When a few years ago, my bestie and I went to this seasonal market and it was SO incredible, it was full of the cutest local brands and definitely helped inspire my love of shopping local. I remember being a little upset the first time the market ended and almost counting down the days until the next one. Luckily, they opened a brick and mortar store in The Gateway that I absolutely adore.

What I love even more is that they still do their seasonal markets! This past December they had their holiday market and it was fantastic! I actually had all intentions of getting this post up before then, but then life happened, but there isn't too much longer until their Spring Maker's Market.

In addition to their Maker's Markets they have regular in store vendors that offer an incredible selection of handmade goods! They are also offering classes and workshops and I personally can not wait to take one and learn something new! I love that they brought this type of thing to The Gateway, it definitely needed a little bit of local flair and I'm so glad Salt & Honey is offering that.

So if you find yourself in SLC and you need something handmade, locally sourced, or want to learn a new hobby or skill, Salt & Honey is your place!


Visit their website HERE.
Located at:
111 S Rio Grande
(next to Abercrombie)
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY: GALLIVAN ICE SKATING

[For this review I was compensated four free ice passes + skate rentals, all opinions are my own!]

Have you ever been ice skating? Y'all, I'm from Florida but I've been ice skating twice before. Once in Gainesville, FL for a school trip and another time in Fort Myers, FL for a birthday party, I am NO expert! I was SO nervous about this. Not only do I have the bum left knee, but I really wanted to experience some "hallmark" holiday stuff with my husband.

I was so elated when I had the opportunity to review Gallivan Center Ice Skating Rink. I went into this ready to break both my ankles, so with the VA hospital on speed dial, we cautiously approached the rink. We ended up having an incredible time!

The rink was a little crowded but it was really fun to see all the other families there having fun. I definitely wasn't the only one holding onto my husband for dear life! This was my first time skating at an outdoor ice rink, so I will tell you to make sure you dress warm! The staff was SO friendly. 

Be sure to check it out if you are local! They are open until February! 

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY: UPTOWN CHEAPSKATES

I received a discount for my honest review and promotion of Uptown Cheapskates. All opinions are honest and the writing is mine alone. 

I've seen this store downtown several times and when I had the opportunity to review them for my blog/instagram I was really excited to try them out. I went in there knowing honestly nothing other than that they sold clothes. I've been looking for pieces to add to my wardrobe and I need something to wear to Thanksgiving and Christmas and since we are saving money for our move this seemed like a good option.

Uptown Cheapskates is a secondhand store that deals with name brand clothes for my age range think teens to maybe thirties? You can also sell your clothes for cash or store credit. I went on a day they were having a sale (not intentionally - I just had an appointment at the VA and it happened I could swing by that day) that sale is still going on until Black Friday. It is 20% off the entire store with more deals on boots, beanies, and more stuff. I was mostly searching for outfits for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I didn't really look into those areas but I will say that I was happy to see how big the men's area was.

Also, the store was ORGANIZED! My sweet OCD heart rejoiced. Sometimes, even in department stores I can feel a little overwhelmed when stuff isn't clearly labeled and I can't find what I'm looking for. This store, not only is everything divided into sections (dresses, tops, bottoms), it is also divided by SIZES y'all! I was so glad I could just look for exactly what I was looking for.

Even without the sale, everything was reasonably priced. For reference, I bought some new brands that I'm not familiar with, but they had the big VS Pink sweatshirts that I love and buy for usually $35 - $45 marked at only $10 and they still looked brand new. I would have bought them but I was searching for something dressier.

Onto what I actually bought. I bought a sweater, a cardigan, a cami, a flannel, and a flannel dress, for $35 (before my blog review discount - which was $15), I got $10 off with the sale. So if I walked in on a regular day and paid full price I would have only paid $45. Totally reasonable.

The flannel, when I got home I realized was mens, and it fit my husband, so he ended up with a new shirt out of it. I'm excited to go back and get more clothes to fill out my winter wardrobe. Be sure to check out my instagram for how I style these pieces over the season.

There are numerous Uptown Cheapskates in various locations visit their website HERE to find your local location.

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY - GILGAL SCULPTURE GARDENS

Recently I crossed another place off of my SLC bucket list and went to an amazing place. This place was created by Thomas Child, JR. He created 12 original stone sculptures and over 70 engraved stones to create this magical place. Open to the public and free for all to visit, this place is picturesque.

The most striking and the largest sculpture is a self portrait of himself, but there are several more interesting sculptures. He imported all of stones and carved them himself.

