TRAVEL
When your family gets sick while traveling for Christmas
December 29, 2014So before this sounds too dramatic and cruel, we weren’t horribly sick while traveling for Chrismtas and we weren’t terribly far from home when we were traveling-Vancouver BC, our hometown is only a 3 hour drive from Seattle where we live-but I remember joking with friends over drinks a few nights before Christmas about being […]
Read More
A splurge and a steal at Canada Place and some other neat things with kids in Vancouver at Christmastime
December 13, 2014The other weekend, the hubby had to work in Vancouver and I got to tag along with the kids. So while he went into work bright and early, we woke up leisurely, had an easy breakfast in our room of cereal and milk (this was first breakfast-I had bigger plans for 2nd breakfast) and got […]
Read More
More gifts for Seattle lovers!
December 11, 2014I already have a list of Uniquely Seattle Gifts and a list of places in Seattle where you can help others with your Christmas shopping but here are a few updates I’ve found in the last little while: Like how can you resist this adorable Seattle Luggage tag charm from Jet Set Candy?(They actually have […]
Read More
When you break tradition and the world still turns out rosy (Farmer Brown’s tree farm, Arlington, WA)
December 7, 2014Every year we go to a tree farm called Christmas Creek in North Bend where my guys insist the North Pole is, and it’s become a lovely tradition of getting our tree, seeing Santa, riding on a tractor-pulled hay cart and eating cookies from George’s Bakery in front of a fire. Except this year, we were […]
Read More
Some super easy ways to give back while you shop in Seattle this weekend
December 5, 2014I volunteer for an organization that does a giving tree to help out our community and the wishes I’ve read so far have been so simple and beautiful that I can’t help but think how wanting the lists and lists of my family’s desires seem in comparison and it’s made me reflect a little more […]
Read More
Wildlights 2014 (Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA)
December 3, 2014Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo might be a newer light show in Seattle-it’s only on its third year-but we’ve been going since it started and it has become one of our family’s favorite Seattle holiday traditions. The other night when we visited, the sky was bright and clear and there was still a dusting of […]
Read More
Uniquely Seattle Gifts that might help with your Holiday shopping
November 23, 2014I am a big fan of locally made and anywhere or anytime I can toot my “I love Seattle” horn, I will. So here are some things that I have my eye on for holiday gifts: We have chocolates of all sorts here in Seattle and my favorites are Frans’ and Theos. Both give fabulous […]
Read More
The awesomest park in the world is 3 hours away from Seattle (Terra Nova Rural Park, Richmond, BC)
November 21, 2014Hopefully this got your attention if you like visiting parks with kids because this one is totally worth it. We’ve been to many parks around the world and we sometimes travel just to see playgrounds like this one in Copenhagen that I saw on pinterest, or this one in Japan in a monkey forest and […]
Read More
We almost have a roof over our heads (cabin building in the woods)
November 19, 2014The snow is threatening to fall and we’re oh so close to getting the roof on before we get tons and tons of it in Snoqualmie Pass. But we’re not quite there yet. And that’s the nail-biting exciting part of building in a place with a short building season. On our last site visit, I […]
Read More
When you need to post-birthday shop on a Monday
November 17, 2014When you get a certain amount of birthdays under your belt, you begin to realize how thankful you are for having just made it to that day again another year. And today I’m truly grateful for the wonderful people in my life and for health and happiness too. And I’m thankful for cake. All the […]
Read More
Why I’ll be visiting Science World a lot more this year (Vancouver, British Columbia)
November 15, 2014Yes, science museums are a good thing for kids. They help with STEM building (a word that’s super trendy in kid education lately that just means Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I had to look it up because I thought it meant brain surgery or rocket science or something way more revolutionary, but really it […]
Read More
Events that didn’t feel like commercials but made me feel better about products
November 13, 2014Last month my family drove up to Snoqualmie Pass and we joked that with all our shiny cars parked in the parking lot it totally looked like a car commercial and it’s a little eye-opening to think about how much of our lives really ARE a commercial, from the things we see on instagram or […]
Read More
When Monday’s shopping starts to spill out into the rest of the week and beyond
November 11, 2014It’s impossible to hide from shopping in November even though some days like today the weather is so gorgeous you have to get away from the computer and dust off the sunglasses and head outdoors. My email has been bombarded by every company I subscribe to with some kind of Friends and Family sale and […]
Read More
If you still have Halloween Candy in your house…
November 6, 2014Oh Halloween you kill me. Every year. And every year the guys get more effective at acquiring candy so the cycle just seems to get stronger and stronger. Eat candy. Mourn eating Halloween candy. Eat more candy. Eat more candy……until one of us gets the willpower to do something about it. Thankfully that someone is […]
Read More
Finding Fall at Gold Creek Pond (A great hike for kids near Snoqualmie Pass)
November 5, 2014Everywhere in Seattle the leaves are putting on the best show they can and I’m trying to snap as many pictures of my kids as possible because it is just too beautiful to stop and one day they probably won’t want me taking so many pictures any more. I’ve also decided that because of this […]
Read More
Toilet shopping that gives back and a way to leave a mark at Pike Place market in Seattle on a Monday
November 3, 2014Happy Shopping Monday friends! I hope you all had a wonderful candy-filled weekend. I almost kept the kids at home today to prevent myself from being left ALL ALONE WITH ALL THE CANDY, but there is work to be done and I guess this is a great test for me to see if I can […]
Read More
The Fremont Troll and where we eat nearby (Fremont, Seattle)
October 29, 2014The other day we were heading out for a simple dinner (we often eat at Tutta Bella with the kids and if we get there before 6pm it’s happy hour and dinner is even more awesome) when we decided to take a little detour up Troll street to say hello to our favorite Seattle neighborhood […]
Read More
Rare Waffles in Seattle (Mae James Coffee, Southpark)
October 28, 2014I know good waffles and you can’t get them just anywhere. They’re often perfected over the years from old family recipes that have been uniquely tweaked for the iron they’re being made on and only a few people can make them just right. We’re lucky in our family to have had years of delicious Christmas […]
Read More
The best thing I acquired while shopping before a Monday
October 20, 2014Oh, I am shopping today, don’t you worry. I do need some dresses for all the winter festivities coming up and I’m totally in love with this Tadashi Shoji one at Nordstrom and I found some cute ones at Ann Taylor too (I tried a code ebates50 for ebates shoppers and it worked for 50% […]
Read More
When one door closes, another one opens with chocolate on top (on visiting Hotcakes in Seattle)
October 17, 2014I’ve been dreaming about eating at the Fat Hen for a while now. It is really close to a shop where we often go for macarons and other treats (Honore Bakery if you’re curious. It has amazing desserts and some of Seattle’s tastiest macarons and it’s one reason why I used to schedule my kids’ […]
Read More