Man Eater

Last year a friend of mine went to Vegas and brought back a chocolate man for me- as a joke. We all had a good laugh. I decided I would put him away and save him for a special occasion... like Valentine's Day.

You all know I don't have anything against Valentine's Day. Terminally single or not, I still celebrate it- even if it's watching chick flicks and eating pie at home by myself. I like Valentine's Day.

Anyway, as the holiday approached, I told my coworkers I was going to bring a chocolate man to work for us to all share on Valentine's Day. Why not? It's funny.

So my coworker, Lisa has this friend, and he was asking her her plans for Valentine's Day. "I'm not doing anything," she explained. "I have to work and then I have school so I won't have time... Oh, but my coworker is going to bring a chocolate man and we're going to eat him."

I guess this intrigued the friend, (we'll call him A.A. for short) and he inquired as to why we would do such a thing... eating a chocolate effigy of a man? He asked her about her coworker, me, my name and such... doesn't know me. Moving on.

Valentine's Day arrives and I'm at work minding my own business when a flower delivery man arrives with a vase of roses. I'm sitting at the front desk on Valentine's Day- I'm expecting a lot of flowers to be delivered and that I will spend the majority of my day pointing delivery persons in the right direction. But when he stops at my desk and says he's looking for Heather... huh? He must mean another Heather. Baker...? Oh... huh... that's me. They must be from my parents. Who on earth would send me flowers on Valentine's Day?

I took the card. Yup. For me. Weird. When I opened the card to see who sent them, I read:

I was totally baffled. The Chocolate Man? huh? The flower delivery guy also asked if there was a Lisa in the house, when I confirmed, he left for a minute. I told Lisa to come out to the desk. We oooh-ed and aaaah-ed over my pretty flowers and I showed her the card. She knew immediately who sent them. It took me a minute to put two and two together- and then I remembered that her friend AA had grilled her about our Valentine's Day plans and my name. And we had a good laugh.

She was mad for a minute because he'd sent me- a perfect stranger- flowers and not her. I told her to be patient- that he'd not forgotten her. Just then the delivery guy brings in a HUGE bouquet of roses and lilies for her. Seriously gorgeous. I didn't take a picture because, let's face it, this post is about me and I didn't want them outshining my flowers. ha!

He was forgiven after that.

In the meantime, our other coworker, Hida, had text her boyfriend that we were going to eat a chocolate man. I'm not sure if the idea is just offensive to guys...? But he thought it seemed like a bitter, anti-man thing to do.  Which of course made her all the more gung ho to do it!

When lunchtime came (we'd all brought stuff to have a little potluck, just the three of us) we had our lunch and then laid the sacrifice upon his alter (hey, if that's how people are going to see it, it's how I'm going to describe it!)

I didn't care who ate what- I only requested that I eat his head. Haha!
Sorry Chocolate Man, your pretty flowers did not buy your freedom.

The fun twist to the story is that when my friend, Carol gave me the chocolate man last year, she gave him to me the very same day that AA sent Lisa two dozen roses- so it's almost as if AA and the chocolate man had some kind of bond. This is literally the picture I posted last April on Instagram. 

So ends the story of the first time I ever got flowers from a guy. A stranger. As a joke. It still doesn't count.

MoTab 2016

Ok, here is another one of those way overdue posts. I'm so sorry. I don't know what has happened to me lately. I want to blog- but when I have time, I don't think of it- and when I think of it, it's usually two hours past bedtime on a work night.

So you see the conundrum.

Anyway, in mid-December my friend Ana and I went downtown and met up with my other friend Liz (from book club) to go to the MoTab Christmas Concert. 

In the past, tickets were assigned by lottery. You would submit your email address and how many tickets you wanted- and then you would pray that you got picked. In all the years I've done it, I've only been picked once- but I've always been very lucky to have someone else get picked who gave me their tickets.

This year they changed things up and did a first come, first served deal. It sucks I'll tell you that for nothing.  Tickets were made available at 10:00 and were gone by 10:09. That really, really sucks. You don't even stand a chance!

BUT because I'm lucky- Liz was able to score some tickets- and didn't have anyone to go with- so she invited us to go with her. I'm so glad we did!

(by the way, these pictures are super out of order but I don't have the patience to rearrange them all- so like it or lump it)

I don't know how she did it- but Liz got the best seats I've ever sat in EVER! We were about 6 rows back from the stage; close enough that we could see the faces of the performers. Close enough that we could see President Eyring!

Thanks Liz!

As is tradition with Ana and me, we took a toooooooooon of selfies, so buckle up, because here they come.

See? See how close we were to the stage? It was awesome!

I told you these are out of order. This is the orchestra leaving the stage after the whole thing was over. The orchestra are usually the last ones to leave.

There were a few stragglers though, us among them. This was the view of the conference center from our seats waaaaaay up front. I'm usually up on the second balcony. So you can see this was a real treat for me!

After the show Liz had to go her own way, so Ana and I wandered Temple Square looking at lights and taking our yearly pictures. It's becoming difficult to tell year from year because I always wear the same coat and I only have two nice scarves. I make up for it by doing my hair differently. I chose the wrong 'do this time though because it was rainy and when my hair is slicked down and it gets wet- it gets ugly fuzzy. sigh... oh well. good thing there was no one to impress.

