my {imagined} house

When I look up at my little bungalow when I get home at night, this is what I see. 

 It may really look like any other older home in the Avenues {top left image}but to me there is something magical about it.
Maybe I've imagined it so many times it has become a secret shared between the house and me and it seems to shimmer between reality and imaginary.  What could be if only the weathered wood was painted a pretty color and the brick {I know this is bordering sacrilege} was painted a pretty warm grey. 

 I would take great pleasure in yanking out all those nasty bushes and dated wrought iron to build retaining walls out of stacked stone to compliment the sand stone porch steps. I'd plant a beautiful xeriscape type garden on each level with herbs and blossoming bushes.  Instead of a lamp post, spotlit stairs and architectural details.  Instead of a storm door, something inviting like high gloss terracotta orange.

The porch would have a thick colorful rug and beautiful lighting with cozy chairs to curl up in to enjoy the view of the city below.

And the details...OH! the details.  From unique house numbers, to window treatments to accent the colors used on the exterior... It is never quite the same dream twice, an ever evolving thing that changes with my mood and the inspiration I've run across during the day.  I hold up an idea like a dress to see if it fits.

What would I do with all that free space in my head if I weren't dreaming about design?

over the roof tops

I suppose it's fitting to end yesterday and start a fresh new day with the same great color.  There is something to be said about continuity.  One of my favorite parts of this house {there are so many} is the view from the front porch.  I've been up for hours already today {the good kind of insomnia} so I've ventured outside a few times watching the city wake up.  The lights have this way of twinkling..I'm sure it has a scientific explanation like light traveling, or whatever, but I think it is magical.

Always my observer, I wonder if she thinks I'm as much a fruit loop as I think she is for the quirky things she does?  Probably.  Her smirk says it all.

good morning Tuesday

fresh approach

I was outside on my porch this morning enjoying the sunshine {in short sleeves even} and started dreaming about great ways to spread some holiday cheer to the porch.  Filling empty pots with cut greenery would be fresh and understated.  And pine cones!   An easy score around here.  I loaded up a bag from the park behind Noble House earlier today to take home with me.

I would also love a wreath like this one made of protea.  It reminds me of beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

 Here's to enjoying the simple joys of the holiday season.

burger crawl

The evening started out like any other saturday night in Salt Lake City.

only we were on a very important mission: 

To find the perfect burger.
Loads of choices, we narrowed the field to three well known places.

 First stop.   

B & D Burgers {13 East near the U of U Campus}  LT's burger joint of choice.

killer zucchini fries and the pumpkin shake was hard to put down when we decided it was best to pace ourselves and save it for later.

{nothing to do with burgers, but I love it all the same.}

Next up - The wild card of the night.  Smash Burger {21st South}  Neither of us had been there or heard anything about it so we didn't have any expectations.

A-maz-ing.  

The burger was fantastic, the rosemary sprinkled fries were a tasty surprise, no pumpkin shake to weigh in on though so I feel like we were missing the third element.  How can you judge a burger joint without the shake?

Final stop.  Tony Burgers.  Solid all the way around.  Burger is classic, fries are nothing fancy but the perfect crave inducing crispy sensation.  The pumpkin shake has a whipped, smooth quality that made it easy to drink with the giant straw while still being thick enough to fill up any spare spaces we might have left after our gluttonous game.

Mission accomplished.  Burgers tested. 

I'm still a die hard Tony's fan.  

{But that doesn't mean I won't be a turncoat if I'm ever in Sugarhouse looking for the next best thing.}

Devin's people

My nephew Devin was kind enough to let us tag along on his scouting hike Saturday morning.  Nothing says cool like bringing your grandparents, aunt and dad along.

We had lunch at the Buddhist Temple half way up the mountain, then we went our separate ways to enjoy the mountain in our own way: the grandparents back down the way we'd come, the scouts to scout along the river doing their thing, and my brother and me to scramble up the bazillion stairs to the top. 

The view was beautiful with a flock of dragonflies floating around eating flying ants.  I recently realized I haven't made it to any of the peaks around my home in SLC, but I have been to the top of many mountains here in Korea.  I think it has something to do with the elevation difference.  Korean mountains are the perfect size for me. Not too big, not too small, just right.

outdoor market

Yesterday while the kids were in school we went to an outdoor market while we were out and about running errands. 

Gone are the days of looking for leather coats, pretty bags or little trinkets.  Instead I wish I could just blend into the rich tapestry of shops squished together, people buzzing around and yummy aromas of all kinds of really great food blending together so I could just observe.

Let's pretend these ladies are running a pet store instead of selling dinner.  That is one meal I'll pass on.  Instead I'll have another cinnamon pancake.

Seaira and her grandpa.  If anyone was counting how many times she said 'Grandpa' yesterday I think they would have lost count around a million.

Out of the country

I'll be gone for a couple of weeks wandering around the great country of Korea.  

If you ever find yourself wondering what I am up to know that food is probably on my mind. I've either just eaten, about to eat, or thinking about when I'll eat again.

Korean is my very most favorite food.

In the meantime, I've set up a few posts to show up while I'm gone in an attempt to keep things fresh, and if I'm in the mood I'll throw in a few posts between meals, beaches and best of all - lots of time with my family.

Chul mokgo sayo!

{I ate well.}

tea ceremony

I woke up this morning with a memory hanging around like a dream. 

Once upon a time I got paid to travel.  This was while I lived in Korea and we went on a few trips to different parts of the country to film a show called "Welcome to Korea".  It was shown on flights coming into the country to give tourists ideas of places to see, things to do, that kind of thing.  

We went on a trip in January when it is really {reaaally} cold to a Buddhist Temple somewhere along the coast.  

We did everything the resident monks did.  

We arrived late the first night just in time for evening prayers.  I struggled to keep up with all the bowing and kneeling.

We slept on the heated floors with the same thin blankets and mats that the monks use.  

We ate our simple meals out of wooden bowls and cleaned them with our rice as we went so by the time the meal was complete there was no clean up.  

We sat in silence as we created traditional printings. 

{shown above on the right}

The rhythm of their every day was so sure.

We had interesting discussions you might imagine when you put an aethist German, a buddhist monk and a young American Mormon girl together for long stretches of time.

 We had a traditional tea ceremony.

The tea ceremony is where my memory became so vivid this morning I could almost smell the tea leaves.

We were set up to film outside on the veranda outside the prayer room overlooking the countryside.  

It was early morning and a dense mist moved in as things were being set up for the ceremony so that I could only see the tips of the trees on the hillside below us. There was a gusty wind swirling it around so that I could see individual strands of it moving between the trees creating pockets of color and sunlight all around us.  Because of the moisture in the air and the bright morning sunshine it was like being inside a moving prism.

I remember sitting very still watching everything around me because it had set in so quietly I knew it'd be over before I knew it.  

The monks were chanting, the film crew all seemed to be under the same spell I was.  I snapped a few pictures hoping to capture the surreal moment somehow.  The pictures were pretty, but didn't begin to capture the real thing.

A week later when I was back in Seoul I was telling my sister in law about this and pulled my camera out to show her only to find every single picture from that trip had been lost.  

I'm almost glad now {it took some time to feel this way} because pictures sometimes restrict my memory.  This way that morning can live on in my mind's eye the way I still see it.