46/52: Molbak's

Last Saturday was out annual trip to Molbak's in Woodinville.  We go every year (check out 2010, 2012, and 2014) and we come home with a few treasures despite telling ourselves that we have more than enough Christmas decorations!

Since we did not go last year, we were both really excited to see what new displays and items we might find.  We were not disappointed!

Is everyone getting into the holiday spirit?

Enjoy!
Stacy

37/52: Girls Weekend

We enjoyed a fun-filled weekend in Portland, our annual "Girl's Weekend".

Saturday was spent in NW 23rd...a long time favorite of ours.  A great place to people watch, shop, bring home many treasures...then sit and have a fabulous lunch.

The rest of the weekend was enjoyed at Rebecca Lane....a great end of summer like weekend with cool mornings and blue skies with abundant afternoon sunshine.

We watched the Ducks take on Nebraska on Saturday night and the Seahawks open the 2016 football season at home against Miami on Sunday.

How was your weekend?

Stacy

50/52: Christmas Adventure to Edmonds

Brian and I had a full day on Saturday visiting our favorite little city on the Puget Sound, Edmonds.  I missed out on Small Business Saturday a few weeks ago, but we found a few treasures in Edmonds. 

We also toured Wight's Wonderland of Christmas, which is beautiful to visit this time of year with 30 themed trees!

We ended our day at our favorite holiday lunch spot, Scott's (or as I like to call it...Scotty's) for "linner" and an afternoon cocktail!

Unfortunately, it was a very wet day...so I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted too.

How did you spend your weekend?  Is your Christmas shopping done?

Enjoy!
Stacy

42/52: A weekend visit with Alex Lee

Brian's niece Alex came up from Alameda, CA this past weekend for a visit.  We had an amazing 48 hours!  It was a full and exiting weekend, showing her some of our favorite place in and around Seattle.

Friday night we had burgers and brews at Elliott Bay Brewery.  It's our go-to Friday night place and Alex loved the beer sampler! 

Saturday's adventures started off with breakfast at Circa before heading to Georgetown. 

Bounded on the south by Boeing Field, this industrial warehouse district has mastered bohemian blue-collar chic.  Rail yards, antique shops and refurbished lofts dot the neighborhood, where everyone from artistic beatniks to hipster families have carved out a spot in this creative hub.  We walked around the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall, where artesians sell their good inside Air-Stream trailers, spent time ogling old albums at Georgetown Records and stopped off at several shops that had some funky art, strange collectibles and interesting clothes (the pizza dress amused all of us).

Pike Place Market is always good fun and a great place to people watch.  We picked up two gorgeous bouquets of seasonal dahlias and explored all the stalls filled with jewelry, leather goods, pottery and seafood.  While dodging rain showers, we came upon La Buona Tavola (the Truffle Cafe) and Cameron gave us one memorable wine tasting!  We left with a bottle of Malbec and a greater appreciation of Washington wines.

Finally, we filled our bellies again with amazing pasta at Peel and Press and watched bits and pieces of the Oregon Ducks game and the Dodgers/Mets.

Sunday came around all too quickly and Alex flew back to Alameda and I caught the train back to Portland, catching an amazing sunset as I rolled out of town.

It was so much fun to spend some one-on-one time with our niece who is quite an amazing, bright and beautiful young woman.  She is....the bomb.com!

Enjoy!
Stacy

38/52: Girl's Weekend 2015 in Portland

The second weekend in September is hereby declared...ANNUAL GIRL'S WEEKEND in Portland!

In honor of this occasion, Chick and I spent Saturday afternoon shopping along NW 23rd Avenue in Portland followed by a long lunch at Jo Bar.

We've thought about going to other places in the city, but we always end up back on NW 23rd...plus I can't resist the best place in all of Portland to people watch!

It's been an amazing summer and capping off one of the last Saturday's of summer in Portland is always memorable.

We ended up with quite a haul...a bit of this and that and celebrated our treasures with an amazing bottle of Chardonnay and an incredible lunch.  Chick had the Jo Bar burger and I had the scallop risotto with capers, saffron and cherry tomatoes. FABULOUS!!!

Our haul included...

Decorative napkins from Kitchen Kaboodle
Bath bombs from Lush
Black Shoe Boots from Ether
A chalkboard heart from Paper Source
Pumpkin Sauce from Williams Sonoma
Chocolates from Moonstruck

Hooray for Girl's Weekend!

Enjoy!
Stacy

5/52: Oscar Movie and Ikea

Stephen and Jane Hawking/Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

We've been trying to see as many Oscar nominated movies as possible ahead of the Academy Awards on Sunday, October 22nd.

This past Saturday, Brian, my Mom and I went to see, "The Theory of Everything".

It's the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne), and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with while studying at Cambridge in the 1960's.

The movie isn't a biopic of his brilliance, but rather a moving account of the relationship between Stephen and his long-suffering wife, played brilliantly by Felicity Jones.

We all loved it and although the best actor buzz is for Michael Keaton, I honestly think that Eddie Redmayne was fantastic.

*********************

On Sunday we went to IKEA to pick out a dresser for our bedroom.  We've had our eye on one for months and since Sunday was miserable, wet and gray...it made perfect sense to spend the afternoon at IKEA.

The store is one of those places that you get "trapped in".  One door in and one door out....followed by a maze of furniture, homes goods and of course, MEATBALLS!!!!

