Food with Friends

Side note: I have realized of late that I am terrible at bringing my camera around to document my fabulous happenings. Somewhere in between the iphone 3G camera being TERRIBLE compared to the iphone 4 and my Panasonic Lumix being slightly less awesome than a Canon Elph, or maybe me just being too preoccupied with life and not-enough-days-off, I do not bring my camera around as often as necessary. Even for important dates. 
I do not have enough dates with friends. But this month I had several. And they, each and every one, were amazing. 

Starting with Cim Carr. I went to high school with Cim. We probably haven't seen each other in 8 years. It has seriously been forever. She got married only a year ago- she and I held out the longest, but then, she bit the dust. With Kent. Cim and Kent moved here a year ago so he could go to med school. They live 40 minutes away and I've never driven to see them. I didn't honestly know how it would be after not seeing her for so long. Turns out, it wasn't that much different than it used to be. And what I loved most is that she was real. Because, honestly, if you're not, I don't want to hang out with you. I don't want any sort of polished up version of your life. I just want to know who you've become and why and how. And Cim and Kent were awesome and open and real and I LOVED IT. And I also loved how cute and considerate Kent was in the kitchen and their great taste in dinnerware and the delicious salmon and chicken and beets and broccoli and oh my gosh I don't remember dessert but I loved it all. (I brought salad. Spinach and feta and fresh mandarin oranges if you were wondering. It fit in.) And I have zero pictures of the entire experience. But here they are. Stolen from facebook

Bridgette

Brittney

My next lunch date was catching up with the Scottsdale Healthcare friends. Bridgette and Brittney are my favorite nurses ever and we spent so many nights drinking up each other's gossip in between answering call lights and tying patients down. And I miss them desperately. We finally caught up (somewhat exhausted and frazzled in between night shifts and days shifts and life) at Olive & Ivy and did some serious dishing on life plans and life's unexpecteds. Brittney just got married about a month ago. She was a beautiful bride. At the wedding, I had hung out with Larry (my other favorite 4EA nurse) and his wife the whole time. They were excellent company, and it was all so fun.

And then I met up a few days later with a new friend. This is Britney T., who just moved into my ward from Utah. She was craving Cafe Rio. Of course she was. Nothing says Utah like Cafe Rio. So maybe because she is a new friend and maybe because it was a Wednesday, Britney and I had one of the quickest dinner dates ever. But ya know what? It was good, it was delicious, and she is a super-cool girl. (And she's also a nurse here.)

My next date was the most unexpected, and that was with my parents after the funeral. See, Candice left one day earlier than me, and that Sunday afternoon I had the uncomfortable realization that I had spent most of my summer weekend in Idaho INSIDE. Which should really be a felony. Summers in Idaho Falls are beautiful, and, well, Arizona summers are not. So at my request, Mom & Dad & I had dinner outside on the patio. We sat there for 3 hours and talked and talked over barbecue chicken and salad. And oh my gosh it was perfect.

 And just last night I had this gorgeous dinner:

 My roommate Vanie is a top-notch friend maker. And she met two girls in the singles' ward, one of whom is our neighbor, last week. And she set up a mini-barbecue with just the four of us out by our pool last night. It was ridiculously hot and threatening to rain and windy AND still fun. I mean, how beautiful is that plate? I tried out a recipe from Women's Health for apricot and shrimp skewers that were sooo delicious. Vanie made her black bean and corn salad that I am in love with and the other girls made fruit salad and turkey skewers and brownies and raspberry lemonade. And I brought Trader's Joe's frozen lemon bars which are delightful and wow, I thought, what amazing women we are that can throw all this together just for each other. And I loved it all. Thoroughly. Here's to food and love and incredible people in our lives.