Concert Palooza

Dear Reader,

Apparently, fall is the time for concerts. I've been to three in the past month and a half, and two have been free!

Perfect.

The first was on top of a parking garage. Random fact: the dude who was playing was in cousin Ashley's ward a few years ago. Small world? Yes. His name is Benton Paul. And Nik Day opened for him.

The next concert was in American Fork at an all day music festival called "Fork Fest." Natalie and I showed up for the very end of it, just in time for the Fictionists and Joshua James. The festival was for local artists. It was a pretty cool gig. It was outdoor in a stadium-type situation.

Oh yeah. And it was right next to the Mount Timpanogas temple. Gotta love Utah.

The next concert adventure was by far my favorite. Ashley and I went together.

We started our evening at a French patisserie/restaurant in Salt Lake. It was AWESOME!!

Oh yum. Delicious pastries.

I didn't take a picture of the food before we ate it. But it was SO good! Gourmet style grilled cheese and french onion soup. I highly recommend it.

These were the pastries we got. Mmmm. The white one was mine. I got one in Chartes when my study abroad group went to France. Sampson and I shared it. I may or may not have broken like three plastic forks trying to eat it.

But don't worry. I didn't break this fork!

Okay, so the next phase of our adventure. We went to the Ingrid Michaelson concert. She is pretty much my favorite of all time. We both love her so much that we stood in the hail, rain, and freezing wind with no coat or umbrella while we waited for the doors to open (an hour after they were supposed to). It was so cold I couldn't even hold the camera steady while I took the above picture.

Inside! So excited for the concert to start!

The opening act was Googenheim Grotto. They're from Ireland and very funny. And good. I recommend looking them up.

And here is Ingrid herself!!! Seriously, she is so talented. And hilarious. Again, if you haven't heard of her, look her up also. I saw her last year when she came through Salt Lake. She was so good both times.

When we got out of the concert it was snowing. SNOWING. What the what, Utah???!!!

And then we didn't get home until midnight. But I love love love Ingrid! She is so much fun.

Making "Friends"

Dear Reader,

I realize that in the past month and a half that I've been neglecting my blog, I haven't taken the chance to talk about my internship with the Friend.

Let's see, words to describe it:

awesome

the best ever

heavenly

fun

There are more, but I feel like they would just be synonyms to the words above at this point.

In any case, this is the most amazing internship. In the world. I'm pretty sure that's a fact.

I mean, you needn't look further than Our Creative Friends.

I get to look through kids' art for hours and then pick what goes in the magazine. It's so entertaining. These kids have such imagination. If you don't know what Our Creative Friends is, this link will show you an example in the October 2010 issue of the Friend:

http://lds.org/churchmagazines/FR_2010_10_22___09270_000_037.pdf

One of my favorites I've seen is an outline of a man, colored in white. Can you guess what it is? It's the Holy Ghost.

Naturally.

Other funs things I get to do--write stories and activities all day long! Well, with a little bit of editing mixed in. I mean, honestly, what could be better? I get to help make a spiritually uplifting magazine that will help kids all over the world.

The only real downside to this internship? It's in Salt Lake, which means a super long commute every day from P-town. I'm guessing roughly 4 hours on the bus each day. It takes forever. I'm not looking forward to the snowy season when the roads will make the bus even slower. Ugh. I'm hoping the snow will hold off until January.

[...Please, Utah?....]

But besides that, it's awesome! I've gotten to meet tons of cool people (the Primary Presidency, assorted members of the Quorum of the Seventy, etc.). Also, possibly one of the best parts is, I'm not treated like an intern, but I'm actually treated like a member of the staff.

Don't underestimate how incredible this is.

I really enjoy working at a magazine. More than I thought I would. Way more actually. I always thought that books were more my thang, but lately I'm not so sure. Everything is way more exciting at a magazine and there are always different types of projects you can be working on. Super conducive to my slightly ADD-type personality.

