Utah Dining - Take 5

It has been a while since I have done a Utah Dining post where I post reviews on new places that I have eaten at around town. In fact... I think it has been over a year. Yikes. Not sure what happened. Over that time I did however try some new places and whenever I do, I try to remember to take a picture of a future Utah Dining post which I am NOW doing. :)

Where to start.... let's start with;

Penny Anne's Cafe - Draper

Known for the best Hot Cakes. I had them and they were amazing and HUGE. If you are looking for a delicious BIG breakfast and are in the Draper area or don't mind a drive there, I recommend it. Saturday mornings are packed and you will have to wait in line... but that is how you KNOW it's good!

CupBop - Provo (store & Food Truck)

The first time I tried CupBop was from the food truck round up, but I have also gone to their little stand by BYU. First time I tried it I fell in love. It is the most delicious Korean BBQ.  SO good! I have eaten there several times and plan on eating there many more times.

Sushi Burrito - Provo (this might be a chain in Utah, but I'm not positive, if so I don't know where else it is)

This place is actually super close to my house. I don't know why I didn't notice it for so long, but when I finally did I thought, hey... I LOVE sushi, what the heck is a Sushi burrito? Only one way to find out. I went to try it and I'm not going to lie... it was pretty great. It's just like eating sushi except without chopsticks and you can hold it without it coming apart. Talking about this makes me want to go get another one.

Art City Donuts - Food Truck

I have yet to try donuts that are better than these. These are so amazing! I am so glad they are a food truck and not an actual store so I can't just go get them whenever I want. They are a bunch of soft, warm, delicious donut holes and then they put toppings on them. First time I tried them, I had their seasonal pumpkin donuts with cream cheese frosting on them. YUM!!! This last time I went I got Muddy Buddy which was plain donut holes but then was topped with peanut putter and chocolate. SO GOOD. I have to stop writing about them because it is just making me want them.

Stocks BBQ - Food Truck

While we are talking about Food Trucks... I have only tried this one once, got some BBQ Nachos...w which I love BBQ and I love Nachos, so I'm not too hard to please. I thought they were good. Am I craving just to go back and get more? Not really. It was good, not amazing. That being said, I haven't tried anything else there. Maybe this summer when the Food Truck Roundup is back in full force.

Bam Bams BBQ - Orem

Speaking of my love for BBQ and Nachos... I had some here and they were awesome. The brisket is pretty darn tastey. They people that work there are pretty awesome too, so my experience here was a good one and I would go back.

Porcupine Pub & Grille - Salt Lake City

So now that I am writing this post and posting all of my reviews, I realized that I love Nachos more than I thought I did. Ha! However... The Porcupine is KNOWN for their nachos and theirs are the best hands down. They do them right! I occasionally crave their nachos. I have been there twice now and I got them both times and they don't disappoint. One of the many things I love about their nachos is that they layer all the good stuff between the nachos instead of just on top, so every bite you are getting everything. SO GOOD! If you are ever near Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon, head to the Porcupine Pub & Grille.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 308

This week has kind of been a blur. I'm trying to remember everything that even happened....

Well... I watch Netflix all day while I work, so lets start there. I got all caught up on The Mindy Project, so I started Brooklyn Nine Nine. It's another comedy show that is 20 minutes an episode so I'm sure it won't take me long to get through it.

I have continued to be consistent with the gym. Well... this week won't be the best because I got to work late on Monday so I had to work through my lunch and I couldn't go today or tomorrow because of the yurt trip (will blog about later) so I only went Tuesday and Wednesday. The yurt trip requires snow shoeing so I will still be getting exercise those days. Wednesday my gym BFF Jeannie came back to sub for sports conditioning, so I went to that and it kicked my butt. Kristi, the girl that runs the gym at work told me she would challenge me to 10,000 steps a day starting Monday so that I am getting more walking in everyday. It works for me to be accountable to someone everyday... so this will be good. She is so great to do whatever I need to keep me motivated!

I felt like I was starting to get sick over the weekend, so I slept a lot. Which was good, but because I stopped myself from getting sick. Thankful for that!

My roommates and I are not only watching The Bachelor... but we decided to find The Bachelor Australia online to watch! It's the best! They still have the drama, but they are so proper about it. It's hilarious. The Bachelor is the definition of Tall Dark and Handsome so he is nice to watch. Plus, he has the accent. I LOVE the Aussie accent. I even changed my Siri to an Australian man... so there you go.

Met a guy off of Tinder that was visiting from Germany. We had a great time. He was super laid back and loves to travel, so we had lots to talk about.

