Showing posts with label fall 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall 2015. Show all posts

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Fall / Winter Roundup

Before I move on to talking about my most recent travels during my last semester here at Franklin, I want to wrap up 2015! Since I'm so behind on blogging, this post is going to cover October, November, December AND January!
So get ready!

I spent last Fall at home in Salt Lake attending the University of Utah and working for 3Degrees, in partnership with Rocky Mountain Power, on their Blue Sky Renewable Energy Program. I wasn't planning on being home for the Fall semester, but I am SO glad I was. I needed that time with my family and I had some more (new) health problems -- this time with migraines -- that I needed professional help with. It would have been impossible (not to mention so much more stressful) for me to get the help I needed if I was back in Switzerland. Plus I got to hang out with my family for a few extra months, so that was nice too!

Sorting through all of those months of photos and picking out my favorites was actually hysterical.  I was (literally) laughing out loud at how many photos I had of our dog Zoe. Apparently we spent a lot of time together during those months! So it feels appropriate to start the post with a photo of me and Zoe in Liberty Park! I remember that I was trying to get her to look at the camera, but her attention was riveted on the geese at the pond's edge that she was about to run after! She is so tiny but the geese (which are 5x bigger than her) are terrified of her and she LOVED it!
Beautiful sunset hikes in the terraces above Salt Lake! 
Utah ain't so bad! ;)
My hiking fam ^^ 
^^ semi-awkward pic but I have to document the day that I got my hair cut the shortest it has been since I was probably 8 years old? I didn't tell anyone I was doing it, and when Marissa came to pick me up she said, "was that on purpose..?" and then when I got home Everett immediately says " OH NOOOOOO" hahaha, I like it though! I needed a change after having such long hair in high school and my first two years of college. It has been progressively getting shorter, but this was the big chop! 
I swear Zoe begs to be carried around like this. What a diva!
Grams and me on Halloween! I was a gold star (if you couldn't tell!) and she was a witch! Maxwell was an astronaut, so my star kind of went with his theme. 
We carved some dope pumpkins this year!! Mine are the two faces looking at each other and the moon with the bats (to the left of the faces). 
Ev got major ear surgery right before Halloween so I suggested that he should be van gogh! The resemblance is striking! 
Liberty Park in the fall is the prettiest! 
ZOE being adorable, playing chase with that ball in the kitchen was my nightly workout! She always seemed to get super feisty and playful at about 9:30pm! haha 
Ev and I at brunch at The Park Cafe (so good!) This was also his bribe to be good for his ear surgery and appointments! 
Mom and me at the Natural History Museum Gala ^^
Ev admiring his cookies ^^ 
I swear she thinks she's a human ^^
This is when we put on our matching scarfs so that we can brave the chilly weather and go get hot chocolate at Ev's new addiction, The Coffee Garden. Ev always offers to pay for mine :)
Waiting with Max at the bus stop, that kid's got flair. 
Zoe is not a morning person
Meeting my hero!!! Naomi Klein! 
THANKSGIVING SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS! Yayyyy skiing! 
Live nativity in the glenn! 
BFF christmas card
It snowed so much one day they canceled school and we went sledding! 
This was a different day, but I was laughing so hard when I looked out the window and saw Maxwell laying dejectedly in the snow. 
Zoe. Again. I have a problem. 
Getting some major air sledding! 
We spent so many nights like this on the couch! Ev, Max, Dad, Zoe and I went on a pretty big Star Wars and Clone Wars spree! 
8am Christmas Morning 2015! 
ALTA, our happy place! Fresh mountain air, soft powder and blue skies! 
And this is from when ALL of us gave talks in church one Sunday, Ev took my phone and decided that we should take a covert selfie from the pulpit. Love that guilty smile he has, haha. 

Big kisses Salt Lake, I miss you and the whole tribe! 

And thus concludes my four month roundup of fall/winter in Salt Lake! 

On to Switzerland! 

xx Jess 


Monday, October 19, 2015

Indian Summer


S E P T E M B E R

I've mentioned it about fifty times before, but I love summer, and at the end of August I was NOT ready to let it go! It didn't help that the second week of September we had a few days where it was in the low 50s, raining and windy..  I honestly was feeling pretty depressed about it, just bummed that the sunshine and warm weather and all the things I love about summer were ending.


So instead of thinking of it as the beginning of Fall, the month of September was my final farewell to summer. It (thankfully!) warmed back up and I was able to say my last goodbyes to summer hikes, the farmers market, and I even fit in a trip to California!

First up, family weekend up at Snowbird!

 

And after way too much online researching, I finally settled on this pair of light weight running shoes and have loved them so far.

Then cali cali cali with my twin! 2.5 weeks apart felt like forever. what are we going to do for the next 2.5 months?? We mostly just hung out on Pomona's campus (which is amazing!) and I followed him around pretending to be a student there too. But on Saturday we also went to Newport Beach and it was perfect weather for jumping in the ocean and bodysurfing in the giant waves.

^^ so happy to be at the airport at 6am.. 
See you in two short months twinny! 

Then back to SLC and more Zoe and more local fruits & veggies (aka my summer)


A few months ago I heard that the author Michael Lewis was coming to speak in Salt Lake City and I made sure to buy tickets the second they went up, so we scored 5th row seats in Abravanel Hall for a nearly sold out evening! I brought my friend Nate, our german kind-of-exchange-student Lotti, and of course mom. Michael Lewis was hilarious, so witty, so smart, and it made me want to read all of his books!!

Earlier this summer I read The Big Short, his book about the 2008 financial crisis, and even though finance is a foreign language to me, I loved it! The characters were so interesting and when you understand what actually caused the whole mess.. it's just insane! I'm so excited to see it on the big screen this Christmas with Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt (!!!!!) It was so fun to meet Michael Lewis afterwards and have him sign my book. 

And then this year was the first memorial for Uta that I've been home for, and the first one where things have actually seemed settled.
By September 27th as we walked down the mountain towards our car I had finally made my peace and was ready to embrace the autumn season!

Here's to October! 

xx Jess