Pictures from Seattle

The husband is fed and the kitchen is sparkling so it's time to share pictures from my two and a half days in Seattle!

We got in really late Wednesday night, rainy, cold welcome and all. As luck would have it, when we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by blue skies and the rare sun. Looks can be deceiving, though, because it was still plenty cold for these desert converts!

We decided to spend the day in Seattle, Jon's dad eager to show us how they remodeled the formally ghet-to Southcenter Mall. I only did a little shopping, visiting the MAC store and H&M. I didn't even get through half the H&M and Jon was ready to go. I did, however, walk away with a pretty red print chiffon-y dress.

Next, we headed to our alma mater, Seattle University, or more affectionately called, SU or Seattle U. It's been years since we visited so we wanted to see the beautiful campus.

Here we are in front of one of the campus entrances. I always loved these purple flowers in my college days, and I've taken many a picture here with my friends during my freshman year!

The fountain in the Quad, where the yearly Senior Streak takes place. Oh and there's Quadstock! The building in the background is where I practically lived, it being the science building, Bannan.

My handsome husband posing outside the bookstore where we dropped over $90 (!!!) on school t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other souvenirs. You can see our cute little Chapel of St. Ignatius in the background. I miss going to Mass there!

My favorite walkway on campus. It's just so pretty--I was also a fan of GREEN!

After our short campus visit (hey, it's a small campus!) we headed downtown and made our way to Pike Place Market. We definitely played the part of tourists!

I love this picture. I wanted to take a picture of the famous Pike Place Market sign when my mother-in-law decided it would be a good picture if my father-in-law and Jon joined her in front of the sign. They weren't interested, but these SPD officers were more than happy to jump in the picture!

These always tempt me! Aren't they beautiful?

That night I met up with my sister and brother at McCormick's downtown for happy hour. I'm so not used to paying so much money for food and drinks! They have a great happy hour though. I'm sad I didn't take any pictures that night. It didn't even occur to me.

The next day, Jon's brother and sister-in-law went down to visit from Bellingham. I was really excited to see our niece, Matilda. I hadn't seen her since she was about 2 months old! We had a lot of fun with her, listening to her talk, watching her eat and sign for more (I'm totally teaching my babies to sign...it's too cute to watch them!) Tilly and her dad stayed the night while her mama spent the night in Seattle.

The next morning I was just getting out of the shower and getting dressed when Jon hollered out to me, "Hey Tania, can you come out here? Chris (his brother) is taking a shower and I don't know what to do with Matilda!" Seriously? To be honest, I knew he would react this way when left alone with his baby niece. He has zero experience with kids and this was too hilarious to me. But I obliged and went out with my dripping hair and played with the baby for a while until I absolutely had to leave to blow dry my hair (we can't have it air dry now!) "What do I do with her?" Jon asks. I yell back from the bathroom to just play with her. It's not that hard! So he blew some bubbles for her and read her a story until her daddy was ready. My husband is so cute!

Here's little Tilly with her Uncle Jon. She looks like her daddy, but with her mama's eyes, hair color, and complexion. She's such a beautiful baby!

Out time in Seattle was, as always, very short. It kills me to be so far away from family! I also really miss the city itself! We'll see where we end up :) Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Back home

My absence is explainable this time! For the past week I've been in Denver for a conference and in Seattle visiting family. I really wished I could have spent more than two days in Seattle. Every time I go back, I realize how much I miss it. But this short trip was to visit my in-laws, as they are moving to Malaysia in June. I also got to see our niece who we last saw when she was only 2 months old. She's 19 months now! 

It's good to be home now, though. But I also caught a bug while in Seattle. Probably from my MIL who was sick the whole time we were there. How about that swine flu? Nah, I think it's just a cold.

I'll post about our trip later when I'm feeling better. I've spent the better part of today sleeping.I could still use some more! I have a lot of catch up reading to do, but I'll have some pictures to share with you all as well!

**Sigh**

I just had some yummy Vietnamese food for lunch, complete with bubble tea, and was reminded of home....where the bubble tea tastes better and comes in a humongous cup! I like to visit a blog occassionally, called Seattle Daily Photo. She takes such beautiful pictures and I visit anytime I feel homesick.

