On Friday, I flew to Salt Lake City to co-host a baby shower for my long-time good friend, Cherstyn Stockwell. Our mutual friend, Karen Castagna, picked me up at the airport and then the three of us got together for a nice lunch before all of the festivities began. I hadn’t seen Cher and Karen together for probably three years, so it was nice to spend some time catching up.
Cherstyn and her husband, Matt, just adopted two children from Ukraine – Ashley, who’s 13, and Shaun, who’s 11 – and she’s pregnant with her first biological child, so in a matter of eight weeks, Cher’s going to have five children! Her life is as crazy as ever as she manages four teenagers / pre-teenagers, a job, a husband and a growing baby, but she seems as happy and contented as I’ve ever seen her.
Karen is also a beehive of chaotic activity. She left her four girls back in Menlo Park with her husband, Dave, so that she could enjoy at least two days “kid-free.” She seems to be doing well, if a bit frazzled by all of the activity that being a mom of four girls brings.
After lunch, we stopped by Cher’s house to see/meet the kids, her two dogs and six chickens. Yes, chickens. My lovely friend, Cherstyn, has a chicken coop in her back yard from which she draws six eggs a day. She ran across her backyard at one point and all six hens went running after her. It was hilarious…and they’re so darn cute!
Karen and I bolted out of Cher’s place and headed down to Alpine and their friend, Lynda Roskelley’s home, where we hosted the baby shower.
In a matter of three hours, we whipped that house into shape and had it ready for a jungle / safari themed shower for 24 of Cher’s friends.
It was very fun for me to reconnect with a lot of old D.C. friends, including Katherine Creer, Anne Marie Gunther, Tausha Jesson, Holly Jacobsen, and Liz Browning, as well as my good friends, Julianna and Jill.
It was also fun to meet a couple new women – Amber Pulley, who I’ve heard about for years through our mutual friends; and DanaLee, who used to live in D.C., but I’d never met before. Really nice women.
Me and Mama Johnson
The “dessert bar” and chocolate fountain. Yum!
All in all, I think Cherstyn was very happy with the shower and appreciative of all the loot she brought in for little Luke. He’s due to arrive in early December and a better mother and family he could not want!
After the shower, I headed out with Juju and went to my home-away-from-home: their house in Park City. I love staying there and appreciate how they always make me feel so welcome and comfortable. Before heading off to bed, Cody complained that the house was “so hot, it’s like a yeast infection in here!” I told him that I didn’t know what the weekend would hold, but that would be quote I’d remember! Leave it to Cody to up the class factor!
The next morning, Juju and I woke up and whipped ourselves some waffles courtesy of a waffle mix bought at the Bunnery last month in Jackson Hole. Yummy! We then hustled out of the house with Louie and made our way down to SLC, where we briefly stopped by Amy Skidmore’s house to see my favorite kiddos – Cole, Sadie and Mary Jane. Unfortunately, her entire clan was down with the flu, so Juju and I didn’t even cross the threshold. From there we went to Jolley’s Pharmacy, which over my many visits to SLC has become a “must stop by” destination. It’s just got the cutest seasonal stuff…as well as a healthy supply of Mrs. Calls pecan carmels.
These things are DANGER!
After Jolley’s, we hooked up with JJ and Cody at The Dodo restaurant, another “must stop by” destination, for a quick lunch and catch up. After some brief errands and a “layover” at the house, Juju and I then set off for Midway, were we went to a store called “All That’s In The Barn.” It can be a bit hit-or-miss, but sometimes it has really cute home décor / western themed items that appeal to me. I struck out this time, but did manage to pick up a couple of treats for Jill Chappell and Jill Jackson.
For dinner, Juju and I really treated ourselves. Her in-laws, Marcy and Wayne, spent the weekend at the beautiful new St. Regis hotel in Deer Valley and invited Juju and I up to see the amenities. To die for!
First, you take a funicular up the side of the mountain to arrive at the hotel and restaurant property. You get off the funicular, and step over to an outdoor terrace that looks over Deer Valley. There’s the most amazing rock garden fireplace all along the terrace.
I’ve never seen anything like this before, but when I hit my millions and can afford the luxury five-star house that I think I deserve (!!), I’m putting one of these bad boys in! It was the coolest thing – just gas fire rising out from and around the rocks. It was so cool and gave off a surprisingly good amount of heat. It’s a perfect place to watch the sunset, which is what Wayne was doing when we found him. We chatted with him for a few minutes, and then made our way over to the hotel to see Marcy in her room.
The hotel lobby was AMAZING!
Juju and I were dying at the beautiful furniture, wallpaper, throw pillows and see-through fireplaces.
This is a huge leather ottoman with seats all around a center “coffee-table” element.
She and I both fell in love with the whole lobby and immediately wanted to move in.
We went up to Marcy’s hotel room, where I asked her to adopt me!, and it too was beautifully done. There was a huge bed overlooking the mountains, an awesome hide-covered ottoman, gas-lit fireplace, flat panel TV and end-of-bed settee.
In the bathroom, there was a separate toilet, shower and bath area, as well as a built-in TV in the mirror. Talk about the lux factor!
Juju and I eventually said our goodbyes to Marcy, and made our way through the pool / hot tub area and back to the terrace for a post-sunset sitdown by the fire garden. We opted to stay for dinner, so we ordered what was hands-down one of the yummiest meals I’ve had in a while.
