nature documentaries

I remember watching tons of nature documentaries growing up, especially ones narrated by David Attenborough.  Can I just say that I like Earth narrated by David Attenborough better than Sigourney Weaver?   I stumbled this youtube clip this morning and I can't help but laugh. 
 

Who knew seals were so friendly.

Volunteer Park

Seattle was lucky to have some sunshine this past Saturday and I went out for a quick (and brisk walk) at Volunteer Park.  I don't remember there being this many leaves hanging around this time last year but this has been a fairly mild fall.  Designed by the same Olmsted brothers who are famous for New York's Central Park, Volunteer Park is also the home of the Asian Art Museum.  It doesn't take long to walk through the park and so it's nice to go when the conservatory is open.  There are 3 separate rooms in there, a very steamy rainforest with lots of orchids and ferns, a cactus room and the special room of the month was the chrysanthemums.  I have never seen flowers this big before, they were the size of volleyballs!  The best part about the conservatory is that it's free and each season the special exhibit changes.

Going from Home #3 to Home #1

photo by me

This time tomorrow I will be 2 hours into my 14+ hour jouney back home to Taiwan! While I never actually lived there, it's where I was born and where my family is.  I'm going back for 9 days of eating and visiting family (also throwing in a 2 day trip back to Hong Kong, which I consider home #2. I lived most of my childhood there)  I had a hard time packing due to the weather situation.  It's already becoming very cold in Seattle (think 50's) and Taiwan is still in summer mode with temperatures in the mid 80's! I'm hoping that it won't be too cold the day I get back to Seattle because I will only have a sweatshirt on me for warmth.  I can't wait for some good home cooking and real Chinese food!!

Monday questionnaire...on a tuesday!

I had this all ready to go from  Amarixe but forgot to hit post.  Thank goodness blogger saves all the drafts!

1.) Mood: excited! I leave for Taiwan on Thursday! It's about 80 degrees over there and I'm having a hard time packing.  Fall to me is high 50's and boot weather.  I'm suppose to bust out my summer clothes in the fall?!


2.) When making a sandwich, do you care if one of the bread slices is the end of the loaf?  I save the ends for the very last sandwich so it's two butt ends together.   I don't mind crust but I really don't like the butt ends.

3.) What is the weather like today? Sunny, high of 52

4.) Current nail polish: bare, don't want to bother looking at my chipped nails on vacation

5.) What ring setting do you keep your cell phone on at night: loud or silent? (Or the phone completely off?) My phone is always on silent.  I check it quite often (addicted to my crackberry) so I don't every keep the ringer on.

6.) Current outfit: COH kellys, blue silk top and H&M jersey blazer with the suede elbow patches, with my jcrew gold bow moccasins.

7.) What is your favorite Disney movie?  Hands down, Little Mermaid!

8.) Can you whistle using your fingers?  I can barely whistle let alone whistle using my fingers :(

9.) When doing laundry, do you separate loads (lights/darks, delicates, etc.) or throw everything together?
I only seperate out my jeans, everything else gets thrown in together.  So far, I've avoided disasters but it might be time to be an adult and really take care of my clothes.

10.) Weekly goals:
Get the house ready for my housesitter and to not miss my flight! I have yet to miss a flight in my life but my dad will always call me 2ish hours before my flight to make sure I'm at the airport. 

Seattle Restaurant Week-RN 74

Seattle Restaurant Week is one of my favorite events of the year.  It's a great budget friendly way to try out new restaurants.  Usually my friends and I even order off the fixed prix menu just to sample some of the other items on the menu.  This past Monday, I went to RN 74.  I've walked past it many times downtown but could never find a reason to go.  It's got a great vibe and definitely a special occasion type place (at least for me, I don't go to that many nice places :/)  One of the main reasons we wanted to go to the restaurant was because we heard great things about the tomato fondue with gruyere grilled cheese squares (which wasn't on the fixed prix menu, we ordered it separately).  It definitely was delicious and a great decision on our part to try it.  I wasn't feeling all that great towards the end of the meal (not because of the food) so I'll have to go back to try it again.  Not that I'm complaining, I give RN 74 two thumbs up.  

