Well kiddos, it's that time of year again. Time when I take a look back and a look forward, and I realize that the only thing that I am sure of, is that time marches on and thankfully I'm still lucky enough to keep marching along right with it :)
Last year turning twenty/eight seemed like such a big mile stone. It was the definite demarcation that I had reached "Late-Twenties" status. I had dreaded the months and days leading up, until the inevitable happened and I found out that twenty/eight was the absolute best year of my life! So many adventures and opportunities for growth helped me to realize that reaching THIRTY {or any age for that matter} is not a thing to dread, but rather a huge accomplishment of life and longevity. So this year I was actually excited and looking forward to turning twenty/nine. I am looking forward to, and excited to see where twenty/nine takes me and hopefully this year of life is as amazing as last year. And so far, it is definitely starting out that way :)
When I received the invitation for my dear friend Lindsay Kulp's upcoming wedding near Seattle, WA, I was so thrilled to be invited and I knew I couldn't possibly miss my childhood friend/college roomate's wedding! It was also the day after my birthday, so leave it to me to make a double whammy out of a bomb-ass vacation. {{Yes, I said bomb-ass. I'm not 30 yet. I can still use ridiculously immature words if I want to.}}
Seattle has always been a city I'd been dying to visit, and I knew I'd just love it! I've been to Portland a few times and love that city, so I could just imagine Seattle to be similarly amazing. And I was right. After a lovely birthday/sendoff dinner with my friends here in Denver, it was late to bed and early to rise for an 8am flight out of Denver to SeaTac on Thursday April 3rd.
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| Thanks for the lovely birthday din, Denver friends!! |
I should have expected this, because with the exception of last year, it has snowed every.single.year. on my birthday since as far back as I can remember! So it made the early morning commute to DIA a little sketchy. But thankfully my flight was delayed because otherwise I would have missed it. I was beginning to feel a little crummy, like a cold was coming on but I couldn't be bothered with that at a time like this! I settled into my seat, ordered myself a happy birthday bloody-mary and had a nice little nap until we landed.
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| See ya later, snowy Denver! |
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| Welcome to Seattle! |
I was so excited to be in a new city where new adventures were waiting to be had!! As soon as I landed, I made my way to the light rail station and downtown I went! It was a gorgeous morning with clear blue skies, and I was in awe of the Seattle City Skyline with the beautiful Mt. Rainer in the background. I didn't know what to do first, but I knew that coffee was DEFINITELY a must. Although I consider myself to be somewhat of a coffee snob (local cafe's only...), I
had to have a coffee from the original Starbucks! {{When in Seattle...}} That's what I decided I'd do first! As soon as I stepped off the Lightrail, I found a map of the city and got my bearings. When I found the Starbucks on the map {They really ARE on every single block in Seattle...}, I happened to look up and conveniently {accidentally} discovered my hotel was 2 blocks away from the train station! This was perfect. I simply was going to drop off my bags with the bell desk, but the awesome staff at the
Sheraton let me check in early! I had the most lovely room with a view :) After a quick freshen up, I was off!
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| Not a bad view from my hotel room! |
Armed with my downtown map, I quickly and easily found the famous
Pike Place Market. It was an exciting and fun area! It was buzzing with street vendors of all kinds! Beautiful fruits & veggies, the most amazing tulip bundles and flower bouquets I've ever seen, pastries, cheeses, cafes, and of course the fish market! There was so much excitement and buzz to take in! I found the original Starbucks (And quickly understood why the coffee is called Pike Place Roast) and got myself a vanilla latte. (I had to splurge on a flavored latte, since it was my birthday, after all :) I wandered the market and stopped at
Beecher's Cafe where I watched cheese curds being made!
The gray clouds began to move in, and I was admiring the drear and the cool air kissed with the salty smells of the fish. I went out onto the pier and gazed at the water, spent hours wandering and found myself caught in an inevitable Seattle Rain. It would have been lovely and I would have enjoyed it if I weren't plagued by an on-coming cold and I'd been wise enough to bring my rain jacket... I had to walk several blocks back to the hotel and by then I was soaked and officially in full-on-cold-status. I changed into dry clothes, donned my rain jacket, and ventured out one more time to find the Walgreens where I stocked up on cold meds and NyQuil. I cozied up and relaxed in the lobby, caught up on emails and Facebook, (of course). I was feeling really crummy, and it was about 4 in the afternoon when I had resigned myself to the fact that I was about to spend my 29th birthday alone, in a hotel in a new city, and in bed by 7pm. That was until one Sam Woolley called me to say that he was free for the evening and wanted to meet up for dinner at 8:00! I was so thrilled and I took myself up to the room for a nap and more medicine, and I was good to go.
