Parade Geek Presents Mustaches

The part of the 24th of July that makes me smile the most has to do with mustaches. The Salt Lake Motor Squad usually open the parade with a ride on their motorcycles down the parade route. They turn tight circles, and sound their sirens, and most of all wear mustaches.

The officers that don't have real mustaches wear fake ones, really obviously fake ones.

And here you have a hermit beard.

Here they are showing off their cycling skills.

Even the lady officers get in on the mustache action.

Makes me laugh every year.

Parade Week Continues with Clowns and Characters

So today I have for you clowns and other characters for your enjoyment.

Clown 1 rode a unicycle.

And juggled.

Clown 2 rode a motorized cart.

And called himself Bobber the Clown.

Clown 3 rode an uber tall bicycle (and helmet; safety first).

Clown 4 rode a tricycle (no photo of it) and loves tips.

Clown 5 rode a scooter and was a patriotic type.

Clown 6 was, well, a clown.

And this clown really needs no introduction as famous as he is.

And then there was a mime, which actually did no miming, but walked around the parade greeting people. Maybe he was miming cordiality?

Now we move on to characters.

The Dude with the Parrot. He's at the parade every year. 

He kind of reminds me of Coach Red Beaulieu.

The Real Salt Lake Lion. He rocks!

Woo!!

The UVU Wolverine. He rides a scooter. Sweet.

High five man!

And then there's the Salt Lake Community College bear. He may not look like much, but kitty cat can DANCE!

He's shaking his tail for the crowd.

Work it bear!

Parade Geek presents Parade Week

Saturday was the parade, THE parade, the amazingly entertaining Days of 47 parade. And just so I can extend the joy I experienced on Saturday morning, I'm going to draw this out for you all week.


Today, I present to you some of Utah's celebrities.

Governor Gary Herbert.

Lt. Governor Greg Bell.

Salt Lake County Sheriff James Winder (who I think looks a lot like actor Ed O'Neill).

Salt Lake City Chief of Police Chris Burbank.

Senator Bob Bennett.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Coroon.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker.

The KSL 5 News Team.

But now, here's the real money-maker. The crowd goes wild when they see...



none other than...

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

And where there's a member of the First Presidency, there's faithful Church Security.

Scoping out the crowd.

Fashion Forward Friday and Happy Pioneer Day

To all you Utahns, happy Pioneer Day tomorrow.


Since the Utah holiday often lends itself to patriotism, I wanted to share with you a great way to say, "I may not be from around here, but I celebrate the red, white and blue."

Can you spot the subject? Red, white and blue star pajamas are the perfect way to make a patriotic statement. (As a side note, I am loving the outfit of the girl on the left with the polka dot top and white pants. Tres chic.)

Add in some (really pretty) white gloves, and the outfit is complete.


As much as I probably sound sarcastic, in reality I felt some admiration for this lady. As we walked around the market on Saturday, she was constantly right near us. We would pass her when she stopped to look at something, and then she would pass us while we were stopped. We ended up making the rounds together. In the stifling heat she wore long pants, long sleeves and gloves. She is a superhero if you ask me.



Tomorrow will be all about the Pioneer Day parade that goes right by our house. And I couldn't be more excited. You remember what parade geeks TC and I are, right?

New Spice | Study like a scholar, scholar

Pretty funny stuff.

The Ensenada Top

Remember I told you about the embroidered top I bought in Ensenada during our cruise? Well, instead of ripping the seams out and resewing, I've been carelessly wearing the top. Sheer laziness is all that's keeping me from fixing it.


Ah well, I'm too lazy to care.

Well here I am at the Farmer's Market on Saturday in the top. So the outfit looked much cuter when I was looking in the mirror at home. Since the top is so baggy, I belt it. Otherwise I look like I'm making an announcement I'm not ready (only because it would be a lie) to make. My skirt is a stretch denim pencil skirt I made a way long time ago (like before I started blogging about my sewing projects). The skirt is pretty much a summer staple.

Here's a closer up of the embroidery. It's lovely, isn't it?

Now I do realize that it's not really cool in blog-land to actually smile for photos. I should be pouting adorably, or looking off into the distance pensively. But what can I say, smiling in photos is my style. Besides, me not smiling = people thinking I'm massively angry.

So, there are my non-cool photos of the embroidered top from Ensenada.

Vogue 1169

I started a new project: Vogue 1169.

I bought this pattern months ago when it first came out, and I've been waiting for the courage to give it a shot. I have a navy cotton rayon faille for the suit, and a fuchsia lining (TC's idea, which I think is fantastic).

My first step before doing anything on a new project is to read the instructions all the way through, so I have an idea of the difficulty and time that will be involved. Let me tell you, the instructions nearly scared me away. There are welt pockets and piping and pick-stitching. Despite the scariness of the project, I decided to press on. The other night I cut out the body of the suit, and it took me three hours (there are 32 pieces, which is a heck of a lot for a pattern). I still have to cut out all the interfacing and the lining. Whew.

Well after all of that cutting, I was feeling a bit discouraged about this project. So I did some research and I found flickr photos of one person's completed V1169. Her version is so adorable, that I kind of wish I was making mine in turquoise.

This is by far the most complicated project I've ever attempted. I'm excited, scared and nervous all wrapped up in one. Oh, and I decided to put a deadline on myself: I want to finish it by the end of July, less than two weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Farmer's Market

TC and I had a fantastic Saturday, and it all started with a trip to the Farmer's Market.

So every summer that we've lived here, we have said, "Hey, we should go to the Farmer's Market, because it's cool, and we want to be cool." The problem is that we do our chores on Saturday morning, and often dilly dally so long that by the time we are finished we have missed the market. Sad, I know.

To remedy this, we did our chores on Friday evening after work. So when we woke up on Saturday morning we got ready for the day, made fruit smoothies for the road, and hit the pavement.

The crowds on the less crowded side of the market.

It was hot, oh so hot, especially for 10am. Honestly, I was a bit miserable. It was too hot, too sweaty, too crowded, too many dogs. Yeah, there were a lot of dogs at the Farmer's Market. Are they going to buy produce? I think not. So why are they walking around sniffing at every booth and getting in my way with their leashes and fur?

Anyway, we walked around and looked at each booth, I got grumpy, TC was patient with me and let me take all the photos I wanted no matter how conspicuous I was, and then we found this...

An almond croissant dusted with powdered sugar, filled with an almond custard. Oh my yum. I could not be grumpy after biting into this.

And then I got this. And all was right with the world. Water on a hot day = refreshment and anti-grumpness!


And then a cloud cover blew in, and the air cooled down just a bit, and all the elements were combined to make this an enjoyable experience. And that's when I noticed the trees.

Pioneer Park has lovely trees. And the obsessing commenced.

And the conspicuous, taking pictures of tree bark began.

So lovely.



And then we found this booth.

And we bought an empanada, but not before I made TC pose for a photo.

See what I did there? Get it? Argentina's Best? See because TC is posing in front of the sign that says "Argentina's best," and he's from Argentina. So he's the best. Get it? 

And here's the money-maker: a meat empanada. It was very delicious.

After we walked around a few times, were sure we saw everything and had spent all our cash, we walked over to the Gateway to catch an early movie. It was a wonderful day!