OMG, we finally found our drugs?

They say the olfactory sense is the strongest and most memorable. I agree.  Before our trip, Shulamith and I had never spent time in a city where marijuana is legal. Walking the streets of NYC took me right back to my college days, when I had to hold my breath while walking through the halls of my dorm. Gotta love the 70s! That smell is so distinct, haha, and so gross.

As we've discovered before, outside of Utah where Diet Coke should be the state beverage, it's sometimes a challenge to find. I mean you can always get bottles or cans in grocery stores, but we prefer fountain Diet Coke in styrofoam cups. In NYC, there's a Starbucks on every block (and we went there one morning for some yummy hot chocolate), but not a single Swig or Sodalicious anywhere. So you can imagine our joy when Shulamith spotted a 7-11 just a few blocks down from our hotel! I worried they might not have fountain soda, or worse, that they might have only Pepsi products. But hallelujah (!) look what we found our very first morning:

Not styrofoam, but we'll take it. We carried these with us as we sought out a good breakfast spot. You always hear about New York style bagels, but I thought the hype couldn't be real. I mean nothing could beat Einstein's, right? Wrong. At a place called Pick-a-Bagel, we feasted on the most giant, chewiest bagels, both sweet and savory. We each ordered two and couldn't finish them, though we definitely tried. The next morning we considered finding a different place to eat, but wound up right back at Pick-a-Bagel. So good.

Our best dinner was on Isaiah's recommendation, which is not surprising. In his world travels these past seven years, he's become quite the food connoisseur, especially with Asian cuisine. Ramen is his favorite, so he insisted that we go to this Japanese Ramen bar. All they serve is Ramen, and you don't speak to anyone. Instead you fill out a form to "Customize Your Ramen" (level of spice, noodle texture, pork and garlic options, levels of saltiness and richness) and are seated at a bar that faces a wall with an opening at the bottom, just large enough to slide bowls underneath. You slip your form through this opening, and the people behind the wall (whom you never see or hear) slide your bowl of Ramen to you. Apparently this dining style is common in Japan and is designed to accentuate the experience as you focus on the Ramen, rather than on people. It was lots of fun and truly the best Ramen I've ever eaten.

We also ate a delicious Italian dinner, spaghetti with carbonara sauce. Like in all the restaurants we went to, we felt like we were the only ones not drinking alcohol, and the servers seems rather confused when we requested Diet Coke. At one place, they didn't even have normal soda glasses, so they brought us our Diet Coke in these:

In the entire restaurant, we could see just one other table drinking soda, and these people also had 4 or 5 kids with them, so we made a stereotypical judgement that they must be members of our church, haha.

As this post comes to an end, so does this series "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four shows in three days." I won't lie; that's making me a little sad. It was such a wonderful trip in every single way. I can't think of anything I'd change. You, Shulamith? Thank you for being the best travel companion and best friend in the whole world. 

Until next time, "Give My Regards to Broadway!" We will be back!

I wanna see their sweat!

This is what my mom always says when she buys seats for shows; she likes to sit right down in the orchestra section just a few rows back. I agree! If I'm gonna pay to see these performers, I wanna be close enough to see their sweat. So that's what we did. 

Before we left, when friends heard about our trip, they would ask, "Are you gonna see any Broadway shows?" to which I'd reply, "FOUR!!" They were usually surprised by that, but you see, that was our entire purpose for going. I mean what else would we even do?

Since returning, the most frequent question has shifted to "Which was your favorite?" Shulamith says she can't decide because they were all so different. This was her first time in NYC, and she says she is now ruined for any other theatre. Nothing will ever compare. I think she'll change her mind about this at some point, but I get it; nothing compares to Broadway. So which was my personal favorite?

Best Broadway Musical of Terrianne and Shulamith's trip, the nominees are

Wicked

Hadestown

Phantom of the Opera

Dear Evan Hansen

First, I must say that all four were fabulous. But really. They were incredible, and when Shulamith says she can't choose, I totally understand. I had seen both Phantom and Wicked previously, but these two productions were the best ever. The lovely young lady who played Christine in Phantom held the audience in the palm of her hand with the strength of her voice and honesty of her emotions. Elphaba in Wicked held me in the palm of her hand; I have no idea about rest of the audience because I was too focused on her amazing timing and natural physical comedy to notice. Ahhhh, she was so good! 

