Summers in Seattle

Seattle Summers are kind of the best. The past few weeks have been a slice around here, and I am soaking up every last drop.

Although I got sick last week, I still managed to cram in a few walks around the neighborhood, a Mariners game WITH Dip-n-Dots (obviously), and a rousing game of catch with the boys. Even though I am still sore from all that throwing, it was a week well spent.

 

 

The weekend was just as delicious. I had an extremely low key Friday after being sick, and woke up Saturday morning feeling much better, and just in the nick of time. My sister came into town to join some friends and I at the Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, and Sam Hunt Concert! Old Dominion was there as well, but leaving them off since we were late to the party and totally missed them. Whoops! The concert was just the best and we had a blast dancing and singing at the top of our lungs, plus I developed a total girl crush on Miranda. She’s adorable and I am in love!

 

After the concert, we were blessed with the BEST Lyft driver there ever was and he hauled ass to get us to Taco Bell before it closed. Is it sad or awesome that our after party consisted of Baja Blast and a movie night?

The following day was totally precious. We woke up sans hang overs, so that was awesome, and I made a nice big breakfast. Then we spent the morning walking around a few neighborhoods in the city and popped over to the Fremont Farmers Market where Zach treated us all to homemade popsicles and we sat near the water looking like a post card. It was adorable AF, and we kept the summer festivities going by posting up on our porch for the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent on Cole’s rooftop deck & playing pool in his common room. It was truly the definition of Sunday Funday.

After a perfect weekend, it was hard to get back to work, but luckily I had 3 days of celebrating my best friend Bri’s birthday. We spent a few perfect nights at out and about eating, drinking, and being oh so merry. Such a fun time was had by all, plus it was the perfect excuse to put wayyyy to much effort into wrapping her gift! #professional

After three days of celebrations, I thought I would spend a quite night in… But I should have known better. After getting off work a little early on Thursday, Zach and I hit a happy hour on the water and threw back one or three mojitos while admiring the view. It was a great start to the night! Afterwards, we went to a friend’s barbecue where we were spoiled with a few delicious ciders, great food, and grilled peaches with ice cream for dessert! I know what you’re thinking… Fruit and Ice Cream… That’s way to. healthy to be dessert… And it totally was, but also pretty awesome.

It has really been such a wonderful couple of weeks. I seriously can’t even tell you what a treat it has been to stay in Seattle for a while to enjoy all the summer goodness in our own back yard… Or in my case, back porch.

Happy Friday, Loves! Hope all your summers have been just as sweet as mine!

The Life of a LATE Twenty-Something

Well, guys, it happened. I am officially in my late twenties. Not really sure when that happened … And although I am in total shock over my age, I’m kinda loving 27 so far.

 

I celebrated my birthday with a little wine night at my place with a few friends. I know, I know… So sophisticated!

 

The following Friday we went out for a night on the town which consisted of wayyyy too many drinks, early 2000s hip hop, and about 45 minutes of chasing the Real World crew around The Shelter hoping to get a little screen time. Spoiler alert, you won’t be seeing me on MTVs latest season.... I’m as disappointed as you are!

 

The next night was one I had been looking forward to forever! My sister and mom came up for a little Seattle Staycation and Tyrone Wells concert. OMG, you guys, it was the best night ever. The concert was at Storyville, my very favorite industrial little coffee shop. They sat us right in front. It was such a dream. My mom and I split a beautiful bottle of red wine while Chloe devoured the sweetest little macaroon ice cream sandwich and a few glasses of Rose. Tyrone was absolutely incredible and had us in tears on multiple occasions. After the concert, we hit a new bar where we shared cocktails and a few delicious snacks. We just weren’t ready for the night to end, so we spent the remainder of the evening in our hotel trying to teach my mom how to twerk. The whole weekend was beyond perfect.

 

 

And because I still wasn’t ready for the celebrating to be over, Chris, Zach, and I went to the Mariners Game last night. Great weather, great friends… What more could I ask for?

 

Not pictured… Me eating WAY too many nachos and only drinking about half of this $12 beer, but finding plenty of room for Dippin’ Dots. #priorities

Happy Hump Day!

Dixie Daze

Another summer weekend has come and gone, so it is time for the obligatory weekend update.
 

After an already short work week, I dipped out of work early enough for lunch and beers with Zach before heading south for The Dixie Chicks concert. We arrived with bells, whistles, and Walmart cowboy hats. The concert was to die for despite the pouring down rain, but guess what wasn’t to die for? The half an hour search for the car followed by the TWO HOUR wait in the parking lot. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about the five-hour trip home.

