I just spent a great and whirlwind of a weekend in The Dalles (TD), Oregon with my roommate Polly in her hometown, celebrating the annual cherry festival.  Here is the timeline of shenanigans that occurred:

Saturday:

• 5:30 am:  Leave Seattle.  Make a 10-cup pot of coffee for the road.  Uh oh.
• 10 am:  Arrive in downtown of The Dalles, OR.
• 10:30 am:  Find Polly’s parents and watch the Cherry Festival Parade.

• 

  

  

  

  

• 11:30 am:  Walk the vendors.  Try some Shari’s cherry pie and maraschino cherries.
• 12:30 pm:  Meet up with other roommate, Mikayla and her boyfriend Nate from Portland.
• 1:00 pm:  Polly and I get lunch at a Mexican restaurant in town.
• 2:00 pm:  Drive to Polly’s house and cherry farm.  Walk the grounds, see their pigeon coupe and bees boxes.

• 

  

  

  

  

  

  

• 4:00 pm:  Drive across the river back into Washington to do a wine tasting at Maryhill Winery.  Polly and I split the classic and vintage wine tasting to get to try them all.  All were very good.  Bought the Grenache off the reserve list ($$).

• 

  

• 5:00 pm:  Sit outside a the winery’s deck in the 70 degree sunshine taking in the beautiful views.

• 

  

• 5:30 pm:  Drive through Polly’s friend Carolina’s petting zoo farm and see some exotic animals.

• 

  

  

• 6:00 pm:  Finally kick up our feet for a bit, instantly falling for the HBO hit show Girls.  Must get.

• 

• 7:00 pm:  Go out to dinner at Clock Tower Ales in the city with Polly’s parents.  Split a beer sampler with her dad and noshed on a good caesar and awesome sweet potato fries.

• 

  

• 9:00 pm:  Say goodnight to the parents.  Listen to a few songs by Tango Alpha Tango band from Portland playing at the alehouse that night.  Really liked their sound!!
• 10:00 pm:  Walk through town to another tap house to meet up with a few of Polly’s high school and college friends in town.
• Midnight:  Finally get to crawl in bed exhausted.

Sunday:

• 8:30 am:  Wake up to go to a Catholic mass with Polly’s family.  Interesting.
• 10:30 am:  Skip out after Communion to have a brunch back at the house with Polly’s sister and kids.  Breakfast quiche, a banana jello, fresh oranges, and mini muffins with homemade cherry marmalade to eat.
• 11:00 am:  Hop in the car for the four hour drive back to Seattle.
• 12:30 pm:  Stop in Portland to pick up a Voodoo dozen of donuts from the legendary Voodoo donuts.

• 

  

• 4:00 pm:  Get back to Seattle.
• 5:00 pm:  Guests arrive for Mad Men dinner.  Asian themed night with an Asian-inspired chicken thighs with glaze, spicy broccoli and shitake mushrooms, fried rice, Tsingtao beer and sake.

• 

  

  

• 6:30 pm:  Sit down to episodes 3 and 4 of Mad Men.  Dig into the assortment of Voodoo doughnuts with glasses of milk for dessert.  Demolished and enjoyed by all.

• 

  

• 8:30 pm:  Guests leave.
• 9:30 pm:  Polly and Bryan decide they are too tired to go to Smash Putt 🙁  I didn’t attest.

Good weekend.  Need sleep!

Chelsea

Oh to be back in the swing of things.  My first day back in Seattle after my vacation delivered quite a few withdrawals.  Withdrawals of Mom, walking, laying by the beach, feeling well, sleeping in, fun, laughs, etc.  Thankfully what I didn’t have a withdrawal of was people I care about around me, sunshine, and good food (I keep appreciating Seattle’s food scene more each day).  After an excruciatingly long workday I headed home for a grill out with Bryan and Polly, a very long dinner conversation and then settling into the last season of Breaking Bad with ice cream.  Not horrible!

