List & Comment Friday: Places I'd Like to Visit

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections." - {via RD}

I suppose y'all are expecting a List & Comment Friday now, arent'cha?
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Places I'd Like to Go to Some Day or Again, in no particular order:
Spain (of course, meet Annie there)
Paris Switzerland/Austria (ride on one of those mountain transport thingies)
Southern Germany (Oktoberfest, duh)
Alaska (the cruise, watch whales)
Caribbean
Italy (cooking trip!)
Ireland
Wine Country
Disneyland
New Orleans
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Y'know, just to name a few, off the top of my head. Ok so where are the top 3 places you'd like to visit, right now?

Barely pulling this post together...

Some more pics from the trip!
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Sign that made me break out laughing in it's hilarity
(baha! conservation! Sooo not an East Coast concept),
and me at the LOVE Cirque show.


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The vast wasteland of Las Vegas suburbs (this lot is literally,
right next to a giant shopping center. Empty space? Wierd).

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Some San Fran airport art (I think it was cooler in person).

Check it out: It's something with Gouda

A good pasta salad side that I made for our party in DC. Smoked Gouda with Penne and Arugula Salad - yum! I think next time I might try it with spinach though. Also: I made two whole boxes of penne and that was of course ridiculous. You only need one. Less penne makes the gouda/otherstuff ratio much better. {directions on RecipeMogul}

Whew! Another Full Week.

Wow, blogging is suddenly difficult when:

1.) You do not have a computer.
2.) You are very busy and important doing things like dining al fresco on rooftops.

Liz and I came up with this lovely wine & cheese platter on the fly and holy hell it totally hit the spot.

This is the view from Josiane's apartment deck - so awesome. Thanks for letting me housesit, gurl!

Also, coming home = tons of good times and I really want to do nothing but just hang out with everyone. On rooftops.

I'm BACK You Guys!

Whew! What a week. We packed up 3 months of our STUFF, handed over our apartment keys to some strangers for the summer, and got everything to Seattle with a lil' pit-stop in Sin City.

I had such a blast in Vegas. Maybe it had something to do with this thing Seattle folk haven't heard of - it's called "the sun", and it makes you happy! You know what else makes you happy? Babies. That's right. Especially brand new ones that belong to your good friends.

So I'd like you to meet the first lil' miss of our favorite people, Miss Dalia! Isn't she adorable? She is a very funny little girl who makes grumpy face and is either "concerned" or "indifferent" at all times. I did get to see some of her beautiful smiles though! We had many adventures all over the glorious suburb of Las Vegas called, "Sommerlin."

Later on in the week Auntie Mansionmogul met up with Dahlia's other Fun Aunties and we had some classy martinis in a beer pong bar and snuck into the Wynn pool to have mai tais among the trophy wives.

What a blast! Thank you to the locals who made it all possible. Now I'm in the land of evergreen trees and northface jackets. Also a land where I have a C-A-R to drive. Yay Summer!

List & Comment Friday

In contrast to last week....

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Things That Make Me Happy, and That I Think Make Other People Happy Too:

Sparklers/Fireworks/Cannonball

Seafair Pirates

Making the perfect smore

Hearing my honey's keys in the door

Turkish donner kebabs

Not waking up to an alarm

Laughing until you cry and/or pee a little

Brunch and good coffee

Discovering a good new recipe

Stadium hot dogs

Big band music

Hearing the owl in our neighborhood "hoot hoot"

Smell of fresh cut grass

Waterballoon fights

Bar-be-ques

Lavender

Wind chimes
Trains in the distance
Otter pops
Flying over Seattle on the way home

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So what things make you guys happy?

Update from the West Coast

Hey y'all! I made it to good ole Las Vegas in one piece! In fact, it was probably the best flight I've ever had, since I miraculously slept for 4 hours straight. Nothing like waking up to, "we'll be on the ground in Las Vegas in 22 minutes".

Anyway, thought I'd share another one of my easy, go-to recipes for Pizza. It's really simple, just grab some pilsbury pizza dough and lay it out, top with olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper. Then add whatever sauce and toppings you're into - tada! Superfast pizza.

