Seattle Get Away

Ahhh…who can ever say no to a girls weekend away?! Not me!

I recently went on a quick get away with 2 of the most fabulous gals I know. I’ll refer to them as K and T on here. A weekend where all of us just wanted some good laughs, great company and some good food adventures.

It was off to a good start! The two ladies got to my place early! Yeah! They helped me pack up my staff, I said bye to the family and we were off well ahead of schedule. And of course, no thanks to the borders, whatever time we were ahead, we were somewhat behind now. We ended up being at the border for close to 2 hours. If it was more, I lost count. Really, much too long.

But there is a silver lining to everything. Thanks to the border wait, we decided for an early lunch. Oh, my lovely K said that we should stop off at Jack in the Box. Like I would say no to a sourdough melt or the chance of getting a new antenna ball. I achieved both! And I guess maybe the oriental ladies are a bit of a novelty at the local Jack in the Box.. I was spared the pick up chit chat with a staff member as I headed off to the washroom. But K and T had one of the crew chat them up. He was hoping to meet them in Canada or see them again when we were heading back home. Apparently, I wasn’t peeing fast enough for them to get out of the joint fast enough.

Then off to the Seattle Premium Outlets. We found it easily and we marched our way to the info desk for some coupons. I don’t miss the chance for getting a good deal! After that, I split up from T and K for shopping on my own. I was on a mission…a Christmas gift mission. I wanted to get a bunch of gifts and I didn’t want to drag those two around. In a couple of hours, I went into every store, found 4 different Christmas gifts and did some good shopping for me and the family! Mission accomplished!

After the outlet. down the I-5 and off to Seattle to find our hotel. Traffic sucked. But thank goodness for good music and good chats. We ended up finding our hotel with ease. I knew we had gotten a cheap chain hotel, but it was one of the hotels that could have 3 people in it for a minimum charge. But they must have tried to hide a dead body in the closet or something. When we entered, there was a sweet smell of cinnamon which was fine. But another 5 seconds went by and our noses were practically burning from the cinnamon. Dang. I’m surprised we didn’t succumb to the damn smell. But opening patio doors and windows helped a bit.

But it didn’t matter. We dropped of our stuff and headed off the main culinary event we wanted to go to called the Bite of Seattle. The way they advertised the event, it should have been similar to the Bite of Vancouver which encompasses unique food experiences, opportunities to learn behind-the-scenes, entertainment through celebrity chef cooking demonstrations and culinary competitions, diverse food, beverage and cooking related exhibits; and of course fantastic shopping opportunities. Ummmm. Well, let’s just say that the Bite of Seattle did “bite” and I don’t mean that nicely. And honestly, it just bit the big one. Holy smokes. The crowds made it look like it was this amazing event. But when we got there, it was if we were at a bad fair where there were food booths. None of the food looked appetizing. And there were no “smells” in the air to indicate good food. We actually ended up leaving the “event” because us Vancouver food snobs couldn’t muster up the strength to eat that food. Really. It made PNE food look gourmet.

So we ended up at the Cheesecake Café. Not a bad choice at all! But this is where I digress to the conversation of “this is why Americans are so large.” I’m no skinny girl, but I feel so skinny when I’m down in the US. Holy smokes. The portions of food we got were big. The people sitting next to us had HUGE portions and they pretty much finished all of it. I’m sure each of our neighbour’s portions were a good 3 servings. I was so full I didn’t even get a piece of cheesecake…and when was the last time I ever gave that up?!

Anyway, day 1 ended with some good chats, some more giggles, tv and sleep. I was so tired from mega shopping that when the lights went out, I heard some words and I was quickly in la-la land.

Day 2 started off with our free breakfast in the hotel. Nothing special. But they had this spam hash that was gross looking but oddly, really yummy tasting. And seeing that hunk of hash made us talk for a very long time about Spam and Chinese cuisine using Spam. Ahhhh…memories of spam and eggs.

We decided that we’d go down to the Public Market and Pike Place that morning. We ended up getting there just as they opened. Oh, all the food looked delightful and absolutely beautiful. Everything was so fresh, the colours were so vibrant and you could smell so many wonderful things! I was in total awe of the green onions and large lobster tails. The pepper garlands were lovely too. Samples everywhere and just so much organized chaos! I loved it. Definitely a hippy Granville Island feel.

Though I must admit, walking with K in a place like this gives me a whole new perspective on things. All I kept hearing was “is that even healthy?” And when I finally looked at the situation, she was bang on about the situation being unhealthy. I swear, she should be a food inspector. But then she’d shut everyone down and we’d end up with very few food choices. The best unhealthy sighting was when I went to go watch the little donuts being made with a much larger donut machine than I’ve seen in a long time. And she says “is that even healthy?” I had no clue what she was talking about. But then she pointed to the radio speakers which was next to the donut machine. It had layers of dust on it and it was flying around…right by the donut machine. Gross. I don’t care how you deep fry dust, it isn’t good.

Before we left, I had to try a Chinese steamed bun. I always try something Asian in each city just to see how it compares to Vancouver. I think T and K were more interested in me getting the bbq pork on a stick. Pretty funny stuff. I opted for a simple steamed Chinese chicken bun. Sigh. Even our sister city who is so close by can’t do it right. It was dry, the ingredients not so right and just meh. Ugh. I really am a Vancouver food snot.

After a nice morning, it was time to start returning home but not without a couple of pit stops including another outlet, Costco and my favourite, Target. Oh, Target, how I love thee! So much good snack food! It’s insane! And even better, I got another Christmas gift there. But it was really about the junk food. Did I say junk food? Hello to my new favourites: Cheddar and Jalapeno Cheetos and the Chex Mix Bold. Pure awesomeness.

