11/52: Last Weekend of Winter

We almost dodged a bullet this year...waiting until the last weekend of winter to let the crud in.

Brian brought back a chest cold from his Socal business trip and I've been battling a lower back issues so we spent the sunny weekend chilling at home and resting. 

Sunday was beautiful and warm so we took a little stroll and ended up having a St. Patrick's Day bloody Mary along Alki Beach.

Enjoy!

Stacy

3/52: Middle of January

Just a few pictures from the weekend.  Saturday was an adventure to a sports bar to watch the Duke/Virginia basketball game.

Since we are not drinking and trying to eat healthy, it was challenging, but we persisted.  It's amazing how satisfying a club soda with a splash of pineapple juice is!  Just a hair under 6 miles walking this weekend and 2.2 pound lighter makes it all worth it.

The weekend went by in a blur and I am already looking forward to my remote Friday.

Enjoy!
Stacy

37/52: Final Weekend of Summer

And just like that.....

Summer is coming to an end.  The rains fell hard Sunday night.  Clearing the air of forest fire smoke and bringing a cooler dampness to our day.

We played hard, Summer and I...but as always, our relationship ends all too soon leaving an ever fading memory.

Our last Saturday night of Summer...spent in the backyard of friends watching the twinkle lights come on way too early.

Enjoy!
Stacy

30/52: Saturday at the Ball Park

We had an amazing day at Safeco Field and I shot a video (Vlog) for our YouTube channel so go check it out!

27/52: Quiet July Weekend

It was time for a quiet weekend in West Seattle.

A beautiful dinner prepared by my sweetheart to spoil me after my train ride north.

An afternoon walk to the local pub for some trivia pursuit and a couple of cold drinks on the patio.

Back to Portland on Sunday to enjoy the last warm hours of the weekend and spy the new birdbath for signs of activity.

How was your weekend?

Enjoy!
Stacy

26/52: The end of June through the 4th of July

We had a pretty cool long weekend for it actually not being a long weekend (I had to work Monday)!

It was a beautiful weekend in Seattle.  Time to catch up with friends, BBQ in the backyard, enjoy a crisp Rose on the patio and take an afternoon walk to Lincoln Park.

Back to Portland on Sunday and a short workday on Monday before spending some down time at Rebecca Lane for the 4th.  A walk through the neighborhood in the morning, coffee on the patio, Bloody Mary's in the afternoon and a wonderful spread of food to fill out the day.

How was your 4th?

Enjoy!
Stacy

Maui Vacation 2017: Day 9

• Trade winds are back
• Sunny morning at the pool with a good book
• Warren and Annabelle's
• Good Pupus and an amazing Blueberry Lemon Drop
• Magical family time

Aloha and Mahalo

32/52: Rio Opening Ceremonies and Mom's Birthday Adventure

Last Friday were the Opening Ceremonies of the 31st Summer Olympics in Rio!  Chick and I were glued to our seats watching all the festivities and enjoying our international tapas and cocktails!

Saturday morning, I took the first train out of Portland and arrived in Tukwila where Brian picked me up and we headed to Mom and Kenny's for her birthday celebrations.

Her request was lunch at Dairy Queen!  Okay, don't laugh.  Mom's get treated to whatever they want and to be honest, we all really enjoyed the "pig out".

We worked off our lunch with a wander around the Highline Botanical Gardens which include a wonderful Japanese Garden.  Beautiful!

How was your first weekend of August?

Enjoy!

Stacy

Recipe of the Week: A Classic Margarita

The margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec and lime and/or lemon juice, often with salt on the rim of the glass.  The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks) or blended with ice and served frozen.  The drink is traditionally served in the eponymous margarita glass, a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass somewhat resembling an inverted sombrero hat.

One of the earliest stories of the margarita being invented is in 1938 by Carlos "Danny" Herrera at his restaurant Rancho La Gloria, halfway between Tijuana and Rosarito, Mexico and was created for customer and former Ziegfeld dancer, Majorie King, who was allergic to many spirits, but not tequila.  The story was related by Herrera and also by bartender Albert Hernandez, acknowledged for popularizing a margarita in San Diego in 1947 at the La Paz restaurant in La Jolla.

The first known publication of a margarita recipe was in the December 1953 issue of Esquire, with a recipe calling for an ounce of tequila, a dash of triple sec and the juice from half a lime.

I hope to be drinking quite a few of these in a week!