The garden is open seven days a week and the hours vary slightly depending on time of year, April - September 8 - 8, October - March 9 - 5.

As you walk through the sculpture gardens and read what he chose to inscribe on each stone it is his legacy and so humbling to see what he felt was so important that he had to share it with the world.

Enough of the talk, here are the photos of this beautiful place.

I didn't photograph all of the sculptures there, so there is plenty left for you to come see! 

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY: HAMACHI

Y'all, let me tell you. I am a sushi snob. Since I befriended a Japanese native, I feel like my sushi standards have been raised like ten levels. Now, I'm no expert, but when I fed her this sushi she said, "this is authentic" I beamed. I knew it was authentic.

I get HAMACHI no less than three times a month. That is how good they are. I budget to ensure that I can eat from there three times a month. Let me tell you, one time they got my order wrong, but I was just accepting, the sushi chef knows what I need tonight and IT WAS DELICIOUS!

Sometimes we eat in restaurant but let me tell you my little secret. THEY DELIVER! They deliver the freshest rolls and the best nigiri around. I've tried a half dozen sushi places and this place is my favorite, and it is pretty close to authentic.

I eat a lot of sushi, but my standard order from Hamachi is one salmon maki roll and one tuna maki roll and one salmon nigiri and one tuna nigiri. If I'm super hungry I'll add a yellowtail maki and nigiri. If I wanted a deluxe roll I like their caterpillar roll (cucumber, avocado, and eel). There are only two things on the whole menu not containing fish and my husband likes the steamed fresh veggies over rice. It is a generous portion.

I love hamachi, from the bottom of my belly :)

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY - KEN SANDERS RARE BOOKS

I'm so excited to share this special place with y'all today. When we first moved to Salt Lake we saw this place as we were driving to a concert and I made Charlie promise that we would come back to this incredible looking place. We finally popped in there and IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I'm already planning my next trip over there.

From the outside KS's Rare Books looks like an awesome antique building. On the side of the building is a built in bookcase full of books. There was a cart out front with books that were $1. More on those later!!

Once you enter the door you get a glimpse of just how BIG it is in there. There are wall to wall books. The staff is so incredibly friendly and answered all the questions I had. The best way I can describe it is to plan to make a day of being here.

My husband and I took a few hours just admiring the shelves and searching for hidden treasures. The selection here isn't limited to just rare books, they have some newer books too. They offer an incredibly diverse selection, from books about art, to mystery, to religious books. They have tons of atlases. I could have spent much longer just searching and searching. There are so many books I didn't know I wanted until I was in that store. 

Ken Sander's Rare Books is open Monday - Saturday 10 - 6 and Sundays 12 - 5.
They are located at 268 S 200 E, Salt Lake City.
Visit their website HERE for more information.

Now for what I bought. This fall I'm going to try to read as many Stephen King books as I can, but the Stephen King selection here was a little slim. I did score Bag of Bones hardcover for $10. What I was most excited for was in their $1 bins I found a lot of vintage (can I say vintage if it's from my childhood?) children's books. They all look practically new and I plan on changing out the batteries in the Hunchback of Notre Dame book so future baby Fritz can play with that too. The Pippi Longstocking books were in a 3 pack for $10 and there were more there that I plan on picking up too.

My husband found several books that he had been searching for too, so it was a good trip!

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY: SAWADEE

My first food review! I've been wanting to write these forever and I hope you know that I'm only barely hanging on each day until I can make it to my next plate of SAWADEE Drunken Noodles.

At any give time I'm counting down the days until my husband goes to Sawadee. I absolutely love it. He always orders the Drunken Noodles --(A quick side note in case y'all thought he didn't love me, he prefers the yellow curry but he knows how much I love these noodles so he orders the noodles and brings me home the leftovers!). The leftovers, after my husband has had his fill is two meals for me and I can NOT get enough.

When we go in person to Sawadee, I order them with beef, but my husband is a vegetarian and orders them with tofu, they are still fantastic with tofu. Everyone else we go with loves the yellow curry and I've tried some of the yellow curry and it is delicious, but hot damn, these drunken noodles y'all.

I CRAVE THEM IN MY SLEEP! If you only have one meal in Salt Lake City, let it be these drunken noodles. They are a little spicy, but SOOOOO Worth it!


SAWADEE WEBSITE HERE :)

THE CHANGING FACE OF DOWNTOWN

So honestly-- I've been trying to create a travel guide for Salt Lake City but honestly, I've been living in Salt Lake City for about a year and some of the things I LOVED, they are disappearing and even though I'm not a true Utahn, I feel a little sadness, I walk by a business that I loved, that helped me feel at home and now, it isn't as much of a home anymore.

