Seattle Getaway, plus meeting the Our Best Bites ladies!

The second weekend in June, Sean and I got a rare {as in, it's never happened before!} opportunity for a weekend away, sans Ethan! See, the ladies from Our Best Bites were going to be in Seattle for a few book signings and I knew this was probably the closest I would get so I arranged with my mom to take Ethan for the weekend. As luck would have it, Sean came down with a cough that week, but he was smart and went to the doctor right away and was able to get on antibiotics {bronchitis, poor guy}. Even still, he stayed home from work on Thursday, sicker than a dog - coughing and throwing up and having no energy at all. Ethan and I let him keep to our room where it was nice and dark and he was able to rest all day. My fingers were crossed that he would be better for the weekend. Ha! If I had only known the worst was still to come. I went to bed Thursday night feeling very nauseated and having trouble sleeping. About 1am or so, I finally got up to go to the bathroom, and, well, without painting too much of a nasty picture, I had to lunge for the trash can. I spent the next five hours going back and forth between the recliner in the living room and the extra bathroom and with my "puke bowl" always in tow. It was a long, miserable night. By morning I was exhausted and still super nauseated and had zero appetite. We were supposed to meet my mom in Woodburn for the "drop-off" sometime before noon. Yeah, that didn't happen - I think it was closer to 2:30/3pm. Ethan was so excited to go with grandma Julie and this was the very first picture I took with our new camera (because she had brought it with her).We parted ways and Sean and I drove back to Vancouver, packed our stuff, made a quick Target run for a mini memory card (our old camera used the full-size memory cards) and Special K cereal/milk since that was the only thing that sounded good to me and then we made the drive to Seattle. Well, actually, we drove to Bellevue. We did the Priceline thing again and were not having luck getting a hotel in downtown Seattle for the price we wanted and ended up being able to get a 4-star hotel in downtown Bellevue for less than the prices we were putting in for a 3-star in Seattle. We loved it!! Gorgeous, gorgeous hotel right in the heart of downtown.

This was part of the lobby/atrium. Beautiful and so serene.

And our room. Lovely, spacious and comfy.

Seriously. This bed was so, so comfy! I love how hotels have gotten rid of the nasty bedspreads and just do all white sheets/down comforter with the little decorative thing on the end. It just feels so much cleaner. Yeah, we slept well in this bed.

The view from our room.

Yes, I realize this picture is completely random, but I took it for my sister, Lizzy {who is currently obsessed with cowboys, hicks, boots, Cabelas, etc. I saw these boots in one of the magazines in our room, thought they were cute and thought of her. Plus, I love how well the picture turned out on just the auto setting of our new camera}!

So the next morning (Saturday) we slept in and were so happy that we both seemed to have made a miraculous recovery! My appetite was back, no more nausea and feeling back to normal. Sean still had a bit of a cough, but the antibiotics had definitely made a big difference. So we ate breakfast in our room and then took all the connecting sky bridges to the mall across the street. One of our first stops was Crate & Barrel. I had never been inside one. That is a dangerous store! Well, dangerous if we actually had money to spend. It's a lot easier to say "no" when most everything in the store is pricey. But Sean did indulge me spending some money on these way cute juice glasses we found. I couldn't resist.

I got two of the orange juice glasses and then one each of the apple and cherry so I'd have a full set. Drinking my orange juice in the morning in the orange glass is so much better than just a regular glass! Plus, added bonus, portion control! I think they only hold about 4 oz. I love juice, so this keeps me from pouring a huge glass and drinking my calories. I also got this adorable dish towel. Again, I couldn't resist the bright colors and cute summery design.
One thing we noticed walking around the mall and connecting buildings to the hotel is that they are way more artsy than in Vancouver! Check out all this beautiful glass work.That last picture is my favorite.

