Valentine's Weekend 2010

Todd once again gave me a surprise. He planned a trip to Seattle for us for Valentine's Day. To be fair, this was a little easier for him than the average guy since we get free flights and cheap hotel rooms.... :) Nonetheless, he planned and organized everything. He had talked to one of my co-workers and asked her to ask my boss if I could leave early on the day of our flight. He set up the dogs to go to the kennel for the weekend, etc. Luckily he told me two nights before leaving that we would be going somewhere so I could do laundry and pack! He had been trying to get me to do laundry all week, but I don't do laundry on weeknights. So I kept brushing him off. He finally had to let the cat out of the bag so that I could pick out my clothes and make sure what I wanted to bring was clean.

He did give me some hints about the mystery place; he told me was that the average temperature would be in the 50s, that we were flying, and that it was west of the Mississippi River. And then proceeded to torture me about not knowing where we were going for the next two days. I technically guessed the place the night before while we were packing. Only because I found out that we would be seeing one of his friends that lived in the city. For some reason, I was thinking it was his friend, Brianna in Seattle, because I knew she lived there and he had never been there.

So off we were Friday after work. The flight was wide open leaving. It was a long flight of 4 hours, and we got seats next to each other. Upon landing, Brianna and her husband, Brian, picked us up at the airport and took us back to our hotel; the Marriott on the waterfront.

We spent the weekend sight-seeing and walking the fish market and downtown Seattle. We ate so much great seafood! Below are some pictures of our trip.

Todd and I each in front of the waterfront near our hotel. This was actually a platform for a street elevator that went from one block where our hotel was, to the next block "up." The city is steep and all different levels.

The Pike and Western Wine Shop. This was just a few blocks from our hotel, on the corner by the fish market. We ended up buying a couple of bottles of Washington wine to bring back with us, from this store.

The fresh food market.

In front of the Pike Fish Market. I asked my cousin to edit this picture for us so we can blow it up a bit and frame it. In the new version, the letters are red, but the rest is black and white. Instant art!

More Cityscapes.

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM)

Me in front of what we thought was the "Original Starbucks." I really wanted to visit this place, but turns out, the "original" is on the next block up! We actually passed it a couple times and never noticed it! Oh well....

Us in front of the Fish Market.

We went to lunch at the Pike Brewery and Pub. We had beer flights to try a bunch of original Washington brews, crab chowder, and fresh clams and mussels. Above is the chowder. Below are the clams and mussels. Yum!

We took a cab over to the Seattle Space Needle to see the views from the top and learn about some history.

A view atop the Space Needle.

Another view.

Space Needle from the ground.

We went on a tour of the "underground city." Seattle was a city built on top of a city, after a fire struck and wiped out the whole downtown. This is below ground, but at one time was the level city street.

A "sky light" when the city was rebuilt after the fire. The stores were at the old level, and the streets were a level above. These skylights were used as lights.

What the "skylight" looks like today, from the street level.

The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Not very original, but I love the architecture of this building.

Us at dinner Saturday night at the "Salmon House." We went to dinner with Brianna and Brian, and enjoyed fresh salmon and oysters.

A view of the city from the waterfront piers.

More views. You can see the Space Needle in the distance below.

We are one block away from what is at the top of these stairs. Crazy!

More Fish Market

More fish market pictures. I could stay by the fish market and watch the activity all day.

It was such a great trip! We almost didn't make it home because the flights miraculously filled up on the return. Somehow we both made it on. I wasn't expecting that, and was actually planning to spend another night. What do you know? We seem to have good luck flying standby.

Thanks to Todd for surprising me!

More Painting

Vicki and I (mostly Vicki) have spent the last couple of weekends doing some more painting at the house, among other things. While she mostly does the painting, I do the other random small things around the house. Most of what I do doesn't need pictures (cleaning out the shed, spraying the yard and house for bugs and weeds, etc), we always like to take some before and after pictures of the painting. First up is the downstairs bathroom!

Looks good huh? =) We also painted the archway off the living room, at the opposite end of the kitchen, the same color as the kitchen. For the record, this was my idea...

Every weekend we seem to have a project to work on for the house. I'll keep posting pictures as we get them all done...

New Kitchen

Well, repainted kitchen. Vicki did a lot of work this past weekend and got our kitchen painted. It looks really good, and is a definite improvement over what it was before! Below are the before and after pictures.

Surprise!

For awhile now, Todd has been lying to me. I guess weeks ago, he talked my friends from KC, Becky and Jeremy, into coming down to Phoenix to visit. But he didn't tell me about it. He instead told me that an "old buddy of his" that he worked with at the Embassy was flying into town for the night. He said he offered them to stay at our house for the night. At first I thought nothing of it. But, as I always do, I started asking a ton of questions.