At 8 on the dot, I stepped off the elevator into the lobby and was greeted by that same sweet smile that I remember so well from high school. Sam was my date to my senior year prom exactly 11 years ago. Ten years had gone by since the last time I had seen this guy and it was like no time at all as we caught up on laughter and hugs. We walked around the city and Sam took me to
Sitka & Spruce, an amazing little restaurant which neighbored a wine bar, flower shop, and a butcher shop all tucked away into a warehouse that I would have never even known existed. I'm sure this is definitely one of Seattle's better kept secrets :) As soon as we were seated, Sam exclaimed to the hostess, "It's her birthday, we need something Pink & Bubbly!" I'm just going to say that that set the tone for the best birthday party of two I've ever had. It was an exquisite multi-courese meal complete with dessert as we leisurely dined and caught up over where life had taken us since our Lamar days. It was such a pleasure to catch up with an old dear friend and I'm happy to see that he's still that same cheeky boy, yet see what a fine man he's become and what an amazing job he's done with life thus far. I'm so proud of you, Sam! Keep on being amazing. Needless to say, it was the best birthday dinner I've ever had and I insist that we not let another 11 years pass until our next date :) And to think that just when I had resigned myself to the fact that I would spend my birthday alone in a hotel, drugged up on NyQuil and in bed by 7, Sam Woolley was the perfect white knight on the horse who saved the day! This is one of my favorite stories, ever :)
Friday morning it was up and at 'em with another day of adventure to be had! It was another glorious Blue-bird day, but I was sure not to leave the hotel without my rain jacket :) I wandered around looking for a place for breakfast and settled on a place called
The Biscuit Bi*ch because why not? It was seriously the best biscuit and gravy breakfast I've ever had! Highly recommend it :) It was nice to walk it off as I found my way to the Space Needle. I was so thankful for the beautiful clear day as I made my way 520 feet to the top of the city. The 360degree views were breathtaking! The water that surrounds the city was so sparkly, and I felt so small on top of the world. I chatted with other visitors and eventually made my way down, but not before getting my ultimate touristic photo :)
Next I went to the
EMP Museum, also known as the Jimi Hendrix museum. This interactive gallery was so fun to spend time in! It featured Seattle's own Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, a horror film exhibit, and my favorite, the Block by Block Lego exhibit of several of the worlds tallest and architecturally fascinating buildings. It was indeed a good day.
The sun was shining so brilliantly, I enjoyed another afternoon by the water at the marketplace. Such a different scene than the day before :)
I hustled back to the hotel where I was to meet the one and only Ms. Marianne Baca fresh off the bus from Portland! She joined me as my date to Lindsay's wedding and the remainder of my long weekend! We freshened up and were ready for a night out to the gorgeous Lord Hill Farms, in Snohomish, WA were we watched the ever beautiful Lindsay wed the handsome Mr. Jordan Kamal. [[Side note: I learned a very important lesson in doing research before ever taking a cab in an unfamiliar city. I wrongly assumed that the wedding would be close to Seattle, but a $110 cab ride later proved to be the ultimate test of my patience and anger management as I begrudgingly handed over my debit card to the cabby. From now on, research and rental cars will be high on a priority list while traveling]]
The ceremony was so sweet and beautiful. Lindsay's mother Barb walked her down the aisle, and Lindsay and Jordan recited and exchanged such beautiful vows. The dinner and after party was amazing and we laughed and danced the night away. It was so fun catching up with old friends, making new friends, and getting to meet Lindsay & Jordan's adorable little baby Ella! It was truly a night of eating, drinking, and being merry :) We shut the party down and thankfully Lindsay's friend Adrian was driving back to Seattle so Marianne and I were able to avoid another lofty cab bill back home :)
Marianne and I slept like angels and were woken up far too early on Saturday morning, but it wasn't too terrible to be served an amazing breakfast in bed! We got ready and headed down to the Amtrak Station for the 7am train to Vancouver! All aboard to my new favorite mode of transportation! Taking the train to Vancouver was one of the most fun things I'd done in such a long time! The last time I took the train I was about 9 years old and went with my Grandmother to Chicago. I remember hating it, and being sick the whole time. But this time was so lovely and relaxing. The picture windows provided the best panoramic views as we traveled along the Pacific Coast.
