictures turned out the same.  Towards the end of the event I start getting frustrated because I thought I was ruining my painting.  It was about this time that Whitney discovered how helpful it was to get up and walk away for a minute.  She was able to walk around and see other people's creations while taking a break from staring at her canvas for hours.  Not only was the break nice but we were also able to see that our pictures weren't that bad compared to some of the other people.  :)

My finished product!

Instructor Grace and me with our finished paintings.

In the end, the three of us ended up with amazing paintings and had an enjoyable evening!  I definitely want to make this happen again.  By far this has been my favorite adventure!!

-Em

Cowboys & Fair Burgers

August 23, 2014

#66 - Go to a Rodeo

The end of August always means the Box Elder County Fair & Rodeo will take over our little town.  School never starts until after the fair is over so it marks the official end of summer each year.  Someone should really let my school district know that school isn't allowed to start before the fair is done.  Our first day of school was the Wednesday of fair week.

As an end of the first week reward, I invited a couple friends to travel up to Tremonton with me for the rodeo.  Whitney, Chelsy, and Susie all joined in the fun.  We were on our way north and decided that we needed to make a drink break when we got to Bountiful.  With Bountiful being the home of Swig it just made sense for us to go there for our drinks (and cookies).  With our tasty treats, we were back on the road headed for Tremonton.  On our way into town we stopped at Willy's Produce and bought some delicious corn on the cob, potatoes, and cucumbers.

Susie had been in Logan so we all met up at my parents' house before heading to the rodeo.  We got there and when we went to buy our tickets, the worker warned us that things were filling up and she couldn't guarantee we would find a seat.  The four of us decided to brave the crowds anyway.  It was really full and took a little searching but in the end we were able to find an opening on the second row.  There were a couple adorable little boys standing at the railing in front of us who were almost more entertaining than the actual cowboys riding.  Each of these little guys was dressed in his cowboy attire....Wrangler jeans, cowboy boot, and a belt buckle.  One of them had a cowboy hat but the other little guy's mom left his in the car.  My favorite part was watching them mimick everything the actual cowboys did in the arena.  If one of the bronc riders got bucked off or hurt, the little guys would act like they had been hurt too.  Seriously the most adorable entertainment of the night!

Along with enjoying the rodeo and watching the little cowboys in front of us, I introduced my friends to the deliciousness that is a fair burger.  Can anyone explain to me why fair burgers taste so good?  It's a mystery to me!

One of our little cowboys watching the action!

Thanks for a great time, County Fair.  See you next August!

-Em

Good Time or Good Story

August 16, 2014

#20 - Go on a Date

I got a Facebook message from my friend Holly the Saturday that I went to see Wicked with my family.  We met in the singles ward here in Salt Lake.  She had asked me during a conversation at church or an activity if she could give my number to a guy that worked for her dad.  I had told her it was okay with me but didn't really expect much to come of it.  Fast forward a month or two (or more) to the Facebook message.  It started out like this "Emily!  So....would you be terribly upset if I gave someone your number?"  Holly then went on to tell me a little about this guy and remind me that she had told me about him before.  At the end of the message she shared her philosophy on blind dates and it has now become a motto I have shared with friends.  This is her philosophy "Blind dates are either a good time or a good story."  I replied to her message to assure her that we could still be friends and I was okay with her giving out my number.

Call me a sceptic but I didn't think anything would come of Holly giving out my number.  Many of you can probably relate to this situation.  You have a friend/co-worker/family member who has someone that they want you to go out with on a date.  Maybe they have told you a couple (hundred) times about this person and why you should go out with them.  You tell this person to make it happen and you will willingly participate in said outing.  Then....NOTHING!  The date never happens or the person never contacts you.  Which is totally okay because you only slightly got your hopes up for meeting this person.  Life goes on and the cycle repeats itself.

To my surprise, the cycle was broken this time.  I was at my house working on lesson plans and stepped away from my phone for just a second.  When I got back to my phone, I had a missed call and voicemail.  It wasn't a number that I recognized so I listened to the voicemail.  Turned out to be the Holly's friend, Niel.  I returned his call and we had a nice little chat.  We set up a date to go to lunch on the coming Saturday.  This also happened to be the day I floated the Weber River.  Lunch was originally schedule for 1:30 but I didn't get done tubing until after noon and I still had to drive back to SLC.  I called Niel and he was nice enough to let me move the time back an hour so I could get home with enough time to make myself presentable.

Niel picked me up and we headed to lunch at a new pizza place in Sugarhouse called Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria.  I'm not sure what it use to be before becoming a restaurant but it now looks like it use to be a car/mechanic shop.  One whole wall is made up of big garage doors with windows.  The ceiling has exposed beams and ducts.  It's a really fun atmosphere.  There was also the added bonus of the food being really good.  We were able to enjoy our delicious lunches while getting to know each other.  Niel was even able to help me plan for the new class I am teaching this year.  Overall, I had a great time!  Going back to Holly's philosophy....it was definitely a good time kind of blind date.