Since being back from my trip to Brazil with Stacey, I have learned that people have stalked me! People seeing that Stacey was with a girl on his trip from social media and then trying to find out if we are dating. I have to say that it is a little bit weird to know that people have been stalking you that you don't know. I mean... I have a public blog that I know strangers read and for some reason that doesn't bother me, or else I would make my blog private. So I'm not that bothered by the stalking. I am an open book and have nothing to hide. Just made me laugh when I heard that from my cousins wife who had someone else tell her not knowing that she knew who I was. Anyway...

The company that I bought my hammock from follows me on Instagram and they love my photo's so much that they asked me to be a photographer for their Instagram page. It's not a paid gig... but they sent me 3 more hammocks so I could have each color and trade off which one I take out and take pictures of. So now I have free hammocks and I take pictures (which I was doing anyway) but before I can post them myself, I have to send it to them and I can't post them until they do. Which is fine. I hope with my growing of followers on Instagram, that maybe I will get some other free stuff out of it. We shall see. This is a fun start though because I love my hammock.

I'm still thinking about my sweet Grandma today. I'm still sad. There were a lot of tears yesterday at work. My co-workers were really sweet when they found out. Everyone was so nice and supportive and they even bought chocolate cake and bought me beautiful flowers (that the guys picked out). How sweet is that. I was not expecting anything and didn't even say anything to anyone about it half the day... but I think after so much crying, people get curious. I was happy they were there for me and so caring.
As I already blogged about, I hung out with my cousins Dave & Trav on Friday and Monday since Trav was in town. Always a blast hanging out with them. Yesterday after I found out about my Grandma I text both of them and told me them how glad I was that we went to see her Friday and Monday. We all agreed that it was such an honor being one of the last people to see Grandma before she left this earth. That we were there to put a smile on her face and make her smile. I will cherish that memory forever. What a bitter sweet week.

I Love You Grandma

This morning my Grandma passed away. I have really mixed emotions about this. I am happy that she is no longer in pain. I am happy that she is reunited with my Grandpa and her family. I am happy that I know that I will see her again one day, thank goodness I believe in the plan of salvation or else this would be a lot harder than it already is. Whenever I start to think about her not being around anymore, I start to cry all over again.

I have loved all of my Grandparents, but she is the first person that I have been really close to that has died. Even though I knew it was coming, I was in denial about it. Especially since she was so with it and seemed fine for so long. I didn't want my Grandma to leave.... which was just selfish of me because she was ready to go. It made it easier for me that she had such a great perspective on life and was so at peace with her life and the process of dying. Every time I would go see her and she would talk about dying I would tear up no matter how hard I tried not to and she would say "Tracy, it's a good thing, it's ok". Or when she was in pain she would say "It's ok sweetheart, I'm fine, it's just part of life. It's not a fun part, but it's a part of life". She would also tell me all the time how blessed she was to have such a terrific family. "There isn't one bad apple in the bunch... you can't ask for more than that out of life". Family was all that mattered and it showed by how she treated her family.

I feel so blessed that I was able to spend so much time with her in the last several months. I started going to see her once a week since October.... pretty much around the time that she stopped coming to Sunday family dinner and even then I got see her every Sunday at dinner... but the one on one time I had with her was precious. I spent 5 hours with her on New Years Eve and I can't think of a better way to bring in the new year knowing that there wouldn't be another year with my sweet Grandma. We had so many great conversations, her telling me stories about her life and me opening up about the struggles and joys in my life always over candy and soda she kept stalked in the refrigerator. She read my blog everyday and kept up on my life. When we were with the Anderson cousins couple of times she cracked up telling them about my dating stories that she would read off of my blog. I know... my dating life is entertaining. Although every time I went to see her it got harder and harder to see her because she struggled more and more, it never stopped her from smiling and laughing and enjoying every minute that she had with her family. Just on Monday when Dave, Trav and I were over there... she couldn't even get out of bed, but Dave said something that made her laugh so hard that I think it hurt her. It made me so happy every time I saw her laugh or smile and how special to be a part of that in her last days. I text Trav this morning telling him how great the timing of his trip was for Grandma and he text back saying how sweet it was that we were just laughing with her 2 days ago. I agree. I have had a lot of great moments with Grandma these last few months and I have enjoyed every second of it.

