Weekend Update

It's been quite a while since I've updated my blog. Haven't felt the motivation to really. And honestly, not a lot is going on to blog about.

It's been a while since we've had a really exciting weekend. All of our "disposable" income is gone now that I've lost my job. There's no happy ending to that situ either... I'm hoping this will end soon and I can get back to work.

This weekend was pretty fun though. Friday night we made a delicious dinner and headed to Boarders for a coffee and a good read. It's always a fun and cheep way to get out and have a date night.

Saturday we woke up, fired our motorcycles and went for a nice 3 hour ride to Mt. Rainier.

We stopped 1/2 through to fill up and grab some lunch. It just so happened that the town we stopped in was having an old car show. The downtown streets were lined with old, restored cars. We walked around and gazed at the handiwork of the owners who were proudly sitting alongside their cars watching as onlookers who gawked at their prized possessions.

one of many street lined cars

We found this little sports bar called Mint along the main street of the downtown. We stopped in for a quick lunch before heading off again on our bikes. The food was absolutely delicious!! We weren't expecting much from a small town sports bar. We were just blown away at the quality of the food.

Aaron got a blue cheese burger. So tender and juicy and the bun was to die for. I ordered a Cobb salad. The ingredients were so yummy and so moist that I barely touched the salad dressing.

After lunch, we hopped on our bikes for another 1.5 hours until we finally hit Mt. Rainer National Park. There were so many different hiking trails and camping sites that it made me excited to come back for a more extended stay next time. Perhaps I'd even agree to camp!

This was an absolute beautiful drive with long winding roads. It was very fun on a bike. We stopped at the peak of Sunset trail. When we got off the bikes, this was our view:






The pictures above were pretty much a 360 degree view. Just breath taking! It took us another 3 hours to go back home. Our butts were SO sore after such a long ride but it was a blast.

Sunday was church as always. Afterwards I went to a girlfriends house for her wine and cheese party. It was a great time and nice to see some friends who I haven't seen in a while. When I came home, A was making some amazing football food: sliders and potato wedges and a salad make 100% from his garden. We ate, drank our beer, and watched My Boys beat one of their biggest rivals. It was an excellent game!

GO PACK GO!!

Weekend Update

Friday was upwards of 80 degrees.  It was absolutely lovely out, a sun-goddess' dream!  While A was at work, I mowed the lawn and ran some errands and stopped by our new favorite brewery to pick A up some beer that he's been longing for!  We sat out on our deck for a nice relaxing late afternoon while A grilled up some burgers and we enjoyed our beer.  We're loving our deck!  What a great investment the patio furniture and decor was!

Saturday started off with an early start at some garage sales.  A found a couple things that he liked like a fishing pole and a tool box.  We then made our way to the local farmers market.  It was small, nothing too special but the flowers there are like the ones at Pikes Place market.  I got a whole huge bundle of beautiful flowers for $7!  What a steal!  We also bought some fresh eggs and fresh garlic and fresh spring onions.  They are so aromatic!  After a quick lunch, we jumped on the bikes and went for a nice 16.1 mile ride.  It was so beautiful out and although the trails were a little busy, we made it from our house to down town Redmond.  We took at break at REI and headed back home.  Saturday night, we watched the Stanley Cup (go wings!) and City of Ember while we spent the night relaxing and recharging for tomorrow.

Nothing worth mentioning for Sunday.  Just ended up doing a lot of nothing!  We did however see the movie Benjamin Button.  Wow, that movie knocked my socks off!!  I mean, it was really_really_good!  I don't know what else to say other than I will definitely be holding this move in high regard!

Weekend Update

Jen was here this weekend and we had a great time!  Saturday we picked her up from the airport and went straight to Seattle.  We walked around the market for a bit and up the streets to window shop.  It was great!  We came home and A grilled out.  He made some amazing chicken with some new spices he picked up downtown.  He also made some grilled onions and asparagus.  MMmmm!  

Sunday we woke up and went to church after breakfast.   My back was hurting pretty bad so A and Jen went for a quick bike ride while I iced my back and took some meds.  We then went out and took Jen out for her very first Geocaching experience!  She's a pro now!  We hit 4 for 4!  Dinner was out to our favorite sushi place and ate sushi til our bellies burst! We headed home for a movie and shesha night consisting of THE ROCKER and NIGHT AT THEMUSEUM.