Picture "borrowed" from their website  :)

I would recommend Neapolitan Pizzeria to anyone.  It's got yummy food and a fun atmosphere perfect for a blind-date or first date or even just a regular date!

-Em

Weber River

August 16, 2014

#23 - Go Tubing

Thanks to the Wilford YSA Ward annual tubing trip I was able to check this one off my list!  Our wonderful activities committee set everything up through a company called Barefoot Tubing out of Morgan, UT.  All I had to do was show up Saturday morning with my $15 and they would take care of the rest.  Once again I had some wonderful adventures buddies along for the ride...Chelsy, Whitney, Susie, and Bryan.  Things were slightly different this year because instead of meeting/parking right off the river we had to be shuttled to the put in spot.  This worked out perfectly because we were able to spend some quality bonding time in a 15-passenger van named "Wet Willy."  Susie was the unfortunate recipient of an actual wet willy during the ride to the river in Wet Willy.  It was great because she hadn't been part of our conversation and was completely unaware of the vans name when Bryan decided to include her.  :)

Emily, Chelsy, Whitney, Bryan, and Susie

We got dropped off, picked up a tube, and made our way to the river.  Before we could start the tubing/floating adventure, the owner of Barefoot Tubing had to give us some instructions.  With about 5 minutes of quick instruction we were told how to successfully make it down the river.  Unfortunately there were a lot of instructions like "stay to the left on this part" and "stay to the right on this part" and "don't go through these pilars" and "ready go!"  I couldn't keep all the lefts and rights straight but figured it would be okay.  I was able to participate in the Weber River float with our ward last year along with my roommate Carolynn.  Because I had experienced it before I figured I would be good to go for the ride.  WRONG!  Not sure if the water was moving faster or if I was just struggling this go around but I spent way too much time in the water at the very beginning instead of floating along nicely in my tube.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but it is at the very beginning that you go through the area call Rock Alley and it definitely matches it's name.  Luckily our friend Bryan was there to help save the day or at least stop and wait to make sure that I made it back into my tube okay

It took about 2 hours to float the river the last half of it was pretty relaxing.  At least it was relaxing once I decided it was smart to ride in the tub instead of let it drag me down the river.  I was a little sad because I didn't think I would have any photographic evidence of this adventure.  This sadness was unnecessary because a guy in our ward, Jeff Van Dyke, had a water-proof camera.  He would stop at various points and take pictures of us as we went down the river.  There was one spot in particular that he chose to stop right after a slight drop/rapid.  I thought for sure he was going to get a picture of me as I fell out of my tube.  Wrong!  I was able to ride it out (which sounds slightly ridiculous because it wasn't anything major) and stay on my tube.

We finished floating and made our way back out to the street where our shuttles would pick us up.  Unfortunately we weren't able to ride back in the Wet Willy.  This time we rode in the party bus, which had a name I don't remember, packed full of people.  Our group were some of the first ones in the bus so we got to sit down.  After we got in and the seats filled up, people just started to pack into the bus in the standing area.  We made some new friends from the ward while on the bus.  One of these new friends was named Stuart.  He was the poor unfortunate soul that ended up standing right in front of us.  I'm sure our laughing and joking around was a little worrisome for him because he didn't know what we were laughing about.  He didn't know until my roommate, Chelsy, who had been pretending to touch him actually touched him.  This definitely got his attention!  We all introduced ourselves and became great friends since we had bonded on a bus down by the river. 

Friendships were made, bruises were earned, fun was had, and memories were made!!

-Em

Wicked

August 9, 2014

#54 - See a play

For the past couple Christmases my parents have given me (along with my siblings/in-laws) tickets to a play at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.  Because these tickets are purchased about a year before the event actually happens, my mom gets two tickets each for my brother and me just in case there are special someones in our lives when the event actually comes around.  This has worked out really well for my friend Holly because she has been my go-to friend for that extra ticket due to lack of significant other.  My roommate, Chelsy, was the benefactor of my extra ticket this year to see Wicked.  Chelsy had never seen it before so she got to enjoy it for the first time.

All of the adults in my family along with Jeff's friend, Susie, attended the Saturday matinee at the Capitol Theater.  We were also able to see Wicked the last time it came to UT.  It was fun to be able to compare the two performances and pick out what we did/didn't like as much this year.  The consensus was that our Fiyero this year wasn't as strong as years past.  He was pretty to look at but his voice wasn't as strong as I felt it should have been.  I thought our Elphaba had a great voice this go around! Our seats were great other than the lack of leg room.  This is a common problem for tall people at this theater.  Not sure if people have gotten taller over the years or maybe the builders didn't care about comfort some 50+ years ago and just wanted to pack as many seats in as possible.

Photo taken seconds before the announcement about no photography  :)

 Overall, it was a lot of fun to spend the afternoon with my family enjoying a great show!

