Tracie's World

Last night was the LDS General Women's Conference Broadcast (#ldswomensconf). It's something I definitely look forward to every 6 months. It's usually a big event for each stake - the Stake Women's leaders will put together a sisters-only social to go along with watching the broadcast at the local Stake Center. And those are always fun. But now that it's broadcast on BYU-TV, it's also kinda nice to watch it from the comfort of home, instead of getting all dressed up and going to the church.  Now for all the years I've been watching the broadcast, I've seldom been able to watch it with my own family. And that usually makes me a little homesick for everyone. But the last couple of times, I've had what I think is a brilliant idea for us to send selfies to each other of how we're all watching the broadcast. It helps us to feel close together even though we may be far apart. And this time around we texted each other during the session, every time th...

When I registered the Monty last week, it almost didn't pass the safety inspection, the concern being loose bearings in the front wheels. So first thing yesterday I went down to Les Schwab, with a quick stop at Starbucks first to grab some breakfast, and settled in for a long morning wait.  Strawberry-banana smoothie, blueberry scone, and repacked wheel bearings. Mmmm, delicious (except for that part about the bearings). Two hours and $200 later, I was on my way. Now, as you all know, I love my Monty. The old guy has treated me very well over the years, and I've tried to do the same for him. And other than my job at IHG, it's the longest committed relationship I've ever been in. But lately, Monty is beginning to show his age. In the last 6 months, I've spent about $2,000, which if you were to work that out per month, it's more than the cost of a monthly car payment. Granted that bills like that don't happen very often, but when they do, it puts a seri...

While I was at home a few weeks ago, the folks treated me to some grits, and I kinda got hooked. Grits aren't really something we eat here in the west (if we have hot cereal, we prefer it sweet), but they're big in the South, and Dad has been hooked on them since he and Mom were on their mission. Grits is basically cornmeal cooked in water or milk, and served up with a similar texture to cream of wheat. But they're meant to be savory, so the traditional way to eat them in the South is with butter and gravy, or cheese. In coastal areas, they'll even make grits with cream and serve shrimp over it.  After I got back to the SLC, I got myself a tub of grits. I don't know if I've ever had any in the house before. After my mission, I pretty much left grits behind. But this morning I got in the mood for some. Inspired by the creamy shrimp and grits style, but minus the shrimp, I cooked some up in fat-free half and half, poured them on a plate, then topped them with ch...

One of my friends in the new ward invited me to attend a performance of a work called "Lamb of God". So last evening several of us drove up to Bountiful to see it. I'd never heard of it before, and I'm not much for LDS popular music anyway, so wasn't sure what to expect. But I wasn't expecting much. Apparently it's been around for a few years now, and has gotten to be quite popular. And I have to say that this heard-hearted Hannah was very pleasantly surprised. It was a quality work, and very well done.  Written by LDS composer Rob Gardner, it's billed as a "Sacred Work for choir, orchestra, and soloists", and along with with narration, it's about the last week of The Lord's life, told through the eyes of his closest friends. The music is incredible. I enjoyed it so much, and the Spirit was so strong that I almost didn't want to clap afterwards. But I enjoyed it so much that I came home afterwards and bought a bunch of copies of...

Friday night, my pal Cyndee and I went to see another opera, this one being "Cosi Fan Tutte", by Mozart. I had very high hopes that I'd love it as much as I did "The Pearlfishers". For one thing, it's Mozart, who of all the classical composers, I think is the most accessible and easy to listen to. For another thing, this was a comedy, and had gotten very good reviews. Alas, so much for that. We both thought it was ok, but nothing to sneeze at. The story consists of two guys, who are dating two girls that they think are just the bomb. As they're rhapsodizing in the cafe about their fabulous girlfriends, one of their guy friends begs to differ, going on about how faithless women are. An argument ensues, and they agree to settle it with a bet. Guy friend bets that he can get their girls to give up on them in the course of 24 hours. He does this by making the girls think the guys have been sent off to war, and then bringing the guys back in ridiculous disg...

