The great hot dog showdown...Seattle vs. Chicago

Last night Ryan got out of work a little early and we went out for a drink (or two, or three).  We went to List, a little bar not far from my apartment.  I enjoyed the Pom drink and Ryan enjoyed the Triple X drink.  We may also have enjoyed a little tequila on the side.  While sitting and enjoying a lovely time we decided we were going to need some street meat for the walk home.  (aka - Sarah needs a hot dog!)  I experienced my first Seattle Dog.  A Seattle dog is a hot dog with cream cheese and onion, and I added some spicy mustard.  Now I know that I am probably not supposed to like anything but a Chicago dog, but I have to say it was REALLY good.  And... Seattle definitely beats Chicago in one way because there is no late night street meat in Chicago! 

Yummy Seattle Dog

Spring has Sprung!

I first want to apologize to all you wonderful readers that these blogs are soooo delayed.  I was actually going to post on St. Patrick's Day but on that very same day my computer decided it was time for a little tune up (i.e. time for the hard drive to fail and also need some more RAM)  I initially took it to the genius bar at the Apple store, but they sent me down the road to the Mac store (they were supposed to be pretty quick but... I just got it back yesterday.) Oh well I am back and blogging!  Woo hoo!

So I don't know about where all of you live but Spring has really sprung around here in the Northwest.  The days have been really consistently in the 50s with a few days in the low 60s and the days of sunshine are becoming more frequent!  I have been loving it, sunshine, lakes, mountains and flowers galore!!  The market has especially blooming with Spring.  Not only are there flowers on top of the market, but the flower markets are starting to sell real flowers!  In the winter they sell dried flowers and although nice, I definitely missed the smell and sight of fresh flower bouquets.  The fish in the market are also changing, the first halibut are starting to arrive.  The market is also getting busier everyday and has really exploded this week with all the families on Spring Break.  I love the business and bustling the market has now.  Ahhh I love Spring!!!

Daffodils on top of the market

Fresh flowers are back in bunches!

Close up of one of the bouquets

My St. Patrick's Day bouquet, complete with green daffodils - never seen those before!

The Big 3-0! (AKA Sarah's Dirty Thirty!!)

Last week was my birthday, the big 3-0, or as it was quickly known as, Sarah's Dirty Thirty. It really was like a whole week of celebrating that started on Sunday when Ryan, his sous chef Adam and I went to the Huskies basketball game. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to celebrate there. We kept the party going on Monday with the real celebration. Ryan took me to dinner at Zoe. It was a fantastic, delicious meal and a great start for a fabulous birthday celebration. From there we headed to Blarney Stone for Trivia night. The entire Donaldson family, Adam, and my new friend Andrea came to partake in the fun too. It really was a great time and my team (appropriately titled Sarah's Dirty Thirty!) came in second place!

Cheers! Let the night begin, it looks like Bob already knows there will be trouble ahead

After trivia most people had to go home (it was a Monday night after all) but Carrie and Tyson joined Ryan and I for a night cap. So before I go any further into this story I should tell you about my outfit for the evening. I had on a new dress, a very cute army green military style short dress with what else but my cowgirl boots! I looked very very cute. Anyway, it was also very rainy in the day before the celebrations began. All of these things combined with a little amount of alcohol and walking down a very steep Virginia hill on the way to the bar resulted in this:

OUCH!

It did hurt a little bit, but mostly I find it entertaining that I had a skinned knee on my 30th birthday. Isn't that more like on your 5th birthday? Oh well it just proves I am young at heart! And Carrie, Tyson, Ryan and I had a great time. All and all an incredible night!

Carrie and Tyson

Donaldson! You are supposed to smile for the camera!

Okay that is much better! I love you too!

On my actual birthday, Wednesday, Ryan's parents took me out for dinner at SeaStar in Bellevue and we enjoyed a very delicious meal. Then on this past Sunday we all went to their house to celebrate all the March birthday's for the Donaldsons (Carrie, Bob and me). We had another fantastic meal full of fresh seafood. We had clams, potato leek soup, prawns, fresh shrimp with cocktail sauce, oysters on the half shell, and fresh crab, soooo delicious!! What a great birthday! Thank you to all my family and friends and especially all of the Donaldsons for an unforgettable birthday! It meant so much to me to have such incredible celebrations even when I was away from my family, thank you!!!