Cheers!
Stacy

The Classic Margarita (on the rocks)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounce tequila (100% agave a must)*
1 1/2 ounce triple sec or Cointreau
1 to 1 1/4 of lime juice
Salt for the rim of the glass
Ice

Directions:

Shake all the ingredients with cracked ice in a coktail shaker until the exterior frosts. Strain into a glass over rocks, or "up" neat into a cocktail glass.  A slice of lime as a garnish is a nice touch.

* Since the principal flavor of the margarita is the tequila, it's the most important part, so make sure you get your hands on some good stuff.  Look for the "100% de agave" label on your bottle.  If it isn't there, chances are you are drinking up to 50% fermented cane sugar. 

51/52: West Seattle Arts West: Wonderful Life

Last Saturday night, Brian and I attended the Arts West Christmas production, Wonderful Life.  It's getting rave reviews!

George Bailey's struggle to grasp why life is worth living finds a fresh voice in this enchanting one-person retelling of Frank Capra's classic film It's a Wonderful Life.

  

This play, penned by Helen Pafumi and Jason Lott introduces the audience to the residents of Bedford Falls, NY on a fateful Christmas Eve 1945.  Wonderful Life is a heart warming holiday story and this adaptation is a fascinating combination of both creativity and inspiration.

Although we have seen it before, Wonderful Life is the perfect Christmas performance and everything Arts West does is so well done and enjoyable for a community theater.

Just like last year, we decided to head over to the Matador for cocktails and dinner, but this time we had an early pre-theater dinner before the show.

Just another holiday tradition that we really look forward to every year!

Do you have a holiday tradition?  Leave me a comment below and let me know the one thing you look forward to every year.

Enjoy!
Stacy

24/52: Anniversary Weekend

Brian and I celebrated #11 this past weekend.  Our anniversary was Thursday and of course we were apart, but we made up for it over the weekend.

First stop on Friday after my train pulled in was a new place in West Seattle that we drove past last weekend (I didn't even know that it existed) and I immediately brought up their website to discover that it is a premier Sports Bar, and only about 1/2 mile from our house.

The Westy Sports and Spirits, is located in the heart of the Gatewood neighborhood.  It's described as a premiere sports viewing pub with elevated pub-grub including cocktails and beers on tap.  The small venue has 16 TVs and the option to view up to 8 different games.

They had a fairly standard pub menu...burgers, dogs, wraps...plus breakfast on the weekends!  

Saturday was a full day....I put on my new sherbet orange dress and we headed back down to Emerald Downs for the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes.  Would history be made and would we see a triple crown winner?

It was the first Triple Crown winner since 1978!

It was a beautiful 80+ degree day and in addition to the Belmont, we had live racing at Emerald Downs to entertain us.  

Dinner on Saturday night was at our local Italian/pizza joint, Peel and Press on California Avenue in West Seattle.  We had a cocktail at the bar before ordering a pizza and some amazing ravioli to take home and enjoy on our cool patio.

How did you celebrate the weekend?

Enjoy!
Stacy

3/52: Discovering Volunteer Park/The Canterbury Ale House

Last Saturday, Brian and I headed into the downtown area of Seattle to explore Volunteer Park, a 48.4 acres park in the Capital Hill neighborhood.

The park was acquired by the city of Seattle in 1876 for $2,000.  In 1885 it was designed a cemetery, but two years later it was named "Lake View Park" and the cemetery was developed on an adjacent plot.  In 1901 it was officially renamed "Volunteer Park" to honor the volunteers who served in the Spanish-American War.

The park includes a conservatory which was completed in 1912, a water tower with an observation deck, built in 1906 and the dramatic Art Deco building of the Seattle Asian Art Museum.  

A statue of William Henry Seward, and a sculpture, Black Sun by Isamu Noguchi are found in the park. There are incredible views of the Seattle skyline that prominently include the space needle.

The Water Tower, built by the water department in 1906, has 107 steps to the top of the observation deck.  The site honors, L.B. Youngs, the first superintendent of the water department from 1895-1923.

We paid the $4 admission per person into the Volunteer Park Conservatory, which houses a botanical garden.  It's made up of 3,426 glass panes.  

The Victorian-style greenhouse is modeled on London's Crystal Palace. Inside, the conservatory is divided into five display houses: bromeliads, ferns, palms, seasonal and cacti and succulents.

After a brief stroll through the rest of the park, we headed off down the street to the Canterbury Ale House, a cute neighborhood pub with 30 beers on tap, pools tables, shuffle board and darts.

I ordered a variation of a Moscow Mule made with spiced rum and we took a French Dip with Gruyere cheese home for dinner.

Enjoy!
Stacy