Etsy Find

I've been noticing a lot of arm candy on fashion bloggers this season.  I'm not much of a watch wearer let alone any sort of bracelets.  I found these while I was perusing Etsy a while back and placed an order with Ayofemi Jewelry.  She's got tons of colors and styles to choose from.  I had a hard time picking just 3 items to order.  I love how delicate they look and the pop of color they bring to my outfits.  I can't wait to find more bracelets to add to my arm candy.

Girls weekend in Vancouver

It was K's 26th birthday back in September and what better way to celebrate than a mini roadtrip to the great white north, Vancouver!  It was perfect because there was also a Sounder's away game (which we won by the way :) ).  We spent most of Saturday at the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  The weather was gorgeous and the view was amazing.  I was surprised at how shakey the bridge actually was.  It was really hard to keep my balance.  We originally were going to go bungee jumping but had to cut it out due to lack of time.  It was a nice preview of things to come :)

Wining and Dining..at Smith

Late night stop at Smith for orginally some short rib poutine but they were out of gravy and cheese curds! I had to settle for a glass of champagne and split the short rib entree with a friend. Not quite the same but equally as delicious. I never realized how hard it was to take photos of food in a place where it's mostly lit by candles.

SVC Wayzgoose

I don't know about other cities, but in my opinion, I think Seattle is one of the best cities for "fun on the cheap". This past weekend, I went to the free School of Visual Concepts Wayzgoose event. I stumbled upon it via The Stranger (local Seattle newspaper). I was sold when I read that they used a steamroller to make giant original letterpress posters. It really is a contest for the local letter press houses to see who can make the best poster. The posters are auctioned off at the end with the proceeds going back to the school. The giant posters are hanging in the background of the picture below, drying in the sun.



There was so much to see there! There were a bunch of booths with lots of original cards/calenders/posters and then there was a 'make your own Wayzgoose poster' demonstration! I came out of the event with a class schedule (I'm deciding between a letterpress printing or a photoshop one), free t-shirt, tote bag and tons of free posters! Here is just a few of the posters I got.

The event ticket printed on really nice cardstock with gold edging


Blue Wayzgoose poster I printed



Bookmark/Washington Skull sticker that I got


I ended up buying 6 raffle tickets right before I left...and I won an letterpress print of Mark Twain done by a local artist! I can't wait to go to this event next year!

Agua Verde

Agua Verde is one of my favorite places to grab Mexican food. Though, I don't know if I can really call it authentic Mexican food, it definitely has a Pacific NW twist to it. There's a good variety of the classic Mexican items (like carnitas taco), seafood tacos and vegetarian tacos. I love their yam tacos! Another plus is that in the summer time, they also rent kayaks. I haven't done it but before this summer is over, I'm going to rent a kayak and then grab lunch afterwards. The restaurant was too full so I wasn't able to take a shot of the interior but it looks and feels like the restaurant is in someone's home.

drive in movie...an all american experience

Am I abnormal for not wanting to always go out on a Friday night? Sometimes I just want a mellow night out with a girlfriend :) Since it has been so nice in Seattle lately, we decided to go for a drive in movie! It's a pretty good deal, $8 for 2 movies. The only downside is that we can't change theaters after the first movie. We decided to watch Friends with Benefits followed by Bad Teacher (well, we didn't actually make it to the 2nd movie, FWB was over close to midnight!)


I loaded up the back of the Subaru with a mattress pad and threw in tons of pillows. Voila! Make shift bed and we even brought healthy snacks with us.


All we had to do was wait for the sun to set....




I was surprised at how fun the drive in was. While I don't condone talking during movies, it's nice to be able to talk to a friend without worrying about disturbing my neighbors. The other major plus was bringing in my own snacks! We brought hummus/carrots, cheese/crackers and grapes. I would definitely go back to the drive in again. If only it wasn't a 40 min drive!

I've always wanted...

