Seattle Day

I'm on break, but my boyfriend has to work...an hour and a half away.  So today, when I wanted to visit downtown Seattle, I decided to "take him along" by sending him pics of all the different steps of my adventure - including some of my favorite places.

Step one: Mercury's chai. Always

[Hello, my old frenemy]

Ok, so this is where I got off, but it is also pretty significant for our relationship.  The day I met my boyfriend, he offered to walk me to the bus. It was raining slightly, we got to this covered gate area and stood talking for quite a while about arts and faith.  I watched my bus come, I watched my bus go, I kept talking to this cute boy I had just met.  At one point in the conversation, he leaned against the gate, not realizing it isn't secured, and totally got off balance.  And I took it as a bit of a sign that, as I hoped, this fella may like me.  Turns out...he did :)

The room where we met!

Then I visited the Sheraton's famous Gingerbread Village.  Here was an incredible Seattle replica, complete with a motorized Great Wheel.

Here's another, I loved the Seahawk Crane with a 12th Man Flag, Mrs. Seahawk, and Hawk's nest.

Another had this ode to Up :')

"Typical Tourist" moment

The back side of the Market

And the wheel we took on our first date...

I can't visit the market without a stop to Le Panier

Cafe time calls for a journal moment

And then, after a secret little stop, it was time for a visit to the impressive Seattle Public Library.

Just a few different angles of the library.

I brought my current read...

One more angle from outside...

And then it was back home.
I've missed Seattle, and it was lovely to reconnect with some familiar spots.
Next time, I hope to get some more exploring in to discover new ones.

Oxford to Seattle

My dear friend, Kristina, spent the last week out in Seattle.  We hadn't seen each other since leaving Oxford a year and half ago, so she decided to come out for a visit.  And since she'd never been to Seattle, I got to play tour guide for a week :)

Here's a peek at our adventures - 

[Clockwise: Greenlake on a crisp winter day, smiles at UW, a visit to Magus Books - complete with matching reads, and the Fremont Troll :]

[Kristina at Greenlake]

[sun and smiles]

[closest to Oxford we could get]

[the quad]

[Happy New Year!!]

[had to include a cute shot of my sibs as well]

[vision banquet]

[original starbucks...as you do]

[hipster banjo player outside of starbs... he serenaded us with "auld lang syne"]

[pike's place... obvi :]

[not so sure about the gum wall ;]

[View from the Great Wheel - very fun!]

[Clockwise: we went to London! err...  outside "Elephant & Castle" in Seattle, Seattle Public Library, breakfast at Library Bistro, Kristina on the merry-go-round]

[so grateful for this girl!!]

Hope you've had a smashing start to 2013!!  And here's to more adventures :)

location: Seattle Public Library

source: Stephanie Berbec