Rain and Baking

Today (after the monsoon) the sky looked like this and I (Beth of course) made:



I was in love with the weather today. Sudden downpour followed by a cool breeze and bright blue skies. It's hard not to be in a good mood when the weather is telling you to be.

I tried a new recipe found here. Strawberry cupcakes with a strawberry buttercream. The batter was a breeze to make: butter + sugar + fresh strawberries (well the three main ingredients anyway).

The trick came with the frosting. There is sooo much butter in this frosting. It would be kind of gross if it didn't taste so good. To frost the cupcakes we used a zip lock bag and cut the corner and went to work:

Top it with a fresh strawberry:

Elliott ate 3 within ten minutes:

Recap of the day:

rain

cool breeze

blue sky

baking

strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream

Zupas

Mad Men

And We Have Light!

Elliott + internet videos on how to wire light bulbs = This:

We're [ this ] far away from being able to make t-shirts. We'll post when it's done.

Today was full of:

Squash (provided by Elliott's parents. Thanks!) for dinner
Riding bikes to Gormandise for creme brulee
More night bike riding down town
Cactus and Tropicals

Also, if you're in the mood for good music, listen to this and then buy the album.

When asked to describe the album, Elliott used the word:

Do you like gross things?

Today we went down to the farmers market. Our friend Julia told us about a place to go get the best limeades she'd ever had. They squeeze a lime, add sugar, water, and mint leaves and mix it all together and pour it over ice. So simple, so good.

The best part about it was the lady who ordered right after us.

Lady: Can I have mine without sugar?

Guy: Sure! Do you like things that are gross?

Lady: What?

Guy: Do you like gross things?

Lady: uh... (not knowing what to say)

Guy: (laughing) It's just really sour without sugar and kind of gross. I'm just warning you.

Elliott and I walked away laughing, limeades in hand.

Sweating

Our apartment is so hot. The people that live below us control the air conditioning. They never turn it on. They also just moved out which means nobody is down there to turn it on anyways. So basically we are stuck with the small air conditioning unit that the owner bought for us last summer when we just couldn't stand it anymore. It's nice....when you're standing right in front of it. Otherwise, you're pretty much always sweating (unless showering).

To recap:

Cheap housemates/no housemates to turn on AC

Hot

Small AC unit

Sweating

Hot

More Sweating

Smelly

Can't wait for fall temperatures

Lately

This summer has been a lot of fun. It's so nice for both of us to have the summer off of school. For the past couple of months we get home from work and can just hang out with each other instead of homework. The summer concert series in Salt Lake has been very popular. We went to the Modest Mouse concert. It was hot and sunny and we shared the park with 40,000 other people. After smashing bodies with strangers and getting sneezed on twice at the same time, we decided to leave a little early.

'

I had a day off a few weeks ago and went on a great hike with my friend Anna. We hiked to Lake Blanche which is up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I had never been and was surprised to see such clear water surrounded by green pine trees and red rock.





Two weeks ago Elliott surprised me and took me up to Park City for the Ben Folds concert. He played with the Utah Symphony. That guy can really play.







Lately, we have been working on building a screen printing press. Elliott designed a press that includes a drying rack, a light box, and the press. He designed everything himself and I have been helping him put it together. In a week or so we should be able to make our own shirts!








And yesterday we wandered up to Doughnut Falls

San Diego (Doesn't that mean Saint Diego? No no, I don't think so)

For all three of our readers, you're going to like this post. Why? Because it's full of pictures and everybody knows that's why anyone looks at anyone else's blog really.

We just spent a week in San Diego with the Storey side of the fam. Like any normal family vacation it had it's highs and lows (mostly highs). The lows included sting ray stings, food poisoning, delayed planes, and overcast skies. That's right, the first day at the beach, fifteen minutes into body surfing (or trying to at least), Elliott stepped on a sting ray. It got him right between the toes. Because of the record low temperatures in San Diego last week, the sting rays make their way closer to the shore to soak up a few extra rays. Can you blame them? No. But it definitely made us more hesitant to fully enjoy the waves. After the ray had done it's damage, we didn't go back into the water without a body board to float on. Well, after a long hot tub session and another in the bathtub (hot water apparently neutralizes the venom so nicely left behind by the ray) , Elliott was back in action. The youngest one in the family, Nick, ate a bad sandwich and spent the first night throwing up (always a great experience when sharing one hotel room) and we quickly learned to stay away from certain foods at the hotel.

The clouds decided to spend our vacation with us for the first three days but finally cleared out for the last two (and yes, you can still get sunburned on a cloudy day). Regardless, the temperature was great the whole week and we got some great body boarding in. We played tennis almost every morning and found some great restaurants around town. (We found a great pizza place called the Village Pizzeria. They had the best Napoli pizza we have ever had (so good we went back a second time). If you're heading over to San Diego check it out: {http://www.nadolife.com/villagepizzeria/index.html}

We went to the Air and Space Museum in Balboa park. They had planes from WWI, WW2, and more. Elliott knew what most of them were called and what they were used for.

Elliott and Nick rode the flight simulator. This thing was crazy. It could spin in any direction.

