What to buy mom for Mother’s Day? I feel like throughout the year I see a zillion things that would be perfect for my mom, or aunts or special women in my life and then the week gets here and I usually I panic and start searching for something more ‘perfect’. But what really is […]
Read MoreIf you’ve been following along on Instagram, I’ve talked a lot about how my twin boys started high school this year at different schools and have had different holidays for the first time. So this year we had different spring breaks and one of them went to see stars in Tucson with his dad who […]
Read MoreI feel like I become a nervous fifth grader when I go to interview someone on Zoom. I’d much rather chat it out with someone over coffee than wait my turn as maybe the 4th spot of 7 people who get to ask a question in a press round table through my screen. Will the […]
Read MoreDisney’s Aladdin the musical opened last night in Seattle and it’s only here for a very short time and I’ve heard from a few people that it’s really difficult to get tickets right now. I was invited to go for opening night and the theatre was the most bustling I’ve seen it in a while. […]
Read MoreI booked the Paradox Hotel for our family during the holidays. I used Expedia ( a site I often use because of its easy cancellations and good hotel deals) but saw recently on the actual Paradox Hotel website they have a Washington Residents’ rate. (I often google “Washington residents rate” for Vancouver hotels and they […]
Read MoreSometimes I wonder if 8 years old is around the time you discover who you really are and what you love, and I remember it being one of my favorite years with our twin boys. It’s also around the time I think one of our guys really got into everything airplane and space, so much […]
Read MoreMy heart still lives in my Bachan and Jichan’s kitchen in Vancouver on Friday nights where I could be content forever devouring heaping bowls of rice, nimono, little plates of fish and pickles, and drinking tea with the grownups until way past other kids’ bedtimes. When I go home to visit now, I’m lucky that […]
Read MoreI brought my fifteen year old son with me to the media night for Beetlejuice on Broadway in Seattle the other night. We came from an intense soccer game, and a busy day of work and literally slid into our seats minutes before the musical started. And then I realized it is all about death. […]
Read MoreFunny that it’s almost summer and I’m just getting to this post now. And I wish we had time to do a trip like this for summer too as we’ve also been to Disneyland, Vancouver Island and a bunch of other places together over the years but now all of our kids are involved in […]
Read MoreMy family loves afternoon tea. Maybe our gateway tea was the high tea up in Vancouver at Secret Garden Tea Company (isn’t the name magical too?). And over the years we’ve even traveled for tea around the world, like one in the smallest house in Amsterdam, and of course the famous Empress tea in Victoria. […]
Read MoreI recently tried to explain to someone about the Greenheart TreeWalk and realized I never wrote this one up for the blog. If you are visiting Vancouver and you’re in the University of British Columbia (UBC) area around April to October, this is such a great place to visit. And maybe if you miss out […]
Read MoreLearning about animals has always been a big part of our travels and we’ve planned many of our trips around adventures to see animals especially when the kids were little. We live near Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle which I truly believe is one of the best zoos in the United States and I think […]
Read MoreThere used to be days when we would have to get paper airline tickets fedexed by a travel agent and trips needed to be planned months in advance. Nowadays, we can often even cancel our flights hours before a trip. We can book whole itineraries in minutes. And while this is not totally how our […]
Read MoreThis post is sponsored by The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA). All opinions are my own. For more inspiration during #FrozenFoodMonth, be sure to check out delicious ideas from NFRA at EasyHomeMeals.com #MFFM2024 Mornings are a juggle in my family and I’m sure yours are too. Like how do we all get out the door and to […]
Read MoreFor all of you parents like us who are living in that hour and a half window of soccer practice and also that 30 minute warm up before games, our lives don’t have to be just soccer. I’ve made it a habit of finding quick coffee shops and interesting places near as many of the […]
Read MoreSunny places in winter is what gets many of us Seattleites through the long dark season. And once you get into the school age zone, these trips often get squished into holiday breaks where you find everyone you know in the city on the same flight to Hawaii. That’s why my ears perked up at […]
Read More“Why am I crying again?” I hear someone behind me whisper as all of us are in a room listening to yet another inspiring and tear-jerking panel of speakers at the Real Simple Weekend conference in La Jolla. I don’t know if I should really call it a conference or maybe it was more of […]
Read MoreI received products to try from Kidpik and as always the opinions in this blog post are my own. I don’t think Kidpik was around when my kids were little but I’ve seen it pop up in my instagram feed lately so I know the name and maybe you do too. I thought they were […]
Read MoreThe other morning at pottery class I heard a song that I heard in Ain’t too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations which was our favorite musical last season. And then I got a message in my inbox that the 2024/2025 Broadway in Seattle season was just announced and there are so many […]
Read MoreI recently posted stories on my instagram during a morning adventure at Pike Place Market with a friend and had a lot of messages about where we went so I thought I’d write them up here. I know a lot of tourists wonder if we Seattleites really go to Pike Place Market. Many of us […]
Read More