List & Comment Friday

Hey everybody, it's List & Comment Friday! Today's list is stolen from a quiz Wendi posted on Facebook: "Top Things I Hate That Everyone Else Seems to Like." I started it on FB but there are just SO many more!
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Things I am Not a Fan of, That Everyone Else Cannot Get Enough of:

Black Beans
French Pedicures
Hiking
Reading for Fun
Group Gifts
Julia Roberts
Cats
Sci Fi
The Matrix/Lord of the Rings/X-Men
Hondas
Landscape Paintings
Tevas
Girl Scout Cookies
Cereal
Updos
Family Guy
West Seattle
La Carta de Oaxaca
Slot Machines
"Beach Theme" interior

....Now Your Turn!
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PS. "animals with eyepatches" artwork by Brock Davis.
{via ShareSomeCandy}

AOTD

A bit sad, a bit refreshing, a photo series by Brian Ulrich,
"Stores That Are No More." {via Swissmiss}
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An old fave...Stacked Rocks by Benny. Walking by one of these on my morning coffee jaunt in Fremont was always a delight.
{via Fremont Universe}
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High art discovered on the streets of Baltimore.
{via ShareSomeCandy}
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Gorgeous stuff from Fernando Chamarelli. Reminds me a bit of the beautiful illustrations my gal Molly Murphy just did, only hers are more fabulous!
{via WoosterCollective}
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Another book sculpture I'm posting and dedicating to Josiane. It's by artist Alicia Martín, is made entirely of bigraphies, and oh yeah, it's in Spain. {via Craftzine}

I *ROCKED* this Stir-Fry

You guys, this was my first ever successful Stir-Fry! Usually I time the ingredients all wrong and half of the veggies get soggy. I win at stir-fry! Keene would disagree but it might be even better cold the next day. Seriously. {directions on RecipeMogul}

OMG I love Wisteria

Just another thing I can't get enough of - have you ever seen wisteria in bloom all twisted and creeping up the facade of a rowhouse? It's absolutely gorgeous. If *my future house* is brick I'm gonna go ahead and ruin that mortar and plant a bunch of wisteria all over it.
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Oh, just some random things...

Greatest idea ever: innovative company Rafinesse Tristesse has recycled olive tins into adorable play "frizzle sizzle" ovens and "splish splash" sinks for kids. This is genius! Companies should really take note and start designing products whose packaging could be turned into cute other-use products afterwards. Would take the refrigerator box to a whole new level. {via Craftzine}

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A fabulous excuse to plan a cross-country road trip: the 50 States, 50 Burgers Map. *note to self and bf: not allowed to return to DC until we've tried the "dork" burger (40% duck, 40% pork, 20% "secret") from Lunchbox Laboratory .
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Lookout, Butterstick, there's a new baby in town, and he's cuter than you (in my opinion). "Cyrano", a giant anteater, is the newest Smithsonian National Zoo baby and you can check him out along with his other cute zoo-mates, the new clouded leopard cubs, on the zoo's flickr stream. ADORABLE!
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How about some Google Maps typography? {via SM}
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And well, well, well...lookie who's back this Spring...it's Phantom Tree!

List & Comment Friday: Tourist Stuff in Your City

Back by popular demand...it's List & Comment Friday! It also means I'm gonna make a mean Raspberry Sparkler tonight and chill out :)

So as I get myself ready to temporarily be a Seattlite again for the next 3 months, I look back on how DC's been so far. And I took a peek at my "List of Things To Do in DC" that I made before we got here, and I was quite pleased to see I actually haven't done too shabby!

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Things I've Done in DC:
Put together that giant puzzle Annie gave me.
Had a popcorn & movie night at home.
Cooked & baked my ass off.
Specifically, made: spaghetti sauce & pesto to freeze, beets, and a ton more!
Went to a Yelp event, and reviewed restaurants.
Volunteered (ok, barely. One afternoon helped Glenda).
Made some crafts.
Planted seeds.
Framed some of our art.
Found some fun new music (always need more).
Bought Christmas gifts early.
Went to a Nationals game.
Visited Shannon in NY.
Went on the Double Decker Bus Tour.
Took the Capital Tour.
Went to see Lincoln and the Washington Monument.
Attended Inauguration '09.
Went to the Newseum.
Saw the Spite House.

...but there's still a good list of things to do when I get back to DC!
Cook & bake ass off, specifically: jam, applesauce, spice mixes, pickles, herb butter, casseroles, make & freeze dough for cookies & pies.
Go skating at the National Gallery Ice Rink.
Take a Dance Class.
Volunteer some more.
Get on that frickin' White House Tour.
Have dinner/brunch at The Tabard Inn.
Visit the Zoo and those pandas already.
Buy some DC art from the talented artist guy at Eastern Market.
Go to NY with Keene.
Maybe take a German language class?
Visit Williamsburg, watch some candle makin'.
Definitely go to a Capitals game.
Visit the Maine Ave Fish Market and eat some soft shell crab.
Eat at Gadsby's Tavern, talk to Ben Franklin.
Go through the concourse at the National Gallery of Art and see the light sculpture, Multiverse
Gotta go to Ben's Chilli Bowl and order a half-smoke, along with everyone else, cuz it's famous.
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What are your lists of stuff to do in your city right now? Do you have a destination city coming up with fun things on your agenda?