361/365

Taste of Edmonton = Taste of Yum!

309/365

A fast-food-dinner-in-transit kind of day.

293/365

Kicking off an excellent meal at the Three Boars Eatery with a Rose Lemonade.

249/365

A toast to the blessing of food, family, and fun this Easter weekend.

228/365

Quintessential road trip pit stop--a Donut Mill dinner enjoyed by all.

225/365

And people wonder why I don't like cooking. The clean-up often takes just as much effort. (And this was just chicken and salad.)

207/365

Take out and TV. And it's not even dark out yet. Awesome.

205/365

Mmm..... crepes.... the feast before the fast, and the blessings of good friends. Perfect.

197/365

You're just going to have to trust I'm eating my vegetables. :)

195/365

A little bit of celebrating,

A little bit of adventure,

A lot of pizza.

A little bit of chocolate,

A little bit of cozy beverage,

A little bit of catching up.

A lot of yum.

A lot of fun.

166/365

Birthday celebrations continue; first [non-chocolate] fondue!*

*(Don't ask why I waited 31 years--I don't know that, either)

98/365

I was invited spontaneously to hang out with some friends and watch a movie this evening.

The spontaneity part was giving me a particularly hard time (and for no particularly good reason).

Solution: purchase comfort food for supper, (follow it up with wine), and enjoy the movie and the company.

89/365

Ready to start some Grey's with my yummy nacho platter; shared meals are the best ones. :)

70/365

Could someone please pass the salad?

45/365

A late supper this evening.

Saturday in Seattle

So, Saturday started off with the ritualistic morning coffee (READ: Starbucks located in the hotel), and the walk over to The Container Store. The Container Store is one of those places that, even if you only have one item on your "need" list, you WILL come out with significantly more. I went in for a drawer organizer. Came out with that, plus hangers, paper organizer, water bottles (for 'my three', not me), wall magnet strips, and this cool strap thing to bulk items together and carry easier.

Had fun puddle jumping in the rain as we walked back to the hotel to get the car. The copious amount of precipitation in Seattle is one of the primary reasons I could never live there, but if I'm going to be there while it's raining, I might as well have fun with it!

After our rainy fun in Bellevue we headed into Seattle proper. We started by conquering the downtown core without a map to locate this little coffee shop that JM's friend had recommended, and then headed down to Pike Place Market. Our previous visit to Seattle had been crunched enough for time that we always found ourselves at Pike Place within an hour of it shutting down. We were able to get there a little earlier this time; JM appreciated that for the shopping factor, and I appreciated it for the photo opp factor. The market it an experience unto itself. I still have yet to see flying fish, but it's not like I'll never be back there. :)

We returned to Tilikum Place Cafe for supper, dessert, and drinks before Rob Bell's presentation (oh, yeah, the reason we came to Seattle this weekend in the first place!). We had visited this cafe on our first trip, and were so impressed with the quality of service and drinks menu that we decided to come back and check out the food as well. We have now decided that visiting Seattle without eating here is not an option!

Not a Pansy Princess

So, I was playing pretend with S this afternoon. She made me a princess, and she chose to be my knight. She presented the appropriate play costumes, and we were ready to go. Good thing, as there were nasty dragons to be fought. S wielded her sword (read: pool noodle), and with a triumphant "I'll protect you!" took the first dragon down with amazing skill. Then she turned to me and invited me to help her with the next dragon. Sweet deal! The princess hardly ever gets to hold her own sword, let alone use one!

After slaying dragons, Sir S decided we'd better get married, the process of which involved going out to a fancy dinner (man, that would be a lot less stressful and expensive in real life!). We slayed some more dragons, and then I was made supper and dessert again (just regular supper this time, not the kind that gets you married). Play continued on a little bit after this, and then we went outside.

As I was driving home after, I realized that while she has no clue, S totally had some basic tenets of a good relationship thrown into our pretend play. In this day and age, a wife (i.e. the Princess) isn't just a pretty little thing of her husband's (i.e. the Knight). She is (and wants to be) part of the action! The husband has a role to be the protector, and is confident to take initiative, but knows to invite his wife alongside to slay life's dragons together.

At the same time, the wife needs to know she's appreciated and loved at the end of the day, after all the dragon-fighting has been done. Nothing grandiose. Just something that says, "y'know, honey--we fought some big dragons today, and I'm glad you're on my side. I just wanted to say I appreciate you for that."

One day, S will want to be the princess. There is a fantastic knight waiting for her somewhere. One who will let her help fight the dragons, and take her to dinner after. :)