The store started out in 1943 in Sweden by it's founder, Ingvar Kamprad who was only 17 at the time. The first two letters in IKEA come from his initials (with the next two representing the village that he grew up in).

IKEA originally started out selling accessories and knickknacks at bargain prices.  Today the company has grown into a major international furniture and home furnishings brand operating across the world.

If you get hungry shopping, in addition to a wide variety of frozen Swedish delicacies you can take home, their is an IKEA restaurant.  Among the Swedish-style dishes and local specialties on the menu, you'll also find healthy, organic and vegetarian options.

We found the dresser (good luck to Brian when putting that thing together) and also picked up one LED light bulb, 6 champagne flutes and a 6 piece set of cookware.

I loved the store especially the home decorations/knickknacks and would definitely go back again...if only you could get in and out easily.

Enjoy!
Stacy

Christmas in Downtown Seattle

On Monday, Brian and I decided to try a different part of downtown Seattle for our annual adventure.  For the past 8 or 9 years, we've been shopping along the Westlake area at stores like Barnes and Noble and City Kitchens, both of which closed (Barnes and Noble relocated) in recent years.

We checked out the Gingerbread Village and the amazing art work at the Sheraton Hotel, then had an afternoon libation at Sullivan's Steakhouse.

This year, we shopped along 5th and 6th avenues and found a great spot for lunch and to people watch.

The Daily Grill has become one of our go-to place to grab lunch or happy hour whenever we are in downtown.
 

Our weather was perfect and it was great to see the sights and sounds of downtown at the holidays.

Enjoy!
Stacy

46/52: Molbaks

Around this time every year, Brian and I head over to Woodinville, WA to visit Molbak's.

Last year, there was a big rain and windstorm, which knocked out power to the entire Woodinville area, so we ended up cutting our visit short and didn't get the chance to have lunch in Woodinville.  

This past Saturday, our weather was perfect.

Molbak's started back in 1956 by Egon and Laina Molbak who arrived in the U.S. from Denmark.  They brought over with them a passion for gardening, and a dream to create their own business that would take root and grow in the small suburb of Seattle.

 Gingerbread House Competition

For over 5 decades, Molbak's has grown into one of the Northwest's premier garden and home stores.There is everything from gardening gear and plants to one-of-a-kind gifts and furnishings.

But this time of year, the entire place is magical! Their Christmas treasures are truly spectacular!

After we shopped (and bought a few treasures of our own), we had lunch at The Station Pizzeria and a wine tasting at Patterson Cellars.

A rare treat in November, Brian and I actually sat outside for lunch!  It was the calm before the next storm and probably our last opportunity before the rains arrive for good. 

Enjoy!
Stacy

44/52: Girl's Trip to Chicago, Part I

Chicago River

This time, it was Chick's turn to take a train trip with me.

Last week was my fall meeting in Chicago and it gave us the opportunity to spend one afternoon in the city (I had two and a half days of meetings) then it was all aboard westbound on the Empire Builder for Portland.

Friday we flew into Chicago to begin our adventure...plus our weather could not have been better (upper 60's and sunny). We packed at least two days worth of eating, drinking and sightseeing into 6 or 7 hours!

Cloud Gate

First stop, Millennium Park. 

We walked past Cloud Gate, a sculpture by Indian-born British artist, Anish Kapoor.  It's actually nicknamed the bean because of it's legume-like shape.  It's made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, it's highly polished exterior has no visible seems.

I would have loved to explore the entire park, but we had 3:30 reservations for a river cruise so we snapped as many pictures as we could and kept walking!

We then continued to walk down Michigan Avenue and found the Chicago Architecture Boat Tour aboard Chicago's First Lady.

The boat accommodates up to 250 people and they run tours daily that last about 90 minutes. The First Lady is the official cruise line of the Chicago Architectural Foundation.  

The river cruise highlights more than 50 architecturally significant buildings and is led by passionate volunteer docents from the foundation.

 Wrigley Building

The tour was awesome and I would highly recommend it for any visitor to the city.  I had no idea of the architectural significance of some of Chicago's buildings including the Wrigley Building, Chicago Tribune and the NBC Tower.

The Bridge House Tavern with outdoor bar right on the Chicago River

As we cruised along the Chicago River, I spotted the Bridge House Tavern, which I had researched as a spot for us to grab Happy Hour on Friday.

After the tour, we walked across the river and had an amazing dinner and shared a bottle of wine.  It was just the most perfect spot along the river (and an amazing 67 degree day in Chicago).


For dinner we enjoyed.....

 Charcuterie - cured meats, house pickles, stone ground mustard, sun-dried tomatoes, sweet peppers and toasted ciabatta ($18)

Tavern  Oysters Rockefeller - 5 Blue Point Oysters, spinach de-glazed in tequila, apricot fennel breadcrumbs, melted brie, bacon and Bearnaise sauce ($17)

 
A full Friday in Chicago, but well worth it!  

The rest of the weekend was spent working, but we both still managed to have fun.

On Saturday morning, Sandra toured the Willis Tower. 

On Saturday, I had a hard hat tour on the Amtrak train yards.

We met up for dinner on Saturday night and found the most perfect place to watch the World Series Game at American Junkie.  

Great food and a wonderful atmosphere.

Sunday was a 13+ hour day of work for me and shopping and lunching along the Magnificient Mile for Chick!

Monday began our train adventure home!  More to follow......

Enjoy!
Stacy