Seattle vacation 2011

We landed the evening of the 9th and basically just vegged out and went to sleep b/c we'd had a long day and were still on Texas time! i have a tendency (against my will sometimes) to be quite the early riser on vacation, esp the first day when i still was on Texas time! Blake and Hillary had work and school responsibilities on Tr & F so we ventured on our own like "real tourists." Brent and i actually were awake before most of the city Thursday morning! We stayed pretty close to the apt because there was a severe wind advisory in effect for King county that day and boy was it ever an appropriate warning! it felt like it did when we were in Henderson as Hurricane Ike came through as a category 1! we did some shopping, went to the aquarium (thanks mom and dad for the Christmas present :)

aand wait for it..... wait for it..... "LaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawelcometoSeattleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
taped and photographed the experience (of course we did)
ok so we did "make" these faces for the shot but no joke, if we hadnt done it ourselves the wind wouldve done it for us!

if youve seen this port of Seattle youll understand the wind intensity here. if not, let me describe. For Seattle being on the coastal area, its not that "close" to the coast. the water in here is normally pretty gentle and whitecaps certainly arent a usual. needless to say, it was crazy...pretty sure i got windburn lol. after proper documentation we spend the rest of the afternoon snuggled up on the couch, relaxing and watching 3rd Rock from the Sun. :)

Friday was probably our most active of the days. We knew it was going to be a nice day so i wanted to make sure we got some of the "outdoor activities" we had chosen to check out done today. our first destination was a nature preserve called Discovery Park. its on the very north tip of the "peninsula" where Seattle major is (i have no idea what the actual geographic term is for this but go with me on this one).


We took advantage of their more advanced public transportation system (ps costs us $5 for both of us to travel around all day). This park was by far one of my FAVORITE parts of the whole trip. i loved everything about it. it was gorgeous views from the top and on the rocky beach, totally serene, had tons of hiking/biking trails, a historic lighthouse at the tip, SEALS, i could go on and on

anytime i need to de-stress and do a calming visualization technique THIS is my new place ill be envisioning! i just cant decribe or photograph how charming and beautiful this place is... im sure its a little "louder" in the summer but still must be nice!

after hiking we took a "challenge" from Blake to go to this fun little noodle restuarant in the international district (waaaay on the south side of downtown). We took advantage of our bus ticket once more and made our way back to downtown. The district is one area of town we actually hadnt visited in our previous trips. it was delicious food and a very unique area of the city.we then just walked around and enjoyed the nice day. We probably walked about 6-7 miles on Friday! yes, we're conscious of our fitness on vaca too., lol Friday night we all went out to hit up the bar scene of town and went to a fun, frilly little place called The Unicorn. we basically stayed there till it closed but we were all still pretty awake so we headed over to an oddly fancy, 24 hr restaurant called 13 Coins for fried ice cream, rolls, and pie! :)

Saturday we met up with Chad at a popular brunch spot (whos name i cant remember at the moment) in Capital Hill (where Hillary and Blake are moving in a few days fyi- the area, not the brunch spot ;)) we did a little shopping, wondering, pikes marketing, went to Bellvue to see the new Bungie building (it had moved since the last time we were here) and was just as cool and youd imagine, and then picked up Rusty from the airport so he could join our vacation party!

Sunday we headed up to Snowqualmie pass (i drew a visual on the map above for its location) for a little snowboarding. This was Brent and I's first time and we were sooo ready to get started. This was my THIRD attempt to be on the sloped. first time, in high school, i broke my foot after id already paid to go so i still went, with my orthopedic boot in a trashbag, and manned the walkies from the base-riveting. second time was last year up here but they didnt have any snow left to ski on by this point last year. But the cliche proved correct once more and third time was a charm! Once brent learned how to stop (important, yes) he was going down the slopes like it was nbd (he has skateboarded since he was like 13 so i attribute his natural talent for it somewhat to that, and you know basically, hes just awesome (gotta give my hubby a shout out)) Meeee, on the the other hand, while i did eventually get it, it did take me about 2 solid runs to grasp the "correct balance" to get down the mountain and not fall repeatedly on your hindparts! at first i had overprepared by wearing thermals and BOOOY was that the biggest mistake ever. i am a natural hot natured person, i have no idea what i was thinking wearing thermals as if id get cold doing an intense cardio activitiy but here i go trying to pull that off. so the first run not only am i trying to learn-getting frustrated while doing so, falling every 5 seconds, using arm muscles (that i do not have), and just boiling in thermal undergarmets!! man, i was cranky! but once i FINALLY changed and adjusted, i was ready to rock and picked it up pretty fast! once you get it it is an absolute blast! we all wanted to go back for more but we didnt have the time (or $$$) lol aaand honestly by tuesday, and the true lactic acid build up hit, i was moving at the pace of a arthritic turtle so i doubt my skills wouldve improvevd! haha