My Grandma was special for a lot of reasons. She is an easy woman to love because she had a big heart. I can't think of one time in my life where I didn't feel love from my Grandma. My sister this morning reminded me of a story that I forgot but describes my Grandma perfectly. When I was really little, I accidentally broke a collectors item glass figurine. I told my Grandma and remember being scared to tell her because I knew I would get in trouble... but that isn't what happened. I felt terrible, but my grandma just hugged me and told me it was ok because it was just stuff. The important thing was that I was ok. People are more important than things... and maybe that is why she was always giving away her things. She gave away more things than anyone else I know... I don't even know how she still had stuff to give away. She was so thoughtful, she never forgot a birthday or graduation or any type of celebration. No matter what the occasion, you got a card with money in it telling you that she was proud of you and loved you. She spoiled us rotten. We would sometimes get to spend the night at Grandma's and she would make us breakfast and take us out to lunch and take us to the store and let us pick out something we wanted. Time at Grandma's was always really special. Even as adults, when you go to Grandma's house, you don't leave without something... you have to eat candy or take a soda from the fridge that she always had stalked with everyone's favorites. She served unconditionally. She took care of family her entire life. She of course took care of her kids (raised 3 great kids) and I remember her taking care of her mom and most recently I saw her take care of Grandpa for many years, which I know wasn't easy... but she wouldn't have it any other way and she took care of him as well as any nurse would have. She would do anything for her family... but I think one of the greatest qualities my Grandma had that had everyone that knew her love her, is the fact that she made everyone feel so special. She had the gift of making each person feel like the most special and most important person in the world. She would always compliment me, encourage me, never judge me, support me, tell me I was so talented and list my talents, listen to me, be there for me and things were always about me... because I was important. She did that with everyone. She also knew how to tease and laugh and have a good time. It was always fun at Grandma's house. I ALWAYS looked forward to going. I could go on and on about all the things I love about my Grandma and all of the special and fun memories I have of her, but I would be writing a book.

I am so blessed to be able to call this sweet and wonderful woman my Grandma. I am blessed that she had been around for as long as she had. I am blessed I got to see her as often as I did. I am thankful for the life she lived and how it blessed my life. I hope I continue to live a life she is proud of and she is a woman I admire and I want to strive to be more like her. Grandma I love you so much. I will miss you more than you will ever know. Until we meet again.

Photo of the Week 306

Provo Temple in Winter is beautiful.

Cousin Time

Last week I got the BEST text. It was from my cousin Travis. It was a picture of his flight itinerary showing that he was coming to Utah and then the next text said "Sodalicious?". I always get super excited to see my cousin Trav. He is the best. He was just here for the weekend, so I knew I would get to see him a lot, but I would take any time that I could get. After that his daughter started texting me... probably a little jealous that her dad was coming and she wasn't. Love that girl.

Dave, Trav and I hung out Friday and tonight. Both nights we went to visit Grandma at her new place in Legacy in Spanish Fork. Grandma is a good sport to put up with all of us with the little energy she has... but we enjoyed ever second of our visit. Love Grandma so much.

Then after... it was off to Sodalicious!!!! We text this pic to Lisa to make her jealous. We had a great time chatting in the car and drinking our Soda's. Cousin time is the best time.

Be Like Tracy

There are a lot of stupid quizzes and other things that go around Facebook. This was the most recent trend... usually I don't give into these, but the first friend I saw that posted this, I thought it was pretty funny, so I went to see what mine would be. I didn't post mine because I never do, but I did generate a bunch and here are the ones I thought were the best.

Photo Shoot with Kyle

Here are a few pictures that Kyle took of me on our little photoshoot. I sat on that block of ice by the waterfall so long that my butt was numb the rest of the afternoon. I know... TMI. I was too scared to move though. It was so slippery up there, I thought one wrong move and I would slip down the entire waterfall... and that is not something I was interested in doing.

A couple of his friend that he brought a long because I thought these shots were so cool. If I were a daredevil and could just climb up there, I would have... but I'm too chicken.

I stayed on the ground and was ok with it.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 307

Another week of Winter gone. Hooray! This last weekend was a great one too. Friday night I went out to dinner with friends and of course our traditional Sodalicious then home to watch the most recent episodes of Blacklist. After that Stacey invited me to Humor U, so he picked me up and we were off to see the show. A lot better than the first show I saw. After words we hung out with the gang and some of Stacey's Divine Comedy friends. It was fun to be out and social... which I feel like I haven't been in a while.

Saturday, I slept in and got some errands done, then was going to go off exploring by myself... but then my good friend Amber text me asking me what I was doing and I invited her to come with me. SO GLAD!! We had the best time exploring Big Cottonwood Canyon and snowshoeing/ exploring and making our own trail. Then we went out to dinner at the Porcupine which has THE BEST nachos.  Such a good day. Love that girl.

