Don't you just love getting something good for free? Last week we (plus everyone else) got free admission to the zoo on Wild Wednesday. Such a fun way to start off Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time and I think I saw animal species that I had never seen in real life before (one was something like a wart hog/pig with scary porcupine needles). The new baby elephant Zuri and baby giraffe were adorable.
Simply having a wonderful Christmas time.
Shouldn't that wait until after we get through Turkey Day?
Anyone else bothered about radio stations playing Christmas music that started the beginning of November? And I mean 24/7. I sum up my response in one word: boycott. I'm certainly no Scrooge, its just TOO EARLY!!
Okay, now moving on to brighter things....
A HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!
I have a mighty load to be grateful for as always.
One thing I'm thankful for recently is All Wheel Drive. So if you see one of these:
then you should wave because it might just be us inside.
Do you love a good movie star sighting? That excitement that comes from feeling a part of something Hollywood? Your corazon beats a bit faster and you may start to even lose your breath for a few seconds. You want to live in that moment, but for some reason at the same time you also want to be calling your friends and telling them all about it. You feel like a tween again. Sometimes it doesn't even matter if you appreciate the work of the star standing just 14 feet away from you. Its just that you are sharing air with someone, anyone famous. You want a picture, not just of the star, but of you WITH him. Why does this happen?
Let me set the scene for you.
Location: Settebello restaurant, Salt Lake City, UT.
When: Saturday night after Utes football game.
What: Enjoying the best pizza in Utah {seriously}.
Who: Darcie & Ben and...
...this actor guy.The best part of this sighting was that nobody else in the restaurant seemed to know he was famous. To everyone he was just a regular guy out for pizza with friends, gone unnoticed. But I spotted him and right away I knew he was a face from the big screen. I was thrilled with myself- so excited that I was the one who recognized him. Ben basically thought I was crazy and didn't believe me. I didn't remember until the next day the movies I was trying to think of... Sweet Home Alabama and That Thing You Do.
If you're reading this I'm demanding you share your favorite star sighting!
Last night we enjoyed the show Thriller. Well, okay.... I enjoyed it and Ben was just along for the ride (thanks Ben). For those of you
who don't know, it is a dance concert done every year at halloween time here that includes a variety of dance styles.
Numbers included: Jason, Chucky, River of Blood Dance, Frankenstein, mummies, vampires, Thriller (of course) and this year included an MJ tribute.
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller
Since currently is the first day of snowfall at my house this season (SO sad) I decided to look back at weather data for here in Utah. It could be worse, right?
Record low: -30 degrees in 1933. Good thing I wasn't alive then since I get frozen tears and digits just thinking about it.
Record high: 107 degrees in 2002. At that time I was also not around, but rather walking the streets of Ecuador where it was 98 degrees though felt like 115 degrees because of humidity.
Deaths caused by lightning: 61 from 1950 to present.
Deaths caused by avalanche: 96 from 1958 to present.
Most snowfall in 1 day: 18.4 inches in 1984. Note that it was on Oct 18th!!! I survived that one! That was back when to me that much snow meant cancelled school and lots of snowmen, snow angels, sledding, snowball fights, and even skiing.
Most destructive tornado: Salt Lake City Tornado, August 1999 (pictured below). I was not here for this since I was frolicking on the beach near BYU-Hawaii. I distinctly remember getting on the internet that night and seeing a headline about a tornado in SLC. I thought it was some fake article or something. I didn't believe it until I talked to my sister in UT. Totally weird.
(Orange fireball is a power sub-station exploding)
Photo courtesy of KTVX News 4 Utah
...as ben calls it.
Highlights of our trip to the emerald city
-my favorite experience was taking a boat through the locks. so interesting!
-ben's favorite may have been a tie between the troll and experience music project (EMP). At EMP we made our own song recording with ben on electric guitar and vocals and myself on drums. Maybe it will be available on itunes after we both die.
-luckily we got in some time with ben's seattlite friend Nick.
-the only downer was that seattle was FREEZING*. that's why in all the pics I'm wearing as many layers a possible plus a hat and scarf. but i can't complain because at least we only got rained on one morning.
*free - zing -adjective: extremely or uncomfortably cold (anything less than 6o degrees F): She was freezing and welcomed the peppermint hot chocolate from starbucks located every 30 yards in seattle, since calories on vacation don't count.
Sept 30, 2009
Low: 33 degrees
High: 50 degrees
Extreme winds, thunder, lightning, rain, hail (snow in benches/mountains)
Flowers freeze/die
Shut all windows and turn air conditioning to heater
It's not even October! That was an almost 40 degree drop from one day to the next.
Apparently we are getting the early bird special in this
El Nino year.
