Weekend Fun

Happy Monday!
I had another busy weekend, and lately it is exactly what I need in my life.


1. Enjoying my wine after purchasing some Stella & Dot Pieces, and a couple of shirts. Wine and shopping is never good on the credit card, but it always sounds good at the time.

2. The Swirl With Your Girls group! It was a mother-daughter and friend kind of night. My mom and I went to this event a few months back and we were so excited that my bff and her mom were able to join us this time around.

3. Saturday night I headed north for a good friend's birthday. This is the group shot after dinner, but pre dancing shenanigans. It was a fun night filled with dancing, champagne, and hanging with new friends

4. On Sunday afternoon I went to see the movie Teddy Bears. The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is rolling into its last week and my friend asked me earlier in the week if I wanted to go see a movie with her. I almost felt guilty when I was driving to the theater that afternoon because the sun was shining and sitting in a movie theater for the next two hours seemed like such a shame. Lucky for me, the movie was excellent so it kind of made up for it. It kept me wondering the whole time what would happen next. I had no idea what this movie was about and so as we stood in line my friend said "It's about an orgy". I thought she was kidding. She was not. However, it wasn't really about an orgy. The film had premiered the night before so the directors and half the cast were in town so they did a Q&A afterward. There are some well known names in the film so it was cool to have them in the room right in front of you, answering questions. I'm surprised I haven't gotten into SIFF before, but now I'm determined to see at least one more film before it goes away until next year.

Linking up with Sami!

A long weekend in San Francisco

Since last weekend was a long one, my friend Kitty (nickname, obvs) suggested that we go down to San Francisco for it a few months back. I hadn't been to San Fran since I was in middle school, and I like having trips to look forward to during this deployment so I thought it would be the perfect getaway. My friend L (who visited Seattle in December) expressed interest in going to San Fran, so I invited her to join us.

Us three ladies on the evening of our arrival to San Francisco

 We flew down on Friday evening, and hopped in this bad boy the next morning and cruised up to wine country to get our vino on.

Cruising up the 101 in a convertible Mustang is the way to do it, folks. There was some really good sights, and the driving was nice and easy once you get out of the hub bub of San Francisco, but not before passing over the massive Golden Gate Bridge. It's one of those landmarks that seems way bigger than you would imagine.

Our ending destination was Hopland, CA. This small town used to be known for it's cultivation of hops for beer. However, a natural mold started spreading among the hops and it wiped them all out. The town ended up just throwing in the towel on the hop growing and switched to wine. The 101 goes right through the little town and it is FULL of tasting rooms and lots of wineries are sprinkled near by as well. I drink a decent amount of wine, specifically red, and this small little town has some of the BEST wine I have ever tasted. On top of the deliciousness of the wine-it's SUPER cheap to purchase bottles. I think the most I paid for a bottle was under $20.

All our wine bottles purchased

My little brother lives in Northern California so he met up with us for wine 'drankin. He hasn't done wine tasting since he moved to California so I was glad he was able to join us. The little broski and I have gotten closer in the last few years so I had a really good time hanging out with him. I believe we made it to four tasting rooms which all (but one) gave free tastings. They were not stingy one bit either! You were always able to try all the wines you were interested in. I think the great part about Mendocino county is that it isn't as well known as Napa or Sonoma Valley is. Therefore you get less people, and better pricing on wine. I definitely could have spent another day or two there checking out all the wineries near by.

After all the wine, we grabbed some delicious pizza and Italian food, fireside, at a restaurant located just steps from where we had been hanging out for the past few hours. We had an early night. Drinking wine all afternoon is always so tiring so we made our way back to the hotel. It was decided that we would get up the next morning, grab breakfast in town, have a champagne tasting, and then drive back south to San Francisco.

 Next up is part two of San Francisco weekend...

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?

Wine and lots of birthdays

I started my weekend off by attending an event called "Swirl With Your Girls" at a winery near by. About 20-30 minutes north east of Seattle is a city called Woodinville. This small city is home to over forty wineries. Some of the wineries sprawl across acres of landscaped terrain, and others are so small that they operate out of business parks filled with other small wineries. The event we attended was held at what is considered to be one of the bigger wineries located in Woodinville. It was an all girls event featuring everything girls love: Wine tastings, appetizers, cheese, and shopping!

I picked up a fun gray,cuff style bracelet from one of the vendors. I also ordered the coral necklace from Stella & Dot. I had never heard of Stella & Dot, but I couldn't believe how cute their jewelry was! That little number should be arriving in my mailbox sometime this week.

Mom and I enjoying our ladies night!

 It was a really fun event, and you get a lot of bang for your buck! We were given eight wine tastings and endless amounts of cheese, crackers, and various appetizers. We even got our lips read! We put lipstick on and kissed a piece of paper. The lady who did the readings asked me if I blog, because I should. I thought that was funny considering I have just started to blog. She told me that it would be very positive and upbeat.

The NW has officially received fall-in full force!

 On Saturday afternoon I headed further up north to attend a couple birthday parties. One for a thirty year old girlfriend on Saturday evening, and the other party for a three year old cutie (My best friend's nephew). It was great to see old friends.

Finally got to wear this necklace on Sunday

Holding a friend's adorable little girl!

The birthday girl in the middle!

I also got to take some amazing fall photos this weekend. I keep kicking myself when I'm out running because the fall foliage has been so gorgeous, yet I never have a camera. I made sure to get some pictures this weekend. A lot of these fall photos were taken at a cemetery. Kind of creepy right? haha. It may be at a cemetery, but the location is kept nicely manicured so it works for great pictures!

What did you do this weekend?