Rachel's Bridal Shower

One of my dear friends from the sorority, Rachel, is getting married in April, so this past weekend we celebrated with a Sex and the City themed bridal shower. Everyone involved with the planning of this shower did such a great job on all the details, and the party was a blast! Food, decor, games...everything was so well thought out, and Rachel was beaming with delight.

We arrived at Becca's beautifully decorated home in our cocktail attire, sipped on cosmos, and grazed on delicious sushi as if it were hand rolled by Samantha herself. Pictures of Peter and Rachel were hung around the house too, so fun.

food

drinks

picture perfect cupcakes made by Kalle

spray painted apple candle holders, how cute?!

party favors, Vogue and beauty products of course!

It was fun to have an occasion to dress up for. With all the bright colors, you can tell we are all ready for Spring to get here!

Erica, me, the future Mrs. Cougan, and Elly

Maureen, me, Jessica, Jecca, and Kylee

Rachel, Becca, me, Sarah, Trisha, and Erica

It isn't a shower without games! Kylee won the first one (of course) which was cutest shoes judged by Rachel.

Darling Kylee

Next we played our own version of pin the tail on the donkey. I had taken a picture of Carrie Bradshaw and Photoshopped Rachel's face on it. Becca was able to print out a life size version at work which turned out great! She had also printed out different items for us to "pin" like shoes, a martini, lipstick, a bouquet, etc.

Rachel holding hands with herself as Carrie

Rachel's mom schooling us all and taking first place

after the game, a decorated Rachel/Carrie

The last game we played was trivia on "how well do the bride and groom know each other." Jessica, Rachel's matron of honor, had gone and video taped Peter's answers beforehand so that he could be right there in the living room with us. They asked questions like "Is Rachel a morning or night person?", "Where is her favorite restaurant to go for date night?", "What station does Peter have the car stereo tuned to?", and "What is Peter's go to dance move, and demonstrate." The game was hilarious, and fun to see what answers they got right or wrong. Overall, they know each other pretty well, although Peter did give every answer possible making it hard for Rachel to not guess correctly.

Peter on the big screen

laughing at Peter

demonstrating Peter's dancing moves

We ended the party with opening presents! In the invitation, each guest was assigned a character from SATC and was told to come with a gift that their character might bring - Carrie Bradshaw: something luxurious and frivolous, Miranda Hobbes: something practical but fun, Samantha Jones: something racy and sexy, and Charlotte York: something pretty and proper. This was a fun twist and made it interesting to see what everyone had given her. My character was Charlotte York. I decided to give items that directly correlated to the show...pudding snack packs from when they went to Mexico and Charlotte didn't trust the food there, so that's all she ate, a Jewish Holiday Baking cookbook since Charlotte converts to Judaism for her hubby to be Harry and loves baking, a DVD starring Elizabeth Taylor who her dog is named after, a magnified mirror to stare at her pores during her alone time, and finally thank you cards (designed by yours truly), something that Charlotte would never forget to send.

Charlotte inspired wrapping

 

The night was a huge success, and I had such a fun time! Congrats to you, Rachel, I'm so happy for you and Peter!

All the Chi O's

Cheers to the blushing bride to be!

Bavarian Getaway

This past weekend, Clint and I took a trip up to Leavenworth for an overnight getaway. It's a cute little Bavarian style town in the mountains that I've driven by many times either on my way to or from Eastern Washington, but have never stopped, let alone stayed overnight. I've always wanted to check it out, so we decided to just book a hotel and make it happen.

We headed out on Saturday in Clint's truck (thankfully) and hit a snow storm over the pass. Snow was covering the roads and making it hard to see. This slowed us down quite a bit, but we were able to make it there safe and sound.

chuggin along in 4 wheel drive

As soon as we arrived, we felt as though we had transported ourselves to a Swiss winter wonderland with all the snow and the beautiful mountain backdrop. All the shops, restaurants, hotels, banks, you name it, are built to resemble a Bavarian village. Even the Starbucks and 76 gas station fit right in with the decor. 

