I just posted a list of things to do in Seattle. Because there is so much to do in Seattle that was enough for one post. Similarly, there are so many wonderful restaurants to try in this foodie city. I’ve started a list, which I plan on updating periodically, of some favorite restaurants and bars in Seattle.
Breakfast / Brunch
Salty’s on Alki {take the water taxi from downtown across Elliott Bay to West Seattle to Salty’s for an absolutely incredible brunch – can do dinner here too – incredible seafood, pricey}
Hi Spot Cafe {either drive to Madrona neighborhood or take #2 bus from downtown, very budget friendly, amazing coffee}
Paseo {Ballard and Fremont neighborhood – this is a little hole in the wall that is was commonly featured in “top 10 best food in the country” shows on Food Network – it’s a Cuban sandwich shop that has recently changed hands but they make a damn good meal}
Homegrown {Capitol Hill – Melrose Market or South Lake Union} – awesome sandwiches
I have been asked three times in the last day for suggestions of things to do in Seattle. I figured it would be helpful to put together a list of some of my favorite things to do in Seattle for people coming to visit our beautiful city and its surroundings, plus it’s handy to have when people come visit us to think about what to do!
Seattle is an extremely casual city that is surrounded by lakes, mountains, the Puget Sound and views that you will never forget. With a population of just over 600,000 people, our small but diverse city is home to famous musicians, actors, tech gurus, the 2014 Super Bowl Champions, and a lot of traffic. We have incredible food, world-class wines, and Washington is the world’s largest producer of hops. The people here are sometimes friendly, almost always eclectic, generally extremely smart and very environmentally friendly. We’ve got decent public transportation options, namely the city bus and there is a light rail between downtown and the airport that is undergoing a major expansion. The climate here is pretty mild year-round. Summers are moderate, but typically sunny with no humidity or mosquitoes, whereas October through June, well, it’s usually the rainy season. There are few days when you actually need an umbrella – bring a good waterproof jacket with a hood and you should stay dry and blend in with the locals. You’ll understand why we drink so much coffee if you come during the winter. I hope you enjoy your trip to Seattle!
{View of Lake Washington from Leschi}
What to do in Seattle…
I just have to put this first… there is so much great coffee in Seattle and you can get Starbucks anywhere… do yourself a favor and try something different! One of my downtown favorites is Seattle Coffee Works.
Ride The Great Wheel – a relatively new ferris wheel on the downtown Seattle waterfront
Take a ride up in the Space Needle – I’d suggest going for a meal to help off-set the cost, and definitely only go if it’s actually clear out, better yet, visit the even cooler historic Smith Tower or Columbia Tower observatory.
Of course, you must visit Pike Place Market – eat some fruit, watch them throw the fish, buy cheese at Beecher’s and DeLaurenti, peruse the plethora of shops and stands, eat a lot, explore.
Hop aboard the ferry to Bainbridge Island – either just take the ferry to and from or hop off and walk a few blocks to the downtown, explore the shops, have lunch, come back to the city…
Check out a show at Benaroya Hall where the Seattle Symphony plays
Spend some time people watching in the Capitol Hill neighborhood – some of the best restaurants and bars in the city are located here
Cheer on the Sounders, Seahawks or Mariners {both stadiums are walkable from downtown, be sure to get a “Seattle Dog” – a hot dog with cream cheese and sauteed onions – don’t knock it ’til you try it!}
{Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place in April}
Don’t just stick to the city of Seattle! Get out for a day or two and explore the surroundings. There are mountains just 45 minutes outside the city, incredible wineries a quick 25 minute jaunt away, and some pretty amazing scenic viewpoints you can see in just a day.
Drive yourself {better yet, hire a driver} to Woodinville for an afternoon of wine drinking. With more than 100 wineries to choose from there will be something for everyone! Some of my favorites are: Trust, Dusted Valley, Mark Ryan, Gorman, JM Cellars, J Bookwalter, Patterson, Darby… All of these, save for maybe JM Cellars, are within a block of each other. You’re welcome. A fantastic rainy day activity.
While you’re in Woodinville, check out the events happening at Chateau Ste Michelle’s incredible estate. They have an awesome summer concert series.
Again, another stop on the Woodinville trip is to do a brewery tour at Red Hook, see an outdoor movie, or just grab a cheap bite to eat/beer. This is great to do on a rainy day!