After opera (Phantom), show tunes (Wicked), and jazz (Hadestown), the pop music of Dear Evan Hansen was a fun change. And the kids were so talented. My favorite scene was near the beginning when Evan and Jared draft the fake emails to prove that he and Conner were BFFs (with deceased Conner in the background singing his emails back to Evan). Yes, the subject matter is tragic, and yes, we feel that poignantly in the scenes with Conner's parents, but this particular scene with those three boys is genius-ly hilarious.

And the Tony goes to......

Hadestown!

Without question, my overall favorite was the story of the young lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, narrated by Mr. Hermes, who seems to delight in telling the tale over and over, as many times as it takes to get it right. Could that be the plight of humanity? Always trying to trust, always hoping to stay strong, but always failing as "doubt comes in." Hmmm. Shulamith thought the ending was sad, but I'm not so sure. The idea of do-overs, grace, is a central gospel principle and also key to understanding the way the myth is presented in this show. I actually loved the ending. I also loved how I identified with pretty much everyone, even Hades, trying so desperately to keep the status quo, to keep his wife Persephone for the six months he has her, and ultimately, to keep his "little songbird," possibly the only light to enter Hadestown in a very long time. I'm not a super fan of change either, Mr. Hades.

Ironically, Hadestown was definitely an afterthought for us. We had chosen and bought tickets to the three other shows, before I asked Emily if she had any inside scoop on current Broadway productions. She said she'd heard several different people rave about a relatively new show called Hadestown. "Let's just add it!" I told Shulamith, without much thought. Thank. You. Emily! Whenever it tours here, grab those tickets fast.

One more installment yet to come in the series "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days." Stay tuned!

Out of a Paper Bag: Installment #2 of "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days!"

My spouse, our five children, their spouses (the two who have them), and any of my close friends will gladly testify to the fact that I have no sense of direction. Truth is I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag. One night I left the temple after serving on the evening shift, and wandered the parking lot for 30 minutes before texting Shulamith and Eli to report that I could not locate my car. "Don't worry," I texted. "I'll just keep searching. It has to be here. I just wanted you to know why I'm still not home." Eli and Amanda were just about to jump in their car and come rescue me, when finally, there it was: my car. Parked exactly where I left it six hours earlier.

I never know which way to go, and when I choose, 90% of the time, I choose wrong. The struggle, as they say, is real. So you can only imagine my apprehension about riding the NYC subway. Eeeeeek! When my mom and I were in New York, she paid for us to take Ubers or Taxis everywhere, but Shulamith and I wanted to save money, and Isaiah assured us we could navigate the subway just fine. By that he meant Shulamith could do it; he knows better than to think I could. I mean just look at this mess:

Like all maps, it resembles a package of cooked Ramen noodles thrown down on a page in random chaos. Meaningless. But Shulamith attacked it like a boss. Thanks to her, we owned that subway, riding from the airport to our hotel on Times Square, from our hotel to the 911 memorial and back, and finally to the airport to fly home. She read that Ramen noodle map but was better assisted by the marvelous Google Maps app, which told us exactly where to go and what to do. 

Besides those longer excursions, we did what she and I like to do best: We walked! We are known throughout our neighborhood housing development and our ward (which are basically the same thing) as the girls who walk all the time. Our favorite walk in NYC was the morning we walked to Central Park. It was every bit as lovely as I imagined, trees blowing in the breeze, people strolling along with their dogs on leashes, seemingly unending trails of pavement. We wish we could walk there every day.

I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag, but we found everything we needed and more. Stay tuned for further installments of "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days."

Shorter posts, solid clickbait, and pictures!

Based on my purely anecdotal and fully non-scientific research, readers tend to prefer shorter posts and those that include solid clickbait and at least one picture. It's true. Based on my stats for both page views and longevity of interest, posts with those three elements are always the most popular.

That's why, as I debated ideas for how to share our recent NYC trip, I decided to break it up into several shorter stories. And to add pictures. And to pay close attention to that oh so critical clickbait in the title and lead sentence. 

If you are reading this, my strategy worked (at least for this first installment of "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days!").

To start out, I've decided that the most successful trips happen when the people involved are compatible travel companions. For Shulamith and me, this is definitely the case. To illustrate, many travelers prefer to wake up early in the morning and get right out there, in order to squeeze in the absolute most out of a day. We are not those people. We love to wake up leisurely. We lie in our beds, take a few seconds to open our eyes, and breathe. Eventually, we grab our phones and reconnect with life just a bit, while eating various pieces of the candy stash that lies on the nightstand between us. Then, with a click of the remote control, we open the blackout blinds to a spectacular view of the city:

We do get up and out eventually, but there is no rush. Then, after a fabulous day of, well, everything (!), we return to our room. But not before seeking out and buying a delectable dessert to eat while lying in our beds, sipping Diet Coke, and enjoying the same view only the night time version:

One night we had these amazing cookies from a place called Levain Bakery. Just one cookie was like a full meal; they are at least an inch thick! I had oatmeal raisin, and Shulamith had chocolate chip. Mmmmmm! The next night, because we waited so long to get our bedtime dessert, we struggled to find something still open that wasn't ice cream, which would melt before we got back to our hotel room. We wound up with cookies once again, this time from a different place. We brought back several different kinds, and they were all fine but nothing compared to Levain.

