sipping the day away in sonoma...

About a month ago I traveled down to Sonoma, California. It was for both business and pleasure and lucky for me, the weather was absolutely perfect. (It was terrible in Seattle by the way.) On my days off I was able to go out and explore the vineyards and also eat at a few great restaurants as well. My motto, when in wine country, eat and drink merrily. 

 (I could get used to this view.)

(Enjoying the wine at twomey cellars)

(Visiting the barrels at arista winery)

(Fantastic dinner at Corks Restaurant)

 

 (Another great dinner at El Coqui in Santa Rosa.)

(Kicked back and relaxed at the Russian River Brewery.)

 

beautiful beachy day...

Seattle had some amazing weather this past weekend so we hopped in the car and took a ride to Edmonds to enjoy it. 

I had done some work in the yard before we had left and saw this super cute bird bath at a local shop there and had to get it. I thought it made the perfect accessory to our cherry tree.

After a little shopping at our favorite cheese shop and the toy store we headed down to the ferry dock to hang out at the beach. It was a packed house down there but we found a spot in the sand and Ethan started looking for buried treasure. (I think he has been watching too much Jake and the Neverland pirates. ;-)).

 X marks the spot!

Start digging.

The pirate's treasure. Thanks dollar store!

 

Checking out the ferry boat.

Another great day at the beach. 

 

snap, crackle, and popin' easter eggs...

Since Easter is right around the corner and this morning was raining buckets (plus, we were out of treats) I thought it would be a great idea to decorate some Easter eggs. Not just any Easter eggs but Rice Crispy Easter eggs.

When Jeff had his tonsils out a few weeks ago and was still not able to eat real food we had gone to see The Lorax at the IMAX and I had purchased a rice crispy treat. Jeff's mouth watered yet he was not able to partake in the treat so I told him I would make some when he was back to eating real food again.

Here are the directions to Easter Egg Rice Crispy Treats below... (P.S. Ethan was my assistant decorator on this project.)

What you will need...

-rice crispy's
-mini marshmallows
-butter
-tube of decorating frosting
-sprinkles or candy

Step 1:

• Melt 3tbs of butter in a pot until completely melted. Melt on mid to low heat so that the butter does not burn in the pot.

Step 2:

• Mix 4 cups of mini marshmallows into the butter until they are completely melted on the same heat setting as above. Be sure to constantly stir until all marshmallows are melted.

Step 3:

• Pour 6 cups of rice crispy's into a large bowl and pour the butter/marshmallow mixture into it. Stir until rice crispy's are completely coated. Let the mixture sit for about ten minutes or so in the bowl.

Step 4:

• Spray cooking spray onto your hands. Once they are fully coated, you can grab a handful of the treat and shape it into an egg. Place them on wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Step 5:

• Decorate with whatever items you want. We used a tube of frosting, and lots and lots of sprinkles.

Enjoy!

inn at langley...

As part of my Valentine's present Jeff whisked us away to Whidbey Island to stay at the wonderful Inn at Langley. We only stayed one night but had a great time and a well deserved relaxing getaway. The weather was a little difficult the day we arrived with lots of rain and wind but we made the best of it. We took in the little shops, tasted wine at the local wine shop adding new additions to our collection, and we finished off the evening by eating dinner at the Inn's restaurant.

We were able to partake in the wine paired nine course meal by chef Matt Costello, and boy was it a culinary adventure. Words can't describe all of the things we were able to try so I've included the menu and the pictures from our evening below.

love is in the air...

Valentine's Day came and went but we had a lovely time celebrating it. Ethan's school had a big Valentine's Day party with every food being red or pink. Let me tell you, there was a lot of candy and cookies in the mix since I don't think red radishes would have been a hit. They also made Valentine boxes to collect all of their Valentine's cards and goodies. 

We celebrated at our house after work/school and had a home made dinner by me. Ethan got a giant gummy bear and was so amazed by it. He kept saying it is the most gorgeous thing and it is delicious. I got lovely roses from Jeff and we are celebrating Valentine's day this weekend with a trip out of town for the evening. (I will write a blog post on that later.)

I hope that everyone had as good of a Valentine's Day as we did. 

now it's time for shoot the duck...

On Sunday we were getting a little stir crazy, well Ethan and I were getting a little stir crazy, so Jeff came up with the brilliant idea of going to the Skate King over in Bellevue. I had not been to a roller skating rink since I was in elementary school and it was a complete flashback to those days. They even had the big mushroom shaped seats covered in shag carpet, roller skates - not roller blades, but with new music playing instead of 80's music. 

We were able to get Ethan out on the rink for a few times but he had a little bit of difficulty standing up on them. He did however LOVE the video games. Jeff got me a rose as well even though we had to leave before couples skate. So cute...

 

dog gone days...

Last weekend Seattle finally saw some nice weather so we headed to the dog park at Marymoor in Redmond. It has been awhile since Bindi had been to her favorite place on earth and it was the perfect day. I think all other dog owners had the same idea that we did since the parking lot was completely full. Luckily we were able to find a spot right up front.

Bindi thoroughly enjoyed herself even though she is getting a little too old to play with the young pups. After the dog park we went to dinner at Purple Cafe. We went a little early to avoid the wine tasting crowd and Ethan was able to get their milk flight which includes an assortment of milk, chocolate, strawberry, and caramel milk. I think Ethan has watched his mom and dad drink wine too much since he actually sniffed each of the wine glasses before trying them. We have ourselves a wine connoisseur in the making.