Washington 2009: Day 2 = Pike Place Market December 18, 2009

Another photo-heavy post. Consider yourselves warned!

 

On our second day, we had a few free hours in Seattle before Fanless’ aunt and uncle were due to pick us up for the 3-hour drive to Othello. We decided to head to the Pike Place (aka Public) Market for breakfast, so we walked over to the monorail at the Seattle Center, which was about four blocks from our hotel.

 

This was taken about two blocks from our hotel (the Space Needle is located at the Seattle Center).

The monorail dropped us off at the Westlake Center, so we just had to walk a few blocks to the market.

There is just so  much good stuff here. The fresh fruits and veggies were so beautifully displayed.

We had breakfast at the Athenian Inn, which has been at the market since 1909. Fanless told me his parents used to go there when they were in college, and he had been there with them a couple of times, but not since about 2004. So it was really nice to share this experience with him. (This was the view from our booth.)

Just being silly.

I love this picture. <3

I think this was the ferry for Bainbridge Island, but don’t quote me on that.

Mmm… breakfast! This was Fanless’ (salmon, eggs and hash browns).

And this was mine! (Corned beef hash, eggs and toast. Sooo good!)

After breakfast, we walked around the market for a bit. Of course, there was plenty of fresh seafood.

What’s that thing, you ask?

Why, it’s a Monk Fish! (Ugly little bugger, isn’t it?)

It’s mini-Fanless! (Just kidding, babe.)

Pike Place Fish Market. This is the place that is famous for throwing the fish.

A shot from the walkway. You can see the sign for Post Alley way down at the end.

Newsstand. (See the face? It’s only day two and he’s already over the pictures. Hee!)

Christmas trees!!

Mmm… cheeeese… I do love cheese.

A shot of the street.

Believe it or not, I did not have any coffee in Seattle. That’s on my to-do list for next time. (I love this sign.)

And then Aunt Laurie called to say they were about a block away.

(Stay tuned for more.)

 

Peace out, yo!

Washington 2009: Day 1= Seattle

WARNING – Super-dee-duper photo heavy!!

Aboard our Alaska Airlines flight from Miami to Seattle.

Flying over Miami Beach.

Finally over Washington! (The Cascade Mountains)

Arriving in Seattle.

Taking the bus from the airport to Downtown Seattle.

Union Station. (This is where we got off the bus and started walking for a while.)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fire escape in my life.

At this point we decided to call a cab because it was still quite a ways to the hotel.

I genuinely love the architecture here. The first brick building in Seattle was built in 1872, and pretty much all the buildings here have that beautiful, pre-War historic brick architecture. I could have spent an entire day just photographing building facades.

Antique-y street clock.

After checking into our hotel (the Mediterranean Inn on Queen Anne Ave N; it was great, but I forgot to take pics), we went for a sightseeing walk.

Nirvana posters in the window of Easy Street Records. Loved this shop. It was so very “Empire Records.”

(This is for Mike and Kat.) We made it to Top Pot Doughnuts! DEEE-lish!

Glazed Applesauce. So good!

Inside Top Pot. Super cute place, with wall-to-wall books. Very nice atmosphere.

Christmas tree at the Westlake Center.

Carousel and Christmas lights.

By the time we got to the Public Market, it was closed, so we just took some pictures. (We went back for breakfast the following day, so those pics will come later.)

So, apparently, this pig statue is kind of a big deal.

Found this cool alleyway with absolutely every inch covered in posters

Rounded up our evening with dinner at Ivar’s, before heading back to the hotel. (My hottie dinner date!)

So, a couple of things I really enjoyed about Seattle…

1) Awesome food! Seriously. Every meal we had here was fantastic. As a matter of fact, I could use one those doughnuts right about now.

2) The people are soooo nice. Every shop we went into, the employees were super polite and friendly. That never happens in Miami.

Okay, that’s it for tonight, but stay tuned for many more pics to come. Peace out, yo!

Scrap Retreat Recap: A Photo essay September 16, 2009

The scrap retreat this past weekend was fun and productive (I made 17 layouts and a mini-album, yo!). I got to hang out with my scrappy girls, eat delicious food, stay in a beautiful resort and just relax and have a great time. Vane and Damaris both have great recaps on their blogs, so I’ll just share some favorite photos from the weekend.