The executive chef is Jean-George Voichtren, who is a master chef from New York. Marcy and Wayne had recommended the hamburger, which was our intent, but upon looking at the menu – and sitting in the brisk evening air – we opted for the butternut squash soup.
Holy Crap!
We were sitting at our table, talking to one of the managers, when two waiters arrived and put gleaming white bowls in front of us. In the bottom of the bowls were a few sliced mushrooms and ever-so-tiny dices of butternut squash. We laughed later that we were both confused when the bowls were put in front of us because we were both thinking “where’s the soup?” and “is it so dark out here that I can’t see the soup?”
The waiters turned to their tray and came back to our table with mini silver pitchers, from which they simultaneously poured butternut squash soup into our bowls. Talk about presentation! They wished us a nice meal and left. I took one spoonful and immediately looked at Juju with raised-eyes. She took a spoonful, put down her spoon, looked at me and earnestly said, “Sal, this is where we belong.” Hahaha.
This soup was amazing! I don’t know what kind of crack cocaine they put in it, but I’ve never in my life had butternut squash that made me raise my eyebrows! She and I were all but licking the bowls as we finished.
The manager came out as we finished our soup and told us that a seat by the fireplace inside the bar had opened up, so we moved into the bar area and finished our meal by the fireside, which was really nice. We had a quick margherita pizza, which was good, and then we finished off our meal with a salted caramel ice cream sundae with chocolate-drizzled popcorn and peanuts. Hello! There’s another dish that went down real easy!
I love experiences like the St. Regis so much. I can barely afford to step on the property, but little tastes of the five-star life are so fun! Plus, I’m a sucker for any high-end luxury ski resort. It’s like my time spent at the Amaghani Resort in Jackson Hole – I just feel very at home there!! Too bad my salary doesn’t agree!
This morning, I managed to sleep in a little bit and spend some time with cute Louie, who’s in a phase where the only one he really wants is Mom. He and I managed to sit together for an hour, watch Elmo and play peek-a-boo with a big blanket. He’s growing into such a cute little boy and has given so much happiness to Cody and Juju.
Since I totally forgot about my late afternoon departure from SLC, I didn’t pack any church clothes (free Sunday!), so Juju went for two hours of church with Louie while I stayed home and got ready for my flight to Pittsburgh. She asked me to take Murphy for a quick walk while she was gone, so the dog and I leashed up and headed out the door for a quick walk around the neighborhood.
Murphy and I were walking about five minutes away from their house when we heard some rustling on the neighbor’s property. I assumed it was a dog since Murphy started to go crazy and the neighborhood is littered with mountain dogs. We kept walking down the road, with Murphy going nuts and me trying to spot a dog despite the sun glaring in my eyes. All of a sudden, up on a 10-foot high ridge of a neighbor’s home were two bull moose! They were enormous and staring straight at Murphy and I. I stopped dead in my tracks and even Murphy stood still. I had no idea what you’re supposed to do in that situation, so I opted for the easiest course of action and immediately flipped a u. We were out of there within seconds with the moose following our progress. Egads! I love the mountains, especially because around every corner is a potential new surprise!
After a quick lunch with Louie and Juju, we flew down the canyon and made it to the airport just in time for me to check in for my flight with a few minutes to spare. Unfortunately, fate had other plans! When we went to lunch, I only took my wallet so after lunch I put my wallet in the side door pocket. When I went to check in for my flight….no wallet! Agh!!
United Airlines still let me check in, but warned me I’d have “a full body search” by TSA. Delightful. The TSA agents were extremely nice; I had to fill out a form and then one of the agents had to call D.C. to verify my identity. After providing my name, date of birth, address, state where my Social Security Number was issued, make and model of my car, and name and birth date of a family member, I was allowed to put my belongings in a red plastic bin to go through the x-ray. Once through that system, I was taken to a side area, where I was given a full body pat down and every piece of my luggage was taken apart and scanned. Unfortunately, in my zeal to get out of Juju’s house on time, I literally grabbed my clothes out of her dryer and threw them in my luggage. The TSA agent probably thought I was a disaster – no ID, no wallet and I can’t even fold my underwear! What a mess.
Fortunately, they couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating and they all got me through the process and onto my flight with five minutes to spare.
Lesson learned – when pushed for time, forego the Mexican lunch and make sure all of your belongings are where they’re supposed to be!
Lately I've been obsessed with looking at decorating and design blogs - Chappy has me going to several different sites, because she's equally gaga over redoing her bedroom. We've gone to a few flea markets together and are emailing each other all the time about different blogs and antique sales. Last month, she turned me on to a real prize...Chartreuse & Co. 
This morning, we rented a U-haul van...that's right, a U-haul....in anticipation of treats we'd fine at Chartreuse. We drove an hour north to Frederick, Maryland to this adorable little town called Buckeystown. 
Chartreuse & Co. is a once-a-month antique / furniture / decor shopping opportunity, in a barn of all places, that has all sorts of fun things for sale. 
We fell in love with all of the dressers, chairs, trunks, knick-knacks, lamps, and more. At one point, Chappy and I had $1,000 each of purchases. WHOA! Time to regroup!
Everything is VERY reasonably priced - some things have been "loved" a lot and need some repair work, but overall everything is great. 
Chappy walked out with two beautiful prizes - a great dresser that she's been eyeing for a month and two fantastic chairs with B&W toile-covered seats....for $90!!! Score!!