Take a ferry {with your car} to Bremerton, drive about an hour to Hurricane Ridge. Go for a hike. Enjoy.
Head southeast towards Mount Rainier and go to Crystal Mountain. Incredible ski resort, but if that’s not your thing, you can take the gondola up to the top of the mountain for lunch or dinner and one of the most amazing views you may ever see {if it’s clear, that is!}. This is a great all-season option.
Drive east towards the Cascade Mountains and go for a hike. There are thousands to choose from. Some easy ones include: Denny Creek, Tiger Mountain, Snoqualmie Falls, Snow Lake, or visit the Washington Trails Association for more options. Or, go for a hike on Mount Rainier – there are several to choose from for all ability levels. Be mindful to note if the park/trail requires a recreation pass – these can be obtained at REI – there is one on the way to Snoqualmie Pass off of I-90 in Issaquah.
Take a tour of the Boeing Factory – this is about 45 minutes north of Seattle. This is a great rainy day activity!
Alternately, visit the Museum of Flight – this is different than the factory and is just 10 minutes south of downtown.
Visiting for a while and want to go stay somewhere out of the city?…
{Cultura Winery}
Washington state is unbelievably gorgeous and diverse in its landscapes. We’ve got mountains, streams, an ocean, rainforests, lakes, a desert… You name it, we’ve probably got it! If you have a couple extra days and a car/other mode of transportation, I would definitely encourage exploring some of the many things that Washington has to offer.
Spend some time on the San Juan Islands {a 1.5-2 hour drive north to Anacortes + a ferry ride over to whichever island you choose}
Visit Olympic National Park and the Washington Coast {this is one of those “it’s the journey and all of the destinations” trips, so plan on stopping and getting out of the car a lot.}
Visit the idyllic Bavarian village, Leavenworth, about 2.5 hours northeast of Seattle – go in October for their annual Octoberfest, visit in December for the icicle lights or make the drive in the summer to enjoy wine and hiking. It’s great any time of the year!
Things are finally starting to quiet down a bit. The weather is simply perfect. Fall is here and I couldn’t be more excited for the changing of the season. Here is what’s been happening with us…
We are so looking forward to a weekend at home. This will be Alex’s second weekend at home without any house guests since before we left for Europe. I’ll do the math for you – out of the last 13 weekends, 12 of them have been spoken for with travel or company {I was home one additional weekend while he was at a bachelor party}. No wonder all he has wanted to do lately is play video games!
Last weekend we had Alex’s cousin Bryan come out for a visit after he had a job interview out here. We did our best to try to convince Bryan to move out here, but he decided to take a very exciting new job working for a certain football team in Illinois instead. The boys literally spent the weekend playing video games, so I have nothing to report from them. I did escape the gaming mayhem for a bit on Saturday night and went to the Buffingtons for dinner with them and the Millers, which was a welcome change of pace.
{My gorgeous farmer’s market flowers! It’s hard to believe that there are only 2 more farmer’s markets in our neighborhood before they close up shop for the year.}
Given that we’ve hardly been home all summer, our to-do list is gigantic. We’re hoping to tackle a few home projects this weekend, like re-staining part of our fence, cleaning our carpets, going through recipes and getting our house ready for fall.
I just finished my first month of exercise classes at the Pilates studio in our neighborhood. I am taking a barre class once a week, then a class on the Pilates reformer another day each week. So far I am a barre hater and a reformer lover. Both are great classes but I just prefer the lower intensity reformer workout. I’m not sure what I will choose to do after the month of September is up, so we’ll see…
Alex is moving to a new office {same job} in November-ish, so he is trying to figure out the fitness plan that will work best with his new work location. Currently his gym is in the same building as his office which has been pretty handy for him. He is hoping, though, to be able to ride his bike to work more often with the new move. His current commute is only 3 miles, which is a pretty short bike ride, so he is looking forward to a longer trek – his new commute will be closer to 20 miles. I think what he is most looking forward to with the office move; however, is not having to take the un-reliable city bus!
My schedule has gotten significantly busier in the last few weeks. School is back in session, which means that my work schedule has picked wayyyy up as I prepare to start the tutoring program I manage in early October. Also, I am back in the first grade classroom at our neighborhood school where I volunteer on Friday mornings. The family I work for took several lengthy trips over the summer which left me with some extra free time in the mornings. They just returned this week, so now I am back to working “full-time” Monday through Thursday again.