Pocahontas boots. I don't know what about Minnetonka boots has me wanting them year after year. I usually talk myself out of them due to the fact that they are suede (so fairly impractical in the rainy winters here) and they don't seem that sturdy. I saw this picture recently from Dear Scarlet

Granted, she's so adorable that she can pull anything off, it's made me want Pocahontas boots all over again.

best homemade sandwich ever

crusty sesame bread, brie, raspberry jam (don't knock it until you try it!), turkey, bacon and spinach. I could eat it for lunch EVERYDAY

coconut cupcakes with lime curd filling

I felt extra crafty over the weekend and decided to bake cupcakes for my coworkers birthday. She loves all things lemon flavored (lemon bars being her number 1 weakness). I've had this Ina Garten coconut cupcake bookmarked forever and decided that a coconut cupcake with lime curd filling would be the perfect baking challenge. I read over the reviews for the recipe and it seemed like the key to a light and fluffy cupcake was the beat the butter and sugar for at least 5 mins. I decided to use the whisk attachment instead of the paddle attachment just for extra precaution. It seemed to do the trick, the cupcakes came out moist and fluffy. I didn't have a single cupcake left at the end of the day. I'm going to call this a success and giving myself a pat on the back.

I am in love with the mini flower cupcake liners. They are so festive!

I wish...

I was crafty enough to piece together a fun vacation video like this

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Foodgawker vs Punchfork

I've been a fan of Foodgawker ever since it came out. Who needs cookbooks when you have Foodgawker! I'm usually on there towards the last hour of work and I need to madly figure out what I'm going to make for dinner. The one thing I didn't like about FG is that half the time, when it was my turn to try out the recipe, I would fail miserably. At least when I take recipes off of Food Network, there were many reviews/friendly suggestions on how to tweak the recipe to make it foolproof.


I recently found Punchfork which uses real time data (from twitter/facebook likes etc) to rank all the food related blog posts. So the creme de la creme are feature on the front page. I hate to say it (since it feels like a popularity contest) but those recipes have never let me down (I have yet to have a recipe from Smitten Kitchen turn out bad!).

Dahlia Lounge

I can't imagine another chef in Seattle that has more restaurants than Tom Douglas. Just in South Lake Union he has 4 restaurants in the span of 2 blocks. I went to Dahlia Workshop for breakfast last month.

They only serve biscuits there and fancy ones at that. I got the frittata biscuit.

It definitely was not my light breakfast and by the time lunch time rolled around, I still wasn't hungry. They do seem to have a pretty interesting sounding happy hour that I will have to come back to take advantage of. As for breakfast, I don't know if I would come back again. It wasn't all that special. I'd rather spend my money at the other TD establishments

I finished...

my first knitting project! A super simple circle scarf but at least I know I will wear it. I'm on the hunt for my next project. I think it will be a scarf again.

lace tees

I stumbled upon this website at work today and I fell in love with the coral super distressed tee.

The more I browse the website, the more I realized that the name sounded awfully familiar. I realized that Diana Eng was on my favorite season of Project Runway! I loved Daniel Vosavic and Chloe's Fashion Week collection. I was even given a signed copy of Danny V's coffee table book from a good friend (It said, Zon, Thanks for always rooting for me, Danny V) for Christmas! I think I may have to watch a few episodes now on Netflix. Remember the shenanigans of Santino and Andre? Hands down, best season of Project Runway!

Celine Box Bag

I'm not a huge handbag fiend, I can probably count the number of bags I have on one hand. Of the bags that I have, they are all brightly colored and slouchy. This was pointed out by a guy friend so it really must be very obvious. I keep seeing the Celine Box bag on style blogs and I think it's time to break out of my bag mold. I don't know what it is about this bag but I have the urge to say that I NEED it.







Since I have the extra money to afford a Celine bag nor can I stomach the price tag of one, I'll just have to keep hunting on ebay for a similar vintage equivalent.

