Champagne Bar

One of my favorite things about my friends wedding was the champagne bar that she had. It was a very cool and refreshing twist on a regular bar. The bar featured three bottles of fruit puree; white peach, mango and lychee. Guests could choose their flavor, squeeze it into their glass and pour the champagne over it. It was a delicious spin on regular champagne and definitely something I would recommend or even an idea I will use at my wedding!

Pravda Studios

It has definitely been a big wedding year so there will be a lot of upcoming posts about wedding venues, ideas, etc. This past weekend was my best friends wedding and it was so beautiful and fun. She held the wedding at Pravda Studios on Capitol Hill in Seattle. It turned out to be a really cool venue. The top picture show how the studio looks when it is completely empty, but if you look at the bottom two you can see how versatile it is and how you can decorate it almost any way you'd like. As a bridesmaid I was busy with rehearsals and photos that I didn't take any myself, but she had a beautiful black, white & celery green set up with the ceremony in one corner and the reception set up behind. The ceremony was easily broken down to make a dance floor. The studio even has an old industrial sized elevator which can fit a large van inside which made for an awesome area for photos. The wedding went perfectly and I could not be happier for my friend.

The Pink Door

Last night was bachelorette party number two this week and it was just as fun as the first. A group of us had dinner The Pink Door and it was so delicious! Definitely some of the best food I have had in a while. The restaurant is a quaint little place located in Post Alley in the Pike Place Market area with covered outdoor seating and decor that makes you feel like you're in Italy. It features Italian-American cuisine with some great seafood dishes. We started with the Bruschette Del' Estate and the Antipasto of the House. The antipasto was an amazing plate of salami, mozzarella cheese, topenade, peppers and beans and it made for a creative way to eat. I liked to take one of each thing and pile it up. All the flavors together were amazing. For dinner I had the Squid Ink Spaghetti which was equally as good. It's called "Squid Ink" because the spaghetti noodles are actually black so they look like ink! Some of the other girls ordered a whole fish which they served to us on a cutting board, bones and eyes and all. Between the food and the atmosphere, it is definitely a restaurant I would recommend.

Darcelle's

If you are looking for an outrageous night for a birthday or a bachelorette party, I would strongly recommend Darcelle's in downtown Portland. This past weekend was a good friend's bachelorette party and her maid of honor arranged for us to go see the drag show at Darcelle's and it was wild. All the characters were hilarious and very good. There was also an awesome audience in attendance that totally got into the show, which definitely added to the evening. The show featured lots of singing acts including Whitney Houston, Bette Midler and of course scenes from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The show plays Wednesday - Saturday. One of the best parts (for the bachelorette of course) is that on Fridays and Saturdays they have Midnight Madness which features some very attractive male strippers. The $15 cover is very reasonable and although the drinks are a tad pricey, you get what you pay for in alcohol amount. It is a perfect location for a bride's send off into marriage or a great way to celebrate a wild birthday.

West Seattle Golf Course

Saturday morning I went golfing with my brother and a couple of his friends. We went to West Seattle Golf Course in West Seattle (duh!) which I hadn't played since high school and it was a lot of fun. The course also offers some great views of the downtown Seattle skyline, as shown above, and some great hill climbing for guaranteed exercise. It is a fairly easy course so if you're a beginner I would say give it a try. I love the front nine, but had never played the back so it was a bit challenging. I definitely played like a beginner there. Between the heat, lots of hills and...well no I just played bad. But it was still very enjoyable!

Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua

I recently heard about the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Temple in Thailand. It is a Theravada Buddhist temple that is a home for many endangered species including tigers that roam freely with the tourists. Apparently the temple gathers tiger cubs whose mothers have been killed by poachers and raise them in the temples, teaching them to be used to humans and feeding them cooked meat so they wont have a taste for blood. The tigers are treated like family and are totally tame. I think tigers are the coolest and one of the most beautiful animals and definitely my favorite so I have now added this temple on my list of places to go. I think it would be so exciting to pet a live tiger. Just look how cute they are!!

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps. The greatest Olympic champion of all time. 8 gold medals and 7 world records. Congratulations on all your success in the 2008 Beijing games. You are truly an inspiration.