 

 Our plans to sleep in were destroyed by Julie’s early morning wake-up insisting that we get out of bed. Time to get the Rainier Days Daze party started. This year certainly didn’t disappoint. Drinks were flowing and reunions were around every corner. It was a blast.

After the whole town congregated at Chevron for a few snacks and beverages, we ended the night at a house party. I promptly crawled into an oversized chair and was the worst kind of party pooper, just silently cursing everyone for not getting the fuck out so I could go to bed. Luckily, one of the guys had a “set up” in the back room that he allowed Julie and I to sleep in. We quickly discovered that the “set up” was nothing more than a stack of pillows and blankets, but at 4am it was solid gold. Collin instantly regretted offering us the haven, and joined us in the backroom. Despite the shitty sleep, the next morning was definitely a highlight. We laid around in the little fort for hours laughing about god knows what and reminiscing about the prior evening.

When we finally drug ourselves out of bed, I headed to my dad’s place to spend some time with him and eat as much Burgerville as I could fit down my throat. Talk about a hangover cure. Let me tell you, I sure can’t party like I used to.

Cheers to awesome summer nights and rough summer mornings.

Freedom and Fireworks

Happy Belated Fourth of July!

We all know that Emily LOVES a good reason to celebrate… And what better excuse than our freedom!? Bring on the Hot Dogs, Cocktails, Fire Works, and American Flag garb, I live for this shit!

I took advantage of my trip to Oregon, and spent Sunday at my best friend Mattie’s place. You guys, her and her husband just bought a HOUSE! I am so beyond proud of them and so excited I finally got to see it. It is the cutest ever, and the perfect place to start celebrating The Fourth. We decided to toss on our favorite combination of Red, White, and Blue and have a little Independence Eve barbecue.  

   

Evening highlights included burgers AND brats, fries, cheese sauce, cowboy caviar, ‘smores, and all the Moscow Mules we could drink. We rounded out the night with Fourth Man Out, a totally random movie we found on Netflix. It was absolutely adorable (highly recommend it) AND the last scene in the movie is a Fourth of July barbecue. #nailedit

I headed back to Seattle early the next morning, and spent the bulk of my Fourth of July afternoon reading on the porch. You can tan through the clouds, right?

That evening, I went to a movie. A little non-tradish, I know, but I wore a totally festive outfit and saw Independence Day sooooo I feel like it was okay. In fact, on a dreary Fourth of July, it was actually kind of perfect.

Finally, I joined my roommate and his girlfriend on our tiny little rooftop deck to enjoy the fireworks around the city. It was a great way to conclude a weekend of celebrating. Plus, I got to sport this little gem.

 

Hope everyone had all the beers and brats they could handle this weekend! Cheers to freedom & other Fourth of July things!

Baby Shower Sweetness

Happy Thursday, Dolls!

It has been another one of those weeks where I have barely caught up from the prior weekend’s festivities and it is time to start a new one. I can’t believe how quickly this summer is flying by. There are so many exciting things going on in the lives of my friends and family, and I am have loved all the opportunities to celebrate with them.

This weekend was another trip down to Oregon to prepare for the upcoming arrival of my best friend’s baby!  It is hard to believe that only two short years ago we were celebrating Branden’s Wedding, and now we are getting ready to welcome his first child into the world. So much has changed, yet when we all get together it feels oddly as if time has stood still.

 

 

 

I came down a little early so that we could all enjoy a little time together before the shower. We spent Friday night sitting at Branden’s place in the nursery guessing baby names (well Branden & Casey did, I already knew) and swapping remember whens. It was so nice to catch up and equally nice to make Taco Bell before the night was over!  

The following day, after Casey’s dad made me waffles (#winning), Casey and I dashed around to prepare for the baby shower. How adorable did my present turn out? You all know I love a good themed gift! Plus, best book ever, amiright?  

 

Somehow, we managed to fit in a pit stop to grab our all-time fav burritos. Granted, the detour made us a LITTLE late to the shower, but it was worth every bite.

 We arrived at the party just in time to partake in the decorating of bibs and onesies. Obviously, we took it WAY too seriously and spent the bulk of the shower meticulously perfecting our works of art. Don’t worry, it was totally worth it when Casey and I swept the competition with a one-two finish. SWEEP. Oh also, NBD, but I also kicked ass at the matching game! I know you can’t win a baby shower… But I kinda feel like I did…

It was such a blast catching up with everyone and watching Branden and Katie open all the thoughtful gifts they received. I love when gift giving becomes interactive with a friendly game of bingo… But I lost, so hardly worth mentioning.

