Transitioning: Summer to Fall

8 10 2014

Now that green is starting to ease into yellow, orange and red and a crispness is starting to add a little snap to the air, I’m starting to reminisce on my summer moments.

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Maybe I was ‘living in the moment’ and really living in the experience rather than thinking about how I was going to re-tell the story.  Or maybe I was too busy trying to pack as much activity into the warm weather as possible that I rushed through one activity in search of the next.  Either way, Fall is approaching, and with the changing of the leaves brings just enough transition that it’s made me pause in place and gather photos from the summer.

Everyone goes through the transition from Summer to Fall.  Preparation for hibernation perhaps?  The excitement to bring back over-sized sweaters, cuddly scarves and of course those Fall boots!  I have a love-hate relationship with said boots.  I spend my days admiring the different boots that I see prancing down the street – chocolate brown, black, wedge heel, flat stomping boots, sleek and stylish high-heeled boots.  Needless to say, I have boot envy.  I see everyone looking fantastic in their fall boots – really the perfect accessory for fall outfits.  But whenever I find myself on the hunt for the perfect boots I end up frustrated and sad because, after all, I carry my height in my torso.  I have short legs and athletic calves.  The worst combination!  Which essentially means that boots don’t fit me – even the ones with extended calf sizes 😦

But enough about the boots.  I find myself on a tangent as meandering as the paths I hope to stroll through this Fall – stomping through all of the fallen leaves and hearing that satisfying ‘crunch crunch crunch‘ as I walk.

Finally I’m looking back at what took place this summer – a summer that took Seattle by surprise with day after day of 80+ degree weather.

Seattle Sights:

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The Great Wheel

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Kayaking around Alki

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Making Discoveries!

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Alki Sunsets

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Great Friends…

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And Ferry Boats.

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Mt. Rainier Sunsets

Exploring the ‘wilderness’ of Port Orchard:

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Whirlwind Work Trips in Chicago:

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Chicago Art

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Chicago Architecture

Home (Vancouver):

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Vancouver Icon – ‘Canada Place’

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Sunsets at Vancouver Harbour

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Deer Lake Park

Food – delicious, beautiful, tasty morsels of goodness!

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Neapolitan Style Pizza

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Farmer Fresh Artisanal Snack Plates

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Chocolate Covered Figs

It feels like the summer was over in a blink but at the same time, with so many consecutive days of sunshine, it seemed like it was gorgeous day after gorgeous day – which puts a lot of pressure on a person.  Especially a person from the Pacific Northwest, where you cannot take sunshine for granted and on each sunny day you feel pressure to kick yourself out of bed and DO something.  Anything really.  You’ve got to head straight to those walking/running paths, be in or on the water, be at the farmers market every weekend, and eat and drink on every patio you come across.  By the time Fall arrives you’re just exhausted from all of those sunny days and secretly wishing for a rainy day so you don’t have to feel so guilty for spending a day inside watching movies (or a How I met your mother/Orange is the new black/House of Cards marathon).  

LOVED summer.  LOVE summer.  But (as I look right and left and duck my head) I’m kind of ready for Fall.  I’m sure in a month, when Seattle descends into its Grey season and there are more rainy days than not rainy days, I will take back those words – but for now, after over 40 days of 80+ degree weather this summer – I’m ready for an excuse to have a lazy day.


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Categories : Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington, West Seattle

Chicago, Dallas & LA

20 10 2010

I’m on the road again and coordinating a very logistics heavy tour.  3AM wake up calls, midnight bed times and 5,000 sample bags.  But, it looks great, and that’s all that really matters!



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Categories : Chicago

Check Chicago off the List

17 07 2010

Have you ever seen someone get attacked by a bird….for no good reason?  Now, I’m not saying it happened to me, but who would have thought that the little black birds would divebomb someone and peck at their head.

Really, it didn’t happen to me, and I didn’t actually even see it (although I WISH that I had, because how ridiculous would that have looked).  But, it did happen to Nathan.  (Cue hysterical laughter).  Now picture it in your head, Nathan minding his own business, looking up at the ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago, trying to take some cool early morning photos, and WHAM.  Pecked in the head.  (Cue more hysterical laughter).

At least he got some good photos.

We headed out to Chicago for a Tourist Weekend.  This was the first time that I had been in Chicago for pleasure, rather than business, and we definitely took advantage of our weekend there.  Up early, we were in the streets before 7am, which was the perfect time to take some photos of the city (without all of those pesky tourists).

My favourite – the infamous Bean.  It’s just so cool.  It seems like it’s made of one seamless piece of material.  And the reflections it gives off are amazing.

It was the last weekend of Taste of Chicago and we wanted to experience this big outdoor food fair.  I don’t know what we were expecting but it turned into a hot mess of battling crowds of hot, sticky people who were running from booth to booth trying to eat as much as they could.  Because you purchase your food with pre-paid tickets, it doesn’t really feel like you’re spending money.  We went around and tried the polish sausage, a slice of pizza, fire-grilled steak tacos, and mango rice pudding before we had had enough and decided to create our own ‘Taste of Chicago’.

After leaving the craziness of the festival crowds, our eating tour started at Flatwater, a cute little bistro on the river, where we had calamari and salads (mixed greens for Nathan, apple and jicama for me).  For dinner we stumbled upon a steak, seafood and pasta place called Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush. So good.  I’ve never had octopus outside of a sushi restaurant, but we ordered a grilled baby octopus appetizer, and it was so tender and delicious.  For entrees, gnocchi with scallops for me, and chilean seabass for Nathan.  On to dessert at The Melting Pot with ying and yang dark chocolate and white chocolate fondue. (you can find the restaurant info on www.eating4sport.wordpress.com)

Sunday morning we found ourselves eating at a little breakfast nook Vines, just down the street from the Garrett Popcorn Shop, which was filling the air with toffee and caramel popcorn scents.   We ended up wandering around the streets until we got to the John Hancock Building.  Instead of paying to go up to the observation deck, we ended up on the 96th floor, drinking bloody mary’s and looking at Chicago from a different angle.