 

Where we stayed (Vane’s picture):

 

My room (the bed was sooo comfortable).

 

The view from my balcony.

 

 

The Island Room. This is where we scrapped all weekend and the views were fantastic.

 

Along with the MASSIVE goody bags (the beach bags pictured on the tables above), each girl received a monogrammed apron handmade by Damaris’ mom.

 

Barb got right down to business and completed her first layout shortly after we arrived.

 

We enjoyed lunch al fresco, overlooking the resort’s pool area.

 

Yummy Mahi tacos and garlic fries (seriously, I would go back just for more of this).

 

Gratuitous scenery shots.

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, we all gathered at the grand staircase in the lobby (wearing our cute aprons, of course) for a group photo. Damaris’ sister, Margie, said we looked like a bag of Skittles (LOL)!

 

Damaris, you put together an awesome retreat! It was fun and relaxing and creative… everything and anything we could’ve hoped for! Seriously, you outdid yourself!! XOXO!!

 

That’s it for now. Peace out, yo!

jacksonville supercross 2009 April 7, 2009

On Friday, Fanless and I jumped on I-95 and embarked on a northbound trip to Jacksonville, Florida, in order to attend the first ever Jacksonville Supercross!

Amidst traffic and sporadic rain showers, we made it to Jacksonville in a little over 7 hours (including a late lunch stop at the Hooters across from the Daytona International Speedway).

We checked into the Bates Motel Scottish Inns, our home for the weekend, at almost 8pm. Okay, it wasn’t THAT bad, but certainly no 5-star 4-star 3.25-star resort. At least we had a bed and a shower!  Unfortunately, our A/C wasn’t exactly cooperating. We decided to make the most of the evening and go see “Fast & Furious” at a nearby Regal, then changed rooms upon our return to the hotel. Fortunately, the new room had an A/C comparable to the Arctic tundra and, combined with the exhaustion from the long drive, we passed out like logs.

The following morning, we got ready and headed over the bridge to downtown Jacksonville, as the event was being held at the Alltel Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

When we got there, the riders were running their practice laps, to familiarize themselves with the track. During this time the seating was General Admission so you could pretty much sit anywhere you wanted to watch the practice. We went down to the lower level, where Fanless proceeded to take many, MANY pictures of the practice runs. (These are my pictures. They’re not as good.)

Lites rider, Nico Izzi. He ended up getting injured (at 00:17) during the last lap of the Lites Main Event later that evening and was unable to finish the race.

I sat with Fanless for a little while, but I could literally feel my translucent skin frying, so I decided to head up to the covered “Bud Zone” in between levels. I managed to get a few more shots using my super-duper-zoom.

Current Supercross champion, Chad Reed.

Can you spot Fanless? 

Chad Reed again.

James Stewart (#7) takes a short break during practice.

James Stewart.

After practices, you can catch some of the riders in the pit area just outside the stadium. This is where their trucks are, and you can get autographs and pictures and such. (James Stewart)

You can also watch the mechanics work on the bikes, if you’re into that sort of thing.
And if you have a VIP friend – like Fanless’ BFF, Brandon – you also get to hang out in the sponsor areas and have free lunch and take goofy pictures. (Brandon used to work for ThorMX, one of the major manufacturers of race gear, and they hooked us up.)

Brandon, Kim (his wife), Mia (my favorite little munchkin), Brittany (Kim’s BFF) and Justin (Brittany’s BF), at the stadium.

The goofy sign Fanless made me make for the race (inside joke).

When it was finally time for the race we headed to our majorly awesome, third row seats!!! And while it looked to my untrained eye as if there were a lot of fans there, statistically, the attendance (approx 31K+) for this event was abysmal. But it is only the first year for this location. Hopefully, they’ll be able to attract a larger crowd next year, if they do it again.

There was a guest appearance from Ricky Carmichael, aka The GOAT (Greatest of All Time).

Finally, it was time for – as Mia would say – “SUUUU-per-CROOOOOSSSSS!”

