another interruption? why, yes!

i can't help but smile as i watch this clip...it looks like they are having so much fun--

i give you the history of rap with jimmy fallon and justin timberlake...

so...did you smile?  aren't they cute?

a wonderful weekend in washington [part 2]

if you have been to seattle before then i am sure you visited the pike place market [that i shared about in part 1]...well, there is a row of shops/restaurants one block off the market on a 'street' called post alley--and it literally is an alley.
but the coolest wine tasting room is located there that we discovered on our last visit to seattle.  we enjoyed it so much then that it was the one place that we had to go to on this trip.

the official name is the tasting room seattle: wines of washington.  what makes it so great is not the selection of wines...although they are fine--but it is the people that work there and the atmosphere.  it's friendly and jovial and they encourage you to play games. it's like you are sippin' wine at a friend's house.


on this visit to the tasting room, MHD and i sat on the tiny patio in the cool sun...in this alley...having a wine flight...and playing scrabble--totally relaxing and fun.

it's funny--but when you sit outside in an alley with people walking right next to your table and you're playing scrabble...it's amazing the number of people who stop to look and sometimes even offer advice!!  


i ended up winning by one point. that's the best kind of game!


we ended the saturday with an early dinner and a movie...then sunday we woke up and headed to the ballard campus of mars hill church.


we very much enjoyed seeing mark driscoll preach in his home environment and afterward, we headed to whole foods for a snacky type of lunch.  we had plans to go a nice dinner [more on that in part 3] so we ate light.  however, i did get an incredible chocolate dipped shortbread cookie--oh my--my new favorite!


after lunch and a quick stop at the hotel, we headed north about 30 miles to the wine country in woodinville washington...
but that my friends, will be covered in part 3!

excuse the interruption...

i just had to share the latest video from ok go...

it's so awesome. and after practicing several days, they shot it in one take.

note the border collie....love it!

a wonderful weekend in washington [part 1]

so...MHD and i usually take a trip in august by ourselves to somewhere where we can escape the heat.  this year we had to postpone the trip a bit so we could move MDE into her dorm at texas a & m [that will be another post, of course].

about 5 or 6 years ago we had travelled to seattle...had a terrific time, stayed in a really cool boutique hotel that is located over a steakhouse [the inn at el gaucho]. on that trip we did the 'tourist' things--the space needle, pike place market, a fancy dinner on the waterfront, shopped and ate.

so when we decided to go to seattle again, we thought of it differently.  this time we just wanted to go and rest.  moving and getting MDE to college was tiring, not to mention emotionally draining. 

whenever we can, and we are flying somewhere that is at least 3 1/2 hours away, MHD likes to 'cash' in our miles to travel first class.  wow!  what a difference it makes...it may not be the first class of years gone by--but you cannot deny the pleasure of having room to move.  not one bit of claustrophobia is felt.

the seattle airport is relatively small and very easy to navigate.  plus i love it when the rental car desks/cars are on site.  so, needless to say, flying and getting to our hotel was a piece of cake.  we checked in about 6pm seattle time [8pm fort worth time].  we were travel weary, hungry, and feelin' kind of lazy...so we just went to the restaurant onsite.  

the stunning lobby

it was fabulous.  MHD had a gnocchi appetizer and salmon with a lobster sauce for dinner...and i had a fabulous grilled peach/basil/bleu cheese appetizer and the most wonderful halibut.  it came on quinoa...but that is just one grain i haven't fell in love with yet, so i skipped it.

the next morning we were up early...still livin' on fw time.  so we walked to pike place market pretty early.  many of the vendors hadn't even set up yet, but it was nice because it was not crowded at all.  we strolled the market having no idea where we were going for breakfast...and then we happened upon lowell's.  

it was kind of a gray morning...but this was our breakfast table view--

the breakfast itself was sooo yummy!  MHD ordered dungeness crab omelet with chopped tomatoes and parmesan cheese, a short stack, & coffee.  days after, he begged to go back--but it was kind of pricey, so i nixed it...but boy, was it good.  i ordered 'the combo'--two eggs, bacon, and the most delicious vanilla cinnamon french toast & coffee.

