Seattle

Seattle is hands-down my favorite U.S. city. I love that you can be walking in downtown Seattle and you can see the Olympic Mountain Range. I love that in my sister’s old apartment you could see the Space Needle and Mount Rainier (on a clear day!). I love that there are so many outdoor hiking spots and I love the outdoorsy feel of the city. I love the fresh, clean, mountain air and the beautiful bodies of water that surround the city. I could go on and on...

My sister is in the process of packing up her things and leaving Seattle in just a few short weeks, so this trip was a farewell tour of our beloved Seattle for the two of us. It felt wonderful to be able to see the city for one last time together. We made our Seattle bucket list (tear) and checked off the items one by one. I will always remember this trip!

On Friday, we headed to Green Lake to run the 3 mile loop. It was chilly and cool and rainy, but we ran and stretched our legs in preparation for our Saturday road race. Green Lake is always on my to-do list whenever I visit Seattle and from the pictures below…you can clearly see why. In the summer, kids are swimming in the lake and diving off the high dives and year-round crew teams use Green Lake for rowing practice. It's an absolutely beautiful place! 

On Saturday, we ran our 5K and then went home and showered and then headed out to start our day! Columbia City Bakery had been on my to-do list for the past few trips and this time I was finally able to check it off! Everything was absolutely delicious! I ordered a small baguette with strawberry jam and it was absolutely delicious! Just a quick aside – during my EuroTrip in the summer of 2010, my friend and I stayed in this awesome hostel in Paris called St. Christopher's Inn. There were at least 10 other people in our room…we slept in bunks…but the bathrooms were super clean and the breakfast was free and delicious! Every morning (we were there for three days) they would have a big crate full of fresh-out-of-the-oven French baguettes that were still warm and served with delicious homemade jam. I would eat a baguette and jam every single morning with a cup of black coffee and I was in heaven. This breakfast at the Columbia City Bakery brought me back to those early morning hostel breakfasts. My sister ordered a veggie sandwich on a multigrain roll and I had a bite and it was delicious! We also split a few pretzels bites which were incredible. The next morning we both woke up craving those pretzel bites! That’s how good they were.

We look lovely...cold, wet, but so happy after our road race

From the bakery, we headed to the Olympic Sculpture Park to see Sandra Cinto's installation of Encontro das Águas. It was beautiful and so incredible and overwhelming. I loved seeing it in person! You can check out this time-lapsed video of the installation process. It’s pretty remarkable!

 We then headed to the Seattle Asian Art Museum to see an installation of Shirin Neshat’s, Tooba, which was part of Elles: SAM at the Seattle Art Musuem. It was super powerful and moving.

Then it was time for Easy Street Records to browse through their music. I love that place!Right across the street from Easy Street Records is Metropolitan Market. How beautiful are their flowers? We spent a good 10 minutes examining all of their varieties. So pretty!

For dinner we went to Flo, which is this delicious sushi place that I love. I loved that their menu mentions the idea of “flow,” which is something that I’ve mentioned on this blog. Super cool! 

We then headed to the mall and checked out Madewell. I’ve seen their collection online, but I had never been to an actual store. I loved all of their clothes!

Sunday was spent at the Ballard Farmer’s market. I really loved these pumpkin planters and I want to recreate these for my family’s Thanksgiving table! After venturing around the market, we headed to “The Other Coast” for lunch. They specialize in delicious sandwiches!

The following week, when we returned to Seattle, I saw the rest of the Elles exhibit, and enjoyed walking through the Seattle Public Market. My nephew enjoyed his very first piece of a baguette and my sister and I enjoyed yummy lattes. We spent the rest of the weekend nesting and cooking and walking and running and loving on each other. It was perfect! Until next time...xoxo

West Coast Adventures!

To say that I had a good time while visiting my sisters and nephew on the west coast would be a HUGE understatement. I had an absolute BLAST! We had so much fun visiting, chatting, running, shopping, trick-or-treating, baking, cooking, laughing and enjoying each other's company. It was a trip I will remember for years to come! Here are some pictures from my eleven day adventure! Enjoy! :-) xoxo

The trip began with delicious happy hour pizza from this fabulous Seattle establishment! So tasty! Honestly, add this to your list of places to dine if/when you're in Seattle!