Monday we just enjoyed that everyone was off work and on spring break and just hung out around the city. we also went to the ever popular Crab Pot to stuff our face :) heres a fun little shot of the whole gang at The Athenian for breakfast...

Tuesday we explored more and more of the city, we HAD to visit Portage Bay which is this local, organic resturant with the tastiest french toast and toppings bar EVER!! went had one more serving of Fish and Chips in Cap Hill, got our 3rd? round of fancy cupcakes-yesssss, and shopped a little more. we even ventured around the market looking for some new fun things we hadnt found before and luckily got some of the best grilled cheese i think i have ever had. NO JOKE- i love me some cheese, and this grilled cheese was amazing, it even deserves its own shot....

we got an amazing surprise at the end of the day when Blake landed 4 tickets to the Seattle Sounders opening soccer game vs the LA galaxy (hottie david beckhams team ;)) the crowd def. loves their cities team and were super pumped up for the game. it was highly entertaining and i know the brothers had a blast which makes it totally worth it!

sadly, the next morning we begrudgingly boarded the plane back to hot, clamy Texas. We really love the city and feel its a place we feel at home. Of course it always helps when youve got people you love hanging out there as well. props to Blake for making it a possibility bc without his help we would not have gotten to do nearly as much, or even couldve come for that matter. it was such a nice vaca and i cant wait to go back.

sipping hot chocolate on March 27th, wha?

not to sound bipolar or anything (nice preface to a blog right?) but today was a GORGEOUS gray scale, 40-something degree, end of march Sunday! i love for the sun to come out, dont get my wrong, but i do loooove cooler weather - #1 my hair looks great, #2 im not sweaty (and when im not hot and sweaty, im a happier person, #3 less people are out because they are weenies so more park space for us #4 my hair looks great! :) the main reason for my love of this gray, chilly sunday was the nostalgic feeling i hadfor dear Seattle! we've been back a week and a half already and that is just so sad that is came and went so quickly. Brent and I absolutely LOVE that city! i know so many naysayers who say...oh its rainy, oh its cold, oh it smells like fish.... well, people dont really say that last one but it does smell of raw seafood in some parts so im sure SOMEONE has used that as a ploy against the emerald city! i digress.... my point is... get a cute rain jacket, dont wear suede pumps, and eat that tasty food that captures the aroma of some sections of the city! it is an amazing city, full of interesting things to see and do, fun, artsy people, and awesome food, and for the most part i like the weather! if you dont believe me that they have nice weather check out my 3 fb albums of prettiness of Seattle. While it seems clear the city of Seattle should hire me as a spokeswoman, lets move on....

i'll get back to Seattle in a moment. After the friends shower mentioned in the previous post Brent and i set out on quickly and ferociously tackling the daunting task of packing! double UGH! for only having a 615 sq foot apartment, not to mention a storage unit fondly called mom and dads front bedroom closet, we have a ton of capital C CRAP! its unreal where this stuff appears from. everytime we have moved since getting married we have donated heaps and heaps of stuff we dont need and yet it still takes a full uhaul and 3 car trips to get it down to uptown. We really try to go with a more minimalist perspective but my craft plans acquire more and more supplies to turn into treasures (im optimistic). We are now finally done with the old place (other than the minor detail of still paying for it) and moved in "mostly" into our new place. PS, if anyone needs a nice, reasonably priced apt near plano/carrolton/addison let me know...i have just the place for you...available now!! honestly we may be super poor based on the decision to move when we did but i do not regret that decision for a second! both of us are happier, more energetic, and more adventurous (like we used to be). Its amazing the difference driving 10 minutes along backroads vs 2 hrs commute in traffic can do for a person's life perspective. lol

