The Big 3-0!

August 17, 2017

It's Jason's 30th birthday!!!

To prepare for his upcoming birthday, Jason made a list of 30 things to do before turning 30. He finished the list last night. A few of the things he did:

Get a humanist and solidarity tattoo:

Go to a speakeasy and try Pappy:

Take a motorcycle class:

Get a neck shave at a barber shop:

He also checked off other accomplishments: have a blacksmithing experience, learn to weld, complete a pub crawl, go to a wine tasting, smoke some meat, try Ethiopian food... to name a few. Now completing his list, he's ready for another decade of his life.

Jason started his birthday by going to work. I picked up Which Wich for lunch and came home to eat with him. I also got these beautiful flowers:

After work, I came home and made his birthday cake while he finished working. Once done, we headed off to Ri Ra for his birthday dinner. We ordered corndogs for an appetizer:

Jason with his sliders:

Me with my corned beef and cabbage:

After dinner, we headed home. This is the Strawberry Matcha birthday cake I made for him:

He didn't know it, but the candles were sparkler candles. I wanted something special for his 30th birthday.

He had a little trouble getting that last one to blow out. At first he thought they were trick candles!

Jason said it was delicious!

Happy birthday, love!!

Release the Hounds

July 15, 2017

Today we're heading home. We purposefully scheduled our flight a little later in the morning so we could have breakfast before leaving Seattle. The airline, however, had other plans. They decided to change our flight time to "Dear god! No one should ever get up this early!" Luckily, Jason decided to double check our flight times the night before we left. So, we were able to successfully leave Seattle on time.

We checked out of the hotel, got in the taxi, and made our way to the airport. The line for TSA security check-in was ridiculously long. Both Jason and I thought we were going to miss our flight because of the line. While standing in a sea of people, a few TSA agents were helping guide people through security. The one helping us was pretty entertaining. He was from "the country" but moved to Seattle with his wife for work. He said, "We're going to do what's called 'bringing the dogs out.' " In case you can't crack this code, it means they release the dogs to sniff your suitcase for drugs. The TSA guy was right-- as soon as the dogs were released, the lines drastically improved. I guess dogs are more efficient to find drugs than their fancy, ridiculously expensive, "Top security" machines. Anyway... we made it on the plane just in time.

Jason and I did what we usually do on planes: watch tv and read books. Oh, and I'm also trying not to have a panic attack from dying. I always end up laughing at myself when the plane ride is over because I'm clutching onto the bottom of my seat as though I can control the plane this way!

Finally home:

Peanut and Fred cuddles (Fred moved too quickly to get pics. Peanuts almost did, too!)

The Water's Edge

July 14, 2017

Early mornings are meant for rest, cuddling, and daydreaming, which is exactly how this particular morning began. Jason and I planned our exciting day from the comfort of our soft, fluffy hotel bed. Today we would return to Pike Place Market. Although we caught a glimpse of it yesterday, it was not enough to satisfy our curiosity.

After forcing ourselves out of bed, we dressed and made our way out into the city sidewalks. We used our phones to guide us back to Pike Place Market. We heard of a restaurant called Bitch Biscuits, which we planned to learn more about during breakfast. Unfortunately, we had some difficulty finding it. As the rumbling of our stomachs grew more intense, we settled on discovering a breakfast spot further into the market. Jason and I very carefully walked down a rather steep street to get to the water's edge. Soon the aroma of freshly baked pastries led us to a charming spot called Piroshky Piroshky. Although the line was out the door, we knew the smell of freshly baked bread and cheese would help to withstand our hunger. It was worth the wait. Below are pictures of our breakfast and the restaurant:

Once selecting our pastries, we needed to find a place to sit down and enjoy our meal. Although there wasn't seating in the restaurant, we stumbled upon a few small, stone tables in an alley behind some shops. As we sat down to eat, a group of tourists and a guide appeared in the entrance to the alley. We quietly observed as they made their way to the remaining tables behind us. The guide slipped into the back entrance of a Chinese restaurant adjacent to the alley. He soon returned to his group with small plates of delicious-looking food. Jason and I eavesdropped on their tour as we ate our scrumptious pastries. Below is a picture of Jason enjoying the food and entertainment:

After eating, we went exploring. Pike Place was far bigger than we ever imagined! The entire street running parallel to the water's edge was filled with shops, tents, and restaurants. We weaved our way through the crowds as we browsed the flower stands and fresh produce:

We decided to purchase our very first Washington Apple. We were pretty pleased with the result:

Finally, we found the clock:

Being quite the introverts, Jason and I quickly grew tired of the crowds. We decided to find a quiet spot to rest and regroup. We ended up on the top of a building overlooking the beautiful water:

Once regrouping, we decided it was time to make some small purchases:

As a special surprise, a new friend of ours messaged us and invited us to lunch at Pike Place. We happily accepted and agreed to meet at the clock. The three of us then headed over to Saffron Spice for lunch:

The three of us found a nice little area where we could eat and talk. It was such a nice surprise!

After saying goodbye, Jason and I returned to the market. We left no shop unturned. We visited everything there was to see and even enjoyed some tea and crumpets along the way:

Jason pointed out a yarn shop nearby, where I quickly snagged this item up:

Next to the yarn shop we found a kitchen shop, where I made an impulse buy on a little scrubber ducky:

We spent the whole day at the market! Our feet were killing us by the time we left. We returned to the hotel to relax and put away our new purchases.

