love story meets love story - jon schmidt. by orange

in my last post I linked to a previous post and just today I thought I would listen to the song that was in the orginal post and learned the video was no longer active!  sorry about that if you tried to find it.  I found the updated video...check it out.  SO GOOD.

Portland Queso. by violet

I’m in town for a quick business trip to Portland.

View from the hotel window

Teresa has been talking about taking me to Oba for queso for some time now. As it turned out, we had something to celebrate. Tess got into medical school. And frankly what better way to celebrate than queso and margaritas with one of your best friends? I can’t think of one.

White cosmo

The queso and conversation didn’t disappoint. The queso was creamy and melty with onion and tomatoes mixed in. The cheese stayed in its creamy state.

Cheesy goodness

While it’s one of my first Portland queso experiences, I’m pretty sure it will live at the top of my list for awhile.

I’m so proud of the future Dr. Teresa. I’m so happy that I got to share this very special day with a very special friend and some really awesome queso.

Violet in Sofft Freeda Bootie – black, ankle booties

music wednesday. by orange

It's been awhile since I've posted on music.  Recently, I started trying this thing called Pandora and it just so happens it has me musically inspired.  I know...I'm way behind on the times with Pandora.  Better late than never right?

This song that popped up on my pandora reminded me of this post.  I always forget that I love instrumental pieces. 




Other music that I'm currently a bit obsessed with:

1) Broken Bells: The Ghost Inside. This sums up my feelings on this song: "I can't help but dance with myself" - stated by chaseduran on YouTube

They are coming to Seattle soon! 5/25 - Showbox at the Market




2) But of course - Greg Laswell.  His new CD hits stores and the internets on 5/4 - Take a Bow

However, right now you can listen to ALL the new tracks at http://www.greglaswell.com/.  Enjoy!!  Greg is also coming to Seattle soon.  He will be playing at Tractor Tavern in Ballard on 5/8.  Tickets are only $12!  You can enter to win to meet Greg here.

orange in Rachel Roy Jaxine Flats

Ladies who Brunch. By violet.

Sometimes getting your girls together can seem like a daunting task. Everyone seems to be going in different directions with packed schedules.

After my most recent closet meltdown J.P. suggested that I arrange a clothing swap. All it took was one e-mail and we found a date that worked for everyone, a month later.

But we quickly discovered that more than a few people had already gotten a jump on their spring cleaning and didn’t have anythingl left they wanted to part with. So we re-grouped and really just made it a brunch instead.

So that’s why we found ourselves gathered together on a beautiful Sunday morning sharing a feast.

Inspired by Portage Bay, I did my best to create a waffle bar with all the trimmings.

Each of the ladies brought another element. That’s probably why we had so much food (pretty sure that I will be eating donuts for days).

Shelby bringin' home the bacon

Yum...dooonuts

All, in all it was a lovely way to spend the morning. It also made me realize that this could easily be something that we do more often. Ladies, what do you think?

 
Violet in Frye Campus 14L boots in Saddle Montana

homeward bound. by orange

To celebrate the husband's "welcome back to your social life/tax season is done" we went out of town for the weekend with our good friends Jared, Katie & their adorable Signe (who I've raved about here).  While staying at the amazing Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort we decided to depart on a little hike. We brought our 2 dogs, Jared and Katie brought their 2 dogs and we ran into some friends of Jared and Katie, who had brought their dog.  Trekking up the mountain was literally a scene from Homeward Bound.  As I love me some doggies, I was kind of in heaven.  

the schnood on the move

Allie and Miles

Trekking up

Still going up

Payton checking up on us

still going

Meika not so much, she was ready for a nap

Signe says hi

At the top; dogs waiting patiently for a well deserved treat

View from the top

Signe and her Allie

orange wishing I was in Keen Targhee II

At the cool kids table. by violet.