But I have been feeling rather horrible.  I’m trying to shake it but it hasn’t gone away as quickly as I would have liked.  I’ve spent some time finishing my really good book of Light Between Oceans, doing some gardening, walking to a nice casual dinner at La Luna at the top of Queen Anne, attending a Yelp Elite class at Flywheel Sports in South Lake Union (lots of free snacks and goodies, a class that actually helped me work out some of my aches, and a very nice facility), a dinner on my own at Veggie Grill, and trying to get some good sleep in, unsuccessfully.

I leave for Polly’s home in Oregon tomorrow morning bright and early and am very excited about just spending some good quality time with her, seeing her farm and hometown, and the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Chelsea

Bryan told me before I left to have a very wholesome trip with my mom, and told me this with a smirk on his face.  And we did.  We had a blast, crazy or not!

The trip was wonderful!!!  Mom and I had a great three nights in the Sin City, staying at the very resorty and fun Mandalay Bay Resort at the south end of the strip and a whole itinerary of fun and relaxation together.  We arrived on Thursday, Mom before me and immediately got caught up over a shared delicious burger, sweet potato fries, and heavenly zucchini fries from Burger Bar in the hotel.

On Friday we set out on foot to catch my first sights of the strip, all the way down tot the Mirage to pick up our tickets for the show.  We then had a fantastic brunch at Hash House a Go Go in the newly-named Quad hotel.  This was a must for me after seeing it on Man vs. Food, and it was indeed a hot spot for a lot of people.  We split one of their large entrees, one of their house hashes that had a little bit of everything for us, sweet, savory, salty, veggie, and one of their spicy bloody marys.  We then walked all the way back and spent a lazy afternoon soaking up sun and R&R at our hotels BEACH!  It felt so good to laze around and be in a swimsuit, sand between the toes, and sound of crashing waves from the nearby wave pool.

We got a delicious beachy cocktail to get glammed up for our Friday night plans of a tapas dinner at the Firefly Restaurant to relive Spain and then the Beatles Cirque de Soleil Love show which was fantastic!!!  I’ve always been curious about the Cirque de Soleil shows and this just confirmed that they are awesome, especially when performed to Beatles classics.  Mom and I really enjoyed our dinner, off the beaten path, and got all dressed up for it.  We chose a few tapas to share including a mouthwatering octopus dish, kabobs, and an eggplant goat cheese dish, plus house bread, olives, and great glasses of sangria.

Saturday was more of a lazy day of sorts.  We first headed to the beach, got a LOT of sun, had frozen yogurt for lunch and then set out for the rest of our day.  We did some shopping and rode the New York New York Casino roller coaster which was so much fun.  We bused down the strip to our dinner destination of the Peppermill Restaurant.  This is the classic Vegas diner with good food, large portions, not bad prices, waiters in old diner getup  and neon lights, trees, and vibrant colors to set the mood.  We shared a New York steak, plus more sweet potato fries and side salads.  Our next stop on the Deuce was to downtown Las Vegas, the Four Queens Casino to be exact.  We had tickets to the Mike Hammer show, only slightly knowledgable about what that really meant.  The show we saw was freaking hilarious and Mike Hammer was also a really talented magician.  I still don’t know how he did the acts he did but I was astonished.  And his jokes had my mom and I laughing so hard.  The 70 minute show sailed by.

After the show, we got our picture with Mike and vouchers to use at the casino.  Mom and I finally braved ourselves to test our skills luck at the blackjack table.  We started off on a really bad start, flustered and inexperienced.  But once we starting ordering our free cocktails, got used to our dealer and the name of the game, we ended up coming out $50 ahead!  We were definitely gloating as we left the casino and in good spirits.  We saw a bit of the insanity happening on Fremont St. before getting some tacos and catching the long bus back to our hotel.

Sunday was our last day in Vegas sadly.  We woke up nice and early to pack up and then headed to Fashion Square Mall for a very refreshing hip-opening yoga class compliments of Lululemon.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  After we worked out we deserved a brunch buffet.  And not just any buffet on the Strip but buffet at the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan.  It was AMAZING!!  Everything was so cute in its individual serving glasses, cups, and pots.  There was so many things to try and so many good things we had.  Our plates included various salads, Asian delicacies, roasted meats, yogurt parfaits, sushi and dumplings, mimosas, coffee, and desserts, oh my.  We even got little to-go boxes (unbeknownst to them) to take a few sweets home with us for unnecessary snacks later.  And the gelato, oh the gelato.  It was not cheap but it was certainly worth it, plus we came out ahead in the casinos!!

