instagrams + life lately (for real this time)

01. fall, showing off its best and brightest colors

02. a welcome-home banner, hand painted by an army mom & army son

03. two pumpkin spice lattés to celebrate two very good years 

04. one dozen roses + a handful of beautiful lilies 

uh oh. it's happening again - that thing that happens when school and work start to swallow up all my time and this poor little blog gets left all alone. wah wah waaahhh. i like to think that juggling a million things at once is my area of expertise (you know, my true calling in life) but then this happens. maybe my juggling skills need some work.

but anyways. hi!

a fair amount of big-life-things have happened since we last saw each other, little blog. j & i celebrated our two-year anniversary. he surprised me with a dozen roses, a massage, and a facial and i... wrote him a stupid letter... (apparently when people say we aren't doing any gifts this year! they don't actually mean that) (now i know) despite my complete failure in the gift department, we still had a really great day. two years. when i say it outloud it sounds really small. but it isn't. it feels like we've been together a lot longer than two years (in the very best way, of course) so no matter how small it might sound, i think it was something worth celebrating.

what else. what else. what else. a few weekends ago i took a trip back to california for my cousin's arrival home from Afghanistan. now that was something to celebrate. my whole family is rarely in the same place at the same time, so it was really great to have all of us there under the same roof. that wasn't an occasion that any of us were about to miss. he had a whole house-full of people + one very fabulous welcome-home banner waiting for him when he arrived (courtesy of his son and his mom, of course). that was a good day.

also, i got bangs. i like to think that that counts as a big-life-thing.

life is busy. but everyone's life is busy! so i'm going to try and be a better blogger. stay tuned!

a weekend in seattle

you'd think that after almost four years of living in oregon, by now I would have visited seattle (or washington, at least!). but, you'd be wrong. maybe I'm just too loyal an oregonian. 

with our work schedules, it can be tricky for j & I to really take any significant vacation time, but magically, we were able to take a mini vacation this past weekend and escape to seattle. j has family that lives in town, so we got to spend the weekend with them and see (what felt like) every corner of the city.

(okay, maybe not every corner)

and now, lots of photos! 

the fourth of july was really fun. it started off with a tour around the space needle (obviously), a visit to the lake union market (where we got to explore some pretty cool boats and also where I inhaled the world's largest bag of caramel corn), a trip to the ballard locks, a deeeelicious bbq, and finally, an oh-so-casual fourth of july party on one of their friend's house boats. a house boat, people! it was very festive indeed.

somehow, we managed to score prime firework-watching-spots when the sun finally set (lately, it's been staying light out until almost 9pm!). we all piled into one of the boats outside the house and had the absolute best view of the fireworks over the water. I was convinced we were on the set of a movie.

the only downside of this trip was that we couldn't stay longer. four days definitely felt luxurious, but sunday rolled around much quicker than I would have liked. it's always great to explore a new city and spend time with people who really know the area. j's family took us all over the place - to all their favorite restaurants, bars, parks, shops. so even though we "only" stayed for four days, they packed in (what felt like) a week's worth of activities. there was no stopping us! onto the next great thing! 

pike place market was (of course) really cool to see. naturally we chose to go on the busiest day of the week, but it was fun to be around so many people and get to see all the little nooks and crannies of so many shops. (you would not believe their flower market. $10 for the most beautiful bouquet you've ever seen!)

and of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to the gum wall. mmmmmmm.

one of my favorite parts of the trip (though, there were many) was taking the ferry to bainbridge island. it was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but it ended up being one of our favorite memories of the trip. timing was really on our side. we set sail (ahoy, matey!) in the late afternoon, got to leisurely wander around the island, and by the time we caught another ferry back to downtown, the sun was just about to set.

it was very romantic indeed. ;)

(actually, it was freezing more than anything else. i'd say 70% freezing, 30% romantic) how d'ya like that! 

not pictured above:
01. the day we spent kayaking around lake union. talk about a serious arm workout! (j might have done most of the paddling. I wasn't a very good boat-mate... I don't think he was too happy about that)
02. the best ice cream i've ever had in my life (and I'm an ice cream connoisseur, so. think about that)
03. the best hot dog i've ever had at 2am.
04. the amazing, tangled monster that my hair became after our windy ferry ride.
05. the absolutely gigantic (and delicious) meal we had at the crab pot that sent all of us into an instant food coma.

all in all, I'd say it was a pretty great trip. I woke up monday morning already feeling nostalgic, and I think that's the sign of a vacation well spent.

Have you ever visited Seattle? What are your favorite parts of the city?