It was a banner 4th week at the new job! For starters, my new nameplate was delivered and attached to my cubicle wall. Second, a few days later, a note arrived, from the CEO of all people, welcoming me to the company. And check it out - she signed her own name. How cool is that! I guess thhis makes me official! A couple of weeks ago, all of us new employees had a day-long orientation, where the highlight was a special luncheon. Our Supervisors attended and sat with us, and took turns standing up and telling the group why they chose to hire us. Here's what my boss, Jenn, had to say:

I've now officially been on the new job for 3 weeks, and so far, I'm liking it. Despite my brain that is still overflowing, and trying to get used to a later schedule, I think things are going well. Here's another list of positives so far. 1. My mentor is awesome. She has watched over me really well, and been a counselor and sounding board. 2. A couple of the ladies invited me to lunch with them on Friday, my first lunch away, and my first lunch with colleagues. It was great. 3. My Value Stream Team is awesome, and I'm being treated like a full-fledged member of the team. I've even had some things assigned to me. 4. Management has been great. My Boss is awesome - our meetings always end up going over because we spend so much time visiting. I've met with the Department Manager, who is great, and very positive, and our Director has scheduled a one on one with me to welcome me to the team. 5. I joined the company Credit Union. The convenience of having a ...

They are starting to get the new ward organized. We have two Relief Societies, and an Elders Quorum, and they have called Presidencies for both. I am in the East Relief Society, and have been asked to be a Visiting Teaching Supervisor. I'm grateful to have a calling, and considering everything going on with the new job, it should be manageable. I was also asked to teach Gospel Doctrine this week. I've tried my best to prepare, and hopefully it will go well. The lesson is on Matthew 11:28-30, and Luke 7:36-50, and talks about our burdens can be eased by coming to Christ. My thoughts have mostly been on one of the characters from the story in Luke, known as Simon the Pharisee. In the story, he comes off as proud and judgmental, and gets a bum rap. But I wonder if most of us are really more like him than we think. In the story, Simon invites the Savior to dine with him. During the meal, a woman who has the reputation of being a sinner, comes into the room, falls down at the Sa...

I've been quite lax in my temple attendance recently. And things just never seem to go as right as when I'm getting to the temple regularly. But thankfully I've managed to get there the last two Saturdays. Last week I went to the Jordan River Temple. And yesterday I drove out to Egypt (aka South Jordan) and went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Here's a couple of photos from my recent temple outings.

This week, the American Choral Directors Association held their annual convention here in SLC. The closing event was a concert by my beloved #MoTab, with special guests Santino Fontana, and Sylvia McNair. Thankfully, my fellow groupies Steph and Angel had tickets, and I was able to tag along. The concert was fabulous. The program was all music from the American Songbook. Santino Fontana is always adorable, and this time was no exception. And I loved Sylvia McNair. She sang beautifully, was sweet and sincere, and I really really REALLY hope they bring her back again. After the concert, we stopped to take a couple of photos on Temple Square. The temple was all lit up and looked amazing. What a terrific evening!

Yesterday morning I got together with my friends Cyndee, Tina, and Jerralyn, at IHOP for a final visiting teaching visit. Now that I've changed wards, it was an opportunity to get together once more and say "see you soon". I'd have taken a group photo, but it was early on a Saturday morning, and none of us was prepared to have our photo snapped. Nevertheless, I was quite pleased with my highly nutritious breakfast of nutella and banana crepes, so here's a food photo:

Friday night, to celebrate my first week at the new gig, my friend Jen and I went to try a new restaurant here in Holladay, called the Copper Kitchen. It's a little on the snob side (e.g. expensive), but the food and the service was fantastic. We loved it. (First course - Brussels Sprouts salad, with apples, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette)  (Main course - Arugula pasta, basically a pesto sauce) (Dessert - Brown sugar cake with roasted pineapple chunks and homemade ice cream) Obviously, dining at Copper Kitchen won't be a usual event, and a new gig won't come along very often. But it was certainly a nice way to celebrate.

As of Friday evening, my first week at the new gig is in the books, and so far so good. I've been oriented, mentored and onboarded, and will continue to be so over the next several weeks and months. I've learned how to get to my desk, and to the bathroom, and how to make sure I keep up with my recommended daily allowance of diet pepsi. I've met many people and even remembered a few of their names. I've reacquainted myself with Microsoft Outlook, I've been given access to databases I can't pronounce let alone query, and have taken a crash course in healthcare and Agile software processes. The first few nights I went home with headaches and an overloaded frontal lobe, but I only had one mini-meltdown (which thankfully occurred as I was driving home from work). Whew! Tomorrow I'll be back at it, with likely more of the same. Positives so far: 1. Residence in my very own cubicle. I haven't had one of those in maybe 8 years or so, and I'm loving it. I...