The Perfect Aviators

I am a sucker for sunglasses. I own more pairs than days of the week, which is funny because there are maybe only 8 solid weeks of sun here in Seattle. But I find them a great accessory. Yes, I may even be one of those obnoxious girls you see at parties wearing their sunglasses inside in the middle of the night if the mood strikes and they match the outfit well. For years now, I have been trying to find the perfect pair of aviator sunglasses and today I was so excited that I finally found a pair. Isaac Mizrahi for Target. Usually the ones I find are rather small for my face and seem to be designed for 12 year olds, but this pair is the perfect size and relatively cheap for sunglasses, only $17.99. It is usually more than I tend to spend (I stock up on the Nordstrom $10 pairs), but I was willing to pay for the right pair. My one hope is that these last longer than my $3 pair from the Fremont Fair. Target, and Isaac Mizrahi, both have great selections of accessories so check them out!

Who Says You Have To Walk Forward?

I found and article in a magazine that said "Who says you have to walk forward?" It totally made sense to me. I've never been a big fan of running just because I find it a little boring and repetitive. I'm not the kind that can just zone out and run forever. However today I mixed it up a little and enjoyed some different kind of running, including the grapevine and running backwards. Not only did it keep my interest for longer, I felt like I got a good workout for my muscles that I wouldn't normally use during a plain run. So next time you're running and want to mix it up, just remember...Who says you have to run (or walk) forward?

Mens 4x100 Relay

UNBELIEVABLE!!!! This race will go down in history as one of the best relay races of all time. The men's swimming 4x100 relay. France was favored to win and they thought they had it in the bag, telling newspapers they were going to smash on the United States. But they were silenced by the amazing performance of the US team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak who swam an amazing fourth leg, entering the water half a second behind the final swimmer for France, and the world-record holder, to beat them by only 0.08 of a second. Not only did they win gold, but they broke the previous world record by almost 4 seconds. An insane performance by the United States and the start to an opportunity for Michael Phelps to become the greatest Olympic champion of all time. I can't wait to see what is next. Here is the official story, and hopefully a video soon for those who missed it. You wont believe your eyes.

Chopstix

A friend of mine were out and about on lower Queen Anne last night and we decided to check out Chopstix, the dueling piano bar. We were interested in a bar atmosphere, but a place where we could find a place to sit and that is what we got. Our first impression of the bar was excellent, mostly because we got in for free (there was a $7 cover) and the security guys were hot. It is a small venue, but surprisingly we could still chat over the piano music and singing. I would say it is one of the better places to go if you wanted to people watch as there is usually a birthday or a bachelorette party going on and the pianists tend to ridicule the guest of honor. It is a really fun environment. The only thing I would say they could fix are their prices. $5.25 for a well drink (with Monarch!!) is a bit much.

South Lake Union Block Party

Yesterday after work, my parents and I headed down to the South Lake Union Block Party to see what it was all about. We live so close, but have not gone in past years so we decided to check it out. It ended up being pretty fun. They had a bunch of SLU vendors down there making food that they handed out for free, however most people responded to the $1 suggested donation. But still only $1 for these food samples was great. During the festival they had a few different bands playing live on stage. They also had a wine tasting area and a Redhook beer garden. Lots of people brought their dogs for the Muttmazing Race. At the end of the night they showed "Juno" on a large screen. It was a fun little festival to explore.

The First Snow of Winter

So a friend and I were babysitting one night and the kids really wanted to watch this movie called "The First Snow of Winter". It was a short movie about how a little bird gets left behind while his family flies south for the winter. Needless to say we thought it would be pretty lame, until we saw this scene. It is so arbitrary, but that is what makes it so great! We started laughing so hard that the kids got up and started imitating it and trying to entertain us. I bet you can't watch it without at least cracking a smile. A couple days ago I was not having the best day, and then I thought to watch this and it instantly cheered me up. Just watch. It's hilarious! Just as sure as grass is musical!

Seafair Saturday

This Saturday some friends and I decided to go down to Genessee park and enjoy the last weekend of Seafair. Saturday is the highlight of the festival as it features the air show, hydroplane races and a fireworks show to end the evening. We spent a solid 10 hours down on the lake shore enjoying the different events. We spent the majority of the day inside the Jack Daniels sponsored beer garden which turned out to be the perfect location that we just happened upon! It was almost directly in the center of the race track by the starting line and the center point of the air show. And it never got crowded! The highlight of course was the Blue Angels air show. They never fail to entertain or even scare when they fly right at each other only to turn away at the last moment. The loud boom of their engines only excite the crowds more. Of course the hydroplanes were exciting as well, I only wish the races would have lasted longer. It was definitely a fantastic day and so much fun!