We ate lunch at the mall and looked around a little and then headed back to our hotel so we could get to the book signing. Check out this mega-long bridge we crossed to get from Bellevue to Seattle. It was about 15 minutes away and at a Barnes and Noble right by the University of WA and it happened to be graduation day so there was tons of traffic. Nice. Anyway, we got there just after it had started and I was so afraid there would be a HUGE line. What luck! We found them and there was only 6-7 ladies already standing around their signing table. Well, Sean and I sorta stood back from them and got our books out (I had my own and three friends' books to be signed!) and then I hear Sara say, "are you Jenn?" as she points at me! Well, the small crowd parted and everyone turned to look at us. It was SO cool!! The other ladies there were all saying, "how does she know you? Are you just a fan?" And then Kate and Sara explained that they recognized that I commented pretty frequently and I usually write more than just "yum! That looks good." so they had blog-stalked me a little. ;) Of course, it helps too, that I won a cookware set from them last year. Oh, and that some random woman on FB contacted me to see if I was related to Sandy Toftdahl (my grandma) and after further emails I discovered she's in Sara's ward at church. So, yeah, I have a little connection to the Our Best Bites ladies. Anyway, we let the other women finish and then Kate and Sara signed the books we had and then since there was no crowd (apparently they'd been pretty busy at their first two signings) we got to stay and chat for a while. I'm so glad we went and it was fun to meet them! They are super nice and funny. Plus, their cookbook really is awesome!

Well, after the signing we headed back to our hotel and then to the mall to do a little shopping (this is when I got my Crate & Barrel goodies) and to get Ethan a little somethin'-somethin' {not like he wasn't already being spoiled at Grandma and Grandpa's} and to get some gourmet cupcakes {Sean's was chocolate w/ peanut butter frosting, mine was strawberry and then we got a chocolate one to share}. Dinner was at the Crab Pot {the restaurant we attempted to go to (with disastrous results) the last time we were in Seattle} and I'm sad to say we probably won't go back. The food was pretty good but not enough to make it a "must-go" next time we're in the Seattle area. Plus, the sourdough bread before our entrees came was stale and did not taste good.So after dinner we went out to a movie - Super 8. It was really good! And afterward, while Sean was in the bathroom, I heard someone call my name and it was none other than Kate from Our Best Bites! Oh yeah, we're tight like that.

Then, after all that (lunch date, book signing, shopping, dinner and a movie) you'd think we'd call it a night and go back to our hotel. Nope! After the movie we decided to live it up and went to a dueling piano bar we had seen earlier in the day.SO not our scene {I mean, c'mon. It was a bar. That is SO NOT our scene!} but we waited in line, had the bouncer check our I.D., paid the cover charge and went in. Seriously, great entertainment! The dueling pianists were GREAT!! Both of them were so good and so talented! And, of course, there was a variety of half-drunks/drunks to watch. We should've had a scavenger hunt checklist...
- girls in stilettos thinking they are the best dancers ever: check!
- bachelorette party w/ the bride-to-be wearing a veil covered in male anatomy: check!
- conservative woman who looks likes this is not her scene and then totally busts a move once the girls-in-stilettos-that-think-they-are-the-best-dancers-ever take a break: check!
- guy in khakis and a short-sleeve button up shirt that really can not dance: check!
- majority of the guys thinking they are either a. the funniest guy there, b. the best-looking guy there or c. both: check!
- LDS couple who look totally out of their element and order a couple of Roy Rogers: check! {oh, wait - that was us!!}


This was their last song of the night - go figure!

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed home, but not before I snapped a picture of this: It was located right by the door. You stuck your key in there when you were in the room and then took it off when you left and it would automatically turn off the lights. And let me tell ya, it worked! Sean went to go get ice while I was blow-drying my hair just after my shower and just grabbed this key without thinking. The bathroom lights went out and it was almost pitch black in there! The go-green hippie in me thought this was a pretty nifty, energy-saving idea.

Monday night we met my parents in Salem (half-way between our houses) at Five Guys. I loved our weekend away and it was so fun to run around downtown Bellevue with just my man, acting like care-free, child-less newlyweds {well, sorta...} but I missed my Ethan and was so happy to see him again!! Of course, he was all over his surprise {we got him a pirate set from the Disney store complete w/ eye patch, earring, skull ring, treasure map, telescope and clanging foam sword}. It was a little more than we originally planned on spending, but we loved that these were toys that he could play with and use his imagination - plus, he already has a Capt. Hook hat}!
It was a great trip. I love having Seattle so much closer now - it makes for a great get-away location. Sorry this post was so long and kudos to you if you got through it all, but I wanted to get everything down in one post!