This picture makes me yearn to go back even more now: I miss the long summer days in Seattle. The photo below was taken at 9 pm!

♫♫Summer, Summer, Summertime♫♫

As triple digits become more the norm than a rarity here in Arizona and the Snowbirds scramble back up north to their summer habitats, I find myself longing for a small jaunt back up to the PNW. Although this "oven" climate doesn't bother me (puhleeze, I don't pull the shorts out here until it's at least 100 degrees!), I can't help but long for my darling Emerald City. Seattle just sparkles in the summertime! I, along with all the other Seattlites would count down the days to the solstice (although, regrettably, I never made it to the Fremont Solstice Parade). With it, summertime brought warm 80+ degree days, the sailboat gatherings on Lake Union on Tuesday nights that I so loved to watch, the early morning rowers I'd observe while stretching on a break during my weekday morning runs to Gasworks Park, the abundance of fresh local produce presented in the various farmers markets around town, and the significantly longer days. (See the photograph for an example of what I'm talking about. This was taken from the Seattle Times livecam. At about 8:30 the sun was still very much out while here it was already pitch black. Comes with the territory of not observing daylight savings time and being further south!) 

I've seriously been considering jumping on a plane in July to make the trip, but tickets are running about $500! (I'm soooo frustrated with the constant increase in gas prices and our stupid dependence on it!) Problem is, I have about 2 days of vacation left with a very slow accumulation of these precious hours and I am not taking any more when I have to work up to those crucial 18 days I will need come November. That leaves me with the necessity of flying over on a three day weekend, which is super expensive compared to flying out on a weekday. Oh well, it will just have to wait, along with my hankering for a Tini Bigs Sweet Dream Tini (my favorite alcoholic dessert and my favorite watering hole--my friend, Marianna and I were well-known here!)

On another note, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I got the book on Monday and finished it last night--I could not put it down! I ate the story up, but I'm regretting getting through it so fast because I'm hungry for more! I can't believe it's over!!!! I was so bored today when I got home, with no book to occupy my loneliness....and the library closed at 5 (poo!!!) I resorted to searching quite frantically for a trailer to the next HP movie. So pathetic......

Brrrr

It's times like these that I'm greatful for my decision to move to Arizona. Do I have to move back to WA so soon? I'm pushing Jon for a future recruiting position here!

Memories

I was just reading an old blog post on my myspace page about all the things I would miss in Seattle (this was at the time where I was preparing to make the move down here). Decided that I wanted to share:

Being able to drive over the mountains when I feel the urge to see my parents and crazy Diana(sis).

Treating Mikey(bro) and Terry (sis) to dinner once in a while; shopping with Terry.

THE WATER...it's all around and I love it.

Being able to see the Cascades on those rare clear, crisp winter days.

Watching the pouring rain during winter from the safety of my cozy lab (we have the best view of Lake Union and Queen Anne hill).

Watching all those sailboats out on Lake Union on Tuesday nights during the summer.

Watching the leaves change color in the fall and walking through them.

The sound of the rain falling outside my window.

Trail runs in the rain....listening to the rain hit the leaves overhead and the smell of wet earth.

Those 90 degree days when I can't even stand to be in my 93 degree apartment...I just hang out at movie theaters and malls on those days and try to sleep in that oven at night.

Being able to get up in the summer at 5:30 and have the sun already up.

That being said, being able to take a walk at 10 pm and feel safe because it's pretty light out.

Discovery Park, Golden Gardens, Carkeek Park, Alki Beach, Kerry Park, Gasworks Park....

The Burke-Gilman trail where the miles are marked and all my long runs take place.

The many race options I have here....there are so many throughout the year! I still want to run the Seattle marathon one of these days.

Getting excited every day I wake up and it's going to be a clear, warm day....us Seattleites don't take the sun for granted!!!

My friends...they helped me get through those lonely weekends.

OOOOoooooo....I just found another old blog post. More on that later...this should be fun....