{Feeling like a teacher these days as I get all sorts of educational materials pulled together.}
So, that’s what’s been happening with us! Thank goodness it’s Friday!
It seems to be becoming a tradition that Donna and Stan come to Washington for a wine country trip over Labor Day weekend. This year that tradition held true. Last year we spent the holiday weekend in the Yakima Valley wine country, but mixed it up a bit and headed further east to Walla Walla this past weekend.
{Gorgeous wine country – this is the view from one of the wineries we visited in Walla Walla}
Donna and Stan arrived late Thursday evening and the rest is a blurry memory……..
Just kidding! 🙂 Well, sort of… The theme of the weekend was wine. Good wine, to be exact. We had gotten several recommendations of wineries to visit from Henri, one of the owners of Bottlehouse, our neighborhood wine bar, and we tried to hit as many as possible. Here is a recap of our amazing weekend…
{On our way to Walla Walla we stopped in Yakima at Two Mountain Winery, where we are wine club members, to pick up our latest release and do a tasting. Basically all of the wineries we went to were dog friendly so Jackson got to come along on the trip too!}{Because one stop in Yakima en route to Walla Walla isn’t enough we stopped at Cultura and decided we better just join their wine club too… And snag seven bottles of wine while we were at it… Hey, I told you the theme of the weekend was drinking good wine…}{We eventually made it to Walla Walla and this was our home base. “The Barn” is the home we rented for the long weekend and this vacation rental was the best we have ever stayed in!}{We were so happy staying here that we didn’t even go out for dinner once! We are so grateful to the Holbrook family for their attention to detail and willingness to rent out The Barn.}{After a filling breakfast on Saturday we headed out to downtown Walla Walla to start our day of drinking. The first stop was Gramercy Cellars. The winemaker was just named the best in the state by Seattle Magazine! They had very big, old-style wines that were fantastic.}{Halfway through our day and just before lunch at Olive Marketplace we stopped at Trust Cellars, which ended up being one of our favorites of the weekend. We were so excited to learn that Trust has a tasting room in Woodinville, just 25 minutes from Seattle, so we can go drink wine here more often!}{The last stop of the day was El Corazon, the party winery… and just like my mother in-law, the winemaker clearly knows how to have a good time! The music selection here was very up-beat, the drinks were flowing, and the volume was cranked up. It’s clear that this is the place to let loose.} {Here is us at El Corazon having a good time… Please note that to save my MIL’s reputation, I omitted a few photos here…}{Our evenings were spent hanging out at The Barn, grilling, playing cards, relaxing and, you guessed it, drinking more wine… We are so thankful that Alex’s parents come visit as often as they do and that they are able to kick back, relax and decompress.}{Did you think we were done?? We’re just getting started… Day two in Walla Walla started at Va Piano, another favorite of the weekend… We enjoyed our second day more in some respects, due to the fact that we were visiting the vineyards instead of the tasting rooms in town, and we hired a driver to take us around, which allowed Alex to not have to worry about his consumption.}{Va Piano wins for facade, view and vineyard.}{Jackson came with us on Sunday and loved running through the vines at Va Piano.}{Yet another favorite was Sleight of Hands. Alex and I had tried some of their wines previously and remembered why we loved them so much. An added bonus was that the tasting room was awesome! The space was decorated in old rock albums, as well as posters of magicians that inspired the names of their wines and wine labels. They sure know how to have fun AND make incredible wines.}{We really liked the ambiance at Balboa!}{Everyone got ID’d!}{As it turned out, we saved the best for last! Many of us agreed that our favorite winery of the whole weekend was the winery that we visited at the very end that was walking distance from The Barn… Dusted Valley Winery. The wines were out of this world! And with that, came a hefty price tag… We had lunch here by way of Andrae’s food truck and that just sealed the deal… Plus, Dusted Valley, too, has a tasting room in Woodinville!}{After a long day of being a winery dog, Jackson came back and passed out for the evening. Too much work I guess!}{We had SUCH a great weekend – thank you Donna and Stan for being such good company and for providing an opportunity for us to take this trip… I hope we’ll be able to go back to Walla Walla soon!}
Our guest bedroom has been one of the most neglected spaces in our house in the four years we have lived here. It has always bothered me because we have so many friends and family members who come to visit that I cringe every time we walk downstairs and welcome them to their rectangle box of a guest room… So, when we decided to embark on a whole-house redecorating kick, the guest room was my top priority.