Around dinner time, we walked next door to a 1950s style dinner named Dick's Drive-In. Jason and I split a small burger and fry:

We then returned to the hotel and relaxed for a while. At the very end of the day, we realized we were still really hungry from all that walking. So, we decided to get a late snack and some drinks. Below is Jason with his flight of beer:

Our mini corndogs:

Below is a picture of the beer menu that shows what beers Jason had in his flight:

It's difficult to remember the name of the restaurant-- I'm not even sure they had a name. All I remember is this picture of a hammerhead drinking. I thought it was pretty funny:

On the way back, Jason caught a glimpse of this dick in a random window:

We then called it a night and went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we would have to say goodbye to Seattle.

Monkeys, Spice, and Everything Nice

July 13, 2017
    This morning we both awoke naturally and completely relaxed. We have been on go for a long time and this trip did the trick. My (Jason) newly found cousin had mentioned knowing a few people in Seattle and suggested we take a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island. Before taking such an arduous journey we decided that it would be a good idea to take a shower, get dressed and find some place in town to grab breakfast. We stopped at a place named Cafe Mecca. This place has been around for quite a while, in fact the slogan of the restaurant is "Alcoholics serving alcoholics." I ordered Eggs Benedict and DaNae ordered hashbrowns, eggs, and toast.

    I still felt sluggish from all of the rest and relaxation the night before so we decided that I should get some coffee. My appetite got the better of me and I picked up a brownie with my iced coffee.

    The next ferry wasn't going to leave for a bit so we decided to walk down to pike place market. We had heard that this place was critical to see so we made it a point to head over. It was fantastic. Below you can see the sign for the market "entrance."

    We found a really fun place called "Ye Olde Curiousity Shop." They had strange oddities in the back and also fun things like unicorn hand puppets. DaNae and I were messing around with the puppets and the shop keeper came by and exclaimed "Awww. Unicorn love!"

The next few shots are the view of the water visible from Pike Place Market

After Pike place market we scurried back to the area where the ferry was set to leave. We purchased tickets from the gate and headed down the path to board the ferry. It was a little colder there and things are always colder on moving boats so I bought a jacket at a store beforehand.

    The ferry was a really fun ride and we loved the view. We were almost a little upset when it was time to disembark. But then I remembered a place to eat right near the center of town that my cousin had mentioned. She suggested that we stop at streamliner and get a chili omelet. They didn't have the chili omelet on the menu but we asked them and they made it happen for us. It was large and it was delicious.

    When walking downtown we found this chalk message written on the ground, I wholeheartedly agree with the artist.

We found a store that sold things that looked like this leather-face clockwork murderer.

Here is a cool tree that we saw.

    Bainbridge Island offers an art museum with free admission, here are some of the works:

    Wizard monkey:

    Pessimistic spice:

After the whirlwind tour of the art museum, we stopped and did a wine tasting because it seemed like a really fun thing to do.

    I think you were supposed to spit the wine since you get about 6 half glasses full but I don't live my life that way.

    After that we stopped into a cool toy store. Our friend Pusheen is hanging out on the top shelf.

    Sloths are cute, that is all:

    DaNae found this really creepy bird mask and decided to torture me with it:

    After exploring the island a bit more and walking 2 miles away from the center of town into a residential area we decided it was probably time to turn back around and do some more fun things in the city. Here we are on the ferry ride back:

    We returned to the Pike Place market area and decided that it would be fun to get in the massive ferris wheel that has popped up in the background of other photos. My favorite part about the ferris wheel is that occasionally we could see and wave at the people in the car behind us. Two college aged girls waved at us first and we continued waving back each time.

View of the city from the ferris wheel car:

    Once off of the ferris wheel we decided to visit the aquarium. Honestly from the outside I did not have high hopes, and since we have one of the best aquariums here in Atlanta I went in with lowered expectations. As soon as we entered we were greeted by a starfish waving at us:

They had some really creepy prehistoric looking guys in here:

    This is what I would look like if I were a jellyfish instead of a human:

Right beside the jellyfish display was an actual arch with live jelly fish floating freely all around you separated by glass of course:

    Off to the left of the jelly fish we ran into this super cool octopus. I made eye contact with it for a moment and got a little freaked out/excited.

    Here  are some photos of the other fish that we came across:

  After walking a little further we found a seal swimming around and having a great time:

  We were able to walk to the upper part of the tank and see them swimming and even sunbathing, these things remind me so much of my cats:

  It might be hard to believe but we were actually starting to get fairly hungry so we decided to go to a seafood place near the water:

For an appetizer we got an order of free crabcakes:

DaNae ordered clam chowder:

I went all out and ordered the grilled salmon with rice and bok choy.

On the way back to the hotel we found a couple of really cool manhole covers that we wanted to remember:

   Since we were unable to make it to the Space Needle the night before and we were quickly running out of time, we decided to make it happen today. We made it all the way to the top and you wouldn't believe your eyes:

That's all you get from the Space needle, sorry!

We headed back and passed this really cool fountain again:

We also really liked this bit of artwork in the courtyard of an office building:

After all of this fun and excitement we decided to go back to the hotel for some much needed rest and the chance to get off of our feet. It was a fantastic day full of adventure and excitement. I'll never forget the opportunity to do so many cool things in one day!