Overall, it was such a special day to celebrate the parents-to-be. The party lasted several hours and was absolutely perfect from start to finish. I loved spending time with all the people that came to support them, and am so excited for all the love that baby BOY will be showered with. I can’t wait to meet you, Branch Gordon! I love you so much and it is such an honor to call myself your auntie.  

Bacheloretting

Happy Friday!

I had every intention of posting this on Monday, yet here we are… So don’t mind me, I will be shamelessly reminiscing on the weekend as we get ready to dive into another one!

It was one of those weekends that “remember whens” are built from, where every moment creates a lifetime memory. The type of memories you don’t even realize you’re making… Except I did know. From start to finish, I knew this was a weekend I would be reliving for the rest of my life. We were celebrating Caitlin’s bachelorette party, and it could not have been more perfect. From the wonderful guests to endless supply of wine (#bitcheslovewine), it was everything I could have imagined.

 

 After an awesome housewarming party Thursday night, I peeled my hungover ass out of bed and headed to the train station early Friday morning…. BTW, how cute are my roommates & I?

Once I arrived in Portland, there was no time to spare. Caitlin and I grabbed Red Robin, obviously, then headed to McMinnville. We were the first to arrive at the house we rented in our beloved college town, and it could not have been cuter. I will say, the neighborhood looked a litttttllleee sketch, but once inside the little cottage we totally died, it was everything we could have dreamed of. Luckily, we snapped a few pics before it was overtaken by straighteners, purses, and piles of shoes.

 

 

 

Before we knew it, the house began filing up and it was time to think about dinner. There was no question, we had to hit up Thai Country, our all-time favorite Thai Restaurant. I always assumed Thai Country simply held sentimental value, but after scarfing down every last bite of my Cashew Nut Stir Fry I can confirm that it is hands down the best Thai cuisine there ever was… So good! Although we barely rolled ourselves out of there, we miraculously had plenty of room for cocktails and animal cookies back at the house! We spent the rest of the evening drinking, hot tubbing, and reminiscing. It was the perfect start to the perfect weekend. 

The following morning was equally delightful. We leisurely got ready for the day and enjoyed bagels and donuts from our favorite grocery store. Once we were all dolled up in our matching shirts, our chariot arrived… And by chariot, I mean a mini bus driven by the world’s most inappropriate tour guide ready to take us on a Willamette Wine adventure. When we climbed aboard and he was BLASTING Eminem, we knew we were in for a treat.



First, he took us to Starbucks because we are blissfully basic and can’t even without our coffee, and then we were off.

 

He took us to 4 unique wineries, each of which we absolutely adored. The first was Anne Amie. It was absolutely immaculate, and was a great way to start the tour. We had a lovely time exploring the property as we sampled a few incredible wines.

 

 

 

Next was Redmond Cellars. This was a totally personal experience because it was run by the sweetest woman who lived on site. She filled us with snacks and stories, and made us feel like we had known her forever.

 

Our third stop of the day was probably the most beautiful place I’d ever been. I legitimately felt like I was visiting a castle. It was totally breathtaking and the perfect place to enjoy the charcuterie lunch that Wayne had packed us.

 

 

The final stop of the day was Ghost Hill. It was a rustic, family owned winery that was rich with history and eerie tales of the ghost that haunts the property. We loved meeting the family and hearing their stories. They even gave Cate a free bottle of wine to celebrate her upcoming wedding!

We were all pretty exhausted when we got back to the house, so we relaxed a bit before getting ready for the night. We all got dressed up for the evening and took Caitlin to her favorite restaurant in McMinnville followed by cocktails at one of our favorite bars on 3^rd Street. It was such a special way to end the day, and watching Caitlin’s joy and tears with each surprise was nothing short of magical.

 

With all the fun and excitement, you would think there wouldn’t be room for anymore… But there is ALWAYS room for Muchas. If you’ve never been, your 2:00 am self is missing out. Walking through those greasy doors was a total riot and probably completely unnecessary, but it had to be done!

I could ramble on for hours about this perfect weekend, but I will end by saying how truly heartwarming it was. Being surrounded by such incredible women speaks volumes about the kind of person Caitlin is. I feel unbelievably blessed to have her as my best friend and to have the opportunity to share these special moments with her. Cheers to the perfect celebration for the incredible bride to be.