f r i d a y / /
I had been looking forward to Friday all week long! I mean, that's usually the case, but this week seemed longer and harder than usual, so the weekend was very welcome come 5:00 on friday! On my way home, Devin called and said he was just driving back from the dog park and wanted to meet me at Home Depot so we could pick out a pot and a plant to put on our front porch, which I had been wanting to do for a long time! Our front porch looks pretty bare, so I thought a big, pretty plant or a topiary would fix it up. We had also been playing around with the idea of building an herb garden, too. We couldn't find any large plants that we liked, or that would look normal on a front porch in a pot, haha, and we both started leaning more toward doing the herb garden instead. we saw a lot of planters that would have worked for what we wanted, but in the end, we decided to build one instead! we were running out of time to get all the supplies we needed, so we left with some garden soil, seeds for chives, rosemary and basil, and left with a long list of what we needed, so we could go back the next day to get it all!
we wanted to try and take trax up to salt lake again, but with the places we wanted to go and the times we needed to be there, it would have made for way too much walking, so we drove instead. first stop: why, ekamai and bruges, of course! yellow curry from ekami with a vegetable spring roll is my favorite meal lately. i love that tiny little hole-in-the-wall place, and if you're ever in salt lake and feel like eating some good Thai food, ekamai is the place to go! the women who cook the food and everything are so cute and recognize us by now! ha! but we couldn't stop there, the belgian waffles next door our completely irresistible, so even if you've stuffed yourself with purple rice and curry, you find a way to make room for dessert. we usually share a waffle, because they are pretty expensive, but the last few times we've gone, we've both been a little selfish and wanted our own. we highly recommend you get the torpedo waffle, which is stuffed with belgian chocolate, and it would be a crime if you didn't get some creme fraiche on top! their other toppings include various fruits, some weird things i can't pronounce and don't know what they are, ice cream, and more belgian chocolate drizzled over top! it's heavenly. i talk about these places way too much!
we still had some time to kill before our next event, and we both needed to go to the bathroom. i asked devin, "where's the one place in salt lake city with bathrooms we can trust?" and we headed promptly to the temple square visitor's center! haha! the church always seems to have the cleanest, best smelling bathrooms. but it was nice to take the time while we were there to go ponder at the Christus and walk around that big, gorgeous temple, all lit up and shining as the sky went dark. it was such a nice spring evening, not even too cold, and it felt very romantic to stroll around the temle grounds while it snowed cherry blossoms.
after that, we found our way over to Urban Lounge, because doors were opening at 9:00 for a show by our dear friend, Joshua James! sort of funny confession: this was my first time in a bar, okay well second, but the real first time was in kamas and i just got a burger and diet coke and lady called me "sweetie" because i looked so young and i didn't have my ID so she was really worried about letting me order my diet coke (heaven forbid!).... remember that? yeah. i'm not gonna count it. but anyway, i was all sorts of nervous and kept asking devin the silliest questions. he thinks i'm very irrational sometimes, but that's okay. because i am. i felt pretty out of my element when the people in line behind us were discussing the "brownies" they had baked earlier that week, and once we got inside when the crowd got louder and louder as they finished their first drinks. nonetheless, i started feeling much more at home as gym members at momentum started coming up to say hi to devin (joshua is a member at the gym, so a lot of other members had come out to support him!) we waited (read: drained our phone batteries) for about an hour before the first musician came out, another one of our favorite locals, Isaac Russel! i had never seen isaac perform live, but he was absolutely amazing! like i said, the crowd was loud, and within the first few seconds, you could tell that isaac was really, really frustrated with all the noise. surely enough, after about 3 songs, he stopped playing and said "wow. you guys are awful." and went on to tell everyone to be quiet (but he didn't say it quite that nicely). the crowd listened, and he was able to play a few more, but during his last 2 or 3 songs they got loud again, and he looked so relieved to have finished his set, and got right off that stage! poor guy. i don't understand why people would pay $15 to come to a show, just to sit in the crowd and talk louder than the musician?! pretty rude, if you ask me. luckily, we had gotten there early enough to score a seat in the front near the stage and we could hear everything great.
