Sundance 2014

 Bright and early Friday morning, Kelsea and I began our drive down to Salt Lake City for Sundance 2014. Well, when I saw bright and early, I actually mean inversion-y and early, because there was a crazy fog cover in the valley. The drive down was not bad at all- Kelsea updated me on her life, we listened to some Lord Pete Wimsey and Harriet Vane flirting, and of course, made sure that we stopped at In 'n Out for some lunch. This girl needed her #2 with no onions. And she got it. I dropped Kelsea off at Kylie's, got to see Kylie's basement pad and then headed over to Megan's! It had been two years since I had seen the boys and they were so grown up! I just cannot get enough of them. Zach and I played Pokemon cards, Ethan and I played with plastic animals, I soaked up every single minute that I could with them.

Megan and I decided to try and catch a movie at Park City that night so we registered for the wait list and then RIGHT AT 6:30 WE CHECKED IN. The wait-list was done just like a Southwest flight. The quicker you sign-in, the lower number you get. We should have read the linking up directions before hand because we didn't quite get what we were supposed to do and while I ended up with #14, Thad and Megan had #142 and #165. Oops. We decided to still go up to Park City anyway after the babysitter showed up, and stood in line for about 20 minutes to see who was getting into the movie and who wasn't. It helped that we had a perfect parking spot RIGHT outside the theater and the Festival HQ. In the end, I would have made it into the movie but thought it was dumb to go see something alone and not even be able to talk to anyone about it afterwards. So I gave up my spot to some other deserving soul and Megan, Thad, and I snagged a shuttle up to Main Street.

Although we didn't see any celebs this time, we did enjoy people watching as we wandered up and down Main Street. Eventually we ducked into a brewery to grab some appetizers and drinks, as the slice of pizza we had with the boys earlier that night was not completely sufficient. The shrimp was delicious, which made up for the just OK drinks. It was so great to catch up though. I've missed my roomie!

Megan and I got up for Saturday morning yoga, which was perfect because it meant I didn't have to do my own yoga practice. The teacher was a Mormon hippie who cried at the end of the class but we did some good stretches. The best part about yoga was going to Cafe Gaudi afterwards, where we had caramel lattes, the most delicious breakfast sandwiches and potato fritatas. Gosh, I miss Barcelona! (Incidentally, I took a buzzfeed test about where I should live and somehow I got Barcelona... so that happened...) Anyway, breakfast was fantastic and somehow we managed to refrain from buying the Ferrero Rocher cupcakes that had a Ferrero Rocher chocoalte piece BAKED INTO THE CUPCAKE. I might be regretting that decision....

After breakfast, Megan and I went to go watch Zach's basketball game. 10 seven-year-olds playing basketball is hysterical and Zach not only had a basket but also an assist! there was this high maintenance mom next to us that was also amusing. Oh parents. We ran a few errands to Costo-co and then to lunch and then I got a chance to read with Zachary while Megan showered and Ethan napped. I'm still blown away that the little baby I held the day after he was born is this vibrant, funny, quirky seven-year-old who can read and write and tell great jokes. Man, I love him!

Because Megan had laser eye surgery on Thursday, she didn't think she'd be able to see well enough to watch the movies on Saturday. But the surgery went so well and there happened to be one more ticket and so she came up to Sundance with us. It was so good to have her come with us! We did a bit of shoe shopping find a pair that would match her outfit and then we picked up Kelsea and went straight up to Ogden. We were a bit late for dinner but were able to order some dinner and make friends with the older folk that were sitting at our table. The food was pretty good for Utah-an Mexican food and I really enjoyed my fish tacos. The theater was a short walk from the restaurant and we were divided into our boxes. Once again, Megan and I were in Box A and we snagged front row seats and grabbed the free drinks.

We saw "Lilting", which starred Ben Whishaw first. I really enjoyed it a lot. It had one of those ambiguous endings but I felt like there was enough revealed beforehand that the open ending wasn't too bad. I loved the actors and the way that the director arranged the flashbacks and I was really pleased with being able to see the film. The second movie was "The Double", starring Jesse Eisenberg, directed by Richard Ayoade, and based on the story by Dostoevsky. It was like  Fight Club meets 1984 meets Clockwork Orange meets 12 Monkeys meets an electrical outage. I LOVED the soundtrack and I LOVED Jesse Eisenberg's mannerisms (he was just like Michael Cera) and I LOVED when Chris O'Dowd showed up. I need to see the ending again (or I guess just read the story) to really understand it better but I was also glad we got to see this one.

As always, the reception in between was fabulous. Megan and I shared a piece of cake and a chocolate thing, I grabbed a few cookies for the road, the wine and beer was flowing, and there was god conversation. Debi Maughan sat with us and she was so much fun to talk to and get to know better. Because there was no nudity in the second movie (in Utah, you cannot have nudity and alcohol) we were able to bring a glass of wine back with us to the second movie. Man, I love this alumni event!

I slept really poorly that night though, which totally sucked because we had an early morning the next day. We got up and made it to church a bit late but early enough to hear Phil's really great sermon on Galatians. I helped Megan and her co-teacher Laurie teach Sunday School to some really adorable first and second graders, and I got to have a quick chat with both Phil and Nancy. They are so lovely people. We grabbed some coffee and hot chocolate on the way back to Megan's and then, after some quick packing, it was time to say goodbye. I picked Kelsea and Kylie up from their church service and we had lunch at Noodles and were able to catch up for a little bit as well. It's so great to have some many lovely people in one town to catch up with. The drive home was LONG and I needed a lot of good music to keep me going but we made it home right before my small group girls were meant to show up. Perfect timing.

I'm already ready for Sundance 2015!