Remember those girls in high school? Those girls who were older than you and seemed to have it all figured out? They had cute clothes, cute boyfriends, pretty hair and straight teeth that didn’t require braces. Then, when, by chance you sat next to these girls in 4th period English Lit it turned out that they were not only wicked smart but actually very nice and very cool to you.

You had complicated feelings towards these girls because you were insanely jealous of them and short green fire out of your eyes at them. Except for the fact that you pretty much wanted to be them. Or at least be friends with them so they could teach you the secrets to getting perfect eyeliner and have access to their fashion advice.

I have much the same feelings about my friends Katy and Erin.

Katy and Erin are entirely too cool to hang out with me. When I was first introduced to them through work, I could not image why they would even bother with me. Then they invited me out to lunch - more than once. Then they attended social functions outside of work with me. Then, I moved in with Katy and her roommates. And part of me I kept waiting for the “Mean Girls” moment when I found the whole thing was just a joke. Not that Katy and Erin would ever do that because they are really, actually, wonderful people.

While I was living with them, Katy and her now husband Danny (equally as cool) got engaged and invited me and J.P. to their incredibly, awesome wedding. Then Katy and Danny moved to London for two years. Because that’s the kind of thing that they do. Just move to London.

Katy was back in the states this week, (seriously, don’t you kind of want to be a person who can say that? “While I was back in the states…”) she, Erin, J.P. and I met up for dinner at Black Bottle.

Black Bottle is just the kind of place to take someone you want to impress. The food is excellent and it is small plates so there is something for everyone. The atmosphere is charming without being totally pretentious, most of the wait staff is dressed like hipsters, though not so much it makes you feel awkward. And on a Tuesday night there were just enough people to make it feel like a hot spot but not so many we didn’t get seated for hours or couldn’t hear each other. Though, side note, if you are going on a Friday or Saturday, this is an entirely different story.

The one dish I insisted upon getting because it’s been stuck in my brain since the first time I tried it was the broccoli blasted. It sounds really strange to rave about the restaurants broccoli but I assure you this is so delicious, you kind of forget it is vegetables. It’s covered in spices and roasted until it’s crispy and almost black.

Other highlights from the meal were the fried chicken which for me has joined the broccoli as a must order. Juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside, no need to dunk in ranch or honey mustard. It whole heartedly reminds you why fried chicken is amazing.

Also delicious were the mussels. I kind of wish we would have ordered them earlier. I could have had a glass of the broth. And the hanger steak, just how I like it – red in the middle.

Not my favorite where the bacon wrapped scallops and the wild boar ribs. The ribs smelled delicious but were a little dry for my tastes. And, I know, everyone likes their BBQ different so this isn’t a judgment call. And as far as the scallops go, they just weren’t my favorite, thought other things were better.

Oh, yes and there was flatbread too.  But that's cheese, bread and meat.  You knew that was delicious right?

After dinner we headed down to Virginia Inn where Erin’s husband Dean was tending the bar. I don’t know what can make you feel cooler than knowing the bar tender. Maybe drinking port? You’ll have to ask Erin about that though.

Thanks to two lovely ladies and one wonderful boyfriend for fun evening.

Violet in Seychelles boots

current lust. by orange

Just like Violet recently had a plan, I too had a plan for this post.  Over the "taxes are done" celebration weekend, the husband and I went on a road trip to nearby Leavenworth and took a hike with our doggies.  Since we went with a couple...there happened to be 5 dogs on this hike up the mountain.  With all the dogs together, off-leash it looked like a scene out of Homeward Bound.  Of course I took a lot of photos - which I had planned to post.  However, this morning to my dismay - I could not find my camera.  So...once I find my camera...you will see pictures.

So, in thinking about what to post I thought - shoes.  I have shoes on the mind with the change in seasons (well, it started to change in Seattle a couple weeks ago but now we seem to be back to rainy) and with the big Warehouse sale coming up this Friday for online shoes. 

