la-appel-du-vide

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•20•24 - Record Store Day

I have a love/hate relationship with Record Store Day now. Vinyl records are getting more and more popular, which means it's going to keep getting harder and harder to get the exclusives that we want so badly! I literally get so anxious that I don't sleep at all the night before - not that it matters given the time of night we have to get there. I wasn't that stoked about the list this year until they surprise dropped a 7" of Olivia Rodrigo covering Stick Season and Noah Kahan covering Lacy. I had to have it! I also wanted Sabrina Carpenter's Feather, Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club, Noah Kahan's I Was/I Am, and Maisie Peters' The Good Witch Deluxe (on the prettiest clear vinyl with clouds printed on it!!).

We found out pretty quickly that Graywhale, which is my preferred record store, didn't get ANY Sabrina or Chappell! That's insane to me. And they only ended up with two of Maisie!

Lavender Vinyl didn't do much better. They had one Sabrina, and three Chappell.

We decided to divide and conquer, sending the boys to Lavender while we went to Graywhale. For Black Friday RSD, we got there at 2 AM, and then it was ridiculous because no one else showed up until 4! So this time, we got there before 1 thinking it would be the same situation - but no! There were already seven people in line. (Actually, three people and four chairs. And that makes me so mad. You can't just put up chairs and not actually put the time in. This isn't a parade.)

We found out pretty quickly that one of the people in front of us wanted Maisie Peters, so we knew our best chance was to at least get the other one, and then split the cost of buying one at freaking resale value afterward. It is also so annoying how people buy them just to turn around and flip them for three to four to five times the cost! I hate it here.

We killed our time with a lot of games, small naps, and I even worked on my blog for a bit. It wasn't as cold as last time, thank goodness, and the time went by fairly quickly. Beach was so nice to bring us breakfast around 6 AM when she got off, and that was a perfectly timed treat.

Brayden and Glen got a two hour break from 8-10 once the tickets were passed out, and so we were a little jealous haha. Especially when he told me later that he went home and stood in a hot shower. Rude!

When it opened, it was killer watching everyone ahead of us go in there and browse. I was extra scared that someone would randomly decide to take the other Maisie and we'd have to buy both at resale cost. But our time finally came, and I was able to grab it! I was so happy to have my hands on it. We also scored the Olivia/Noah, I got the 1975 Live for B, and I randomly picked up the 7" Lainey Wilson gatefold! B got me the Noah Kahan, but wasn't able to pull off the Sabrina or Chappell. It was the same thing for him, where there were already a bunch of people lined up, and they were all there for Sabrina/Chappell. There was no chance haha.

It was still a great haul, with so many great finds! And Kena got a bunch for her dad, which is happy for him too!

We'll see you again in November, probably!

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•19•24

Happy release day for The Tortured Poets Department!!! (TTPD) 🖊️ 🤍

We stayed up til like 1 AM last night listening for the first time, especially because Taylor randomly announced at midnight that it was actually a double album - meaning 31 songs!!! This is definitely a sad, sad album (right up my alley) and it's going to take me some time to really absorb all of the songs and lyrics (especially the second half - the Anthology). So far, my favorites are So Long, London, loml, My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, and I Can Do It With a Broken Heart (this one has a line that says, "I cry a lot but I am so productive" and I've never related to a lyric more haha). She calls out golden retrievers in The Tortured Poets Department (the song), so Reefy is famous.

We went to pick up the Target exclusive vinyl record today, and seriously the aesthetic for this album and the gatefolds/books is GORGEOUS!! Huge fan.

Taylor dropped TTPD merch on her site while I was driving, and even though it risked my life, I was able to purchase the TTPD vinyl records display box (it sold out so fast, and looks like a book! It will be so, so fun to add to our bookshelves!), a cute ivory crewneck, and a ring I bought for Kena (although I also love it, and if she decides she doesn't want to pay for it I'll just keep it!). I'm excited to get those, and also all of my vinyl variants (there are four total now!), including the HAND SIGNED ONE I scored in a surprise drop last weekend!

It’s so fun to be a Swiftie.

[la-appel-du-vide]

Hey, look! We finished the bookshelves!

