We went to West Seattle on Sunday, after our furniture shopping trip. It was a beautiful day, sun was out and breeze was blowing as we took a cruise down Alki beach. The salty air always lulls me into a relaxed mood.

There were thrift shops, antiques stores, ice cream parlors and my favorite thing – a farmer’s market. They were almost done for the day but I was so glad to see how easily baby bok choy is available to me now. The dahlias and sunflowers were just gorgeous – flowers always do that for me.

And as Seattle Bon Vivant has pointed out, a new Trader Joe’s opens tonight. Mike and I are so excited because this is only a few minutes away from our new place. Yay! [I can't say it enough!]

Sunday found us visiting Ik*ea - it’s about 25 minutes away. We found a couple of good pieces that we have marked in the catalog – chairs were sat in, mattresses laid on and curtains felt. I envision a very organic style house – most of the materials will be wood, with a few splashes of my favorite reds and greens. We are also trying to keep within a budget.

We need:

• a loveseat

• 2 arm chairs
• a coffee table
• a floor rug
• 2 bar stools
• a full size bed
• window coverings

Do you know of any good places to find furniture other than Ike*a? We like some of Crate & Barr*el’s and West El*m’s pieces too. We might look for a Cost Pl*us Wor*ld Market and Pie*r One too. I’d love to hear your ideas.

Today was another fun day for us. Since we haven’t moved into our place yet, we are still kinda enjoying a little vacation weekend. Next weekend we will be a little busier, probably unpacking. We hope to find some time to go to the Bumbershoot Festival though.

We decided to catch the salmon runs at the Ballard Locks. The locks has been around for about 100 years and it provides a safe pathway for the boats/ships who have to go from Lake Washington to Puget Sound and vice versa. Those who built the locks saw the need to help salmon and steelhead in their spawning efforts.

“Even in 1917, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers understood the importance of fish passage facilities and built a 10-step ladder to the south of the spillway dam.

In 1976, a new ladder was built to reflect modern fish ladder standards. The amount of attraction water was increased. This ladder has 21 steps, or weirs, which allow the fish to swim upstream on a gradual incline.”

We caught sight of many mature salmon swimming just at the bottom of the fish ladder and had the experience of viewing some through the glass. It was a very educational time as well. This is apparently the best time of the year to catch them spawning.

Later on, we decided to have an early dinner at Queen Anne’s – an Indian place called Roti. A meal of chicken bryani and prawn vindaloo filled us up so much that we had to take a walk to the nearby Seattle Center.

Take a look at our pictures, we took just a few.

So, I asked Mike out to lunch today. He came and got me from work and we drove a few blocks down Broadway [main street along which my office and his school are situated], to a little corner restaurant called Osteria La Spiga. Both of us had noticed this place when we passed it earlier in the week – it’s elegantly rustic and the menu looked enticing. We’ve never had Northeastern Italian style food before and I can safely say that we fell in love with the place.

After some research, I found out that it’s one of the more popular Italian places here in Seattle (Mario Batali visited this restaurant on one of his episodes of Ciao America). The prices were really reasonable for lunch and I hear that at night, the place gets quite lively with music and the crowd.

We both had a cup of one of the soups of the day – Mushrooms (oyster, lobster and assorted) & Potato soup with a touch of cream and a little truffle oil. [The lobster mushrooms were very interesting in texture.]

Mike had the Piadiana* (grilled flatbread sandwiches – they also make the crescione which are like calzones) and I had the tagliatelle al ragu [the ragu sauce was so well-flavored and the noodles were definitely handmade].

Stacee Sledge describes the menu better.
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The incredibly farneeee Mike has returned to the blogworld.

Check out these new contact lens cases. I like that they are translucent and colorful. The colors are useful so that Mike and I won’t get the wrong pair of lenses. But then again, Mike leaves his pair in for quite a bit before tossing them out.

[I realize this is a non-Seattle-related post - a rare one for me, now that I've been oohing and aahhing over this new place!]

Keri always shares the most valuable words that we can all relate to.

Lately, I’ve been reminded by Mike about how brave I’ve been these last couple of years, taking all those new paths and facing the new world of adventures. I somehow never thought I was any braver than the person next to me. I guess sometimes I need someone on the outside looking in and reminding me.

Life really has been good for me, I wouldn’t do it any differently.

We finally visited the Uwajimaya store down in the International District. It was huge and had so many wonderful goodies and glorious fresh produce. There was a whole aisle devoted to tea and we found bottled teas from Singapore! I haven’t been drinking much tea, I only have a small stash with me at the hotel.

Dinner was quite scrummy too – we ate at a Shanghai place. Really good pepper spareribs and handmade noodles.

Today, the bosses brought me out for lunch here and we ate at this place. I had a pot of tea (an herbal blend called Star Spangled tea) that was really good and a vegetarian sandwich on foccacia. The pasta del giorno was angel hair with prawns but I decided that pasta would make me too sleepy this pm.

I had a good time, we chatted about tea (my tea swap), kids, San Francisco and museums. Which reminds me, we have to see the Van G*ogh-Mon*drian exhibit soon. Thursdays are when the museums open later into the night.

Sometimes love is all you really need.

“Love is everything it’s cracked up to be�it really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.” – Erica Jong