walkie walk

here are some pictures from our walk around the neighborhood today.

walking towards the lake

lake union. it would be so awesome to live in one of those lake houses.

i really enjoy living in eastlake. it's a quiet, pretty neighborhood. we'll be taking more walks, i'm sure!

package from home!

yesterday i received an AWESOME package from home. it seriously made my week.

the package came complete with korean ramen, li hing mui, cards for my atc's, a photo album of me and emily, and the cutest owl painting by my sister, joanne.

and, of course, pictures of my favorite girl:

these make it easier (and a little harder) to be away. keep 'em comin' guys! love and miss you!

last night with the fujiis

tonight we had our last dinner at the crab pot (as seen on travel channel's man vs. food) during the fujiis' visit. the food and company was fantastic!

we ordered the seafeast; crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, potatoes, corn and sausage cooked together and dumped right on the table. boards, mallets and bibs are provided!

i forgot to take a picture when the waitress first dumped out our feast, but i did get the aftermath.

the crab pot was definitely worth going to. it was fun to throw caution to the wind and just eat like crazy! thank you so much to the fujiis for visiting and spending their vacation time with us.

golden girls mania!

i've been on such a golden girls binge lately. rue mcclanahan, who played blanche, just recently passed away and i thought i'd do a golden girls post. joanne and i have been watching the show since we were younger and it always feels like home when it's on tv.

i even started hosting a golden girls themed artist trading card swap on swap-bot. for this swap the participants will make an ATC (artist trading card) with a golden girls theme and send it to their partner.

i just bought seasons 3 and 4; they were on sale at target.

even the check-out person was like, "ooh, golden girls!" and i told kevin, "see? who doesn't love the golden girls?" :)

pike place market

today was pike place market day with the fujiis. lots of shops and food to look at. i caved and bought a bag of chocolate covered washington cherries from the chukar cherries booth. so delicious, i can't stop!

almost to the market.

the flowers are my favorite thing to look at there. so beautiful and so inexpensive. the biggest bouquet (which is huge) is only $15! my plan is to buy new flowers every 2 weeks or so to keep in the apartment; it brightens up the place.

didn't take too many pictures today, but we had a super nice time!

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin, raini, who is 11 today! love and miss you!

woodland park zoo

more fun with the fujiis today! the woodland park zoo was pretty amazing. most of the animals were out today, so we saw so many creatures we've never seen before.

[source: google images]
this is a pudu. the smallest deer in the world and also the cutest animal in the world. the baby we saw was about a foot tall and looked just like this little guy. seriously, this picture does absolutely no justice to the cuteness.

[source: google images]
and this is a tapir. its closest relatives are the horse and rhinoceros. he was pretty huge and strange looking.

those were my two favorite animals we saw today. i wasn't fast enough to get pictures of them, but i did get these:

eagles,

and an orangutan.

the girls even kept a list of all the animals they saw, which was a lot!

the fujiis arrive! and the ballard locks.

our family friends, the fujiis, arrived in seattle yesterday for a vacation, so i got a chance to hang out with them today. it was so good to see some familiar faces from home.

we went to the ballard locks, which is where salmon swim upstream to spawn and where boats transition to the different water levels of the harbor and the sea.

walking along the locks.

lauren, lindsey, and me.

we got to see a boat go out, pulled by the cutest tugboat. :)

then we went to eat at ray's boathouse, where i had the crab cakes. yum! more fun tomorrow.

art inspiration: camille rose garcia

i saw some of camille rose garcia's work in a juxtapoz magazine and just loved her work. she's an orange county based artist and her paintings are whimsy-inspired with a dark twist. and anyone who knows me well knows i love dark twists.

check out more of her work here.

i love the colors and drippy effect. have a good week, everyone! take care!