Do More Good

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Amelia M.

This year I was invited to join a questival team and it was one of the funnest 24 hours of my life! Questival is like having your own local amazing race. It is hosted by a company called Cotopaxi and their motto is “Do More Good.”For 24 hours you and your friends try to complete as many tasks as possible (some of them are sponsored check-in points), some of them worth more points than over. The tasks can be anything: hikes and outdoors activities, lip-syncing to songs, community contributions like donating to a food bank, and visiting landmarks. Everything has to be documented and submitted.

Me and our wonderful team raced all over and while we didn’t win, it was still a pretty amazing time. There are way too many challenges to list them all, but here are my …

Top 10 Moments of Questival

Kicking off the party

This isn’t from the kick off festival, but you can see my cute lil backpack.

We selected uniforms: Black t-shirts, some of them more artfully decorated than others, ha. We collected our backpacks (mine’s a lovely hot pink number)….. And then started the thing off by visiting llamas, strategizing at chick fil a, and jumping/screaming as confetti cannons acted as our starting bells.

Making new friends at the Capitol at midnight

We made it to the Capital building by midnight to howl at the moon (an actual challenge) and found it’s the cool place to be on a Friday night. A few other teams happened to be there and we helped each other complete challenges (like a wheelbarrow race on the Capital lawn).

Counting Cavalia propaganda along the way

This is a sample from google. Just imagine this billboard x30.

No joke, I think we counted 30 of the Cavalia billboards!! We are now obsessed with finding out the truth about these horses … just not obsessed enough to pay the ticket price (um, can you send us a groupon please?). It really better be an amazing show.

Visiting my old friend, the Spiral Jetty

I was delighted to see the Spiral Jetty on the list of challenges. I love this place.

Andrea taking on the ultimate dare

I can’t post the video evidence of Andrea’s worm eating, but enjoy this picture of her making friends with this horse.

We were at the Golden Spike, on our way to the Spiral Jetty, when another team dared Andrea to complete one of the more unusual challenges: EATING A WORM. She got a little freaked out when she saw the the worm but eat that thing like a champ!!!

Becoming an expert in everything from hiking to knot tying

Many of the challenges we had to complete on the go or in the car. Aubrey handled most of the stranger ones, she gave people flowers, switched shoelaces with another team, and gave hugs. We also created a lot of instructional videos. And mailed a potato.

Making it to the rock climbing check point juuuuust before it closed

There were a few sponsored checkpoints throughout questival, including mini facials at a spa, going behind the scenes at a brewery, and jelly bean taste tasting at liberty park, but one of our first checkpoints was the best. It was at a rock climbing gym and we managed to run in the door a minute before they closed. We got on the wall in time, but I could barely hold on (my faux-spiderwoman is definitely an image to remember, haha).

Racing across the Salt Flats

We also saw this sculpture on the way to the Salt Flats. Bizzaro in a cool way.

I’ve always wanted to see the Salt Flats so this was definitely a challenge I was excited for. They didn’t disappoint. Definitely an interesting little slice of the world.

Me, just chilling on the Salt Flats

Floating in the Great Salt Lake

One of the first things we did Saturday morning was jump in the Great Salt Lake. It was cold, but kind of amazing.

Dancing it out in Wendover

I don’t have an image of our dance party, but this pic seems to capture the feeling of the day!

We crossed the line into Wendover minutes before questival ended. We figured what better way to end an adventure then dancing it out to Footloose?

Bonus: “Worst” moment of questival: We had to order the 13th item on a diner menu and it turns out I am not a fan of country corn cakes.

Currently: Enjoying all the spring flowers (and showers) of SugarHouse

Favorite Things

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Amelia M.

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things lately. Maybe some of them will become your favorite things too.

Sing Street – I saw this movie at Sundance and loved it. It’s about a boy growing up in 1980s Dublin. He decides to start a band to impress a girl. Everything is the The best part? Most of the time with Sundance movies you have to wait forever for them to come out. But this one is supposedly heading to theaters very soon! You can watch the trailer here.
This is Acting – This is Acting is Sia’s new album. Favorite songs include: Cheap Thrills, Unstoppable, Move Your Body, One Million Bullets, and Reaper. Special thanks to my friend Tyler for pointing me in this direction.
Boxing [with friends] – I’ve mentioned I love my boxing classes before, but I especially love them when I get to bring my friends along. Here’s some pics of the time Lily came with me to “Ladies Night” at the gym:

When Calls the Heart & Haven – These are my two latest Netflix binges. Very different. The first is a cheesy, Hallmark movie-esque show about a school teacher in a small Canadian mining town and the second is a sic-fi show loosely based on a Stephen King novel.
Makeovers – I can’t resist a makeover night. I love trying new hair tutorials and I love having my friends pick new styles for me. Since I don’t have long hair anymore it’s especially fun to try long hair styles on my friends. We did some Kayley Melissa hair tutorials [like this faux mohawk] and they were easy to follow and turned out pretty good. I also got a gel nail kit for Christmas and have been loving trying that out.

