We Got a New Camera

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Nick

The Fin Project (Whale Fin Statues) at Magnuson

Marie and I have been without a nice camera for a while and although our phones have been great for taking snapshots here and there, we’ve been wanting to get a nicer bit of hardware so we can really take some great shots. So we finally decided that we should get ourselves an entry level DSLR. We ended up getting a Canon T2i on the recommendation of our friend Shaun Pezeshki.

So yesterday we went to Magnuson Park (the park that’s just a short walk from our apartment). We took a bunch of pictures, so we decided to start using Flickr to share them, rather than try to cram them all in blog posts.

Flickr photo set: Magnuson Park

The Space Needle from Kerry Park

Today turned out to be an even nicer day than yesterday, so we used our new camera as an excuse to go to a couple of parks that were a bit further away. We went to Kerry Park to try and capture a good picture of the Seattle skyline from the North. The neat thing about the Northern shot is that it puts the Space Needle front and center. If you noticed that we have a new skyline shot in our blog header, now you know where it’s from. It was the best shot we got from Kerry Park today; we’re hoping to go back and get a night shot some other day.

After Kerry Park we headed over to the Arboretum for a leisurely stroll and more photo opportunities..

Flickr photo set: Kerry Park and the Arboretum

Part of the reason we decided to get the new camera was to help motivate us to get out and see more of the city. We’ve mostly fallen into a regular pattern now that life has normalized and is less chaotic than it was when we first got here. So expect to see more photos from cool places in the Seattle area on our blog soon!

Categories: Outing, Park, Photography, Seattle | 1 Comment

Amanda’s Voice Recital

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Marie
Marie & Amanda

Me and Amanda

On Tuesday night, Amanda and a friend of hers had a voice recital at Pacific Lutheran University. Amanda, a mezzo-soprano, sang in German, Italian, French, and English. She did a great job and looked beautiful!

I had spent the day watching Pride and Prejudice (for probably the 100th time) while making Andes mint cookies and peanut butter cookies to share with people after the performance. The Andes mint cookies were a big hit. 😀

It’s hard to believe that Amanda graduates next month!

Categories: Outing, Social Gathering | 2 Comments

Ivar’s + Gas Works Park

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Marie

Seattle from Gas Works Park

The weather was so nice today (it got above 60º after all) that I decided to pick up Nick from work and do something outside. We went to Ivar’s for fish and chips and clam chowder. A friendly (and hungry!) duck came up to us as we were eating and stared straight at me. She’d cock her head every time I took a bite and we couldn’t help but laugh at the silly, determined duck. We paid her with a small french fry for the entertainment.

Dinner at Ivar's

Dinner at Ivar's

Duck at Ivar's

Our duck friend at Ivar's

After our meal, we went down the street to Gas Works Park. The park is right off of Lake Union and though Nick and I had seen it several times from the lake, we had (somehow) not been there in person before! Gas Works Park is a 19.1 acre park that was built on a former gasification plant. One section of the plant was painted bright colors and transformed into a children’s play area. We saw lots of people at the park – picnicking, jogging, flying kites, racing toy cars, watching the boats, etc. We even got a nice picture of a seaplane about to land on Lake Union (above). What a nice way to enjoy the good weather. 🙂

Gas Works Park Plant

Gas Works Park Plant

Boats and Houseboats

Boats and Houseboats

Update: I just put together a panoramic picture of Seattle from the pictures I took at Gas Works Park. Capitol Hill is on the left, downtown in the center, and Queen Anne on the right. Not too bad for having been taken with a phone, huh? 😉

Seattle Panorama

Seattle panorama from Gas Works Park

Categories: Daily Life, Outing, Park, Restaurant, Seattle | 3 Comments

Spring has Sprung

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Nick

 

Cherry Blossoms in the UW QuadAs promised by Marie a post or two ago, here’s photo evidence that spring is here in Seattle. The cherry trees in the Quad at UW have bloomed and what a great day to capture of a picture of it! Last night I told Marie it would be nice out today and she dared to question me saying “You think you know better than Steve Pool [Local weatherman on KOMO]” and I responded “Yes, you’ll see”. And see she did; it’s approaching 60º and there’s barely a cloud in the sky let alone rain falling from them! So Ha! It looks like I was right.

Everything is going great here. Things are really ramping up at work and I have a good handle on my role and what’s expected of me. I’m really enjoying my job here and things are really going well for both me and Marie overall.

Random fact: the grass stayed green here all throughout the winter, never took on the dead look like it does in Michigan every winter.

Categories: Daily Life, Seattle | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Happy Spring!

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Marie

Daffodils

Hooray for spring! This winter has been colder and wetter in Seattle than normal, but at least it’s an improvement on what Nick and I are used to! I think Western Washington even broke some snowfall records, but (thankfully) we didn’t see that much snow here in Seattle.

The flowers are starting to bloom now, as you can see in the picture of the daffodils in front of our apartment (above). The cherry trees in the quad at UW are ready to bloom any day now and Nick is going to take pictures once that happens.

Nick and I had a nice weekend. On Friday, we went over to my friend Peter’s place for a housewarming party. Peter and his girlfriend, Karly, recently moved into a place not too far from us.  It was nice to see them and meet some of their other friends. We brought out Peter’s Super Nintendo and played old games like Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, and Street Fighter. 🙂 On Sunday, we hung out with Dad and did some shopping. We got some new shoes, had dinner at Outback, and then went to Ikea to pick up a few things and get some storage/organization ideas.