we waited another half hour or so and joshua james finally came out with his band. by this time, it was 11:00 or 11:30 (which is about an hour past my usual bed time) and i was pretty exhausted. but when joshua started playing, i was completely blown away. he is one of the best live performers i have ever seen, and to know him outside of his music career, and just as a friend gives you a different perspective when you see someone on stage like that. i was completely beside myself. aside from his raw, natural talent (which, whoa.), it was so incredible to watch him just completely succumb to the music. he wasn't in that room. he was off somewhere else when he was playing and it was the coolest thing to witness. i had never seen a musician become so completely saturated in their music like that. he was so passionate about it. you could tell by the way he would close his eyes and move around the stage as he played his guitar and you could tell by the way he rarely even looked at the crowd. it was almost a spiritual experience, really. i feel like i can't even really describe what it was like to be in that room, so you'll just have to trust me. but really. i had never experienced anything like it. at about midnight, i was getting sick of the crowd, and the beat from the speakers replacing my own heart beat, but there was one song i was still really hoping to hear, and right then, he played it! and it was absolutely amazing! and i told devin that i could leave happily now. i so badly wanted to stay for the whole show, but i was so, so tired and that crowd... so we went home. but man. i will never forget that show! as we were walking to the car, i inducted the show into my own personal concert-hall-of-fame. now, he sits there, in my mind, next to tim mcgraw, journey and a few select others that left me speechless after their shows.
s a t u r d a y / /
after being out so late (to us, we're wimps!) we definitely slept even, even though we hadn't planned to. we took the morning pretty slow and cleaned the house, and then headed down to home depot again to finish our shopping for the herb garden. i drove separately from devin so i could leave as soon as i got a call from kayla telling me she was close. we were meeting up so we could drive together to Gardner Village. she let me know she was close in the middle of the trip, so i left devin to the list and the shopping cart, and headed to Ikea, our usual meeting place.
from there, we drove up to Gardner Village, where we were meeting my mom and kelli. my mom's birthday is this week on Thursday and for her birthday, all she wanted was to spend the day with us up there! i hadn't been to gardner village since I was really young, and it was a lot of fun to go back! they had so many cute boutiques, craft stores, consignment shops, and a gorgeous quilt shop. we had so much fun joking around, going to lunch, telling stories and shopping together. we were there for 5 hours and we didn't want it to end! we all left with some cute stuff, and tons of candy from the awesome candy shop! it will definitely become a tradition! my sisters and my mom are my best friends. i love spending time with them like that.
while i was out with my sisters and mom, devin was building the herb garden planter. he photographed it all for me because he says he knew i'd want to put pictures up on the blog. he knows me so well! ha! when i got home, it was the best surprise to see it completely built, sitting in the garage! i am so impressed with his talent. he has built us so much furniture for us, and he loves it! i definitely don't mind either. we were both very anxious at this point to get our garden planted!
after a trip to the grocery store, and some dinner, we laid on the couch and ended the night with pitch perfect. because that movie hasn't gotten old yet! we still love it! i was so tired from being out all day and devin was pretty worn out, too. my favorite part of the week day is lounging around on the couch with devin, catching up on shows and finally feeling relaxed, and it feels good to do the same on the weekends, too.
s u n d a y / /
we had been asked to substitute in primary on sunday, and we were pretty excited about it. we have never had a primary calling, just nursery and now young single adult representatives, so it was a good change. we had the valiant 10 class and we taught them about missionaries. they were awesome! so smart and so funny. i love 10 year olds! it was a blast. we had printed out some missionary badges and they all wore them into sharing time, it was the cutest thing. primary is really loud and a little frustrating, but i think i liked it better than relief society, haha! i'm glad we signed up to be subs for primary, and i hope we get another chance soon!
we've been slowly trying to get cooper used to being in the house by himself, instead of locked in his pen, so we will leave him out when we go to the grocery store or run quick errands, but on sunday, we left him alone in the house for the full 3 hours of church and he did awesome! it looks like he may have chewed up the cap for one of devin's cameras (not the ones he uses, just the ones he collects), but nothing else was ruined! i'm so impressed with him. such a good dog! sunday was such a gorgeous day so we spent most of the afternoon outside after lunch. we stained the planter (it's perfect!) and filled it with gravel and dirt and decided it would get better sunlight on the back patio than the front porch, so we're back to looking for a big plant for the front again! i think our best bet will be ikea, so we'll just have to try looking there. anyway, all of the herbs we got can't be planted until about June, so we are very impatiently waiting! the planter turned out exactly how we wanted though, and it will be fun to see if we can actually grow something in there!
later sunday night, we drove down to Orem and celebrated all the April birthdays with my mom's side of the family. we ate way too much food, and kayla, who works at sweet tooth fairy, baked an amazing cake for the party. she is so talented! she did an ombre rosette frosting pattern and told me she would make me a similar one for my birthday! we had a lot of fun with the family, and then headed to devin's parents to hear about their trip to Moab they took this week. i have never been to Moab and now i'm even more excited to get down there some time.
we got home a little late and i got some etsy stuff done and also made a first-time-ever appointment for friday (more on that later. you'll all be shocked and amazed!) and we called it a night. it was the best weekend! it felt like a really long weekend, but at the same time, i can't believe it's already monday. here's hoping the next weekend comes fast!
