Weekend Memories

I had a wonderful last few days. On Thursday night I drove myself down to the waterfront to pick up my friend L who had hopped the ferry over to Seattle. She had originally flown in earlier in the week from out of state, but was spending a few days catching up with old friends before spending the weekend with me. Unfortunately she either caught a 24 hour bug or a case of food poisoning the day before so we decided we would lay low on Thursday night because we had a jammed packed weekend ahead of us.

Friday was spent up in Washington wine country: Woodinville!

 We made sure to hit the big players in wine making, which included Chateau St. Michelle. We were the only ones on the noon tour and because of that we had our own tour guide that truly personalized it for us. Rudy was awesome. He was very knowledgeable. L doesn't have much experience in wine, and she couldn't believe how much she learned. The more I am around good wine, the more I learn too. It's become more of a hobby these days, which seems totally crazy, but I like it. Makes me feel classier too :-) L & I each went home with a few bottles of wine, and had to take a nap when we got back into Seattle.

 After an afternoon of watching my life is a lifetime movie, and napping we peeled ourselves off the couch because we had more activities awaiting us!









Next on our agenda was a trek up to Cap Hill for a friend's birthday celebration. We swung in to the restaurant Smith for some delicious brews and food first. I always love the dark and rustic vibe of Smith. It took way too long for a table, but a seat on the bench while people watching made it a little better. After we finished up we went down the hill a few blocks and popped in to say happy birthday to a friend of mine. The weather was horrible that night. It was pouring all night. Alternating between raining hard and harder. Needless to say, we were ready to go home early, throw sweat pants on, and watch tv. Plus, we were continuing the fun on Saturday morning. It would be a touristy day on Saturday.

Have you ever heard of the gum wall in Seattle? It is quite the site! Let me tell you about it. The gum wall is located in Post Alley, which is a small cobble stone lined alley that runs on both sides of Pike Place Market. Only a small section of the alley is covered in gum (thank God!), and for some reason it attracts a good amount of attention. L had heard about it and put it on her list of places to visit. As you can see, there is a massive amount of gum that lines the wall, and of course we had to add our own to it. We then walked around Pike Place Market, and looked at a bunch of the booths and little stores that pack that market full.

 We hopped the monorail when we had enough of all the tourists at the market and since the monorail only takes you one place: we got off at the Seattle Center and made our way over to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit next to the Space Needle. Dale Chihuly is a native of the Pacific Northwest; Tacoma specifically. His work is made up a variety of pieces, but he is known for his awe inspiring glass work. He blows glass into these bright, twisted, unbelievable creations. Many of them are over ten feet tall! As you can tell from my pictures, these pieces are incredibly unique and beautiful. His work can be found all across the country in not only museums, but in public places as well. My university is lucky to have scored a huge piece that looks similiar to the one in the 2nd row of pictures of the right.

Sunday was more relaxed. I dropped L off at the airport, and then went for a run. In the afternoon the roommate and I drove out to the middle of nowhere, in the rain, to cut down our tree. You would think that if you are driving out to some tree farm in the middle of nowhere and cutting down your own tree, you would save a lot of money. We were wrong in our thinking. The trees ranged from $65-80 bones! I'm thinking I should start a tree farm as a retirement business! YEESH. We sucked it up though and cut down a beautiful tree, and got out moneys worth by drinking lots of free cider and eating a bunch of their cookies ;-)

Only in the PacNW do you need an umbrella when heading out to cut down your tree!

Sawing away!

Like the vest coordination?! Christmas colors, and we didn't even plan that!

Anyone else get their Christmas tree this weekend?