We found our hotel, the Enzian Inn, right on the main drag and checked in. I was very impressed with the place. Not knowing where to stay in Leavenworth, I used Yelp to find a place with good reviews to book a room ahead of time. It was well kept, friendly staff, and great amenities. They had an indoor pool and hot tub, complimentary breakfast buffet in a dining room overlooking the mountains, and our room was amazing. Not only did we get a canopy king size bed, but our own actual wood burning fireplace stocked with a presto log and directions on how to start it.

lobby still decorated for Valentine's Day/Christmas

 

coziest bed ever

We got all settled in, and then headed out to explore the village and have dinner. In Leavenworth, it's Christmas season up until after President's Day weekend, so we lucked out and were able to see all the decorations and lights still up. We turned down a little alley and found a hidden Italian restaurant to have dinner. We finished dinner with some Irish coffees, and headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool before bed.

okay, not my photo, but exactly what it looked like

The next morning we headed upstairs to the breakfast buffet. Every morning, the Enzian Inn has their own tradition of having either the owner or his son dress up in lederhosen and play an alphorn serenade for the village from the top balcony next to the dining room. People gather along the sidewalks below waiting to hear it. Staying at the hotel gave us a front row seat to the show!

Guten morgen Leavenworth!

alphorn serenade

After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and headed out for a snowshoeing adventure. There are a couple trails close to town for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and tubing. We decided on Icicle River. Even though the route was only about 3 miles, and fairly easy terrain, I was still able to work up a sweat and be sore for the next couple of days! The scenery was beautiful, and weather was perfect (had we gone the day before we would have been miserable in the rain). We had a fun time getting some more use out of our personal snowshoe purchase.

Icicle River

walking over the fish hatchery

After the trek, we went back to the village for lunch. We got some brats (and more Irish coffee) at the Leavenworth Sausage Garten, and ate outside next to the gas heaters and fire pits. **side note: those Bavarians are serious about their horseradish! I cried through lunch, and dinner the night before. Oh it hurts so good!**

After eating, we explored the village some more and did some shopping. We tried on funny hats at the Hat Shop, and Clint found some silly puppets at the toy store to bring down to his neices in San Diego when he visits in a couple weeks. The girls are gonna absolutely love them!

We said goodbye to Bavaria Land, and hit the road to head home (this time in much better conditions). Leavenworth was a blast, and I'll definitely be back for more visits...hurry up and get here, Oktoberfest!

My Yummy Valentine

This year, Clint and I decided to keep Valentine's simple, mainly because we had just celebrated my birthday, recently been to Whistler, and had an upcoming trip to Leavenworth (more on that in the next post). Valentine's Day happened to fall on a Tuesday this year which only meant one thing...$20 Tuesday at Belltown Pizza. For only twenty bucks you get a large two topping (delicious) pizza and a bucket of beer. Best. Deal. Ever. To top it off, we had a Tippr deal for $20 so our meal only cost us the $5 tip! Yes, we're frugal, and proud of it.

This wasn't ours, but it accurately depicts my love for pizza

Jury Duty

Call me crazy, but I love jury duty! Getting to ride the bus for free down to the courthouse, getting an official juror badge, all the secrecy about not being able to talk about what you do, long lunch breaks downtown, getting out of work and still being compensated for it, and not to mention, fulfilling your civic duty...so GREAT! I recently received my summons in the mail, and was pretty excited about it. I was called twice during college, but was excused both times due to being a student. A few years ago I was summoned again, and I eagerly reported to the courthouse downtown. There must have been a lull in crime sprees though, since my name was never called to a jury panel, and they excused us after the first day.

King County Courthouse

With my past experience, my expectations were low that I'd actually get put on trial. However, right after jury orientation, my name was called to go upstairs for the first case of the day. Since this was a larger case and would last a minimum of three weeks, there were 75 of us in the jury pool instead of the standard 50. We entered the courtroom and immediately were sworn in. We were all first asked if we had any conflicts with the proposed timeline of the trial, and those that did were excused. We then got to hear the 8 charges (yikes!) listed against the defendant, from stalking and breaking restraining orders to DUIs and domestic violence, this looked like it was going to be an interesting case. The attorneys then proceeded to ask us all questions to see if any of us would be likely to judge the case unfairly. People were being excused pretty consistently, and by the end of all the questions, I had moved up the line to a seat in the juror's box. At this point, both the prosecutor and the defense attorney are able to dismiss 8 jurors each from the juror's box without having to give a reason why. After dismissing about 5 people each, I was shocked and a little offended when the prosecutor called my juror number to be excused. I'm still wondering what I may have said to make the prosecutor believe I wouldn't make a fair judgement call. Did he think I would side with the girlfriend abusing drunk driver (allegedly)? Couldn't be, it must have been my ridiculously good looks that were distracting him from doing his job.

