Different Kinds of Freedom

"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping  Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship- be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles- is that pretty much anything  else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things- if they are where you tap real meaning in life- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you....

The insidious thing about these forms or worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self...

But here are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom."

- David Foster Wallace, Kenyon University, 2005

I found this while surface scanning through a blog and fell in love with it. As a child it's impossible to understand what it means to be a parent. I look back at the two I have and as I've gotten older and realized they aren't perfect, I respect them more and more and I get a taste for adult life. 

One day Elliott, you and I will have kids, and we'll get really busy and stressed at times; we'll go on adventures together and have happy moments. We'll be real adults. Through all this, let's remain free!

Return of the Ski Day

After a four month absence from the blogging world, the only thing that could bring me back was this:

Return to the Ski Day from Beth Bueler on Vimeo.

Sad

So lazy. Can't get fingers to post pictures. Maybe next week.

The Good Life in SLC

Elliott and I were talking about how great Salt Lake is over dinner last night. There's so much to do and it's so beautiful. We found a new canyon drive that we love recently (and Elliott rides up it on his bike), and Fall is pretty much here; Fall is my favorite.

We've been doing the usual: Ruth's Diner, Sunday dinners, finding baby sized jackets for future kiddos, walks with Mollie, trying to veggie recipes, and canyon BBQs. Elliott's been doing a lot of bike riding too.

He frequently rides up Emigration Canyon. Last time I tried it I didn't make it to the top. And by the top I mean the middle before it gets crazy up on the switch backs. I decided to give it a try and after Elliott carried us up the canyon, I made it to the top, crazy switchbacks and all. And they weren't as crazy as I thought they would be. It made me want to ride more that's for sure. This is the view from the top:

Next weekend, Elliott and his two good friends Kirk and Jaris are going to ride all four canyons. In one day. Little Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood, Millcreek and Emigration. I think I'm going to go and cheer them on and serve as a water and snack station.

I'm now 25 and my birthday was just as I wanted: full of delicious food and my favorite people. Elliott's gift is so cool, but that's for next post.

Rain storm in SLC:

And I found a sprinkler that spits out rainbows:

 Just finished another pillow for a friend:

That's all.

That time we had a dog for a week

More pictures from our backpacking trip. When we got home we picked up Pablo (the skinny one on the pictures) and he's staying with us for the week. Mollie (the fat one in the pictures) is pretty much low key and so we're not used to this kind of energy from this puppy, but it's been really fun to have him. He really likes to steal our socks and so we've become very clean people the past few days, always aware of what's left on the floor.

Mollie isn't as big as a fan of Pablo as we are. I brought him over to hang out last night and all he wanted to do is follow Mollie around because she's just...so cool. After a few minutes, she got annoyed, turned around and slapped him in the face with her paw. It was soft and she didn't hurt him but he got the message. Now he's a little bit scared of her. I guess I've never know this about Mollie because she isn't usually around puppies but she's kind of a crotchety old granny (i kind of like her for it though). And fat. Oh gosh. She looks so fat next to Pablo.

My parents are making me go through the last of my stuff at their house. Last night I found so many pictures/notes that remind me how awkward I was as a preteen and how obsessed I was with soccer. I found my book of 'inspirational quotes' and 90% of them were from Mia Hamm. The other 10% were from other soccer players:

I'm going to post awkward pictures next and you know you don't want to miss those.

Island Lake 2012

happiness is:

taking fridays off of work
crystal clear lakes
camping
cliff Jumping/swimming
trying roasted marshmallow with banana
building your own fire pit (props to Elliott)
campfire conversations (i feel that any time you have a fire with friends you walk away better friends. There's something about it that makes you open up... and in some people's case become extra funny).
uinta mountains
star gazing and accidentally catching the Perseid meteor shower (we saw a shooting star that will probably go down in history, and saw 12 shooting stars in just an hour).
sleeping in a tent during thunderstorms

Spending 3 days with good friends

Obviously, we went backpacking this weekend and it couldn't have been any better. We hit up Island Lake in the Uinta Mountains with two of our best friends. There was a lot of hiking, cooking, swimming, and laughing.

We saw so many dogs along the way and decided next time we do this, we were going to foster a dog from the pound for a few days since none of us are ready for the commitment of actually owning one.

I'm wondering why we didn't do this until August. Where has the summer gone?

More pictures to come.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

New York, New York

Back in June we ventured out to NYC (yeah it's been that long since I've posted anything). Elliott had a work conference in D.C. a few days earlier so while he was gone, I worked like a responsible adult and then flew out and met him. He took a bus down from D.C. and then we met at 1:30 a.m. at the apartment we found on Air BnB.

::Day One::

We walked across the Willamsburg bridge (where our apartment was) into the city. 

After some exploring, we promptly found a Chop't for lunch (my request).

Although we had the help of our phones, we did really know where we were going any ran into places on purpose, like 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This, of course, was a big deal because we are big fans of 30 Rock.

Before leaving, we had friends who gave us some must-do's, and finding a Mr. Softee ice cream truck was one of them. We found, we ate, and then we tried to find one again the rest of the trip and to Elliott's disappointment, never did.

Strand Book Store: So many books and really cool bags.

The Met. Monet, Picasso, Pollock. Very cool (both the paintings and the AC).

There was a series of little scribblings at the museum. The top right pictures say "My brother just got married to a two-headed women. Is she pretty you ask. Well, yes and no." I liked that.

::Day Two::

The High Line (probably our favorite thing). This park/urban garden used to be a raised abandoned train track. I'm not sure how long it is but it's amazing. Green grass, water, food, outdoor movies. If we lived in New York I think we would come back often.

Chelsea Market: delicious food and indoor market.

Times Square: because when Elliott's never been to NY before, you just have to see it.

Serendipity: Three words: Frozen Hot Chocolate. I came here with my mom and friends the first time I went to NYC and had to come back. The wait was an hour and a half so while we were waiting, we found a....what do you call it... tram? that went out to one of the islands. 

::Day Three::


9/11 Memorial. We both agreed that it was classy and beautiful.

Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

Went to dinner with my brother

Central Park

Found Waldo

Somewhere during the four days we also ate a lot of good food, took the Staten Island ferry, and met up with our friends Steph and Adam.

We have more pictures on our camera (you know, that thing that is not an iphone), but I'm too lazy to add those. Maybe later.

It's Sunday. We both took naps on accident and dinner is in two hours. I love Sunday dinner.

Today at church a three year old told me that her little sister pulled her hair while she was still in her mom's 'tummy'. Another one told me that he tries not to smoke that often.

Looking forward to these next two weekends. Backpacking and then Sun Valley.

Oh, and we're also dog sitting our friends bug (pug+ boston terrier). Excited.