Supercross consists of several races: 2 heats each for Lites and 450s; 1 LCQ (Last Chance Qualifier) for each, Lites and 450s; then finally, the Lites (250cc) Main Event and the Supercross (450cc) Main Event. I don’t remember what this picture is of, as they all start to look the same after a while.

This was the Supercross Main, where Chad Reed and James Stewart were battling it out for first place from beginning to end! These two have had a serious rivalry that dates back to their days as Lites riders. This was probably the best main event we’ve seen all season! Seriously, we were on our feet for all 20 laps of this event.

In the end, James passed Chad and managed to put a sizeable distance between them (James has been touted as the fastest motocross rider ever). He took the first place slot with only a few laps to go, which Chad was not happy about! My future husband, Kevin Windham, came in third, and I made sure to cheer for him. Very loudly.

I also video’d (see what I did thar??) the first laps of both the Lites and Main races. They’re not super-great quality, but you get the idea.

Lites:

Main:

Oh shoot! I almost forgot! We also came out on TV!!! The race was broadcast on Speed the following day (Sunday) and we came out like 4 or 5 times. Here’s a still from Fanless (see us??):

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. Peace out, yo!

daytona supercross 2009 March 12, 2009

This past Saturday, Fanless and I drove up to Daytona for the annual Supercross event at the Daytona International Speedway. This is our second time attending this race as part of Daytona Bike Week. Last year we were faced with a monsoon. This year we both had the Black Plague (aka the worst f—king cold ever), and we blew a fuse in my car 15 minutes into the drive and had to stop at Lipton Toyota to have it replaced (btw, they rock!!) I’m thinking next year we might want to prepare for bioterrorism or an alien invasion.

Anyway, here are some pics from the trip. The nighttime ones are pretty terrible because I had to set my ISO really high, so consider that a “heads up.” (Just an FYI: There are two classes of bikes in Supercross. When I refer to the “Lites” races it means they are riding 250cc bikes. The “Main Event” bikes are 450cc.)

Fanless checks his Twitter page (post-fuse replacement) on the ride up.
Him: “Drive your car!” 
Me: “I’m bored!”
Him: “Drive your car!” 

Not really sure where this was but it was such a pretty day out, I wanted to capture it.
We made it! And not a cloud in the sky!

Trying to look not sick! The riders behind us were waiting for their turn at the qualifying race. Jason Lawrence is in this group. He turned out to have the fastest qualifying time of all the riders.

Still waiting.

Sighting lap.

This is the coolest thing to me: the jumps!

Daytona is the only racetrack that allows the fans to stand trackside.

Fanless checks the image on his camera. Yes, that’s my hair in the corner.

Bobby Garrison

Jacob Marsack

Ryan Sipes

Daniel McCoy (I think; I can’t really see his number.)

We got to see some of the riders in the pits. This is Andrew Short.

Ivan Tedesco

Kevin Windham, winner of last year’s Daytona Supercross.

The track after practice/qualifiers.

After we walked around the pits for a while, we grabbed some lunch, then walked around the display tents outside the stadium. This bike reminded me of a Transformer.

This display from Honda was my favorite. Very eye-catching.

Horrendous pic. We were so sick (and fairly exhausted) by this point, but I really wanted a “we were here” picture. 

Nico Izzi in the Lites Main Event. I like him just because his last name is so fun! The whole time he’s racing we’re like “Izzi winning?” “What place Izzi in?”

Picked up this hot photographer at the track.

I think this was the Main Event.

This might be James Stewart. I can’t tell because it’s hard to see the number on the bike. (I told you these pictures were terrible.)

Yeah, I’m pretty sure this was the Main Event.

Ivan Tedesco (#9), Tim Ferry (I think; is that #15 in the back?), and Ryan Villapoto (#2).

Chad Reed (in front) fights for first place.
Chad Reed passed Jason Lawrence in the 16th lap and managed to win.

Crossing the track to get to the prize podium.

Jason Lawrence (this was his first ever 450 race, and he took 2nd; not too shabby!), Chad Reed (1st), and Davi Millsaps (3rd) accepting their prize trophies.

Davi Millsaps (hottie!)

And then my batteries died. Luckily they held out until the end!

