I left my {heart} in San Francisco!

I know it's been 2 1/2 weeks since I went to San Francisco, but I just barely got all of the pictures from Jane's camera. Can I just say though, I LOVE San Francisco?! This is my second trip to the bay area this year and I want to go again. If I had a good reason and a lot more money, I'd move there in a heartbeat. On this trip I went with my cute friend Jane. We're friends from my student ward here in SLC and she is just a ton of fun. We had a blast traveling together! We decided not to rent a car for our trip so we took public transportation and walked a LOT. I really think that's the best way to see a city.

We flew into Oakland airport on friday night and stayed with Jane's cousin Natalie and her kids in Sunnydale. Saturday morning we took Caltrain up to the city. We went to the Alemany farmers market and saw some fantastic local products and ate the the best tamales I've ever tasted. Then we headed into the city with Natalie, her 4 month old Jefferson and her friend Cheri Ann. We went shopping, rode on a cable car and went to Fisherman's Wharf to see the Blue Angels air show for fleet week. Then Jane and I went to the Broadway show Rent. It was fantastic!

On Saturday and Sunday night we stayed with some new friends in the city. Our friend Angela had a friend from her ward in DC a year ago that lives in the city now and he was nice enough to let us stay. So we stayed in a house with 9 LDS guys. It was a random connection, but I'm so glad we met those guys. They were super nice!

Saturday morning we headed east to Berkeley for the day to see American Idiot at the Berkeley Repertory theater. Truth be told, this show was the real reason for me planning this trip to SF. You can read more about it here: http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/0910/3634.asp but it is the theater adaptation of Green Day's American Idiot album. It was Amazing! Jane isn't a big fan of the band, but she lived in NYC for 2 years and has seen a lot of broadway productions. We both just loved it! After the show we had lunch at a fantastic little cafe with live Jazz music being played then just explored the city of Berkeley and the university campus. When we headed back to the city we made cookies and had a movie night with the boys that were kind enough to let us crash at their house.

Monday morning we got up early and made our way to the pier to catch the ferry to Alcatraz island for a tour of the old prison. It was very interesting and I'm glad we saw it! Then we headed back to have lunch with our new friends in the ferry building near the bay bridge. Letting us crash at their house, then meeting us for lunch?! Those boys were seriously the best! After lunch we headed with our new friend Sarah that we met at the guy's house for some shopping before we had to get to the airport. She took us to the very cool Haight-Ashbury district. It is well known for being central to the hippie scene in the 70's and there are still a lot of tie-dyed, funky things to see there. We had almost too much fun shopping with her though and were late leaving for the airport. It was a very tense hour while we made our way on public transportation and we really thought we were going to miss it, but when we got to the airport our flight was delayed 25 minutes! Honestly though, I would not have minded at all to stay in SF for longer. But for now, I left my heart in San Francisco and I can't wait til I can go back and try to find it again!

A first for me

Happy Friday friends! For my lunch hour today I went with a co-worker to a fun costume/exchange shop here in Sugarhouse to grab a few things for our Halloween costumes. About a half a block from the store was a familiar sight on the streets of Salt Lake, but not one that I ever pay attention to: a taco stand. Usually just the idea of them gives me visions of dirty kitchens, health hazards and food poisoning. I've heard that they sell the best Mexican in town and although I love Mexican food, I just haven't been able to bring myself to eat there. Well today friends, I did. My review: it was really good. I got a spicy pork and a chicken taco. They were served authentically on a corn tortilla with cilantro and pico de gallo and they were only $1 a piece. Lunch for $2 = amazing. Have I cured my fear of street-side taco stands? maybe, we'll wait and see if I have food poisoning tomorrow.

Picture update

The pictures I'm posting are from the last month or so, I just haven't taken them off of my camera until now. I'm heading to San Francisco with my friend Jane for the weekend and I wanted to clear all of the old stuff off of my camera so I had room for my new adventures. Here you go:

Got together with a group of friends to have breakfast on Labor Day


friends on the other end of the table


super yummy fresh peach pancakes!


my friend Jim's birthday party


me & Jimmy


s'more cupcakes I made for my roommate's birthday. graham cracker cupcake, chocolate ganache filling & marshmallow frosting. yumm!


using a blow torch to toast the marshmallow frosting


Caitlin with her harp and Melanie & I with our flutes after playing "My Shepherd will Supply my need" with the ward choir in sacrament meeting


In Provo helping Amy & Cody move!


adorable Amy & Phoebe!


