changes

Since Latin is long behind me, I decided to change my blog title so that every time I look at it, I'm not reminded of Virgil and Ovid, even if mensa secunda does mean dessert. Christopher and I debated long and hard before I chose the super original title...Melissa and Christopher. I know, I know.

I'm back...

I think Christopher missed me while I was back East...

Because when I got home he took me here to eat the best pizza of my life, and then to Singin' in the Rain at Hale Center. The show was darling, and everyone got really wet.




On Saturday evening we went to the Utah Arts Festival at the SLC library. If any readers are ever in town at the end of June, they should definitely not miss this! We spent hours browsing the booths and talking to artists. We went to the Utah film show and voted for our favorites out of the top six short films of the year.






We went to the micro-writers booth where they provide a prompt and only let you write about it for 60 seconds. Not easy! It was hilarious to read everyone's finished products. Here was our favorite from the prompt "When she sat on the purple velvet couch..."



We left after eating steak tacos while listening to the finalists of the poetry slam. (yikes) and we talked about our favorite artists the whole way home.

It's really good to be back!

summer update

It's been awhile--thanks to my mac crashing and erasing it's hard drive when I had it open on the counter making a new chicken recipe I found online. Don't worry, the chicken pulled through, but my pictures, music, and papers probably won't. The nerve...

But I still wanted to update. On Memorial Day Christopher and I hiked and pickniked on the Pine Hollow trail in American Fork canyon. It was absolutely beautiful and it was great training too, because we're leaving for Havasupai tonight and that hike is going to be a million times harder. I got a pedicure to mentally prepare.

And here are a couple pictures I promised Lacey. We made candle jars for a barbecue we held last week for my cousin Danielle. The bbq probably canceled out any training the hike mentioned above could have done for us because we ate queso dip, chips, and ice-cream cake all night. Below that are some flowers I planted just to see if I could keep something alive. So far so good!

The Town of Hill

A couple months ago Christopher and I went on a little date in downtown Salt Lake City. We went to the Dodo restaurant and got a delicious toasted cream cheese appetizer with fruit and crackers. We shopped around Gateway and he bought me ice-cream on the way home to eat while we watched The Office. 

But before all that we went to Sam Weller's used bookstore and completely fell in love with it. It has a sturdy wooden ladders hooked on the all the tall shelves, and tons of great art on the walls.  Christopher found a couple classic sci-fi novels from the 50's, and worked really hard to find me a perfect source for my research paper on Proust. I spent most of my time in the poetry section, not because I know a lot about poetry, but because the books were so pretty!  I ended up with a slim volume called "The Town of Hill,"  by Donald Hall (former poet laureate.)  The book is beautiful, but as a bonus, the poems are great too, so I thought I would share my personal favorite. Don't worry, it's nice and short.  

Breasts

There is something between us.

:)  I love it.

Graduation!

I know this happened a few weeks ago, but I decided to post some pictures of the big day.  I loved BYU but was definitely ready to go.  My dad came out from Connecticut which was awesome, but stressed me out a little because I was worried that I wouldn't actually get the diploma--I was convinced I was getting a D in Latin, and would have to go spring semester. Miraculously I got a B- which Christopher and I both believe was mathematically impossible. I will never forget this last parting gift.  :)

Christopher and my sisters threw me a surprise party that evening, and my dad bought me cake and a bouquet of pink tulips.  It was the best day.  

DisneyWorld

Christopher and I had an awesome time this past week finding housing in NC and taking a little detour in Orlando to play in DisneyWorld.  Christopher is a perfect traveling companion.  He gamely ordered cran-apple juice and mixed it with my ginger-ale on our flights making the perfect little cocktails.  He gallantly squished the cockroaches waiting for us in our $23 a night hotel room every evening while I sat on the bed cheering, and sometimes crying. He held my hand as we rushed through the parks and insisted on wearing the backpack filled with our supply of cheez-nips and granola bars the entire time.  He was just the best.  

Here are some other trip highlights besides Christopher.

1-Finding a perfect 2-bedroom apartment in Durham that is in our price-range and doesn't appear to have a critter problem. 

2-Choosing to go to DisneyWorld over 2 days that were record-breaking empty. We honestly ran right on almost every ride we wanted to.  We waited in two lines. 

3-Hearing an old man yell at his grown daughter because she was rushing too quickly when Magic Kingdom opened. He shouted that people were cutting him off and looked at us. Guilty.

4-Seeing as many types of mickey hats as there were people in the actual parks. Pirate hats, newly-wed hats, various princess hats, and uncomfortable looking coonskins.

5- Witnessing every child in DisneyWorld completely fall apart around 3 in the afternoon.  We learned that this was the best time to go on rides in Fantasyland, and the worst time to get ice-cream. 

6-Finally, we loved watching the fireworks over the castle from our log boat on Splash Mountain.  The workers let us ride it again and again without getting out. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful vacation and we felt so lucky. 

We're so glad we went, but we're happy to be home!

Hollywood Studios

After we got soaked on our last Splash Mountain ride

By the Castle

You guys- I love the new Indigo Girls CD.  Their last album "Despite our Differences" came out during the first few weeks I was in London on study abroad, and was feeling homesick for all things American. To this day it ranks among the highest on the "most played" feature of my iTunes library.  Their new CD may not top their last. I'm not sure anything could.  But I love it anyway.  My favorite tracks (as of now) are "Fleet of Hope" and "I'll Change."  If you can help it avoid listening to "Driver Education" at all costs. Especially if your husband or friends who aren't already big Indigo Girls fans are listening.  They will make fun of you, probably forever. You've been warned.