St. Patrick’s Day

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Happy St.Patrick’s Day! I hope you had a good one. I normally don’t do much for this holiday, but this year was a little more festive.

I worked most of the day, but I started the night off with some St.Patrick’s day mocktails. Basically this means we made a super green lime drink and added a frosted rim (even though we realized that no one of us actually had margarita glasses), lol. Our mocktail was just club soda+green margarita mix+ice. We threw in green food coloring to make it extra St.Patrick’s day-ish.

This drink tasted yummy cold, but warm it tasted like overly sugary koolaid. Blech. It also looked more green in person. My camera makes this look teal-ish.

I also went to my church’s St.Patrick’s day dance.

Emily and Courtney "fighting" over the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We danced, took a break to play foosball/air hockey/ ping pong, and then went back up to the party. It was a fun night. I even won a prize for my green outfit.

green polka dot dress

Me in my green polka dot dress. Excuse my slouchy-ness. Also, dress loving girls may like to know that this dress also had great pockets. yessss.

My award was best green dress with polka dots. Of course, I was the only one wearing a polka dot dress, and they had lots of prizes so almost everyone got one in the end, but I still think I looked cute ;) All in all it was a fun night.

Currently: ready for spring to be here!

Interfaith Musical Tribute

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Tonight I attended a music tribute hosted by the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable. The event was in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Temple Square. This alone was exciting for me because even though I’ve probably passed the Tabernacle a thousand times since I’ve moved to Salt Lake, but I’d actually never been in it. It’s beautiful inside and the sound quality is incredible. Sadly it conflicted with watching the Academy Awards, but luckily the Internet will catch me up on all the hollywood drama tomorrow.

Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square

The inside of the Salt Lake Tabernacle

The tribute was hosted by the Interfaith Roundtable. The Roundtable was founded ten years ago when the Olympics were in the Salt Lake. After the Olympics they decided to stay together and have continued to grow. They do all sorts of events. Just the other week I went to a lecture on Judaism that was a part of an interfaith series they’re doing at Westminster college.

The performance I saw tonight started out with a flute solo  by a Northern Ute. Another Northern Ute said an opening prayer. It turns out the land the tabernacle is built on Ute hunting and ceremonial grounds so he also welcomed us to the land.

All the performances were really interesting to watch. There was a Buddhist drum group based on Buddhism practiced in Japan.

Buddhist Taiko Group

The Ogden Buddhist Taiko Group doing an Ashura and Hachi Jo Island Tribute. It was amazing how precise and coordinated their performance was. Some of the kids behind them had fun trying to imitate their sweeping drum stick paying movements.

There was also a really fun drum performance by a group of refugees from Burundi. They started the number by carrying the drums on their heads while they played and marched on stage. They also had one member who did lots of handstands and flips while they played (Everyone clapped after one of the performers was able to walk off the stage and down the stage stairs (!) while staying in handstand mode). Then they set the drums down and took turns playing and doing different dances. Another group that did more dancing was the Hindu group. They had some of the best costumes too ( I wish I’d gotten a good picture of that group).

There were a lot of choirs and ensembles. A Unitarian choir sang a song their director wrote about liberty and justice. A Jewish group also performed an original song that they wrote. The LDS Church was represented by a children’s choir that sang a medley of Primary songs. A group of Protestant reformed Christian churches that had a bell choir; they called themselves the Reformation Ringers. They performed Fantasy on Kingsfold (Mormons know this as the tune to “If You could Hie to Kolob.”). An earth based, instrumental group called Idlewild performed a song honoring our connection with nature. They were the only group that used a harp, and I loved the addition of the harp sound.

Not everything was musical in the traditional sense. The Vice President of the Islamic Society did a reading from the Quran in Arabic and English. It had a really poetic, lyrical tone to it. Priests from the Sikh temple also did a Sikh blessing in Punjabi and English.The people representing the Sikh temple also did a dance that involved spreading flower pedals

The night ended with the song “Let There be Peace on Earth.” The children’s choir sang it first then everyone in the congregation stood up and sang it together. All in all I had wonderful time. It was great to see all the different faiths in the community represented and gathered together. I love living in the city and being so close to events like these.

Currently: watching a cheesy dance movie :)

How to make the most delicious avocado of your life

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Step 1: Find a recipe for a veggie burger on Pinterest that looks so delicious that you consider actually becoming a vegetarian until you remember how much you like ribs. And burgers. And that one chicken recipe. Make a mental note to someday discover a modified vegetarian lifestyle that will accommodate this.

Step 2: Buy expensive, obscure ingredients that you need for this recipe. Assure yourself it will be worth it as you will probably make this recipe 10 times a week.

Step 3: Mix everything together. Realize that one change you made was probably more important than you originally thought since your mixture that is supposed to form burger like patties is so soft it basically falls apart in your hands.

Step 4: Lump some of this questionable goo together and try frying it up anyways.

Step 5: Fill poorly ventilated kitchen with smoke.*

*Note: This is also a good way to test that smoke detector in your apartment that always looked suspect.

Step 6: Take a moment to curse Pinterest for making you believe you can cook anything and diy any craft while staying on top of fashion/beauty/home decor/party planning/internet memes.

Step 7: Eat your half burned veggie burger anyway. It’s important you not let the veggie burger win this fight.

Step 8: Drink a large glass of water to get rid of that strange taste. Vow to yourself that you will follow all the directions the next time you try a new recipe even though it is always more convenient to make do with what you have and you hate going to the store to only get 1 supposedly essential ingredient.

Step 9: If you have done steps 1-8 properly you will be squinting through the haze of still-present smoke in your apartment at a pile of dirty dishes that resulted in questionable veggie burger goo. Contemplate cooking something else. Return gaze to veggie burger goo. Wonder if you really need to do this whole “eating” thing to survive. Put goo in fridge. You will definitely figure out a way to fix that tomorrow and not hide it behind some yogurt cups, forget about it, and then throw it away in 2 weeks.

Step 10: Spot that beautiful, gorgeous avocado you had planned to place on top of your veggie burger. Realize there is no need for such a thing as a balanced meal. Take the avocado, drizzle with olive oil and salt, and eat.

Congratulations! You have successfully not ruined an avocado and can now feel accomplished with your life today. This also qualifies you for an evening of ignoring all the dirty dishes in your sink and watching shows on netflix instant. Good job.

Currently: Eating an avocado.