snippets of seattle

well our roadtrip to seattle was AWESOME! i love it there so much. i'm really happy we were basically forced to go. (see my previous post for the explanation.)
i just got around to uploading a small portion of pictures from the trip (70 of almost 700!) to flickr so here are a few peeks...

we went up the space needle, visited the graves/memorial sites of jimi hendrix, kurt cobain, bruce lee & brandon lee, checked out "the" apartment block from the movie singles (one of my faves), watched kites flying at gas works park, walked through pike place market, enjoyed a triple grande non-fat latte from the very first starbucks store, cheered on the seattle sounders at a soccer game, checked out the experience music project and science fiction museum, ate lots of mexican food and slurped up one yummy margarita.

as you could probably tell, i was seriously in awe of all the flowers in bloom there.

feel free to check out the rest of my photos here.

this will be a short post as i am exhausted and need to get to bed early, for my first day of work at my new job tomorrow! yay!!!

hope y'all had a great weekend :)

seeing green

well i'm about to embark on a mini road trip this weekend... 

to the emerald city!

no, not that one silly ;)

this one! woohoo! i love seattle.

it will be my first few days of being officially unemployed so we'll be on a mission to create the world's cheapest little holiday. (we actually probably wouldn't even be going but had already booked and paid for the trip in advance, before i was laid off.) but, you can bet your bootie i'll still be making a trip to the very first starbucks coffee shop. every time i've been to seattle before it's always been literally swarmed with tourists so i never bothered, but this time i am determined. even if i have to throw a few elbows to make my way in - ha!

we also had the somewhat morbid (but free!) idea of visitting the graves of bruce lee and jimi hendrix, as well as the "memorial site" for kurt cobain. (it's a park bench, but still - free!)

and of course the trip wouldn't be complete without going to a soccer game! note: that was sarcasm. (yet another bright idea to pay for tickets in advance... lesson learned folks! ;)

anyone else have any tips for a cheap get-away?

hello stranger

well hello there! long time no see!

yikes, i haven't been around lately, and i miss being in Suzyville! any time i have spent online for the past little while has been spent job hunting. and from the looks of it, it will be like that for the next little while too!
my non-online time has been spent outside enjoying the amazing weather Kelowna has been experiencing lately. this past weekend the husband and i went for one of our photo-walk/hikes and tried a new place with an amazing waterfall, and an even more amazing set of staircases to get there! (my legs are still sore from all those steps.) we got some great photos though, which i will share soon, as soon as i can get them off my camera. in the meantime i will leave you with this cute one (if i do say so myself) we snapped with my phone...

also, i just had to share this song that has been on repeat on my little mp3 player for the past little while...



and this one too...



actually, i'm kind of obsessed with that entire album right now! (i think it's time to update my "currently obsessed with" picture on the right side bar of my blog!) it's the self-titled debut album from broken bells - i highly recommend it if you like the two above songs.

well, happy thursday folks! be back soon i hope :) wish me luck with the job hunting... and tell me what you've been up to in the meantime too!

Friday Faves

Today's Faves Feature comes to you from the "Windy City"... welcome Draya Ann! I recently had the pleasure of "meeting" her when she contacted me about a special necklace and we began emailing back and forth. I am now a fan of her blog and will be a fan of her shop once it opens up too!

Hi there! My name is Draya Ann, I'm an almost (4 months to go) 30 year old gal from the burbs of Chicago. I have a little blog called Say Anything that I am giving a shot at. Stop by and say hi, when you have the chance! I love new readers!

I have a great husband named Jake, who I dated on and off for 10 years before we finally got married in September of 2008. I lived in New Orleans for 4 years and fell in love with everything southern. After deciding that being away from my family was not what I wanted, I moved back home to Illinois, and I have been here ever since. I love crafting, and I am working on putting together a craft room at home so I can really get moving on some projects, and eventually put together an Etsy shop with my best friend (who lives in Canada!!!). When my bestest got pregnant I decided to make her little one a little mobile out of ribbon, and I kind of fell in love with crafting again while making it. I'm ready to get my creative juices flowing more often and I am kind of excited to see where they might take me.