We finished up our Tourist Weekend at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.  It was a pretty cool experience – sold out game, kettle corn, stadium beer….unfortunately…the Cubs lost…..horribly.

After the game we headed back to Detroit with full bellies and the feeling that we had conquered another city and made the most out of our 48 hours in Chicago.


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Spring Time in Chicago

23 03 2010

Last week in Chicago we witnessed a weather phenomenon.  One day it was sunny and 65 degrees and the next day it was snowing and 30 degrees.  We had just left New Jersey after the massive rain storm and on the way out of town we saw flooded houses.  But what really got to me was the sight of 15 deer stranded on a piece of high ground amidst the floodlands!   What is happening with this weather?

Luckily, we took full advantage of our day off in Chicago when it was 65 degrees and sunny.

First off – LUNCH. We came across a place called The Melting Pot – a little fondue place below street level that had a ton of ambiance.  After following the server’s recommendations we enjoyed a spinach and artichoke cheese fondue appetizer with bread, chips and apples to dip.  And in the photo below is our Pacific Fondue entree with duck, beef tenderloin, pork, chicken and shrimp with potatoes, mushrooms and broccoli all to cook in a seasoned fondue broth.  We decided that it’s a great date experience  – but only if you actually like the person because it’s definitely not a quick meal.

After lunch we headed down to Navy Pier and saw this lake view of Lake Michigan, and the reason why people love Chicago so much with 10 miles of lakefront walking trails.

As we walked along the main Navy Pier walkway we decided to hop on a boat tour as a way to see the city.  Turns out we were just in time for an Architecture Tour on the River.  We spent an hour on a riverboat learning about the history of all of the skyscrapers in the downtown Chicago area.  I haven’t heard so much about post modernism (or PoMo as we used to call it) since school.   Below is a photo of the old Sears Tower.


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H to the Izzo V to the Izza

20 03 2010

The Jay Z concert in Chicago marks the end of the road for our tour.  But after 7 weeks of touring from Las Vegas to Boston and making just a few stops in between (Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, NYC, Norfolk, etc), I can now say that I have found a video game that I am addicted to.

The recent addition to our tour – DJ Hero.  Now, I’ve traditionally been more of a Tetris girl, and I haven’t really touched Guitar Hero or Rockband, with the exception of singing a melody or two, and I would honestly say that I enjoy watching people play video games a lot more than I like playing them.   But there is something about this game that called to me.  It could be my interest in hard core rap and my aspirations to be a DJ – obviously kidding.

Seriously now, you wouldn’t even recognize me when I’m in my zone, working the fader and scratching to my Jay Z and Eminem playlists with guys crowding around me saying “aww man, she’s killing it“, or with 3 members of the NYPD asking me to ‘show them how it’s done’.

I realized my true addiction during this last Chicago tour.  To celebrate our last show we went into the concert to see Jay and ended up with floor seats, so we were 7 rows from the stage.  While we were waiting for Jay to perform I thought about how crazy it was that I knew people sitting around us – which made sense since we were the ones that were giving out these tickets just the day before – but it was still crazy to run into people you recognize in an arena of thousands.

As Jay went through his setlist I knew a couple of his recent popular songs – Empire State of Mind, Death of the Auto Tune, but didn’t know a lot of them.  And then I would hear the opening of a song and think ‘oh, I know this one’. But how do I know it – from the video that we play constantly in the truck?  No.  And I start singing along, ‘H to the Izzo, V to the Izza’.  Why do I know the words? And this is when it hits me – my addiction has come to life – I know these songs from my constant DJ Hero playing.  I’ve decided to cut myself off.  Not because the tour has come to an end and the DJ Hero will be packed up for months on end.  It’s my decision….Really!

Here are some photos from 7 rows up:


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Chillin’ (aka freezing our butts off) in the Windy City

11 12 2009

With temperatures dropping below zero (farenheit) and with a windchill of – 25 degrees, it’s a little bit hard to explore a new city, but explore we must! 

This is my first time in downtown Chicago and so far, despite its self-professed dangerously cold weather, it’s a pretty cool city. 

This is what I have learned about the city so far:

  •  The Gold Coast district is the premiere clubbing district
  • Chicago does not allow Food Street Vendors (instead forcing all business to its restaurants)
  • Rumour has it that Chicago has some of the best museums (although I haven’t made it out to one yet)
  • People actually go winter surfing and when the wind blows with 50 mph gusts, they grab their surfboards and head to the lake (I met someone who actually does this!)
  • Chicago Style Deep Dish stuffed pizza, although decadent and about 3 pounds of cheese, is not for me – I didn’t know what I was getting myself into
  • Kendall Jackson Chardonnay goes down just as smoothly in Chicago as it does in NYC or Lake Havasu City, AZ

And what brings me to Chicago?  Here’s a picture from the photoshoot that we had with the winner of Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters, Rick Bayless. 

On a side note: 

Let me just say that while I’ve been here I had a moment of amazement at mother nature.  It started snowing, and it was so cold that the snow flakes were keeping their perfect ‘snowflake’ shape.   I saw this perfect snowflake that landed on the counter and I honestly couldn’t tear my eyes away.  Then, when I was standing in the snow and the snowflakes were landing on my coat…..I kept poking Nathan and saying ‘look at this one, look how perfect this one is!  Look how tiny this one is – and still looks like a perfect snowflake‘.  It is crazy that mother nature can make something so intricate and delicate!


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