Here is a “before” photo of the boring space…
{the room had nothing in it other than the bed}
The room is almost how we envision it looking in its complete state – I just couldn’t resist sharing the progress we have made.
One of the most important things to us was providing a place for our guests to sit and make themselves at home. We found this adorable red chair that matches the quilt quite lovely and offers an accent to the teal drapes and lampshade.
Additionally, it’s always nice to have a place to set your things, so we wanted to be able to offer our guests a dresser where they could unpack or just place things on.
The walls are still a work in progress. We plan on painting the walls and adding a fun accent to the wall behind the bed. Reusing some brown frames we already had, we hung photos from our recent Europe trip above the dresser to give the room a little bit of a travel feel. In time we’ll add some more art to the room to help alleviate some of the blank wall space.
{we will load up this tray with water and snacks for our guests. It’s my hope to get a mini Keurig for our guests to be able to enjoy making coffee in their own little suite :)}
While we were at it with the bedroom, I decided to update the towels and shower curtain in the guest bathroom. We had never purchased either a shower curtain or towels specifically for this bathroom – it kind of just got whatever towels we had on hand, which I have always disliked. I was thrilled to find a gray, mustard yellow and white shower curtain {colors usually out of my realm!} that brightens up the dark bathroom and works with the wall color. Thank you Target! I would like to add some more exciting art than a photo of the Mexican ocean, so stay tuned for the finishing touches… someday!
Hope you like the new space! We can’t wait to have visitors for three of the next four weekends.
It has been a very exciting week in the package delivery department. First, I got my 100 Days of Real Food book on Tuesday, then yesterday I received my 3rd Stitch Fix box! I was really looking forward to this Stitch Fix because I have never bought anything in my previous two boxes – they were both filled with good stuff, but the first round was too big and the second round was bad timing for me to spend the extra money on clothes. So, needless to say, I checked the front porch at least 7 times yesterday, waiting to see when the pretty box would arrive…
{it’s here!!}
This was worth the wait! I asked for some clothes that would help me make the transition to fall, and nothing terribly trendy. I have not been excited about all of the new trends lately. They were clearly not designed with me in mind!
Here is what Stitch Fix sent me:
{My goodies!}{Blue top – they suggested pairing it with a black/white striped skirt, which conveniently I own}{Here’s the blue top with black “skinny jeans” that are really leggings… sneaky!}{teal top with fun detail on the chest – pair well with the black “skinnies”}{military green top w/ my own jeans – I really don’t like this color in the slightest bit, but Alex does and it’s something different I guess??}{super versatile navy dress that can easily be worn year-round in Seattle with some wedges in the summer or tights, boots and a sweater in the fall or winter}
So, there you have it! And it’s all staying with me this time!
We had a blast celebrating the marriage of our friends Dave and Trish this past weekend in Suncadia, a mountain resort just past Snoqualmie Pass. The setting was incredible! Suncadia is a mountain-modern style resort and its backdrop is tree-lined mountains, so, really, you don’t need much more than that and a great couple to have an awesome wedding.
Trish and Dave are really good friends of Carrie and Patrick, which is who set them up and how we know them. We are so looking forward to spending more time with the happy couple now that things will {hopefully} settle down since they’re not planning their wedding anymore. They are a couple that loves to travel and have a good time! We have a lot in common 🙂
Back to the wedding! We drove to Suncadia with Ryan and Mary and arrived just in time for lunch. We stopped in the town of Roslyn for lunch at The Brick, which may or may not be the oldest bar in Washington {depends on who you ask, I hear}. We loved both the town and the bar – the people were so friendly and the atmosphere was awesome.
Once we pulled into Suncadia we knew we were in for a treat. Our first stop was the bar followed by the pool. Hey, we were on vacation… The weather was gorgeous. It was a really nice temperature with partly cloudy skies, so it didn’t get too hot for our outdoor adventures. We hung by the pool for an hour or two before heading into the lodge to get ready for the wedding.
{this is a real berry press!}
The ceremony took place overlooking the golf course and the mountains. Dave and Trish had their sister in-law officiate the wedding. It was short, sweet and to the point. There wasn’t much chatter involved except for their amazing personalized vows {Alex and Ryan even teared up!!}, the ring exchange and the presentation of Mr. and Mrs. Hilliard.
