A Wicked Birthday

For my birthday, we went on a sweet trip to Salt Lake and had dinner at Benihana's (conveniently right by the theatre...) and then went to Wicked, the musical. Oh, it was so good.

Dinner was like a pre-show show. Its a Japanese steakhouse, and you sit around a huge grill that the chef cooks your food on right in front of you. The chef was doing all kinds of tricks... juggling his spatulas and throwing shrimp tails around. We were sitting with a family with 3 kids under ten, and I think I was more entertained than they were...

Though... as Brent and I learned, the family were definitely regulars to Benihana's (and the guy paid with a $100 bill! whoa. You can see the Dad there in the background of the chef photo). When our chef came to the table, flipping his knives and such, the Dad was like, "Steve! I thought you were off on vacation today!"

Seriously, they like Benihana's and they didn't mess. Ha.

But the food was delicious.

And, Wicked was also fabulous. Good talent, cool scenery, great stuff.

And just take a small look at how dashing Brent looks :)

The Movies

There's a ballet documentary out called First Position. Oh, its good. It follows a few dancers through the Youth American Grand Prix, an American ballet competition. It only came out in a few movie theaters and for only a few days (I just missed it when it came to Salt Lake, gah).

But, I was able to rent it (for a whopping $6.99) on Amazon Prime Instant video, and I seriously was on the edge of my bed! Two of the dancers the movie follows quit regular school and started home school to continue their dancing. Another is from Colombia, and at 17 or 18 is living in Brooklyn away from his family to pursue his career. It is nutty to watch it, dancers are so kooky, and yet fascinating. They obsess and are perfectionists, but they have to be, if they want to be a professional dancer.

Here's the trailer...

DIY

I am so curious to try out these do-it-yourself wall art pieces. They seem easy... though they never are. Ha. But the one above (supposedly anyways :) is framed wallpaper. And instead of a large expensive frame, the person just used trim molding. Simple genius.

And this one... one of those black rubber outside door mats. Its spray painted white, and then sanded for that (ever elusive...) 'rustic' look. 

That stuff looks good. And, yes, I did find these ideas on pinterest

Cabis

I saw this fascinating photo gallery called "Just Here's Fine" (by Victoria Hannan) that documents the life of London taxi drivers. What a rough life.

Politics

I took an online quiz called "I Side With" to see which presidential candidate I most agreed with. 


According to the quiz (which I assume is correct...), I agreed most closely with the politics of Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate! That was a surprise for me! I just assumed I'd agree most with Mitt because he's Mormon like me. 


A libertarian is described succinctly (via a google search I did... ha) as someone who believes in maximum liberty and minimal government. Which, I do agree with...  for the most part anyway.


You can see below who I agreed with most and on what issues. With Mitt there, we weren't as agreeable as I thought. (Side note... Brent took the quiz, and sided with Romney 91%. wowza)

To be honest, I'd never even heard of Mr. Johnson. As a libertarian, he's not in the race to become the Republican candidate, which is the biggie deal right now, and he obviously won't be the Democratic candidate (I think our incumbent Obama called that one)... so I assume that's why he's not a big name since he's not with either of the big two parties. 


So, if I voted for him, would it be a throwaway vote? The chances of him winning are slim (I mean, I didn't even know he was a candidate, I would assume his chances are slim) so even if I voted for him, he'd just lose anyway. But then, if everyone thought that way, nobody would vote at all, and where's the good in that?


So I feel a bit in a sticky situation. Should I vote for him or not? And why does it take this little quiz to make me see who I most agree with? I should be more in the know... but it is sometimes boring to follow debates... just being honest.


If you're curious... Gary's positions include (I got them off his website):
1. Making it easier for immigrants to get visas and residency.
2. Repeal Obama's Healthcare plan. Which, I agree with I think. There are some good parts to the plan, but I don't think making health insurance mandatory is good.. it drives up the prices of insurance premiums because there are more medical bills to cover (at least I think that's right...)
3. Lessen the presence of American military in other countries. With the current state of the US budget, we can't afford to build roads, schools, and hospitals in other countries, as much as we would like to.


If you want to take the quiz... its at www.isidewith.com. Please do... Grandma and family I'd be curious to see who you agree with.

The House

Brent and I live on the second story of a house just a few blocks away from campus. We really love it, so I wanted to show it off a bit! The photo above is outside of our kitchen window. A few weeks ago, the side of the driveway was just covered in roses and it was so dreamy looking! Though unfortunately, the roses have all died now... I think the heat might have did them in.

We only have a swamp cooler in our bedroom, no AC or anything like that. So it can get preeety toasty. But that's really the only shortcoming... unless you count having to bring in the grocery loads up these stairs.. ha

I do adore our kitchen. Its pretty big, and even has a gas stove that cooks like nobody's business. It heats up way fast. The dining room does leave some to be desired... its pretty empty because we have the TV in our bedroom with the swamp cooler. But we do like to have dinner in here when we invite people over.

Eh, I'll post some more later.