Original Pancake House – Brunch, as you should know, is one of my favorite meals. It’s especially amazing if you do it at the Original Pancake House. I suggest the banana pancakes with a half order of bacon [Seriously, you can’t go and NOT get bacon].
Acai Bowls – Speaking of brunch, I finally got to try acai bowls. I first sampled these at the Protein Foundry and loved them. There’s also a new place called Aubergine that opened up near my house that has them. They are next on my list.

Protein Foundry

Mentalfloss – If you haven’t heard of Mentalfloss it describes itself as an “international media brand that gives smart, curious knowledge junkies their fix with upbeat, witty explorations of everything from science to pop culture to tech to history.” Basically it’s a good way to procrastinate something while also learning things. Also remember John Green? The guy who wrote The Fault in Our Stars? He’s a part of it. I especially like their movie quizzes and these life hack videos. You owe it to yourself to at least watch the one he tries at 11:40.

Royal Family Dance Crew – I love a good dance routine and every video I’ve seen of this group has been amazing.
Mini Haribo Gold-Bears – The true example of a small pleasure. These tiny, tiny gummy bears are so so good. Plus they are super cute.

Adorable, right?

Currently: Happy to see some blue skies and nice weather. Hopefully it sticks around!

Dear 2015

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Amelia M.

Dear 2015,

I’m sad we’ve parted ways. You were good to me. This year was filled with all sorts of surprises.

Like, who knew I’d try boxing classes and LOVE them [especially after hating the first class and swearing I’d never go back, haha]. Or that I’d get to see Hawaii for the first time? Or that I’d be so bad at keeping up with writing posts?? Well, regardless it was an eventful year and especially after this crazy week I feel compelled to count my blessings. Here are a few of the things that got left out of the blog this year:

In 2015 I accomplished some admirable goals, such as:

Mastering my dim sum order,

But don’t order this. This was cool looking but not that great tasting.

Getting the most out of the summer Twilight concert series [This year I saw Death Cab for Cutie, Father John Misty, and St. Vincent]

Father John Misty

I was lucky enough to have Sadie in Salt Lake for a few weeks this summer :)

St. Vincent

and returning to the giant downtown slip n slide,

What happens when you have to fit people and floats all in the same car.

Some 2015 firsts included:

A trip to Bear Lake,

Gilgal gardens,

Eating Cake while listening to Cake,

and renting puppies.

IMG_2554 (1)

Summer 2015 was a blur of late nights at the Tower [Labyrinth! Gremlins! Clueless!],

Watching movies in the park and riding bikes,

Embarking on the great waffle tour of 2015, which included stops at Bruges, Hub & Spoke, Waffle Love, Wingers, Pig & a Jelly Jar, Original Pancake House, and Blue Plate Diner,

[I only took pictures of the food involved, not the people. However it should be known that these waffles were a send off for my friend Mallorie on her way to become a fancy lawyer in Michigan :) ]

and circling the lazy river at Seven Peaks.

Other 2015 highlights included:

Visiting the Greek Festival and the State Fair,

Celebrating the wedding of one of my college bestie, Lara.

Sadie, Caity, and I were lucky to get to do this trip together.

Mourning the loss of our washing machine,

Welcoming Marty to 2015,

These were our “future goons” outfits.

Being a total Marina fan girl,

Visiting Gabby at the Art City donut truck,

Consuming as much YogurtLand as possible,

buying a piano keyboard [via some tough ksl negotiating],

And celebrating Gabby’s birthday, first with food and then with the Misterwives concert.

Misterwives!

I also volunteered with the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation for the second year, bought a new car, explored a masonic temple, got caught up in the Star Wars pandemonium, and spent way too much time coming up with Pretty Little Liars theories.

Thanks 2015, it was a good one.

Currently: Finishing “Making a Murderer” a million years after everybody else

Bedelia

The less literal and fictional Amelia

Do More Good

Favorite Things

Dear 2015