{picture-perfect backdrop for a mountain wedding}
{these were their programs – they doubled as fans in case it was too hot}{the programs were really creative infographics that told the story of the couple and their family. I have never seen anything like it before}{one of my favorite touches of the whole event was that the chair in the front on the groom’s side was reserved for Dave’s mother who had passed away. It was a tear-jerker just looking at the empty chair with a beautiful bouquet of flowers on it}
The whole evening was so lovely. Trish did an incredible job making the wedding personal to them, but she also added creative touches that you don’t see all over the internet and at every other wedding. She really outdid herself.
{for their guest book they had polaroid cameras + hilarious props and had their guests take photos of themselves and write a note to the bride and groom}{beautiful cupcake table}{gold and persimmon were two of the colors of the event}{the flowers in the centerpieces were stunning!}
{the Millers}
We had an awesome time dancing the whole night and were happy to sleep in a bit on Sunday. The best part was that the celebration continued with a brunch the next morning. After we finished eating to soak up the remnants of the night before we set out on a little hike down to the river. It was such a gorgeous property!
Last weekend Alex and I jetted off to Wisconsin to attend Bryan and Sarah’s wonderful Lake Geneva wedding. Bryan is Alex’s cousin and we both went to Iowa State University with Bryan, Alex even roomed with him during our senior year.
I have to start this post with a few throwbacks to our college days… I was searching for some good ones and you better believe I found some gems…
{Cousins @ VEISHEA – I am certain there was water in those Solo cups…}{Bryan and Alex cheering on the always losing Cyclones}{Halloween 2007}{Bryan and me at 2007 VEISHEA}{Me with Bryan and Alex at my 22nd birthday… man those boys had long hair!}
Given their history and friendship, it was no surprise to hear that Bryan asked Alex to be his best man. I know Alex was honored to serve out that role. They all had an awesome time celebrating Bryan becoming a husband at his bachelor party in Chicago the weekend before. Alex had a great time planning the big hurrah and found a perfect bachelor pad next to Wrigley Field that came complete with a bar, urinals and a pool table.
{Alex and his cousins Jordan and Josh}
On to the wedding! The vows took place at the Grand Geneva Resort right next to the pool {their event drew a crowd of lookie lous!} but overlooking the lake and golf course. It was a beautiful setting.
The bridesmaids were absolutely adorable. Every last one of them was so darn cute! I loved the light peach colored dresses and they looked great next to the guys’ gray tuxedos.
{it was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding}
Wanting a really personalized wedding ceremony, Bryan and Sarah asked one of their friends to officiate. It was Matt’s first wedding to preside over, and he nailed it! He kept it sweet, to the point and was well-rehearsed. You could clearly tell he was a genuine person and friend to the happy couple.
After the ceremony we took the adorable trolleys to the “Mountain Top” which is a Wisconsin ski hill {emphasis on hill – if I could say “bump” I would…} on the property of the Grand Geneva Resort.
The reception took place inside the ski chalet. Bryan and Sarah decorated the space with some rustic touches, like twigs and candles in mason jars, as well as romantic gestures through lighted draping over the dance floor.
Pinterest was definitely involved in this wedding! Sarah executed on a number of adorable little details that made the day extra special, like the “Love is Sweet” candy bar, and the welcome bags that were in each room at the resort.
Both the maid of honor and best man’s speeches were really heartfelt and mustered up a few laughs from the guests.
We had a really nice time visiting with Alex’s family members during the cocktail hour and dinner.
We so seldom see them that it’s always nice to get to catch up with his extended family, and I enjoyed connecting with his cousin Stacy, whom I had only met once before.
{Alina, Alex and Alberto}
The evening went off without a hitch and it’s safe to say everyone had a great time!
Finally, I really want to share their same-day wedding video. Seriously, watch this. Their videographer was AWESOME. They had a drone filming and the videographer edited this video and showed it at the wedding. Truly impressive!
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was last weekend’s destination. We attended the wedding of Alex’s cousin Bryan and his now wife, Sarah, where Alex was honored to stand up as Bryan’s best man. After a very early flight on Friday morning and a quick layover in Chicago we landed in Milwaukee just before 2:00 in the afternoon, which gave us just enough time to check in to our hotel, get changed and for Alex to head to the rehearsal.