We hadn't boogie boarded for years and we both fell in love with it all over again (next step: learn how to surf):






This was not the only jelly fish found on the beach/in the water. The little boy boarding close to us got stung. Probably by this one. It washed up on the shore and then made it's escape back into the water.
Many sand castles were made:




We had a great time. Thanks mom and dad!

Flowers

As Elliott and I were at the gym last night, I knew that I had the day of today. I was stretching on a mat and my thoughts were split between finding something to do today and finding something to work my weak little legs. We went to the gym without a real plan of what we wanted to do so I was trying to figure out a good leg exercise on the spot. I tried to think of something that I could draw out from my exercise bank from all my years of soccer. Lunges immediately came to mind. I haven't done them in a while and was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of all the people on the machines but at that very moment, I looked up and saw a guy on the elliptical to my right passionately mouthing the lyrics to the music on his iPod. Well, nothing I'm going to do can be as embarrassing at that right? So I gave the lunges a shot. Now that that decision was made, I began to think of something to do today.

Planting. This is what I came up with. Our porch is screaming for some color. We have been meaning to get some flowers for our porch for the longest time and today, we did it. We were given a big blue pot filled with greenery and flowers last year (thanks mom) but ever since it's sad death in the winter, it has been sitting on our porch brown and shriveled up. So today we went and got a few things just to get started. Our porch/stair situation may not be very easy on the eyes, but the flowers definitely help.

Elliott's brother Graham bought a a money tree last year and it has been stuck in the tiny plastic pot it came in ever since. We bought a larger pot a while ago but have neglected to buy some soil to fill it, so this also happened today:

Three ceramic pots (yellow, purple, green)= $22.00
Flowers to fill them= $17.00
Much needed potting soil= $7.00

It's amazing what $46 can do to a porch, especially one that's as small as ours. It's already looking a lot better (and more welcoming). It finally looks like someone actually lives in our apartment. Beth has the gardening fever now. Too bad our backyard is filled with weeds.

Harmons Best Dam Bike Ride 2010

The Route: (we did the green one)


Yesterday we rode in the Harmon's Best Dam Bike Ride. We rode 75 miles.

How long did it take? about 5 hours

How long did it feel like? all day

Did my knee caps want to shoot out of my legs and hit the guy in front of me? Yes

Did Elliott forget to put sunscreen on a came home with a nice burn? Yes

Did we (my mom, my brother, elliott, and I) raise $1200.00 to donate to the MS society? Absolutely

It was a absolutely perfect day to ride. The ride started at 7:00 am at the Logan Fairgrounds. There were so many riders, around 3,000. It was really cool to ride with that many people. We all rode on Team Brain (Elliott's work team).

The first rest stop was at the 20 mile mark:

The next was around mile 40 in Franklin, Idaho. The lunch stop was at mile 48. We were both feeling a little tired so it was good to fuel up!



The next leg was rough, we were both feeling it and our knees started wanting to punch us in the face. When we made it to the last rest stop, there was only 10 miles to go. The US world cup game had just started so we decided to try and ride back fast enough to catch the second half. We finally made it and had some time to kill. Luckily the sound tech had a tv set up and he let us come sit with him in his tent. All that work and they still lost! Even still, it was a great day and I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Sexy Hexy

Beth's Summer Project: make my first real quilt. It's called the sexy hexy quilt. My friend Julia and I are both making one with the help of her grandma, the master sewer. The picture is of our first hexagon blocks. Stay tuned for the final product, it will look something like this:

Or so I hope....

Couldn't plan a better summer

Elliott and I are both already about a month into summer and it's been great. So far we've done a lot of bike riding, gone to New Orleans and Moab, and enjoyed being out of school.

Within the next few weeks a lot of great summer things will be starting up here in Salt Lake:

Farmers Market: Every saturday down at Pioneer Park. We usually go every week and ride our bikes there and back. This year I'm going to try and plan meals in advance so when we go down I won't feel overwhelmed. We love the peaches, corn, and pesto. Somehow we always end up with a Bruges waffle in our hands. They're our favorite waffles! The owner is from Bruges, Belgium and uses a recipe from back home that he doesn't even share with his employees. He makes all the batter himself and covers the waffles with fresh cream and fruit. If you live in Salt Lake do not miss out of these!

Twilight Concert Series:

Does it get any better than free concerts all summer long? And we're talking concerts that include quality bands, not the "what ever we can get" kinds of bands. Last summer included Jenny Lewis, M Ward, and Iron and Wine. This year's line up:

Most excited for She & Him and newly discovered Avi Buffalo.

July: We will be headed over to San Diego with the Storey family for a week and the Hotel del Cornado. This trip: yoga on the beach + bike riding + great food + smores on the beach + quality time with family + swimming + Balboa Park - work= Hello does it get any better?

August: hopeful trip here:

Where Elliott's brother Graham and wife Kate are staying for the summer. We want to go and hang out with them and also do this:

Other small details of summer include finding a new job, getting EMT training, helping with a study at the U but let's not talk about those.

We can't wait for the rest of summer (which will be so much better than last summer when I was in school)