in chronological order...sort of...
lowlight #1: lost luggage
as a result of wednesday's travel schedule (multiple connections and delayed flights), i knew there was a high probability of my luggage being lost. as such, i packed a few 'must haves' in my carry-on bag.
when i arrived in salt lake at 9:30pm, i didn't bother looking around. since i had come in a different airline than originally planned, i knew there was no hope. i talked to bagagge services and learned that my bags were in oakland. there was another flight coming in from oakland that night, so i had my fingers crossed.
i was not to be that lucky however, and my several phone calls on thursday revealed that, lo and behold, my bags were in oakland. what killed me was how every person i spoke with acted like they were doing me a favor by telling me that much.
finally, i had had it, and during my 11pm-ish phone call, i told the guy that i knew where they were and simply wanted to know when they were going to leave. he put me on hold for a few minutes so he could check with airports and returned with news that the bags were in slc. that's the fastest transfer time i've ever heard of!
of course, the baggage offices were closed, so i was up very early the next morning to pick them up. they would have delivered, but since they came in on delta, and my final carrier was united, delta would have had to transfer them..blah. blah. blah. i picked them up.
lowlight #2: speeding ticket
on my drive back to melanie's after picking up my luggage, i got pulled over. let me just say, utah cops suck.
as i was going 22 when pulled over, i asked him why. he told me i had 'blown through' a school zone. given that i was going 22 at the flashing lights, i asked him how this could be. he told me that there had been another school zone before. apparently i had not seen it, and had been going 39 in a 20. keep in mind, the 'normal' speed there was 45.
so, he told me he would 'give me a break' and only write the ticket for 7mph over, instead of 19. frankly, giving me a break would have been telling me to slow down. he knew i was in a rental car and not from the area. which makes this next bit even skechier.
i was on that road again later in the trip. there was NO OTHER school zone. i have a witness that the school zone i slowed down at was the first one on the road. so the guy wrote me a completely bogus ticket that i can't fight because i would have to be present at court.
did i say utah cops suck? they totally do.
lowlight #3: the wedding (see also 'highlight #4')
i normally would not be this honest, as both corey and jill read the blog. but they know me well enough to know not to be offended by this.weddings are just hard. even when you dearly love both the bride and groom and you are absolutely thrilled for them, weddings are still really hard. it's impossible not to think of past relationships that 'might have been' or the ones that may never be. it's impossible not to wonder when it's going to be your turn, and be a little disgusted at the twelve other couples taking photos around the temple and think, 'why is it so easy for these people? what did they do to earn an out from the dating world? what do i have to do to get my own free pass?' weddings are just impossibly hard.
okay, so now on to highlights
highlight #1: melanie
melanie is my adorable younger cousin who was young enough during our 'grow up' years that she was always the baby. but the baby has grown up, and recently bought a house in north salt lake. she invited me to stay with her and i happily accepted the invitation. her place is absolutely adorable, and it was so great to spend some ne on one time with her. she has always been hilariously funny and smart mouthed, and i loved the exposure to that, as well as to some of the more depthful aspects of her life. she was an excellent hostess, and made my stay there completely comfortable
highlight #2: lex
many of you are familiar with lex, either by reputation, or through having met him during one of his business trips here. lex and i met while both working the salt lake olympics, and five years later, have still managed to maintain a friendship. what is so wonderful about it is that we can go for months and months without communicating, yet when we do reconnect it is as if no time has passed. don't you love friendships like that?when one of us is in the other's city, we always get together to get caught up. my schedule was pretty tight this trip, so we met for a long lunch on friday. it was as it always is--fabulous. we caught up on one another's lives and enjoyed a delicious lunch at the avenues bakery (for you sl-ers, i highly recommend the turkey, brie, and apple sandwich, and the death by chocolate cookie. YUMMY!)
lunch ended with a hug and a self-portrait, and "until next time"s.
highlight #3: my family
they rock. enough said.
okay, not really.
during my 5+ years in utah, i was in a strange place, and didn't take advantage of the close proximity of my extended family (mother's side). after i moved back here, my grandfather died. when we returned for the funeral everyone was there, sans two cousins. i remember looking around and thinking how incredible this group of people was, and how if i wasn't related to them, i would still want to know them.that feeling remains still, and i cherish the opportunities i have to spend time with them.