This project has literally taken like five and a half months, which is way longer than I thought it would, but I underestimated just how much work it would be for sure. We are both so relieved (but especially B) that they're finished!!! As expected, it was a blast to unbox all of our office supplies for the first time since we moved in and get them organized and so easily accessible!

We have made some more progress on getting them decorated and deciding what to display, and overall, I think the project was a huge success. We went back and forth on the paint color a few times, and B experimented with using a paint sprayer for the first time, and in the end we're both happy.

Onto the next! (;

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•13•24 - “Chalk Dirty to Me”

This challenge was absolutely perfect for our first beautiful, sunny weekend of the year. We were told to use sidewalk chalk at a public park to create outlines of each other. Then we were supposed to fill the outlines of things we love about each other, but we ended up just filling them with drawings of things that remind us of each other! We took Reefy so he could hang out at the park with us, and then just ended up making him an outline too. It was filled with: a turkey leg, a bone, a yellow ball, a pup cup, a frisbee, snow, grass, his blanket, a rope... Very sweet, even if getting him to stand next to it was hard haha.

B filled my outline with the Eiffel Tower, the sun, planes, traveling the world, flowers, USU, popcorn, MC, Airhead Extremes, water, a camera, books, sad songs...

I filled his with vinyl, USU, video games, movies, the French flag, his Jeep, Reese's Pieces, books, a paw print, mountains, a heart, golf, football, basketball...

[la-appel-du-vide]

April bouquet absolutely popped off - I don’t know what those purple flowers are, but I’m obsessed with their size and texture!! 💐

[la-appel-du-vide]

My snarly, sassy guy feat. spring weather ☀️

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•10•24

I met Lauren Graham!!! I MET Lauren Graham! Like... she looked at me. And she spoke to me. And she held my hand! I have to keep saying it to myself over and over again, because it's hard to believe it really happened!

After we drove to Denver to see her book tour show, and I wasn't able to get a Meet and Greet ticket, I was manifesting additional dates and locations so I could have another try. And she CAME TO SLC! I jumped on immediately to get my ticket, and scored a Meet and Greet pass this time! So I've been looking forward to this for a couple of months now.

I had to go straight from work, so I didn't look quite as cute and great as I'd hoped, but I tried my best. As I pulled up to get in line, a girl in the GA line offered me $400 for my Meet and Greet. It was slightly tempting, but no, I knew I'd be sad if I missed my one chance to meet one of my all-time favorite celebrities! She was so desperate though that by the time we were going in, she was calling out an offer of $700! I couldn't believe no one took her up on it - especially boyfriends that were obviously just getting dragged along!

We did security, and then got in line to go in one at a time. I was basically at the end of the line, so I had to wait a long time. I was so nervous, as expected. So many butterflies, wondering how to act, how not to be shy, how to seem normal... Especially since I was all alone!

When it was my turn, I went in and she was so nice and sweet, even if the conversation was brief. I told her I'd driven up to see her in Denver, but that I was so glad she came to SLC so I could get the chance to meet her! She said she hoped that the SLC was better and funnier than the Denver show, and then told me she'd never been here before, only to Park City. We laughed about how they're basically the same thing, because they both have mountains. And then we talked about the creepy little church in Denver the event was held at. And then basically we took our picture and that was that! I wish I could have spent more time with her - there are so many questions I'd ask her if I had more time. But she took my hand and held it like my grandma used to, and I think that's so dang cute. Also, she spoke directly to me, and given the fact that she herself talks me to sleep every night, it was surreal and sweet haha.

I got another signed copy of Have I Told You This Already? as part of the experience and then went out to get seats and wait for B to get in. He got a ticket to the show, just not the Meet and Greet! Having the VIP ticket was nice, because we got a seat front and center, without having to get there super early! I submitted two questions for Sam Pancake (her friend and moderator) to ask her - one the same as last time (What's one thing on your bucket list?) and one new one (Have you gotten a sneak peek at Kelly Bishop's new book?). And they ended up using BOTH of my questions! Out of the hundreds that were written. It was my lucky night!