Mom and I left for the airport together.  We reminisced over a lot of fond memories we had of the trip.  It would be very hard for me to pick my one favorite activity, meal, or even day during our vacation.  Everything we did I loved and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else.  We said our goodbye but knew that another trip like this will most definitely have to be in our near future.

Chelsea

I may have lived here nearly two years now but there are still some things that strike me as curiosities in this great city.  Let’s see, where to begin:

• The scenery:  It changes soooo quickly from super green and lush to desert and mountains.  And how can the sun really always exist just East of Snoqualmie Pass???
• Why we have such great food?  Like the Veggie Grill dinner I had on Monday night with Bryan (his first time trying it and even him as a meat eater liked it a lot) and the amazing tacos I had from Camion taco truck before the Mariners game on Tuesday ($8.50 total for the two of us!!)!

• 

  

  

• The fog/haze in the morning that eventually goes away throughout the day (yesterday morning I could not see a single downtown building from my bedroom, and that is quite unusual)
• People’s passive-aggressive nature…that can even be witnessed in their driving style, dating style, business style, etc.
• A prescribed Rain Load category for design of structures…really???
• How cherries can be as cheap as $.99/lb
• The law banning plastic bags.  I now laugh because you see so many people leaving the grocery store carrying all of their purchases in their hands (sans-bag) despite a bag only costing $.05.  Unfortunately, I seem to forget my reusable bags on a most consistent basis…I’m getting better though.
• People complaining to no end about the three very hot days we had in the whole summer.
• Those people who say they LIKE rain.
• The space needle being half orange and half green because they were repainting it.  I call that true Seattle indecisiveness.  They even had to have a contest on what to paint on the space needle because they couldn’t reach an agreement.  It is now displaying evergreen trees.
• Fake snow in Pacific Place brings hoards of people packing the main court everyday at 6pm during the Christmas season.
• How a soccer team can have just as large a fan base as a football team in the US (maybe even larger).
• How there can be more away fan visitors at a Mariner’s game than Mariner’s fans, like at the Tigers vs. Mariners game we went to on Tuesday.
• How there are basically NO bugs, animals, or anything threatening whatsoever.
• The lack of Middleeastern people and food.  Tears.
• The plethora of strange festivals:  Naked Bike Ride, Zombie Walk, Beard Hat Mariners Night, Stache and Brews just to name a few.
• 
• Washington state was just named #1 for adventure states.  There is a lot to do here year round and people who take advantage of that.
• There still are no thunderstorms.

Chelsea

Work has been a little bit easier for me to focus…I don’t know why?  Miserable weather?  Basketball is now over?  Liking my projects a bit more again?  Finally had lunch with my supervisor to discuss certain things?  I don’t know, but thankfully it has been better.

Monday was an all around fun day.  I met with my supervisor for lunch at the Steelhead Diner in the market to take advantage of their Seattle Restaurant Week menu.  The food I would only say was so so, maybe I just had high expectations for it.  From their select menu I chose the dungeness crab and shrimp tator tots, the grilled arctic char, and the Theo’s chocolate pecan pie.  I’ve had the pie before and it is wonderful and very, very rich.  The tator tots were fun to try and were good but both them and the arctic char were not super flavorful.  I thought they could have used a little more salt or seasonings or something.  And the portion of the char was okay but I was still hungry…though I did take the pie to go to save for an afternoon snack break. Though for $15 total this is still a really good deal at this restaurant.  The lunch (even without dessert) took two hours so as you can probably tell much was discussed and I will post on that later.

