10/52: Exploring Seattle

Seared Duck Breast

Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

Buckley's Pub

We love adventures, Marco Polo and I.

We had a lot of fun experiences over the weekend.  Dinner with friends, a new sports bar on Saturday and my first trip to Hec Ed Pavilion on the University of Washington Campus to see the Ducks vs. Huskies.

Wrapped everything up with one less hour, but more daylight and a beautiful Sunday train ride.

Enjoy!
Stacy

41/52: Getting Ready for Halloween

We decorated the house last weekend for Halloween. Next to Christmas, I think we have almost as much stuff to put outside.  This year, Brian added a graveyard out front where he built the planter for the summer geraniums and lighthouse.  At night, it's spooky!

We took a wonderful chilly walk through Lincoln Park, before heading into the city to find a place to watch the Ducks/Huskies and eat an amazing fish burger. The Ducks won so I was happy.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Zaid Abdul Aziz (formerly known as Don Smith) a former Iowa State University and NBA basketball player.  Amazing man with an incredible gift not only in basketball, but a much greater gift with words (he is a talented author).  He was quite taken with Brian's love of sports and incredible knowledge of sports history.

Enjoy!
Stacy

33/52: Seattle Sports Weekend with Pop and Rosemary

We had an amazing long weekend in Seattle with my parents. 

It began on Thursday night in West Seattle where we enjoyed wine on our backyard patio and a wonderful home cooked meal courtesy of Brian.

Friday we explored Alki and had breakfast at the Alki Cafe and then took the water taxi from West Seattle to the Waterfront and had Happy Hour at Anthony's.  

We made our way to Key Arena to see the Seattle Storm (WNBA) take on the NY Liberty Friday night...and to see Mercedes Russell who grew up in Springfield, OR.  My Dad and Rosemary have been watching her play all her life and this past spring she was drafted out of the University of Tennessee to play in the women's professional league.  As a rookie, she isn't getting much playing time (she played 53 seconds on Friday night) but it was still a great game and a nice way to support her.

We had an amazing brunch at Cactus on Saturday morning and made our way to Safeco Field to see the Mariners take on the Dodgers Saturday night.  It was a tough night for me.  I love my Mariners, but grew up a lifelong Dodgers fan.  I took a lot of grief from my family, but still decked all out in my Dodger gear!  The Dodgers lost on Saturday night (still won the series 2-1), and we all had a really good time!

Sunday we headed back to Portland and my parents went back to Springfield.

Great memories this weekend!

Enjoy!
Stacy

20/52: The Royal Wedding, Preakness Stakes Day and a 5K

I am not sure that we could have crammed anymore into this weekend.  It just so happens that quite a few fun events were all taking place in a 48 hour period.

How many of you got up at 3AM to watch the Royal Wedding?  I set my alarm for 3:00 and saw the arrival of family and the bride and the beautiful ceremony and then went back to sleep for a few hours before moving onto our next event!  I just can't put into words how amazing the wedding was and I am so glad that I taped it so that I can watch it again.  I think Amal Clooney looked phenomenal!

Saturday afternoon was the second leg of the triple crown at Emerald Downs and our friend, Jenny joined us and we had a great afternoon, sipping sparkling wine and NOT winning much money on any of the races.  Mark your calendar for 3 weeks to see if Justify will win the triple crown.

Finally on Sunday was the West Seattle 5K!  A big event for Brian and I and quite an accomplishment for both of us to participate in something so rewarding.  To be honest, we often times walk 2 5ks over the course of the weekend, but this one was a special goal that benefited not only ourselves but our community.

Enjoy!
Stacy

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

24/52: The Belmont Stakes

What a difference a week makes.  Seattle was 93 last Saturday and this past Saturday was 63. Oh well....the show must go on!

I was on the early train on Friday and we had date night at Elliott Bay. The trip north was cool and wet, but it's always fun to end the day with the best hamburgers in town!

Saturday, we booked a box at Emerald Downs for the Belmont Stakes and it was awesome. 4 little folding chairs and a TV with easy access for betting and a special treat, drinks service! 

We hit the casino afterwards for a bit more fun and food and met up with our friends, Jenny and Brent!  It was a great day even if it wasn't the most successful monetary gambling junkets!

Enjoy!
Stacy

21/52: The Preakness Stakes

We headed back down to Emerald Downs on Saturday to see the second leg of the triple crown, the Preakness Stakes held in Baltimore, MD.  It was another wet weekend....our second in a row.  I bought a new fascinator and surprisingly saw many women in hats despite the lower turn out.  I ran into an old high school friend, Veronica that I have not seen in 29 years and it was fun to see her and meet her husband.  We had a great day!  Brian won the Preakness Trifecta and I got lucky with a $2 Exacta Box at Emerald Downs.  We made enough for drinks and pizza at Peel and Press.

Friday I got off the train in Tacoma and we had drinks and dinner at Katie Downs.  We don't get the chance to go to Katie Downs often so it was a real treat and a beautiful evening.

How was your weekend?

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