By the time we got out of the stadium, we were both feeling like complete crap. So we picked up food at the Checkers drive-thru, checked into the hotel, popped some Zicam, and hit the sack. Good times.

If you want to see more pics from the races, check out Fanless’ flickr page.

Peace out, yo!

My Dream weekend with jordan pundik February 2, 2009

Just wanted to share pics from our weekend trip to Ft. Myers/Estero to see New Found Glory and Panic at the Disco.

Getting gas in Miami before hitting the road. Check out the hottie pumping my gas!

One of our specific plans for this trip was to hit up the Red Robin in Ft. Myers. This was my first time ever visiting one, since we don’t have them in South Florida.

This picture cracks me up because this was right after he said “you know, I really don’t like being in pictures.” To which I replied, “I like taking pictures and you know that. And I need pictures to scrapbook.” Click! (That’s the part that makes me laugh. Dude. Seriously? It’s always about the scrapping!)

Mmm-mmmm… It’s a Whiskey-something-BBQ burger (Babe, what was the name??). Sooo good! I had already taken a couple of bites when I was like “Oh shit! I have to take a picture!” Sorry if that’s gross. And I had a deliciously refreshing Freckled Lemonade to wash it down. (Let me just point out that it took me three meals to finish this burger: lunch and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday.)

At the Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. This was the opening band, Vega Under Fire. They are a local Gulf Coast band, and I was really impressed with them.

And finally, the moment I’d been waiting for… New Found Glory!! OMG – they were fantastic!! My future husband, Jordan, is such a great entertainer. He really knows how to work the audience.


Our seats were fairly close to the stage. This was the floor crowd (mostly FGCU students, since the university hosted the concert).

And right here is when my camera battery died. LOL!! So, unfortunately, no pics of Panic at the Disco. Suffice it to say that they were fairly awesome as well. I mean, really? How can you go wrong with a band that uses words like naivete, martyrdom, rationality, ridiculously and auberginein their lyrics?? Love!

The following day, we checked out of our hotel and decided to take a quick drive through Ft. Myers Beach before heading back to Miami. We came across a Super Target (squee!!) and stopped in to browse, and I picked up new batteries (on clearance for $2.48!) for my camera.

We made a quick stop at the beach (when I say quick, I mean it; I was illegally parked and we had to haul ass so I wouldn’t get towed) and snapped a few pics. This was Fanless’ first trip to the West Coast of Florida and my… sixth, I think? I just love the Gulf Coast beaches; I find them to be more beautiful than the East Coast beaches (Miami Beach? Ick!). Bonus: it was a beautiful, clear, 72 degree day out.


This is totally one of those “babe, stand here so I can take your picture!” pictures.

“Wait! Just one more!”

And with that, we got in the car and headed home. Just in time for the Super Bowl… which we didn’t watch!

Peace out, yo!

The Great Northwest – The finale! December 29, 2008

WARNING: PHOTO-HEAVY POST!!

On our last night in Washington, after visiting Seattle with Aunt Linda and Uncle Russ, we spent the night with Cousin Scott’s family in Everett, approximately 40 minutes north of Seattle.

They had gotten a LOT of snow over the previous two days (which is VERY unusual for that area), so when we got to the house, we found Scott shoveling snow from the driveway. Fanless decided to jump in and help him. (FYI – he’s using a garden shovel! Scott said they get so little snow there normally, that he doesn’t own a snow shovel.)

Their front yard was all decorated for Christmas, so of course I had to take pictures.

A little blurry, but I like it.

D. gets a lift from daddy (Scott).

I’m going to credit Lisa for the beautiful Christmas decor. I love the Christmas village on the mantel.

The backyard the following morning. You can get an idea of how deep the snow is by looking at the lawn chair on the bottom left.

Enjoying a beer in the Africa Lounge at SeaTac, prior to boarding our flight. (Don’t let the smile fool you; we’d just had a really stupid argument right before this.)

SeaTac is one of the nicest airports I’ve ever seen. The terminal where we boarded our flight had all these beautiful Native American images painted onto the windows.