So there's your short post, those of you who don't like to read anything lengthy. Stay tuned for more installments to come, including reports on more food and drink, transportation, and my personal take on the four shows!

Some days the stars align!

Isaiah has three passions: international travel, politics, and the NBA. So yesterday was a bit of a dream day for him. He didn't get to travel anywhere, but he served as a delegate to the Utah State Democratic convention. When he and Gerald attended our party caucuses a few weeks ago, they were the only two present from our precinct. I felt bad for staying home, but it had been a long, exhausting day, and I had class the following morning at 7:00 a.m. down in Orem. I thought there would be lots of people there; our precinct up in Sandy always had a decent sized group. Guess I forgot that we now live just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Utah County line. Not so many Dems round these parts. Gerald has served as a delegate for several years, but this time he abdicated the position to Isaiah.

The big vote yesterday was whether to run a Democrat in the U.S. Senate race against incumbent Mike Lee (and lose), or to throw support behind Independent candidate Evan McMullin, who has a remote chance of winning. There was tremendous pressure among some at the convention to run a Democratic candidate. Many feel there is virtue in supporting a candidate you respect, admire, and actually like, even if losing in inevitable. 

Isaiah is far too pragmatic for such an approach. In his opinion (and mine as well), if there is even the slightest chance of unseating Mike Lee (you know, the guy who's not sure he even believes in climate change, but says if it's really a thing, the way to solve it is to get married and have more babies), we need to take it. Yes, I 100% agree with Isaiah's decision to vote in favor of supporting McMullin rather than running a candidate from our party. And no, I'm surely no fan of Evan McMullin; I probably disagree with him on most issues, plus he was super rude to Isaiah at a rally this past fall. I guess Isaiah doesn't look old enough or powerful enough to matter to him. However, he's far better than Lee, so if there's even a slight chance, then, yes: I'm Team McMullin!

And guess what? Some days the stars align. The vote went Isaiah's way, and Dems will not put forth a candidate to run against Lee in November, but instead encourage support for Evan McMullin.

Then...there's Isaiah's other passion: the NBA.

Our favorite team, the Utah Jazz, played its fourth game of the first round of the playoffs yesterday afternoon, against the Dallas Mavericks. We were 1-2 going in and felt like this was a "must win" since we were home, and Game #5 would be played back in Dallas. Isaiah was still at the convention during the first half, which he watched on his phone as much as he could, then listened to the third quarter as he drove home. Most of the fourth quarter found him pacing the floor, head in hands, alternating between joy and despair depending on how each play went. But he was there to see our incredible team fight to the end and pull out a "W" after being down four points with only 37 seconds left to play. It was insaaaaaane! Careful strategizing on both ends of the court and stellar performances by Gobert, Mitchell, Clarkson, and Bogdanovac made the magic happen. We have ourselves a series, as we return to Dallas 2-2.

Some days the stars align. For Isaiah, yesterday was one of those days.

Why would you stop when they leave home?

A FB friend posted pictures of her three kids hunting for Easter eggs, with the words, "The kids say they want Easter egg hunts until they leave home." My response: "Why would you stop when they leave home?" Although only one of our kids currently lives here full time and another comes and goes with college breaks, all four who reside in the Salt Lake Valley come home for Easter and hunt for eggs. I mean why should all the fun end when kids grow up? No reason I can think of.

I was woefully behind this year. Sunday morning found me prepping Easter baskets and rushing to fill all the plastic eggs with yummy chocolate delights, while trying to watch a bit of stake conference, which was broadcast because our stake is too large for everyone to meet in person. Can I just mention here that waiting until the last minute is not my style; I'm usually super organized and skillfully avoid the stress of last-minute hurrying. But this time, nope. Didn't happen. That's because I have no weekends this semester. I teach Friday mornings in Orem from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. Then I serve in the temple from 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. And Saturday I teach all day at SLCC. Fortunately, this schedule ends this coming Saturday. Hallelujah! (Note to self: Never again agree to teach on Friday mornings or all day Saturday.)

