Sunday, Funday, Cold & Wet Day: March 15th, 2015

drip. drop. drip. drop.

It is what I woke to today and what I will eventually fall asleep to.  Seattle rain.  Cold, consistent, expected, but not prepared for.  But before I get too far ahead of myself – this morning I had to stop at Uptown Espresso again – their caramel lattes are really, very much, excellent!  After getting some laundry going and kind of taking stock of our day, we realized we had better get moving for our brunch reservation time of 9am.  *especially* after we saw this:

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We headed to Toulouse Petit Kitchen (seriously do yourself a favor and check this place out!  http://toulousepetit.com/ ) to meet up with two of my sister’s friends and the Mom of one.  My breakfast:

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I could hardly believe my eyes!!  It was fantastic! After breakfast we headed home for an hour or two to just relax and read. I blogged…  I know BIG surprise there!  Then we decided to cross a few of the “must happen” places off our list.

Even though it was dreary and rainy, we decided to head to the EMP http://www.empmuseum.org/

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I highly recommend this!  Might have been one of the best places for souvenirs I visited!

Due to the cold chilling us straight to the bone, we detoured momentarily at Starbucks. My sister enlightened my world be introducing their *awesome* app!!  Check it out if you frequent Starbucks or if you get a giftcard for there!

Then we headed to my place.  The place I really, really  wanted to check out

{Warning: nerd alert!}

The Seattle Public Library

It

Was…

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From the outside, taken under an umbrella.

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From the entrance.  11 floors people.  THIS is how you do a library!

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I am fairly certain there were as many people as live in my hometown inside the library while we were there!

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From the first escalator.

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The Red Floor.  It is truly, only red.

As we weren’t entirely ready for dinner, but it was time, we decided to stop at The Brooklyn.

We chose two appetizers and one entree to split among the three of us.

Here is the description of what we ordered right off the menu:

The Brooklyn Crab Cake: garnished with shaved apple and micro green pluche, finished with wasabi aioli.
Peppered Steak Medallions: with king oyster mushroom, stilton blue cheese and port wine jus
and black garlic ponzu emulsion.
Day Boat Scallops: porcini mushroom dusted
with braised painted hills shortribs -served with red bliss potato croquettes and spinach. finished with honey crisp apple, smokey bacon and
cambazola blue cheese butter.

Here is the photograph:

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and it ALL tasted fantastic!

and with that – we decided to end the evening on this most perfect note.  We read, finished laundry, crossed of items from our “to get” and “to do” lists, and then headed to sleep!!

See you in the morning!!

~J.Lyn

Blue Skies and Playing House: Saturday, March 14th, 2015

Today was a touristy kind of day.  The weather was quite perfectly Seattle.  A bit overcast with a hint here and there of blue skies!  But I digress.

This vacation Saturday began the way any vacation Saturday should begin…

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Sibling Nintendo, Mario Bro Challenge, March 2015.

Perfect!

After our Mother woke we got some caffeine flowing through our systems and had a little breakfast from our venture at the Market.

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It was in fact so delicious, we put the Market on our list for today again! Lil’ Sis had booked a treat at a Spa for the early afternoon, which left plenty of time to hit the Mall.  After a quick stop at Macy’s, we had the pleasure of visiting Francesca’s, www.francescas.com/, an adorable boutique in the mall!  I could have bought two of everything!!  Then we had a bite at  the Juicy Cafe, http://www.thejuicycafe.com/,  I seriously wish we had just a smidge of the healthy options available here!!

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It was at this point we headed to the car…

only to realize we had no keys.

It was a game of “Where Did We Leave the Keys?”  With our spa afternoon on the line, none of us were too excited to play.  Even amidst the Seattle Mall acreage and the thousands of people – – we found the keys.

As we traveled across some bridge, down some highway – I could not help myself but to take a few photographs!!

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I know I drove my sister a bit crazy, but it was so beautiful!  I love what I shall forever call “The Lorax” Trees!

We wound up just a few minutes late to our appointment, but we called ahead to let them know.

After all that excitement

and all that relaxation

We decided it was a good time to stop at the Market for more delicious fruit.

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We did some prep shopping for the rest of the week at Target and Whole Foods and stopped at the Chocolate Box before heading home to put away our purchases.

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A couple extra shots of gorgeous Seattle from the day…

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For dinner – we decided to lay low and make our own hodge-podge offering…

Not too shabby, huh?!

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We wrapped up our evening at The Elliot Bay Bookstore where I had to purchase:

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A treasure among treasures. ❤

Until tomorrow,

~J.Lyn

A Costly, but Worthy Adventure: March 13th, 2015

Vacation.  I should have taken the time to explain to my internal system what time zone my external system was operating within!  5:30am – I knew was the point of no returning to bed.  My eyes were just going to stay open regardless of the rare opportunity to sleep in.  So I snuck down to Uptown Espresso http://www.velvetfoam.com/ quite early and reveled in their Caramel Latte, extra sweet and shared their mouth-watering monkey bread with my Mom.  We lazed around for an hour or two chatting with those back home.  Then we made our way to an unitinerized venture.

