21/52: Memorial Day Weekend

Flower arrangement courtesy of my Mom.  Roses from our garden (first cutting of the year) and snapdragons that wintered over.

View from the train - Memorial Day 2018

Open-Faced Turkey Burger on a bed of spinach with curry mayo and beach fries

Sweet Keikei

After a busy few weekends, my goal was to nap, read, BBQ, sip Chardonnay, plant flowers and ride my bike this weekend!

The bad news is that I accomplished NONE OF IT!

Instead, I spent the entire Memorial Day weekend sick with a head/chest cold either in bed or on the couch.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I am planning on making up for it next weekend with another long weekend in Seattle

Enjoy!
Stacy

15/52: After the Storm

Friday was a big whopper of a storm in Portland.  High winds brought trees down across the city and plunged thousands into darkness (no power at my office all day and no power at home for 15 hours). We made it north to Seattle in the evening where the storm was not as powerful and Saturdays skies were mostly clear.  It was the calm after the storm.

We met an adorable puppy named Sparky on Sunday.  The newest member of our good friend's family.  It reminded me how much I miss Sammy...and all on the heels of learning Thursday that our Portland kitty Keikei has diabetes and is not feeling well.  Hard times are ahead for her and for our family as we adjust to her diagnosis.

The winds of change are blowing.

Enjoy!
Stacy

48/52: Thanksgiving Eve/Day and Wine Tasting Friday!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving long weekend!

Amazing family time with great food and drink.  Thanksgiving Eve was spent pre-cooking, drinking wine and listening to a great mix of music that made us all get up and dance!

Our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday was wonderful and we were all grateful to be together and have such a great day of food and rest (despite 2 inches of rain).

Friday we went to 4 amazing wineries in the Washington County/Yamhill area....and they were all places that we've never been to before.  Each place was unique with wonderful food pairings and wine tastings.

How was your Thanksgiving?

Enjoy!
Stacy

23/52: Anniversary Weekend!

12 years!  Wow!  Brian and I have been together for 12 years.  Happy Anniversary, baby! Here is to 12 more and 12 more after that with another option for 12 more on top of another 12 more after 12 more.  I think you get my drift!

We drove back to Portland last Friday night.  It was nice to get home before dark and have a nice relaxing evening after a very shortened post holiday work week.  Our little boy was waiting for us when we walked in the door!

Saturday was SPECTACULAR!  Hot weather but a nice breeze.  A longer walk down Graham Street to Lincoln Park for over 4 miles.  Yea, us!  My baby cooked me an awesome cowboy hash, my favorite and we spent the rest of they day puttering around the house.

Our anniversary dinner was Italian at La Rustica along the water.  Amazing!  We sat outside and enjoyed an amazing bottle of Valpolicella wine, shared an appetizer of mussels in white wine and garlic before Brian's Chicken Parmesan and my Wild Boar Osso Bucco arrived.

Sunday was just plain HOT!  93 set a record in Seattle.  I was pretty happy to get on the air-conditioned train and head to Portland.

Enjoy!
Stacy

12/52: Madness is my specialty!

Aside from Christmas, the first week of March Madness is the best time of the year!

For the past 18 years, my Pop has been coming for a visit for 7 days to watch basketball, eat good food and drink good wine.  We had a blast this past week!

Brian went back to Seattle on Friday morning and the next round of March Madness groupies, my uncle Steve arrived on Friday night.  Then on Saturday morning, Chick's bestie, Terri arrived and we had one heck of a day!

Sunday we set up the Bloody Mary bar and ordered a couple of pizzas and watched the last of the first weekends games.

SWEET 16!!

Enjoy!
Stacy

14/52: Final Four and Family Time

This is the first time in three weeks that Brian, Sammy and I were all together in West Seattle.  My train ride on Friday was beautiful...brilliant blues and gorgeous greens the entire ride north.

Saturday was the NCAA Final Four ahead of Monday's championship game and it was also Easter weekend.

We had an amazing walk through Lincoln Park on Saturday and Sunday, a few chores and then Brian made a huge plate of Deer Park Nachos for the Final 4.

On Sunday, we drove home to Portland early and shared Easter baskets with Chick (Blondie enjoyed investigating) and I cooked a pork roast, scalloped potatoes and asparagus.

How was your Easter Weekend?

Enjoy!
Stacy

11/52: Leftover week/weekend

A bit of this and that this past week/weekend.

On Friday I took the Bolt Bus up to Seattle.  I had an hour to kill which I took advantage of at Starbucks...sipping on an Oprah Chai Tea, nibbling on a butterfly cookie and reading my book.

Last Wednesday night, Chick and I used a LivingSocial "coupon" to one of our favorite bistro/cafes in West Linn, OR called Allium.

Chick had the Wild Boar Pasta which was delicious and I had three sensational scallops over a cassoulet broth with smoked pork and hominy.

The highlight of the evening was the cauliflower/mushroom veloute (soup), which is a silky smooth french sauce (adapted into a soup), which was topped with fresh crab meat and roasted chesnuts.

Saturday night we celebrated an early St. Patrick's Day/upcoming Spring with dinner at my Mom and Kenny's.  I brought St. Patty's chocolate Petit Fours, which were quite good despite being filled with almond paste (how was I to know?).

Mom's table was lovely!

The rains came down hard on Sunday and we packed up and headed back down to Portland leaving behind this precious birthday boy, Sammy who turned 7 over the weekend.

Enjoy!
Stacy

10/52: Another Spring-Like Weekend in West Seattle

It's hard to imagine that my Spring bulbs are already starting to bloom in West Seattle.  Last year, they didn't pop up in the front bed until the end of April!!

We are very much enjoying this amazing spring-like weather which started at the beginning of February.  While the rest of the country is covered in snow and freezing conditions, our weather has been beautiful.

Brian is already starting on the spring clean up!  Laying some bark, mowing and weeding.

Who says it rains in the Pacific Northwest!!

We enjoyed peace and quiet and lots of home time this weekend (much to Sammy's pleasure).

How did you spend the first full weekend in March?

Enjoy!
Stacy