Seattle (Catching Up)

It's been a while since I posted and I apologize. Let's start with the Seattle trip. I realize this is a long post, but we were there for a week! Part of the week was for a conference and the other part was a family vacation. We had a great time.

Here we are on the airplane....on our way!

We checked in to the Westin. Our room was on the 35th floor of this great hotel.

The view from our room was SPECTACULAR!!!! And we were blessed with wonderful weather! I thought it rained in Seattle? Not this week! Here's what we woke up to every morning...a full wall of windows looking toward the Space Needle.

And the sunsets over the water...

I was in Seattle for a conference of my professional association, the American Health Information Management Association. Some of the other department directors were there as well. We hung out with my friend, Nancy, who is usually my roommate on these trips.

On the first day of the conference, the four of us had lunch at this great pub, Von's. Their walls were covered with various taps. Their signature "thing" was to give customers cinnamon jawbreakers. They were SO HOT!

Seattle is a very walkable city! We walked everywhere and really enjoyed it!

We visited a lot of the major attractions, including the original Starbucks! Jay and Jayson were dying to see it! We really enjoyed our visit there. These guys were standing out front singing and selling their CDs. They were AMAZING! They were singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine".

It's a cool place...but VERY small!

Jay and Jayson bought some "souvenirs" and drinks.

The employees were all wonderful!

On our way to the public market, we found a vintage clothing shop. Jayson was really interested and found this great old Fedora. Doesn't he look great?

And we had lunch at the market. We got a great table overlooking the water. I love this picture of Jayson in his new hat with the ferry behind him. Super!

Every once in a while, down in the heart of the city, we would get a glimpse of Fall...cool temperatures and beautiful trees.

The market was amazing! We actually spent a lot more time there than we had planned.

The food and craft vendors displayed their wares and everything was so beautiful. Here are some of the highlights...

Market Spice is a fantastic little tea store and since Jayson loves tea, it was a must-see. Jayson really enjoyed selecting his souvenir teas.

And...we really enjoyed the FAMOUS Pike Place Fish Market!!! It was wonderful.

Of course I got a picture of them throwing the fish. Look closely at the left corner of the nave blue banner and you will see the BIG fish in mid-flight. Pike's has been written up in many leadership journals and they have the employee motivation program, Go Fish! It was a real experience to be there and witness their antics firsthand.

And then we were off to the Space Needle via monorail! That was fun!

I love this picture!

OK, so it's REALLY windy that high up!

After looking at the 360 degree view from the outside, we went inside and got a drink.


Our next stop was the "Experience Music Project" (EMP) next door to the Space Needle. The outside of this building is REALLY cool! This shot is the reflection of the space needle in the EMP building's skin. Another neat pic!

Earlier in the week, our conference sponsored an event at the EMP. Nancy and I attended that event together and had such a good time, I had to take Jay and Jayson back to see it. During our event, I snapped this picture of the guitar tribute.

At the EMP, they have a "sound lab". This area of the museum is dedicated to learning musical instruments. Nancy and I went into the voice lab and enjoyed singing together where we viewed a computer monitor that walked us through a vocal tutorial.

When we finished this we played "Rock Band". Now I know what you are thinking but that is NOT what we played. We had to name our band, the "Icy Hot Sisters" and got on stage in front of a video of 10,000 screaming fans and sang "I Love Rock & Roll"! We had a blast. Nancy played the electric guitar and I sang. It was fun!

Jay and Jayson had a great time doing the same tutorial.

Their favorite part was where you could change the microphone vocal effect. One option was a typical amplification, another was a Mini Mouse effect...but their favorite effect? Of course, it was Darth Vader! We all had to give it a try, but Jay was the best at saying "LLLLUUUUUKKKKEEEE, I AM YOUR FAAAATHER!!!"

Jay and Jayson also had a good time playing with other instruments. I messed around on the keyboards while these guys were playing. Needless to say, we ALL had a good time and yes, I drug them over to "Rock Band" also! In our case, we named our band "We Are Not Scientists" after my brother's band, We Are Scientists (and of course, we are NOT! scientists). Jayson played the electric guitar, Jay played drums and I played keyboards. We all sang! It was fun once again!

One of the best parts of visiting the EMP is that it also contains the "Sci Fi Museum". Now, I'm not your basic sci fi geek....but both my boys are! They love it. And because it's a museum, no pictures were allowed so this is our ode to the sci fi world!

That just about sums up our trip. I hope you have enjoyed our pictures. There were many stones unturned, so I guess we'll just have to go back again! Until the next time...Bye!

Home Sweet Home!

Going away is great but coming HOME is even better! Last week it felt like I was home for about.....oh, 10 MINUTES!!!! A couple of days after returning from Seattle, we left for Denver to celebrate my little sister's 24th birthday and see my brother in concert.

Of course it was great and my family spent precious quality time together! You know I took a million pictures...I just need a minute to post them. I'll try to get that done this week. I hope you all are having a wonderful October!!!

Look Where I'm Going!

