HOO!

I haven't been here in awhile. Sorry. Everything has been great and all that, I just haven't written much.

I made a rice dish the other day. It was brown basmati (DID YOU HEAR THAT JAI? I MADE BASMATI RICE) with marinara, black beans, basil, oregano, garlic and fresh grated parmesan sprinkled all about in a big casserole dish. I took it to a party and everyone said it was delicious which made me very happy.

Speaking of that party, let's recap the weekend! Woo!

FRIDAY NIGHT

I went to Rooster's (the snazzy new one in Layton) with Jackie and Kevin for dinner and then shopping at Target afterward. Kevin and I were OUT OF CONTROL and embarrassed Jackie as much as possible - which was not intentional. I don't think I've laughed that hard in months. It was awesome. Dinner was farfalle and sauteed vegetables in a light tomato sauce and THE BEST TOASTED BAGUETTE I HAVE EVER HAD. WHOOOOOOAH. I am so going back just for that. Mmm.

After dinner and Target we went to Blockbuster and said hello to our friend Ashley who is just delightful. She was working that night otherwise she would have been with us.

Then we all went home to sleep. Hooray.

SATURDAY

On Saturday I took some pictures downtown and came back home to a VERY UPSETTING LETTER from a rental car company I recently did business with. I will give you more details about that later, along with the pictures I took of downtown.

Saturday evening I went to a housewarming party. My friends Jen and Ken (Jeniken) just bought the cutest old home (with CROWN MOULDING AND PORCH COLUMNS!!) in the historic part of town and we all got together to celebrate their new home and Jen's birthday which was Sunday. Jen's mom was there and I forgot how sweet and wonderful she is. We all brought delicious foods and her mom made her famous focaccia bread with olives and basil leaves and everything! YUM!! She also baked a million cookies and one of them was heart-shaped. I found it and she had no idea it had baked that way. We, along with our very fantastic and lovely friend Hannah, all decided it was a sign and I should eat it post-haste. I did and it was tasty. We'll see what happens. Heh.

That was a great night. It was so good to see everyone!

SUNDAY

On Sunday I met Jackie, Ashley and Jackie's friends Cat and Adrianne at the coffee house. While there I spotted this guy with a Golden Retriever and a Black Lab who looked exactly like Mandy Patinkin! I called my sister and told her through her husband as she was coloring her sister-in-law's hair at the time. That wasn't complicated at all.

After coffee, Jackie and I trekked the Wasatch Front looking for a cordless coffee bean grinder for her dad. He had some sort of a grinder emergency and it HAD TO BE CORDLESS. Unfortunately we couldn't find one but we did find lovely groceries at Target and got a surprise when we went to Olive Garden for lunch. Our friends Kelly and Melissa were there having lunch too so we all sat together. What are the odds, I ask you?

So this weekend was full of friends and laughter. Those are the best kind. You know, whether this continues or not, I feel more connected to where I am in life now more than anything. I really hope that feeling sticks around because it's wonderful.

Have a good week!