Newest Christmas Favorite

You must go to this link.

It's absolutely fantastic...

Basically, its a medley of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

L.O.V.E

I.T.

In Seattle on Monday - Indian food and Christmas ships

Last day in Seattle - from the posts it seemed like I was there forever, but in actuality time just flew by.

Sunday night Dru left to go back to her place - my folks and I were going to meet her after work on Monday. We left (with Cricket in tow - she's a car dog too) to go explore Pike Street Market before we had to pick up Dru.

Mom and Dad

(These things will always remain to be funny.)

We had a lot of fun at lunch, and walking up and down the stairs. There were like four levels to the place - normally we go in at the top level and walk around the veggie/food area. This time we explored the weird booths and shops. Lots of little stuff to be looked at. Crazy.

Dad and Del

If you've never been to the market, you have to experience it at least once in your life. If not for the flowers (which were gorgeous), but for the free samplings of fresh fruit they give out or the flying fish. It's very Seattle.

We picked up Dru and ended up meeting her coworker (who I talked to on the phone a lot) Melanie at her house for some nummy cheese/wine before some Indian food for dinner.

What to get? Decisions...



Melanie and Mike

(Mike was from our hometown and happened to move out to Seattle.
His sister was a coworker of my mom's in our hometown.
She told Mike to talk to Dru.
And they became friends.)

It's a Small world.

After a delicious dinner, we went to watch the Christmas ships. I really don't know how to describe it, so click on the link above. It was snazzy.

And pretty.



The big boat.



It was chilly - can you tell by their faces?



Confused Cricket

We listened to the music and singing by the big fire. It was pretty cold out and had our hoods up over our faces - Cricket got confused because she couldn't tell where her mother was. It was very cute. There were other boats with Christmas light following the big boat - so creative. Also there were four kayakers!

It was a good tradition to experience. Next time we need to bring hot chocolate.

Deception Pass and Washington Park (Sunday in Anacortes)

Back to Thanksgiving...

On Sunday morning instead of going to church (ahh hemmm), we lazed about and let Dru sleep in. My folks, Cricket, and I headed around to explore. Ended up on Deception Pass - which is a State Park. Basically we parked by the bridge over the pass that would lead us to Oak Harbor.

The Beware Sign

It was a semi-rainy day, but there was some sun shining through the clouds. The bridge was fantastic - almost as scary as the Ashley-Cooper Bridge into Charleston, SC.

The bridge

My mom and I walked down to the area under the bridge (my dad was scared to come) and looked around. Man if you fell... phew.

Me under bridge



Mom under bridge



B/W Under the bridge

Had fun taking tons of pictures of the bridge and all around it. Love them. Went back up and saw some robins taking a bath in a rock pool. My mom said she hadn't seen any robins for awhile (she's a bird person), so it was special. They were happy birds.

Robins taking a bath

After that trip, we went home to gather Dru (after eating lunch... too much turkey) and go to Washington Park for a walk around and to see the Sound.

You park the car and walk!

And see funny little creature on the way.
(Banana slug. Gross.)

And some beautiful sights.

We went to a beach area and walked around - skipping stones, climbing on fallen trees, and chasing Cricket. She's a water dog.

Love this picture.

Took even more pictures on my camera. Here's my favorite of the bunch.

The day ended up being quite beautiful - brisk and sunny. Not too bad for the Pacific Northwest!

We went home and did nothing too exciting - just what you're supposed to do on a Sunday evening.

Vote - The Biggest Loser

My favorite show to watch is the Biggest Loser.

What can I say.

Darin and I got sucked in last season (which was a great one btw) and decided it was going to be the show we watched 'together'.

:)

We don't like the contestants as much this year (Darin doesn't really like them at all, actually), but it's a good premise...

The season finale is next week so go and vote for the third contestant:

http://www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/vote/register.shtml

I would suggest Ed. Heba's okay. Ed I think is better. My opinion.

Makahiki: Work Party

Skipping past my Seattle trip (I'll post more about it later)...

Friday was my work's holiday party (also Diana's/Kevin's birthday) - it was a Makahiki at Sea World. Fantastic. Darin and I went early to check out the dolphins (so cute) and walk around. We should have gone to the Hospitality Suite for free beer, but decided against it. Too much beer at a work party was not a good idea.

