To Salt Lake and Back

I spent 8+ hours (there and back) in a car with two of my best friends.

I slept on an air mattress and laughed so hard I was wheezing.

I played a $750,000 cello with an $18,000 bow.

I ate chicken heart.

I saw Beethoven's 7th Symphony performed live.

How was your weekend? :)

There are some things that are just guaranteed to lighten your soul and brighten your outlook on life; the friends, the music, the price tags... ..

I've been looking forward to this weekend since....well, since we planned it around the first day of school. I mean, any chance to hear Beethoven's 7th played live you've got to take, right??

We ended up driving down Friday night, right in time to get caught up in a swirling vortex of snow. It was like being in warpspeed, Mr. Spock!

But we did make it finally--and safely, Thanks Kellen!!--and landed at Naomi and Colin's apartment.

Okay, slight detour here.

I know I've already posted this, but I've just gotta do it again.

I am so blessed to have these two in my life!

Their home is always open to me, they take care of me, they crack me up, and they are good examples of many things I want in my future marriage!

Anyway.

We made our plans for the next day--okay, I forced people to solidify our plans--and crashed out.

Crashed out hard. We didn't wake up until about 930ish the next morning.

Thanks to a lucky--or not so lucky, depending on what room you were in at the time (shout out to Colin and Kellen who showered in the dark...)--power outage in the apartment complex, we went out to breakfast at the Village Inn a few blocks away.

It's one of the mugs from Beauty and the Beast!!

After breakfast, Naomi, Kellen, and I set out for Peter Prier's...

...And fell in love.

If you're not a music nerd like we are, it's kind of hard to explain why we were in the shop for over 2 hours...

It's also hard to articulate why we could've stayed there for much, much longer longer.

There is something so beautiful about that little shop.

It's old and filled with books of scores and wood and rosin and violins, violas, and cellos of every color and size...

little metal string quartets (I want.)

plus a few dozen paintings I want to have in my own home.

Especially this. Just like this. Too epic for words.

I have never played a more beautiful sounding cello. Everything you did was easy and smooth and gorgeous --well, as long as you knew the notes.

We honestly could have spent the whole weekend there.

It was hard to leave.

Kellen actually cried.

Okay, that's not quite true, but it's not an egregious over-exaggeration, either...

The trip was productive as well as soul-boosting--well...besides the whole "leaving with the distinct knowledge that we would never in a million years have an instrument that magnificent in our own possession" thing--; Naomi found a couple of bows she really loved.

After our little trip down the musician's version of the rabbit hole, we went to the Gateway Mall and met up with Colin and Kellen's brother, Devin, at Tucano's.

You. Guys.

I ate a chicken heart.

It was okay until our two resident Brazilians started reminding me just where that squishy little piece of meat came from.

Oh okay barf. I just made myself a little sick.

But the rest of the meat was AMAZING and the pineapple was fantastic.

The servers were awesome--Tyson!!--and I absolutely love every person that sat around that table with me (minus the chicken heart historians, thanks very much, guys).

...However, the other people in the restaurant? Just as entertaining but in a very different way...

Only in Utah, guys. Only in Utah.

So. Powerful.

I mean, what more can you say? It is one thing to listen to a recording of this incredible piece...

....it's another to hear it performed live.

Few times have I seen an entire audience get to their feet as quickly or as synchronized-ly as they did Saturday night.

There are just no words to explain it.

Obligatory picture with The Seaweed.

The Seaweed.

There's just something about being able to spend a weekend with people you love doing things that you  and will remember forever.

Because, yeah, it's the friends, and the music and the price tags..

....but it's also driving in silence because you know you don't have to talk.

.......aaand driving in absolute chaos because you can't breathe you're laughing so hard.

It's being with others who think a lot like you do and love you no matter how many shadow puppets you make on the car window.

It's sitting next to someone who is crying during the 2nd movement of Beethoven just like you are.

It's taking pictures next to The Seaweed thing.

It's having absolute faith in someone to get you through Snow Vortexes and irritating Utah drivers, no matter how many times you might feel like you're gonna die.

It's Sunday afternoon naps and late night chips 'n' salsa.

It's observing a couple of married folks you absolutely love, and feeling equal parts jealousy and hope.

It's singing Disney songs, loudly, during a long drive.

It's listening to Shostakovich, Bach, Lalo, and Mendelssohn played on cellos of epic nature.

It's Riesens and Tootsie Rolls, hot chocolate and lemonade.

It's sharing in joys and triumphs that aren't your own.

It's talking baby-name philosophies, and planning out being a part of each others' lives forever.

It's jumping to your feet in perfect unison at the end of a Beethoven symphony.

It's chicken hearts and grilled pineapple and awkward dark bathroom stories.

It's parking garages and escalators.  

It's looking out for others and knowing they're doing the same for you.

It's swirly Mac & Cheese and doing dishes and epic Star Trek synopses.

It's discussing marriage, the lack thereof, and old people phobias.

It's 3 month old twins that giggle and smile--or scowl and plot--at you.

It's saying things at the exact same time without meaning to.

A lot.

It's inside jokes and iPad apps.

It's air mattresses and power outages.

It's laughter that ends in wheezes, takes a while to get warmed up, or is punctuated by screaming.

In a way, it's realizing that things aren't always going to be this way.
And not taking a moment of it for granted.

Suffice it to say that I had a very enjoyable, soul-feeding, heart-lightening weekend.

The cellos worth more than a small house were an added bonus ;)