The groom {center}, his best man {Alex} and one of his groomsmen on the boat for the rehearsal dinner
The wedding took place at the Grand Geneva Resort, which, fun fact, was built as a Playboy Club by Hugh Hefner in the 1960s. Now it’s a family-friendly resort, complete with a ski “mountain” and a nightclub that also hosts random Playboy events and rockstars, such as Def Leppard, as it did this weekend. The resort was great – we really enjoyed our stay there.
Once we got settled Alex headed down to the rehearsal while I met up with Alex’s family. It was so nice to get caught up with his extended and immediate family. Shortly thereafter we all piled into a few adorable trolleys that had been commissioned as our transportation for the evening down to the town of Lake Geneva. We were hopping on a boat cruise for the rehearsal dinner.
{The bride did an awesome job of mastering the art of the little details throughout the wedding weekend}
We set sail for a mid-evening sunset cruise on one of Lake Geneva’s famous mail delivery boats. Bryan and Sarah arranged a bar, of course, and Gino’s East pizza. If you’ve ever been to Chicago you understand the importance of deep-dish pizza. Gino’s makes some darn good deep-dish! It had been a while since I had indulged, but it was worth the wait.
Since Alex’s parents have a lake home on Lake Delavan, which is right next to Lake Geneva, I have spent quite a bit of time in the area and had been to Lake Geneva recently, but never out on the lake. There’s an adorable downtown with restaurants and shops that is right along the water’s edge. The lake itself is huge. I don’t know accurate statistics, so “huge” is going to have to do it. It’s not like a great lake, just a really big lake. The homes, mostly vacation homes, are incredibly beautiful and tasteful and include the Wrigley family estate {think Wrigley Field}, among other notable Chicago families. I had a great time just looking at all of the homes, not to mention meeting some of Bryan and Sarah’s friends and catching up with Alex’s family.
{Stan the Man and Alex}
Friday came and went. Then the wedding day was here! With Alex being the best man I knew he would have a lot of responsibilities that day so I planned accordingly and was content to go park myself in a chair by the pool. Alex and I ordered room service for breakfast so that he could work on a computer project for Bryan and put his best man speech together. Gotta love last minute preparations!
Once he was all done it was time for him to get into his tux and head down to take pictures with the rest of the groomsmen. I took that as my cue to head to the pool! I thoroughly enjoyed a couple hours to myself with my Kindle {I was reading Unbroken by Laura Hildebrant, which I later finished and loved!}, umbrella drink and gigantic salad.
Fast forward a few hours and it was wedding time! The weather had been partly cloudy all day and depending on which weather forecast you looked at it was calling for a chance of rain or storms. Neither of which was good for an outdoor wedding… Thankfully the weather held off and actually was quite gorgeous, albeit a bit warm, and the outdoor wedding went off without a hitch! We had an awesome time celebrating the marriage of Bryan and Sarah and are so thankful that they’re in our lives. Stay tuned for a special post just about the wedding!
{it was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding}
It’s always amazing how quickly weddings are just over. There is so much planning and anticipation and then the day comes and ends before you can hardly bat an eye. I remember that feeling from my own wedding, but this one seemed to come and go extra fast! We had a great time but were also looking forward to some down time with Alex’s family at their lake home the next day. We were able to make it over there around 11:00 and spent the rest of the day eating, hanging out, playing bags, going for a boat ride/out on the waverunner and doing more eating and drinking.
{Alina and Alberto taking a spin on the waverunner}
Mid-afternoon my college roommate Julie and her fiancee, Ryan, stopped over from their home in Madison. I hadn’t seen Julie since last fall and it had been since our wedding since I saw {and met} Ryan, so it was so good to catch up with them. Julie and I studied abroad together in Spain, which is how we became such good friends, then we lived together in an apartment our senior year. Now Julie is working on her PhD at the University of Madison while planning her 2015 wedding.
{Ryan and Julie}
We had such a great day in Lake Delavan and loved catching up with everyone, including Alex’s parents, his sister and our brother in-law. I just hope we can see Julie and Ryan again before their wedding next fall!
{Time for a dip!}
The next day Alina and Alberto left very early to head into Chicago. They both just moved to Illinois from New York after spending close to two months in Italy/Europe this summer after their wedding. Alberto stayed in Italy with his family for an extra two weeks while Alina came back early to start her new job. It will be SO nice to have them in Illinois. We rarely saw Alina and Alberto when they were living in New York because it is really hard to do a coast to coast trip. We’re looking forward to the close proximity of the two of them, and also we are happy for Stan and Donna that they’re closeby.
