June's Extravaganza

So back to my goal for 2012, I did in fact go out of town
and I tried something new. 

My out of town experience was a bit of  a repeat, I went to Blackfoot, ID
for a cousin's wedding reception
and my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary party. 

It was fun to be around the fam again, here's a picture of all the first cousins in attendance:

We all made a page for one giant scrapbook for the happy couple. On mine I used my favorite picture of me and grandpa Jerry:

the two of us napping in Brussels. 

Now as for my something new, this topic is not for the faint of heart. Monica and I found quite the steal on Groupon for 10 pole fitness classes. It's not stripping, calm yourself. It's really hard. especially since I have twiglets for arms. Most of the time we just learn holds and do pull ups, but every now and then the instructor shows us a move or two, tonight in class we learned this:

Rock on.

Once again, BFF Monica and I had another summer adventure. This time we flashed back to late middle school-early high school and rocked out to some killer tunes at the Warped Tour. 

The Salt Lake Fairgrounds were the first stop of the tour this year. 

We got there around 11 am and left at 9 pm. The day included trucker hat wearing, moshing, screaming out lyrics, snow cone eating and immense amounts of sweating (it was over 90 degrees out). 

The best set we witnessed was Yellowcard, we were right up at the front and I knew almost all the songs they played. Only One was the best ever, so good live. 

Second best would be Taking Back Sunday, they closed their set with one of my all time faves MakeDamnSure. 

that's New Found Glory up there. 

It was killer awesome to see teenagers with poorly thought out tattoos and giant rebellious steaks for the day, plus those mormon EMTs were smoking hot. 

Summertime fun

Summertime fun in Orem, UT involves the aptly titled Orem Summerfest, to which I attended recently.

That day was particularly windy and cold and not at all summery but still fun. 

Photographic evidence to follow:

Monica and our funnel cake. 

Festing about. 

Inside the Tilt-a-whirl

Weeeeeeee.

Monica nauseous.

A few from out second ride back at the Tilt-a-whirl.

Monica was cold. She borrowed my pockets. 

The Zipper we waited in line for but didn't ride because we gave up. 

So most of you do not have the film She's the Man memorized word for word, song for song, like my good friend Monica and I, but if you do, you will recognize the song Monica dearest is singing as the song sung during the film's Tilt-a-Whirl scene, mind you we are not changing our clothing nor are we losing sideburns, but it is still rather similar.

And what began of it

So remember how all my things came crashing to the ground and broke to a million little pieces? 

I made something out of some of it.

Look:

A decorative tray. There it sits atop my oh so tiny glassware collection.

Wood stained, pieces glued and tray grouted. 

Don't look at it too closely, the edges are imperfect, but the Polish Pottery will live on.

one man's idea of the perfect woman:

[She] must love decorating for holidays, mischief, kissing in cars, and wind chimes. No specific height, weight, hair color, or political affiliation required, but would prefer a warm spirited, non-racist. Cynics, critics, pessimists, and “stick in the muds” need not apply. Voluptuous figures a plus. Any similarity in look, mind set, or fashion sense to Mary Poppins, Claire Huxtable, Snow White, or Elvira wholeheartedly welcomed. I am dubious of actresses, felons, and lesbians, but don’t want to rule them out entirely. Must be tolerant of whistling, tickle torture, James Taylor, and sleeping late. I have a slight limp, eerily soft hands, and a preternatural love of autumn. I once misinterpreted being called a coal-eyed dandy as a compliment when it was intended as an insult. I wiggle my feet in my sleep, am scared of the dark, and think the Muppet’s Christmas Carol is one of the greatest films of all time. All I want is butterfly kisses in the morning, peanut butter sandwiches shaped like a heart, and to make you smile until it hurts.

-Matthew Gray Gubler

a holiday from work

This Memorial Day I took a me day.

I picked the City of Spanish Fork to explore, because well, why not.

I started with the movie Chimpanzee at the local theater.

The concessions were only $3

I went to this boutique.

And got my nails did. 

Checked out some local color on a stroll down Main St.

And can't do grammar.

Copyright infringement?

How does those two go together?

And then drove home. It was a lovely afternoon.

May Play Day

As you know my goal for the year is to try something new and get out of town at least once each month. 

Here's May for ya. 

So I headed home to WA for my May trip. Mama Bruce picked me up from the airport and immediately took me to a Nordstrom Rack, she knows me so well.  Dad met up with us and we perused the Super Mall and had some dinner. 

That night, back in Olympia we checked out the Bearded Lady Bakery for dessert. Now not many people may be aware, but Olympia is a dirty hippie town and is known for what is called Olympia Lowlife. This bakery is a little delicious taste of that.  A. its got a feminisitc name like the Bearded Lady, no gender specifics there, B. its in the heart of dirty, yet pretty downtown, C. its owners are tatted up vintage wearing no leg shaving ladies, 

D. its completely vegan. 

But hey, that vegan red velvet cupcake was delish.

The next day I met up with a friend from Provo where I did my something new for the month. 

I, Katie Bruce, the city slicker, heel wearing, darling of a girl, went zip-ling through the forest.

I was a total blast, I wasn't even scared at all.

On this adventure in the woods of Snoqualmie, we also were packing heat and let a shady group of pop cans know it.

We  had lunch at XXX Rootbeer, local haunt of Modest Mouse. 

The best way to end an adventure is with a corndog.

The rest of my trip consisted of a lovely Mother's Day with the family, an excess of shopping at the swanky shopping center in Bellvue, checking out the one froyo place in town and quality time at home. 

You know those moments...

...in the movies where a character walks into a room, sees something completely shocking, and sinks to the floor down a wall crying?

That was me a couple weeks ago. 

On this particular day my phone died around lunch time, so I wasn't forewarned about what I was to walk into. 

Now, it was nothing earth shattering or emotionally traumatizing, I might have built this up a bit too much, but it still made me sad. 

I walked into my dining room covered in sparkling bits of shattered glass. 

My, now known to be, unstable Ikea shelving unit somehow crashed onto the dining table along with all of its glass contents. 

Every single one of the wine glasses my grandmother gave me, in pieces.

All of my vintage goblets I so proudly found at DI, smashed.

Punch bowl and most its cups, destroyed. 

At least a dozen vases, shattered.

Three cake plates. demolished. 

Tens of dollars of Ikea glassware, pulverized.

And Polish Pottery bake ware,  wrecked. 

Luckily it wasn't all gone, the bottom two shelves of items survived. 

This just means two things, 

a. Bolt anything built by me, purchased at Ikea, to the wall

b. The replacements are going to be awesomer. 

The clean up. 

What's left, and that's not even 1/3 of what was on there.