So, for an insanely short trip, a lot of shopping and eating was packed in. And so many good laughs and stories. Seriously. My stomach was hurting by the time I got home because I had been laughing so much…or it could have been the onions that was giving me the ring of fire. I’ll just go with good laughs.

We all had such an enjoyable time that we are already thinking of our next stop. Portland…here we come!

High School

Well, it's hard to believe it's been 18 years since high school. Eighteen. That's a lot of years. Once I left high school, I never looked back and would never want to go back again. I never really kept in touch with anybody from high school. And I was even happier that I left high school so that I wouldn't have to see the many people that I did not get along with or couldn't care less about. I went to a high school where 99% of the population there was very affluent and snooty. And because I did not have that kind of background, I didn't quite fit in with high society.

Even with Facebook, I have no high school friends as contacts. And I keep it that way so I don't have to hear what people are up to. I have no stake in their life nor do they have one in mine.

So I was somewhat shocked this morning when I was reading one of my e-mails from one of my sites I visit. It had a full on article about this one person I HATED from high school. It's about her success, her business, her tv bits, etc. Obviously she's very successful and she's worked hard for it. I can totally respect that. And I even took a look at her company since it was featured and was thoroughly impressed. She's done well for herself and her family and I know that she will continue to do well. Kudos.

However, hearing her name alone was enough for me to think about high school trauma and the people I couldn't deal with. And it made me think about how much I didn't like her then and how much I will continue to not want to see her.

Seriously. I am not one of those people that would sell their souls to go back to high school. That would be my living hell.

Summer Fun

Really? Is it already midway through July?! This is INSANE! I've been waiting for the summer for a very long time. And it seems that everytime I blink, another week goes by.

And I think the summer is going by faster because there is so much to do and so much that has already been planned! From shopping in the states, to 91st birthdays, to celebrations in general, to just fun with friends, etc. It seems like every weekend is filled with something and it's just a go-go summer!

I'm not complaining. It's great just to do things that are fun and have a more chilled and laid back schedule.

I better not blink again, another week will pass by!

Reunions

I just went to a reunion last night. It was for us Coke buddies that worked at the Olympics together. Those that didn't work it won't understand the type of bond that we have. Granted, this is true of any unique experience and group of people you work with...this just happens to be mine.

Though we talked about the Olympics, it was also great to see these people and listen to what they are doing in their current lives. So awesome! Everybody had a pretty neat job. There were those that were younger and who are still in school. There are some that are travelling...one person just did an archaelogical dig in Jordan! And it goes on and on.

The funny part is that if it wasn't for this program, I wouldn't have met these people at all. And really, the world is full of amazing people, including these ones.

S is for Summer

It's hard to believe that we are finally getting a summer. The letter S is also for slurpees, sunshine, sprinklers, sno-cones, snappy tunes and sunblock. All of these things relate to the season we have been waiting for.

It's stinking hot today, but I'm actually enjoying it! Who knows when it will go away. I got the kids to run out in the sprinklers for an hour. They were just having the best time of their little lives! We had slurpees to cool ourselves down. Really, what better way to enjoy a summer night? My house is still a stinking mess, but it will always be. Summer however won't last forever. Might as well enjoy it!

LMFs

LMFs are my low maintenance friends. These are folks that I may not see for months at a time. We may hear from each other in terms of phone calls and e-mails. But there is an understanding that we are all busy in our own ways.

I may not get invited to all the special events such as their kid's birthday parties and vice versa. No one gets mad at that because we also understand that kid's parties can only be so big. And it should be what the kids want not what the adults want.

We have made an agreement that we don't buy each other's kids Christmas gifts and probably not for the adults either. It's about the spirit of Christmas, and kind words on a card.

Sometimes, my LMFs are even too busy to do a quick Facebook status. But that is just life. And the beautiful part about my LMFs is that whenever we do get together, it's like a day hasn't passed and we catch up on everything. There is no judgement, no comments on "why didn't you call me or why haven't you bothered to get a hold of me," there is no guilt. Even when there are "bad" things that have happened to our individual lives, we talk about it because it matters. But it's not negative. We're just talking about life. And we're all grateful for all that we have and our moments of getting together. This is not to say that my LMFs wouldn't come to my assistance if I needed it because they have. They really are just laid back, don't need hand holding from me and can function just fine without hearing from me all the time. I'm not saying I'm not important, but that's how they feel about me too.

We always end up laughing and just loving each other's company even though it's so rare. Great friends don't have to be high maintenance ones with tons of drama.

Long Weekend

Canada Day was on a Thursday this week. I thought I'd take the 2nd off and then I'd also have the weekend too. Four straight days off. Sweetness.

On this Saturday, the family and I ventured down to the aquarium. That's such a neat place and my kids never get bored of it. The octopus finally came out today for the girls to see. Of course, my youngest was totally freaked out about the suckers. Don't blame her. We went to go see the belugas. And I don't think it really clicked in with my kids that the youngest whale recently died. They talked about it while we were there, but they weren't sad or anything. But we saw everything we wanted to see which was great.

We then headed off to lunch at one of my favourite sushi restaurants. The kids liked it too. Though, they seemed to enjoy the mints at the end way more!

Then we headed up main street for some shopping and bubble tea. Even went to Solly's for some awesome cinammon buns for home.

It was such a neat and free day for the family. Just loved it!