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.

the goose loves easter

Now that it's been a week since Easter, it's probably a good time for a short recap, right?

When we were little, Easter was a big deal. We had the dresses, the white tights, the white shoes, the coloring of eggs, and the Easter baskets with candy. Lots of candy. And then a whole week off of school.

These days, in our inbetweener years (we aren't kids, and we don't have any kids), Easter is less of a big deal. We don't even get Good Friday off of work. Heathens.

But we did a little celebrating anyway, starting with a few cards for family. My parents got the one that says "Isn't God Amazing?" on front. :) 

 And I took this opportunity to use the free dog-themed address labels I got in the mail. I should probably send the Guide Dogs for the Blind some money now... 

 And we got a lovely egg-shaped card from Holly and Daryl, Billy's aunt and uncle! They're super sweet. 

As we did last year, we drove up to Seattle on Friday night and came back on Sunday afternoon. Once Billy returned from his drum competition in Canada, we cooked up an Easter feast. We picked out the smallest ham we could find, which turned out to be 8.5lbs for four of us - not too bad. 

And some candy, of course. Not exactly the spread from our youth, but we're also not quite burning off the sugar and fat like we could in our younger days. :)

 We made deviled eggs, too. Yummm.

 Along with our eggs and ham, we had asparagus, scallopped potatoes, and rolls.

Here's the whole spread.

On Monday (back in Portland), we decided to have some fun family time and throw Bentley an easter egg hunt. Yes, for the dog. Here's all the eggs (24 of them!), each filled with a dog treat or a few pieces of kibble.

We "hid" them around the house in fairly obvious places, all at dog-height. 

 Two made it into Moose's orifices.

 And one in the couch.

 Oh and one in SharkBait's chewed-up head cavity. 

 As you probably guessed, Bentley didn't really get it. For being a beagle with a "super" nose, he's not really good at smelling out treats. We pointed the first few out to him, and made a big deal of giving him the treat in the eggs he found, but he didn't get the idea of looking for more eggs.

Like at this point. He had just found the egg in SharkBait, but couldn't find the purple egg literally in front of his nose. He's waiting for me to help him. 

 And when I don't point it out, he gives up. 

Look Ma, no hands paws!

This one, though, he got. Look at that blur heading toward the egg! 

 He eventually found all of them, even though he spent most of the time going back to the places he already found eggs, expecting new ones to pop up there, I guess! 

Egg hunts are probably more fun with kids. And chocolate. But that'll have to wait a few more years, still.

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#7)

Well, friends, I've done it again. I've managed to post nothing for a whole week, and I haven't even been able to have a timely Tuesday post. But we'll pretend it's Tuesday instead of Wednesday and get to the good stuff.

"Today" is Tuesday, April 10th, and so I have Ten Tuesday Things on the Tenth for you! Yay alliteration.

1. Last Friday was Good Friday, and here is what made it good.



Shrimp Po'Boy at Miss Delta



I know that Good Friday is about reflection and quiet time and understanding the weight of the day - and don't worry. I did that all day. Work was busy and stressful and we were working hard. I was reflecting on strength and patience and sacrifice!

So then, by the end of the day, it was time to spend a few peaceful moments with the one I love over a tasty meal. And that's just what we did.

2. After driving up to Seattle on Friday night, I hung out with Monika while Billy went to Canada for a drum competition. Mon & I went to her friend's baby shower, and we wrapped up two onesies (one is below) and a little clutch/diaper case/pouch for the soon-to-be-mom-of-two.

3. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, we walked Greenlake - a three-mile path surrounding a giant manmade lake in Seattle. The weather was gorgeously sunny, so we soaked up the rays and enjoyed the fresh air.

4. And it was Easter! So we said goodbye to Lent and ordered ourselves some delicious coffees - a latte for me and a (soy) mocha for Billy! Mmm lattes never tasted soooo good. (We got the regular 16 oz, even though I did talk earlier about getting a super-grande 64-oz-er...)

5. Here's your Easter post teaser - we celebrated with Monika on Sunday, and then had a little extra fun on Monday with the dog... details coming soon. 

 6. While Billy was still in Canada, Bents and I took a walk through Carkeek Park, a nice trail near Monika's house. LOVE the sun. 

I tried to get the dog to get up on the rock and lay down so I could photograph him, but he was way too interested in the bird/squirrel/leaf/stream noises to sit still. 

And why wouldn't I try again when we got to the field of daisies? 

 7. While I took pictures of the dog hung out in Seattle, Billy met his band in Vancouver, BC for the first competition of the season. He looked a little bit like this. Click here for his performance!

 8. One of these days, I'm going to get crafty again. And one of my first projects will be turning these beads into a gorgeous necklace for work. I'll add it to my long list of weekend projects.

 9. I made more cookies. Billy is a spoiled lucky boy! 

 10. Finally! Remember when I got that spraypaint (#10)? Well, here's the results! Spraypainted hampers. Those suckers used to be plain-old-ugly white. And now they're gorgeous!

I covered them with a layer of primer first, to make sure the paint wouldn't flake off. I covered the insides with plastic and newspaper to keep the paint only on the outside, and that worked well. I also let each of them dry for at least a week in the garage so they fully set. Oh and there's Billy's teddy and the art I made awhile ago that's waiting to go on the wall... 

So there you have it - another ten down for Tuesday. And I promise - food and Easter and Bentley posts coming soon!

the goose loves pike's

A week ago, Billy had a pipe band competition in Bellingham, WA (about 2 hours north of Seattle). Wanting a buddy for the drive up, he convinced me to come along and stay at my sister's in Seattle while he was competing. They ended up winning the competition (maybe by default, since no other band showed up in his division) so we went out that night to celebrate.

We went to downtown Seattle and ate at Pike's Brewery. Here I am with their gigantic menu.
And peeking over the top of it, once I decided I was going to get the Kiltlifter Mac n Cheese.

And some "fashion" shots...

This one is for my mom... the more modest version ;). (Mom - don't look above).

And my cute husband.

Mmmmm... and our food! Here's my mac n cheese:

And Billy enjoyed some delicious fish n chips.

It was a fun evening, and nice to hang out and chat together.