-Em

Crater Face

August 7, 2014

Next adventure completed......

#73 - Snorkeling

Did you know that not only do we have a crater in Utah but that you can snorkel in this crater?  I didn't until my friend Susie told me about it and invited me to join her on the adventure.  The crater is located in Midway, UT at the

I went to the crater with a group of my friends Susie, Whitney, Sam, Chelsy, and Bryan.  We had made reservations and I must say that this adventure went a lot more smoothly than my first one.  I rode with my roommate Chelsy to Midway and we met everyone else there.  Upon my arrival, I promptly paid my money and signed my life away.  It's almost as if the resort didn't want to be responsible if something happened to me while in the crater.  Weird, right?

Our group made our way into the crater and collected our snorkeling gear.  The saddest part of this adventure is that for safety reasons we had to wear life jackets while swimming in the crater.  I had anticipated being able to swim around freely as I explored the crater.  A few things didn't quite match up.  First, my brain had envisioned a very different crater than what it actually looked like.  I'm not entirely sure what I expected but it didn't match up with reality.  Second, the crater was a balmy 96 degrees.  If you know me very well at all, you will know that I love the cold!  The fact that the water was so warm made me feel like I was swimming in bath water.  Finally, I didn't see a single tropical fish or shark while snorkeling.  So I didn't really expect Hawaii caliber snorkeling but I thought there would at least be something to see.  In the end all I saw with my snorkel gear were the sides of the crater and a few people scuba diving below me.  A few of us were slightly rebellious and spent a brief time swimming without our life jackets (when the workers weren't watching).  Don't worry Mom, we all lived to tell about it.  :)

We choreographed a pretty amazing synchronized swimming routine.

Classic Bryan face and Whitney just trying to be seen!

REBELS!! Swimming without lifejackets

Snorkeling in a crater was a fun adventure but experiencing it once in a lifetime will be enough for this girl!  If you don't want to travel to Midway but still want the experience, fill up your bath tub and grab some snorkel gear.  :)

-Em

Fire-Breathing Lizards & Maleficent

I am SO behind on the documentation of my adventures!  Not only have I been out crossing things off my list but summer has ended and I am back to school (both teacher and student).  I should make one of my list items "Stay caught up on list" because it might just be the motivation I need to get things done.

You are probably all wondering about the first list item to be completed. In fact, I'm sure the anticipation is killing you.  The first item(s) completed were......

#107 - Miniature Golfing & #14 - Drive-In Movie

August 1, 2014

I jumped right in on Day #1 of my timeframe (August 1 - December 5) and got two adventures crossed off my list.  A group of friends from my YSA ward got together to go miniature golfing and then to a drive-in movie.  It was decided that we would all meet up at my house so we could carpool to the various activities.  Unfortunately things didn't quite turn out the way I had planned them in my head.  One of the friends who had planned the activity ended up going on a never-ending date that caused her to miss mini-golf all together.  Another person got invited last minute and didn't get to my house until after the set meeting time.  With a few other confusions and miscommunications, we were on our way a good 30 minutes later than anticipated.

We got to Boondocks, quickly paid our money, collected our clubs and golf balls and hurried out to the course.  I'm not sure why but none of us seemed super thrilled with the idea of mini-golfing once we actually got started.  It might have been because we were on a time crunch (drive-in movie) or maybe because we got a late start to the evening.  Either way there were a lot of gently nudged golf balls after 5+ strokes on a given location, we had no real order for hitting, and we actually ended up skipping the back 9 due to time restraints.  But don't worry....we were able to finish of the "adventure" by hitting our golf balls into a fire breathing lizard.

Sam, Erin, Kaelyn, Me, & Heidi     (Photo Credit: Tom Rose)

After turning in our clubs, we jumped into the car and headed for the drive-in theater on Redwood Rd.  Sam was an Indy car driver (very safe Indy car driver) and got us there faster than maps said we would arrive.  At the theater you still have to pay per person but it's got the added difficulty of everyone still sitting in the car.  There was a lot of money and card passing around before we made it into the lot.  We found the screen that our movie would be playing on and pulled into a spot.  This is when we realized how unprepared we were to actually watch the movie.  We were surrounded by trucks and mini-vans that allowed people to comfortably see the screen.  Our car had 5 people crammed into it and visibility of the screen was low.  This required us to abandon the vehicle and just sit in the parking lot.  Again with being unprepared, all we had to sit on was one small blanket.  Luckily my friend that had been on a date and missed golfing was able to meet up with us for the movie.  She and her roommate saved the day by bringing lots of blankets for us to sit on.  Maleficent was the movie that we watched.  I had seen it before with some co-workers but it was just as good the second time.  Maybe a little less comfortable (asphalt < theater seat) but still good.

Hard to see but there was the back door of a van that blocked left side of the screen

Susie, Erin, Tom, Kaelyn, Ashley, Sam, and Me

The adventures have begun and hopefully the rest of the items on my list go a little more smoothly.

-Em