Monday, we drove east and went hiking all day at Wallace Falls.  It is absolutely beautiful there with huuuge water falls that just take your breathe away.  When we came home, Jen and I played some cards while A made his famous pizza!!!  We watched SLUMDOG MILLIONARE and went to bed for an early for a pre-sunrise trip to the airport.

Thanks for spending your memorial day weekend with us Jen!  Come back anytime!!

I'll leave you with some pictures of our hike....

A view from the start of the trail

A hike at the bottom of a waterfall.  See it above in the distance?

A stream from the tail of a waterfall

yay!  We did it!

Weekend Update

It was a glorious weekend weather wise.  The sun was out, the birds were singing, the sky was blue and A and I spend as much time outside as we possibly could.

Friday after A got home from work, we found that a new geocache was posted.  We threw on our shoes, grabbed our GPS and headed towards the cache.  It wasn’t long before some other local cachers joined us and soon, we had 6 people looking for it.  For those of you who know anything about caching, it was a micro (maybe even a nano) that was a 5-star.  This thing was evil and no one that day found it!  We’ll be back though.

 Afterwards, we went to a local brewery that just opened down the street about a month ago.  It’s got our attention because the name of the brewery is called Black Raven.  That’s the name of one of A’s businesses; Black Raven Enterprise.  So naturally, we had to check it out.  Since they are still new, they dont serve any food, and they still have a small selection of their beers, but the ones they do have are really good.  We definitely found our favorite though; a Kristale Wheat Beer:

(from website)  The Kristale is a filtered German style wheat beer [Kristallweizen] that is rarely produced in the US. Light in color and alcohol, the Kristale features subtle banana and clove components layered onto a flavorful wheat and pilsner malt base. This is our lightest style beer and perfect for

 warmer weather. Who says you have to give up flavor to enjoy a lighter style beer? Not with the Kristale! 

Mmmm, it was SOOO good!  We’ll definitely be back!  We bought some beer to go and came home and made some burgers.  Beer and burgers… now there’s a meal my dietitian would approve of!! :P

Saturday A and I went bike riding on some trails nearby and happened to stop at a few geocaches along the way.  We hit 5 for 5 that day!  Later, we got dressed and went to this new area called The Landing.  It’s this new area where they have restaurants and shopping.  It’s pretty fun down there but still new.  We had a snack at the wine bar; a glass of wine and some bruschetta.  Doesn’t it look Delicious?

Sunday was another glorious day!  We went downtown to the 5^th annual cheese festival.  There were tents and tents of free cheese samples from all different vendors.  It was soooo crowded as expected so we didn’t take a ton of cheese, but we had enough to satisfy our pallets.  While down there, we also did 3 more cache’s.  8 found cache’s this weekend, not to shabby!

 We came home and A planted some more things in his garden; strawberries, lettuce, onions, watermelon, and round 2 of the bell peppers and basil.  We’re going to have some good eats this fall!!

Next weekend... JEN VISITS!  We're looking forward to that!  :)

Weekend Update

This weekend was absolutely glorious!!  Friday was perfectly sunny and got to the upwards of 80 degrees.  A and I played hookie from work.  (I'm starting to see  a pattern of me not working on Fridays... hehehehe).  I ran a bunch of errands while A got a little work done.  Then we went to this amazing mexican restaurant in downtown Kirkland called Cactus.  It's been featured by Rachel Ray and listed in many magazines and newspapers.  That's not why we went, we went cause it's good.  period.

Then, off to do some geocaching.  We had a pretty successful day getting 3 of the 4 caches.  We came home to do some more gardening (I pretty much just soaked in the sun).  A planted bok choy, two different kinds of onions, rutabagas, two different kinds of beans, peas, cucumbers, dill, parsley and some chives.  Yay for getting our garden started!!!

We ended Friday night with some home made pizza and  a movie, Syriana.  

Saturday we went fishing all day.  The picture on the left is where we went.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  A caught 2 little perch fish, too small to keep.  I didn't catch any but it was still a lot of fun!!  It will definitely be part of our summer activities!