That night, I went to see the Revenant again! That is how much I liked it. Stacey wanted me to go with him to see it, so I told him I would. He loved it... as I knew he would. I feel like we have very similar taste in music and movies. We had a good chat in the car after the movies and then ended up spying on our friend Daniel's date door scene (I felt like I was 20 again spying on my roommates in the apartment complex) and then we ended up seeing deer at the park so we chased them for a little while. We are easily distracted. Anyway... it then got SUPER late so we called it a night. It is amazing... we were good friends before the trip, but now I feel like we are even closer friends. It is hard to describe.... but we are pretty tight, and we have a new bond. It happens when you travel extensively like that together. I have a similar bond with Daniel, Jared, Ian, etc.... backpacking and traveling together 24/7 for 2 or so weeks really bonds you together. It is always the joke on all of my trips to get matching tattoos because of the bond. Of course I would never do it... unless it was henna.

Sunday I went on a Photoshoot with my friend Kyle. I posted some pictures from the outing. It was pretty fun even though I didn't know his friends. There is something about a frozen waterfall that is super beautiful... I mean, waterfalls are beautiful in general, but frozen ones are pretty rad. I will have to post the pictures that Kyle took of me. I don't love them of me... but I am not really super happy with the way I look these days until I lose some weight. Oh well. It was still fun to do and I will still post the pictures anyway.

Monday was a Holiday and it was SO hard to go to work when so many of my friends had the day off and were playing. Ugh. Sometimes it is so hard to be a responsible adult. ha ha. Oh well. It was a pretty chill day at work and I of course went to the gym. I am getting SO SICK of watching Jurassic World. It plays EVERYDAY at the gym. I really liked it the first time I saw it and Chris Pratt is hot in it... but there is only so many times that I can watch people getting chased by dinosaurs. Maybe next week someone will want to watch a new movie.

Tuesday I FINALLY got new tires on my car. YEA!! I can tell a big difference driving on the road and I am glad I got them before any new snow storms come a long. They are so expensive! Especially for my car... but it needed to be done and Discount Tires was really great.

I have been watching Bachelor with MacKenzie. We love it. For the first time in a long time I actually LOVE the Bachelor. He is adorable and has some class. Along with the Bachelor... I finished New Girl (until the current episodes) and have started watching The Mindy Project from the beginning. I had seen episodes here and there, but I wanted to watch it from the beginning. LOVE it. Hilarious and I wish I was more like Mindy in a lot of ways. I will finish this one quick since each episode is only 20 minutes. I'm sure I will find something else.

Not much else is going on... my cousin Trav text me the other day a picture of his flight itinerary letting me know he was coming to town and wanted to hang out and get Sodalicious. SOOOOO excited. I LOVE my cousin Trav. I can't wait until he is here. The day after that his daughter was texting me... probably because her dad is coming and getting to see me so she wanted to say hi. She is adorable and I love her. I love everyone in my family... even my cousins's kids. So that is what I have to look forward to this weekend. :) Can't wait!

Photo of the Week 305

I LOVE pines covered in snow.

Frozen Bridal Veil Falls

My friend Kyle, the guy that I met during the first music video I did for my friend RJ (Shake it Off - Disney Style) back in Spring, is a photographer. We have kept up on each other since that video via Instagram. I made a comment on one of his pictures on Instagram and he commented back saying how much he loved all of my pictures and wanted to go on a shoot with me. So we set it up and decided to go take pictures at Bridal Veil Falls. 

I have been to these falls many times since you can see it from the road and pretty much drive up to it, however, I had never seen it up close during the Winter. I thought that would be a cool place to take pictures because waterfalls look pretty rad when they are frozen. So we went and Kyle brought a couple of friends which in later discussion I brought up that I was from Santa Barbara and they both served their missions there... they were companions and that is how they met and I believe that one of them maybe knows my sister Lori. Side note, sorry... I just love how small the world is especially when you are Mormon. 

Kyle asked me to model for him. I'm not feeling so much like a model these days (not that I ever really feel like a model) because I need to lose weight so bad, but I agreed to do it. I will post those pictures once he is done editing them, but for now, here are a few pics I took with my phone of the half Frozen waterfall. It was pretty rad and super beautiful. Getting up there was a little bit of an adventure as well since we didn't have snowshoes. It was quite slippery and the closer we got to the waterfall, the more icy it became and I was afraid to move in fear that I was slip down the steep waterfall to my death. Thank goodness I had 3 guys there to help me not fall... and I only ended up slipping and falling once. I would call that a success. We had a good time and I hope that at least one of the pictures Kyle took of me turned out well. Otherwise he will be too embarrassed to add me to his portfolio. Anyway... isn't this waterfall pretty? It was a pretty big hit on Instagram.