So as I mentioned, my honey and I spent Valentine’s day weekend in Seattle. We stayed two nights at Hotel Max (full disclosure – they are a client of Anvil’s and hooked me up with a great deal & bottle of wine! Thank You!) Client or not, this is a great hotel to stay at in Seattle, just a few blocks away from the big downtown Nordstrom. It doesn’t hurt that they were also named the #2 sexiest hotel in the U.S. by TripAdvisor (ooh la la).You’ll have to go to their website to see pictures because we didn’t take any inside our room that were meant for public view (j/k…maybe)

Friday night we checked in and headed over to Red Fin – a sushi restaurant attached to the hotel. It was quite yummy. And we got to sit at the bar and watch them make sushi which eliminates the need for talking – we had been in the car for three hours, we didn’t need to talk anymore.

Saturday the hotel staff pointed us to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, Lola. While I was initially shocked at the prices for eggs and potatoes, I must say that it was some of the best breakfast I’ve ever had. So we forked over $40 for breakfast. Dylan was painting a mural during the day Saturday, so I supervised with the owner of the shop and got some projects done. Then it was back to the hotel to scrub spray paint off Dylan (sorry for the blue towels Hotel Max!) and off to an evening massage. Dylan had planned all of this and it was quite fabulous.

Brace yourself- here is where I remembered that I had my camera…

We took the monorail back to our hotel and the Space Needle was all lit up – very romantic!

I only had my point and shoot and it hates taking pictures at night – but I kind of like it blury.

Saturday night after getting all dressed up after massages Dylan whisked me away to a fancy little place called Urbane. I had some of the most amazing mashed potatoes ever. Great but spendy wine selection – just be prepared to spend a good chunk of change here and you’ll be fine.

Sunday morning, after lounging in our comfy King bed at the hotel and watching Olympics highlights we made our way to Pike Place market for a true Valentine’s day adventure. My sweety spent his last dollar on a tulip for me – all the flowers down there are beautiful. It made me wish the stupid cat didn’t want to eat every living flower/plant we bring into the house.

Overall, it was a great weekend escape . We left the doggy in Portland at her daycare/boarding facility and had an obligation free time! Thanks for an amazing weekend away – Love ya!

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Why hello blog. How are you? Long time no see.

I’ve been busy.
Or have poor time management skills
Or after spending my days at work in front of computer often find it hard to open my computer in the evenings or weekends.

So, as we here in Portland are being thrown full speed into fall/winter, I thought I would share a few photos from my adventures this summer. And because I did a lousy job keeping my blog updated through all these adventures in a timely manner. Ok, here we go.

Summer started with a roadtrip from Portland west to Tillamook, south to Davis care of San Francisco and back home to Portland. It was our first big trip with the dog too…

Roadtrip with the dog

She prefered to ride in the front.

We made 3 stops along the coast from Yahats to someplace in Northern California

Considering it was early June on the Oregon/California coast, we did get some good weather, and no rain!

Kim and Tele at the beach

But also found time to relax at our campsites. Nor were we eaten by bears (obviously)

For our wedding last year we were given a hot air balloon ride from my aunt and uncle. We were able to do that right before the 4th of July. For all those who have forgotten since the sun doesn’t currently come up until after 7:30 – to see the sunrise in July you need to be up in the 5’s.

But it was well worth getting up early.

Inside a Hot Air Balloon

Newberg, Oregon

Next on the agenda was our annual Wikiup camping trip in Central Oregon. General mayhem ensues.

Things like shotgunning beers while driving throug the woods at noon.

Sometimes you find a few minutes to just enjoy the beauty of it all.

We again had the dog, and were hit by a nasty storm one evening. Here the dog was exhausted and couldn’t care less about the impending doom of the storm – and possibility of the tent blowing away.

Please ignore the dog’s freakish eyes in this picture. Also ignore our mess of a tent, it was windy. And wikiup is a drunken mess.

But we did get some cool scenery

Besides all the outdoorsy stuff, we found time to party it up Portland style in true 80’s fashion. While not the best photo, it’s the only one where you can see my entire awesome dress. And the creepy guy in the background…we don’t know him.

In September we got to spend a weekend in Long Beach, Washington at one of Dylan’s co-worker’s beach house. It just so happened to be the big hot rod festival that weekend – which is really deserving of its own blog post.

On September 20th we celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and my honey took me wine tasting. And consequently I got too drunk to make it to dinner. But really, that’s only because it was a beautiful day at great wineries and I had just too good of a time.

Patton Valley Vineyard

Montinore Estate

I can’t believe I’m posting this photo, just ignore the drunkness factor and it’s kind of cute.

See, look what fun you can have wine tasting. Happy Aniversary babe!

Then we spent a weekend in Bend visiting Dylan’s parents and went on a great hike along the Deschutes River.

Deschutes River, Bend Oregon

And my last big trip of the season was technically the first week of October when I went to the East coast for my grandpa’s 80th birthday and a business trip in NYC.

We ate lobster.

And had a big birthday bash for the old guy. This is just his children (and spouses) and two of the four grandkids – Aimee and I.

I chose to awkwardly stand on the hill. Don’t ask why I do the things I do.

I also took a hundered pictures in NYC, here are just a few of my favorites.

That is where they stick the Christmas tree every year in Rockefeller Center. In case it wasn’t obvious that its not the real Christmas tree.

The view of the Empire State building from the Top of the Rock. I could touch it. Hehe.

We went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This is one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. I’m still learning my new fancy camera but am really happy with how this came out.

And lastly, a trip to Serendipity with my gracious host Amanda.

Well thats it. Kudos if you made it all the way through. I’m exhausted just going through it all again! I promise I’ll do better from here on out.