All that fishing made me hungry for some seafood so A made us a wonderful Salmon dinner as we watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Never seen it before- GREAT movie!  I highly recommend it.

Saturday was also the day that my 2nd brother (kinda), Brian proposed to his gf!  Contrats Bri!!

Sunday was a day of caching for me!  5 of 5 today!  I ROCKED it! :D  A stayed home to do some more garden stuff and cleaned out the garage.  Then... we had a quick lunch and off to fish again! A and I both caught little trout this time!  Once again, too little to keep :(  We'll switch up our location next time in hopes to get some bigger fish to bring home and eat.

A and his little trout

Me and my trout.  Looks bigger than it actually was.  And yes, completely freaked out because it was flapping all around like... well... a fish out of water!  :P

Weekend Update

Hey all! Hope you had a fabulous Weekend! Seattle had beautiful weather so we spent most of the weekend outdoors.

Thursday, although technically not weekend, started off my weekend. It was gorgeous out and A and I decided to work from home. He spent it outside prepping a new garden bed to plant my flowers. He also mowed the lawn, did some laundry and chopped a bunch of wood. (I know! What a blessed wife I am!) I had to go into work for a few hours to get some stuff done, then left to go home to find him outside working away. I chose to keep him company as he was finishing his garden bed. I brought out a blanket, my lap top and a magazine and soaked in the sun. Rough life I lead... :)

Friday I worked from home again. This time for real. Thursday evening I attended this very difficult workout class only to find I was the only one at that class that day. Therefore, it was more like a personal training secession and I got my BUTT KICKED!! So when I woke up Friday morning, I was exhausted and VERY sore. Staying home seemed like a good idea! But, I quickly recovered in just enough time to go to happy hour with a girlfriend.

Saturday A and I continued to work outside. We finished the new garden bed, prepped the other garden beds, built and installed trellises for the garden and cleaned out the garage. Then... we found out one of my cache's got MUGGLED! I guess some rebellious teens had a little pow-wow in the woods with beer and glow sticks, got high, found my cache somehow, and took almost all the contents. They even stole my travel bug. :'( I was SO heart broken! So, maybe this weekend I'll have to replant it somewhere else. Dumb drunkin'-high teens!

Sunday A planted some lettuce, onions carrots and spinach! YUMMM! I can't wait to have my own veggies on hand. We have a LOT more to plant, but it's still a little too early to pant the others. I went to one of my friend's baby shower. There were a TON of people there and she got so many gifts! I don't think she'll need to buy baby clothes for a looooong time! I won some beautiful potted flowers by correctly guessing the circumference of her belly. I got it SPOT ON! I guess I have a nack for that as I won the same game at Stacy's baby shower.

What did you do this weekend?

Weekend Update

Friday I worked from home.  I had to sit and wait for our patio furniture to arrive.  It arrived! - and looks awesome!  I'll post before/after pictures soon.  Friday night A and I stayed in and watched the 3rd Indiana Jones movie.  (My FAV Indiana Jones movie!!)  Sean Coney, who I am not a fan of at all, was AMAZING in that movie.  Who knew the 3rd movie would be so funny? Did he win any awards for that movie?  I sure hope so, maybe i'll look up....

Saturday we had a lazy morning, ran some errands, and then did some wine tasting with our friend cbro.  Not that anyone cares about the specifics, but i'd like to have them in writing for my future reference.  

Brian Carter - Great wine! We LOVE their Byzance - Southern France, Rhone-style blend. At $32 a bottle, it's a little pricey but delicious never the less.

Hollywood Hills- Very nice wines.  I felt the bottles were a little overpriced for the quality but it was a pleasant tasting.  (note to self: parents would like this one as there is a cute wine shop around the corner as well as a huge nick-nack store nearby as well.)

J Bookwalter- They had a $10 tasting fee refundable with purchase.  The fee was a little high (most are $5) but they offered 7 tastings.  All wines were good.  I loved 2 of their cabs but not worth the $30+ price tag.  We bought their Subplot No. 22. - 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 18% Malbec, 14% Cabernet Franc, 10% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot.