Favourite band/music: I like all kinds of music, but I guess I would say that Dave Matthew's Band has always been up around #1 in my book. After living in New Orleans I became a fan of country music as well.
Favourite book/author: The best book I ever read was "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. It's like 900 some pages but it was such a good book I couldn't put it down. My second favorite book would then have to be Green Eggs and Ham. My niece's like to see how fast I can read it without messing up.
Favourite magazine/newspaper: I have to have my People Magazine fix every Friday! I'm a bit of a magazine junkie. I could sit and read magazines all day if possible.
Favourite movie: Say Anything. When he stands outside of her house with the boom box over his head, it just gets me. The song he plays also happens our song.
Favourite tv show: I have so many it's insane. Some of my favorites are Dexter, Big Love, The Office, Sex and the City...and on it goes.
Favourite actor/actress: I don't really have a favorite actually...weird.
Favourite artist: I love Keith Haring, and I love my dad's work. He's been an artist his whole life and just this past year he finally gave me some of his work to put up in my house. I'm so proud to tell people it's my dad's art. He's an amazing artist and photographer. It's his passion and I envy his love for what he does and his creativity.

Favourite colour: pink, then blue, then green, then yellow
Favourite meal: My husband says I eat like a 5 year old cause I love pizza, chicken nuggets, and mac & cheese. Anything served in a grade school, I'd probably like.
Favourite sweet treat: I love pink Starburst. Or the pink Runts...but just the pink ones!
Favourite salty snack: I love saltine crackers with cheddar cheese spread on them. So delicious!
Favourite drink: Squirt, best pop ever!
Favourite smell: Babies! They smell so good it makes my heart melt.
Favourite day of week: Friday evening. My husband usually asks me out on a date for Friday and it makes me so happy to be with him and just be together.
Favourite time of day: 4pm...it means I'm off work in 15 minutes and the rest of the evening is mine to do as I please!
Favourite season: I love Spring and Fall, when it's in the 70's and you can be outside and it's just the perfect temperature to sit on the deck and hang out.
Favourite quote: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away." Author Unknown.
Favourite flower: Peonies, and I'm actually disappointed because a new neighbor moved into the house next door that has the most amazing peonies, and I can no longer go and snip some for my house now. I guess it's off to the garden center to buy my own.
Favourite vacation destination: As a kid we always went to Sanibel Island, Florida. It has white sandy beaches, no street lights and everyone rides their bikes around instead of driving. It was just heavenly to me, and I wish I could spend every day there. It was the last place we vacationed as a family with my mom before she died, that it just has a special place in my heart.
Favourite thing to do in your free time: I really love to just hang out with my husband. He makes me laugh so hard, and we always have really great conversations. We've known each other for 12 years now, and we've been married for almost 2 and he still is my favorite person to talk to.

Thanks to Suzanne for having me as her Friday Fave! I'm so excited to be making blogworld friends! Happy Friday everyone!!!!

Thanks Draya Ann! I actually found a lot of similarities in your list - Say Anything is one of my most favourite movies of all time, Dexter is SO awesome, as are Spring & Fall, and that quote is the best :)

If anyone else would like to participate in a Friday Faves feature, shoot me an email:  dearsuzanne@gmail.com

TGIF! Have a happy weekend folks :)

simple pleasures

lately i've been thinking about little things that make me happy, like:

- that photo
- and this one
- crossing off items on to-do lists
- the first pumpkin spice latte of the season
- when i trim my fingernails and can type extra fast
- an extra 5 minutes in a hot shower
- going through old photos/albums (especially when it's my family's)
- sleeping with the heating blanket on and the window open (only when it's cold out ;)
- my cat josie waking me up by purring in my ear
- the scent in the morning air when it's rained all night
- macaroni and cheese
- hitting the snooze button
- a new haircut that i actually like
- writing lists
- campfires
- an ice cold glass of water right after i brush my teeth
- thunder storms
- pressing my face into a warm, fluffy, freshly laundered towel
- surprise slushees or smoothies from the hubby
- getting all "gussied up" for a girls night out
- midnight skinny dips
- nutella straight from the jar
- coffee dates with friends i don't get to see very often
- the way my legs feel after i shave and moisturize
- prescription sunglasses
- sweet random emails from friends
- red wine and dark chocolate
- cranking my favourite songs on the stereo

it's the little things that count :)

happy thursday folks!
tune in tomorrow for a brand new "friday faves" feature.

lotto ticket anyone?

i just had to share these cute tv commercials (for Washington's Lottery). they are so clever! this first one is their newest - it features a song by indie band Grizzly Bear, is directed by the same person who did Feist's 1,2,3,4 video, and was choreographed by the same person who did that awesome dance scene in 500 Days of Summer... i don't think you could go wrong with that combo!

i just love this one, it makes me smile...




this one is super sweet...




and this one pretty much makes me cry every time i see it...



maybe i will buy a lotto ticket when i'm in seattle for the may long weekend :)
happy tuesday!