Tracie's World

After our fabulous dinner at Sage's Cafe, a few of us went down to the Brigham Young Park for a free open-air concert.  I love outdoor concerts in the summer, and despite the ridiculously high temperatures, the sun was kind to us and went behind a cloud, so we could enjoy a pleasant evening and music.  The artist was  a locally popular singer-songwriter named Nancy Hanson, and she sang mostly folk-style.  It was really nice. Then last night, Angel and I, and my friend Cyndee went to Murray Park for a concert performed by the Murray Symphony at the Park Amphitheater.  They're a community group, all amateur musicians, all unpaid, but they played their hearts out.  And this despite the aforementioned ridiculously high temperatures.  The program was a selection of music from the movies, some older (music from "The Sea Hawk", an old Errol Flynn movie), some more recent (music from Forrest Gump), and some from Broadway (Les Miz, and a suite from Richard Rodgers).  It

So some of the friends and I tried a new place for dinner the other night, Sage's Cafe.  It's a restaurant that several of my friends and co-workers have raved about, that just happens to cater to Vegans and Vegetarians, and lovers of fresh, locally grown organic products.  And since I'm all about the veggies anymore, it has peaked my interest.  So I was thrilled to be able to go there the other night, and even more thrilled that A - I was able to find it (as the entrance is rather hidden from view), and B - that the food was fabulous. I'd been perusing their menu for a couple of weeks, and knew at first glance what I would order.  There are probably four foods that will get me every single time - avocado, pesto, artichokes, and hummus.  And since this dish had 3 out of the 4, how could I not be swayed by their "Guac-n-Roll" burger, a burger made with cashews, almonds, garbanzo beans (there's the hummus), and topped with pesto and guacamole.  And i

This morning my friend Katie and I went up to Red Butte Garden to go birding.  The Garden is a Botanical Garden owned and operated by the U, located southeast of campus, up on the hill (and my favorite thing about that local University I didn't go to).  It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and it was great to be out among the trees and flowers and hear and see all the birds. They offer all sorts of activities up there, and a couple of weeks ago I discovered they also host guided birding walks on Saturday mornings.  I've been wanting to understand more about birding, so I signed us up.  We arrived at 9:00 am and met up with our guide, a wonderful lady named Arline.  There was about 10 of us in our group, and she walked us slowly and quietly all over the garden.  We all had varying degrees of experience.  I thought I was all decked out with my hat, fanny pack, water and a small pair of binoculars.  But that was nothing compared to some of the folks with their high-powered cameras

Harvested the first strawberries of the season this morning.  And had nine gorgeous and juicy berries to go with my breakfast! Yum!

Yesterday was a beautiful hot day.  Angel and I met at REI to do a little shopping, and after that we met up with Inge, Janeen, and Janine for this year's Asian Festival.  This is the second year in a row for me, and it's always a fun time.  There are booths representing the various nations of Asia, there's dance and martial art demonstrations, and interesting food to try. After checking out the various food options, I decided on the Hawaiian BBQ.  Not very Asian I guess, but it must be the honorary Polynesian in me. And it was a good choice - kahlua pork, rice, and macaroni salad.  YUM!  I also tried a cream cheese wonton from Taiwan (delightful) and a squid ball from Japan (and I no longer have any interest in squid). We sat with our Indonesian friends Charles and Handi and Wendy.  I also got to see my Filipino friend Joy and her sister.  There was a lot of dancing and other performing going on the stage, and our favorites were the Filipino one, that was a story about

In celebration of it's being Memorial Day and having a day off, the DDD Divas and I took another adventure.  We've been north and west, so I figured we might as well try going east.  So this time we headed over to Evanston to see what mischief we could find.  I had done a little research in advance, and there was supposed to be some interesting things to do, such as a State Park with a bison herd, and a Motorcycle Rally, and some local dives to try our food luck at. Upon arriving in Evanston, the first order of business was to find some chow. My friend Elisa had recommended a place called Suds Brothers Brewery, so we stopped off there for some burgers, and some killer french fries. The place was decorated with 60's and 70's rock n' roll memorabilia, and burlap sacks on the walls.  Very eclectic, and a definite dive. From there it was off to Bear River State Park, where we indeed found some bison, as well as a couple of elk.  There was also a nice p

The birthday came around again this year, and I was fortunate to receive cards and gifts and phone calls and text messages and emails and facebook postings from family and friends alike.  My mom and Dad called from Mississippi and sang to me, and all of the sisters and brothers checked in as well.  My co-workers decorated my desk, and the Relief Society presidency took me to breakfast.  It was a really wonderful weekend and I am truly blessed.