typically when im in town, we get together at shannon's for a family dinner, but this time, we changed it up and had dinner at my cousin laurie's. that gave us an opportunity to see her new home--which was gorgeous. she has always had a designer eye, and her house showed it.
also on hand was laurie's husband sean and their two children, brad and jan, and their three, melanie, shannon, and myself. it was relaxed and fun. we female cousins spent entirely too much time taking self-portraits, which resulted in stomaches aching from laughter.after dinner, melanie and i headed home, when melanie got a call from our cousin pam. pam and my aunt michele had just flown in from visiting spencer in italy, and were going to stop by. we spent hours with them getting caught up on their trip, looking through photos, and enjoying each other's company. at 1am, we had all about had it, so pam and michele headed out to deal with their jetlag.
highlight #4: the wedding
i simply cannot imagine a more joyous occasion (save my own wedding of course). the salt lake temple was a madhouse, and not that i have ever considered it, but you would have to pay me a whole heck of a lot of money to be married there. it was like coney island for mormons. mass crowd movements, lots of stopping and gawking. the only thing missing were the hot dogs.many of you have probably attended a wedding there before, but this was my first. i was in shock and awe to watch the assembly line action. the 'timed' exit of the couple from the temple, the 'timed' photo stops...it was over-organized chaos.
corey and jill's sealing was scheduled for 11:40am, so they exited the temple at about 12:30pm. then the photos began.
i was so glad that steph had come, as we ended up being picture-partners-in-crime-- making total annoyances of ourselves and taking and insane amount of photos. i will say that we both stayed our of the photographers way, and i think, as a result, ended up with some killer pics from some angles that would have been otherwise lost.after the large group photos were taken, the families dispersed, and steph and i remained with maya (corey's daughter), and corey's parents, and followed the blissful couple around taking photos.
i think that was my favorite part of the day. when we had them all to ourselves. i kept clicking with my cam, and steph kept an eye on maya while also taking photos on corey's camera. the one of maya with jill and corey in the background was taken by her, and i think it is incredible!!
as it would turn out, maya is quite the diva, and was happy to pose as often as needed. she took direction amazingly well for a 5 year old, and perhaps my favorite line of the day: 'maya, hold jill's hand in a completely natural and unposed sort of way'. thank you steph;)
corey was quite handsome, and jill looked incredible. i know people are supposed to say that, and they do, but let's face it, some brides just don't pull it off. in this case though, it's true that jill was a radiant bridal goddess. i have never seen the two of them look so happy.
my camera battery was dying, and my 2gb memory card was full. when pics were nearly completed, i headed back to mel's to grab my card reader and my third extra battery. i dumped the photos from my card to my comp, and steph came to get me. on the drive up to the reception (in the heber valley) i dumped the photos from corey's cam (since steph had been using it) onto my computer as well, and though we missed an exit, we made excellent time.we arrived before the official entrance of the bride and groom, which was heralded by silver streamers. the rest of the evening was spent enjoying dinner, and catching up with old friends. the pic below is of emilie, jill, and myself. we have known eachother since we were about 14. emilie is now the proud mama of three, and jill the proud mama of one, with some catching up to do. i, of course, have the most catching up to do of all!;)
so, all in all, a grand old time. i teased corey that i was going to post his photos before he could, but i think i will let him take care of that. instead, i have posted all the photos i took, as well as a 'favorites' album, which includes pics i took, and my favorites from corey's camera. the ones on that cam were taken by his bro-in-law and by steph.
corey--i've figured out how you can 'repay' me. assuming i ever get married, you and your camera are on call (fix that lens!) ;)
being in utah is always surreal for me. this trip made me realize that the bulk of my 'life changing experiences' took place in utah. my career started there, i went inactive in the church there, and had the single most defining professional experience while working for the olympics (there). it is most definitely a place that has impacted my life, and as is typical, i always arrive thinking 'yeah, maybe i could live here again.' it typically takes about 12 hours before i remember why that's not the case, and desperately struggle to hold on until i can go home.
i like visiting when it means seeing friends and family, but aside from that, i would be content to never go back.
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