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17.3.15

the women who built us


it all starts with our mothers. they took a blueprint from God & handcrafted us with care. they swoon & sing for us when we are little, teach us words and good habits as we grow. they cry with us when we deal with heartbreak & scold us when we make decisions they don't approve of. these women guide us down the twisted, crazy road of life giving us all the tools we need to choose loving friends, find a trustworthy partner, and become good mothers. they nourish our soul with everything it needs to blossom into life on our own. then the cycle repeats itself, though even now, on my own, i still call my mom as if she's my doctor , the pediatrician, a counselor & a preacher.

i heard someone say something the other day & found it quite amusing - 

"no point in fighting it, one day, we inevitably all turn into our mothers."

some might cringe at the thought. its too late for me, i already am my mom in so many ways. creative, scatterbrained, driven & wise. a project is never completely finished before i am on to the next one + my drawers are never all shut at the same time. her qualities shining brightly out of me are comforting in a way though, i know that if she were to ever go away, id have such a huge piece of her with me, coming out in my life and looking back at me in the mirror.
i have soaked up so much of my mother in law too. she has engrained in me, a need for cleaner surfaces & has shown me patience in hard times with arrow, that I'm not quite sure i would have acquired on my own.

but what about the other women who carve their ways into our frames?
they say you are what you eat & i say, you are who you hang out with. during your lifetime you are going to meet a lot of people. some people stay, some people go. some people are blood & some are so close they ought to be. older, younger, same age; these people shape us. they attach their own characteristics, like blocks onto the original beautiful shape that God & our mothers built. we take on bits of their personalities, their silly inflection, their good habits & even some of their bad. we have our human surroundings to thank for who we are, who we will become & then finally, who our children become. in the end, we all end up like wonderful collages, made up of our sister's whimsical way of of looking at things, our girlfriend's crude & silly sense of humor + our mother's eyes. what an exciting blend.

13.3.15

s e a t t l e : t w o

calling all whiskey drinkers! this post is for YOU!

woodinville whiskey co. is the MAIN reason i chose seattle as our weekend spot. it is a young brand of whiskey, only available in the state of washington & was rated number 3 on forbes list of top 10 whiskey distilleries in the nation to tour. it was 20 miles outside of seattle proper so we hopped in an uber & headed up the 405! it was amazing, the distillery itself had such a cool vibe. we walked right in and each had a taster flight of everything they make: a rye whiskey, a bourbon, a barrel aged honey,  a maple syrup & a vodka. grant would be the person to talk to if your interested in how the woodinville whiskey & bourbon are compared to the classics like jack, jim & crown.


the tour itself was fun too, we got to look inside fermenting tanks & see the giant copper still, learn about the process & finally see barrels upon barrels of finished product.


we went to radiator whiskey, a very swanky whiskey bar in pike place, a small room with a BIG whiskey selection. grant tasted a few new ones & the bartender mixed me up a phil collins, i have no idea what was in it besides whiskey, but it was pink & it was goooood.


the last stop on our seattle trip was to a place called '9 million in unmarked bills' -- we chose it off the name & a story grant read in a magazine about it being the last known meeting place of a chef turned bank robber! if that doesn't make you wanna go check it out, go for the truffle mac ;)


[ other great options we were unable to visit during this trip are fremont mischief whiskey & westland distillery. the locals pointed me in their direction, but they were closed on sunday! i guess there is always next time! ]

11.3.15

s e a t t l e : o n e

fun fact! did you know that washington is home to more distilleries than any other state in the US? 
(take that kentucky!) 

fun fact number two! my husband is quite the whiskey connoisseur.
perfect match.

so for his valentines day gift this year i thought he'd like a whiskey weekend in seattle! we packed our bags & off we went! little arrow girl stayed back with birdie + pop pop, and apparently didn't miss me at all.

first stop, pike place! flowers, fish, donuts & a tin can band. not necessarily in that order.

^^ the great wheel. yes, we rode it, because i am a 5 year old girl on the inside & i love carnival rides. it was worth every second, you can't get a clearer view of puget sound.

^^ old man singing about drinking. classic.

 ^^ I've never seen so many beautiful fresh flowers in my life, colorado florists, step your game up.


^^ daily dozen! a dozen assorted mini donuts & i must say the maple bacon was a winner!

a view from the top of the great wheel. that is a beautiful downtown skyline, seattle. i love big cities. the constant humming noise that fills the streets, the hustle&bustle, the mixing of locals and tourists, young & old, all in one place.

^^ the market theater gum wall! mine is the green one on the sill ;)
as you can see in the picture below, grant was thoroughly impressed + extremely grossed out.

^^ cherry street coffee (was not near as good as starbucks. there is a reason starbucks is as successful as it is.) but they did bless me with some foam art, so i can't complain too much.


this trip was pretty wonderful for me especially because i felt like i could fully focus on grant & just be his wife. finding that perfect balance between wife & mama has proven to be a difficult task for me, so i was deeply grateful for three days where we could just be an us, missing our little girl from afar, walking hand in hand through the steep streets of seattle.

part two [ the whiskey part ] coming soon!

4.3.15

how to achieve perfection.


you can't!

[ perfection. noun. the state of being without flaw or defect ]

it is impossible. 

no tea, book, recipe, or workout can help you achieve perfection. it sounds like a bad thing, but my news is good! the pressure is off. so instead of stressing yourself out to the max, because you forgot to wash your face last night or you didn't cram in enough workouts yet this week; work hard & be patient! sprinkle a little bit more of the person you'd like to become into to each day! go to bed exhausted, wake up refreshed & start again. its never too late to become the person you've always wanted to be.

embrace your beautiful flaws & have a happy wednesday!

"i will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection - tadashi shoji"