Dessert was Yogurtland! Thanks, Mom, for funding this sweet outing! We enjoyed Taro, Pistachio, New York Cheesecake, Frosty Vanilla and Toasted Coconut. So tasty and delicious!

Saturday, my sister and I ran the Pumpkin Push 5K to benefit Seattle's homeless. Check out our photos! We're in the third row on the left hand side...numbers 107790-020-021 and 107790-020-022. In preparation for our run, we went to get pedicures and I got a manicure! I tried and LOVED OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark. It's a winner! So dark and pretty! 

After a wonderful time in Seattle, it was time to head to south to Portland and then on to Bingen/White Salmon, Washington, to see my sister, nephew and brother-in-law! 

Look who came to meet me at the train station! He LOVED seeing the massive train and waving bye to the departing passengers! 

His eyes are closed because this sweet boy is oh so happy to see his tia! 

We enjoyed several days together...complete with the little guy showing off his awesome jack-o-lantern booties and climbing gear. I spy a vanilla cupcake goldfish from his grandmother in the background...

Fun times playing in the bathroom by the tub!

Dutch Bros. Coffee is seriously the BEST coffee in the WORLD. So smooth, bold, and flavorful. It's also piping hot, so be sure to ask for ice cubes! I loved their Christmas cups! So festive!

While my sister and brother-in-law worked, I got to spend the day with my favorite little man in the whole wide world. From morning until night, we played and played and played some more. We enjoyed lots of walks in the crisp fall air. 

Look at that smile :-)

Lots of running...

And climbing...

And smiling...

And playing...

Soon it was time to dress up for Halloween and get ready for trick-or-treating! 

Super Van to the rescue!

Waiting patiently...

Why is my tia so furry?

Because it's Halloween!

After a trip back north to Seattle and lots of bonding with my sisters and nephew, it was time to head back east. I miss them all so so so much, but I can't wait to be reunited with them at Christmas. It's so much fun to think about all the exciting things we'll do in December! xoxo

Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Dora Maar, Portrait of Nusch Eluard, 1935

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Hello! Before I share my recap of my AWESOME trip to the West Coast, I wanted to give you an overview of my sister’s EXCELLENT Elles exhibit that she curated at the Seattle Art Museum. She’s been working with the Centre Pompidou in Paris since the Summer of 2010 to bring this exhibition to the Seattle Art Museum and let me tell you…it’s an incredible exhibit! This exhibit was intended to showcase female artists in an unprecedented way. According to the foreword in the exhibition catalogue, which was written by Alain Seban, President of the Centre Pompidou, “Through the works of women artists from the collection, the entire history of twentieth and twenty-first century art is rewritten from a female perspective, tracing an alternate image of a period during which women acquired the full status of artist.” Wow. This exhibit is essentially a rewriting of history. Too awesome!

I loved the exhibition and I was able to see it over the course of two days which was perfect! I was able to see the first several rooms of the exhibition, then process all that I had seen, and then return to the exhibition and finish viewing the final rooms less than a week later. It was absolutely incredible!

I must say that what struck me most about the exhibit was the layout. I LOVED that the pieces were not arranged in chronological order. Sometimes, my impression is that curators enjoy displaying in the way of “this is what was happening one hundred years ago, and through the exhibition, I’ll trace the history of art in this style up until present day.” Occasionally, that style of presentation is effective. However, Marisa curated the exhibit in such a way that themes, rather than chronology, were the main methods of presentation throughout this exhibit. Basically, the curator was saying “these are the themes that these women artists dealt with through their careers. Although they might have been working during different decades, even different centuries, their works touch upon certain themes that we recognize and that can be seen even in the works of female artists today.” It’s interesting because I can remember being in highschool and writing term papers and my most favorite term papers to write were those that addressed the thematic elements that were used during a novel. I loved to finish reading a novel and then address different themes that were used to tell the story. Thus, I really enjoyed the way Marisa used themes to dissect the works of female artists on display in Elles. Some of the themes included “Early Avant-Garde: Vision and Influence,  Opinions on Sexuality and Gender and Challenging Existing Attitudes Related to the Female Body, Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, Paris and New York, Women and the Bauhaus, Surrealism, Eccentric Abstraction, Push and Pull, Infinite Expanses, Genital Panic, and the Activist  Body, among others. I think that my favorite pieces were those that were almost painful to view. So much of art is beautiful and pleasing to the eye, but I found that the images that spoke to me the most were those that were challenging to look at. Of course, I loved the beautiful photographs of women that were present in the exhibit, but I also loved the unflattering depictions of certain women that were also on display in this exhibit. 