I then got the pleasure of watching my Michigan Wolverines play for the National Championship title in a spectacular game.  It was indeed a rollarcoaster of emotions to watch through the whole game.  I thought we had the game nearly sealed when halftime came around but Louisville is a really good team, and the reffing led to a very rough and unruly game, and Burke not playing as much, the team missing some free throws, and turning the ball over way too much really cost us.  People the next day kept asking me if I was really disappointed or upset (after they commented on how great the game was) and I told them:

“How could I possibly be upset?  My team played phenomenal the whole tournament, even down to the last game.  I never would have imagined they would have been contenders for the National Championship game while I was there at school and I love the composure and talent of this team and this coach.  And don’t even expect that to be all of the Michigan basketball team you will come to know and see.  We have some great young talent and a coach who finally has players that he wants to coach and players who want to play for him…we are going to be good for a little while!  Booyah!”

Plus I was a bit relieved to not have to wear my Michigan fleece to work again (it’s the only school spirit thing I have that I think is slightly work appropriate) and got to dress up in a new white dress (spring!) to go to The Jersey Boys at the 5th Avenue Theater on Tuesday night with Bryan.  And, oh yeah, Bryan is finally back after what felt like weeks.  He has to work late this week so I went and got Veggie Grill (again!) on my own before meeting him at the show.  Best meal yet maybe at Veggie Grill, I find myself liking this place more and more.

Jersey Boys was EXCELLENT!!!  It was so much fun!  At the beginning of the show I was a bit uncertain, I thought there was a little too much storyline and acting and not enough song and dance.  I did miss typical musical dancing a bit in this show but not enough for me not to love it.  I thought they did a great job developing the characters, I thought how they told the story, with each member getting their own season to share what happened, and the music and voices of the people in the show were all really well done.  Needless to say that the entire 2.5 hrs were enjoyed, we had oldies stuck in our head going home, and searched all over the Seattle radio programming for an oldies station afterwards.

The weekend brought a lot of fun and events and hardly a moment to just to relax but it was all good.  A friend from UM and fellow Washingtonian came to visit on Friday night as he had an interview with a Seattle firm Friday morning.  Friday night we went to dinner at Hilltop Ale House on top of Queen Anne and then headed next door to Paragon for live acoustic music and then headed next door to Menchies for their $5 fill-your-cup to the brim deal (Bryan and I split one giant cup).  Gotta love living in Queen Anne with all good things in one block…seriously ONE BLOCK!

Saturday morning we headed out early to Steven’s Pass for one final day of skiing this year.  We met Jeff at the Park and Ride and had a great day of skiing in fresh powder, and a whole lot of it.  It snowed on us like crazy all day and we had a ton of unskied tracks, snowpacked trees, and not a wait ever in any lift line.  After a good days skiing we headed back to Seattle, got our usual Fish Cake Factory Thai food (finally got him to share two items with me) and headed home to watch American Horror Story and hit the sack early for a Saturday night.

Sunday kicked off our Mad Men dinners with the premiere and seven lovely guests joining me for the Theme:  Classic 60s Style.  It was a grand success but one that kept me busy the whole day and night.  The menu was:

Entree:  Chicken Cordon Bleu

Veggie Side:  Maple Glazed Carrots

Starch Side:  Potato Gratin

Salad:  Iceberg Wedge Salad

Appetizer:  Deviled Eggs

Dessert:  Chocolate Chip Cookies (made by Philipp)

Drinks:  Moscow Mules (made by Polly) and Sazeracs (made by Stephan)

I have to say that everything came out delicious and I got a lot of compliments on them. The potato gratin was demolished!  I love hosting the nights…and then passing out after them.  And the 2-hour premiere was interesting, though a little soap-operay.

Back to work!

Chelsea

With friends and boyfriends out of the picture since Thursday I have spent a lot of time recently much to myself allowing some independent, crafty activities…and I made some good progress.

Thursday I had free screening passes to a new movie with Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in it called Place Beyond the Pines and I took advantage of it and picked up dinner and headed to the movie by myself (I tried to get a comrade but no one was available).  Veggie Grill Thai chicken salad and a surprisingly good (if not too long) movie to complete my Thursday night solo.

