Ahhhh, Seattle!

After taking 10 days away from the east coast, followed by 5 days in bed sick, I am back! I had a lovely, lovely time in Seattle with dear friends and family. But really, my best friend of all on this trip is the city of Seattle. Remember how on Sex in the City, Carrie has a date with NYC? Well, that's sort of how it was with Seattle on this trip. It rained buckets the first few days, but that didn't stop us from making little jaunts into the city and we even spent a day up in Vancouver. Here are some highlights of our trip, you may notice that most of these center around food, since I really like to eat!

Bakery Nouveau: A fantastic bakery filled with baked goodness in West Seattle, a favorite neighborhood of mine. It's like a little escape to France, and the is owner famed for his baguettes. We enjoyed slabs of pizza, served very much like in Italy, and double baked almond coissants (yeeeesssss!). And, how cute are these pictures of our jaunt there?


bakery nouveau fun!

Sushi and the Pike Place Market: I went for super yummy sushi with my dear friend Leo, a graphic designer, semi-professional ballroom dancer and musician, at an sushi place that I can't remember the name of. Afterwards, my sweetie Jeff and I strolled the Pike Place Market and purchased tea at Market Spice and all manner of goodies at Delarentis italian deli. We even ran into a friend!

Vancouver, B.C.: Jeff, my lovely in-laws Dave and Judy and I piled in the car and drove to Vancouver for the day. We spent most of the time on Granville Island, which is like the Pike Place Market, except that there are tons of amazingly talented crafters and artists in addition to the yummy treats and produce. They have these beautiful galleries with working artist's studios in the back. . The Gallery of B.C. Ceramics has long been a favorite place of mine and so inspirational to me as a potter. I scored a stunning mug by B.C. potter Jackie Frioud there. It's just so sweet and simple and lovely to hold and looks so cool on my desk. After Granville Island we strolled around Stanley Park and then ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants ever, Delilah's where we indulged in martinis and yummy food. It was a perfect day!

ivy covered beams under the bridge on Granville Island

Madison Park: One night we went to Madison Park, which is a fantastic neighborhood on Lake Washington, just near Capital Hill. It has restaurants and cute shops and it's fun to walk along the water. It was one of those sunny days where the water is glistening and we enjoyed margaritas and butternut squash and goat cheese enchiladas. Mmmmm.

not in Madison Park, still funny!

Nordstrom: Okay, I couldn't exactly go to Seattle without going to Nordstrom. The Nordstrom in Bellevue Square is one of the best in the country. It's about 5x the size of the Nordstrom stores here in MD and has so many pretty clothes and shoes. They even have entire section (the size of a shoe store) of sporty Nikes/Pumas/Adidas for the ladies. I swooned, but walked away with only one denim skirt.

Barbecue at Judy and Dave's: Our last night in town my previously mentioned really sweet in-laws hosted a barbecue for us and our friends. We had a great time catching up with lots of folks that we haven't seen since we moved away. The food and the conversation were perfect and it was a sunny 85 degrees, rare warm weather in mid-September. Hooray!!! A perfect end to a perfect trip.

My (very cute!) husband Jeff and his dad and beer