We arrived slightly before noon and made it to our hotel. The
Westin Downtown was such a great place to stay. We were starving so we made our way out in the rain to find a lovely little Indian restaurant. I noticed that Vancouver, BC is a city in which the restaurants are stacked in a row, and you have your pick from Japanese, Thai, Indian, Greek (just to name a few...) all side by side, and they are just the cutest tiny little places with seating enough for 4-6 people. Feeling full from the meal, tired & leisurely, and uninspired by the rain, Marianne and I decided just to hang out in the hotel bar. But not before stopping for Timbits at
Tim Hortons. We indulged in the little doughnuts and spent the afternoon sipping martini's watching the rain fall. It was such a fun afternoon with one of my best girlfriends! I was so happy that Marianne could join me in Vancouver! We laughed, chatted, and filled eachother in on all the happenings in our lives. I feel so lucky that Marianne and I have been friends since we were "Alpha's" in Mrs. Machone's homeroom class in 6th grade. Despite her moving to Portland 5 years ago, we still manage to see each other at least twice per year and this time was no exception to the amount of fun we have when we get together.
That evening we got dressed up and headed out on the town for dinner. I had my first experience with French cuisine at
Les Faux Bourgeios. We had a birthday toast of champagne (Marianne's birthday is April 12th) followed by a processional of amazing French food. I was thankful for Marianne's French skill in ordering because I had no idea what the menu was about! We dined for hours and ate to our hearts' content, so much that we had no room for dessert :( We slept that night with full bellies and happy hearts.
Sunday morning we awakened to bright blue skies which called out to adventure! We wandered around the city to get a feel for the vibe. It was definitely interesting!
After taking in the sights, we decided to go across the water to Granville Island! You can get there by the land bridge or by ferry. We decided upon the boat. The little ferry boat was nothing more than a little tinker toy! It was so cute and fun! We taxied around the sound and in less than 15 minutes we were at the dock on Granville Island!
We stopped inside the market place for breakfast and shopping. The Grand Marketplace was so entertaining and fun! It was huge and filled with everything you could possibly think of from fresh produce, to food stands, ethnic markets, jewelry stands, and hand made textile vendors.
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| Oh boy do I love cheese... |
I purchased some pretty little earrings from an amazing local artist,
Kate Barazzuol. Her pieces were exquisite and after chatting it up for a few minutes I learned that a lot of her inspiration came from her time spent in Bali! So of course that struck up a good 15 minutes of conversation! It was so lovely meeting her and now I own some of her work. Seriously check her out. I can't wait to make my next purchase with Kate!
I also purchased a great little letter signature stamper that I had custom made from a cute little Chinese man! It was so fun deciding upon the design and now I have my own personalized letter stamper :)
Marianne and I walked around the Island and had a lovely afternoon of stopping in and out of the boutiques and shops. We happened upon a fun little hammock store and after taking a little sit-down, she walked out of the store one hammock richer :)
One of my favorite stores we found was a really cool broom store! Who thinks of brooms? Not many people! But a local woman saw a brilliant entrepreneurial opportunity to turn a family business of making traditional brooms into a profitable custom business! I purchased a few little brooms from
The Broom Co and I already cherish them so very much.
The rest of the day was spent wandering and we stopped in a pub for an afternoon drink with a local Canadian Brew. Basically this is the first relaxing vacation that I've ever had where I just got to enjoy being with a fantastic friend in a fantastic new city. It was just what I needed at just the right time.
Monday morning, we gathered our things and after a lovely breakfast, we were off back to the train station. Marianne and I arrived back in Seattle in the early afternoon. We stumbled upon a great little Italian restaurant for one last late lunch before parting ways. I hugged my sweet friend goodbye and we went in opposite directions.
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| There's just something about an old train station... |
I had a few more hours to spend downtown before catching the train back to the airport. I had one last Seattle coffee and one last walk to the pier before leaving this beautiful city behind. I wish I could capture the smells of the trees in full bloom, but the beauty of them and everything else of this weekend is forever etched into my memory.
This was truly one of the best birthday's I've ever had. I am so thankful for the gift of 29 years on this earth, and I just know that this is going to be my best year yet! Look out world, V-Rae is just getting started... Life is so wonderful and exciting!! I'm so thrilled to be apart of it all, and I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in mine!
I'm in love with life and I don't care who knows it!
