Wallflower

This weekend Josh had a lot of work to do, so I had to find a way to occupy myself. And I had the perfect craft in mind. I noticed a friend had this awesome flower thing on her wall. It was love at first site. I really thought she bought it, so I asked where she got it. It turns out it was handmade! It was made out of book pages. She took it off the wall and showed me how it was done. I was impressed (and jealous). I found myself thinking, "I want, I want."

(To get you to read on, here's my final product)

So I did some rummaging online and came across a few sites that did wreaths with book pages - eh, close enough. With seeing the actual product up close and some DIY sites, I managed to figure out how this would come together. This is how I did it...

1. I went to Goodwill and found an old, cheap book with some solid pages (e.g. a hard bound book with thicker pages rather than a flimsy romance novel (not that flimsy, romance novels are bad)). My book was about Pompeii...odd, but the pages were too good to pass up.
2. I went to Bartells (drug store) and bought a small glue gun and some glue sticks.
3. I had a hefty poster board that I had left over from my wedding projects. Then I took a big bowl, made a circle, and cut it out.

Those are the supplies, and then came the putting it together.

• Rip out all the pages in the book (this hurt a little being an avid book reader).
• Roll about 1/2 the book (it was a big book) into curl-cones. To make the cones, I took the bottom, right corner and rolled toward the top. It should look like a sugar cone almost. And staple the bottom.
• Grab the glue gun, and starting from the outside, glue the cones along the edge. After you've made a full circle, start again one layer down.

• Keep layering until you get to the tiny center. Here I had to ripe more pages length wise and make smaller curl-cones. Then glue those in until you get so no more fit.
• I used the top of a soda can to make a little thing to hang with. I just glued it to the back, and then hung it on our bedroom wall.

And that's it. A beautiful wall flower.

Here's the artist with her piece + Josh admiring my craftiness:

[Note: This is not a DIY blog now. I just had a crafty spirit take over me. I am not a crafter, although I sort of aspire to be one; they're so crafty.]

Things I've Been Doing

Sorry I disappeared for awhile with posts. Here's a peek at what I've been up to...

Reading

I've been swept away with the Hunger Games. Those of you who have read the series know what I'm talking about. I mean holy cow this series is good. It like Harry Potter all over again; I just can't put the book down. It's serious a problem. I'll be working and then find myself thinking about the book.

I actually thought I wouldn't like the books. I read the synopsis a few times since I've heard people say its good. But really, a books that takes place in the aftermath of a wasted North America? Sounded lame to me, but my friend highly recommended it so I thought why not. At the Orange County airport after Christmas and on our way home, I downloaded the first book to my new Kindle (my big xmas gift). As soon as I started, I was hooked. Now I'm on the third and final book and already half way down. I can't believe I've managed to stop reading to write this post - must have serious guilt for not writing. 

If you're feeling lazy, or you can't really take on another book at the moment, you can always just go see the movie in March. I know I am!

Soup

I've been spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen lately. Since the year started, ever Sunday I've made a soup. I'm going to try and keep it up too and have a little Sunday tradition. The past three Sundays we've had Chicken & Dumpling soup, Butternut Squash Chowder soup, and Vegetable-Salad soup. The inspiration for all this? A book Don & Nada spent me for my Kindle called Mr. Sunday Soups. The favorite so far is the Butternut Squash Chowder soup. Yum.

 

Organization

I'm generally an organized person, however, I always have this desire to be even more organized (oh, and the little fact that I married an unorganized person). As I was reading my Better Homes magazine, I came across an article on home organization called In-Box Rx. It's a system that helps you organize all the paper that comes into the home--mail, receipts, bills. The article suggests setting up a Paper Processing Center. Sounds right up my ally. So last weekend, we stopped off at Storables (a secret favorite store of mine) and bought a few items to create this system.

How's it work? Well you made a main inbox and you put any incoming papers into it. The everyday (or so) you go through this pile and sort it into one of three piles: Do Now, Do Later, or Pending. Then you go through Do Now every couple of days, the Do Later every week, and Pending once a month. The last been something to file away (which is another project for me--a filing cabinet organizer).

So far, it's been working out. Check with me in a few months.

 

Dinner & Movies

A favorite thing Josh and I do on weekends is go get dinner and watch a movie whether it been at home or in the theaters. The other weekend we saw Tin Tin in 3D at the theaters. It was cute and fun. We both agreed the 3D effects were pretty cool and made the movie. Otherwise the plot is pretty predictable, but hey it's really a kids movie. I haven't seen too much in 3D so it was fun and a nice change for the norm.

As for dining, we've been trying some new places. The restaurant that sticks out the most is Ocho in Ballard. It's a tiny restaurant and really only meant for parties of two (three max), but it makes for a great and delicious date night. We shared yummy tapas with my favorite being goat cheese balls fried with roasted pepper almond sauce. Josh's favorite was the trout ( I can't remember the preparation, sorry). Oh and the sherries mushrooms. Mouth is watering.

With my friend Beth, I've also tried the Back Door at Roxy's which had tasty but reasonably priced drinks and food. Oh, and the Leary Traveler which was a fun, pub-like place. Good food. Good times.

Farmer's Market

Yes, we still love to go to the farmer's markets. If you attended the wedding, you may recall the caramel favors we had from Jon Boy. These were from our farmer's market adventures. This time we bought some new items (new to us, that is): 

• Jam - I recently got on an English muffin kick (had one over xmas at the Brown's house). But with two crucial ingredients on top: butter and jam. We ran out of jam (probably from all my muffin eating), so we got some blueberry jam. The verdict: it's delicious with butter on muffins.
• Pasta & Sauce - This was actally a new stand at the market, so we had to try it. Everyone was crowding around. I finally got a taster and thought, "this would be excellent on pasta." So we bought some. And we also bought some pasta at another booth (pasta not picured, it was in the freezer).
• Mushrooms - Just a booth on mushrooms. We love mushrooms, so we bought some (and that's how we roll).
• Toffee - This was deliciousness. They had several kinds, but we ended up with the scrap box. It's all the crumbs that the place gets sold in a box. I put it in some chocolate chip cookies - uhh, yum. And Josh has enjoyed it on ice cream.

 

That's really not ALL that I've been doing, but it's a good preview. Well, actually, this is a rather long post so maybe we have been doing a lot. I take all that back.

Maybe next weekend we'll doing something exciting and I can blog about it (Josh needs to stop working weekends!).

A Feast for Two

This Thanksgiving, Josh and I spent together on our own in Seattle. We couldn't decide... Eat out or cook & eat in. If we ate out, I wanted to eat a Lola's like we did last year. If we ate in, I wanted to cook a bone-in breast. The decision kept dragging on until we finally decided on eating out. Done. Decision made.

I called Lola's and bad news, they were booked! So I went onto Open Table and explored. My backup options...booked. I found one place, Palisade, and grabbed a reservation. But this made us go back to the decision board: eat in or eat on. After much back and forth, we decided on eating in.

With very little time to consider recipes, and having never really cooked a whole thanksgiving feast, I had to find something and go with it. I found most of my recipes in my Cooking Light magazine and a couple at All Recipe (allrecipe.com). Then the grocery buying began.

We got our bone-in turkey breast from a local butcher called Bill the Butcher. Either the meat was super good or my brine and turkey recipe rocked our worlds (or both), but my turkey came out dang delicious. The best part of the whole meal.

The sides we enjoyed were a green bean casserole, fennel-sausage-caramelized apple stuffing, and a mashed potato casserole. The best of the three being the potatoes. As for dessert, I made a pumpkin bourbon tart. Which also turned out quite tasty. All in all, a wonderful feast for two.

Heather, Now that you're getting Married...

Hey Heather, Now that you're getting married, what are you going to doing next?

I'm going to Disneyland!

Remember that wonderful line? No? Let me spark your memory. I just remember my sister and I used to always joke with this line. But this time I really did go to Disneyland (okay, land not world. But we all know Disneyland is better).

Yes, that's right, I went to Disneyland for my bachelorette. I have to say, it was quite an awesome idea. Where else better to celebrate than the happiest place on Earth? It's a no brainer.

My bachelorette crew: Heather (me, of course!), Lindsay, Heather R. Melissa, Alley, and Tori.



The fun started on Friday evening after we all had made our way down to LA area (I actually went down Thursday evening and worked from Lindsay's apt on Friday). Lindsay and I drove to LAX to pick up the gang. LAX was a zoo, but we managed to get to Heather Richardson's house without an issue. We started our weekend with chit chat and mojitos!

Saturday was the BIG day - Disneyland. We had a leisurely morning and then we were off to party hard. We bought our tickets (ouch) and headed inside. First things first, I got a special hat. It was a hard choice between the felt mouse ears or the handband. The felt I could have embroidered "Bride-to-be" or something cheesy, but the handband was cutier. I went with cuter.



Once our mouse gear was on our heads (we also got special "celebration" buttons to wear), we were off to Indy. Indy? Indiana Jones (Tori knows him as Indy; apparently they are on a first name basis). I guess I should go back to driving school because I gave these girls a ride for their money. I tell you it's hard to drive in the dark and across a fake bridge near snakes and rolling boulder. (Only those that have been on the ride will understand those last sentences).



Next we hit up a few more rides: Pirates, Captain EO 3D (oh yea baby; it's back), Big Thunder, Haunted House, Space Mountain...all the big rides. And then there was Splash Mountain. Now, I've gotten wet before, but never have I come out thinking I jumped into the river. Alley and I were the two front loggers and got utterly wet. In fact, so wet that we deemed it appropriate to purchase new dresses! And, for me, a sweater as well.



You would think after all that, we would be tired out. Oh no. We replenished our energy with a fabulous meal at Catal in Downtown Disney and then we were back at the D-land.



This time we tried out the much improved Star Tours, saw some elephants on the Jungle Cruise, and some more pirates on Peter Pan. In between we saw glimpses of fireworks. And that, my friends, is a full day at Disneyland. Go Girls!

Day two was a bit more low key. Then again, anything is low key compared to the awesomeness that is Disneyland. We did brunch at Coast in Santa Monica on the beauiful beach. With coffee in hand, I was a happy girl. Or was I happier sitting on the beach in the sun (replenishing my Vitamin D)? Tough decision. Either way, it was a lovely morning.



We ended the fabulous weekend crusing cute shops on Main Street in downtown Santa Monica. Sadly, all things must come to an end, and we all parted our ways. Melissa, Tori, and Alley back to the bay area. Lindsay to South Pasa. Heather to Bel Air. Me to Seattle.

What a freakin' awesome weekend!

Bridal Shower, Part Deux

Last weekend was my second bridal shower, my Encinitas bridal shower. It was hosted and run by Pat Richardson and Sue Hartley, my second and third moms. It was also the 'coming together of the families' shower. This was big time shower - this wasn't a drizzle or misty shower, but a downpour of friends and family.

Let's start with the stats:

• Roughly 25 guests


• 1 Bride


• 1 MOB + 1 MOG


• 1 Bridesmaid + 1 Jr Bridesmaid


• 1 FOB (acting as butler) alongside Host's Husband


• 1 Reader


• Location: Encinitas, CA

It was a lovely meeting of the families. There was a game to start everyone mingling and intermixing - a people hunt. We had to find someone that matched the something on the list. For instance, Who watches "Say Yes to the Dress," or who married their high school sweetheart. This broke and ice and soon everyone was laughing and have a great time.

(Isn't it funny...we're wearing name tags!)

Then we moved onto phase two: food. We all enjoyed some delicious chicken salad, Panera bread, and some fresh brewed ice tea. For the sweet tooth, delicious carrot cake cupcakes. And to keep the conversations rolling during lunch, we were given some wedding trivia. Did you know that Queen Victoria started the tradition of wearing a white wedding dress?

With full tummies and happy people, we all migrated to the living room to do a little bit of gift opening. And my little, I really mean the exact opposite, LOTS of gift unwrapping. I did try to make in enjoyable for everyone with my awesome facial expressions as captured in some photos.

I also got a lovely rehearsal bow bouquet from all the ribbons and bows on the gifts. Actually, Laurie Galloway made it as I tore through all the presents. I learned only towards the end that the number of bow rips equals the number of kids you'll have. Luckily I'm a pro gift opener and didn't have much trouble. BUT I wouldn't have minded ripping 1 or 2 bows...

Then we all mingled a bit more and then the party was over. And what a lovely party it was; down to every detail, even the flowers. Thanks Pat & Sue!!

All American

Last weekend was our all American weekend. We did everything American (well, not everything, but lots of typical American things). By the way, as I write, this song is playing in my head.

Not only was it a three day weekend - awesome - but it was also SUNNY here in Seattle. Here's some American things we did (in chronological order):

Where Ya At Matt - We started our weekend on Friday with some good ole Southern food with a BBQ twist. Not to mention, it was served from a food truck! I had a Big, Bold Pork Po Boy and Josh had some fried shrimp. Yum.

Happy Hour - We enjoyed happy hour with cold beers and sweet cocktails (okay, the latter was just me) with our friend Aaron. We went to Ray's Boathouse and chilled out on the patio. We looked out at Elliott Bay and watched the locals stand up paddle boarding (pretty crazy water stuff!). We soaked in our annual Vitamin D and had a nice time chatting and joking.

Wallace Falls - Isn't hiking an American thing? Well, if not, I'm making it work. Josh and I got out of Seattle a bit on Saturday and drove out towards the Cascade Mountains. On the way out there, we sat there in good American traffic. Luckily, it wasn't too bad - only 50 miles outside of town. We took a decent 6 mile hike up to the middle falls. It was a great hike with the mist from the falls cooling us down.

Big Picture - This is a pretty awesome place. It's a movie theater that serves drinks (not just sodas here people). In the spirit of our wedding planning, we saw Bridesmaids. Yes, I convinced Josh to go after many weeks of persuasion. This isn't your regular romantic comedy about a bridezilla or anything like that. This is somewhat raunchy comedy along the lines of The Hangover or Old School. I think I laughed out loud 30 times. Pretty freakin' hilarious. Oh, and the popocorn, well it's served in a champagne bucket. So sophisticated.

Miro Tea - We enjoyed a nice cup of afternoon tea. Wait. That's not right. That's not American. In fact, that's BRITISH! That goes against everything this holiday stands for. Traitors! But we did it the non-British way so it's okay. Really. Calm down. We had it iced, so it was like iced tea. Not British at all. No no no. We enjoyed our iced tea with my old college friend and suite-mate, Becca, and her husband, Nathan. It was good to catch-up with friends.

Fireworks - We ended our weekend with a bang. Yes, an actual bang. The bang of fireworks. We headed over to Fremont to watch the South Lake Union fireworks. Our friends Aaron (yes, the same guy as Friday's happy hour) and Bree. Our fireworks are late - as in 10:30 start time. Did you forget Seattle is farther north? Craziness. Now sing it Katy Perry.

I say we did a fair amount over three days. What do you think?

Parks and Such

For many people, Memorial Day weekend is the first holiday day off since February. This segment of people includes Josh and me. All I can say is, "at last!" We didn't do a whole lot, but we had a very nice weekend in Seattle. This lovely weekend included:

A long walk on a sunny Saturday. Josh had the idea of crossing this bridge that we've seen from the road we  often take downtown. We thought we cross it and explore. And we did just that. We crossed the bridge which we found out was called the Helix Bridge (so named because it was built by Amgen, a biotech company). It took us over the train tracks to to...drumroll please...a beautiful park!



We walked along the water and enjoyed the sunshine. And then we walked some more. Then we continued to walk until we reached the SAM Sculpture Park. I've been wanted to check this park out for a while, but every time I think of it, it's raining. We saw some interesting sculptures and some interesting people (wait, that's us!).



Since we walked this far already, we decided why not continue to Pike Place Market. Once we got there, we thought we'd just continue along to a downtown restaurant we've been wanting to test out. Finally we reached the restaurant and rested our feet. We enjoyed a tasty meal at Lecosho. Then we walked back. Needless to say, my feet hurt by the end. I took my shoes off and walked in the grass half of the way back.

Another park & Sea planes. This park wasn't quite the walk as the Elliott Bay Park, but we got to watch some sea planes take off and land. I think Josh could stand there and watch much longer than me. I think about 3 minutes is good. There were also lots of roaming geese (and some baby geese) which also meant a lot of bird poop. Watch where you step at this park!



There were also some cool old ships. I think there was some more history behind these ships, but I didn't really read the sign. It was Monday and the holiday weekend was coming to a close & I had the "Sunday blues."

Ate some cake. Josh and I went to Macrina and tried some cakes for you-know-what. The cakes were okay. Nothing spectacular, so we're going with something else...and that you'll just have to wait to find out.

And that, my friends, is about it. Some parks, some planes, some cake. A nice Memorial Day weekend.

Celebration

This weekend there were two celebrations. TWO. Both in Chicago. Two hints: One party was about age and the color related to the other party would best be matched with white.

Give up? Okay, I'll tell you....Grandma Ruth had her 90th Birthday and I had my first ever Bridal Shower! Woohoo Party!

The West Coast O'Neill family headed out to Chicago for these big celebrations. The whole gang arrived in Chicago on Friday evening (although my mom got their earlier in the week to meet up with friends and spend extra time). The first stop, dinner at Gale Street Inn, of course. My family is extremely, and I mean extremely, predictable when it comes to Chicago visits. The first dinner is always ribs at Gale Street. The other predictable stops include Lou Malnati's (or sometimes Ginos East), Hackneys and Portellos.

The Day of Parties:

Party #1: My Bridal Shower




Saturday was the party day. The fun started at 1pm at my cousin Erin's home. It was so great to see everyone come over from all over to celebrate. We had a jolly good time. Considering it started at 1pm, we began with a tasty lunch. We had a trio of salads - strawberry, spinach, goat cheese salad, fruit salad, and curried chicken salad. Yum!

Then we had some fun games - what's a shower without those games everyone loves?! We played the guess that famous couple game, the bride's favorites, and then I had to test my knowledge about Josh. I got 13 out of 20 right. That may sound bad, but some where things Josh didn't even think about before (I asked him afterwards, and he was like, "I don't even know!"). How can you get something right when the person the question is about doesn't even know. I do pride myself on some of the right ones those (that, or it's sickening how right I was). For instance, his favorite food. Anyone who knows Josh, knows this question should be what Josh does NOT like! I have a little secret...I sort of like these games!

Next up: dessert! The hosts sure know me because it was no other than frozen yogurt with a toppings bar - a froyo store at home! How freakin' awesome is that?! Not to mention my favorite flavors cookies 'n cream and peanut butter were present. I had to go back for seconds.



We wrapped up the party with gifts (pun intended there). I got tons of gifts. It was a cooking themed shower so I got some great recipes. In fact, I'm trying one out - a chicken marinade (it's in the frig now). I got all sorts of great kitchen gadget and tools to better my cooking efforts in the kitchen. To name a few: dutch oven, cutting board, cookie press, bowls, and then nice plates to put all this food on. Since I was just visiting, everyone was sweet enough to send the boxes to my house. Yes, they have been piling up. I kept looking longingly at the pile of boxes as mounted higher and higher the past weeks (I tore through them when I got home). Kitchen fun coming!!

The shower was super fun and better yet, I got to see lots of my family. :) Thanks Erin, Aunt Ann, Beth, Aunt Jan, and everyone else who helped make it a great shower!



Party #2: Grandma's 90th Birthday

We all headed out from the shower directly to Hackney's for some more celebrations. Woot Woot! This time all the guys joined in the fun for some hamburgers and family time. We had around 30 people to join Grandma in celebrating 90 years. Since Grandma loves pictures, I decided to put together a photo book for her (using my iMac). It warmed my heart to see her ask, "is it really for me?" Twice! (Okay, that might be memory, but still. But I did see her going through the book when we picked her up the next day...). I also put together a slideshow to put out for everyone to watch (watch it now). It was on top of the table that displayed all her birthday cards. And she had a LOT of card (my mom tried to get as many people to send them to her - cute!).

There were speeches and story telling, babies running in circles (literally, in circles, it's call catch me), laughs, and hugs. The party really turned out great. I hope (and think) Grandma felt loved.

Grandma Ruth's 90th Birthday from Heather O'Neill on Vimeo.

Grandma blows out the candles on her 90th Birthday. The whole family got together to celebrate this weekend (4/30/11).



Happy Birthday Grandma!

The Non-Party Day:

What a drag; no parties! Sigh. Just kidding. I think everyone was wiped out from all the partying. We're wild ones, us O'Neills. Sunday was a day for Josh and me to meet up with Uncle Chuck to not just see him, but prepare for the big day. We meet up for lunch and some chatting. Then we finished the night celebrating (fooled you! we don't stop) my Uncle Mike's birthday. We went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Ann's home in Crystal Lake for Chicago pizza.

And that my friends, is how you party. O'Neill's know how to party-party.

P.S. You know me, there are TONS more pictures to check out. GO HERE.

Hippy Hop

The #1 thing this Easter has over last Easter...I'm not working. You might remember that last Easter I was working at Eugene Starbucks making pastel colored lattes. That's a good start; no work!

This Easter weekend has been pretty low key. It's too bad yesterday wasn't today, or even better, too bad both days this weekend weren't like yesterday...sunshine and *practically* warm. It was the first day all year that we've had the chance to sit outside and eat lunch without a jacket!

Today has been mostly Seattle gloom weather with spots of rain. Typical. However, no weather can put a damper on Easter. We certainly celebrated. We went to a mega service for our church. I mean m-e-g-a -- as in so big that the church had to rent out Qwest Field, one of the big Seattle stadiums. Josh sums it up from his comment while we were there, "we go to a big church." We sure do! It was fun though, because everyone there is there to celebrate. Kinda cool.

And this is quite a bit different from Bethlehem Church and our songs, like Every Morning is Easter Morning.



After church, Josh and I enjoyed our little gifts from the Easter Bunny. The little bird will chirp in the palm of your hand. If you rub your hands, it chirps faster (heat activated). We had to test it out...it does chirp less if you run your hands in cold water first too. Guess who gave us that birdie! I'll give you a hint, it starts with a J.



But what is Easter really about? Not gifts. What does Jim Gaffigan have to say?



That's right Jimmy, I love bunnies and eggs. You can tell from my favorite childhood Easter book, The Count Bunny. It's such a cute book. I thought the special egg was so cool and I wanted one.



And I'll never forget my favorite Easter sport, egg hunts with Grandma Ruth. Oh, and trying to find the Easter baskets in the morning based off a trail of eggs from the bedroom. Ahh fun times.

Happy Easter!!

The Great Outdoors

Fresh air. Beautiful views. Sounds of nature. Ahh, the great outdoors. And I'm not talking about the movie (although it is a funny one). I'm talking about the real thing. Outdoors.

This Saturday I got to go out into nature and enjoy my first time snow shoeing. Josh and I were lead by two friends Aaron and Casey. We had a great time plowing around in the snow.

We opted on going a little further out of the way to get to some awesome snow and great views at Olympic National Park. Not the tropic rainforest part you all might be familiar with- this is a big park - not just banana slugs! We were in the mountains, the Olympic Mountain range at Hurricane Ridge (check out the web cam).

Our outdoor adventure began at 7:20am when were off on the road to catch the 7:55am ferry. We took the Bainbridge Island Ferry to go up and over to Olympic National Park - it seems weird, but everyone assured me this was faster. Here's our path Seattle to Mountains (I told you it was a big park - see all that green, that's the National Park).



At the wee hours of the morning, we caught some nice views looking back at Seattle as we sailed off on the ferry (is sailed the right word? hmm). Once back on land, we drove onward for 2-1/2 hours. Our only stop was Safeway to stock up on lunch sandwiches and water. Then off to the Visitor Center to get some trail info.

After driving through vampire-like fog (yes, very Twilight of me), we got to the top of the mountain. Then we just pulled off to the side of the road, parked, and climbed up the snowbank. We strapped on our shoes and headed off. Now, to me, this did not seem like a trail. No parking, no trail head, no trail map. This is true outdoor adventures. On the top of the snow (I say this because on the road, the snow level was above our heads), we saw a small blue pole barely popping out. This was our trail indicator!

Where did the trail start? All we saw was down, down, down. Could one really walk down that hill? In ordinary dry weather that hill was way too steep, but snow makes everything magic. Our magical snow shoes took up down that steep hill. Although Josh's shoes weren't so magical at one point.



No matter though; we all made it down the hill to flatter ground. Ah ha! The ridge with the trail. Although there wasn't really a trail, it was just a ridge that could become a trail.

We stomped along in our special shoes to wondrous sites. Sometimes we were surrounded by fog and others delightful sunshine.



Aren't we quite the trail blazers? Look at this lush snow! We have conquered.



Shortly after lunch, I took a video. Yes, it's wobbly, but seriously I'm on the side of a mountain and turning in snow shoes is NOT easy. Balance is difficult with an iPhone. Our lunch spot was prefect. Of all the trail, we saw only one place without snow. And it just happened to be 1pm. It must have been a camp site the night before because there was even firewood to make wood chairs. How perfect.

Anyway, we all had a great time and enjoyed nature and it's beauty. The stats:

• Left Home @ 7:15am. Retuned Home @ 8pm.


• Left the car @ 11:15am. Retuned @ 4pm. That's a 4.75 hour hike.


• Hiked 3.05 miles


• 800 feet of altitude change = climbing


• 145 pictures (and that's just my camera)

The crew: Aaron, Heather, Josh, Casey...



The View (Ansel Adams style):



I took a bit of a nap on the car ride home. Isn't that a nice feeling; to have a nap after fresh air and exercise. I'm tired, but if you want to see more, go to my Flickr photo album.

I love Washington.

Thanks to REI to helping make this trip possible.

The Gang

Every time I visit the Bay Area, my parents like to ask who I see when I am down there. One of the must see group is "the gang." I don't know if "the gang" actually calls themselves "the gang," but that's what Josh and I call them. They are "the gang." When I talk to my parents, say "the gang" and then feel that maybe they don't know who exactly that is. Doesn't everyone know who "the gang" is? So then I start listing everyone: Melissa, Jeff, Manual, Chris, Jimmy, and some more recent arrivals Tori and Alley. They are "the gang."

That's exactly who Josh and I saw last weekend when we were in the Bay Area. It was the perfect alignment of events. Josh had work in the South Bay. I had the chance to get some face-to-face time with my team in Foster City. Then it was Manuel's Birthday. The perfect timing for a weekend visit. Finally, Josh and me in the Bay Area at the same time. Lately we've been going separately for work. Honestly, it had been somewhere like two years plus (maybe even three - I don't feel like doing the math) since we'd been down there together - as in, when I lived there still. Wait, it must be three years. Wowzaa!

However, we didn't spend all our time down there together. Although we were both in the Bay Area for work, we actually stayed at hotels close to our work...which wasn't nearby each other. He was in Mountain View. I was in Foster City. In our changed perspective, far too much to drive now (thanks Eugene and Seattle - driving for 45 minutes isn't as easy as it once was). So there we were, close but yet so far. Josh was there for the whole week and I was there from Wednesday to Friday and we didn't see each other until Friday night.

Friday night is went all the real fun started though! We started at The Gang's usual hangout these days, The Dutch Goose. It's like a pub type place with hamburgers and such. Oddly with deviled eggs as a speciality. Even though there weren't peanut shells on the floor, I think of it being a peanut shell type place: casual and fun. It was loud but we got to see The Gang and just have a chill out sort of evening. It was also in celebration of The Manual and his birthday extravaganza. The Gang and more were there to have a fun Friday night.

Josh and I ended up Pricelining a hotel and got the Sofitel in Redwood City. (Yes, Pricelinging. Or as we as, we'll "Priceline it"). This is where we crashed Friday night from a full week of work. It was weird staying at a hotel in an area you once lived. Driving by old apartments that were no longer yours.

Saturday morning we went for coffee slash breakfast at Cafe Borronne - a place we heard was tasty. We had some lattes, muffins, and eggs. The coffee was quite tasty considering it wasn't a Seattle place (Just Kidding - I'm not that big of a coffee snob...yet). Then we headed to the old Saturday (or Sunday) morning stopping grounds: Los Gatos. We used to eat breakfast down there and then walk around the stores or the farmer's market. That was went we lived closer to it, so breakfast was closer to the hotel. We did enjoy seeing the cute little Los Gatos. Some stores are still there, and some are gone. The town was still cute as a button though.



While we were on the "visiting old fav spots" mode, we decided to head to Santana Row. Like old times, we walked around the shops yet didn't buy anything. We did enjoy a lunch on the row though. But all that walking tired us out, so we headed to the hotel for a bit of nap.

Saturday night was the real Manual birthday celebration. The gang headed over to Los Altos Grill for some good grub and fun. Yummy food, tasty drinks, and good friends...where can you go wrong?





Afterwards we enjoyed some made-from-scratch birthday cake from Alley - I think she's going professional. In the words of Chris, "did you see this cake? it's ridiculous. It's SO GOOD. Wow, did you see this? Did you see it?



Our last day, Josh and I were tired. Just plain tired. Too much fun. Too long of a work week. Tired. We enjoyed breakfast at another old favorite, Alanas in Burlingame. Then we headed down via the 280 (our favorite hwy) to the South Bay since we were flying out of San Jose Airport (which, by the way, is quite nice now). We didn't know what to do, so we decided to be productive and register some more at the Valley Fair mall. This is still one of the best malls - practically everything is there. I love this mall. Although I love the outdoor-ness of our Seattle University Village mall. Okay, in all truth, I just like shopping.



And that, my friends, was a full filled weekend. Back to the hum-drum of the work week. Sigh.

Mi Hermana

Translation: My Sister

I'm not just randomly saying sister to say sister. Although I could write about my sister. For instance, this blog post could be about how much my sister loves Spanish soap operas. She really does. But I really just plan on sharing my lovely weekend with my sister. The Spanish part was just to make it fun (everything is better in Spanish, or so my sister says).

Lindsay arrived late, late Thursday night - the lateness deserves a double late. Her flight was cancelled and she caught the later flight that was then delayed. Cancelled = Late #1, and Delayed = late #2. She finally arrived at 12:30am - that’s 30 minutes into Friday, so I take back the first sentence of this paragraph. Lindsay arrived early, early Friday morning.

I still had to work Friday, and Lindsay had to go a conference - the real reason she came to Seattle. Her conference was at the University of Washington and something to do with history and stuff. (See her coming out of the conference below). But the real fun started Friday evening with a Bella blast. A Bella Bridesmaid blast that is. Yes, the bridesmaid quest begins. We headed to downtown Seattle for some try-on time...my sister was thrilled.



Trying on dresses is hard work, so we grabbed some grub afterwards at a placed called Local 360. Josh was at the office that day, so he just meet up with us for dinner. The meal started with some peanut butter and jelly bon boons. Then some more tasty foods to round off the evening.



Saturday Josh and I introduced Lindsay to our favorite bakery, and the one my mom always raves about having the best fruit coffee cake, Macrina. We also introduced Lindsay to Seattle rain. Lots of it - slow, steady, constant rain. No, not that bad, but it sounded good.



After coffee and muffins, we headed to Pike Place Market to give Lindsay a taste of Seattle. We showed her the market and some of our favorite shops including the World Spice store. Josh and I stocked up on our favorite chai tea too. We also tried some blueberries from the blueberry guy at the market.



In the afternoon, Lindsay had to participate in a lecture so Josh and I roamed around Wallingford. Once the lecture was over, we continued on to Ballard to walk around. The day was finished with Senor Moose (more Spanish). This was the first Mexican restaurant I really enjoyed. Jaws dropping from Lindsay and Josh as I actually enjoyed the Mexican food. Josh was practically giddy about it.

Sunday Josh had to say goodbye in the morning to head out on work travels. Boo. But that left us for sister bonding time. Sister time started with more bridesmaid dresses. This time at J. Crew. Again we found some more dress options.

We enjoyed some lunch at my favorite lunch spot, Citizen. Then it was off on adventures at Discovery Park. We went on a quest to discover the lighthouse. The map was misleading and we though we might never discover the lighthouse and be left drenched in the rain. On our quest, we did discover Hidden Valley. You may be picturing cauliflower and carrot sticks and fountains of ranch dressing, but no. It was just grass. See Lindsay walking into the hidden valley...



Finally, we came to some beach. Where there is a beach, there is bound to be a lighthouse. And find it, I mean discover it, we did. And that’s the end of the discover the lighthouse story. We did discover other things too - little birdies, an empty nest, a crow, and some other random things I could mention. More exciting though.. we touched the Puget Sound. Yes, I’ve lived in Seattle for six months, and never touched the water (besides that which comes from the sky).



Sister day ended with some grocery shopping. cooking dinner, and reviewing bridesmaid dresses. Que divertido!

El Fin.

 

The Rents

It's sad that my posts are getting less and less frequent...my bad. Life has been busy, busy in 2011 so far. There is always something going on. For instance, this past weekend my parents were in town.

Their trip was two fold: visiting us and work. It just so happened that my dad had a work conference downtown Seattle at the Fairmont Hotel. Luckily it was a Monday and Tuesday event, so my mom tagged along and they both headed up early to make a special weekend visit.

We had a jam packed weekend of fun. We started the festivities upon their arrival on Friday afternoon. We galavanted around town until Sunday evening. Sunday evening to Tuesday morning my dad had to get down to business and go to meetings and talk the insurance talk.

Back the the fun stuff. Here's our weekend in a nutshell:

Friday:

I woke up at the wee hours of the morning to open the store. During my shift, my parents were in transit from San Diego. They grabbed the Light Rail from the airport to the stop in front of my store. This is where the fun began.

With us all ravishingly hungry, we ventured off to a lace I've been wanting to return to since I first ate there in December...Citizen. We enjoyed some scrumptious crepes and sammies. It filled our grumpy tummies.

Then it was back to the hotel (for my parents) and my apartment (for me) for nappy time. And to await Josh's arrival home from work.

The day ended with a nice dinner together at Betty's restaurant in downtown Queen Anne. This was only after a crazy car chase by a gal with serious anger issues. I mean she honked her horn at me for about 30 seconds straight. She continued to follow me and when i pulled over, she blocked me in and started to yell. I moved on and she still followed me. Finally I got to a residential area and Josh got out and with her yelling managed to get her to calm down and move onward (without following us!). Crazy I tell you, crazy! I tell ya I felt like I was part of a "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong" skit.

Saturday:

We started our day with a power breakfast at our favorite Macrina Bakery (you've heard this one several times on this blog already). My mom loves the fruit coffee cake and she sure let's you know it with her What About Bob hmmm ahhhhh's as she ate.

The main part of our day was over at Whidbey Island. Our route had us take a ferry (woohoo, Seattle ferry land -- another check on our chalkboard. Remember? Look at our progress!).



We explored Langley, which was was a cute-as-a-button town. We stopped in little shops and such - shops, florists, crafts, random stuff, etc. Plus the view was gorgeous. We stopped here for lunch at Primo Bistro and then continued onward up the island.

Here is the route...I did a LOT of driving. Point A & D is home. B is Langley and C is Oak Harbor. You'll notice we didn't take the ferry back, but instead drove up and over to the bridge at Deception Pass. The drive at that part was deceiving because it took much longer than expected. However, it was a beautiful drive through the island. We even passed by a national reserve. Beautiful. Simply Beautiful, and even in the rain.



Oak Harbor was a bit of a  disappointment and wasn't nearly as cute as Langley. However, our dinner back home was a delight at Portage -- definitely a new favorite. If you visit, perhaps we'll take you!

Sunday:

Sunday was a bit more local and low key. We went back to Macrina for breakfast, but it was crowded for the big game (Seahawks were playing that day).Yes, we went to Marcina a second time; I'm serious when I say it was like What About Bob. This is dad and me enjoying Macrina's:



Mom and I went to Ballard for some R&R, specially pedicures and manicures at Hoa Salon. The chairs were great - the kind that massage your back, neck, and hips. Ahhh. Afterwards my mom and I walked around the farmer's market a bit - got some honey, a muffin, and just looked at the veggies. Meanwhile, Josh and dad were on the couch at home watching the big game.

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking downtown a bit. Then we rounded off the evening at the first work event - the introduction cocktail hour. There were a bunch of Burger King and vendors and such.

My parents stayed around Monday for the work stuff and took off Tuesday morning. Luckily I had the chance to hang out in the afternoon with them after my opening shift. We went to Pike Market and wondered around town a bit more. And that wrapped up a lovely weekend with the 'rents (aka parents).



Now, do I have to remind you every time to go to my Flickr album to see all the pictures? Sheesh!

Post-Christmas Depression

No more stockings at work and just plain, ordinary cups.

No more Christmas movies or music.

No more Christmas lights or garland on houses.

No more Christmas cheer.

No more holidays until February.

I'm depressed.

What do you do about this kind of depression?
Go do stuff.

See a Movie...Check.

While we were down in Encinitas visiting my family, we took an afternoon and saw The King's Speech. I had been waiting to see this movie from the previews and I was not disappointed. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush do a great job. Trying to do a stutter would be a hard role to play and Colin Firth pulls it off excellently. Not to mention, he ranks up there with my favorite actors (see Pride & Prejudice or Bridget Jones). I just found out it's nominated for 7 Golden Globes too. Go see it!



Go out to Dinner with the family. Check.

We all went out to dinner the day after Christmas in Del Mar. We tried a new restaurant called Prep Kitchen. It was quite tasty, although the portions were a tad bit small. Next time I'd be sure to add a salad or extra side dish. I was thrilled when my dad mentioned it should go on "the rotation," which means he really enjoyed it and it was reasonably priced. It's tough to get one dad likes...bravo to me for finding a new place!



Brunch in La Jolla in the sun. Check.

Who doesn't like to sit outside on a nice sunny San Diego winter day and eat yummy breakfast? We all enjoyed our french toast and pancakes, while Josh, the outsider, enjoyed his chilequitas. I just love downtown La Jolla.



More coffee (in the sun too!). Check.

And nothings quite beats a coffee stop on the Encinitas coast at Pannikin. It's a funky coffee shop with surfer dudes, soccer moms, college hangouts, and all sorts of other folks. The coffee and bakery goods are tasty too. You'll hear more about this place when my Coffee Tour takes a look at the Pannikin as a side review.

The Visitors

Doesn't that title sound like a book? But it's not. Or maybe it is and I don't even know it. Well, either way, it's the blog title for the post about my parents visit to Seattle.

My parents have been to Seattle before, but it's been just about 20 years. We had a family vacation up here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest when I was about 8 years old (ok, do the math and you'll figure out my age). My dad had a Burger King convention in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We made a trip out of it in typical O'Neill fashion. We went to Mount Saint Helen's, Olympic National Forest, Seattle, and a brief stop in Spokane. I remember loving Seattle even though we only had about a day and a half here. My parents didn't have quiet the same memories; not bad, but just not the best.

With that little story, I was determined to make this trip the best visit for them. Some of the plans were out of my control and I had to pray -- primarily about the weather. The rest I could control and plan in advance. Here is a sample of my game plan:



The weather turned out well for the most part. We had to be slightly flexible on Saturday since we encountered some heavy rain and the fact that our plans took us near the university when there was a big U of W football game. However, we managed to stick to Friday's plans to a tee. Want to hear more? Well, ask no longer. Here's some of the activities and restaurants we enjoyed this weekend:

Activities

• Julep:  Let's start with some background on this topic first. A Seattle friend shared Groupon with me, which is a daily email coupon from somewhere or something in Seattle. A few weeks ago a groupon came up that was a facial and pedi combo at a palor just a few blocks from my store. It was a great deal, so I bought two combos - one for me and one for mom. I was very excited to say the least, so the very first thing we did was get our pedi and facials. That would be mom and I, not the guys. It was quite fabulous. I just may have to return. Our faces were so soft. It was nice.


• Columbia Tower: You might remember this activity from Irene's visit. Josh took my dad up the tower while my mom and I got our nails done. It turned out to be a gorgeous fall day, so they could really see the city (no rain = visibility). I didn't hear full reports back, but I'm sure my dad and Josh talked about where different things were in the distance.


• Pike Place Market: This is a Seattle must for all visitors. It wasn't crazy crowded since the tourist season is over. We did get to see all the pretty flowers and fruits. My dad, in typical John O'Neill style, stopped to look at the meats and cheese very carefully (those of you who have taken a trip with him should know this one). Basically, we had a nice walk through the market. We bought some honey crisp apples since we were lured in by the free apple tasting. How could we resist? The only thing I wanted was find this blueberry guy (he has a commercial even!), but there was some construction going on and apparently he was on vacay. Lucky duck.


• Kerry Park: Of course, we had to make a stop at our favorite Seattle downtown view. It was gorgeous as always. Think Grey's Anatomy. If you've been to my Flickr site, you've seen this site many times already.


• Museum of Flight: Wow, this is a cool museum. I was hooked when we I found the stories about some folks that received the Metal of Honor. We also got to tour an older Air Force One and the British Airways Concorde. Also, there were parts about WWI and WWII, Nasa and Space, and much more. We got to get inside some pilot seats too. I think my dad was in heaven. Everyone had a swell time.


• Bellevue: Originally we were going to head to University Village, an outdoor mall that was like the Forum in Encinitas but bigger. However, with heavy rain and the football game happening, we opted to go to Bellevue instead. Bellevue has a nice indoor mall and just a general pleasant area with good restaurants. We spent our Saturday afternoon roaming the stores and my mom on the Christmas hunt already.


• Ballard Farmer's Market: You've seen this one enough on my blog already to know that this is something Josh and I enjoy. We enjoy it so much we decided to spread the love to my parents. My dad, again, was very interested in the foods and local merchants. It was Halloween, so when I saw the caramel apples, I had to partake...it was good.


• Retail Core: This is the part of downtown Seattle that houses all the retail stores - Gap, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers, and all that good stuff. I didn't get to spend this part of the parent tour since I had to close on Sunday evening, but it was a nice closing to the Seattle weekend for my parents.

Restaurants

• Macrina: This is one of my favorite places to get bakery goods. I knew that if I liked it, my parents would probably like it as well. I mean, muffins, cookies, and scones...oh my! And Macrina did not disappoint. My mom declared it was her favorite bakery place. She love, love, loved the fruit coffeecake. My dad mentioned the scones were crunchy, but soft on the inside. Well done Macrina!


• Fresh Bistro: This is our newest restaurant find. It's in West Seattle. Every time we get stuck in this construction and it takes several tries before we get across to the other side of the water. It's been worth it though. Tasty lunch option. You might hear more about this place soon.


• Palace Kitchen: This was the big dinner out in the town. It's a Tom Douglas restaurant, a famous Seattle chef. You may have seen his spice rubs around your markets. The menus changes often, but the chicken is always on the menu. I had it and now I know why. How do they get it so moist?


• Essential Bread Co: This competes with Macrina for breakfast and bakery options. My dad said it was 50/50 between Macrina and Essential. Tough life here in Seattle.


• Purple Cafe: We ate here before moving to Seattle. It's a nice restaurant and wine bar. There are four of them throughout the Seattle area. This time we went to Bellevue. It has a "bit of this, and a bit of that" lunch combo which is awesome.


• Anita's: Crepes. Need I say more? Oh, dessert crepes. Delish.


• Volterra: Josh and I have walked by this place since our arrival and have been waiting for a chance to try it. I had an acquaintance recommend it, then I saw an article in my Cooking Light magazine, and I checked up and saw good reviews on yelp. Sooo...all signed pointed to try it. And that is what we did for brunch Sunday morning. I had these delicious pancakes. Everyone enjoyed. Yum!

And there you have it. The weekend in activities and food with my parents. The weather "worked with us" since our only rainy day was the one we planned for the museum. Otherwise excellent fall weather with all the colorful leaves. It was great to see my parents and share our new home with them. Hurray for a successful and very nice weekend with my parents.

I love you mom and dad! Thanks for visiting!!

Going Dutch

This post is not about splitting something, but about sharing. Last week Josh and I shared Seattle with my great friend Irene. Irene is one of my far, far away friends and lives in Holland, hence the "Going Dutch."

Irene arrived Sunday afternoon (to be clear it was 10/10 since this is a bit of a delayed post) at SeaTac Airport. I was finishing up my work day when she arrived, so Josh picked her up. We all meet up at our little place and had a happy reunion.

By the time we all meet up, our favorite Ballard Farmer's Market had closed. We wanted to give Irene a taste of Seattle's Farmer's Markets, so we headed to the other big, year-round market in Fremont. This market is a bit more on trinkets, antiques, and crafts whereas Ballard is more veggies, fruits, and bakeries/treats. It was fun to walk around though and see some local crafts (and some old stuff). Plus I got to grab a crepe which always makes me happy.

After some local flavor, we headed over to Ballard. First, we decided to see verify the authenticity of the Dutch Bike Co. After perusing the bikes, Irene confirmed that the bikes were indeed very true to Dutch style. It even carried the baby box accessory that goes in the front of the bike to cart the kiddies around. However, we all agreed that the best part was the conference bike. Yes, a bike used to hold a conference. This bike is circular and rides around. As were were observing, the bike guy said, "hey do you want to ride it?" We all chuckled. He was serious, so I pipped up, "Sure!"

I think the three of us were all thinking, "who's going to drive this thing?" Luckily, the bike guy hopped on the driver's seat and got us rolling. It was actually hard work to ride the bike with just the three of us. I was definitely huffing and puffing and a wee bit sore afterwards. It was fun though - and fun to see the people in cars looking at us and thinking, "what the...?"



After our ride around town, we needed some nourishment from the excitement and decided to grab some dinner at Tutta Bella. Tutta Bella is one of our new favorite places for pizza - true Italian-like pizza. Then, we topped the evening off with some Molly Moon's ice cream and sorbet.

Monday morning we started out with a breakfast of champions at Macrina - this means we got muffins. Don't forget, the next food in line after froyo on the Heather list is muffins. Macrina has great bakery goodies. We enjoyed and then headed out for our big day about town.

Our first stop was at the infamous Pike Place Market. Since it's fall and no longer the big tourist season, there wasn't huge crowds. We meandered through all the booths tasting the fruits and looking at the speciality, local crafts. Along the way, I pointed out the original Starbucks and the famous fish throwing shop. We also ran into (not literally, ick) the gum wall. Yes, a wall of gum. Check out my face, it says, "gross!" Lastly, to get a true taste of the market, we picked up lunch at Three Sister's Bakery and moved along.



In the afternoon, we took the long elevator ride up for an exceptional view at the Columbia Tower. This is a cheaper view than the Space Needle, yet higher. Plus you can see the Space Needle as part of the view (I mean, part of the Seattle skyline is the needle and if you're on it, you can't really see it!). Good deal. We lucked out with a clear, sunny afternoon with 360 views. "Oh! Beautiful! Gorgeous! Wish you were here," stuff (that's a French Kiss reference).



(I can see my house from here!)

We wrapped up the day with a quick tour of the Seattle Library (cool building) and some downtown retail shopping. Plus a quick stop at my Starbucks. And dinner at Monkey Bridge in Ballard.

Tuesday to Thursday Irene took a side trip up to Vancouver to visit another friend from her days up in Canada. She returned Thursday night and then spent Friday with us.

Friday was another day full of fun tourist stuff. Isn't doing tourist stuff great? It's like being on vacation in your own city. Plus, being a resident here makes it harder to do tourist stuff, so visitors are great for getting out and exploring. Since I visited Seattle as a little girl (yes, I was here on a family trip years and years ago), I've been wanted to check out the Underground Tour. Underground you say? Yes, part of Seattle is actually the second level. It was rebuilt after a big fire and they built up due to some sewage issues. It's a long story, but you can learn it on the tour or from Bill Speidel. It was great to learn some history of the city we now reside in, plus it was funny. This Bill must be quite the joker. We learned about Pioneer Square and the Richardsonian Romanesque architecture of the area.



After the tour, we picked up a few "must take home to Holland" items for Irene and headed back home for some relaxation. Whew, what fun!

Irene - It was great to have you here! Glad you made it home safely. :-p

Been Busy

Every day I groan thinking, "man, I neeeeed to write a blog post. It's been ages." I think I haven't written at all in October yet. Yikes! So let me apologize for not writing. I've got all these great things to post, but just haven't had the time. I only have a likely excuse: I've been BUSY. I just have been busy doing one thing after another. Like what? Well, here's a Busy Item List for you:

1. Promotion: I've been quiet about this since I didn't want to tell you all about it and then have to come back with a "yea, well...(cough cough), umm yea" type post. Anyway, I interviewed a few weeks ago with a couple managers - coffee tasting, interview interrogation, the usual. After that, things started moving quickly. It got announced at our quarterly team meeting and the next week I was training. This past week was my first week managing the floor on my own. It's actually takes quite a bit of thinking. Breaks (which have to be timed wisely), cash management, keeping the customers happy, and dealing with the "crazies" that come in (note: "crazies" is the word we all use for crazy people that we have to deal with regularly). For instance, my first day running the floor I had to kick someone out for bad behavior. The next day, I had to call the police. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it's testing me for my best mean face (can you picture it?).


2. Josh's Birthday: Josh turned the big 29 Tuesday. Sadly, I had to close the store on his birthday, but we celebrated for sure. Monday our family friends, Vince and Jonita, treated the both of us to a delicious meal at The Palace Kitchen. This is a Tom Douglas restaurant which I've been wanting to try and it did not disappoint. We went all out too with drinks, appetizers, entrees, and dessert. I had lavender goat cheese fondue to start and a succulent halibut entree. Josh has some pork & pear terrine and a lamb sirloin. Then some coconut cream pie to cap off (this pie is famous). For his actual birthday, I made a chicken tamale casserole before work and ate it after work. He also got a pair of Clark Desert shoes from yours truly. Oh, and lots of Bacon stuff (thanks Jeff & Melissa!). The last bit of celebration was this morning which was breakfast at Julia's in Wallingford. Yes, I know you're thinking: wow, what a celebration of food.


3. Dining Next Door: I think I just came up with a cute restaurant name. But no; it was really dining next door with our neighbors, Matt and Meghan. It was great to get to know our neighbors. We know we'll get along too since they too are Rick Steve followers.


4. Val in Town: Valerie, whom we all know and love as Val came to Seattle to visit. Val is a friend from U of O law school. She's in Montana now, but had a long weekend and decided to head west to visit. We spent a lovely, rainy evening with her and catching up.

That's not the end of the list, but I'll end it there. I just think it'd start to get too long to go through. Plus it's smaller stuff, like church, groceries, and the likes. But now you know I'm still here. Still writing. Still taking photos. Still thinking of you all. I'll try to write more often now.



Bacon and Birthday Boy Above.

Sunday's Gig

Check number two on the chalkboard: Gig Harbor. [View Larger Map]

Gig Harbor is just about an hour drive from Seattle, so it made the perfect little day trip for us. We set out around noon after trying out a new church in our neighborhood. It was a nice day, mostly sunny and mid-60s, so it was perfect for exploring.

When we reached Gig Harbor, we were both quite hungry. I spotted a little cafe around the corner called Kelly's Cafe, so we headed in for some nourishment. We were satisfied after our meal -- Josh was happy with his chicken fried steak treat and I with my Mediterranean quesadilla.

After lunch, we walked around the town's harbor. There were a few shops, but mostly just a cute area with a nice harbor. We decided to hop in the car and drive to the other side of the harbor. There we found the Finholm View Climb. This gave us a great overview of the harbor. Josh gave a little narrative for us here.

Next, we found the Wilkinson Park and Barn. We talked to a lady and petted her two dogs. We saw a lady picking wild blackberries. And saw a few more dogs. There was also a barn that we looked at and took a few photos.

On the way to and from Gig Harbor, we had to cross the Tacoma Narrow Bridges. Josh told me the story of how this bridge collapsed because the engineers didn't account for the winds that went through this area. It did a gumby type of swing and then collapsed. Scary. Check out the video footage. Now check out our scary trip across. Don't worry, nobody was hurt during this video.

That's a wrap on our Sunday gig. We got in the car and headed home with a special side trip which I will post separate (it's deserving of it's own post). P.S. Sorry I forgot both cameras, so the ones you see are just with my iPhone.

Searching Seattle

I know, I know it's been a while since I wrote a post. I'm sorry. I apologize. Life has been busy. Very busy. And I will probably continue be delinquent in mu posts over the next several weeks. I'll return though. I promise.

Why am I not writing blog posts lately? I can tell you. I am preparing for our big move. Have you not heard? Well, Josh and I are headed to Seattle. Law school is over and we're headed to the big city. Since Josh was deep in study land, I headed up to Seattle last week to start the process by looking for an apartment. That trip is the story of this post...

Last Monday I worked in the morning as usual, but while I was working my mom flew into EUG (FYI - EUG is the Eugene Airport code). When I was done working, I sped home (not over the speed limit of course), showered, and ate lunch. Then my mom and I took off for Seattle. We drove up and it took about 5-1/2 hours with only one stop since we got hungry along the way. We finally arrived to the Emerald City that evening and crashed at the hotel. I was pooped!

Tuesday started the apartment quest. The morning started out rough. We slept in accidentally and had a later-than-desired start time. After a delicious breakfast at Macrina Bakery, we found a parking cop lady at my car. Eccckk! I'd forgotten to place my mom's handicap sign in my rush to get going (and crazy hunger pangs - I get hungry as soon as I wake up). We talked to the cop lady and she didn't give us a parking ticket after showing the sign. Whew! "Just keep that sign up at all times," she said.

With that resolved, we started the search. We were having no luck at first and we were getting a bit discouraged. Nobody was responding to my calls and there were not many on-site managers. Ugh. However, hope sprung with my first appointment in the afternoon (I organized a few appts before the trip). It ended up too pricey, but it encouraged us. The two last appointments also turned out to be promsing. In fact, one was on my "if I don't find anything else, I'll take this place" list.

Day two came around, and we decided to search different areas than the day before. The first day was mainly going around Capitol Hill, so we headed to Fremont, Ballard, and Queen Anne. More promising places were discovered as well as the one we ended up getting.

Yes, we found a place - the trip was a success! One check mark on the Move-To-Seattle checklist. It's a lovey apartment in a quad-plex in West Queen Anne. Nicely located between downtown (were my new store is) and cool areas like Ballard (where there's a Trader Joes). It's two bedrooms and we got it at a great price. I have a picture below alongside a Seattle photo (to make you jealous).

Now on to more moving fun! Stay tuned for another post sometime...

Red, Woof, and Blue

Happy belated 4th of July! Josh and I had a nice weekend here in Eugene. We opted to stay locally for the holiday weekend because of work and studying. We lucked out and finally had some sun shiny weather. Although Josh had some intense allergies because of the dang high pollen - poor guy.

Even though we stayed around town, we did feel like we were on a mini vacation of sorts. Our friends went up to Washington for the weekend and asked if we'd watch their dog, Ryder. To help Ryder feel comfortable, we stayed at their home (yes, a house, an actual house). They live on the other side of town in West Eugene (fyi - we live in South Eugene). It's closer to the TCBY and Target - some of my favorites. It's funny out a different area of the same city can seem totally new. I really felt like I was away for the weekend except when I forgot something, I was able to pick it up in 30 minutes.

It was a great semi-escape. We got to play with the dog (my arm hurts now from throwing the ball so much), play on their Wii (Josh's legs hurt from snowboarding), watch streaming Netflix and Blu Ray, and enjoy air conditioning. The Wii was a big hit for us. I got to practice some yoga, beat Josh at some tennis, and Josh got to feel like Shaun White snowboarding. I also enjoyed some films too. For instance, the Iron Man on their Blu Ray - such clarity! I want one.

Being 4th of July weekend, I cooked up some all American foods and treats. I made moist and delicious banana bread (the second time using this recipe in two weeks - yum). I cooked up some cheeseburgers. Then to top it off, chicken with potatoes (all with veggies, of course).

Fireworks were on the list as well. We thought about going out to see them, but wanted to be sure Ryder didn't freak out. Fireworks, small ones at least, are legal here in Oregon. We didn't get any fireworks of our own, but all the neighbors in the area sure did. They had some crazy fireworks display. Josh and I stood outside in the driveway at saw the fireworks going off in all directions. It was crazy all the fireworks people had going. I had to drive home since I worked early the next day, and on the way there were fireworks all over town. It was fun to see.

This weekend was a fun change of pace for us. Plus we got to play with a dog, which we'd love to have if only we had the right living situation. Sigh, some day. Maybe a Bernese Mountain Dog or Swissy.

Happy 4th! God Bless the USA - I'm Proud! Relive some fireworks with my videos and photos - below and here. {Note, Cheese You Tube, but good 4th of July song. It was that, or my sister's favorite, 1776