List & Comment Friday: Weekend Getaways

I know everyone wants to barf when they hear "staycation" because it's cheesy and the news seriously needs to give all these cutesy new recession terms a rest. Still, I have a short
list of places I'd love to go on both coasts that are within a
few hours.

...............................................................................
Weekend Trips I'd Love to Take Right Now:


From Seattle

1. Stay at The Kennedy School, McMenamins, Portland, Oregon
2. Cannon Beach, Oregon
3. A quiet weekend on one of the San Juan Islands
4. Vancouver to see a play/opera/ballet
5. A day on Whidbey

From DC
1. NY again, visit Shannon & see a Broadway show
2. North Carolina Coast, maybe find some good bbq
3. Colonial Williamsburg, VA
...............................................................................

So you guys, any weekend trips you'd like to take?

Hot Mansions

I was all worried about what to post today, but then both Alicia AND Abigail sent me links to some fabulous properties! I think it was a clear sign that I am overdue for a mansion post.

How would you feel about a nice little hobbit manse along the Big Sur coast? {mansion details}

Or how about the "Ultimate Tribecca Townhouse?"
{townhouse details}

Even more fabulous: a French Chateau, complete with stables, hunting lodge and lake. {chateau details}

Beet & Goat Cheese Salad

I really liked this recipe. Note for next time: Let beets fully cool before mixing with goat cheese. That's why mine turned out pink. Also you really only need 2 beets because this makes a ton.
{directions on RecipeMogul}

Pics from my weekend - a delight!

Another sunny (whaa?) weekend in the Northwest. You're welcome, y'all! Guess I brought the sun with me when I got to town.
________________________________________
First off, this little lady and I are best friends right now. This is Mysty. And now that I'm home all day we hang out a lot.
________________________________________
Second, this is Josiane's old apartment building downtown that I encountered the other day and I was like, "omg I have to document this for her". Before she moved we all painted the walls inside her apartment and it looked awesome. I hope the construction guys at least got a laugh out of it before they started tearing down the walls.

And finally, a delightful trip with Dad to go visit my sister Courtney at WWU in Bellingham. So beautiful there! The campus looks even better and I can't believe how gorgeous it is up there.
________________________________________
Here we are at Fiama Burger - so good! Organic junk food is even better than junky junk food.
________________________________________
And another overly complicated recycling system which would only happen in the PNW and I love it.
________________________________________
The Charlie Brown Van!!!

________________________________________
This is going to be Court's new residence. A room with this sound view(!) in a giant manse. My kind of property.

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?
______________________________________________
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
______________________________________________
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!
.....................................................................................................
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.


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

.....................................................................................................
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....

.....................................................................................................

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

.....................................................................................................

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!
..........................................................................................
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!
..........................................................................................
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}
___________________________________________________________
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}
___________________________________________________________
High art discovered on the streets of Baltimore.
{via ShareSomeCandy}
___________________________________________________________
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}
___________________________________________________________
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.
........................................................................................................................................................................................................

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}

_____________________________________________________
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 .
_____________________________________________________
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!
_____________________________________________________
How about some Google Maps typography? {via SM}
_____________________________________________________
And well, well, well...lookie who's back this Spring...it's Phantom Tree!