Favorite memes: Advice from Joy

Thank you Love Bug Cakes and Cookies and Between the Pages for the reminder today!
This is a quote from Inside Out and I love it.

End-of-summer work party

My office had a Farewell to Summer barbecue for lunch on Friday. It was even catered by R&R BBQ. Delicious! It's nice to spend some work time bonding with some of my coworkers. I forget while holed up in my cubicle how much I like a lot of those people, especially ones in other departments I don't see very often.

I tried my hand at Ladderball and Cornhole and was rubbish at both. Fortunately, my partner in Cornhole was ok and we got 4th place in the Tournament. I may have only scored 4 points in 6 rounds, but I got the bean bag in the hole once, so I feel pretty good. Hooray for Team Awesome!

I do like a good barbecue!

I had a birthday

and lots of celebrations!

The first was the perfect way to start: Besty Birthday with my Kate. She and I were born only a few weeks apart, so we like to get together sometime in the middle and celebrate each other at the same time. This year, we splurged at The Melting Pot where I ate more than my fair share of the chocolate fondue, and the excellent waiter gifted us both with bottles Garlic and Wine seasoning to take home - yummy! We also laughed and cheered when we realized we'd found each other highly nerdy and completely perfect gifts.

Kate and her vintage USS Enterprise shuttlecraft, complete with Captain Picard action figure.
When we got on TRAX after dinner, a young man exiting the car said: "Is that a shuttlecraft? Like, from the Enterprise? That's so cool!" He sounded jealous he didn't have one. Sorry, dude!

Me and my warm, fuzzy TARDIS blanket. It is warm and big enough to wrap around my body and still have enough fabric to cover my toes. Fantastic!

The party with the family is always a highlight, and this year was no exception. My mom cheerfully cooked the weird menu I requested (Monte cristo sandwiches, strawberry salad, caprese salad, Brussels sprouts with bacon, and chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting), I was showered with gifts that included repairs at my condo, movie gift cards, and a new popcorn popper, and I had a satisfactory conversation about Harry Potter with a couple of my siblings. I even played a round of Clue with Adam, Lindsey, and the G-unit, and I won!

David's face in the background kills me

My nieces prepared a little song and dance for me, and Dave expertly accompanied them.
They even provided an encore -- be still my live-performance-loving heart!

Adam's homemade cards are always spot-on and awesome. He should go into the business.

My actual birthday was over Labor Day weekend. It's always nice when I have the day off from work, and even better when my friends do, too! I spent the morning at Jordanelle Reservoir with some friends from church and tried paddle boarding for the first time. I was surprised when I liked it as much as I did. A couple of the other ladies were jealous I was able to move from kneeling to standing without falling into the water (thank you, yoga!). Such a lovely, chill activity. I miraculously wasn't even sore afterwards.

Did I mention it was 66 degrees that morning?
It warmed up a little, but I'm grateful I didn't fall in the water.

Angie, Pamela, DeEtte, me, Melia, and Angela

Melia and me

I bought these shorts on sale at the reservoir shop that day. I've been looking all summer, so I found them not a moment too soon :P
Right after we took this photo, I realized that it was easier to maneuver if I held onto the handle at the top of the paddle. The more you know!

Phase two of the actual birthday involved some quiet time during which I ate a frozen treat from Nielsens Frozen Custard (maple walnut), did my favorite restorative yoga routine, showered, and made treats for rehearsal the next night.

Looks a little like a gnarled old man wearing a hat, doesn't it?

In the evening, Liz and Chantryce joined me for some barbecue and an action flick.
(Come on, folks. How am I still single?)

I walk past SugarHouse Barbeque every week on my way to church and it always smells amazing. It was darn good. I need to go again soon because I did not eat enough.

Gorgeous dates.
(Can you see my tiny tiara?)

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was just as action-packed and entertaining as I'd hoped. Also, I want forever more to sit in a lounge chair when I see movies, even if Liz commented that we're one step closer to the human predicament predicted in Wall-E ;)

Before going home, I stopped at Larissa's house (I forget why I thought I could do that so late at night. I promise not to do that to you again, Riss, before you have a chance to respond, even on my birthday). She had a gift ready for me anyway. I hadn't talked with her one-on-one in months and it felt soooo gooood to catch up a little. I love you!

