it's a girl

When our very good friends, Pat and Laura (seen here, here and here), found out they were having a baby, we decided to throw them a fun gender reveal party. We had a big clam bake followed by a lovey cake with pink frosting on the inside to tell them they were having a girl. I was the only person who knew in advance (well, besides the baker!), and, trust me, I was mighty relieved when they found out and I didn't have to keep it quiet anymore. Such a fun day!

pumpkin party

Halloween is in just a few days, so Anders and I invited our friends over to get our carve on! We kept the whole evening in theme and served pumpkin pasta for dinner and pumpkin martinis for dessert. We are officially ready for the holiday.

 In costume? or just a nerd?

Laura gets serious about her carving. Breaking out the drill! 

 Maggie doesn't care about carving, she just wants the pumpkin seeds.

sustainability dinner

Madison Park Conservatory hosted a sustainable seafood dinner on Monday night featuring the Pike Place Fish cookbook. The dinner consisted of five delicious courses including an oyster on the half shell, salmon tartar, spring pea gazpacho, seared salmon with seagrass and olive oil gelato for dessert. They used two types of salmon (Copper River salmon and Washington Marbled King) and prepared them exactly the same way, presented them both on our plate, and we got to compare the two to see which we liked better. While both were amazing, the Copper River was my favorite. Such a fun night out and everyone who went got a cookbook to take home. They are going to be doing this series all summer long with the next one being a paella party on July 29th. 

leavenworth

Anders and I celebrated my birthday this past weekend with a quick, overnight trip to Leavenworth. Leavenworth is this crazy Bavarian themed town in the Cascade Mountains just a few hours outside of Seattle. It doesn't have some impressive story about why it's a Bavarian town...the town just needed a way to make money after their logging boom ended and left them almost a ghost town. They chose a Bavarian theme because German Bavaria has the same alpine terrain, and that's how it turned into a fun little tourist destination. We stayed at the Pine River Bed and Breakfast and really enjoyed our stay. The hotel sits on 22 acres with lots of trails throughout the property, and we had a great time hanging out and relaxing.

(it was so nice of this random, road side, coffee stand to wish me happy birthday!)

last home game

Alas…the Seahawks regular season has come to an end. And while we still have the playoffs (playoffs?!?!) and quite possibly a Superbowl win to go (stay with me), Seattle won’t be hosting any of those games. We said adieu in tailgating fashion with warm soup, drinks and logo seared sandwiches! It only seemed fitting after last year’s salute.

getting warmed up

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with turkey and pie. Lots of pie.

Anders and I are spending Wednesday night practicing with a giant turkey leg. Gotta get our bellies ready!

Happy Halloween!

I have lots to celebrate today. 

1. It's my Mother-in-Law's birthday. October 31st might be the best day ever to have a birthday. Happy Birthday Eleonora!

2. My little blog is a year old. My first post ever is here. Funny how it has been a year, but it's still true.

3. It's Halloween, and I just so happen to LOVE trick or treaters!

These pictures are from last Monday night. Anders and I had ourselves a little pumpkin party. We made pumpkin shepherd's pie (delicious) and carved ourselves some friends.

tie dye party

Tie dyeing attempt two (first attempt here). This time we went all out and hosted a little party with our friends, and  we came with a whole bag of white clothed goodness to unleash the dye on. Sure, it may have taken us until 2am to complete the dying and until 4pm the following day to get everything rinsed and washed , but what we ended up with was well worth it. We rocked it. Anders and I are developing some mad tie dye skillzzzz.

Dye master 

Getting their spin on 

Spun and ready to dye! 

Dye time

Aftermath 

2am and tired 

Rinsing completed

BAM! 

 Pile of awesomeness

Showing it off