After being dismissed, I headed back downstairs to the jury room to put my name back in the pool. Ten minutes later my name was called again to serve on a panel for another case. We headed back upstairs to start the whole process over again. This time I lucked out and said all the right things, because I am assigned to the case. Everything is very hush hush as a juror, so I'm not allowed to talk about the case until after it's over, but then it's fair game to tell the world. The trial started last week and is expected to last till Thursday or Friday. So far it's been an interesting experience, and am already looking forward to being summoned again.

Birthday Twins

Maureen and I first met when we were freshman at UW and joined the same sorority.  We became fast friends as we bonded over trips to Jack in the Box, study breaks at Odegaard to memorize lyrics to rap music, and late nights spent dancing at Sig Eps. We also soon realized that we share the same birthday!

Sharing a birthday with Maureen has been so much fun with lots of great memories. Going all the way back to when we first celebrated with a trip to Polyesters (the old 18 and over club downtown, appropriately named since I think that's what my shirt was made of to go with my pleather pants) with our closest friends. And now, a decade later (jeez), we still make it a priority to get together for a birthday twin dinner celebration.

This year we met at the Claim Jumpers in Alderwood and took advantage of the food and drink happy hour specials. We got caught up, talked about fun upcoming events (Rachel's wedding extravaganza!), and reminisced about old times.

As much as I may complain about not wanting to share (I am an only child...), sharing this day with one of the greatest friends you can ask for just makes it that much more special. I can't wait to still be celebrating when we're little old ladies. Love you Weiner Boo!

Like a good neighbor...

First off, I would just like to say I have the best neighbors ever. Anne lived in the unit above me when I first moved in, and shortly after her friend Alicia moved into the unit above her. It's one thing to have nice neighbors, but so much fun when you become close friends. From road trips to the Gorge, Fremont Solstice Day Parade BBQ's, and even a trip to Vegas, these girls are a blast. Anne also makes a great kitty sitter when I'm out of town.

When Anne and Alicia weren't able to make it out for my birthday last weekend, they offered to cook me dinner and have an 80s music party night. So last night I got home from work, threw on my 80s Madonna t-shirt with pajama pants and slippers, and headed upstairs to Alicia's place. They had decorated with streamers and even had tulips (my favorite) and cupcakes for me! So sweet. We drank wine, ate a delicious dinner, and listened to some 80s hits.

Thanks you two for a great night and for keeping the birthday month celebrating momentum going. You girls are the greatest!

Soike History Lesson

So, I'm pretty much famous, and here's why...

If you know much about Vashon Island, you may have heard of the red bike. Apparently, there used to be an old red bicycle that got stuck in a tree years ago, and then the tree the grew over it (I say used to be since a storm unfortunately knocked the tree down a couple years ago).

The bike is well known on the island. People put bikes in their own trees as a tribute, and there is even a restaurant named after it, Red Bicycle Bistro. The bike is also referenced in the children's Chirstmas book, Red Ranger Came Calling. The book has since been turned into a play performed here in the Northwest as well as New York.

Turns out the bike got there because of my grandpa Henry! My grandpa was born and raised on Vashon, and the Soike Homestead was right where that tree stood. When he was younger, my grandpa and his brother Bud put their sister's bike up in the tree to play a joke on her. They never bothered to take the bike down, so the infamous "red bike" actually belonged to my Auntie Claire.

There's some pretty fun stories and videos about the bike if you Google it. Everyone seems to have their own explanation for how the bike got there, but now you know the true story. This video is probably my favorite, "Pretty freaking exciting, huh?"

So there you go, I'm practically a Pacific Northwest celebrity.