She looked beautiful in her green dress (green must be my lucky color because she's worn it for both of my shows). Lauren and Sam are so charming and so funny, and again, the show is just not long enough. I would like to hear them speak regularly - they need a podcast or something.

Some highlights:

Sam, reading a submitted question: "Bad Santa is a Christmas classic."

Lauren: "Not for my Dad, it isn't."

hahahah

She told a story about getting a massage at a health retreat, and being upside down and naked, obviously, when the masseuse came in and said, "They say that a lot of celebrities come here, but I've never seen one. You look familiar though, do I know you from somewhere?" And she talked about how she was very concerned at what part of her he was recognizing, and just wanted to get on with the massage, so she just said, "Can we talk about this later?!"

They asked both of my questions, and her bucket list item was to take her dad to Japan, or on some kind of active/cycling trip one more time, now that he's getting older. And she said she hasn't read Kelly's book, and she's scared of what could be in there, because Kelly has no filter haha.

She recommended chicken nachos from Red Iguana (gotta try) and the book Tom Lake (I've already purchased it to read haha).

She said that getting to play Lorelai was special that even if they never work again (meaning her and Sam), it would be ok, and he was so offended hahah.

Overall, so much fun. I'm so grateful to have gone again, and for the very happy memory I'll have forever of talking to her one-on-one. I heart LG.

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•10•24

Mikayla and I were tasked with picking up lunch for a UDOT presentation, and they requested Slim Chickens. We had stacks of chicken and sides in the back of the car, and the second we made one turn, we heard everything go sliding around. We decided we'd better stop and make sure everything was good, and she got out and went around to the back, and just says, "Oh." And I asked, "Is it bad?" And she said, "Yeah, it's bad."

And it turns out, we had an entire pile of macaroni and cheese in the back of the car hahah. YUM.

We tried to clean it up as well as we could, but we were also on a strict timeline. And by the time I could devote real attention to cleaning it up the next day, the cheese was hard as rock, and I don't think it's ever coming out hahah.

Just part of what makes our work days so interesting. (;

[la-appel-du-vide]

04•06•24

Part of Kena's gift to us from the Galentine's Day favorite things party was a lip gloss making kit, since she loves DIY and lip products! We weren't able to make the lip gloss that night, because we definitely ran out of time and had too much to do, so we got together this weekend for that!

It was fairly easy, just mixing together the base, the pigment color, and some oil, and then we used a syringe and piping to suck it out of the bowl and into the tubes. It was a total mess, and especially sticky if we got it on our hands, but it does look very pretty in the tubes!

[la-appel-du-vide]

[la-appel-du-vide]

03•31•24 - Easter 2024 🐣

Easter kind of snuck up on me this year, as it always does when it is in March instead of April!

B and I dyed eggs on Saturday night, and mine weren't quite as on par this year as past years, but I still had fun! I did a few geometric eggs with different tilts and colors, three glitter eggs, an attempt at a terracotta type of egg, and a daisy egg. B dropped and cracked two of his eggs while working on them, so that was sad but funny haha, and he made the most of it by writing little messages on them like "ouch!" He also made Reefy's second Easter egg that said "got hops?" on the back - because of his insane jumping skills haha.

On Sunday morning, B and I made Easter baskets for each other. He got a few new shirts, a new pair of Nike sweats, Dune Messiah, lots of Reese's candy and Twix minis, Girl Scout cookies, and a tin of mints. I got the cutest version of Yahtzee (a floral book meant to look cute on a shelf!), a Little Guide to Taylor Swift, a bag of popcorn, Nerd ropes, and Airhead Extremes.

It's fun to play Easter Bunny, and we once again did a big (hard) hunt for each other! I hid eggs for him filled with candy, and a golden egg with a "redeem for a vinyl record of your choice" coupon. I hid that one in the piano, and it was the last one he found - success!

He hid eggs filled with candy and dollar bills for me, and a golden egg with a Starbies gift card in it - in his jacket sleeve. It took me forever to find it as well - so another big win! It's so fun.