Enough time had passed that Brunch seemed our first order of business.  I guess one cannot or perhaps more accurately should not live on monkey bread alone, so we headed to Lola’s.  Ah, the greatness of Lola’s! http://tomdouglas.com/?page=lola-location

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The bacon.

Yep – that’s is where it is at!

So then we headed down to Pier Market.  Along the way I had to pay homage to Pi Day

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And along the way I could not resist a photograph of the ENORMOUS ad for the Pineapple.  Perhaps a subliminal message to hurry to the fruit markets found at the Pier Market…. interesting.. and if so – it works!

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So finally we arrived!  It was a really fantastic day to walk and the slightly overcast sky made for great lighting!

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There is no other location in the whole world I wish to drop into my backyard as much as I would love daily access to Pier Market!!

We also stopped at a fantastic boutique called Fini http://www.ilovefini.com/, which respectfully posted, “no photography please,” so we resisted the urge.  Fantastic one-of-a-kind items, I especially love their cards!

We did the obligatory stop at Made in Washington gift shop: https://www.madeinwashington.com/ and picked up 2 Seattle Sweatshirts (buy one get one free!).  We hit the Fruit stand pictured above pretty hard as it all looked so amazing – I can vouch for the fact it all tasted as good as it looked!!  Then we bought some flowers for my sister for being such a fantastic hostess!!

Lil’ sis had warned us that we would be going to a fancier place for dinner so that meant a quick, but costly venture to Macy’s to pick up a nice dress for the evening.

We wrapped up our evening celebrating my sister’s awesomeness fittingly… at Canlis.  http://canlis.com/

3 hours and 4 courses later the valet retrieved our vehicle before all three of us even made it out the door.  I am leaving this somewhat vague – and I am not certain if I should, but I actually get a bit teary-eyed thinking of its perfection.  The story of Canlis is like so many stories told on American soil and is beautifully writ on the inside of the menu.  The cost is high, but the rewards more so.  Live pianist.  Impeccable service.  Toe-curling bites.  A view that leaves even the most chatty Kathy speechless.

I will leave you with the photographic evidence and urge you to add Canlis to your own list of places to experience.

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A Long Day Just to Arrive: March 12th, 2015

This morning I set out at 7:30am after kissing the fam and getting them all off on their own perspective days.  I headed to pick up my Mother who is my traveling companion for this venture to Seattle, WA. I had to take the obligatory photo of the rear view mirror as the tiny town I live in disappeared from view.

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And of course a few photos of the flight.  Southwest Airlines is so fantastic!  The Flight Attendant who did announcing was SO FUNNY!!  My abs hurt by the time we landed from laughing!

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After we landed, my sis was kind enough to bring us to her apartment so we could get settled in, showered (as is so fantastic and necessary after being on a plane), and rest a bit.  The resting didn’t happen much as we were just so excited to be with her!  After a bit, we headed off to the University of Washington Campus: http://www.washington.edu/.

In early March the campus trees bloom and create a rather magical scene, but I found myself entranced by each building on the campus grounds.  In the words of my niece – it is very reminiscent of Hogwarts!!

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Okay, Okay – – enough with the buildings (but honestly – so breath-taking!)  Here is a photo of the blooming trees!

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Amazing, right?!

We discovered shortly after arriving that there was more to the visit than just a view of the trees, it was our first impression of the College that Accepted my baby sis to their Graduate Program (Bloody Outstanding, lil’ sis!)

After we headed to Agridolce for dinner  http://agrodolcerestaurant.net/home/ 

It was okay.  I hate to review harshly as jet lag was setting in, so I will refrain from further comment & allow that under normal circumstances the experience would have been fantastic.

As exhaustion was setting in we headed for home and dreamland hoping for a restful sleep.

❤ ~J.Lyn

Seattle, WA Day 7 *Ringing in the New Year

January 1st, 2014

Phew, that is going to take some getting used to!   Today was spend playing tourist and rightly so!  Last full day in the city before flying home!

Columbia Center... check into it!
Columbia Center… check into it!

Alot of people, okay tourists, pay really good money to go to the top of the Space Needle, but a well known trick for the locals is to actually pay a visit to the tallest building in Seattle!  Less $$, Better views!

So we get there only to discover we were a day late.  Turns out they are closed on New Years Day  😦

The day recovered well enough though with some great views from Alki Beach Park!

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City Skyline

This was shot out of a moving vehicle and I am not even certain where we were in or around Seattle, but it is one of my favorites!

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This photo op was traveling back into the city from the Alki Beach area.  The clouds were ominous but just added to the photo op!

Flag with impending weather...
Flag with impending weather…

Heading into the night for dinner… just beautiful!

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I’ll post a few photos of the plane ride home tomorrow when I can, but I leave (gulp) at 5:30am so there will probably not be a ton left of Seattle!