A lot of the weekend I worked on my t-shirt quilt.  The preliminary steps have taken a lot more time to complete than I would have expected.  I had to cut out all of the sashing to the appropriate size and draw lines for where I needed to sew on both the sashing strips and on the t-shirts themselves.  This took a long time getting them pretty precise but was a good indoor activity to fill my time during this super rainy weekend.  I also saw too potential properties for sale, spring cleaned my bedroom, kitchen, and living room, did laundry, including my sheets and comforters, got my eyebrows waxed, updating my garden track sheet on sproutrobot.com and cleaned the bathroom.

I also saw my boys win their game against Syracuse on Saturday night to send them to the Monday night game playing for the National Championship.  Suspenseful and awesome!!!!  I feel like a proud mama.

And Sunday I bundled up in all of my ski gear to venture out into the rain.  I had an AWESOME yoga class at Lululemon, got another lunch from Veggie Grill (so good!), stopped by the library and the store.  I attempted more crafts but was mainly happy that my roommates were back!!

Chelsea

Ahhh, so easy to make purchases online that I have gotten quite good at it lately.  I’ve recently made quite a few purchases.  Lets take a look:

Amazon:

Epicurious:

Express:

Etsy:

I’ve also been looking at new bikes, new scooters, a new hookah, two end chairs for my dining room table, and more.  Cut me off!!!

Chelsea

1. American Horror Story.  This show is awesome!!  Though we have only spent three nights watching the series on Netflix we can’t stop once we start and are nearly down with Season 1 It is sick and twisted and I can see why it was one of the top rated shows of 2011.
2. Veggie Grill.  This is a West Coast chain that is vegetarian but man is it good.  Their fake meats all taste fantastic and like the real deal, their salad, sandwiches, plates, and desserts that I’ve tried are all fantastic.  And oh baby those “sweetheart” fries as they call them!  They are really trying to establish themselves in Seattle and I have reserved two spots for a free corporate lunch for my company to try them out.  They provided a whole slew of delicious eats and even a stack of free entree cards to come in their store and try them.  Those expire on the 16th so you can imagine I plan on frequently visiting them.
3. Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I’m just taking a break from the chocolate and peanut butter cereal fix.  It will be back I’m sure.
4. March Madness.  I have never enjoyed the tournament as much.  I just wish I could watch it with Dad and Chad at Damon’s!!  Go Blue!
5. “Almost” Weekly Dinners with Marika.  Marika and I have managed to do dinner about every other Monday since Amy has left.  It works well for us because it follows right after my appointments on Monday and each of us has a restaurant coupon/voucher expiring that needs to be used up.  It’s great to be able to talk to her about relationships, work, social, etc…just like Amy.
6. Arizona trip.  Obviously any vacation should rank up there but this one was really fantastic.  I needed a break from work and the Seattle weather and Arizona was perfect for that.  I got plenty of sunshine, some exercise, and a lot of social interaction with people who are close to B and could end up being close to me.

   

7. Hiking the Grand Canyon.  Easily the highlight of the trip for me.  The 12-mile hike was both intense and beautiful.  My body felt really great doing it and I felt like I had really knocked off a “Must Do” in my life’s To Do list.  Having some snacks at Plateau Point at the bottom was breathtakingly beautiful and really rejuvenating.

   

8. My new TV.  Seriously!  I don’t like it for the fact that I am watching more TV, because I think the only reason I am watching more TV is because of March Madness but I love it for what else it provides.  I needed this TV more for entertaining friends than anything.  It has already made movies more fun and I can’t wait for Mad Men nights.  Plus it has instantly drawn everyone to the main room of the house, which was severely underused until I got the TV.  We should be spending all of our time in that room (unless you have my bedroom!).

   

9. Weekly Thursday night dinners with friends.  I never thought Thursday would become my favorite day of the week but it might now be.  I absolutely love having a dinner with some of my best friends in Seattle every single week at the exact same time.  There is always a delicious dinner, always a lot of great wine and beer, and always great dinner conversation.  For an average of 3 hours we (generally 6-8 of us) eat and talk and get to know each other better.  I’ve only helped cook one dinner (at Bryan’s apartment) because of my other dinners I have so it’s nice letting others cook for me.
10. Becoming a Yelp Elite member.  Now that Google Plus is fizzling out my secret member events will be coming through the form of Yelp.  I got my Yelp Elite welcoming email a few weeks ago and so far have only attended on event but it sure was a blast.  Nerf wars was classic and unforgettable.  I am looking forward to future events to keep me entertained and on my toes.

