Snow Descended

Check out this awesome photo that Todd Heckel captured on his flight back in to Seattle last week...

via QueenAnneView.

Seattle's Next Top Mansion

You Guys! Don't miss this opportunity to weigh in on your favorite manse, brought to you by Seattle Met - now, I think their lack of info on these residences means they want you to buy the issue to see all the groovy pictures, but I decided that myself and all of you are very educated on mansions, and we are frankly overqualified to judge. I did find this little slideshow online...vote for your favorite!

It's That Time of Year

The New Year is one of my favorite holidays for many reasons (fireworks! food!) but I love it most of all because of the fresh start. It's a chance to wipe the slate clean, look back on a productive year and start over with endless possibilities in a new year.

Time for some goals.

My 2012 Resolutions:
* Lose 10 lbs. I know, I'm seriously over this goal. But just 10 more till the ultimate finish line and I think I can do it.
* Be present (hello, Wedding Day - I'm looking at you).
* Get organized. As in, purge all the junk we've collected over the years and organize our home.
* Do more stuff. I feel like I was so distracted in '11 that I didn't do hardly any of the travel/day trips, or seasonal fun things that I like to do.

How'd I do on those 2011 Resolutions?
* Lose 20 (*more, again!*) lbs. - Dude this is getting old. I did 10/20 of this, and am calling that good.
* Practice being grateful and appreciative of everything I have - am grateful as hell! But I could stand to do this more regularly.
* Strive for productivity more than perfection. - um yeah, a lot of stuff fell by the wayside, and that's a good thing.
* Get a job that is at least somewhat enjoyable or fullfilling. - WOAH! I didn't think this one would happen but it did!!! Again, grateful as hell.

So...what are YOUR 2012 Resolutions? Everyone ready for Sober January?

Champagne tower...achievable?

Betty and Don...supposedly coming back in 2012...why do I want them together? I mean, I don't, they're both awful. But I do? I'm so confused.

Nowhere I'd rather celebrate than Seattle...

Neat!

Speaking of Tree Takeovers...look like this tree got taken over by a human! What is this? I have no idea, but Pearl and I encountered it on our walk today. I think it's art...I mean, it has to be, it's so cool!

Easy Peasy Pizza

It's officially Fall which means it's officially ok to use the oven again. Yay easy pizza dinner!

I had this carmelized onion balsamic spread for a rainy day entertaining back-up, but decided to use it as the base of a goat cheese pizza. It was brilliant!

Seriously, I'm buying this stuff again. Layered it on TJ's ww pizza dough, with shredded chicken, red onion, spinach, goat cheese and herbs.

I also wanted to show you guys the pretty Fall flowers we got from the QA Farmer's Market last week. Love that place, wish they held it every day.

:)

Hot Manse Alert!

Well, I couldn't let this one go by without a blog post.

Check out the Most expensive Capitol Hill home to date! $11.2 Million MYSTERY MANSION:

"Magnificent Georgian-style home with beautiful grounds and sweeping western views. Designed by Carl Gould, completed in 1912, meticulously updated. Gated entry with circular drive and porte cochere. Grand scale rooms with exquisite millwork, walnut floors and high ceilings. Elegant formals; paneled library; kitchen with marble counters and top-notch appliances; cozy den; sunroom; 5 bedrooms; 8½ baths; 7 fireplaces; 2 offices; media room; stone terrace; 2-level lawn; spa; elevator; 2 garages."

Seriously, look at this kickass VERANDA - I would die to have a party on this terrace. Amazeballs!

Not so square, Pioneer Square!

My loyal blog-material-provider and friend Josiane sent me this awesome post - since I haven't been down to Pioneer Square in a while, I didn't even know about these!

She says: "They are these trees in Pioneer Square that look like they are wearing knitted sweaters, or mittens or socks, depending on how you look at them. They usually look like sweaters or socks to me. Anyway, it’s totally cute and I see them every day on my way to work."

I would love to see these every day on my way to work! I mean, if I went to work! BAH. Ok, every day on my way to school...I do still leave the house, on occasion ;) {Knitted by Susan Tidwell, full post on UrbanResearch}

Hangin' Around the 'Hood

I haven't been the best blogger lately. It's a bummer because I love chatting with You Guys! But for right now blogging is still just a hobby, and I've got to stay the course for my "career transformation" path - this is mostly what I've been doing lately, Stylin' with CSS, and a cocktail (not usually with a cocktail):

That fancy glass is from Keene's uncle Kim - what an awesome gift, right? They were his graduation from law school present. We are making good use out of them! Classin' up the every day :)

I've also been spending a lot of time with this fool:

She needs lots of walks. Thankfully, we don't mind walking around our neighborhood one bit.