Overall, I thought this was a life-changing experience. I know that might sound sappy, but it was absolutely life-changing to see what all of these women were working on in the twenieth and twenty-first centuries and to see the type of adversity that they faced throughout the process. I think it’s very ingenious of these artists to use their works and bodies to speak about social and political and economic issues. Their voices came through in paint, video, photography, and other materials that stated their cases and opinions. In some instances, voice was nowhere near as loud as words on a billboard (ie. the guerilla girls and Barbara Kruger) or physical movement through space. I loved this exhibition so much and it made me so proud to be a woman! Here are some of my favorite pieces from the exhibit. If you’re in Seattle…PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check it out! It’s open until January 13, 2013. Go see it! J xoxo

P.S. Due to the graphic nature of some of the works in this exhibition, I have refrained from posting certain pieces. The works below represent a small sampling of my favorite pieces. Happy viewing! 

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (What big muscles you have!), 1986

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Tamara de Lempicka, Young Girl In Green,  1927-30

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Dorothea Tanning, Portrait of a Family, 1954

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Dora Maar, Untitled [Onirique], 1935 

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Sonia Delaunay, Rythme profondeur, 1960

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Suzanne Valadon, Le Chambre Bleue, 1923

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Rineke Dijkstra, Hilton Head Island, SC USA, June 24, 1992

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Agnes Thurnauer, Life-size Portraits, 2007-2008

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And if you want to read/learn more about this exhibition at SAM, visit the Elles website! xoxo

A little something for your weekend...

I absolutely LOVE the Christmas season SO much and I'm so happy that it's right around the corner! In the spirit of Christmas and giving, I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas songs. These are my two recent favorites. Enjoy! xoxo

Coldplay - Christmas Lights

Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson - Winter Song

*all images were sourced from wikipedia. 

Vegan Whole Wheat Apple Scones

I made these delicious apple scones a few weekends ago on a cool, fall, Sunday afternoon. I was in the mood for a delicious homemade baked good with a healthful twist. I didn't want a cookie or something super sweet; I wanted some type of sweet bread with a hearty texture and lots of flavor. My mind immediately went to these apple scones and I knew that this treat would be the perfect solution to my homemade baked good craving. And boy was I right! These scones are delicious served piping hot out of the oven or at room temperature. I suppose they would also be perfect toasted in the toaster oven for a few minutes the day after you bake them...if they last that long! They are only slightly sweet, but they are oh so chewy, flavorful and delicious. Enjoy! 

Vegan Whole Wheat Apple Scones

Adapted from Cooking Light's Whole Wheat Apple Scones, November 2006

2 cps + 2 tbsp white whole wheat flour

1/4 cp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

dash of ground nutmeg

1/4 cp canola oil

1 cp shredded apple (I used honeycrisp, but granny smith and other apple varieties would also be delicious)

1/2 cp almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

cooking spray 

2 tbsp almond milk

2 tsp sugar or splenda

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Add canola oil and mix. Shred one cup of apple (about 2 apples) using a grater. I cut my apples into 8 sections and then shredded each section (skin included) and it was super quick and easy! Add apple, almond milk, and vanilla to medium sized bowl filled with dry ingredients and oil. Grease a muffin pan with cooking spray and use a 1/4 cp measuring cup to fill each muffin section with 1/4 cp of scone mix. My dough made 10 scones. Use a pastry brush to brush each scone with almond milk and sprinkle each top with a little bit of sugar or splenda. Bake at 425º for 15 minutes, until the top of the scones are golden brown. Serve warm. Enjoy! :-) xoxo