Airbnb

I love traveling and I used to love hotels just as much as I love traveling. It wasn't until summer my freshman year in high school that my love for hotels started to waver. I lived in a hotel for about a month while my family hunted for a house. Living in a hotel for longer than a week started to have it's downfall. No kitchen which meant eating out everyday, we had to do laundry in the laundermat and worst of all, we were essentially living out of our bags the entire time.

I stumbled upon Airbnb about 2 years ago and for my national trips, I've been booking on Airbnb. I have yet to book an international stay but they have some pretty swanky (and very resonably priced apartments!) So far I don't have a single complaint. Some places do ask for a sercurity deposit (but for some reason, I've never had to pay one) and a moderately priced cleaning fee (some don't since I'm actually staying in someone's apartment). I start my search with the location/date of my visit and then I click the whole house/apartment to myself. I don't know know how I feel about just renting a room quite yet. Maybe eventually I'll give that a shot. I pay less than I normally would for a hotel, I have a kitchen (laundry too if I need it) and best of all, wifi and a parking spot! This was the view of the apartment I recently rented in Portland:

I loved it so much that I even looked up the price of an availble unit in the same building. I can actually afford it which makes moving to Portland very tempting.
More pictures of the lovely studio here.

While the apartments are as luxurious as some hotels, it's definitely nice to have some extra cash in the pocket. Plus it makes pretending to be a local much easier!

Grilled Cheese Grill

Even though Portland is not that far from Seattle, I find it hard to stray from the gems I've already discovered. One of the gems is the Grilled Cheese Grill (which has now branched out into a second location-The Double Decker Bus!).






When I first found this place, I was too full having just polished off a slice of pie and chai at the Random Order House. It was too interesting of a place for me to drive by and not stop in. This time around, I arrived on an empty stomach. I really like the interior. They transformed the bus into a little restaurant. Each table comes with a box of Trivial Pursuit so we can quiz each other while we relive our childhood. Half the bus is booths and the other half is "bar" seating. There's a pretty fun mural painted on the ceiling but due to the time of night, it was hard to photograph.





I think it's hard to mess up on grilled cheese and while they do have a few fancier sandwiches on the menu, patrons are really mostly paying for the ambiance. And the fact that they are open until 2:30 am, a good drunken snack!

HH at Smith's

Sometimes after a long day at work, I just want to meet up with a good friend and catch up over some fries. I can never say no to fries. Especially if they are smothered in gravy and cheese curds. Poutine is hard to find in Seattle and Smith's is one of the few places that as this artery clogging treat on the menu.


This is the first time I've been to Smith's with the windows wide open. Finally summer has arrived in Seattle!

my favorite combo as of late

I recently added a sparkley gold topcoat (Deborah Lippman Boom Boom Pow) to my growing nail polish collection. I've been adding it to all my manicures because 1) I spent $20 (!? when did I become that person?) on it and 2) a little sparkle adds a little bit of fun in my everyday life.

I also never realized how hard it is to take a good picture of my own hand! Sorry that only my pinkie is in focus. Base pinkish nude color is by Sally Hansen.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend! 4th of July was never a holiday that I celebrated while growing up but I get why it's a big deal. This year, I kept it low key and stayed at home to enjoy the fireworks. If you look real close, you can see the space needle. Best of all, I didn't have to fight traffic getting home :)

Ballard

I had to drop my car off to get an oil change today and I decided to take a walk through Ballard instead of waiting in dealership. Since I normally don't go to Ballard to browse, I discovered so many cute little boutiques! I had no idea there was a Dolce Vita store in Seattle! Everything in the store was 25% off and I found a really great pair of flat sandals for only $45 but I decided to put it down (though I may go back for it tomorrow...) Since it was a fairly slow day in the neighborhood, I was able to chat with many of the store owners and ask if I could take pictures inside.






I found a really great mid century modern furniture store but the owner didn't want me to take pictures :(

This little paperie was hidden inside a candle/jewerly store. I loved all the party invites and decorations they had inside



Then I went to Flour bakery and got myself a macaron and a sparkling lemonade. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my Rick Steves Paris guide (!! Paris!!)