Yikes!! I’m freaking old. My birthday has come and gone and brought good times with good friends. I enjoy my birthday because I enjoy spending time with friends and family but my birthday stresses me out too so in a way I always exhale when it is over. And that I did because the weekend was a bit of a whirlwind.
Friday night Bryan and I started the indulgent weekend out with burgers at 8Oz Burger Bar. We split two kinds of burgers and they were both just about the best burger I’ve ever eaten. We picked up ice cream from Bluebird on our walk home from Capitol Hill and we bought a couple of books at the Elliott Bay Bookstore. I also got my nails done and a facial Friday afternoon after work so I was half purdy and half rosy-faced.
Saturday was the big day and both Bryan and I were busy right up until 4 pm. Bryan had his men’s group at church which was fine because I wanted to use my free barre class at the Bar Method in South Lake Union before going to get my hair cut. Class was good and it was a beautiful sunny day for riding around to get errands done. My hair cut took forever per usual and I came out a shade darker than going in. Still getting to used to it and still really mixed about the color. I picked up Starbucks on my way home for lunch and was greeted by the smell of my birthday cake and my lovely husband. I prepped some dishes for the night’s party while Bryan went off to Lowe’s to pick up a firepit for our backyard. We finished up with prep before heading to South Lake Union to pick up our hot tub boat. Bryan, Philipp, Mark, Stephan and Ewelina joined me for a two-hour ride on South Lake Union in a hot tub, in a boat. It was pretty fantastic. The sun was out, the sunset, stopping for brewskis and chips at the market on the lake, listening to jams on the bluetooth speakers and really being the only people out on the lake.
After our two hours were up we headed back to our house to light up the grill and wait for the rest of the friends to come over. We had a solid group come over for some snacks, drinks and my birthday cake. We enjoyed both the indoor and outdoor fireplaces and our last guests left just after midnight.
Sunday morning we headed to church for a super short service so I was able to make it to the 11:15 am soccer game just a tad bit late. It was a gorgeous day and we had subs playing that were faster and more skilled and a bunch of fun to play with. After my game we relaxed for a bit before packing an overnight bag and heading to Issaquah for a mystery shop at the Hilton. We checked into the hotel and then set out to Snoqualmie Falls. Neither of us had ever been so we did the 1.4 mile round trip “hike” to see the 250 foot drop of the falls from both the top and bottom. After our hike we had dinner reservations at the Salish Lodge for their restaurant week menu. The Salish Lodge is known as the lodge from the 90s show Twin Peaks. We got a window-side table and enjoyed three courses of food along with three courses of wines paired with each dish. Together we got the spot prawn bisque with imperial rice, the beet carpaccio salad, the braised short ribs with parsnip puree and sweet potato gratin, the steelhead with roasted brussel sprouts and fingerling potatoes, and the squash panna cotta and molten chocolate cake. The food was good, not amazing, but definitely worth the $30 experience and the wines paired with them were actually fantastic! Leaving dinner stuffed we had plans to enjoy the hot tub at the hotel but instead decided to chill out in bed. We got a solid 9 hours of sleep that night, sleeping in and enjoying the hotel’s made to order omelets in the morning before each heading to work.
The celebration has continued this week with lunch with the girls at work for sushi on Tuesday and the monthly October birthday cookies in the office also on Tuesday. But I think the celebrations have finally come to an end. Next up is Halloween!
And Happy Birthday to my grandma!!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 