 

It’s been so much fun!  A place I definitely recommend and will travel to again!!

 

~J.Lyn

 

Na, na, Na, na… Goodbye!

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2013. Saying goodnight to you all from the West coast. This Midwest gal is tuckered out and plotting to cheat the system just a tad. I have my phone alarm set at 11:45pm, just going to doze off for a minute! Just as a teaser I wanted to post a few photos of the Space Needle up close and personal! See you next year!

Seattle, day 6: Reach for the Moon 2014

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So last night’s dinner was spaghetti squash topped with feta, lemon pepper chicken medallions and roasted carrots. Very good!

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This morning I was up long before the sun as you can see. The 48hr countdown to fly home has begun. Lots of odds and ends to take care of and we have to make time to ring in the New Year! Have you started a resolutions list? I know that there is always talk of the percentage of failures, but to me I think of the saying by Les Brown, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you will land among the stars.”

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So true!

Seattle, Day 5

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This first lot of images is just close ups found around the downtown area.  It really shows the beauty to be had everywhere you look!

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We spent the morning today really just being lazy.  We headed out for a brunch at Lola’s again and it was as fabulous the second time as the first!  Then we did a bit of shopping.   I stood in line for 20 minutes to snap a few pictures of the very first Starbucks and to grab a souvenir for a friend, but once I got in an employee explained they were out of alot of things and the truck would be in tonight so if I could come back in the morning not only would I avoid the line, they would be fully restocked.  Bonus!  From there we ducked into a little shop called The Paper Hammer.  It had the cutest stock cards, notecards, etc.  I didn’t get anything, because I just couldn’t see spending $20 on paper, but it was beautiful to look at.

We did take the time to stop back in at The Chocolate Box to grab another Moscato (to replace the take home one we ended up dipping into last night 🙂  ~  again the staff was very friendly and let me know that in Mid-January they would get another shipment and that I could call and order by twos and they would ship it to me *this makes me happy*

We took a cab home because it was a bit chilly (I feel very guilty writing this as back home they are experiencing below zero temps).  Now we are just taking some down time before I cook a fabulous meal!!  Lemon-pepper chicken with Spaghetti squash.  We plan on staying in for the evening.  We will probably play another game of scrabble and drink a bit more wine…  a perfect evening.

This has been such a wonderful opportunity, but I started missing my kids the minute I left them.  It is good to step away a bit here and there but I am definitely excited to hug and kiss them again!

In the meantime I plan to enjoy my final few days here.  Tomorrow being New Years Eve – we have a spectacular view of the Space Needle- and look forward to taking advantage of that to the fullest.  We plan to get dressed up, have dinner at home then head out for a drink. Wednesday perhaps we will do a wine tour or travel to see the mountains, then Thursday so very early in the morning I have to be at the airport.

Thank you for traveling with me!

~J.Lyn

Seattle, WA Day 4: A little here, a little there…

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Today, I give you a larger collage of pictures as we were a little bit all over.  We  had omelettes for breakfast and stopped at a cute coffee house for energy.  We met a friend at a place called BitterRoot BBQ (the pulled pork sandwich is sooooooo good!) in the Ballard Area.  Then we scoped out the Ballard Farmer’s Market.  Cheese, Wine, Organic food… need I say more?  So much fun!  After we did a quick stop at The Cherry Street Coffee House on First and then headed out to IKEA.

Now I know that is probably not a typical tourist destination but the views along the way were exceptional! During the drive I was reminded of the movie, “The Lorax.”  The wispy Whoville trees are shown above and behind them… factory smoke stacks and rail road lines.

On the way back into the city we were caught off guard by a living scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s, “Birds”.  The photo above shows the 1/3 of the tree top consumed by hundreds of birds.  As I took this shot, we noticed it was every tree… Ahhhhhh!!

Obviously we made it back unscathed.

We headed out to dinner next.  Fiasco turned brilliance… that I will discuss at a later time!  Gotta run!

Evening of day 3, Seattle

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After venturing downtown for most of the day, window shopping and looking for useful souvenirs (is THAT the ultimate oxymoron?!)  we tripped into this Chocolate and Wine on Pine store.  It. Was. Awesome.  No, no.  It. Was. FANTABULOUS!!   The staff there was extremely friendly and well informed about everything they had in store.  They were prompt to offer extra packaging when they asked enough questions to determine I was from out of State.  They were friendly and sincerely loved their job… ALL of them.  Their recommendations were spot on.  I can not say enough!

I am going to have to order and ship this home once I run out!

So exhausted and blissfully happy with our beverage selection we opted to make dinner at home.  A heavenly cheese, bread and meat plate with a side of my new absolute favorite Moscato!!!

If you ever happen into Seattle, don’t waste your money on a t-shirt, stop in at The Chocolate Box and they will help you choose a gift that will be remembered fondly!!

Check it out: http://www.sschocolatebox.com