So, moral of the story is: when I thought a year and a half ago that this internship wasn't for me, I was wrong. It is the most perfect thing I could have ever done.

True story.

This is your wake up call . . .

Dear Reader,

Exactly 6 months from today I graduate college. Do you hear that noise? Yeah, that's Real Life calling.

Please tell it I'm not here.

Things I Miss In the Mitten State

Dear Reader,

This last segment of my adventures in Michigan is basically just a bunch of random awesome things I miss. Like Molly, for instance.

She was so sad that we put her in the cage. She couldn't figure out why we would do that to her.

The most delicious Japanese bakery in the Detroit area. It reminds me of my childhood.

Delicious pastry filled with custard.

And delicious bread filled with bits of cheese. O man. That takes me back 18 years.

The Irish pub in downtown Plymouth, Sean O'Callahan's. This made me miss London. A lot.

Downtown Plymouth. I love it!

Every school year my mom makes a school bus cake, and she's done this since my oldest brother started school. The number on the side of the bus is how many cakes she's made (this year is the big 23!).

Anyway, that's finally all I have from Michigan. And it's about time. I've only been back in Utah for like 2 1/2 weeks already. . . . But what can I say? I've been busy.

Changing Seasons

Dear Reader,

One of my favorite seasons in Michigan is the fall. The best part is picking apples, pumpkins and eating donuts and apple cider. Last year I tried my hardest to find a pumpkin patch in Utah where I could fulfill any or all of those requirements. And what I found was a huge disappointment. Luckily, I was home in Michigan for labor day weekend when the orchards open for the fall! It was wonderful.

We had to ride a tractor to get to the place where we picked the apples.

Our loot.

What a pumpkin patch should look like, Utah. Don't advertise picking a pumpkin at a pumpkin patch if you plan on just putting a bunch of pumpkins together in a pile. It's really not that exciting.

A corn maze.

There was a part of the cider mill that was for children. I'm going to say it was at least ten times more exciting than the children's attractions at the place I went to in Utah. I mean, seriously, Utah. A box filled with corn kernels? That doesn't exactly scream fun to me. Michigan's cider mill had a bounce house. I'm just saying.

This was the most delicious donut I've ever eaten. I am now ready for fall to begin.

Greenfield Village

Dear Reader,

I've been really busy lately, so I haven't had time to post all of my adventures in Michigan yet. So I'm going to do this in installments.

Today's Michigan featurette: Greenfield Village. The story behind Greenfield Village is, essentially, Henry Ford decided to build a historic village in the middle of Dearborn. He rebuilt actual houses that at one point belonged to famous people in history, as well as houses that exemplify certain time periods. Some houses are just recreations of what the actual houses looked like, but for the most part they're all legit historical buildings.

Sheep. Very important parts of history.

Model T. As Henry Ford said: "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." Well said, Mr. Ford.

The Wright brothers' bicycle store. There's a part of an airplane in the back....

At a hat store.

Thomas Edison's house.

Southern plantation.

The oldest windmill in the country.

The kitchen of a Connecticut farmhouse in the 1800's.

Cotswold cottage, from England. Basically, I'm in love.

Webster's house. Interesting fact: This house is from the same time period as the 1800's farm kitchen two pictures up, and both homeowners made the same amount of money. The farmer just put his money in his crops, while Webster, living in town, put money into his house to make it nice for his neighbors.

Robert Frost's house in Michigan. Did I say Michigan? Yes I did! Apparently he lived in Michigan. See for yourself:

I know, sorry, the font is tiny. But I promise it says that he lived in Ann Arbor.

The home of the grandson of a freed slave (originally owned by the freed slave).

The kitchen of the freed slave's home in the 1930's.

My favorite part of Greenfield Village is in this little square. This is the crafty part of the village, where they have weaving, tin making, printing, and, my favorite: glass blowing. It is so cool. We watched them make a bowl. We also got frozen custard and rock candy. I can't leave Greenfield Village without getting rock candy. It's tradition.