Here it is! I'm heading to Seattle, Washington this weekend for the American Health Information Management (AHIMA) conference. I've never been to Washington State so it will be fun to see a new part of the country. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures for you so I can blog about it. See you soon!

Can you feel my pain????

It's painful getting a "nice" picture! Step into my world and appreciate the struggles!

Why can't this be easy?

What is he doing NOW?

OK, this is just bizarre!!! He looks like something out of a sci-fi movie!

What?! Did he just run out of energy? That's nice...but doesn't it look like he just gave up?

OK Mr Photographer and Mr Subject...let's not go through that again. How about a nice picture? I'M NOT KIDDING!

Like I goosed him or something?!?

Well, this is the photographer's fault! This is just wrong! It's somewhere between drunk and evil...neither of which is accurate I assure you.

Finally! Not quite that "given up" look from the set above. I'll keep this one AND I'll keep trying...

Birthday Dinner at My Mom's

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that I celebrate my birthday the ENTIRE month of October. As a matter of fact, I started celebrating my birthday in September this year with a family party and a celebration from the staff at work. I'm sure you aren't really surprised...it was just a matter of time before I expanded beyond October. I'll be posting some entries on the various "birthday" activities. Essentially, anything I do in October that is "fun" I count as part of my birthday celebration! Why not?!

My mom always makes all our birthdays a special event. For me, there were many years we weren't together so it's really nice when we get to celebrate now. In our family, we typically have "family birthday" on the Sunday closest to the actual birthday. This year was no exception. My mom makes our favorite meal, which for me is typically roasted tenderloin of beef with homemade BBQ sauce...but this year, in light of my new dietary endeavors, I wanted to try something new (shhhh....be patient....I'm getting to it).

Here are a few shots of the evening...

Jayson took this picture with his phone. The boy has a good eye! I really love this picture.

Here's the lady responsible for it all (yes, the celebration...um, and ME too!) No one can decorate like my mom! She can take the most ordinary things and make something beautiful out of them - it's her gift. In this case, she made a beautiful birthday table!

OK, so who hasn't seen pretty flowers? I'm trying my hand at taking "interesting" pictures for you all. I hope you like them!

Seriously, they really were beautiful!

This is my favorite "flower" picture from the table setting. My mom gave me some suggestions for getting a great shot and this turned out to be my favorite. It's now the screen saver on my brand new laptop PC (birthday present from my dear sweet husband). Before you think "aaawww...isn't he the best?" Well, yes he is but his motives are not so pure. You see, if I have my own personal laptop, then I'll stay off his computer thereby allowing him MORE time to play WOW (World of Warcraft)!!!!! Ugh! Still, it was a nice present and it will allow me to post more timely blogs. :)

One more table shot...okay, now on to the food!

There's little more my family likes better than a GREAT meal....and this certainly qualified! (I can hear my little sister salivating all the way from Kentucky! Hmmm...can you really "hear" someone salivate? Well, trust me...she is!)

We started with a variety of Mediterranean appetizers and a most lovely cocktail...the "French 75". This cocktail is made with fresh lemon juice, sugar and gin...all topped off with my favorite....CHAMPAGNE! What's a birthday without champagne? I seldom drink it (or anything for that matter) but I always love it when I do!

Our dinner began with this incredible salad made with mixed greens, pears, oranges, candied pecans, gorgonzola cheese and dried cranberries. All this lightly dressed with a light, homemade raspberry vinaigrette.

Then we enjoyed the main course, which didn't photograph nearly as good as it tasted. I'll have to graduate from flower photography and work on "food stylings" next. Anyway, the main event included roasted salmon with a glaze of sugar-free apricot preserves, fresh ginger and soy sauce (ok, it's simply DELICIOUS!), rice pilaf and the most comforting...green bean casserole.

Here's the greatest 13 year old boy I know! He really enjoyed my birthday dinner too!

And for dessert....the coup de grace was Cheesecake Trifle with fresh strawberries, peaches and blueberries. It was lovely!

On to the presents! Once again, look how pretty! Um, wait a minute! Who's that cute little lady peeking at me? Ok, back to the presents...My mom also wraps a stunning package. Seriously, she makes everything she touches "special" and my presents were no exception!

There's a running joke in my family because my mom ALWAYS picks the most perfect presents. I LOVE her taste and I honestly can't remember ever getting a gift from her that I didn't like. Despite that track record, my mom ALWAYS includes a gift receipt and starts the disclaimer with "if you don't like it, it won't hurt my feelings if you want to return it..." We've heard this disclaimer so many times, she can't even get through the first three words now without an eruption of shhhshes (I'm sure I just made that word up...you know, when everyone is saying sshhh at the same time). So, just take a look below at what she got me this year....

Isn't this jacket cute? It's decked with "bling" and "hardware"...awesome! I told you she has great taste!!! And the necklace and matching earrings (not shown) were gifts also. Seriously! Isn't this the cutest?

So, my birthday advice to you is to celebrate ALL MONTH LONG when it is your birthday!!! Hey, as my Da always says....having another birthday is "better than the alternative!" Why not celebrate the life God gave you!