My tree at home this year was done with Angels and musical instruments. So imagine how happy I was when I found that the tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building had done a similar theme. It was beautiful!

And so is she.

Sometimes it takes me a few tries to get a decent picture.

As I said, that night it as raining. The ONE TIME I would have been OK with snow- and it was rain. ugh... anyway, Ana had her umbrella- but I didn't take mine. I put my scarf over my head and tried to dodge raindrops, but I was soaked in no time. I'm not sure what it is with lines at the conference center this year- but we had to wait FOREVER! Usually we just walk right in, show them our ticket and sit down. but this year we were herded around like cattle and were afraid we wouldn't get in by showtime.

The rain was not helping.

More of fuzzy-head me.

Ana couldn't take a bad photo if she wanted to. She always looks good.

Here's more of that tree I love...

We came across this gingerbread village tucked away in a corner of the mall. I wanted to take some picture so maybe get some ideas for next year's gingerbread houses!

Despite the rain and the wait, it is always fun hanging out with Ana. She is always up for an adventure and is always good for a laugh.

Inside it was warm and dry. I wish I could say the same for my feet. Oh well, at least I didn't get sick because of that night.

I don't know why. I just don't. know. why.

This is one of those rare times that you see Ana taking the selfie. I usually take them because my arms are longer.

Won't this be a fun one for next year's calendar, mom? It could pass for both April (April showers...) and December. hmmm...

The show was amazing. The guest vocalist was so incredible- and a lot of the songs were sung in Spanish which was a change of pace. He told the story of the Little Match Girl, which is such a sad, but beautiful story. Makes you wanna hug the people you love- just so they know they're loved- and reminds us to think of those who are lonely. Seriously, Thanks again, Liz for the great seats!

It was a wonderful Christmas season. I was so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends and do all the fun things that we did.

and I'm even more glad that I got these posts done! Whew!

That One Time I Went to a Jazz Game

I am so ridiculously behind on my blog it's not even funny. So- even though these are three months late, I'm going to finish them anyway. The pictures have been uploaded here for a month. They are somewhat out of order- but I don't care. I'm just going to plow through and talk anyway. You're used to me, right? A little chaos never hurt anyone.

So in the beginning of December, my big brother and (most of) his family came down to see me. The first day they were here we went shopping at City Creek. Macy was so excited to go into a real live Tiffany and Co store. She'd seen the movie and had always wanted to go in!

She even matched the tree. aww how sweet...

... until I explained to her what the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's is about- and that kind of ruined it for her. Sorry Mace.

It sure was fun to wander around with these goofballs.

We had dinner at the Olive Garden, and then we (all except Kim) had tickets to a Jazz game. My first Jazz game ever! I've been to one NBA game before- when I was in high school we went on choir tour and sang the national anthem at a Supersonics/Nuggets game. I fell asleep.

Of all the times all my family has been to Jazz games- I had never been. Well- I went to like, the summer camp thing a few years ago- but that's not the real Jazz team. So I was pretty excited. We had great seats too!

Before the game started, Lisa went shopping. She is such a silly. She bought a little something for everyone. Shirts, hats, you know. I got earrings. I love them! Yay! Jazz earrings!

Jenna loooooooves the Jazz. All day she kept saying, 'Jazz?" "Go ball game?" She was so excited to go. It was all we could do to keep her from flying away as we walked into the Vivint Smart Home Arena (which I still call the Delta center- because I don't care).

There was a little Jazz bear driving around and interacting with the kids. She wasn't quite sure what to think of him- but she was still happy to be there.

The seats we had were awesome. We were at the top of the bottom... if that makes sense. We were on the folding chairs by the wall. Personally, I think they are way more comfy than the stadium seats because if your neighbor doesn't show up, you can  fold up the chair and BOOM more elbow room!

We got there during warm up time- so there was a lot of time to fill by taking selfies and trying to entertain Jenna (and me, because let's face it... squirrel!)

I should probably frame this next one. Jenna, the Jazz lover.

We were close enough that we could actually watch the game in person and not have to see what was happening on the jumbotron. I mean, it's hard NOT to stare at the jumbo tron- it's got a lot going on.

But it was just a fun day. I'm so glad they invited me to go. Kim stayed at the hotel and watched Hallmark movies.

The next day we went to Temple Square. Macy had scored tickets for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was so awesome! I'd never been before. I've always watched it on TV, but never in person. When Macy told me she had tickets to MoTab, I had no idea it was the devotional.

We had great seats for this too- the best seats I'd ever had (until the next week) in the Conference Center.

The best part about Christmastime in Salt Lake City is walking around Temple Square. For someone who loves sparkly, shiny things.... you can imagine how much I love the lights there.

Awwww... it's almost like they actually like each other. ;)

Just missing Shayla in this picture. But, when you're off at college filling your brain with all kinds of knowledge..

It really was a great visit. I'm so glad they came. I like living in a city where there are lots of things to do- but I get tired of doing everything alone- so it's always nice when people include me in their family outings.