#supersizemeweekend AKA SPRING BREAK 2015 in Canada!

A few weekends ago it was Gaby’s last ever spring break. I had been begging her to come visit me in Seattle for like a million years so she finally obliged, drove up to Seattle and insisted we go to Canada for a girls’ weekend.

She got to town on Friday evening and I had a glass of wine waiting for her when she arrived. Natalie joined us for a drink at my apartment before her date, and when Natalie was telling us she was having the worst week we INSISTED that she drop everything Saturday and come with us to Canada! She agreed and then left for her date. #success

Gaby and I then headed to Ballard where we ate seafood at the Ballard Annex and drank delicious spring break-y drinks in coconuts at Hotel Albatros and met my cousin Maegin for more drinks and funtimes.

 
^^Tropical drink in a coconut to get me in the Spring Break spirit^^

^^Coconut drink for Gaby toooo^^

The next morning I learned a valuable lesson: I am never, ever allowed to mix wine and other alcohol together or I will vomit.

Gaby and I woke up early-ish, headed to Whole Foods for snacks and coffee then headed to pick up Nat. By the time we got to Natalie’s apartment I was feeling terrible. I walked around outside for a few minutes, took some deep breaths, drank some green smoothie and felt a little better but after we scooped her up, before we were even at the freeway I announced I needed to pit stop at my apartment to vom. Oh god. We stopped, I ran inside, did my thing, and was back out in the car ready to go in about 5 minutes. I felt a million times better, but seriously, no wine mixing for me ever again!

We planned to stop at the Lululemon outlet on our way to Canada and we were all looking forward to that almost as much as Canada itself. We all found a few good things to purchase and on our way back to the freeway from the outlet we spotted a McDonalds and HAD to stop. Fun Fact: Natalie and I LOVE McDonalds. Specifically we love Filet O Fishes. A lot. We rarely let ourselves eat them, because EW, but OMG SO GOOD! So we stopped, got our fast food and we were SO happy about it:

^^Nom nom nom, Nat and her Filet O Fish + GIANT Iced Coffee that almost gave her a heart attack^^

^^Filet O Fish 4evaaaaaa^^

Natalie even doubled up and got TWO Filet O Fishes which we’ve always talked about doing but never do, because EW. I was very proud of her. We were so giddy after our fast food we couldn’t stop laughing in the car. Natalie decided that we should dub our weekend #supersizemeweekend and caption all of our weekend’s InstaGram posts exclusively w/ Taylor Swift lyrics. Done. We listened to ONLY Taylor Swift and Tove Lo the whole trip, so it seemed fitting. We also talked about ONLY eating McDonalds for the whole trip (did you know you can get poutine at McDs Canada?!?!) but that definitely didn’t happen. #hopescrushed #nexttime

When we finally arrived in Vancouver BC, our first stop was Granville Island. We decided we needed some day drinks and headed to Granville Island Brewery for a few delicious tasters. After our beers we walked around the island for a little bit until it started pouring rain at which point we headed to our hotel.

^^Gaby and I at Granville Island^^

After checking into our awesome hotel and getting settled we headed out to Robson St. to do some shopping and exploring despite the rain. Eventually we got hungry and headed to our hotel to dry off and take advantage of the free WiFi to find a place to eat. We found a Mexican joint on Granville St. that sounded awesome and walked over to find that there was about an hour wait. No. It was 9pm and we were starving. While we were regrouping outside the restaurant a super creepy man with missing teeth and meth face walked up to us:

Super Creepy Man: Hi
Natalie: Hi
SCM: What are you ladies up to tonight?
N: Trying to find something to eat.
SCM: Oh, well, my friends and I are going to get a hotel room and then go to the club, do you want to join us?
Me: NO. KTHXBYE. *grabs friends and runs away* (sooo not into sucking your dick for meth in a hotel room, EW)

We decided to get the F away from Granville St. and on our way back to the hotel saw a Joey [test] Kitchen and decided that was safe and close and we should definitely just go there to eat because we were soo hungry and cold and sooo wet too. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel to regroup and Gaby started sharing stories with us trying to convince us to go out and party time USA because SPRING BREAK! and Natalie and I would not have it because we are effectively grandmas at 28 (apparently the difference between 22 and 28 is night and day, sorry Gaby!). So we stayed in because it was rainy and cold and we wouldn’t let her have any fun and instead of doing anything fun we basically convinced her to break up with her boyfriend and took snapchats of her camel-toe (that all sounds a lot meaner than it actually way). Soooo successful spring break?

The next morning it was still fucking pouring rain and we ventured out to breakfast. The place we wanted to go had an hour and a half wait (WHAT THE FUCK?!) so we found a crepe place nearby and called it good. We ate crepes and drank coffee and then went to Lush to buy some lotions and bath bombs and things (I’m now obsessed) and then decided it was too wet for more walking around so we headed back to America.

When we got back we realized that our friends Brittan, Ambur, Adam and Rob were also in Vancouver just a mile or two away from us. WTF? Fail. We drove back to Seattle, dropped Gaby at her car and she headed back to Hood River.

It was so fun having her for the weekend. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a really long time. We need to have another Natalie/Rebeka/Gaby trip involving McDonalds, Tay-Tay and day drinks ASAP. Spring break 2015, OVER.

Great Wolf Lodge & Gaslight Concert Weekend

Two weekends ago Beth came up to visit for the night on Friday. Her (our) friend Ashley had bought us all tickets to see Gaslight Anthem play in Seattle for the second time and we’d been talking about the show for months. I was able to leave work a little early on Friday and go hang out with Ashley and Beth on Ashley’s house boat for a few hours before the show. We eventually got hungry and decided to go grab some Mexican food and margaritas for dinner downtown. I could probably eat Mexican every day and be happy about it. It was a delicious pre-concert choice!