Woodhouse Family Cellers- Always a favorite of ours.  They were the ones that introduced us to a Malbec and it was love at first pour!  They had just released their 2003 Malbec so we had to go try it.  It's probably no surprise that we loved it and just had to take home a bottle and welcome it to the family :)

Silverlake- Huuuge winery and tasting room.  It was a little confusing as they were offering several tastings.  We read the different tasting options and decided on the Silverlake Reserve Tasting.  The wines were not impressive and the staff was a little stand off-ish.  I don't think we will be back here.

Matthew Cellers- We almost missed this tasting room on the way back home.  It's almost in the middle of no where.  Their wines were great, but I have to mention their 2005 Red Mountain Syrah.  This wine brought tears to my eyes!  I think it's the best wine i've ever drank thus far in my life.  I was in LOVE!  I was in awe that a Syrah so be so smooth and have such a long finish.  It was beautifully and perfectly crafted as if the grapes were stolen out of Heaven.  So, you want to hear that A bought me a case and we lived happily ever after, right?  At a whopping $55 a bottle, I had to leave my new friend, with a saddened heart.  How could I possibly justify spending $55 on this glorious work of art?  I wouldn't want to open it.. I couldn't bare to drink it!  So, if any billionaire friends or relatives are reading this, and you feel the need to blow $660 on a case of wine for me, by all means....  :D  I'd gratefully and humbly accept your offer ;)

After wine tasting, we broke in our patio furniture with some cigars and some grill fired-pizza. Then watched the newest Indiana Jones movie that came out last year.  A little too si-fi for my taste but interesting never the less. 

Sunday was a GORG!  70 degrees.  We did a lot of yard stuff outside with time left for me to soak in the sun.  I got a little pink YAY!  

Back to work on Monday.... I have 4 people coming in from India that I will be training all week.  Its going to be a long week but great exposure for me.  Hopefully all this hard work will get me a nice lil' promotion this fall!  Here's to hoping!!  :D

Sunday Ride

It was rainy and cold all weekend, and then Sunday came! It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day! After waking up and having come coffee and breakfast, A (the hubby) and I decided it'd be a wonderful day to ride our bikes. We geared up and headed for the trails.

The sun was out, and although it was still a little chilly, it was still a nice ride. There were several people out riding their horses on the trail. We saw some beautiful country houses with horses and ponies, people walking their dogs and going for a nice jog. We even saw a house that has some sheep. There were some really tough hills that we had to endure, but when when reached the end of the trail, we were faced with the most beautiful view! The pictures (taken via the i-phone) don't nearly do this view the justice it deserves. It was well worth the pain of riding up some of those monstrous hills.

Another weekend come and gone... way to fast. Back to the grind of the week :(

Weekend Update

This weekend went by so quickly! It was wonderful to catch up on some much needed sleep and getting to sleep in without the alarm waking me up. I do feel very relaxed this gray and slightly cool Monday morning.

Friday night, Aaron and I went to Tap House Grill for dinner. They have a little bit of everything there from sushi to pasta and steaks. We love this restaurant because of the 160 beers on tap, along with the chic yet comfy atmosphere. We started with a bottle of Placido Pinot Gris and "Volcano Goat Cheese". It was a plate with two mounds of slightly melted of goat cheese, floating on top of a spicy marinara sauce, served with crispy toast. It was DELICIOUS! mmm... The wine was great too; very crisp and refreshing. For dinner, Aaron ordered the Spicy Jambalaya Linguine and I ordered the Chicken Brest Caprese (chicken stuffed with sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil with a Pinot Grigio glaze). Both meals were very delicious. We would definitely order them again. Then, if dinner weren't enough, we found that our car had taken us to Cold Stone Creamery. As I had mentioned previously, SOOO worth every calorie. I only ate about 1/4th of the birthday cake with cookie dough and whipped cream like it size, but rest assured that the rest of it got eaten the following day :)

Saturday, after waking up around noon, Aaron and I had some coffee and a fab breakfast sandwich. Once our food had settled, we hoped on our mountain bikes to burn off last nights calories. This was the first time we've ridden our bikes together so it was a lot of fun. My legs were really killing me after my tough workout class on Thursday and then my run on Friday so we weren't out as long as we would have liked but it was getting cold anyway, so we turned around and headed for home. When we got home, Aaron mowed the lawn and I went to Costo. Oh the joys of adult-hood. I supose it can't be ALL play all the time. We also went to REI to pick up a few new things. Water bottles, holders for said water bottles, and bike gloves for Aaron; 16oz pink nalgene, bike pack, and foam roller for me. We went home, had dinner, and watched Madagascar 2. Cute movie!

