Prepare Yourselves . . .

for an unbelievably long series of blog posts. I've just returned from my two week hiatus to Utah and Washington. The trip began in Utah, so let's start there, shall we?

Every good story begins with a tattoo. Wait, maybe not so much, but this one does:

This chick's shoulder tattoo, boasting the word MOM, was stellar and was right in my line of vision when Jared and I went to a free concert in Salt Lake City. My little brother is an Indie music connoisseur. Once someone's music makes it to the radio, they are no longer an acceptable listening choice for Jared. On this trip home he let me tag along with him and a couple of his friends to see Land of Talk and M. Ward, both of whom were part of the Twilight Concert Series at the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake. It was a hot and rather sticky experience, as most events are that involve being squished between random people you've never met. I enjoyed Land of Talk immensely. This is the singer chica captured on point and shoot camera:

M. Ward was OK, although the teenage boys next to us, who were trying to prove to all Utahns their extreme edginess by using the f-word repeatedly, kind of put a damper on the experience. Once the teenage girls behind us started to randomly shove each other into people, Jared and I moved. We actually left the concert early, but it was a lot of fun. This is us riding Trax back to our parking spot (don't mind the sweaty nastiness):


While in Utah, I also had the chance to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones as well. I went to Steph's (one of my dearest college friends and former roommates) bridal shower and am now kicking myself that I didn't take a SINGLE picture while there. It was great to see her and hear the adorable story of how she met her soon-to-be.

I stopped by Crystal's house to visit her and her adorable children, and was lucky enough to see Callie and her fiance JT there as well. I now feel completely content about Callie marrying him. He seems like a swell guy. My extremely protective nature doesn't like the idea of one of my best friends marrying someone I've never met, so now I feel great about it. Crystal and Callie looked great as always, and we had a lot of fun catching up:

I also got to have a reunion with two of my former roomies and freshman year buddies, Debbie and Jamie:

I have so many wonderful memories with these two girls, one of which has been previously pictured in the form of this:
and it was beyond wonderful to see them! We sat at a table outside The Gateway mall food court and talked for hours. It felt just like old times, which made it hard to say goodbye. I love these girls like sisters!

Alas, what was it I said about new friends being met? Meet Maestro:


Maestro is my brother Jared's pet cat/Christmas present. Since we spent Christmas with Chad's family last year, this was my first time meeting Maestro. He is very playful, liked to spend the mornings curled up and purring on my lap while I surfed the Internet, and I fell in love with him while I was there.

So there you go, my trip began with tattoos, concerts, and friends. Not too shabby!