Why is this guy coming into town? He said to visit family.
Why isn't this guy staying at the Embassy if he worked there? He said he USED to work at the Embassy
Why is this guy coming into town alone? He said he was coming with his wife.
What is his wife like? He said he never met her before, so he wasn't sure.
What kind of people come into town for one night and then leave? He said they were driving up to visit family the next morning and didn't want to drive late at night.
What is this "buddy's" name? He told me Jay.

Now, there is something you must know about my best friends and I. We refer to people by their first initial. Mostly because we text and email so much to each other, it was always easier that way. I'm "V," Abby's "A", Becky's "B," Todd is "T," Jeremy is "J." However, when he told me that "Jay" was coming into town (he emailed it to me) he spelled it Jay. Little did I know it was actually J!

Anyways, I was emailing with Abby during the week. She asked what my plans for the weekend were. I told her a list of stuff. Among that list was that someone old friend of Todd's was coming into town for the night. I was actually a little bothered by it. I always love meeting new people, but I didn't know this person yet, and I especially didn't know his wife. The women are always hit or miss; either you hit it off from the start, or she's someone you just don't mesh well with. Then you have to work hard to have fun with her.

Anyways, as always, I went to the airport with Todd to pick these people up with high hopes. Todd and I share lots of interests and lots of friends, so these people shouldn't be any different, right? While we were waiting, Todd was putting his arm around me. I didn't think anything of that because he's usually always pretty affectionate :) But he was grabbing me and pulling me towards him, and his arm was pulling my hair. It was bugging me, so I kept trying to move his arm. He finally turned me towards him in a normal hug and we talked as we waited. All of the sudden, he said, "oh, they are here." I turned around and started yelling "Oh my God, Oh my God!" It was my good friends, Becky and Jeremy! I was in shock! I was expecting to meet some random people for the first time, and it was two of my best friends! I started tearing up, of course. So unlike me.... :) And people in the airport were staring at us because I was creating a spectacle.

They were actually here for the whole weekend. I had no idea about any of it. It was such an awesome surprise to see my friends from KC! So we were off to dinner together. I had actually suggested Z Tejas before I even knew. Todd had told me they wanted to grab some food after they landed, so I had thought of that during the day when I drove by. It's in Tempe near my work, and I had heard good things about it. It lived up to its expectations: it was good! I ordered the seafood enchiladas. I can't quite remember what everyone had, but we all tried our dishes and they were all great.

After dinner, we went back to our house in Laveen. We relaxed for the night on our new comfy couch and some drinks. Well, the girls had wine. It was a new one I found at the store, "Gnaughty Vines." It was a $30 bottle for $16, so what a great reason to open it up!

Todd and I relaxing after dinner.

Becky and Jeremy relaxing after dinner.

The next day (Saturday), all four of us went shopping at an outlet mall in Anthem up North. Becky and I each got a new Guess purse at the Guess outlet. The boys each got a bunch of new clothes.

Todd had planned the evening for Saturday. We started with reservations at a Pizzeria and wine bar in Old Town Scottsdale. Grazie was the name, and we ate outside on the patio. The girls wanted to order vegetarian pizza. We ordered two pizzas, and salads to share. But the vegetarian pizza turned out to be the best thing on the menu! Soooo good! We also ordered the chocolate calzone for dessert. It was pizza dough folded in half, stuffed with chocolate hazelnut sauce and bananas, topped with ice cream. YUM!

All of us at dinner.

Jeremy hogging the dessert.

Becky and Jeremy at dinner.

Todd and I at dinner.

Becky and I at dinner.

On to another bar, Devil's Martini, after dinner. One thing you should know about me is that I love to dance! As long as there is good music, and good company, I can dance for hours. I used to go out dancing with the girls in KC whenever I got the chance. And of course, in college! And even before that.... I've always loved it. Becky and I have gone out a couple of times alone together, just to dance all night. I have really been missing my girls nights out with all the dancing. Saturday night we had a lot of catching up to do!

Todd with Gabe and Shiner.

Me crying because I didn't want B & J to ever leave!!

Todd apparently comforting me because I was crying.

Becky and I getting the party started.

We moved the party to a box :)

And then to the "pole" in the middle.

The boys were snapping lots of pictures all night.

Becky and I.... me not crying.

Todd and Jeremy. Todd was the DD that night. He also is wearing new going out clothes he got that morning.

I just like this picture :)

Sunday morning we got up and had to take B & J to the airport for a 1pm flight. We went to lunch and had yummy Mexican food. Then dropped them off at Sky Harbor. I didn't cry this time! It was such a fun weekend and such a surprise!