It is a placeholder. So much of downtown is. I moved into a brand spanking new LUXURY-APARTMENT complex last year, right after it was built and really before I could even grasp my surroundings they started to change. The broke ground on three new luxury-apartment complexes right next to mine within seconds of me moving in to mine. Next came the store closings.

I guess I really didn't care until they took our spot. It sounds so selfish. This books store had been there SIXTEEN YEARS! My husband and I would go there and get coffee and and a book on Sunday mornings. It was the hardest. It still it hard. Right now, there is a pang in my gut, I miss the spot my husband and I would go, where I bought Baby Fritz's first book. I might cry typing this y'all.

It was a book about koala's and I'll never forget that. But I'll also never forget how we used to walk 1/10 th of a mile to go shopping for clothes and now we have to walk a mile to CITY CREEK. The people changing the face of the GATEWAY only want $$$ and I understand that, I truly do. But will they remember when I first got to UTAH and I was scared to be here, and I just wanted to go back to ARIZONA and Charlie took me to the planetarium and then to get coffee at BARNES & NOBLE.

We moved right next to the Gateway because he knew that I love a mocha frapp and a good book and my twinnies love the splash pad. We love the movie theater and HOT TOPIC and ZUMIEZ and PAC SUN.

Now we spend our weekends elsewhere, the new coffee place in the gateway isn't exactly what I like, and if we want to shop we got to City Creek and we aren't fans of DAVE & BUSTER.  We just want our bookstore back, where we can browse for our baby to be some and our wants right now.

Downtown is constantly changing, we might not always live there, but Salt Lake City will always hold a place in my heart. The way it was, before everything changed.

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY - BIG COTTONWOOD PARK

I knew when I started this feature I didn't just want to explore typical places, but our local parks as well. I actually live really close to Pioneer Park where really cool events happen, but that's another post for another day, today I want to talk about my favorite park to go with the kids that I nanny, BIG COTTONWOOD PARK.

Tucked neatly into the Millcreek area, this park has a giant off leash dog area. We meet so many happy puppies running freely on our walks. (This wouldn't be a good fit for my dog Simon, who is not comfortable around other dogs, so dog mamas beware) Speaking of walks, there is a gorgeous walking trail. I know I have said it a million times, but Utah is BEAUTIFUL! The mountain views on this trail are great, but there is also a duck pond with little fish that the kids love.

This park is super kid friendly (think more toddler than big kid, though!) The playground equipment is more aimed for ages 4 - 7 I would say. There is a tire swing but no individual swings and a few small slides. Restrooms on site and a few covered tables.

When we go I also push them in a stroller (they are two year old twins) and they enjoy the equipment with assistance. I enjoy the exercise of the walking trails and then we put a blanket down in the grass for snack and watch the ducks (and sometimes dogs!) play in the water. The water area is fenced off and I'm thankful for that, but it still requires constant supervision with little kids.

EXPLORING SALT LAKE CITY - THE STATE CAPITOL

I love living in SLC. It is gorgeous here. The mountains, the food, the cute little shops. I just can't get enough of it, and I want to share some of my favorite places with y'all!

One of my favorite things to do in Spring/Fall is walk the mile long walk from our apartment to the State Capitol. The walk is rather uneventful, the path is pretty straight forward, we always bypass the middle of downtown, but when we get close, we see the real beauty. The Capitol is gorgeous.

I love that it is dog-friendly, they provide poop clean-up bags (I always try to bring my own, but it is nice when somewhere provides it!). There are always people walking the campus with their dogs. The various monuments surrounding the Capitol give us something to walk around and see.

They do tours on the hour 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday to Friday, but sadly, only service dogs are permitted inside.

Some fast facts about the Utah State Capitol:

* Tours are free and are encouraged! They even have a scavenger hunt activity that you are welcome to try!

* Inside of the capitol is painted with beautiful artwork depicting the history of Utah.

* There are over a dozen monuments on the grounds for you to walk around and see if you have no interest in entering the capitol.

*The movie Legally Blonde 2 was filmed outside of the Utah State Capitol!

*The capitol is made of Utah granite - talk about shopping local!

Above all, what makes the State Capitol one of the MUST SEE things to do in Salt Lake City, is the views! The 40 acres of hilly lands just amaze me every SINGLE TIME I go over there. I am never not impressed. I just can't gush enough. Utah is beautiful.