the goose loves tuesday's ten (seattle style!) (#14)

What is full of rain, inhabited by seahawks and mariners, and 180 miles away?

Seattle!

Billy and I drove up to Seattle on Friday night for the weekend - he had a pipe band competition, I had a conference there on Monday/Tuesday, and we figured we could visit Monika while we were there.

1. While Billy was at his pipe band competition on Saturday, Monika and I had a girls day! We had indian food for lunch (SO GOOD!) and when she ordered a vodka seven, they brought her a glass with vodka and a glass with 7-Up, separately. She mixed them in her mouth instead.

2. We then went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company showing of Coppelia, which is about two lovers and a doll maker. Sounds weird, yeah. But it was good. And our cousin's cousin was one of the dancers!

3. No girls outing is complete without getting pedicures. Thank you, Monika, for treating me!

4. That evening, Monika went babysitting and Billy was still in Bellingham for the competition, so I took the dog for a looooong walk. After spending the first hour sniffing/peeing/trampling nature, he found a stick. And at that point, it was full-speed ahead. Despite passing two dogs and a bunch of people, he sped right along, gripping the stick with all his might. I was practically running to keep up with his pace.

Here's the end goal: a nice long stick-chew session.

5. Once he got over the stick, he decided to attack the fence, which borders the sidewalk of a busy street. Anytime he heard cars or people go by (i.e. always), he'd run up and down the fence, barking/howling, and then would start jumping up, even though he was at least 4 feet too short to actually get anywhere. It took me probably 34 pictures, but I finally got a mid-air leap.

6. Then Billy came home in all his Scottish finery. Loving that skirt kilt!

7. After some delicious crepe action in the morning (thanks, Monika - your crepe pan rocks!), we drove out to Redmond, WA (about 30 min east) for some picnic action.

8. Our next destination (less than a mile from the park) was the Mac and Jack's Brewery, which is famous for theirfrican Amber. It's just a brewery and small shop - no food - but the free tour was pretty sweet. And free.

The tour comes with a free pint glass and four taster tickets, so we walked out with two pint glasses to add to our collections and about a pint of beer (in separate tastes). The amber is delicious, the IPA, not so much. And it was all so worth the price of free.

9. Then Billy took off for Portland with the dog, and left me with the devil my sister, who would take me to my conference that night. But first, we made a very important dinner-delivery stop to Monika's friends Jess and Tyler, who just had the most adorable little baby (besides Brennan!) last Tuesday. Here's little Easton James:

Happy 1-Week Birthday, Easton! You are too cute.

(See that UP onesie? Yeah, I totally made that. Earned me baby-holding rights for at least 25 minutes, which was awesome.)

10. Then it was off to a two-day National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) conference for me. Complete with really unnecessary cool swag. Just wait til I show you my poncho-holder.

11. (What?! Eleven?! Yes - this makes up for me only giving you 19 last week...)

The sun-setting on Seattle, as seen from my hotel room on Monday night.

Thanks, Seattle - you were a good trip.