I just got back from a little trip to Utah! We are talking lil trip. We left Wednesday afternoon, and got back Thursday night! I was amazed at the good it did me. It was like therapy. For free! I traveled down with Carla and my dear friend Kyoung, and it was just perfect. I can't believe all the things we did, and how many people we saw in the short time we were there.
When we arrived we went to Anthropologie where I broke my own heart by passing up this necklace. Not that it was out of control, but I've been a real cheapskate lately with the looming move. We then journeyed to and through Ikea. I am always amazed at the energy and capacity it takes to get through that store. I hadn't eaten in a while (I always eat at the wrong times on trips) and at one point I walked off by myself and forgot who I was with, and where I was... it's like a vacuum.
then I met up with two of my favorite people in the universe, Court and Kurt. We went to dinner at good ol' CPK and then found some Gelati at this sweet little place called Maestro's Gelato in Provo on Center Street. I got hazelnut and pistachio like a regular dream come true. THEN we met up with the presh Cas Barney and went to Glen Roland's amazing antique store Cat's Cradle Antiques and art, just a few doors down from the gelati shop. He and Carla are old friends so he opened his shop for us at 9:30! HOLY COW! What beautiful stuff. I actually bought a great necklace and earrings. They are from the 40's or 50's, and they were a great deal! I also remembered my great skill to pick out the most expensive object in the room/ case/ box. A talent I was born with, and it never waivers. I don't even have to practice.
If you are in Provo, for whatever reason, please stop by Glen's shop. It's on center and next to a hotel and a yarn shop called Hildebrand... or something like that. Again, he has some amazing stuff and some really good deals, BUT, Glen alone is worth going to into the shop for. What a charming person. I am so glad to have met him. Just one of those people that you are grateful to know. So go already, and tell him I sent you.
When we left the shop we went to the Barton's. So good to see Jennifer! We talked and shared new quilts, but then she showed us a fun craft she had been working on with her daughters. She purchased a bunch of bouquets of silk flowers from a dollar store, and pulled them all apart, and then she just rearranges the petals to make flower pins, or hair things! We stayed up for an extra hour making flowers. It was too fun. And what a great idea! Super easy, inexpensive, and a great thing for a party for little peeps, or anyone really. We were having a great time... and we're not so young.
I took out the fuzzy center, mixed about 5 different white-ish flowers, restacked it, added a neat faceted button to the center and hot glued a little clippy on the back! It looked great!
woke up, got ready, and went to BYU for the exchange! It was so great to see Amy! I always miss her so much!!! But it was a cool thing to meet with so many other print makers, and exchange work. I feel really lucky to have been invited to participate.
THEN! we went to lunch at a Korean place. Kyoung is Korean so she was really happy. I'd never had it before, but it was great. I love the little side dishes that they bring you, like the crunchy black beans and then the little egg wraps, but I really loved that the rice was purple.
then we said all our goodbyes to our Provo peeps. And on our way out, we stopped by Wayne Kimball's studio for a couple of minutes. What an incredible man he is. He is one of the very best Lithographers in the country/ world, and it is easy to see why. We got to look through a framed show, sitting on his floor. It was such a neat thing, and then he showed us some new projects he has been working on, and as we were leaving he gave each of us a print! How special! It was a really important experience to me.
Then we headed back to SLC and picked up my sweet Ashlee. She played a couple of songs for us, and she just amazes me. She only continues to get better and better! It's amazing!
Have you heard of this grocery store? It is the epitome of what I was talking about here. Liberty Heights Fresh is a perfect magical mini grocery store. If you go in, try the Castletrovena(?) olives. They are a really bright green, and they are really just dream olives. Also, speak to the owner, because he will be there. What a neat man he was, and he cares so much about what he is doing.
Then we went to an Asian market, and I bought green curry ingredients for the next 15 years of my life. Amazing, and amazing prices. Then we dropped off my little Asher, which is always hard. But we drove right back to Liberty Heights Fresh to get dinner for the road. And then just like that we were on our way again.
We were really fortunate that the roads were clear, and I was able to give everyone a break by driving us home. I keep wanting to say it was a weekend, but it was just a Wednesday/ Thursday. It was so important. And in meeting with so many wonderful people, I realized how important it is to have genuine people in our lives. The sincerity and the meetings of those days filled me up. What a blessing. I'm so grateful to have so many dear experiences and people in my life.