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!!!

Snowmageddon, Seattle Style

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! The pictures in this post may cause hysteria (well only in Seattle)

I experienced my first snowfall/snowstorm in Seattle here today. It was all over the news for 2 days and people have been very afraid to venture out of their homes. They are stocking up on essentials at the local QFC or Safeway. Even the ER was a pretty quiet place for a few days (even with Seattle schools being on mid-winter break - something I do not truly understand yet, but it seems like another break between Winter and Spring break so everyone can go skiing from what I can gather). So in all honestly, snow and ice is a pretty scary thing here in Seattle due to all of the hills. The news stations seem to play into this fear by showing videos of buses sliding down hills from earlier in the winter too. This can terrify even the most experienced winter weather driver. (Read, Sarah took the shuttle bus to work today) Although we didn't get very much of the scary white stuff here in the city some of the suburbs got a bunch of snow. Luckily the city deployed all 30, yes, 30 plows and trucks to take of business. Also the buses had chains on their tires to overcome the massive amounts of scary white snow! In all honesty though, snow is scary here, they don't have plows like in Chicago or Ohio and they don't salt and those hills can be scary on a rainy day, so I for one and glad that winter is almost over.

Almost a half inch of snow at the hospital, chains required!

Please be careful of the steps, they are NOT salted or prepped for snow

Random van in Seattle Children's parking lot COVERED with snow :)

Ghostbusters!

As some of you may, or may not know, Ryan and I enjoy playing bar trivia. Our favorite place to play is Belltown Pizza on 1st Ave every Monday night. We happened upon it one Monday night in October when I was visiting and since then we have gone whenever I was in town or when we could make it. I will say it is pretty tough, but the friendly staff, fantastic pizza, and funny second to last place prizes seem to keep us coming back for more. Especially recently. So I am NOT the best (read VERY VERY bad) at the audio round (which, if you know me, drives me crazy as a competitive and perfectionist person I am). So because of this Ryan and I seem to be collecting a LOT of the very entertaining second to last place prizes. To date we have won a used Stuart Little DVD and this newest prize, Ghostbusters Slimer Sour Candies!!! Soooo entertaining!!!!!!!

Look Who's Walking!!!

I have to devote this post to my most favorite little boy! (I can't believe I am saying little boy and not baby now, he is getting so big so fast!!) My best friend Erin's son Cooper just started walking and he had his mommy send Aunt Sarah a video of the event. I can't even tell you how heart warming it was to receive this video and picture. This little man certainly has a BIG hold on my heart!!! I can't believe it was just a year ago when I was holding a tiny little baby Cooper and now he is a walking toddler! Truly my Mr. Handsome is growing up!

Oh and I should probably warn you he is NOT crying because he is hurt, he wants Mommy's iPhone and is trying to get it from her :)

Valentine's Day

Oh Valentine's Day, the day of love. A day when couples go out to dinner to experience one of a kind aphrodisiac menu prepared by a fantastic and handsome chef... Oh wait that's what happens here in Seattle at The Stone House. So since Valentine's Day is Ryan's busiest day of the year and he prepares a special menu for the night and since he sister is one of the waitresses to work that night it only made sense for Ryan's brother-in-law Chris and I to go as "dates" to the Valentine's Day dinner. Chris and I had a nice time and enjoyed the fantastic food and great service at the restaurant. Each couple had place cards but I had a VERY special one designed by sous chef Adam...

Funny Adam, verrrry funny!

The menu had five courses all of which had food that are known aphrodisiacs to enhance this most romantic of nights. All I can say is everything was delicious and I made sure to give the chef a big smooch at the end of the night!

The Menu

Oysters three ways: Bloody Mary shooter, on the half shell and fried

Lobster Bisque with a Mushroom Ravioli

Mango Chili sorbet for a palate cleanser

Sea Scallops with lemon-basil risotto and a piece of the beef tenderloin from Chris' plate

Chocolate three ways: Mexican hot cocoa, light and dark mousse, dark chocolate bark with caramel

Spam!!!

How do you celebrate after the Super Bowl? But of course, it's going to Ohana and trying Spam for the first time! That's right everyone, after watching the Super Bowl Ryan and I headed up the hill to Ohana, a lovely Hawaiian restaurant in Belltown that truly makes you feel like you have just stepped on the Big Island. It really felt like something right out of 50 First Dates or any other fun Hawaiian movie. It's not cheesy though, it's super authentic! And I will take a drink with an umbrella in it ANY day of the week, did someone say Mai Tai?? So... Ryan starts looking at the menu and says we need to get the spam masubi. I am thinking, is he serious??? He was and it was really good! It was like a HUGE piece of sushi with spam and some yummy sauce on top. I have to say it was good, and I will definitely order it again. So if you are in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood not only do I recommend Ohana, but definitely get the Spam Masubi!!