Sunshine and Quackers.

Have I happened to mention that I have a truly wonderful husband? Steven planned a marvelous day for the two of us in celebration of my 24th birthday last week. It was so fun watching him get all excited about it a few days beforehand. We don't really keep secrets from each other ever so it's difficult (for both of us) to keep something like this from the other person, especially when we're super stoked about it! (I personally am having a very tough time not telling Steven what I'm giving him for our anniversary...) He managed to keep it all a surprise though and I'm glad he did.

Starting things off: Steven went to Starbucks right after breakfast and brought back an iced decaf double tall non-fat light ice caramel macchiato just for me AND a new travel mug. We recently discovered that not only does my red Starbucks mug do an excellent job of keeping tea hot for hours and hours but it is also capable of keeping chocolate milk quite cold for hours and hours... Basically I had been asking for another one of the same design so we can take more chocolate milk on our long drives :)

We left the house shortly after 9am and drove straight into Seattle where we caught one of the Ducks from the Ride the Ducks Seattle Tour. So great!!! I've been talking about doing this for quite some time now. I love touristy things like this in other cities so I've always thought it might be even more fun to do something similar in my very own city. I think hearing the fun little trivia facts and stories about Seattle is so interesting. We seem to be full of firsts (first monorail, largest U.S. ferry system, etc. etc.) We learned how Mr. Nordstrom found his fortune and founded his legacy, and that it was a pot of glue that started Seattle's big fire so many years ago, and that the Burke-Gilman Trail was paved over some train tracks and the name (Burke-Gilman) comes from the men who built the original tracks.

We started across the street from the EMP, drove past the Sculpture Park and along the water front, around the stadiums and then back up 1st Avenue -- Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market -- and past Westlake Center.

The Ducks are amphibious landing crafts from WWII so after an hour of driving around downtown Seattle and through Fremont, we drove right into Lake Union. I think this might have been my favorite part. It was so peaceful out on the lake and the view was fabulous! I had never seen Gasworks from the water before and I now know exactly which houseboat was used in the filming of Sleepless in Seattle. Speaking of houseboats, turns out they used to be the least expensive way to live in Seattle. People didn't have to purchase any property to live on the lake so they just built little floating shacks and there were loads of them. But then since the shacks didn't have proper plumbing or anything the lake was getting all polluted so the city finally made it mandatory that the floating homes all have plumbing and electricity. Now living on the lake is quite pricey. The least expensive place on the lake is over $800 to rent each month and I don't really think I would like to rent it. It looks rather old (maybe one of the original shacks? j/k). Most of the other homes on the water are huge and many worth over a million dollars.

(I've been wanting to take a picture from underneath the Aurora Bridge for many years now but always seem to be the one driving. I think this picture turned out really nice minus the orange construction man with his sign...)

It was the most perfect day to be in Seattle!! The sun was out in full force and the Blue Angels were flying overhead and there was a nice warm breeze... it was just the best.

After the Duck Tour Steven took me to a restaurant called Asian Breeze. I was expecting Sushi Land since we were so near to it but enjoyed the surprise. It's nice to go to our favorite restaurants but always feels like a treat to try some place new. Then it was off to Gasworks for a little rollerblading adventure. We didn't last too long though... the sun was warm and my feet were hurting a bit and evidently all Steven could think about was the next thing on his agenda -- dessert. So we turned back and spent a few minutes soaking up the perfect weather atop the Gasworks hill. It was nice to be up there and not be shivering! I feel like every time we walk up that hill (even on sunny days) the wind makes it too chilly to stay for long but that wasn't the case this time.

Next stop: Queen Anne. We had frozen yogurt at Menchie's and then took a nice long walk. It was so relaxing just walking around one of our favorite places and chatting and fantasizing about owning one of the fancy homes with a fabulous view... I can't help dreaming you know.

(random flowers I found on our walk)

 

Now I know I already have about 57 photos of this same view but I just can't seem to resist it. I have to take one every time I'm there. I never tire of it.
Lucky for us, on our way back to the car I noticed this sign.

We walked in and they had plates of four different kinds of chocolates out for sampling. There were some really yummy salted caramels. So yummy in fact that I decided I needed another taste and I took the very last piece! I never do that. But it was my birthday so I felt fine about it. (I'm sure they put more of them out since they still had 3 more hours of happy hour to go).

Sushi Land for dinner (okay, it had to fit into the day somewhere) and then over to Cafe Mox slash Card Kingdom in Ballard for our small group. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't too super excited about going to group on my birthday. I was glad that our group was meeting at this fab new game store Steven and I just discovered (thanks to Miss Hilde) but I didn't really know that that was how I wanted to finish out my birthday. but Steven knew and he was right on target. It was an excellent way to end our day in Seattle. We all had drinks and played a silly new game called The Red Dragon Inn, and then a very short round of Pit. Moriah, one of our group leaders, even made cake! One for me and one for another group member, Jeremy, who's birthday was yesterday. (the cake melted due to our lovely weather. I'm sure it was lovely before it's apparent heat stroke. I know Moriah was a little embarrassed about the way it looked but it tasted great!)
Steven and I stayed after our group finished to play the new version of our Zombies game (instead of zombies vs. humans, it's martians vs. carnival workers -- I had characters like JoJo the Dancing Bear and Angelica the Bearded Woman). We both really liked it and I'm sure it will be added to our shelf very soon. We are really loving Cafe Mox and can't wait to enjoy more evenings there. I'm hoping we'll drive over for their happy hour someday soon.

I'd definitely say that my 24th birthday was one of my best birthdays EVER!! I got to celebrate with my family last week over barbecued chicken and apple crisp (I love love love family dinners), and then I got to celebrate all day long with Steven on my birthday, and I got to celebrate again when I logged onto facebook and read all of the fun birthday greetings people left for me, and I got to celebrate when I came to my mom's house the other day and she gave me my very own brand new Singer sewing machine and a Jo-Ann Fabrics gift card, and then I got to celebrate again when I received birthday cards in the mail yesterday from Paige and my Grandma. I am feeling very loved and very special and very excited about 24. It's going to be a good one :)