We also had the cutest Easter egg hunt for Reef, full of bacon treats that I think he could really smell. He got so into it, looking under chairs and in every corner. He was running down the hall, when he noticed an egg behind him in the corner. He hit the brakes so hard, and went sliding hahah. What a cutie. He learned how to open them on his own, and pull out the treat. It was actually precious. It was so hard to explain to him that he was done and there weren't any more hahah.

Then I went over to my mom's to make Grandma's famous potato salad for dinner. B, Ty, and Aubrey joined us to eat, and then me, mom, and B dyed even more eggs - including one for Z and one for Arch. Z's had a seal on it, for obvious reasons, and Arch's had a crown on it for King Archer. We made a Whitaker one for my dad, and then we had a little Crack Off! In a bracket style competition, we rolled our eggs into each other. According to science of some kind, only one cracks! The egg that didn't crack moved on to the next round of competition. And somehow, Zion won hahah. Perfection. The grand prize was $20, so he better be getting some new toys or treats. (; Then we had a loser's bracket, and B came out the winner. He won a big bag of Starbursts as the loser prize haha. It was fun, and I hope we do it again next year!

And of course, we had a little Facetime between the boys and Reef back at home hahah.

Happy Easter!!

[la-appel-du-vide]

Pt 3 🇮🇹📷

[la-appel-du-vide]

Pt 2 🇮🇹📷

[la-appel-du-vide]

Italia 🇮🇹 📷

[la-appel-du-vide]

Coldest, wettest park day… just when we thought the sun was here to stay. 🌧️

Reefy remains unbothered no matter the weather haha

[la-appel-du-vide]

03•22•24 - “Small Town Kids”

This was a fun challenge in theory, but ended up being one we'll be laughing and embarrassed about for years haha.

The challenge was to pick a small town or area at least 15 miles away from home that you've spent little to no time in, and go there for the night. We were supposed to eat at a local restaurant and leave a good tip, and also visit a local park. While at the park, talk about what you think the history of the town is, make up your own backstory, and then give it a new name.

Because we got a later start, we decided we'd better do the park first, and eat afterward. We decided on Morgan, because even though I had a project in Morgan last year, I never spent time there for fun. And B hasn't really been there at all! And it definitely qualifies as a small town - they don't even have any restaurants open past 8!!! On a Friday night!

The park we went to was very small, so we walked the perimeter twice. We decided it must have been named after a pioneer settler named Morgan, but that a better backstory would have been a woman (Morgan) getting sick of being treated badly by her husband, and rallying women together to found the city as women only for the first few years, and them naming it after her! We renamed it Mount Moo, because of the "M" already on the mountain, because of the mountains surrounding it, and because of all the cows around.

Much to our surprise, when we did some research later we learned Morgan was originally named "Mount Joy," so we weren't far off at all! It was settled in 1861 and it is currently the only incorporated city in all of Morgan County. In 2021, it had a population of about 4,200.

Then we were ready for the final part of the challenge, which was eating at a local restaurant. I knew there was a little bar on the outskirts of the city, and they were open until 1 AM. Google reviews said it was "great for kids" so I assumed there must be an area where they just serve food, no alcohol - kind of like any other sports bar.

As we were walking up, we noticed signs that said "ID required" and "This is a bar, not a restaurant" and I realized I didn't bring my ID. But we were still not sure if there was a separate restaurant area, so we decided to go in and ask. We opened the door and everyone in there (in their cowboy hats carrying guns) turned to stare at us like the outsiders we were. It was like a scene from a movie. We were immediately so uncomfortable, and then we had to ask the bartender if there was a place we could sit and just order food. She said no, we couldn't be in there without an ID, so we just had to awkwardly leave. I can still feel the stares, just like no one wanted us to be there and we did not belong haha. It was awful! So in the end, I'm glad we didn't stay.

In the main area of Morgan, there were literally only two restaurants open, and one only served soda and popcorn. So we had to go to Deb's Spicy Pie. We felt much more comfortable there, and went up to order a pizza - only to find out, they were all out of pizza hahah. Of course! So we got a couple of sandwiches, tipped 50%, ate, and got out of Morgan! Thanks, but no thanks hahah.

So like I said, nice idea, but not great in execution for us! At least it was memorable haha.

[la-appel-du-vide]

Warmer weather >>>

New tricks >>>