DAILY LIFE
Best dessert combo to order from Madonna Inn in SLO
February 8, 2023Have you ever heard of the Madonna Inn? Maybe you’ve seen the Madonna Inn from viral videos on the internet and they’ve popped up in my instagram feed too but I had no idea I would ever visit. This is a hotel famous for its over the top decor and individually decorated rooms-there are 110 […]
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The Gum Wall in Seattle, Bubblegum Alley in SLO and how these relate on Feb 3
February 3, 2023Did you know Feb 3rd is National Bubble Gum day? I had no idea until it started popping up in my social media feeds today. As a Seattleite, bubble gum is something I always think about when I go to Pike Place Market because we have a Gum Wall there. And then I recently went […]
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Things to Do in Seattle in February
February 1, 2023Did we just survive the longest month ever and are we going to blink and have February disappear too? It still feels like we might get one more weather system before all the cherry blossoms start to pop but you might want to start keeping an eye on the UW cherry blossom forecast here. And […]
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The Friends’ Experience Seattle: yes, the one where it actually comes to our city.
January 30, 2023Did you ever watch Friends (and did you know it was almost called six of one)? The Friend’s Experience has come to Seattle and it’s a lot cooler than I imagined (I liked the show but I wasn’t obsessed and I bet I’ve missed some episodes) and it’s something I’d go back to again now […]
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Room Tour of the Hilton Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach in Oxnard California
January 27, 2023First of all, have you ever heard of Oxnard, California? It’s an area just about 60 miles northwest of LAX and we went to visit because I heard it would be an excellent home base to explore the Channel Islands. It turns out, Oxnard is also a really great foodie destination- my family tried to […]
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Ain’t too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations Musical at Seattle Paramount Theatre (don’t miss out)
January 25, 2023I admit that when I first got the media invite for Ain’t too Proud: the Life and Times of the Temptations Musical in the mail I almost didn’t go. I had a lot going on this week and I hadn’t heard anything about it. But then I asked Alexa to “Play the Temptations” to give […]
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Asean Streat in Westlake Center: a unique place to eat in downtown Seattle
January 17, 2023We have been needing a food hall like this in Seattle forever and thank goodness Asean Streat has manifested itself in the heart of our downtown. Westlake Center is such a perfect spot in the center of our city, attached to Climate Pledge Arena and Seattle Center with the Monorail. But it’s been a bit […]
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Three Irish chocolate shops with factories you can visit
January 10, 2023Our family has been interested in chocolate factories ever since the Theo Chocolate factory opened in our Seattle neighborhood ages ago and we learned about the bean-to-bar process. Since then our kids have been to Costa Rica to see chocolate, and visiting chocolate factories have been a big part of our family holidays. Most recently […]
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Kafka’s Coffee in Vancouver BC with a playground next door
January 9, 2023Kafka’s Coffee has been part of our Vancouver adventures for decades now- my best friend baked for them years ago and they have really delicious coffee and food. But the newest Kafka’s Coffee location is so perfect for Vancouver families (and Seattle families visiting Vancouver) so I needed to talk about it here. It’s next […]
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Things to do in Seattle in January
December 30, 2022I just found out we don’t have to jump right into January for Seattle Schools-the Monday falls right after New Year’s so we get until Tuesday to start the year. So will this be the theme of our 2023 year? Can we actually ease into something in our city for once? Will we slowly sip […]
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If you have Irish heritage and have a chance to visit Dublin make sure you go to the Epic Irish Emigration Museum
December 22, 2022There are many things to do in Dublin and we found out that you can probably do them all if you really want to even if you are only in Ireland for 5 days but you can also choose just to do a few and take your time and even go to Butlers for hot […]
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Unboxing and using our Lomi Home Composter for the very first time
December 14, 2022I was gifted a Lomi Home Composter and this post contains affiliate links and as always the viewpoints in this post are my own. I also have a coupon code for a free skylight with purchase. Add Lomi and a Skylight to your cart. Apply code: emeraldcitylife at checkout. We are trying out the Lomi […]
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My most favorite Seattle thing from 2022: Noir Lux Candle Company
December 12, 2022Maybe we can people again. It has been so hard not to people in the past couple years. And thankfully this year it finally feels like we’re starting to be able to make plans to meet friends and family and there is so much hope. We’ve been able to have so many first-time-in-way-too-long reunions and […]
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Things to do in Seattle in December
December 5, 2022This year, I’m starting to work on this list in November-who am I?!! But I’m starting to get messages about December things so I’m putting them slowly on the list and maybe when December starts I’ll actually have some things for all of us to do. And maybe it’s okay to not do it all […]
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Our Seattle favorite things of 2022 for all of your holiday lists
November 30, 2022Who says that the holidays need to be hectic? I love December for celebrating and reflecting on all the joys of the year. This year I’m really thankful to have partnered with many local shops and activities that have become part of my family’s daily life in Seattle. And many of these places will be […]
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A play you need to see in Seattle : “What the Constitution means to me” (and when it goes beyond our city you need to see it too!)
October 6, 2022Have you ever watched as much news or followed as much politics as you have in the past 3 years? Sometimes I feel like all I hear is sadness and scary things and I just want to turn it off and make it stop. But it won’t stop even if we don’t pay attention and […]
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Advent Calendar 2023 Watchlist
October 4, 2022Just like Halloween and Christmas start slowly sneaking into summer, annual advent calendars start popping up earlier and earlier every year too. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing for this year’s calendar yet but there are a few that have caught my eye. I’ll add the ones I see to the list below and […]
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Finding all the places that have nonstop flights from Seattle at Seatac airport now that we travel with teenagers
October 3, 2022The hardest part about travel now that we travel with teenagers is that we don’t have all the time and flexibility we used to have when they were younger because of school and sports. One of the main ways we choose the places we go to is by if they have nonstop flights from Seattle. […]
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Things to do in Seattle in October
September 28, 2022Suddenly it’s October isn’t it? I was just reminiscing about our October last year where we started the month with a last minute trip to Disneyland (October was a great time to go by the way-we pretty much did it all in one day)and escaped a bit of the smoke we had. This year there […]
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Staying a the Conrad Midtown Manhattan NYC (and yes we booked with Amex Fine Hotels again too)
September 20, 2022At the beginning of the summer our teenage boys went on their first solo trip with their school. It was at the height of the June pandemic outbreaks where people who hadn’t got Covid for two years were all getting it and we were a bit worried that they might get Covid too but we […]
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