Later that week, I invited her and some more of my favorite people* to join me for dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille (a place I tried when I could only eat meat and salad and wanted to return to when my diet restrictions were eased -- a good idea, it turns out) and The 39 Steps in West Jordan. Dinner was delicious, and the play was delightful. We were surprised when Larissa and our server realized they had done a play together several years ago, and then he went out of his way to make sure we were all well taken care of, including gifting me a certificate for a future visit. We were late to the play, but we were able to catch on fairly quickly, I think.

Ann, Jamie, me, Nichole, and Larissa at Brio.
The lamb chops and the sweet potato risotto are delish.

I had to get a photo showing how we'd unintentionally dressed to match.
Nichole's shoes were pink, tying into my pink shirt. Great minds think alike.

The last official birthday celebration was dinner at The Garden with a group of dear ladies I did theater with as a teenager. I am thrilled that we've reconnected, and that they were free do laugh and eat and talk and talk and talk.

Lifelong friends Katie, Suzanne, Laura, Theresa, and Suzanne

Suzanne brought her tiny baby and let me hold him for as long as I wanted.
Such a sweet, kissable, huggable little boy. Thank you, Zanny!

He got fussy, so I got fussy.
Solidarity forever!

We decided to get one of every dessert and share.
Best decision so far this year.
I especially recommend the creme brulé.

A view from the restaurant. Nice shot, Theresa!

Pretty great, right? Who is this lucky? It wasn't even a milestone birthday! I am grateful to everyone who took the time to send texts, post on my wall on Facebook, choose a thoughtful gift, and/or spend some time with me this year. I am a blessed woman. With friends and family like you, there's no way this year can be anything less than wonderful!


*On several occasions recently, people have commented that I seem to have a lot of close girl friends. I didn't realize until then that this was an odd thing. I'm a single lady, and I have a LOT of interests that I like to share with cool people. Hooray for female friends, and hooray for excuses to see them as often as possible!

Baby brother is 30!

The Smyth family has hit another milestone: my youngest brother, David, is thirty years old, so none of us are in our twenties anymore! Good thing, too, because being an adult has its perks.

Then again, none of us is too old for cake ;)

I love it when Aaron brings his fancy camera and takes photos at dinner. He was out of town for my birthday, so he was kind enough to make sure there were a few good shots of me, too. It may not have been on purpose, but I appreciate the gesture just the same.

Welcome to the "Dirty Thirty" club, Dave! I love you bunches!

CenterPoint Legacy's Fairytale Festival

"Beauty and the Beast"
The sun was in my eyes, but the emotion is there ;)

My voice teacher asked if I'd be interested in singing a few songs at CenterPoint Legacy Theatre's Fairytale Festival. That is not something I'm usually comfortable with -- I love to perform in character, but I feel really vulnerable otherwise -- but after a few weeks I decided to go for it. I asked if I needed to dress up and she said it was optional. Then she said, "You should see if you can borrow the dress fro 1776.! You looked dazzling!" Since I own the dress and I had her blessing, I wore it. Nobody knew who I was, but that's ok. I felt pretty and I needed some confidence to help me overcome my nerves!

It was the 3rd annual Festival, but I hadn't been to the previous two, so I was unprepared for how massive and detailed and well-organized it was. I immediately found some friends dressed in costume, and others who had volunteered in other ways. There were food trucks, souvenir vendors, face-painting and hair-styling, story-tellers, princess and prince photo ops, arts and crafts, knights training, archery, pirate adventures, a Daddy/Daughter ball, and even a bouncing castle. The best part was that most of it was free.


I sang twice in an hour. I had prepared two songs, but the first time I just sang one song -- "Beauty and the Beast." The second time, the DJ asked me to sing both that I had prepared, so the second time I sang it again and the "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" from The Little Mermaid the Musical, too. I mentally rolled my eyes when I started to sing Dreams, because I thought, "Oh, gosh, it's so obvious that I love to sing this song WAY MORE than "Beauty and the Beast." Ah, well, I felt good about my performance, and I was flattered that several of my friends came to hear me sing, too.

Maybe next year I'll volunteer to do something a little more strenuous. If it involves dressing up again, I think I'll do it at the theatre instead of at a nearby Target (there was a miscommunication about whether I could dress at the theatre). It was fun, and such a cool way to be involved in the community. I also want to make sure my nieces and nephew know about it ahead of time. I think they'd enjoy it. I know I did.

Snow White and The Queen of Hearts

Rapunzel and Flynn (married in real life; they are so cute)

Queen Elsa

Laura D -- a friend from High School -- brought her kids to support me

Shilene came specifically to support me, too

This photo just makes me giggle.
Can't be perfect all the time!