Glass and Gardens

Beautiful Fall

Saturday morning my friends Mike and Jessica and I got up bright and early (9am) and headed out for a delicious breakfast at Eggs in the City and a morning at the Gardens (Red Butte Gardens that is). 

The night before I had seen the movie "Waiting for Superman" so we had a riveting discussion of the US school system throughout our breakfast.  Our conversation was so enthroning I hardly noticed how delicious my eggs benedict were.  The discussion got really intense.  We each had our opinions which didn't always agree, but I have to admit it was one of my favorite conversations.  I never felt like anyone was attacking the other person, we were just having a really interesting discussion of the point of the movie, our opinions on the school system, teacher unions (and unions in general) and areas we see for improvement.  I'm going to see that movie again this week with my mom who has been a teacher and school administrator since I was in Kindergarten, I am sure that will lead to further discussion and changing of my opinions.
Eventually, we did stop talking about it (at least for a few minutes, I have been talking about all weekend).  The entire purpose of our outing was not breakfast but to see the glass art show at Red Butte Gardens.  I got a membership to the Gardens earlier this year so I could buy early discounted tickets to the concert series which resulted in of course one of my favorite concerts in my favorite venue.  I decided I needed to get some use out of it and use up my guest tickets.  The glass art show was presented by the Utah Guild of Glass Artist.  The work was really interesting and we were curious how some of it was created. 
After perusing the art we headed outside for the gardens.  We let our inner child escape and we had a great time running around and enjoy the beautiful fall garden.


My favorite glass piece

Jess loves crazy reindeer mummy bushes

Why?  Because they were there

We feed the fish...

...looked creepy...

...and carefully explored our surroundings. 

It was a good day.



The Short List of 4th of July Weekend Fun

A co-worker asked me the other day for some ideas of fun things to do over the 4th of July weekend.  Here is the list I gave her plus a few other ideas that I have heard of since.

• Friday
• Concert in Brigham Young Park - Mama’s Boys. Shumway family band performing foot-stomping fiddling, along with western and bluegrass selections.
• Utah Symphony Patriotic Celebration at Sundance
  Join the Utah Symphony for its annual celebration of all things American. Bring a blanket to sit on and your patriotic spirit as the orchestra performs all of your red, white, and blue favorites from Sousa Marches to Film music. (Note: A second show is on Saturday at Deer Valley and a third July 6 in West Valley)   Utah Symphony Schedule
• SL Real rock the soccer field and the skies with fireworks after the game.  Ticket Info
• Saturday
•  Start the morning with a 5K run that ends at the Utah State Capitol. Freedom 5K Details
• Continue your morning at the SL Farmers Market and get some post race breakfast.
• Or skip the 5K and head to Brighton for the Independence Day Breakfast.  Brighton Breakfast Event Details.  Haha!  They even have a blog SLC Brighton Breakfast Blog
• Thanks to a few local companies, Whole Foods and Noodles & Co. the Sugar House fireworks have been saved (yes they were in jeopardy of being shout down).  Get to the park early because it will fill up fast.  Sugar House Event Details
• Spend the entire day at Jordan Park and get a FREE pancake breakfast, watch the Kid's Parade, shop the People's Market and enjoy fireworks. SLC 4th of July Celebration
• Sunday
• SL Bees Vs Tacoma Rainiers - Fireworks after game.  Buy the lawn tickets (GA) and after the game you can movie down into the outfield and watch the fireworks there for a great view.
• One Republic at Deer Valley.  Great outdoor venue.  Not sure if there will be fireworks after, but I can't see why not. Concert Details
• Monday
• SL Bees Vs Tacoma Rainier (No fireworks but still fun)
• Monday starts the Gallivan Monday Movies.  Cuddle up and watch "An Affair to Remember" Monday Movies Schedule
• Random Idea
• You could do a hike over SL to watch fireworks from the mountains. Check out the Bonneville shoreline trail…runs all along the Aves and University area. You will be able to see several firework shows going off throughout the valley.

Have a great weekend and INDEPENDENCE DAY!