my week in pictures 40

monday 1/20 - sunday 1/26

Last week pretty much flew by, and to make this short and sweet, I will just give you the highlights: Freezing fog, Rat Hole Brewery for after work drinks Wednesday night, Velvet for happy hour on Friday with Megan, Joolz, errands, car wash, working on photos, Goodlife for drinks Saturday, Slaughter Daughters (local band) concert with J & D, seriously lazy Sunday, french toast, testing out our new tagine. 

[[ freezing fog. rat hole brewery. good riddance light. eerie. drinks at velvet. dinner at joolz. frost. the car wash. good life. slaughter daughters. cooking delicious chicken in our new tagine! ]]

my week in pictures 39

monday 1/13 - sunday 1/19

The work week was pretty busy, but I did manage to get back in to the gym a few times... you know, that whole post holidays "I ate too many cookies" thing. Over the weekend we primary stuck around home doing domestic things like replacing light fixtures, and hanging picture frames. Pretty exciting stuff. For Christmas my mom got us this awesome light from Pottery Barn to replace the seriously HORRIBLE floral fabric dust and dead bug collector that was hanging in the entry way, so getting the replacement up and throwing the old fixture in the trash was probably the highlight of my weekend.

On Sunday we watched the 49ers vs. the Seahawks... I was not very happy with the outcome, but it was a really exciting game. Then we went to BR to attend a collaborative brewery dinner with Crux. It was delicious and really fun! So much beer though... I had to hand some off to save room for s'mores.

[[ sunset at work. driving home before dark for once. gym time. hanging lights. in with the new, our with the old. football. working on photo collages. crux brewery dinner. ]]

seattle part 3

sunday (4/21) :: day 4
This was our final day of the trip, so when we got up in the morning we had to pack up, check out of our hotel, and load up the car before we could hunt for breakfast. We left the car in the parking garage, walked down toward the water where we had seen a slew of coffee shops and cafes, and ended up inside Cherry Street Coffee House. There we looked through some of the local papers and zines while we enjoyed our coffee and an egg sandwich.

After breakfast, we set back out towards the hotel to explore the Seattle Public Library, which is extremely unique from an architectural standpoint (and the only thing I remember from a short trip to Seattle with my family when I was about 14). We had been admiring the building from our hotel room throughout our stay, so it was fun to get inside and wander around for a bit. I will let my pictures do the talking here.

[[ exploring the seattle public library. ]]

Pat had convinced me that we should head down to the fish market to purchase a whole halibut since they were so fresh and delicious, so after our little library tour we grabbed the car, braved the parking situation, and made our way inside to claim our prize. Every time we had gone in to the market the beautiful bouquets had caught my eye so I finally gave in and decided to buy one for myself - knowing that I would have to hold it for the entire drive home and that it would most likely wilt in a day (both of which turned out to be true, still worth it).

[[ breakfast. my bouquet. picking out our halibut. ]]

I was kind of bummed to be leaving because there were so many restaurants, bars, shops, and parks that I had wanted to explore, but I refused to buckle on Gasworks Park, which is somewhere I have wanted to go for a really long time. Yes, this desire was heavily influenced by the movie "10 Things I Hate About You". Not only was the park an amazing mix of nature and industrial materials left behind (think Iron Giants), but the view of the entire city across the water was incredible! Take that Space Needle. While we were exploring I am pretty sure we interrupted some sort of Dungeons & Dragons dress up... party (I have no idea what this is actually called). It was pretty entertaining.

[[ playing around at gasworks park. ]]

After a bit we got back to the car and decided to head up the street to the Fremont Brewery for a little tasting before heading out for good. Of course on the day we were leaving the sun FINALLY decided to show up and it warmed up tremendously. While we were enjoying our beers it occurred to me that the Fremont Troll must be near by, and sure enough it was right up the street, so for our final adventure of the trip we took a little walk to "his" location to snap some silly pictures. I was pleased that we were able to fit that activity in after all.

Finally around 4, we were on our way back home. I had a ton of fun exploring Seattle with Pat and would love to go back one of these days to experience a bit more of such a unique city. Until next time.

[[ fremont brewery. troll ave. view of the city in the sunshine. beautiful sunny city. posing with the troll. ]]

seattle part 2

friday (4/19) :: night 2
After spending the entire day wandering around Pike Place, we decided to head back to our room to relax for a little while and get changed for dinner. Pat had come to Seattle for work about a year before we went and eaten at a sushi restaurant named Japonessa that he really wanted to take me to. As it turns out, it was also very close to our hotel, perfect. So we made reservations and headed over for dinner. They had some very innovative sushi rolls (and price tags to match them), but we were gluttons and ordered a bunch of stuff to try. We both left the place very full and satisfied.

