Fun with the Fam

I'm having a fantastic time with the 'rents. They arrived yesterday and are staying at a cute cottage on Lake Union in Eastlake. Yesterday, we went for a walk by the water in the beautiful sunshine, visited Pete's Wine Shop, checked out the shops in the neighborhood, spent a little time at the Eastlake Zoo while waiting to go eat, and had THE BEST dinner at Serafina! Really. It was seriously great. The entire meal was delicious from start to finish, and we got to enjoy it at a table on the super cute, sunny patio. Our server was *amazing*; she really knew her stuff. I drank what is probably the best drink I've ever had, which was the bartender's own unique spin on the Jupiter. Yum!

The best thing about the Zoo was the five pinball machines. My mom and I played for a good solid hour. We rocked the Simpson's machine. Lots of free games!

This morning I picked up my mom for our belated Mother's Day celebration. We started out at Verite for coffee and to share a lavender cupcake before spending a couple of hours at the Ballard Farmer's Market and at the shops. Then, we headed off to the Queen Mary for our tea/lunch, which was terrific and fun. I had a wonderful time chatting and laughing with my mom. I've noticed that whenever music starts playing, wherever we are at, she decides to bust out her interpretation of the Sprinkler dance move. This leads me to say things like, "Mom, quit doing the Sprinkler at the Ballard Market." Finally, after a couple of repeats of this convo, she was like, "Where can I do the Sprinkler then?" and I explained in the privacy of her own home, not at the outlet mall. :-) She's so funny. After tea, we met up with Rex and stepsis Lisa and headed out to North Bend for a few hours.

We ended up exploring Snoqualmie Ridge a bit while out there, since Rex and Lisa's old house is on the edge of the new housing developments. I know I've said this before, but seeing what's happened there, and apparently what more there is to come, makes me sad. I'm not totally against new development or anything, but today, based on where we drove and the views, I truly grasped the extent of what's been done. It makes me feel sick. The trees and green have been replaced with row after row of cookie cutter houses--identical boxes, medium and large--piled practically one on top of the other (some were almost touching) in every shade of beige you can imagine. Beige. Beige, beige, beige, beige. Life on the Ridge can only be described as a beige existence. It made me think of the beginning of the show Weeds. "Little boxes (slash McMansions), on the hillside..." Ugh! I love the quote on the homepage, "In every walk with nature one receives more than he seeks." Walk with nature? I guess it's nice that "green living" is listed as a priority on the site, but for the 540 acres of permanent open space the page boasts as preserving, how much has been lost to the Beige Destruction? More importantly, how can anyone feel good about this?

Argh. I know I will just have to get over it.

Season 4 of Weeds is coming out on DVD on June 2nd, by the way. Can't wait!

Now, after an early morning (for me) and a busy day, I'm spending the evening at home relaxing. I like catching the end of Napoleon Dynamite, not just for the dancing scene but more so to hear "The Promise" by When in Rome. I've loved that freakin song since I was a little girl and would hear it on the bus sometimes on my way to school. I'd always hope for it to come on, and I'd be really happy when it did. I feel just as happy now when those opening notes play.

Keeping with the R. family self-photo tradition, here is me (with the ginormous head. I know. Trav isn't the only one!) and the Mom outside of the cottage. I added a picture of the pretty panseys outside of the Queen Mary for the Mom too.

No Sprinkler!