i finished up work and milked the last bit of "seasonal helper" that i could the day before we left for vacation. now i have this last month and a half (9 weeks from tomorrow to be exact!) before PA school starts to enjoy my time off, do some crafting, visit my friends and family, spend quality time with the hubs, get into a set routine of exercising, etc etc... Again, we are super poor, but thats ok, its still me time to use at my disposal so im going to take full advantage within my meager means :)

speaking of meager means, we just got back from a week long vacation in Seattle (nice segway, right?) lol actually we were able to do that thanks to Brent's awesome old brother Blake and his gf Hilary! They flew us up there, we got to stay in their amazing downtown loft, and basically enjoy the sweet city life! :) ill end this post at that, tune in tomorrow and ill give the run down of vacation complete with pictures! :) tiill then

the sun is out, bright and beaming

i think thats a song....or something off a comedy sketch (said in higher pitch questioning tone)? either way as i looked out the window and search for a title thats what came out...enjoy! especially after rereading my last debby downer post, sheesh i had to put something to lighten to tone haha... as i read it i could hear myself telling someone that whole phrase, getting faster and lounder as i listed the reasons i was DONE with that day, on the verge of frustration tears as it got closer to the conclusion. aaah so now we have all learned i get a little anxious and cranky when i get cabin fever! :) lets just say id have prob had a completely different tone and outlook if brent hadnt been on his death bed, thats for sure. poor guy! BUT in other news HES ALIVE and HAPPY, as am I! :)

well passing that bit of nonsense, i have exercised, straightened my hair, watched a little Nate Berkus solve minor design crimes and now i am ready to blog! well it is has been one whirlwind of a month and a half! i cannot believe that march is almost done!!! since last blogging i have been packing, moving, hosting showers, attending showers, unpacking, cleaning, finishing up work, vacationing, and weddinging ( you know you like that word...)! its waay too much to blog in one single sitting for my fingers and your eyes alike. so i figured what i would do would be do little installments of the happenings, some of which have photographic evidence while others do not.

first things first, Rachel and I hosted the Friends shower for our dear friend Jennifer the following Sunday after all the snow business. It was a lot of fun to practice some of my D-I-Y-ness and creativity with entertaining people. im not typically the host, dont really know why thats not in my nature, maybe cause i lived with jennifer who is awesome at hosting and organizing so i never had to lol i dunno, either way it was a lot of work but a lot of fun and totally worth every minute! i thought id take a sec to show you some of the stuff i made for Jennifers shower and a pic or two of her enjoying it! :)


as you walked in we had set up a little sign in table complete with a little gift i made for her. Jennifers colors for her wedding were beautiful royal blue and yellow but the second runner up was tiffany blue and red. we figured since she wasnt going to have those colors at her wedding we would make that the theme of this shower so at least she'd have an event in the color. Cool side note- she liked it so much these are now the colors they are going to do in their kitchen (and some of these items seen here will be displayed there :) ) Anywho, i loved the quite and i knew shes love and appreciate it so i made it into a nice little art piece for her. The sign in sheet will go in the little scrapbook im making her for this shower :) You can also see the tissue paper flowers i made for the event!

my craft i am most proud of are these babies. I made a flower bouquet out of EGG CARTONS! i found a little random tutorial online and it was really pretty easy to do (not super easy, but compared to things like paper or fabric flowers it was easy and i feel more forgiving- if ya messed up just glue a button on it or paint over it ;) ) i cut out each one to be a little different, i put everything from buttons, to old earings, to little fabric flowers in side them to complete the look, then different color green pipe cleaners to finish it off. i was really proud of how well they turned out, i may have to make some more....too bad i rarely eat eggs

for my gift for Jennifer i compiled my own version of a Marriage Survival Guide. I got her household items that she can def. use but i put little tags on each of them with a cute wordplay for each item with a tip for a successful marriage... there was everything from a chew toy to popsickle molds in that box lol i should taken a pic of the contents but i forgot! hope she liked it! :)

to finish it off heres a shot of the happy hostesses Rachel and I with the beaming bride! we had some smile shots but this sassy one was my fav, therefore, sassy wins! :)  i think ill finish off with this for todays post as not to overwhelm you with all this excitement that is my life ;P be back soon for more!!