My Close Encounter With Bill Maher

On Saturday my boyfriend and I went to the Bill Maher show at Kingsbury Hall and it was AWESOME! I got the tickets for my boyfriend as a birthday gift a few months ago because we're both fans.

I have been wanting to go to a Bill Maher show for some time now, in fact, it's on my bucket list (crossing that off right now). Sure we didn't have the best seats in the house, but Bill (don't mind the familiarity Bill) did not disappoint. We had a wonderful time and we even had a close encounter (sort of) after the show when we "ran" into him.

As we were walking back to our car we noticed a small huddle of people and a bunch of flashes going off. We got closer and saw that those people were huddling him, Bill Maher! We stood maybe within 10 feet of him and unfortunately only got a couple of far-away, not-so-clear shots of Bill before he got into his town car to leave, but that was enough for me. What a fantastic night and what a perfect ending.

-Liz

P.S. If I wasn't so in love with my boyfriend I might go after Bill, though my boyfriend tells me I'm not Bill's type.

P.S.S. There were close to 2,000 people at the show! Who knew there were so many liberal hippies in Utah?!

Scrapbook Sunday: Panagia Drosiani

My Panagia Drosiani Church scrapbook page is done! (That's in the island of Naxos in Greece.) 

Happy Scrapbook Sunday!

-Liz

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

The Paris Wife is the story of Ernest Hemingway and his marriage to first wife Hadley Richardson. Wait let me back up. The Paris Wife is a book about Hadley Richardson and her marriage to Ernest Hemingway. It's from Hadley's perspective with a few intercepting chapters of Ernest's perspective. The book mostly takes place in 1920's Paris (though they do travel quite a bit), so you get a glimpse of that time period which is absolutely fascinating to me (as well as Ernest).

I really liked Hadley at first. I thought she was so much like me. We both lost our fathers at a young age; We both fell out of a window as children; We were both named Elizabeth (though she went by Hadley); And we were both late bloomers of sorts, but that's where the similarities end.

I loved Hadley and Ernest's love story at the beginning and I can see why Hadley was so taken by Ernest. I think it might have been impossible not to fall in love with Ernest. Soon after their marriage began, however, I started feeling annoyed with Hadley. She seemed so needy. Now, I tried to remember that she was a newlywed and that she missed her husband when he went away for work, but I hated that her whole life revolved around him. Now, again, I tried to remember that she was a newlywed and that she lived in a different era, but still I couldn't help but feel bad for her and not in a compassionate way either. I just felt sorry that she was so pathetic. When Ernest started acting like a jerk and being unfaithful, Hadley bugged me even more for not leaving the relationship and for the third time, yes, I know it was a different era and things were different, but the thing is that she was surrounded, if not, part of the lost generation in the roaring 1920's. I just wish she would have stood her ground more in the relationship and done more for herself.

I love historical fiction and this book does a fine job at capturing this time period and though it is no secret that Hadley's marriage to Ernest ends in divorce because we know he had two more marriages after this one (no spoiler there), I felt frustrated with Hadley throughout the book. Even so, it is always great to take a peek at history through a book and get a glimpse into the lives of the people of that time, the choices they made, and how they felt. For those reasons I loved this book.

Until next time!

-Liz

Scrapbook Sunday: Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

A scrapbook page from that time I went to Puerto Vallarta by myself 10 years ago. Boy, does time fly or what!? I need to remember to look back through my scrapbooks more often for inspiration. This page proves that less is definitely more. It's so easy and simple and yet so lovely.

Happy Scrapbook Sunday!

-Liz

Zumba Sweat

This was me a few nights ago. No, I didn't get caught in the rain, that wet stuff on my shirt is just a little souvenir I had left over from Zumba class.

Almost every time I get home from Zumba I take a few moments to admire the sweat on my shirt. I used to be embarrassed of my sweatyness so much that I would avoid wearing light colored shirts to Zumba as much as possible. Now I don't care. In fact I love it and I'm damn proud of it. In August it will be four years that I started taking Zumba classes pretty regularly, yet the sweating has not lessened very much. Some Zumba days I sweat buckets others not as much, that depends on that day's playlist, but despite having lost 30 lbs in the last year I continue to sweat a ton. I've come to the conclusion that I will probably never be one of those graceful women that barely breaks into a sweat at the gym. Instead, I'm gonna sweat like a beast and embrace it. I worked hard for it, after all, so hurray for sweating and all its glory! 

Until next time!

-Liz

Salt Lake's Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid - Danish Garden

Did you know that we have an official replica of The Little Mermaid statue found in Copenhagen, Denmark here in Salt Lake City? My boyfriend recently went on a business trip to Denmark where he learned this and of course I had to see it. It is found at the International Peace Gardens of Jordan Park. The original statue was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale The Little Mermaid and completed in 1913 by the Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen. It has become Denmark's symbol and it is possibly its most famous tourist attraction. While there are many copies of the statue throughout the world, apparently there were only a handful of official replicas made by Eriksen. Something like three or four and we have one of them right here in our city. The Danish Garden at the International Peace Gardens was dedicated on June 5, 1955, Denmark's Constitution Day, and with the permission of the Danish King at the time, the statue was donated to Salt Lake City.

The first time I watched the Disney version of The Little Mermaid was at my brother's house when I was nine years old. I loved it so much that I begged and begged my dad to buy the movie for me. It was probably a luxury we couldn't afford at the time, but he bought it for me anyway and I probably spent the whole fourth grade watching it, but it was a good distraction for me to have during a time when our family was disintegrating. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I watch the movie now I can probably recite most, if not all of it. I still have it. It's the only VHS tape I own today. I don't even own a VCR nowadays, but I could never part with it.

I think this statue is such a gem for us to have here in our city as well as the International Peace Gardens themselves. There is only one other Peace Garden in the whole U.S. and it is located in Dunseith, North Dakota near the Canadian border that symbolizes the peace and friendship between the United States and Canada.

Today the International Peace Gardens of Salt Lake City represent 28 countries. Each country's garden was designed by that country and has some of its native flowers and trees. A lot of the gardens also have some sort of exhibit such as a statue or replica of a landmark. Unfortunately, many of these exhibits seem to be in need of some refurbishment. Also, most of the water features that are part of some of the gardens were without water when we visited, still, it is a lovely place, nonetheless, and it's free. Definitely worth the visit!

International Peace Gardens, Salt Lake City, Utah

Chinese Garden

Greek Garden

Danish Garden

 

Russian Garden

Indian Garden

Indian Garden

French Garden

Until next time!

-Liz

Scrapbook Sunday: Graduation Day

Since it's graduation season and since I've finally come around to scrapbook my college graduation pictures (from 5 years ago!!) I thought I'd post my scrapbook creation.

Happy Scrapbook Sunday!

-Liz