With my trip back to the States, I felt like I needed to make a quick trip up to Utah to see my grandma, so I decided to spend 23 hours in the state. I’m so glad I did. I got in Monday night. Sarah picked me up and we headed to her new house. I was so excited to see it, but more excited to catch up with my bestie. It had been way too long. We stayed up way too late talking, so getting up the next morning was slightly painful, but with so little time, there wasn’t any to waste.

Nev and I headed to breakfast at Magleby’s Fresh (because that’s what we do) and then I headed to my old stomping grounds to have a chat with the head of the OB/HR track in my MBA program. I don’t think I’d actually been back to the Tanner Building since I graduated and it was kind of strange. Two and a half years later, I’m living half-way around the world doing exactly what I was hoping to do while sitting in my International HR class. It was great to catch up!

I then met Sarah for lunch at Noodles. Yes, I said Noodles. Then what is the picture J Dawgs about? Well, when you only have 23 hours in a state that has so many of your favorite restaurants, sometimes you have to get your Hobbit on and have second lunch. We split a dawg. Totally worth it.

And then we went shopping. Well, I went shopping and Sarah helped me pick things out. She is a great shopping coach (that’s what I’m calling her) and I found some fantastic stuff. Blog post of the new outfits is coming.

When we finished, our food had settled just enough that we were able to make a quick stop at The Cocoa Bean where they have my most favorite cupcakes ever. Yes. Ever. I like them better than Sprinkles or Magnolia or Crumbs or Baked by Melissa. Which makes me kind of sad only because the name of their place and their logo both make me want to vomit. Seriously. And who has a dot-net website anymore. I digress. Best. Cupcakes. Ever. (In my opinion…)

And that was it for my time in P-town. It was time to head up to SLC to have dinner at Pei-Wei with my grandma and my cousins. I got to enjoy the drive up chatting about Japan with my grandma and here all of these stories I had never heard before about her time in Yokohama. She also gave me my birthday present: an book on ikebana. Specifically one of her old books on ikebana. Along with some cash to take an ikebana class and a promise to leave me her ikebana containers when she dies. (Do you hear that cousins? They are mine. 🙂

And then we met up with my darling cousins and I got to meet the newest addition to the Goesch clan, my cousin’s equally darling new husband. They started dating after I left Utah and we’d just never connected.

And then it was back to the airport and back to Arizona for a few days with a lot less going on before I had to head back to Japan.