[[ dinner at japonessa: interior. me. calamari salad. delicious rolls. seattle art museum across the street. ]]

Before we went on our trip, I had done extensive research to come up with restaurants and bars I thought we should try, and although some of them ended up being way too far to walk to, many were close enough to check out. Since Pat is really in to classic cocktails, and I wanted to take him to a "speak-easy" style bar I had read about called Bathtub Gin and Co., so I mapped it out and we headed over after dinner. It turned out to be pretty hard to find, but that just added to the charm. After wandering around aimlessly within a block of the location, we finally asked someone on the street who pointed us in the direction of a nearby alley. Once in the alley we saw a brick wall with a small plaque and a few people standing outside, indicating that we were in the right place. I think we ended up waiting about 45 minutes to get inside, but it was definitely worth it. Once in, we were seated at the bar upstairs in what appeared to be a very small library. Downstairs, there were a few couches and a bathroom, making the space extremely snug. We each ordered off of their specialty menu to start, and then let the bartender take things in to his own hands, telling him what types of things we like and having him come up with something for us.

Everything was delicious, and after a few hours we decided to wander down a little further so that we could check out another bar I had read about called Rob Roy, which had a 60's theme and specialized in drinks from that time. I was particularly interested in trying their Gin Fizz which used an egg white. They also had an unusual snack item on their menu, goldfish crackers. So we had goldfish, a few drinks, and then headed outside to start the long trek back to our hotel.

[[ bathtub gin & co.: secret entrance. my beautiful drink. pat's gimlet. the interior. mixologist. fruit. rob roy: goldfish. menu. the interior. crazy lamp. my fizz. bathroom mirror with recipes on it. the walk home: a few other bars i wanted to check out. crazy neon signs. giant popsicle! ]]

saturday (4/20) :: day 3
Having never seen the Space Needle before, we decided to make that the main objective of our Saturday, so we got up, dressed, and headed out for a very long walk. I had read about a breakfast place that I really wanted to try called Serious Biscuit which was over on that side of downtown, so we made our way there first. The place was packed when we got there because there had been a marathon earlier in the morning, so we had to wait for quite a while to get seated. Fortunately, the restaurant was in a shared building so there was a little wine shop right next door where Pat could do some tasting. Instead of Washington wines, I believe these were primarily French or Spanish. Eventually we got to our table, which was shared with another group of people who had been in the marathon earlier. They were about our age and extremely friendly, even sharing some of their Hush Puppies with me. Me and Pat both ordered different benedicts and everything was amazing. I would definitely recommend going to this place for breakfast, or lunch (they also have pizza).

[[ serious pie & serious biscuit: tasting some wine while we waited for our table. breakfast is served. ]]

When we were full and satisfied we made our way to the Space Needle. In retrospect I think I would skip this activity. Sure, you do get a pretty good view of the city, but the pricing is ridiculous and you will be surrounded by only tourists the entire time. I am glad that I finally got to check it out for myself, but next time I think I will stick to land. I did get some good pictures though. 

[[ views from the space needle. emp. ]]

We didn't stick around too long before we were both ready to go, but Pat wanted to show me the EMP (which had a really cool building), so we messed around in the gift shop for a little while and then took the shuttle back in to the city closer to our hotel. At this point we both needed a snack, so we wandered around Pike Place again to get some snacks. We grabbed some chowder, crab cocktail, and a peroshky at Peroshky Peroshky to save for later.

[[ exploring post alley and the back end of pike. gum way. street art. down by the bay. snack breaks. ]]

I had read about yet another lounge specializing in classic libations, called Zig Zag Cafe which was tucked away sort of behind the market, so we headed there next for some cocktails while we researched where we should eat dinner. I really wanted to try a place called The Walrus and The Carpenter, which specialized in oysters (get it??!!) but it was way too far away and our little feet were a bit worn out after all of our walking. We enjoyed a few delicious drinks and entertainment provided by the mixologist, and then headed out in search of a nice dinner. We ended up at Etta's which just so happened to be owned by the same chef who ran Serious Biscuit where we had breakfast, so we felt we were in good hands. I ordered the halibut and it was incredible. I think Pat got some sort of seafood stew which was also amazing. We ate so much seafood on this trip!

After dinner I lead us to another "speak-easy" style bar called The Upstairs where I had my first Moscow Mule, Pat had his first Bees Knees, and we both fell in love the drinks. (I have to note that people in Seattle are super friendly and we seemed to "make friends" wherever we went with other couples, bartenders, or groups of people our age. I dug the atmosphere).

[[ creepy/awesome old sign inside the market. zig zag cafe. mad bar tending skills. posing with the pig. dinner. the upstairs for a night cap. ]]