Rainy afternoons

Mother Nature seems to be a bit befuddled. One day it's summer, the next it feels like a dreary fall afternoon.  These days, we seem to be experiencing more of the latter than I would desire, which leaves me craving my slipper socks, comfy sweats and a snuggly blanket.  I even find clever ways to talk myself out of exercising outside, and who am I kidding?!? I could easily pop in a workout video and break a sweat indoors, but I find ways around that as well. Lucky for me, our hospital is starting a coaching program ran by the Mayo Clinic. Christine called me up today and we picked out four goals to work on over the next couple of weeks.

1) Yoga, twice a week.

2) Outdoors exercise (walk/jog/bike), five times a week.

3) Get to bed by 10:00 pm, four times a week.

4) No snacking after 8:00 pm during the week nights.

Additionally, this girl needs a tan! Nothing extreme, that highly sought after 'sun-kissed' glow will do just fine. Even moving up a shade from my current 'fair' (a.k.a. pale) colored make-up would be reason enough to celebrate.  Did I mention that it is the lightest Bare Minerals powder available? Bring it on sunshine, I am SO ready!

Enough with the rain,
unless it's a good ol' summer thunderstorm

You wouldn't want to go out there either, right?

Anyways, we don't get out and about much during the week, but we definitely try to take advantage of the weekends that we have off together. This past weekend we:

Made whole wheat banana pancakes with a few chocolate chips

Went for a run on the trails through Cougar Mountain

Went to the dog park

 Tried a new restaurant for breakfast

Played 18 holes of golf

 This weekend we will be heading to Portland, Oregon for a weekend full of great friends, unique eats and fabulous microbrews. We're ready to enjoy the weekend and would love to spend time outdoors without the rain. Hopefully Mother Nature gets the memo!  

The Mariners

Last Saturday, Dane took me to my first Mariners game.  The sun was hot and the sky was that beautiful blue we (vitamin D deprived) Seattleites have been longing for. Yep, friends, it was a beautiful day in the 'Emerald City.'

My first Mariners shirt.
"GO M's!"

Enjoying the game.

Seats near first base, eight rows back.

What I remember:

• Getting all the way to the bus stop and somebody forgot the tickets.
• Expensive beers.
• The smell of garlic.
• Cracking up as a vendor yelled, "Big, big beers....biiiig, humongous BEERS!" as he walked up and down the aisles.
• Joining in on the infamous tune,  ♪ Take me out to the ball game... ♪
• Plucking hot, fresh roasted peanuts from their shells....Dane was excited about finding multiple shells with three peanuts inside.
• The most amazingly delicious batch of garlic fries I've ever devoured. End. Of. Story.  
• Worrying that only the left side of my body was getting hit by the sun.
• Oh yeah,  and if you actually care about baseball, I believe we lost 2 to 3. :)

From the moment I stepped into the stadium, I knew I had to try these fries.

MMmmm, love at first bite. Garlic....lots and lots of garlic!
I used the last few fries to scoop up as much garlic as possible.

This was one of the first pubs we ate at when we  moved to WA last fall, we love Collins!



Couscous, grilled veggies,  salmon and a microbrew....the perfect way to end the day.





Actually, this is the perfect way to end the day, CHOCOLATE!
This is definitely the place to stop if you need something sweet,
we've wandered in on more than one occasion.



You have to love public transportation.
"I wish you a weekend full of kool-aid smiles and teddy bear hugs." -Seattle bus driver





And my favorite pic of the day.....puppy love <3

Memorial Day Weekend

One of the perks that comes with a full-time position is that I get a little more freedom on the weekends. This last Saturday, the hubster and I took Lola to Marymoor Park, a 40 acre off-leash dog area, also known as, "Doggie Disneyland." Here, canines of all sizes and ages are free to do as they please, which usually involves lots of sniffing, peeing, swimming and chasing. For the humans, there is an espresso stand near the entry that serves coffee, pastries and other human snacks, perfect for those early morning outings with your pooch. Lola loves racing other dogs and does great with most of her wet-snouted friends, but she does not like to be challenged or approached dominantly. When approached in this manner,  her queen-bee attitude comes out and she gets a bit growly to show her rival who's boss. This usually happens once or twice with each visit to a dog park, which makes me feel like a bad doggy-mom, but as Dane points out it is only with certain types of dogs, other high energy dominant dogs that charge at her or challenge her upon the initial sniff and greet. We can usually tell which ones will rub her the wrong way and try to distract her as soon as possible, but inevitably there are always a few that get her riled up.

 Waiting patiently in the back window like she's small or something :)

Tuckered out after lots of running

After running off some of her energy, we dropped Lola off at home so we could head to the Folklife Festival in downtown Seattle.

The Space Needle

Parking in downtown Seattle is pure craziness, especially during events

 Lucky for us, as we entered the gates to the festival the clouds parted and the sun was out for the remainder of the afternoon. The perfect weather for booth hopping, food tasting, beer sipping, music listening and of course some serious people watching.


The food....

Dane's Filipino Plate

Fish tacos and garlic fries, an interesting combination but both were mighty tasty

Featured on the Food Network

Small bites of pure deliciousness

I wanted to try these but couldn't bring myself to do it, so we settled on the mini donuts

The performers.....

Real life video game

The one man band

What is this guy up to?

Oh....just squeezing his body through a tennis racket

 And now....

He's simply hula hooping a tire

I'm not sure what this instrument was, but very neat

 After spending the afternoon basking in the sunshine and enjoying the festivities, we decided to play some mini golf. Dane beat me the on the front 9, but I'm proud to say we tied on the back 9. Sorry, I just had to throw that out there since it doesn't happen often. :)

We worked up quite an appetite and drove to Pier 57 where we agreed on The Crab Pot for dinner. We were quoted an hour and twenty minutes for a table, but we had no problem wasting time playing pinball at the arcade until it was ready.



Let me tell you, the food was well worth the wait! We left fully satisfied and couldn't wait to get home to change into our loose waisted sweats. The sun was beginning to set as we strolled along the pier to our car, such a beautiful evening. When we got home, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep as I was exhausted and had to wake up at 5:00 for work on Sunday morning. I cherish our weekends off together and can't wait until summer decides to stick around for a few months. I have this weekend off and will be attending my first Mariners game and hopefully getting in some hiking.