We spend all day Sunday shopping for patio furniture. We were successful!! We found a great deal on a 6 piece set - a love seat, two club chairs, two ottomans, and a coffee table. (picture on left). We had to get it ordered, so it will arrive in a few weeks. It'll look great with our new fire pit.Once we get a few little accessories and our new outdoor space will up and running. (now if only the weather will perk up a bit). I'll post before/after pictures as soon as it's done. We ended the night with some home made pizza and Kung Foo Panda - another cute movie!

Ahhh, now it's Monday, another work week ahead of me... at least I have something WONDERFUL to look forward to on Wednesday!! More on that later....

Weekend Update

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend! Florida was gorgeous with hot, sunny 80 degree days. I arrived late Thursday night. Stacy and Jeff picked me up from the airport and I couldn't believe how gorgeous Stacy looked! That's when it really hit me: "Stacy is pregnant!" We drove back to their house, chatted for a bit and went to sleep. Because of the 3 hour time change, I had a hard time falling asleep. I didn't get much sleep that night because we woke up early on Friday to go to Stacy's doctor appt. I got to hear Owen's heartbeat and it was beautiful! We then went downtown, had some coffee and went to lunch. Stacy got a kick out of the fact that while eating outside, I was the ONLY one in the sun... everyone else was eating under the umbrella in the shade. I probably could not have stood out more at that point, but I didn't care... I was going to enjoy the sun as long as possible. I got a little sun burnt that day but it wasn't bad. Carley came in Friday evening, so we picked her up from the airport, and then Jeff and Stacy took us out to this wonderful Mexican dinner. It was delicious!

Saturday was the baby shower. Carley and I left the house at 8:00 am to get our shopping done. We needed the pick up some presents, decorations, the cake, flowers... etc. After our shopping was done, we went to Stacy's brothers house to set up before the guests arrived. The party was fabulous! It was great to meet stacy's friends and get to know then a little bit. We ate, played a few games, and opened presents. She got a lot of really fun things! :D

One really special gift she received was from our friend Christina. She's currently a missionary in Africa and was unable to attend this weekend. She sent Stacy a beautiful plaque that was hand carved by a local there. We all cried a little when she opened it. It was such a special gift!!! In the words of Carley: "It even SMELLS like Africa!" :)

After the shower we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful. Carley left Sunday and I left Monday. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Stacy and Jeff were wonderful hosts and we had a blast. Owen will be born soon and I can't wait to come back and meet him!

I miss you girls already!!! XOXO

Weekend Update

It surely was a beautiful weekend! Saturday reached around 60 degrees and Aaron and I decided to choose a bike path near our house and go for a nice bike ride. Well, I rode my bike and Aaron rollerbladed since his bike is being ordered. There are so many bike trails in the Seattle area that I have a feeling our butt's will be glued on our bikes all summer.

Aaron and I are new at the sport. We've been wanting to get bikes for the longest time and finally for Valentines Day, he got me one! We ordered him one as well, a Cannondale F9.

And, of course, we had to buy all the fun acessories. Who wouldn't have fun ridding with a helmet like this? We also bought a water bottles and a car rack. Fun!






We then went to a couple wineries. We first stopped at Senoj and tried their two new wines that will be released next spring. The first one we tried was their 2006 Passport which is a Bordeaux style blend with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, blended with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. It was pretty good wine with nice tannins and a smooth finish but I prefer the 2005 Passport. It retails for $30/bottle. A little more than I'd like to spend.


Next was the 2008 Malbec. Some of the wine was bottled for the tasting this weekend but it's still aging in the barrel. It was terribly young but already had a lot of complex flavors. I could really see the potential in the wine and knew it would be fantastic in several years. If we bought some wine that day, we'd get 30% off. WHAT A DEAL! So, we bought 2 bottles of the Malbec but won't have it in our hands until Spring 2010. Their 2006 Malbec sold out so fast, as they only made 70 cases, so it was worth the "pre-order".