When we were finished with dinner we headed to the Showbox where we met Justin, a friend of a friend, because Ashley was selling him an extra concert ticket (her girlfriend was supposed to join us but missed her flight from Kansas and was stuck in SLC). Justin ended up hanging out with us during the show and we all had a great time together singing along from the elevated bar area in the venue.

^^Beth, Justin, myself and Ashley at the show^^

^^I ruin good pictures, sorry friends^^

It was so fun to hang out with Beth in Seattle, even if it was only for one night!!

The next day I woke up early and picked up Dustin from his apartment before heading down I5 South to the Great Wolf Lodge where we met Dustin’s sister’s family for a night of fun at the water park to celebrate niece Isabella’s 13th birthday!

^^a pretty terrible iPhone pano of the giant indoor water park^^

Dustin and I arrived before everyone else and got ourselves some bracelets to the park before heading inside to grab a beer and check things out (the fact that you could walk around the park with a beer in hand was a major PLUS for all the grownups in our group:). The park is totally indoors and it’s heated to about 85 degrees F which was really nice. Inside the park there were a bunch of fun and kind of terrifying waterslides (some required a tube, others you went down on your back), a wave pool (my favorite), some kiddy pools, hot tubs, and a giant structure that dumped a 1,000 gallon bucket of water over everything every few minutes. It was a really fun time.

Isabella and her friend, Becca, mostly did their own thing at the park, but I did join them for a few rides down the super scary water slides that required inner tubes, and I did teach them that spitting on someone can be considered a felony, so knock that shit off, and also I taught them the “tampon” game (where one person says tampon, then the next person says it a little louder, and so on. Apparently now the 2.5y/o won’t stop shouting TAMPON! Definitely my fault, sorry Dana! Haha). Dustin and I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with his sister, Dana, and her boyfriend, Justin, and their 2.5 year old daughter, Alessandra. We all had a good time, especially once Alessandra warmed back up to us.

When it was time for dinner we all went to the Buffet in the adjoining hotel for some delicious kid food (think: pizza, mac and cheese, chicken strips, etc.). I love me an all-white plate of food. That night the adults and Alessandra hung out in the hotel room (with some beverages for the adults) being silly while the mortified 13 year olds went to roam around the hotel (which is totally safe and there are lots of activities for kids to do around the hotel, like a magic quest).

^^Selfies with Alessandra^^

^^Photo cred: Alessandra^^

^^And again, Dustin and I in wolf ears, thanks to Dustin’s 2.5 year old niece, Alessandra^^ 

The next morning we got breakfast at the buffet before hitting the water park for a few more hours. Eventually Dustin and I called it a weekend and headed back up to Seattle where we grocery shopped and watched some March Madness and some Netflix before sleeping for a million hours because being at a water park with kids all weekend is exhausting but also super fun!

Easter Weekend 2015

I’ve had a busy and super fun past few weekends. I definitely want to write about them all, but I figure, let’s start with this weekend and work backward. I’m not totally sure if that makes the most sense but whatever.

On Friday my coworker Candice gifted me a yoga mat I’ve been eyeing for a while that she had an extra of (I love it, its totally magical, thank you Candice!!). I put my new-to-me mat to good use this weekend during two yoga classes. The first class was a relaxing, low key class held Friday after work at my gym. The second was a super fun, energizing, Saturday morning class held at the Chihuly Glass Museum.

 
The class took place in the Chihuly Glass House which is a 40-foot tall, glass and steel structure covering 4,500 square feet of light-filled space. The Glasshouse is the result of Chihuly’s lifelong appreciation for conservatories and it houses a 100-foot-long glass instillation, shown in the picture above. It was a really cool setting for the class and the instructor worked a lot of visual cues into the teaching which put the focus on the beautiful glass art and the Space Needle right outside.

 
After yoga I treated myself to a coffee at my favorite coffee place in Seattle, Zoka. While I was there I ran into my outside counsel, Phong, who I joke is my spirit animal because he guides me through all difficult things in life. I love running into people I know in Seattle.

^^Pretty flowers on the sidewalk outside of Zoka on Saturday^^

With my delicious Americano in hand, I went to the grocery store to get some goodies for Easter (I made Paula Deen’s banana pudding and it was a hit!) and then walked to an appointment near my house. Afterward I took myself to lunch at the nearby Latona Pub where I ordered a Double Mountain beer and a steak and mushroom salad and while I waited for my lunch, I sipped my beer and read a book I started Friday night and couldn’t pull myself away from. I ended up starting Wreckage by Emily Bleeker on Friday and finishing it Sunday evening. I couldn’t stop! I love books that captivate you like that.

After lunch I met my friend Natalie for another beer on the patio at The Yard in Greenwood because it was sunny and beautiful out and sipping a beer while engaging in girl talk in the sunshine is one of our favorite activities. Dustin joined us at The Yard after he was finished at the gym (we NEEDED his practical, guy advice for a very urgent matter, of course) and when Natalie had to leave, Dustin and I ended up running a few errands before grabbing dinner at our favorite sushi place by his house.

On Sunday Dustin and I went to Katie and Josh’s house for a delicious Easter Brunch complete with mimosas and cards against humanity. It was a good time. I think Katie and Josh’s for Easter is my new favorite tradition (this was my second year spending the holiday with them). I spent the rest of the evening finishing my book.

It was nice to spend a weekend at home after being gone the past few weekends. Yay for relaxing, yet fun weekends in Seattle. I hope you all had a happy Easter weekend!