if you have never gotten to experience the pike place market, i wish i could do it justice.  it is absolutely beautiful--flowers, fresh fish, fresh fruit & vegetables everywhere...the most wonderful colors and smells.

my $5 bouquet of dahlias...

after breakfast, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel for readin' & relaxin'!  we wandered to the 4th floor pool.  it was actually quite chilly and although they had a fire pit, we choose to recline on some chaises--

rooftop view

i know it is hard to tell...but do you notice anything on the rooftop on the building in the right forefront?  look closely--

it's set up for a rooftop wedding with a view!  how beautiful...

now...we staked our claim on these chaises [really there was only like 4 people out there], MHD got us some coffee, i was borrowing his ipad to read a book, and before you know it...this happens--

i guess i was tired! 
the whole day was basically spent like this...
reading and doing nothing.  


we decided to take a little walk with no intended destination...but then we came across this--

a giant paella!
talk about the right place at the right time!
this great spanish store was celebrating their anniversary and treating passerbys and shoppers with a hearty helping of paella.  it was wonderful.

excuse the photo skills...i was trying to get the 'whole picture' of the paella and store


this helping of paella became our lunch and we headed to a wine tasting place that we found last time we visited seattle.


that fun experience and much more will be shared tomorrow...

well....

...i was all set to write about my trip to seattle this weekend, when i got obsessed with redoing the layout of my blog.

i'm sure this has happened to you--once you start the 'redo' process, be it of a blog, a closet, a room....somehow what was to be a simple thing becomes complicated.  i kept telling myself--just one more thing, just one more thing....

and now it tis time for me to go to bed.

i have a 7 am pilates class!

hopefully, my travels will be up on the blog tomorrow...

thanks...

just a quick note of thanks for the support, understanding, and valuable advice about the avocado plant....and of course, about penny, too!!

really?!? seriously?!?

in the last couple of days, i have been faced with 2 different situations that made me scratch my head and wonder--really?!? seriously?!?

ok, first up--our new house has a side gate on the driveway that we open and close as we come and go...but sometimes, we [read:i] forget and leave the gate open.  we also use the back door to let the pups in and out--hoping that someone [again, read: i] has remembered to close the gate.  well, saturday was garage sale day in our neighborhood.  and trust me--you took your life in your hands driving along the streets in said neighborhood.  i had to go on a quick run to the hardware store [more on that in another post] around 8am--prime garage sale shopping time.  cars were speeding up and slowing down up and down the street and people were walking everywhere.  by the time i returned home, i was relieved to be staying put...and so i guess i was in a forgetful mood.  the gate was left open.  MHD decided the pups needed some fresh air and promptly let them out.  we didn't think anything about it until MHD gets a phone call wondering if we were missing a short, funny-looking dog.  what?!? does this look like a short, funny-looking dog to you?

i mean really!  isn't my penny just the sweetest, cutest looking pup?!

now my second situation involves what i guess i should call 'my black thumb'.  i love plants and flowers but for some reason everything botanical just doesn't make it if i have anything to do with it.  i keep trying though.  so what i really wanted to do was to try and grow an avocado tree from the pit [seed] of an avocado.   now i have heard that it is easy to get them to sprout and then replant so it can grow into a tree, but that it won't produce fruit for many years.  that's fine with me...i can accept that.  so i rinse my pit, stick in the 4 toothpicks, and put it in a jar with water on my window ledge...

looks good, right?  well, two weeks later...it looked like this--

do you see any sprouting?  do you see anything?  i mean really?!? don't they do this kind of experiment in grade school?

so i ditched that one and found another excuse to eat an avocado [hello? is there anything better than guacamole?]  so now we have 'avocado tree--take 2'.

let's hope this one works?  have any of you tried this bit of botany before?  if so, do you have any tips or suggestions?  i really want this to work...

no. really. seriously.