Chelsea

I’m so looking forward to my trip to Vegas with my mom.  I don’t know if it is the spring weather, the basketball tournament, or the fact that my two trips were so close to one another that makes me really antsy and not able to focus at work.  I want to see my mom and see Vegas and I just can’t wait.  Here is a glimpse at what we might be doing during our three nights there:

Thursday:

• Arrive in Vegas, get to hotel around 8:30pm
• Dinner or dessert with Mom (Serendipity for frozen boozy hot chocolate?)
• Early sites of Vegas and hotel

Friday:

• Breakfast/brunch
• Beach at hotel
• Shopping/casinos
• Marbella tapas and wine with voucher
• Cirque de Soleil Beatles Love show (9:30 pm I believe)

Saturday:

• Hash House a Go Go for brunch (?)
• Beach/shopping/rollar coaster at New York New York and/or Stratosphere tower
• Maybe visit old Las Vegas
• Dinner (tacos or Carnegie Deli maybe?)
• Ghostbar at the top of the Palms to take in the views or drinks elsewhere

Sunday:  

• Big brunch buffet at either the Wynn or at the Wicked Spoon (top rated)
• Leave for airport around 3pm

Suggestions/Comments appreciated!!

Chelsea

Do I really have to go back to work?  That is what I asked myself all my short week long.  And it dragged on because of it.  Wednesday after hopping off the train and onto the light rail I headed to work, said goodbye to Bryan after spending so much time together, threw down my bag at work and headed to Berliner Doner because I was hangry.  I tried their mango curry doner this time with the lamb/chicken combo on their fladenbrot and it helped greet me back into Seattle.  So did the cooler weather, clouds, and moisture in the air; everything was slightly refreshing.

Thursday our friends greeted us back with the usual Thursday night dinner at Stepalina’s (coined name for Stephan and Ewelina’s apartment).  We had a Mexican fiesta of pulled chicken and vegetable tacos, guac, salsas, and patatas bravas, with fruit salad and ice cream for dessert.  We spent hours at the dinner table eating and talking and the time spent there was much enjoyed.

Friday I watched Michigan win their Sweet Sixteen game in a buzzer beater, super spectacular win against Kansas.  The weekend brought a bounty of Easter and spring sunshine and warm weather, reaching into the 70s both Saturday and Sunday.  I took advantage of the warm weather by gardening, riding my scooter, going on a short 2-mile run, and playing tennis with Bryan.  I also managed to iron my cut out t-shirts onto the fusible fabric for my t-shirt quilt and ordered my next craft online.

Easter Sunday brought a great church service, a smashing against Florida to send UM to the Final Four, and then a lovely Easter dinner cooked by me and helped along by all of my wonderful friends.  I had 11 guests over for dinner, a 12 lb ham baked with brown sugar, additions of a labor intensive Easter bread (like challah), prosciutto wrapped asparagus, roasted potatoes, candied carrots, pasta salad, baked macaroni and cheese, a green salad with walnuts and apples, and a cucumber salad.  The ham was raved about and there are leftovers aplenty.

Before dinner everyone was hanging out on the deck in the sunshine, dying eggs, listening to records, and catching up.  The food took up all of the dinner table so we all made plates and ate outside (girls at the patio table and boys sitting on the steps).  After dinner we had my strawberry shortcake (homemade shortcakes with help of Bryan and whipped cream), coffee, tea, and this deadly cookies, brownie, reeses bars freshly baked and brought up by Mikayla and her mom and sister visiting to round out the meal.  Polly requested to end the Easter night watching Kung Fu Hustle which was actually really enjoyed by everyone.  I am so happy to have that TV this year and friends who don’t mind (and actually like) contributing to dinner now that our numbers are in the double digits.

Aside from work my first week back was rather delightful!

Chelsea