This is along the little "promenade" that some Queen Anne residents made sure was built back in the day. So grateful to those folks!

And then this is what The Pearl does intermittently for the whole walk:

She is just very curious. She also likes the view.

That there's your Magnolia off to the right...

And then there's all the mansions to look at. For example: this person's house. What if THAT was your view from your backyard???

Oh, and I can't believe it took six months for us to discover THE MANSION TO END ALL MANSIONS. This thing takes up the entire block!!! We never noticed it before because it's all surrounded in bushes. CRAZY.

This is what I imagine "Pearl's World" to be like:

Do you think she has any idea she pees in one of the nicest viewpoints in the city every day?

Yeah, probably not. Well, at least I can enjoy it's fabulousness!

6 Months+...time flies!

I cannot believe we've already been engaged 6 months! It's been fantastic and we decided to celebrate by going back to the Athenian, where we had breakfast on our first official morning of being engaged. :) What a gorgeous day for it too! When we went back this time, we got seated in almost the same exact booth! Meant to be :)

Love this place. A bit undiscovered still, weird, right?

Breakfast with this guy = awesome.

almost same booth!

The view - fantastic!

smoked salmon omelette

crab cake benedict

We also picked up some flowers from the market.

and some sweet peas!

Yay for the weekend :)

Chance of Sun, Clouds & Showers

How are we liking this lovely May weather, Y'all?! Ok it's about to be June and if we don't get some dryer, warmer weather I'm gonna go ape$#!t and buy a bunch of outdoor heaters and install an overhang to totally enclose our backyard. Because there is NO WAY I'm missing out on all the bbq to be had this Summer.

We literally dusted off our grill to use for the first time since over a year ago. SAD! But anyway, we went to fancy pants A&J Meats and got this Maui marinated flank steak and Garlic Shrimp and dayum, it was real good:

Alright. Time to stop by the pet store. I'm on the hunt for a medium-sized doggie raincoat for this fool:

No joke. She needs a raincoat.

Tulips: You gotta want 'em

We took a 7 hour trip to Mt. Vernon yesterday in the gorgeous sunshine to visit the Tulip fields. Unfortunately, so did everyone else in the PNW. Oh well! We drove and extra few hours finding the back ways. We also had an awesome lunch at Skagit Valley Brewery - hollah.

Taking the obligatory Tulip Field photos:

Of course they were LOVELY. But we learned that we didn't need to stop at Roozengarde and wait in line to pay $5 while I worried that our new dog would perish in our hot car (dogs weren't allowed) because just a few blocks further you can just pull over and look at the tulip fields. Live and learn! It was still a beautiful day. Next time we go we'll be much more prepared :)

SPRING - bring it on

Yesterday our peek-a-boo mountain view was out in full force.

See 'em back there? If you walk about 3 blocks thataway you can see them ALL and they look about 10x larger on a sunny day than on any other day.

SO ready for Spring. Right?!

Day-Before Valentine's Day Day

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year, we did our celebratin' on Sunday! My fiance was very forward-thinking and got tickets to PNB's Cinderella. I was so excited! It was really magical. Seriously, at the end, there is glitter raining from the ceiling on them "happily ever after". So pretty. Watching ballet is like watching the Olympics - I can never believe the stuff these dancers can do. The sets and costumes were really gorgeous as well.

Here we are, having arrived plenty early to drink our VERY tall glasses of wine before the show.

You can't tell but I was wearing a red dress. OMG you guys people are so SEATTLE about this stuff. I spotted way too many jeans in attendance. Ugh. The scarf I'm wearing was a gift from my Aunt when I was about 16. I've worn it to many dressy functions and I loved wearing it to this because she took me to the Opera many years ago and it's a special memory. Keene is wearing a tie I got him for Christmas that I really like! It's subtle grey on charcoal stripes.

Just like last year, we made dinner at home, because Valentine's weekend is really not the best time to go out to dinner anyway! Pre fixe menus, crowds, etc. I couldn't find heart-shaped ravioli but we got some great tortellini and heart-shaped crab cakes all which were awesome from Metropolitan Market. And of course, Sangiovese, one of my favorite types of wine.

Happy Valentines Day to all my blog readers! Heart you guys! :)