Categories: Daily Life, Outing, Social Gathering | Comments Off on Happy Spring!

Alfy’s Pizza

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Marie

Oh goodness! Another pizza post?!? 😛

Nick and I drove up to Grandma and Grandpa’s today to collect our Girl Scout cookies (thank you, Stephanie!). We had fun chatting with Grandma and Grandpa and even helping Grandma with computer problems. 😉 We also got to meet their (aka my cousin Caleb’s) new horse, Peaches.

Alfy's Pizza

Royal Alfy's from Alfy's Pizza

Grandma took us to Alfy’s Pizza for lunch (Grandpa had to do some work). I’ve gone to the Snohomish Alfy’s since I was a little kid, so I always enjoy going there. I worked at an Alfy’s in high school, too, so Alfy’s Pizza has a special place in my heart. The three of us split a Royal Alfy’s (salami, pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, sausage, onions, Canadian bacon, green peppers, pineapple, and tomatoes) with no green peppers (for Grandma) and no mushrooms (for me). Nick just picked off the olives, since that’s easy enough to do. The pizza was good, as always. 🙂

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Flying Squirrel Pizza

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Marie
Driving along Lake Washington

Driving along Lake Washington

Tonight, Nick and I tried another pizza place we hadn’t been to before. We met up with Mom and Amanda at Flying Squirrel Pizza, whose pulled pork pizza was featured in Seattle Magazine this month. Nick and I drove right along Lake Washington to get to the Seward Park restaurant, which made for a nice drive.

We shared a pulled pork pizza (garlic-braised pulled pork, cilantro, red onion, cotija cheese, and fresh lime) and a “Mo Le Tengo” pizza (red sauce, mozzarella,  mole salami, and slow-roasted tomatoes seasoned with garlic and basil). The pulled pork pizza was very pretty and both tasted good, though we agreed we liked Tutta Bella better. The atmosphere at Tutta Bella was nicer, too.

We found out that there was a Tutta Bella not far away, so we drove over there afterwards to see if they had pear gelato. The Columbia City Tutta Bella didn’t have as large of a gelato selection as the Stone Way Tutta Bella we went to last week, but at least they had pear gelato. 😀 We also decided to try mango gelato, but it wasn’t anything special. Pear is still the gelato winner!

Flying Squirrel Pizza

Pulled pork pizza (top) & "Mo Le Tengo" pizza (bottom)

Categories: Daily Life, Restaurant, Social Gathering | 4 Comments

Tutta Bella

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Marie

Nick and I had lunch with Mom yesterday at Tutta Bella, a Neapolitan Pizzeria we’ve all been wanting to try out. President Obama even had some Tutta Bella pizza when he was here last month.

Pancetta & Capannina

Pancetta & Capannina Pizza

We shared a Pancetta (pancetta, tomato, roasted onion, and basil) and a Capannina (lemon and prosciutto), both of which were excellent. Nick’s lemonade came with a sprig of rosemary in it, which added a nice flavor. For dessert, we split lemon and pear gelato. The pear gelato was perhaps the best part of the meal; we couldn’t get over how yummy it was. 🙂

Categories: Daily Life, Restaurant, Social Gathering | 1 Comment

Downton Abbey Finale

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Marie

Nick and I joined Mom and Amanda on Sunday to watch the Downton Abbey Season 2 finale. We were happy the finale ended on a happy note and we can’t wait until Season 3 starts in September. Downton Abbey Season 1 was great and we really enjoyed it.

Coca-Cola Freestyle

Coca-Cola Freestyle

Prior to watching the finale, Mom and Amanda took us to a “secret destination.” When Amanda and I were growing up, we loved going on “secret destination” adventures – at least until Mom and Dad started to trick us by using “secret destination” as a way to get us to go to the doctor for shots. 🙁 After considering it highly unlikely that Mom and Amanda were going to take us to the doctor, Nick and I got in the car with them and off we went. Our “secret destination” ended up being Bahama Breeze, where we enjoyed a nice dinner next to a warm fireplace. 🙂

On our way back, we stopped at the new Taco Time just down the street from Mom’s house, because Mom and Amanda said we had to check out their cool new pop machine. It was one of Coca-Cola’s new touch screen “freestyle” machines. They offer over 100 flavors, some of which are totally unique to the machine. The lady at the cash register laughed at us as we spent several minutes played around with it, looking at all of the flavor options before ultimately going with a Minute Maid strawberry lemonade. Watch the video below if you want to see the pop machine in action.

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Superbowl

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Marie

Nick and I went out to dinner with his coworkers on Friday. We ate at Mexico Cantina y Cocina at Pacific Place in Seattle. Nick and I split the steak fajitas, which were yummy. We had a good time and it was nice to meet Andy and see Martin and Shelley again.

Superbowl

Amanda, me, and Nick at our mini Superbowl party. I had a picture of Mom, too, but it came out blurry. 🙁

On Sunday, we invited Mom and Amanda over for Superbowl festivities. None of us are really into football, but we were all looking forward to seeing the commercials. 😛 There were a handful of funny commercials this year, but I was a little disappointed. It didn’t help that some of the commercials were leaked early. The football game was actually pretty entertaining, though! O_O And we had all sorts of Superbowl snacks (taco dip, cheese and crackers, apples, carrots, pretzels, etc.) to fill our tummies. 🙂

 

Categories: Outing, Restaurant, Seattle, Social Gathering | 1 Comment