A plea to city planners everywhere

About once a month at work, I spend a couple of hours addressing birthday cards for our employees. This means I get a very close look at hundreds of addresses, mostly in Utah, and I'm noticing an alarming trend. There are several streets/cul-de-sacs/avenues/etc. that are using multiple types of street identification (for lack of a better term). For example, I would expect to see "Horsetail Trail" or "Horsetail Lane," but "Horsetail Trail Lane?" That's just redundant. What gets really ridiculous is when some city planner (or whoever the heck comes up with this stuff) gets all long-winded naming apartment complex roads. And it's even worse when it's so far south that the street number alone is unusually long. And THEN, the complex comes up with some absurd numbering system

For example: 126077 South Wasatch Rim Trail Avenue #13766 - D (not someone's real address but based on an actual pattern). Are you kidding me? It barely fits on the envelope (and looks really weird if the person's name is something tiny like Cal Brown). And are there really 13,766 units in this complex? Doubtful. Even if there were, I don't think adding the letter "D" is really going to help anyone find it.

People. Coming up with a longer name for your street doesn't make you sound richer or smarter or better educated. If we change the above to 126077 S Wasatch Rim #12 will anyone go to bed hungry? I thought not. Based on the...unusual...habits about naming children we see in Utah, I'm thinking this is a regional thing, am I right?

I realize this is kind of a weird thing to be bothered by, but I think it reflects an unfortunate lack of self-restraint in our modern culture of grammar and naming conventions. Also, I don't want to someday have to buy a ridiculously large mailbox just because I live at 543210 West Crimson Sunset View Point Lane Road.

Blonde bridge blunder

Earlier this month, Steve and I drove to Arizona for a friend's wedding. We decided to go the Vegas route and check out the strip since I hadn't been there in years (and I probably won't go back for years - I know the rest of Vegas is probably a lovely place, but I maintain the strip is just bizarre...like a cracked-out Disneyland). We stayed the night to break up the drive and early the next morning we headed over Hoover Dam and on to Phoenix.

There was construction everywhere, especially driving near the dam (of course during which time I heard every "dam" joke Steve could concoct) where they are building a new bridge. Steve, having passed that way more often than I have, knew all about the bridge construction. When you read the conversation below, you'll understand why, following said conversation, Steve told me I had to blog it. It's only fair, since I have called out some of his more impressive moments here.

Steve: Wow, that's going to be weird to drive over.
Me: What? The bridge?
Steve: Yep.
Me: Drive on that thing? No way! It's way too steep - they can't have cars drive on that!
Steve: Um...
Me: Seriously! You'd never make it up the side.
Steve: Yeah...so that's the support for the bridge. They're going to put the actual bridge on top.

Oh.

Yep, in my foggy early-morning daze, I thought this was the actual BRIDGE (sorry for the weird angle - we were driving):




Good thing I'm not an engineer. You can see my concern though, were this the actual bridge, yes?

Bragging rights

For what a hard time I give Steve about cooking, I really haven't cooked much lately either (and by "lately" I mean "since we've been married"). We do lots of quick meals, which I don't think can be considered "cooking." So I love it when something I do make becomes a new family favorite.

Thursday night when I came home from girl's camp, I was ready for someone to take me OUT to dinner, so we went to one of my faves, Zupa's. I got my usual - a fruity salad and the Yucatan Chicken Tortilla Soup. Steve tried the soup, but when I offered him more he made a face and said "no thanks."

"You don't like the tortilla soup?"

"Ew. No."

"But you like tortilla soup when I make it."

"YOUR tortilla soup is stinkin' good!"

Did I just out-soup Zupa's? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, at least in the eyes of one man, I did.

Briefly...

• Yay!: Steve doing all the dishes and cleaning the kitchen before I got home.
• Whoops: Realizing he's used one of our nice (and seldom-used) place mats as a dishtowel.
• Wahoo!: Coming home to see the very tidy results of Steve pulling approximately 1.3 million weeds from our yard and mowing the lawn.
• Um...: Coming home to realize he has also pulled the one thriving plant in the yard - a beautiful, purple, flowering...some kind of bushy plant I can't recall the name of. It was glorious though, and had survived from my garden last year. Alas, now no one will believe I actually grew something without killing it.

It's good for me to be reminded about having a sense of humor sometimes. But that plant did NOT look like a weed. . . .I'm just sayin'.

*Warning* lengthy travel post ahead

In spite of my good intentions to keep my blog updated while traveling, there just wasn't enough time to sleep AND write. When there's a contest between sleep and almost anything else...sleep wins. The sad part is I know there are 100 funny stories I probably won't remember. But if I had been sleeping all day and writing all night, there wouldn't have been any stories at all. You see the dilemma.

For those of you who don't know, Steve and I just returned from three wonderful weeks in Europe. Well, the Mediterranean, to be more precise. We spent about a week in northern Italy (Venice to Rome), and the next two between Greece and Turkey (Istanbul and Kusadasi/Ephesus). Since Turkey is part of the Asian continent, that means I doubled the number of continents I've been to in less than 3 weeks!