Aww.



Hello, I am a happy dolphin

We did see the new roller costar they're building. Yikes. It went around the park over walkways and such. Hope nobody every falls out.

It's huge!

Met up with the rest of the people I work with and their families. We all sat down and got to watch a Hawaiian Hula/Christmas Show. It was very very good, and I definitely recommend it.

Yes! Fire = Cool

During the show we ate a Hawaiian Feast - Polynesian ribs, chicken, mahi mahi, etc. I mention this because I was sitting at a table of people who didn't eat red meat. And Darin can't eat too much pork/ribs (too fatty). So I had ALL of the ribs basically to myself.

My. Ribs.

A dream, dare I say.

My most FAVORITE part was when the performers sang one of my top Christmas songs - one I learned from Jimmy Buffett.

Here goes:

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright, Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

Oh happy day.

Darin and I in front of the tiki guy. Hula hula hula.

Gabby and I



The Group I work with

So Mele Kalikimaka to you all!

Missouri, Clemson, and Dresses (Saturday in Seattle)

We all hopped in the car early Saturday morning, after stopping for donuts at Happy Donuts (so good), and headed south to Seattle for some football!

One of Dru's friends, Matthew, went to Mizzou - as did both of my parents. And my dad played on their football team. They were playing Kansas that morning and the Mizzou Alumnae Association got together at a bar to watch the game.

The decorations.
(Very impressive if you think of how far away Columbia, MO was from Seattle, WA)

Mom
(It's a tiger hat)

He's all decked out.



We wore 'neutral' colors.

As I walked into the bar, on the left were all the Missouri fans and guess who was on the right?

C-L-E-M-S-O-N fans!

Go Clemson!

Funny funny. I was totally going to wear my Clemson shirt (because they were playing their rival, South Carolina), but I decided the Missouri people would think I was weird and didn't. Oh well!

Dad kazooing the Mizzou fight song.

My mom, Dru, and I left at halftime to go looking for bridesmaid dresses (my sister's my Maid of Honor) and my Dad stayed to watch the game with Matthew. They lost. Boo. But might just pull a upset and beat Oklahoma this weekend.

Go Mizzou!

We went to a lot of stores - it was a beautiful day (cloudy, but warm) and the trees were so pretty. I definitely miss the changing leaves.

Downtown Seattle

Christmas Tree

After roughly fifty dresses, I think we found the right one. Poor Dru had to try on all those dresses and listen to my mother and me discuss. She was a good sport! (Side note, we did have her try on some pretty awful dresses. Ahh, the joy.)

Headed back to Anacortes for dinner and such. It was a great day!

P.S. Clemson Won.

Finding the Fish: Sal-mon Hunting

After Thanksgiving and a good night rest, it was time to explore Anacortes and the surrounding area. One "fun" thing my mom decided I needed to see (okay, I was excited too) was the salmon run. My family seemed to think that salmon had a long 'l' sound to it; whereas, I the 'normal speaker' did not. It got old.

Anyways, we went to a neighboring town called Bellingham (which was just south of the Canadian border) to just putz around and look for fish.

Mind you, it was Black Friday - the busiest shopping day of the year - and we were in a busy town.

Looking for fish.

Where we went!



Dad and Dru

Though there was supposed to be a 10% chance of rain, it some how (the Del factor) changed into a 60% chance in the one day that I had already been visiting. It's okay though, no Florida rain shower by any chance... and it wasn't snowing. Thank you!

The salmon river.
(Don't remember the name.)

Okay. The salmon swim upriver as a natural instinct? Right? And they trap the fish somehow to artificially inseminate them and then release them back into the wild. Something along those lines.

Salmon. Can you see them?

I guess the ones with the white spots were old ones and you shouldn't eat them. Must remember that. (Ick.)

A Harbor Seal

There were also three seals swimming around the river - Jake totally would have jumped in to play with them if he had the chance.

After that, we headed to another fun little touristy town and walked around. Loved the quaint feel. Must go back in the summer!

Then back home we went! More later!