Currently, I'm lusting over some nude tones.  For summer, I think some platform heels or wedges in nude/beige would be perfect to add some height, but hopefully not too much discomfort.  Here's some my favorites that I've seen out and about:

Chloe Cutout T-Strap Cork Wedge

Jessica Simpson Crepe Wedge

LAMB Devin Sandal

Nine West Punchy Sandal

Pedro Garcia Rainia Cork Wedge

Seychelles Card Shark Sandal

Jessica Simpson Stelana Platform

What is your current shoe lust?

***all pictures from Nordstrom.com

April Birthdays. by violet

I know a LOT of people with April birthdays, I can think of five friends and two family members with April birthdays without even breaking a sweat. This usually means that in April, just as the weather starts to show signs of spring, a multitude of fun and wonderful things get planned.

Drinks at Cactus with Melissa for birthday margaritas and fry bread, sorry no pictures for that one.

Happy hour for Orange at Palomino

Shelby with the birthday girl

Mushroom flat bread

Dinner at Oddfellows and drinks at the Cha Cha for Ash.

A shot for the birthday boy from the lovely Corrine

My mac and cheese with a side salad from Oddfellows

Sad I missed my Dad’s birthday open house. Word on the street was there were some embarrassing family photos on display so I will not be sharing those.

And this weekend was Kenz’s birthday. And my homegirl Tess came into town to have some girl time. It was so awesome to have Tess around this weekend, it gave us both a chance to just chill and hang out together which was just what the Dr. ordered.  And of course celebrate a birthday.   

With Tess and Shelby

The nearly newlyweds had a few people over to celebrate the occasion. It was a great mix of people that lead to us staying up entirely too late. We thought we were kids or something.

Bryan and Amy (I don't know what Steven is doing)

The official photographer of the evening

Awwww

TROUBLE

And with that we're calling it a night

And one more birthday to go this month, my stepmom Kerry is still this week. Then, I'm done.

Plans. by violet

Oh man, I had plans. Tonight was Seattle Weekly’s Voracious Food Awards and Tasting. Shelby and Nick invited us to come along. And I thought that it would be great fodder for the blog. I thought I would take great pictures and write little notes about what I was eating and share it all here. I planned an epic post. I was pumped for the post and the great food and drink.

Then, we got to the event. The line was literally down the block, the whole process was pretty much a cluster. You didn’t have tickets, it was all will call. Then it was a total burn because the alphabetical groups were not divided equally, meaning the O-Z line (which we were in since J.P. bought the tickets) was way longer than the others. The process was really, really frustrating.

The line

When we finally did get in, the place was PACKED – you could hardly move. It was a little bit like a street fight for the first hour or so. I could hardly grab the food let along my camera to snap picks. So taking pictures and notes was pretty much out of the question.

Street fight

But things kind of thinned out after a little bit and there was room to breathe and I got to stop and take a minute and enjoy the food.

And there was a lot of enjoyable food and drink to be had. 

J.P.’s favorites
- Palace Kitchen: “Pork on bread business”
- Matt’s in the Market: Seafood Ceviche
- Seastar: Sweet Corn and Dungeness Crab Bisque
- Long: Drink in a Ziploc bag
- Tavern Law: Best uniforms

Oh, hello. 

My favorites
- Skillet Street Food: Housemade seared fennel sausage "slider" apple cauliflower compote, melted leeks
- Seastar: Sweet Corn and Dungeness Crab Bisque
- Matt’s in the Market: Seafood Ceviche
- Long: Drink in a Ziploc bag

The slider

The drink in the Ziploc bag was totally a genius idea. There was a little rubber band so you could hang it around your wrist while you were holding your plate and throwing elbows to get to the next table. 

By the time I wanted a cupcake they were cleared out. Bummer. Oh well, I know where Cupcake Royale and Trophy are should the feeling  for forsted goodness strike me.

With Shelby

Not exactly the epic post that I planned on but it will have to do. And you know, life keeps teaching me over and over again, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.