The tricky part came when Seth arrived before I had a chance to hide the eggs. I immediately texted Shulamith: "Seth is already here, and the eggs are not hidden! What do I do?" Her response: "Just hide them nonchalantly; he'll never notice." She knows her baby brother well. But then Isaiah went downstairs to hang out with Seth, so there they were, the two of them, sprawled out in the living room, solving world problems. These two are practically clones, and I love that they are such close friends, despite their 9-year age difference. 

But help! Now I needed to hide all these eggs without either of them noticing. Could it be done? Indeed. I proceeded to hide 30 plastic eggs throughout the main level of the house (including the living room), entirely unnoticed. Later that night, Seth asked, "When did you hide all the eggs? I didn't see any of them when I first got here."

Once Shulamith and Eli, Amanda, and Jane arrived, we ate yummy ribs that Shulamith had smoked all day, along with her famous pasta salad, and baked potatoes. Eli and Amanda brought my favorite bread from Harmon's. If you haven't tried Harmon's white chocolate pecan bread, you should probably go get some today. 

The egg hunt was a huge success; I think Seth collected the most, closely followed by Eli and Amanda. 

After dinner, we added to the Easter festivities by also celebrating Isaiah's birthday, which was two days earlier. We got our favorite Costco cake, and Seth's girlfriend, Sav, brought not just one pie, but two (!), banana cream and Oreo. So it was pretty much dessert heaven!

In the middle of all this, we finally put Jane in this little pink dress. My grandpa brought it back from Switzerland when I was a baby, and I was the first to wear it. Since then, we've made sure all the baby girls in the family wear it at least once, including Shulamith, Kennedy, and now Jane.

Finally, every Easter needs baskets:

Because why would you stop when they leave home?

Should we just stay and eat the food? (The Story of Two Shower Crashers)

"You have arrived," Shulamith's GPS announced. We stared at a mound of dirt and a couple houses still under construction, nothing remotely resembling a place where a baby shower might be. "Let me make sure I put in the right address," she said. "Wait, no, I'm one number off."

She quickly put in the correct address, and her phone told her we were just one mile away. Yayyy! We won't be too late. Off we went. 

Following the confident voice of the GPS lady, we weaved in and out of blocks, through various streets and cul-de-sacs until finally arriving at our destination. There was no house number visible, but tons of cars were parked nearby, including one with a woman inside and her car door open. Shulamith jumped out and walked over to her. "Are you going to the baby shower, and is that the right place?" she asked pointing to the house with the cars all around. "Yes!" the woman replied. "I'm just waiting for my daughter."

Grateful to have found it, we walked up to the door, on which a sign was posted: "Come on in!" so we opened the door and walked inside. There were so many ladies there, at least 30, all gathered in small groups happily chatting. We looked around and didn't see Amy, but we assumed she was hidden somewhere inside one of those groups of friends, or possibly she stepped aside to the restroom. I placed our gift on the gift table, and we continued to wait.

After several minutes standing alone, recognizing no one and not seeing Amy anywhere, Shulamith whispered, "Do you think we're at the right place?"

"Yes?" I answered.

"But where is Amy? Where is her mom? Where is Jessie?"

We knew we wouldn't be acquainted with most of the people attending, but those three at least should be there. 

They weren't. 

Finally, I went back to the gift table to look at the tags on the gifts. Yikes!! Every gift but ours had the name "Brynn" on it. 

Barely able to contain ourselves from breaking out into uncomfortable and inappropriate laughter, we retrieved our gift, awkwardly waived to the room, and announced, "We went to the wrong shower." We quickly left to continue our search for the correct house, but not without remarking to each other that we should have at least stayed long enough to sample the food.

A few houses down, we discovered another home with a few cars around. "Could this be it?" we wondered.

Success!

We walked in and were immediately greeted by a very pregnant Amy, glowing with her natural beauty and grace pouring over and around her. Seated behind her was her sweet mom, whom I hadn't seen in 18 years since we left Mt. Vernon in 2004. A handful of other former Mt. Vernon folks were also there; all roads lead to Utah, I guess. It was a delightful time reliving memories and catching up on nearly two decades of life. Kids have grown up. Spouses have been added. New babies have been born. We haven't changed in the least. Thank goodness.

Amy opened lovely gifts, including a Beaded Blessed bracelet, for which we all selected two beads to bless Amy with everything good as she enters into motherhood. Shulamith and I share our joy and love for Amy, who, growing up, was the closest thing to a sister Shulamith ever had. This yearned for and long awaited baby girl is a miracle for sure and an answer to many prayers. 

I can't wait to meet her one day.