And that, folks, is THE END!! Hope you enjoyed this trip as much as we did. =)

Peace out, yo!

the great northwest – part 4

WARNING: PHOTO-HEAVY POST!!

These are all pics from our visit to the Seattle Space Needle and the Seattle Center.

The Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum (that oddly-shaped building in front of us) stands a few feet away from the Space Needle.

A little history: The Seattle Space Needle was designed by artist Edward E. Carlson in 1959, and built as the dominant central structure for the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. It stands 605-ft. tall and cost $4.5 million to build.

According to our elevator guide (I’m not kidding), it takes 41 seconds to reach the top of the needle, at a speed of 10mph.

The Sky City Restaurant atop the Space Needle offers panoramic views of Seattle, the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, and Elliott Bay.

The rectangular-domed structure at the bottom left of this picture is the Key Arena, where the Sonics used to play before moving to Oklahoma City.

I love that you can see the mountains in the back of this pic.

This is probably my favorite.

Fanless got artsy with my camera.

The restaurant’s drink menu featured locally brewed beers and wines from Washington vineyards only. It was a pretty extensive list!

Here, Fanless samples one of the local beers.

Downtown Seattle (not all that different from downtown Miami, actually).

After lunch, we went up one level to the observation deck. Don’t let the smiles fool you; it was “f-word-ing” COLD up there!!

When in Rome…

We left the Space Needle and went across the street to the Seattle Center, where they had a large-size Christmas village on display.

“The Boy and the Plastic Bubble” (See the face? That’s the “Oh God, more pictures??” face.)

I took this one as we were leaving the Seattle Center.

Tomorrow will be the last Washington post.

Peace out, yo!!

The great northwest – part 3 December 28, 2008

WARNING: PHOTO-HEAVY POST!

These are all pics from our next to last day in Washington. Most of the scenery shots were taken from the backseat of Aunt Linda’s car, traveling from Othello to Seattle (approx. 3 hours), so they are a little blurry.

Apple orchard

Highway 26

Crossing the Columbia River (Othello is located in the Columbia Basin)

After you cross the Columbia River, you get onto Highway 90 (Snoqualmie Pass).

We made a quick stop at Aunt Linda’s house in Ellensburg (Fanless and I want to live there; it is such a cute house).

Back on Highway 90.

Once you pass the Columbia Basin area (which is mostly desert), you start getting into the “wetter” side of the state. It’s a noticeable change, as all of a sudden you are surrounded by evergreens, and eventually you hit the Cascade mountains. The snow was actually a lot heavier on this side of the state, which is unusual for Washington.

Once you cross this bridge, you can exit on the right into a town called Roslyn. This is where the exterior shots for the tv show “Northern Exposure” were filmed.

We really started seeing a LOT of snow as we got into the Cascades.


At the base of this hill is the rest stop we stopped at on our way to Othello the first night (it was so foggy that night, I didn’t even know there WAS a hill!)

I know why they call Washington “the Evergreen State".

We made a quick stop in North Bend to use the restroom and get some jerky.


We continued on to Bellevue to pick up Uncle Russ, then went on to Seattle.

Part 4 will be pretty much all pics from Seattle.

Peace out, yo!

the great northwest – part 2 December 27, 2008

WARNING: PHOTO-HEAVY POST!!

More pics from our trip to Washington.

Fanless and his grandma (he was the first grandchild in the family).

On Day 3 of our trip we woke up to find snow! Being a Miami girl, I can not possibly put into words how excited I was to see snow (even if it was only a little bit)!

At Uncle Dave’s house:


And at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm:
(FYI – when the sunlight hits it in just the right way, snow actually glitters! It was too overcast here, but a few days later when it was sunnier, it looked so beautiful. Like sugar crystals.)

We celebrated Family Christmas on this day with a delicious lunch (catered by Michael Jay’s Restaurant in Connell), family photos, then a gift exchange. Here is the adults’ Christmas tree all decorated and stocked with gifts (the kids’ tree and gifts were in the shop, where we ate lunch).

The following day we went to Connell (pop. under 3,000) to return the food containers to the restaurant. Then we went to a barbecue at Fanless’ aunt’s house (his dad’s sister), then to see his little cousin’s Christmas recital at the church.

More to come…