Here, in Utah

My life as a casually-Catholic girl living (in sin) in Salt Lake City, Utah after five years in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Monday, July 28, 2008

China-bound!

It's all set. I'm China-bound in November for 10 days with some of the most fun girls ever.

My work just approved my time off. Which is especially sweet since I just started a month ago. And my old job in Las Vegas had denied me the time off (before I knew I was moving to Salt Lake) because of scheduling issues.

We'll see Beijing, Shanghai, the great wall, ancient gardens, old-world cities. Can't wait.

Really. can't. wait.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pioneer Day

"Honey, can I make frozen yogurt by putting yogurt in the freezer?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, I'm trying."

I'll let you guys decide which of us said what. I love him and his silly frozen yogurt questions (but I'm not sure I'll try any).

It's been almost three weeks since we picked up and headed east and I'm happy to say we're all settled in. The new place is adorable. It's a 1901 mansion that was converted into six separate apartments in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake City. We have a cute little LDS couple that lives next door and a gay couple upstairs who helped us move our couches in (couches, by the way, that we got a sweet deal on at RC Willey's thanks to Bricker's sweetalking).













Sugar House is considered the most "liberal" neighborhood in Salt Lake and we have funky little tea shops and fortune teller ladies down the street from us.









I started work a few days after we got here. I'm working in public relations at the Utah Transit Authority -- so far, so good. It's been a little wierd to be new at a job again but I'm happy that things fell in place for me career-wise in Salt Lake. It was a lot less scary moving with a job waiting for me.

Bricker's been bored out of his pretty little head. He doesn't start school until mid August. I'm pretty sure he eats bon-bons all day and watches Days of Our Lives when I go to work.

He's donating blood for money this Friday. Thirty-five big ones. Ohhhh yeah.

Anyway, we've been getting out and seeing the city as much as we can. I'm a little more familar with the area because of work, but we're both learning our way around pretty well. Streets in Salt Lake are set up on a grid system based on their distance from the LDS temple which marks the dead center of the city. So, it's hard to really get too "lost."

It's a beautiful city -- if not a little strict on their liquor laws. We're still not sure where we can and cannot order what and how much, but we'll get it. The waitresses help us out when we go out.

We saw a Real Salt Lake game, the professional soccer team here in town.




And, I got my car registered here which, I have to say, was relatively painless. Next step: license.




I also experienced the Catholic community here in Utah. We are defintely a small breed based on the attendance in Mass. The head Catholic church in Utah is in Salt Lake, and the cathedral is just down the street from the LDS temple. No pictures, but trust me, it's gorgeous.

And, of course, the title event of this post: today is Pioneer Day here; the day the Mormon pioneers settled Salt Lake. Doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but I get the day off work and it's like the fourth of July around here: fireworks, parades, fesitvals. So we got out and saw a little bit of it.






One more thing: I got my hair cut. I love it, it makes me happy.


So, that's about it for now. We're both doing well and miss our friends in Las Vegas but having a great time out here so far. Come visit anytime, we have a spare bedroom!