Melanie, me & Alli at the Red Iguana for Mel's birthday!


Me, Nate & Mel at the conference center


Conference session with my dear friend Melanie and her cute family. The Hopes were super sweet to let me join them for conference and family dinner on Sunday!

Cache Valley Weekend

So I haven't spent a weekend in Cache Valley since Mother's Day and my Uncle Dennis was out here from Maryland, so I thought it was about time to go home. I'm so glad I did! It was the best weekend I've had in a very long time and it reminded my why I love my hometown so much. Here are a few of the adventures I had:

Went to the USU homecoming dance with a group of friends from high school.



Alex & I attempting to re-create an awkward prom picture. I really am not as tall as he is. He's standing down one step.



On Saturday morning I set out with Becky & Uncle Dennis to hike White Pine Lake. Poor Jenny was sick with strep throat so she had to stay home. Please ignore the pot belly that the straps on my backpack are creating. so cute.



beautiful view



I love the mountains!



Gorgeous fall colors



Tony Grove and the hike to white pine lake is my favorite place on earth. When I fill out those annoying facebook things about myself and it comes to the question: "What would you do if you only had one day to live?" I always say that I'd go to Tony Grove with my family.



From the hike I went straight to lunch with my girls from high school. Yes I look disgusting and yes I changed in the restaurant bathroom. But I love this pic of my girls!



Then I headed up to the homecoming football game against SUU. We totally killed them! 53-34! Dad, me, mom & uncle dennis



Other fun things I did but didn't get any pictures of:
-True Aggie Night
-White out party on the quad
-Dance party at Zanavoo
-Church with Jocelyn
-hanging out and sunday dinner with my family

All in all it was a fantastic weekend! I LOVE Cache Valley!

Jenny is getting married?! AAHHH!!!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but I will get some pictures of my recent happenings up soon. Til then, the biggest news in my life is that my little (yes little) sister, Jenny, got engaged on Friday night. She's marrying Matt Player from Nibley in January in the Logan temple. I think I'm safe to say what I'm about to because I don't think my family actually reads my blog anyway, but I'm trying really hard to be excited for her. I know that Matt is a good guy, they've been dating for over a year so they're not rushing into it and they really love each other. But I guess I'm a bit jaded as far as the whole engagement/marriage thing goes. I just think she's SO young! (she just turned 20 this summer) I was engaged when I was her age and I am eternally grateful that I didn't go through with it. I'm just worried about her missing out on all of the fun things that life can bring and teach you when you're young, single and trying to figure things out. I really want to be happy for her, but I'm struggling. Any ideas to help me get over it?

Yes friends, this is my life...,

So I had a truly hilarious and mortifying experience today at work that I felt like I just needed to share. It was a pretty typical busy Saturday afternoon at Williams Sonoma. A customer walked in and asked for some help with purchasing a cookie sheet, so I walked over to the bakeware area to answer his questions. He was a sixty something, grey haired, average-looking man. I proceeded to discuss the best pan for his baking needs when he remarked on how fun it would be to work at WS. I told him that it's just a part-time side job that I have for fun and I have a normal, full-time job. He then said: "wow, you work two jobs, you're beautiful and it sounds like you're a great cook. Why hasn't someone snatched you up and married you yet?!" I responded by just laughing at off thinking in my ming: "oh, crazy old man, you have no idea." Well he took it one step further and suggested that I should marry him. Saying, "I bet you don't get a marriage proposal every day at work!." Somehow I just laughed it off, hoping to get him rung up and out of my store asap. So I walked him up to the cash registers and completed the transaction for his purchases. Well as he paid for his purchases and I handed him his bag to leave he said,"So seriously, can I get your number?" AAAAAHHHH! I was so caught off guard, I awkwardly fumbled out the words,"umm, I have a boyfriend" and he awkwardly walked out of the store. I was feeling such intense humor and humiliation that I had to go in the back office and let my bright red face come back down to a normal color. Oh, good times at Sonoma everyone.....

Did I mention that I love my job?!

Yes, I do love my job at Williams Sonoma! Last week I won another sales contest! This one was pasta related. Here's the loot that I got:

An All-Clad pasta pentola (I'm most excited for this!), 3 jars of our pasta sauce, 3 packages of yummy pasta, a pasta fork and a set of pasta serveware. All totaled my prize package is worth over $550! My pasta pentola is coming from the manufacturer, so it isn't here yet but this is what it looks like: