Little Dumplings

Last Friday, while I was down in the warm, sunshine of Pasadena, I had my first dumplings. And this wasn't at just any dumpling place. Apparently, this is THE dumpling place, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House. It's a little restaurant hidden in Arcadia of all places. What where we doing in Arcadia, you say? Eating dumplings! (And the fact that we were on our way south to Encinitas).

I have to be honest, I wasn't sure about this whole dumpling thing. Ravolis without sauce? How good could that be? And eating just a bunch of dumplings? Is that even filling? But Lindsay insisted that they were good little dumplings. I would not be disappointed....and, I wasn't.

I didn't just get to digg in to these dumplings. They had a whole system there that I had never seen before. You put your name in and you get a menu and a ticket. While you wait, you fill in your order (e.g. the item and quantity). When you get to your seat, you hand over your menu. Then you get a letter and another checklist. As they bring the different items to you, they circle what they brought. Repeat until you've received all your food. Interesting system.

What we orders: Pork dumplings, Veggie Dumplings, and 2 Pork-Veggie buns. Yes, we like pork. Yes, we like veggies. Deal with it. Look yummy dumplings. And in case we didn't know how to eat, we are even given instructions on our chopstick wrapper...(they should add: worse case scenario, use fingers).



Look at us use those chopsticks...what skills.



Next Up: Learn why I was down in SoCal in the first place...

Lift Your Spirits

Yes, raise your glass and lift up your spirit. That's what Josh and I did this evening to help us with the Sunday night blues. But there is more to this post than that....

It actually all starts with passing a building that has a large octopus holding a bottle painted on it several times a week. It's of no surprise to me that Josh was the first to notice this octopus. I think anything with a large octopus painted on it would grab Josh's attention. Why we never stopped until now, I don't know, but I think it has something to do with the rain. I like to blame everything on the rain. It's a good excuse, especially in Seattle.

The story goes that we meant to stop by last weekend, but we couldn't remember the exact stop and I whizzed right by it. We were both tired and wanting to get home, so we didn't bother turning around. But then this weekend, things were different. Yesterday the sun shone a bit, and we were just cruzin' to some Weezer, and thought...we should stop at the big octopus. And it just so happens we were on that road.

So we stopped and walked in. The were more octopus decorating. Sweet. Better yet, the owner was at the back talking about and serving their locally made vodka, gin, and some other liquor (I can't remember it). We tasted the vodka first and we were amazed at the flavor--a bit oaky with a hint of vanilla.Then we tried the gin.

Now, I'm not usually a big gin fan. I think it's like drinking a pine forest. However, this gin some actually pretty good with an herb-citrus taste. As we tasted, we also learned some interesting trivia. For instance Sound Spirits, the distillery we were at, produces the first spirits to be distilled in Seattle since Prohibition.

Should we buy a bottle? We thought and came up with many reason towards YES. (1) We were impressed with the flavors...very different (2) we were in need of something for cool drinks at home. (3) We were having a good day. (4) We wanted to support the local business. (5) It's an OCTOPUS. So yes, we purchased the vodka.

Tonight was the big trial. We bought some very special tonic water that Josh has always wanted to buy, Q Tonic (doesn't it look fancy?). We bought some limes. We broke out the ice. Voila! A vodka tonic. Yum. Something to help our Sunday blues. Sigh. HooHumm.

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?

Seattle Coffee Tour: Special ‘At Home’ Edition V2

Weekends are for the special outings to coffee shops, and weeke days are for drinking coffee at home. That's 5 vs. 2 days each week. Generally Josh and I prepare our coffee pot at night so we have fresh brewed coffee right when we wake up in the morning. Sometimes, if we're feeling jazzy, we will switch it up for french press, but that's a bit extra work. The taste of french press is just so much better though. Sigh. The dilemmas of life.

Over Christmas, Josh and I heard about a coffee maker called the Aeropress. Miss Dorothy Trogler got one from her aunt and was telling us about it at Christmas dinner. What's this? Another coffee device? Looks funny. But, Dorothy confirmed later on, after the holiday fun, that it made a pretty darn good cup of joe.

Now the awareness was set, it started springing up everywhere. Josh started seeing it online on his random Internet explorations and it was getting rav reviews. Being the coffee snobs we are (or at least was like to pretend we're coffee snobs--it makes us feel special), we finally decided last week that we should invest in an aeropress and just see for ourselves what all the hussle and bussle was about.

Over the weekend, we went to Target. No luck. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. No luck at first, but just as we were leaving, we asked the sales associate for help. She looked it up and found it online. Sold. Our first aeropress was delivered to our front door yesterday.

 

This morning was the grand reveal. I ate my Honey Nut Cheerios and helped Josh whip up a cup of aeropress joe.

 

Here's what we thought:

• Easy to make. I think once you get the hang of it, this is pretty easy.


• Good coffee. It makes like a shot of espresso. If you want a cup of coffee, you add hot water (this is called an Americano). It could also make a latte or cappuccino if you can steam milk.


• Quick & easy clean up. I hate, hate cleaning up coffee grinds. This just makes a puck of coffee (like an espresso machine) that you swipe off into the trash.


• Handy. It's just a few pieces of equipment and easy to store away.

Learn how yourself here. Kind of a fun video. We did it slightly different, but it's pratically the same process.

I think we'll add this to the week day morning circulation. Now we have three options for our coffee making. In this order from easiest to hardest: coffee pot, aeropress, french press.

Not impressed? Then, sheesh, go make your own cappuccino.

New Things

Lately I've been trying some new things. Crazy, right? For a gal that likes to order the same thing at a particular restaurant, or could eat the same cereal for years. Crazy. Here's a few new things I've tried:

Amazon Fresh - This is for the elite part of the country, the special folks that endure rain and gray for three-fourths of the year; this is for Seattleites. Basically, it's a service out of Amazon, which is headquarters in Seattle. You can order your groceries online and then have them delivered right to your doorstep. We've tried the pre-dawn delivery, so they are at your doorstep when you wake up. You open your door and voila, groceries are in crate for you to drag inside and put away. You might be asking the question I asked myself, "what about frozen foods?" Easy. They have some crates with the cooler inside or those special bags that keep food cold. The prices aren't bad and it's super convenient. I'm just not sure if I can give up Trader Joes entirely. We think this will be for weekend where I run out of time to go grocery shopping, or returning from a weekend getaway.



Lunchbox Laboratory - Yum. Burgers. Fries. Shakes. We've been meaning to try this place for a while and finally did on Saturday. I wanted to go to REI and it's just a block away. Although burgers is their thing, I tried their veggie burger. Now, I DON'T like the garden burgers or boca burger things. Yuck. I did, however, like this one. It reminded me of Cornucopia in Eugene. It was black bean based and super delicious. Josh got a special with carnitas. He also had an awesomely thick and delicious strawberry shake.



Intelligentsia - How intelligent of us to try Intelligentsia. It was light, no really, the color was a lighter brown. But yes. It also had a lighter taste, or delicate. I also like the packaging. A nice morning wake-up call.

Pasta Dish - OMG. This is the new dish for us. I tend to find a dish that I just love and I make it every other week. The equation: easy to make + very delicious + cheap + good as leftovers = a keeper recipe. This is it. It's like my straw and hay pasta, but for spring/summer (straw and hay is more fall/winter). Drumroll please...Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Prosciutto. Get the recipe and try it yourself.

Beans and Dreams

Coffee Beans and Birthday Dreams. That was last weekend. Yes, I'm writing about last weekend this weekend. I'm bit behind. Deal with it.

Last week marked my last year in my 20s. Sigh. After about the age 26, I started to forget how old I was. Funny thing is, I still feel like I'm 18. Now I truly understand what my parents meant when they taked about not feeling X age (X for my parent's privacy). I think I still qualify as young. Although if you asked my 11 year old self if upper 20s was young, I'd probably disagree. College people seemed old to me at that time. It's all prespective.

For my birthday, Seattle has the Seattle weather - gray and rain. Apparently it'll get nice here after the 4th of July. If only I had a July birthday. No tears though. One can still have fun without the sun (I've learned this living here). Josh and I spent a fair portion of Saturday at the Northwest Coffee Festival.

There were coffee pot of all shapes and sizes on display. Check this out:

 

I will not be using these at home. Look at all the nobs and spouts on the left one. Craziness I tell you, craziness. It was fun to watch the experts at work though. We watched a presentation and they guy was weighing his coffee to ensure the right amount of water. Craziness.

We did taste a few different coffees. Victorola made me a cute little cappuccino. We tried macchiatos and espressos. Personally, I still like the sugar and milk in my coffee. However, you really can taste the difference in beans when you make coffee the right way.

 

Here's a Flickr site that has some cool photos.

I also celebrated my birthday with gifts and some good food. We went to dinner at Mistral. And I of course got myself some froyo.

Here's the cute stationary Josh got me. It's from Minted. It's postcard style and the back is uber cute too. Perhaps you might receive a piece of mail from me.

 

And that's a wrap (birthday gift pun intended).

Everyday People

Lately, I've been leading a very everyday kind of life...seeing friends, working, driving around, enjoying sun, grouchy about it raining...things that are everyday, but you never really write about much. Josh and I are just everyday people.

Here's an everyday kind of photo collage:



Everyday stuff is in this collage (all taken with my iPhone, an everyday device):

Work - This past week I headed down to the bay area for work. My team member was on vacation and I was covering her work. We thought it'd be beneficial for me to cover her work in the office since the stage of the project was an in-person type stage. So, that's what I did...went down to Foster City. I do enjoy the visits since in the evenings I get to catch up with friends. I met up with my friend Lara, an ex-Acxiom worker, and also "the gang." See the center photo - that's "the gang!"

Friends - We also have meet up with friends. In fact, I discovered a new frozen yogurt place in Green Lake called Zoe Yogurt. See upper left and lower left & right photos. This is Zoe. Yum. Josh is in the middle of a very serious explanation of some sort in his picture. Katherine and Ryan are pointing at a kid terrorizing a dog in the top picture.

Commuting Around - I drive around to appointment a bunch. Over to University District (aka U-District) the majority of the time. Unfortunately I must cross the water to get to that side and that means a bridge. In the winter the bridge doesn't go up that much. However, in good weather, it goes up and down quite a bit. It's annoying. Very annoying. The traffic gets all backed up and you have to sit there and wait. And wait. And wait. At first, when we first moved here, I though the bridges were cool. Now, they are lame.

Weather - As you can see in the collage, the sun has made an appearance in Seattle. It's been a long, drawn out winter. And some days we are still seeing gloomy weather and rain. But now, the humdrum is interspersed with some sun. A little reprieve from the gray color that's everywhere. I must say, when the sun is out in Seattle, it's glorious. Glorious. (Feel free to say "glorious" like Will Ferrell in Old School).

Hotels - This sort of belongs up with work, but since it has it's own pictures, I thought I'd put it below. My bay area hotel gave me, and I quote, "the second best room in the hotel." I get to my room and see I have an entire conference room in my suite. It felt awkward so I just closed the door. Pretty funny though.

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.

See Heather Work

I've been at my "new" job working from home for about 3 months now and yet I have yet to share with you my at-home office. Little did we know that when we chose the place to live that two bedrooms would be necessary. Luckily, we did chose a 2-bedroom place. Now, the second bedroom is my dedicated, work-from-home office. I got all sorts of cute things - like the floral, and very feminine trays and desk organizers (note: I didn't buy from the site I just hyperlinked--found it cheaper at Storables!).



You can see I have a white, blue, metal theme going, so let's call it: Urban Feminine. I like my desk, but I do spend a bit too much time at it. Wink Wink.

Here's the bigger picture view of the desk:



Yes, my desktop wallpaper is the Seattle Space Needle. No, I didn't take that picture, although I wish I did. The wall has a cool glass whiteboard from IKEA and a sleek bulletin board from Crate & Barrel.

And that my friends, is my work place.

Seattle Coffee Tour: Muse

This post has been a long time coming. First I haven't written a review in ages. Seriously. I think the last one was in February before I started work at Acxiom again. That seems like forever ago. Secondly, I actually went to Muse a while ago, back on April 24th. A month ago now. I've really behind on things.

That said, this review is based off memory.

Coffee Shop Name: Muse Coffee Co

Location: 1907 10th Ave W; Seattle WA 98119

The Order: I got a Sugar Free Vanilla 2% Latte and Josh a mocha (big surprise there).

General Babble: I want to love this place. It's got all the signs of Heather love on it. In my cute little Queen Anne neighborhood, trendy, but not overly so, decor, and it's nearby to home. I did really like it, but the coffee was just a wee bit disappointing. Not bad by any means; no it was quite good. But it just didn't call my name, "Heather, I'm an awesome drink. I'm now your favorite." Rather, it said, "hey, I'm pretty darn good, but I'm lacking that little extra umph aren't I?"

Ratings:

Overall Visit: 4  - As I was just saying, I really liked Muse. I like the name. I like the art and decor inside. The guy at the counter was nice and the right amount of talkative. The place was bright and airy. The muffin was tasty. It's just the coffee, it was really good, but not the best I've ever had. All in all, a definite return is necessary to full judge. I mean it was just one barista; I'm sure they have others and perhaps I just got an off day. And better yet...I just went to hyperlink the Yelp review here and saw 15% OFF if I mention Yelp. I'm going back now. It's a done deal. (Coffee is getting $$ - milk & coffee prices rising, bleh).

Latte Art: N/A – Honestly, I can't remember. Generally I take a picture of my foam, but my picture shows the cup after I began drinking. If I didn't take a photo though, it means I wasn't a OMG look at this foam moment for me. I bet it did have a design though.

Atmosphere: 5 – I think I like this place more than Josh. I just thought some of the decorating was so cool. I really wanted to sit in the cool looking hanging chair, but some group was already at that table. I did like the artwork and chandelier with all the little papers (I've been seeing this on HGTV, so it's the "in" thing - Muse is cutting edge in decorating). My seat was just fine and it was neither too loud or too quite. A great little neighborhood coffee shop. That's what I liked best. It didn't think too much of itself (unlike some other Seattle coffee shops).

Drink Options: 4 – Well, they had sugar free vanilla which is my standard. It was just fine tasting (sometimes sugar free can have a funky taste). I did have to go back up and ask for more sugar free vanilla, but they added it with a smile and very willingly. Sometimes barista give you a sour look when you ask for more and don't trust you. Phooey. Otherwise, they had all the usual options.

Coffee Knowledge: 3 – I just ordered this time without questions. The poor barista was all alone and I didn't want to bog down with questions. They do have a special page for coffee knowledge stuff though, so bravo.

Food: 4 - They had muffins. Yay! And a tasty bran-like blueberry banana muffin. It's Little Rae's Bakery, which is pretty popular around Seattle. Josh had a - orange scone.  I was happy with my muffin. Josh was happy with his scone.

I did like the photos we took while we were there...





 

Not the End of the World

Well the world did not end yesterday. Whew, what a relief! I didn't get quite everything done that I'd hope. Try as I might, I still have way too much to do, and want to do, before our world goes away.

What are somethings I did do? Well, here's a few:

1. Finished a Book: A newfound friend of mine, Katy, she's a recent Seattle transport from Eugene too, recommended a book to me. The book she recommended and the book I finished was called Alice I have Been. First of all, I found this to be a very interesting book. I always enjoy a book that is based off something people know about, but add a twist - like a childhood story or a historical event. This was based on true events (mostly) and very well written. You know when a book is well written when after you finished reading for the moment, your mind is thinking in the same writing style. Or maybe that's just me. After I read, sometimes I start thinking like the book is written. That's a good sign for me that I'm enjoying the book. Another sign is when I stay up way to late reading. Which I did with this one. I read it in two weeks, which is pretty fast for me when I'm busy working (and it's been busy at work). I laughed, cried, and got frustrated as I read this one. I love books that get you so involved that you have a mix of emotions. This wasn't a happy-go-lucky book, but definitely has an different twist to it. I say it's definitely worth the read!

2. Ate some delicious Pie: Josh and I are big-time planning for the wedding these days. Some parts of the planning are more fun then others. For instance, pie tasting! We are probably going with a something different than cake for our wedding...PIE! Our wedding is a fall, Seattle themed wedding (yes, Seattle fall is the theme) so we thought pie would be fitting. Plus, wedding cake is not always that great (frozen and then defrosted, bleh). Pie is fruity and good. It has fruit, so it must be good for you. We thought pie would be fun. And pie was definitely fun to taste! This place in West Seattle was very good indeed.



3. Went to the Beach: West Seattle has some beaches that I can imagine will be great in the summer. It is still a bit cold here and not totally spring/summer yet. We have had some occasional sun and one really nice, warm (warm for me now is 70) weather (warm for me in the past was 80/90...Pacific NW has changed this Cali girl).



4. Started Season 4 of Mad Men: This Netflix disc has been sitting here for a while. It's a Josh & Heather watch together series so I can't watch it without him around. However, he just has NOT been around. He's been traveling - New Jersey, Chicago, Germany - for work. We finally sat down and watched two episodes last night. Now, if only True Blood and How I Met Your Mother would come out with their recently seasons.

5. Saw the sun again in Seattle: I'll just say this, it's been a long winter here. Sun is not so shiney yet.



6. Make some pork chops. Tasty too. Not dried out. Good recipe. And I made some pasta shells. These are always a winner with this recipe.

Now that I know the world isn't over, I did do a few more things just in case. Such as:

1. Tried out Shellac nails: Shellac is the newest thing to the nail industry...it lasts 2-3 weeks with no chipping! Plus it dries instantly, so no smudges. Awesome! I wanted to try it out because my finger nails chip the first day, so I basically stopped getting them painted. Not to mention, I'm super impatient and always smudge them. However, I'm very excited about my Shellac nails and they are super girly, springy pink. I'll keep you posted on how this goes. Today is Day 1. I got them done this morning at Hoa Salon in Ballard. They were so nice there. I even got a shoulder/neck massage as they put my nails under the magic machine thing.



2. Walked the farmers market: After my relaxing, indulging time at the nail salon, I walked around the Ballard Farmers Market. I love this market. I petted a few dogs (a golden, two Akitas, and a mutt), tasting some goodies (applies, juices, bread), ate pizza, and enjoyed the semi-sunny weather. I bought myself some treats too. Pumpkin muffin from Grateful Bread Co. Hard Berry Cider from Rockridge Orchards. And 2 crunchy, spicy Aztec apples. Go Market! (Do you like the photo? I used Instagram).



3. Make some Coconut Pineapple Banana Bread: I can smell it now. I just pulled it out of the oven. Hopefully it's as good as it smells. It's from a recent blog that started following...Joy the Baker. I mean her name is Joy. It was meant for me to follow.

4. Finally Wrote another Post: Sorry, I really have been too busy. Work + Wedding + Life = No posts lately. I'll try harder.

Pull Over

Yes, sometimes you have to pull over. I'm not talking about cops (but yes, you should pull over for them). I'm talking about soaking in the beauty of the day. Or stop and smell the roses as the saying goes...

Yesterday I was driving around a part of town I haven't ventured into much, West Seattle. I was there to treat myself to a facial since Josh was out of town for the weekend (I got it off Groupon - love it). Anyways, afterwards I looked off to the distance and had to drive towards it. It was Puget Sound in all it's glory. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in this and that and checking off your to-do list, that you forget to stop and enjoy the beauty of the city. And let me tell you, I think Seattle is gorgeous! All that rain adds a bit of mystery and character to it (and not to mention, green and trees).

And pull over is what I did. The first pull over was after I saw awesome cloudy and a little aqua water in the distance. I drove towards it and ended up walking along the water for a few minutes (even though it was raining). Here's a quick shot I took.



And then I turned around and as I was driving home, I looked over and saw the city skyline. I quickly pulled over as there was a viewpoint. And took this picture:



Darn it! I should ALWAYS carry my camera with me. But my iPhone did a decent job, don't you think?

And the beauty doesn't stop there. I took this photo as I looked out the window from our home - from inside my at-home office.

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.

Almost Heaven

I saw strawberries at the grocery store and the idea hit: Angel Food Cake. How heavenly! I love me some angel cake with strawberries and whip cream. Oh so heavenly. And it fits since I'm so angelic-like, right? Just joking.

So I bought those strawberries. And then I bought some mix. Voila, a dessert from heaven and made by angels (aka me). And to me, this is Spring in a box. Although it's dreary outside, a bit of spring inside doesn't hurt.

To start, I have the utensils and mix.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Next you get things mixing. Look at that dollop of happiness. My Grandma Norma always told me that you had to mix longer than the box says, you must get that stiff batter. That's an insider tip. That and she had a brand that she always used. I think it was Betty Crocker, but really it may have been Duncan Hines. Darn my memory!



 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you stick it in the oven to cook things up. And flop it upside down. Don't want it to get sunken. That would be drab. And you trust the angels (see the bottle says TRUST) that it won't topple over.



Now you celebrate and feel like a Angel Queen.



Last you look at the delicious cake and EAT IT.



Now you wish you had some. It's easy...go do it!

And that, my friends, is how exciting my life is right now. That plus a bit of work. But keep any eye out because something exciting is happening this weekend and I'll be sure to share. Stay tuned!

Busy Right Now

Alright; I feel horrible. Slap my wrists. I've been such a bad blogger lately. I've missed so many topics to write about and now it just seems silly to go back and write. Sigh. I'm going to try and be better. Honestly, I've just been busy. Busy with work. Busy with wedding planning. Busy with home stuff. Busy with this. Busy with that. Just plain busy. And when I'm not busy, I'm tired or out doing something.

Work: This is one major busy. I started at the end of February and it seems like I've never left. It is a different experience this time around though. For one, I'm working from home. This is actually working out pretty well for me besides the lack of human contact sometimes. I still get up and get dressed. Yes, it's tempting to stay in my PJs all day, but to really get up and going, I need to get into clothes.

I also get to see the client every week. I get out of the house and some human interaction. Awesome. It's actually fun to be able to see the client and get to know them better. Not to mention the beautiful view I get to see from the 23rd floor.

Wedding: Another top busy. This is like a job in itself. Emailing people. Researching vendors. Finding ideas. Meeting vendors to see if its a fit. Making decisions. Managing a budget.

Ahh busy. Sorry I've been delinquent blogger. I'm just busy right now. Okay? (<-- that's where I got the blog title idea)



The views really are quite nice...this photo doesn't do it justice. I just get embarrassed pulling out my iPhone to take a picture in a business building.

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.

Paddy Day

Poor Patrick became Paddy. How'd that happen? How did Paddy come from Patrick? There must be a story about that. It makes me think of Paddy cake the hand clapping game.

I wore my green today and my Irish jewelry. At one point in life I was receiving lots of Irish jewelry especially stuff with the claddagh. I had to deck out because this is my last year with the last name O'Neill. Next year it'll be Brown.

I wanted to inspire you with the holiday with some awesome information. I read a bit on my favorite wikipedia site and searched St Patrick's Day. Fun fact for you - I learned the shamrock was used by Saint Patrick to teach the trinity in Ireland. Did you know that? Woohoo, new information for you! Another fun fact: If I had been born a boy, my name would have been: Patrick John O'Neill. Now that's Irish. I'd bleed green I think (or Guinness). I mean take a look at my grandma - and she's not even the Irish side (don't tell her I said that...):



Today I ate a corn beef sandwich to celebrate. I didn't have brown bread though. I wish there was brown bread instead of soda bread around the stores. It's all over in Ireland. It would have made the sandwich that much more Irish. Sigh. I guess I could have made it (see hyperlink earlier), but that's a lot of work. Trader Joe's leaven bread did the trick this time. I thought of taking a photo of my sandwich and then was too hungry and ate it instead. Just use your imagination.

Also, we had the luck of the Irish in Seattle today because it was the first day with no rain in weeks. The sun was shining; it was beautiful.

I don't want to bore you, so you can read more about St Patrick's Day from last year's post - much more interesting. Or check out this O'Neill website.

Collections

I was trying to come up with something witty to say about collections, so I went onto Wikipedia to see if I could get some inspiration. What I found was that there are lots of definitions for collection, yet not really seemed to fit the type of collection I was going to write about. Is my definition of collection totally off base? Did I not learn something in elementary school? Crazy.

Now I got your curiosity! Go on, check it out. I'll make it easy for you...here's the link. But come back to my blog, to hear about my collection.

I'm thinking about starting a collection. I wish I made this decision a long time ago because my collection would have been much more diverse and vast. There would be oodles and oodles of places I visited represented in...wait for it...MUGS! Specially Starbucks mugs. I know this is a common thing to collect, but they're cool. (1) They are trendy and stylist, (2) They are the perfect size for a morning coffee or tea, (3) they can be awesome souvenirs, and (4) I did work there and it is now permanently and undeniably a part of my life. Sadly, I have some problems with this collection, (1) it takes up lots of space in the cabinet, (2) what about all my other mugs, they'll feel neglected and forgotten. I love some of my other mugs. I guess the pros outweigh the cons.

This is the start of my collection. Yes, there are two Seattle mugs. I like the architecture mug (that's what it's called at Starbucks). It has cools facts on the back. For instance: Elevation: 14' Above Sea Level, Avg. Annual Rainfall: 37.07 in. Ave Daily Temp Jan., 40.1F and July 65.2F



Let's give some of my mugs some love. Here's a fond memory. Josh and I's first big vacation together - England. These mugs we bought in London. They are representing the Underground's Circle and Central lines. Cute!



Then there are the mugs Don Brown made for us. We used these tons. I don't drink out of the one with me on it - that's Josh's cup. Mine is the scenery mug.



And the random cups. One from my friend Kim in Eugene. The other I love the phrase - I gave it to Josh during law school.



Or maybe I should totally change course and just start a sticker collection. Not just an ordinary sticker collection, but a cool Seattle sticker collection.