This was my first trip to Europe. It was also my first trip to a country (or countries) where I don't speak the language. Italian and Spanish are close enough that we did fine, but Greek...that was a bit of an adventure. You know it's going to be rough when the alphabet isn't even the same. I at least managed to learn a few phrases, which is more than I can say for Turkish. After half a week in the country, I was still limited to "hello" and "thank you." (Although I at least mastered the pronunciation enough that one store owner started speaking to me in Turkish. When I just stared back at him blankly, he laughed and said in English, "I thought you were Turkish! You said 'Merhaba'!" Probably just flattering me. It worked.) Luckily, almost everyone we met in Istanbul spoke at least some English.

I'm sure I'll share some more detailed stories in the next week or two, but for now I'll just sum up a few highlights in a lovely bullet list.

• Most memorable piece of art: Hands down, Michelangelo's David. I love art, but I'm not any kind of an expert, so when I heard people talking about what an amazing sculpture this is, I figured I'd think it was cool, but I didn't know if I'd understand enough about it to get the major "wow' factor other people talk about. I was not expecting the reaction I had when I walked into the room. I'm not sure how to describe it, except to say that I just felt like it was perfect and inspired. Art is a lot like writing in that when something is "finished" is sort of arbitrary. There is nothing arbitrary about the David - it is certainly complete and to have added or omitted anything would have diminished it. It's probably good that we weren't allowed to photograph it - no picture could capture what it was like to be in that room.
  

• Best site for historical ruins: This one is tough - we saw a LOT of Greek and Roman ruins. Ephesus definitely stands out though, particularly the Library of Celsus. The Colosseum was, of course, incredible as well, and it was unreal to walk where Paul did - Mars Hill and Ephesus again.
  
  

• Most fun: This is a tough one too. I'll go with crusing around Santorini on a scooter (which we lovingly dubbed Kermit).
  
  

• Most stressful to navigate: Athens. I guess you could also call this one "Most adventurous travel." Inaccurate subway maps, limited information on city-to-city transportation, "information" employees unwilling to help you, stretches of non-functioning railway. Also a slight communication barrier and lots of people who said "I don't know," even though we knew they did. Oh, and even when you have the directions, good luck finding a street sign.

• Most picturesque: This is a toss-up between Venice and Santorini. Venice was beautiful, but a little strange because everyone there is a tourist. It almost felt like a very beautiful and historic Disneyland.
  
  
  

• Most relaxing: Greek islands. After two weeks of running our feet off, it was incredible to cruise around on a scooter without any agenda except finding good beaches and great food.

• Biggest surprise: Geting a 52 Euro bill (about $75) for two plates of sea bass, a Coke and a Fanta. If you order fish charged by weight, be smarter than us and make sure it's in a unit of measurement you understand!

• Biggest food obsession: For Steve, Italian gelato and European Coke. For me, Italian pastries, Greek salad and Fanta.
  
  
  
  

• Least favorite food: Honest-to-goodness Greek yogurt, unflavored. The picture on the container leads me to believe it was sheep yogurt. I will NOT try it again in a few years to see if my taste buds have matured.
  
  
  
  

• Most amazing moment: Sitting between the Haiga Sophia and the Blue Mosque at dusk and hearing the call to prayer from 5 different mosques.
  
  
  
  

• Best sunsets: Santorini.
  

Physics question

We had crepes for dinner on Sunday. A few with ham and turkey (just so we could reasonably call it "dinner") and then several delicious fruit and dessert crepes. At least, I had several. Mmmmmm....

Anyway, I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips on the last crepe I cooked and ate it in the kitchen (because who are we kidding, I am for sure not enough of a grownup to eat in the living room without spilling). I then took the bag of chocolate chips into the living room where we were playing Monopoly with some friends. And that is the full disclosure of my chocolate contact for the evening.

I should note before continuing that I was wearing a mid-calf-length dress so my knees were covered for the duration of the Monopoly carpet-sitting.

When I was getting ready for bed later that night, I found melted chocolate BEHIND MY KNEES. Nowhere else. Not on my hands, not on my dress, not even on my face. Also not on the carpet or the kitchen chairs. Just melted into the creases behind my knees. And it wasn't just a little bit of chocolate. I had to get in the bathtub to wash it off.

Can someone please explain how that's even a little bit possible?

WTH? Again?

For those of you not familiar with Utah slang, "WTH" would be "What the heck?" And before I continue this post, I just want to clarify that I am not pregnant. Because apparently, when your brain totally craps out on you, that's the first thing people assume.

If you've visited SYA before, you may remember a recent post about me leaving 4 hours early for a baby shower less than 5 miles away. (I'm not linking to it, just look down. It's like 2 inches below this.) Well, I've already topped it. And it hasn't even been a month yet.

One of my dearest friends from high school is getting married next month, so a few of our other friends threw a bridal shower for her (naturally). I looked forward all week to seeing Katie and our other high school gal pals. And I had a super cute present for her. So I told Steve to make plans with the guys and planned my day around the shower.

And then on Friday, Steve picked me up from work. We ran some errands, went to dinner, and then he dropped me off at home to hang out with my sister in law while he went out with the guys. And I totally FORGOT to go to the bridal shower. WTH?!

I woke up Saturday morning and saw the invitation on the fridge and that's when it dawned on me. I missed it. Totally, 100 percent failure. I almost cried (yes, that's true and no, for the second time, I am not pregnant).

And that's it, that's the story. I lose :(