{Alex and me with Julie and Ryan}
Monday was another great day of R&R. We took the waverunner out and sat by the pool. It was quite nice if I do say so myself!
Our flight back to Seattle was scheduled through Milwaukee because it’s closer to Lake Geneva and Lake Delavan, so we thought it would be easier than flying into Chicago, even though we selected a flight that had a layover in Chicago. Once we landed at O’Hare on the way to the wedding we realized how dumb it was to fly into Milwaukee and fly through O’Hare. It was literally a 15 minute flight from O’Hare to Milwaukee. Our layover between flights was longer than the time we were on the plane. It took longer for us to board the plane than it did for us to fly between airports. Oye. So, mid-afternoon on Monday, Stan drove us an hour east to the Milwaukee airport for our 6:30 flight.
The flight was on-time. Until it wasn’t. Once we arrived and settled in at the gate we were informed that the flight had been filled with too much fuel in Chicago, where it was coming from, and they would have to burn it off before they could fly it to Milwaukee. Long story short, the plane was an hour and a half late and we missed our connecting flight in Chicago to Seattle. That meant that Stan came to O’Hare to pick us up at 9:15 p.m. and took us back to their home in Batavia. And yes, it also meant that he got to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to take us back to O’Hare the next morning for our 8:20 flight.
To put this in perspective, Stan drove us one hour east to Milwaukee, then at least two hours southwest {probably more like three hours, given that it was during Chicago and Milwaukee’s rushhour}, passing O’Hare to Batavia. He unpacked from his weekend at the lake then turned around and drove 45 minutes east to O’Hare, picked us up and drove 45 minutes west to Batavia. Stan really is the man!!
Oh the joys of flying! We’re home now and couldn’t be happier….
Happy hump day! This week has gone by so fast I was sure it was only Tuesday when I woke up this morning. I feel like a broken record continuously saying “it’s another busy week in the Allen household” but that is what it is!
{my newest fave!}
I started my new barre class yesterday and have my second session tomorrow. I’ll be interested to see how I like it after a few more sessions. Mary would be happy to hear that so far I prefer Pilates to the barre, but I could be convinced otherwise. I had a 30-minute Pilates session last week and was about 10 times more sore after that class (for four days!) than I am after the barre class.
The barre class involves a lot of continuous repetitions with weights and mini-squats and other such motions and left me feeling sweaty, winded and quite literally a bit hunched over, whereas I leave Pilates feeling light, refreshed and taller. Pilates has been the only form of exercise that I have seen the definition in my arms and abs that I can see right now. I will say that I am really excited for the barre class to get me ready for ski season, though!
I have the goofiest dog ever.
Alex spent last weekend in Chicago at his cousin Bryan’s bachelor party. It sounds like the boys had a great time! They stayed in a bachelor suite across the street from Wrigley Field. This place sounds absolutely perfect for a bachelor party. The apartment has a bar in it, plus a pool table, shuffleboard, darts, a urinal and a rooftop deck with commercial grills and bleachers! We can’t wait to celebrate Bryan and Sarah’s wedding this weekend!
My swimming buddy!
While Alex was away I worked my little fingers to the bone around our house. I had a massive to-do list of random projects and I was able to complete many of them. My biggest accomplishment from the last week has been completely re-decorating our guest room. I can’t wait to share pictures once everything arrives and gets all set up. I will; however, share a picture of my cousin and his beautiful bride, with whom I was lucky enough to have dinner on Friday night.
Chris & Heidi
I also had a great time taking Jackson for lots of swims and a run one day. He did a great job of keeping me company while Alex was gone. We got a visit on Saturday from Mary and Berkeley and ran up to Bottlehouse to enjoy a glass of wine in the sun, too!
{hot dogs! … get it?… dogs on a sunny porch…}
It has been quite warm in Seattle the last few weeks. I love the heat but have been lacking motivation in the kitchen. When it’s 87 degrees in my house the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot stove. We’ve been eating a lot of pasta salad {prepared early in the day} and meals on the grill.
Here are some of our recent favorites {strangely they’re almost all from The Pioneer Woman!}:
