Monday, June 28, 2010

Vancouver Day Trip With Friends

I love Vancouver BC. It's a very vibrant, large and amazing different cosmopolitan city than Seattle is. A slice of all the European cities that I love, and just a two and a half hour drive north from our home here in Seattle. Holly and I, along with our friends Brock and Layla, decided to head up for the day and first and foremost attend a session at the newly dedicated Vancouver BC LDS Temple. We went up for this public open house a few weeks ago. A lot of the volunteers that have worked with us on Wednesday nights in the Seattle temple would commute from BC. It's nice they have a dedicated temple in much closer proximity now. Each temple beautiful in it's own fashion. The Vancouver BC temple is no exception.



Holly and I taking a quick pic by the main entrance of the Vancouver LDS Temple.



Temples truly are spiritual places. It signifies faith, and a connection to a higher power. An existence beyond this earthly life. I honestly feel that temples are the most sacred places to be on the face of the planet.

Afterwards we drove from the suburb of Langley, right into downtown Vancouver. When Holly and I were up there a few weekends ago, we took some friends recommendations to eat at Lupo in Yaletown. We loved this place. Locally sourced ingredients, house made breads and condiments. Organic meats and cheeses and charcuterie. We wanted to go back, so I made reservations again. It's in a quaint restored row house.



For my first course, I had an amazing caprese salad with fresh buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, so house dried tomatoes, pesto, balsamic reduction and micro-greens.



My second course was some lamb cheeks simmered in burgundy wine and beef demiglace, with fresh ricotta gnocchi and sauteed wild mushrooms.



No trip to Vancouver is complete without a crepe. In this tradition, we all walked along Robston St, and made our way to Le Crepe Cafe. I had hazelnut crepe with crushed almonds and Nutella. I had to have a scoop of espresso ice-cream to accompany.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Nom! Nom! Nom!



I totally feel like this today, the urge to junk out. But I want to bury my face in a feed bag of Wheat Thins! Or Buffalo Blue Cheese Kettle Chips. But alas, I don't junk out much these days. Not conducive to my healthier lifestyle. Thanks for the funny picture Holly. I love how CM is burying his face in a pot of cookies. This made me laugh extensively.

Temple Weekend

This weekend Dan and I are heading to Vancouver BC for a day trip to the new LDS temple. We went through the open house before it was dedicated, but haven't been inside to worship and do work there yet. As I was thinking about our upcoming road trip, I started a list of the number of temples I've seen, and the number of temples I've actually been in.

Seen:
Boise, Idaho
Boston, Massachusetts
Bountiful, Utah
Columbus, Ohio
Johannesburg, South Africa
Jordan River, Utah
Logan, Utah
Manhattan, New York
Manti, Utah
Mount Timpanogos, Utah
Nauvoo, Illinois
Oquirrh Mountain, Utah
Portland, Oregon
Provo, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
San Diego, California
Seattle, Washington
Vancouver, British Columbia
Washington D.C.

Served in:
Boston, Massachusetts
Bountiful, Utah
Columbus, Ohio
Johannesburg, South Africa
Jordan River, Utah
Manti, Utah
Mount Timpanogos, Utah
Portland, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah
Seattle, Washington

I love that we have temples around the world for so many to have the opportunity to serve and worship there. Both of my lists are kind of short, I'd like to work on making them both much longer.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Fabric Crush



So yesterday as I was out and about with visiting family (Mom, Renae, Olivia and Nicole are up visiting for a week) and we ended up at Wallingford Center. First and foremost to get cupcakes at Trophy *YUM!* and while we were there I discovered Fabric Crush. The name is so fitting for me, I really do have a love affair with fabric. I love the colors and patterns and this store is so light and bright I couldn't help but smile as soon as I walked in.




I also had to buy something, even if it was something small...2 fat quarters fit that bill perfectly. As I left the store (with a smile on my face) I had no real idea what I would do with my purchase until I walked over to the toy store my nieces were playing in and saw little girl patchwork aprons. They were so cute and seemed like a perfect next project especially since Olivia and Nicole had so much fun this weekend helping Uncle Dan cook in our kitchen! I'll post pictures as soon as I start...which will hopefully be soon :)