Kait's Rad Summer: Seattle

My Calgary-dwelling pal Kait of Yuppie Love made her way to the West Coast this summer with her husband, Byron. Jeff and I were lucky enough to meet up with them in Seattle for a bit during their visit. I'll let Kait tell you more about that amazing city and her summer adventures...

A roadtrip is one of the best possible things to happen to you during the summer months and I was lucky to have it happen it to me this summer. We planned a roadtrip to Seattle in celebration of our first anniversary. We had to do something adventurous to rival our honeymoon, which was a two-week jaunt to Las Vegas, LA, and San Francisco.

Seattle was absolutely breathtaking. From Pike Place to the Space Needle to the beautiful last-minute harbour cruise we took – everything took our breath away.

I spent most of the trip completely jealous of the fresh produce. Well, actually I spent most of the trip sampling all of the fresh produce. We picked up tons of fruit over the six days we were in Seattle. Pike Place Market was a beautiful haven for vendors of such wares and we even snagged a personal fruit shopper at one booth. Check out this bag of incredible black berries and cherry tomatoes!

As part of work research and for personal interest, we checked out the Experience Music Project. A very cool museum with some super interesting exhibits including a very well-done chronology of Nirvana. Our favourite part was the guitar room. So much history behind the evolution of the infamous stringed instrument. Here is Byron in front of the epic funnel of guitars and banjos in the centre of the museum. So cool!

Pike Place Market was definitely one of my favourite spots in Seattle and I think if I was a local I would still frequent this tourist-hot-spot. Massive $5 bouquets of flowers, gluten-free bakeries, and an endless amount of seafood vendors = heaven.

We stumbled across a Wednesday Farmers Market while wandering the neighbourhoods of Fremont and Wallingford. It is based in the field of a beautiful old elementary school. The grounds of this school are magical and so so green and lush. I am so jealous of the children who get to play here on a daily basis.

We took a spontaneous harbour cruise after we found that they were selling tickets for half-price to fill up the evening cruise. I am so glad we made this part of our trip. It was so gorgeous touring the harbour and being able to see the entire Seattle skyline from the water.

This trip seemed to be all about spontaneity! I was so lucky to find out that Sarah & Co. were in Seattle at the exact same time as us so we planned to meet for a little picnic and walk down at Pike Place Market. We got to meet Jeff and Lola which was very exciting and talked about food, drinks, and wedding stuff. I bought this massive sunflower for $2 for Sarah. I couldn’t resist -- it was stunning.

Look at the adorable Lola lounging in the sun. What a cute puppy.

Molly Moon Ice Cream was my main indulgence of this vacation. I think I ate ice cream nearly everyday and compensated for it by walking 10 hours per day. I had amazing flavours including Maple Walnut, Scout Mint, Balsamic Strawberry, and Carmelized Peaches & Cream. It even inspired me to buy a book about ice cream and micro-creameries at Powells Books in Portland. Though now that I am back to sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day instead of adventuring and walking the streets, I have severely cut back on the ice cream (ie. none at all) but will definitely trying out some recipes soon with friends and family!

The Mono-Rail was so modern and fast that I had to make this ridiculous face. Really though, while I thought $2 for a one-way 3 minute ride was a bit pricey -- it DID get us downtown in no time. What a great modern invention.

Oysters, oh oysters. My favourite thing about coastal cities is the sheer abundance of seafood and sushi. And mostly just the oysters. We sat down to an amazing dinner of coca-cola, fish & chips and 12 luscious fresh oysters at Jack’s Fish Spot at Pike Place Market. They were the most intoxicating, mind-blowing oysters I have eaten to date, and the biggest as well. Wow. The memories are still so strong. Wish I was still there slurpin’ oysters....

Just me spending MORE time in PPM. I love it here. Note the $2 Sunflower. It is only fitting that I also became addicted to The Beach Boys 1971 album Sunflower during this trip as well.

Coffee. This has got to be my favourite coffee shop I have ever visited. Everything about it, to the storefront, to the bags of beans, to the wonderful staff who crafted the best iced coffee I have had in a long time. Just perfected our whole Seattle experience.

I hope you enjoyed my rad summer vacation. It was such a treat and I wish I was still there! Until next time.... kait

Thanks so much for sharing your summer adventure, Kait. Love that you represented the Pacific Northwest and that we managed to finally meet up for a picnic (mmmmm...Beecher's grilled cheese) and a chat. And just so you know, that sunflower brightened our kitchen for many days. Thanks for that and the wedding real talk! Be sure to check out and say hi over at Kait's fun blog, Yuppie Love, too!

a day in the life of kait from yuppie love

Welcome, dear readers, to another instalment of a day in the life... This week I am very excited to share with you a glimpse of my friend Kait's life. Kait has a fun and inspiring blog of her own, yuppie love, and is a writer and preserve-maker extraordinaire. I'm always super inspired by all of the domestic bliss she creates and I wish we lived in the same city so I could visit her when she's selling her homemade wares at local markets. Let's go!

I usually wake up around 6:15am, stirred gently by my tired husband, Byron as he leaves for work.  I feel bad that he has to go to work while I am still in bed, so I often get up shortly after he leaves out of complete sympathy.  I also make sure to create delicious breakfasts for him on weekends to carry on that theme into the next week. 

I wish I had time for epic breakfasts like these chocolate chip peach-covered waffles everyday but I am usually only able to down a home-made banana breakfast shake before I hop out the door.  

I love my short but interesting walk to work.  It’s eclectic and different everyday.  Walking down First Street SW is so inspiring to me each morning; the mix of beautiful heritage buildings and the sleek coloured glass condos, combined with the delicious variety of coffee shops, pubs, and restaurants makes for an easy window-shopping jaunt to the office.

I work for the Cantos Music Foundation and the soon-to-be-built National Music Centre.  We share a sturdy brick heritage building with an architecture firm -- they hung these gorgeous plexi banners in the atrium of our building.  I love the way they contrast with the antique wrought iron and marble walls. 

Music is such an integral part of my life and that’s why my position in Marketing at the National Music Centre feels like a dream job.  I spend my days working on communication tools, social media wizardry, video, and design  -- it is ever-varying and I love it.  A diverse team of musicians and non-musicians – I get to work with an incredibly inspiring group of people and endless array of musical events to pick and choose from.  Not to mention the amazing collection of instruments that will fill the museum aspect of the forthcoming Music Centre.  Seriously, anyone into synthesizers must check it out. 

By the end of the work day, I can’t wait to go home and see Byron and make dinner.  Of course, on my walk home I pass some of my favourite landmarks, including this one with a newly updated colour scheme. 

I love to cook, bake, and make preserves, so naturally dinner time is experiment time.  This day I happened to make spicy thai subs with gluten-free buns.  Absolutely delicious and it was all ingredients we already had in the fridge.  However, if I am out of food we’ll try to head to the Kingsland Farmer’s Market right after work to stock up on fresh produce, gluten-free pastas, and sometimes fudge!

After dinner, I usually get settled in front of my iMac to start my second job: freelance writing and a bit of blogging.  As you can see by the screen cap my mind works like a whirlwind and I like to have lots of projects and inspiration open at once.  Somehow I get it all done and settle in for the night listening to the sweet banjo tunes played by Byron.  

I have really been enjoying this series and I hope you have, too. I love the diversity of people and places and days that have been showcased so far and promise you lots more posts from amazing people in the future. I have found everyone's post so inspiring and it certainly hasn't alleviated my wanderlust. Next week we'll spend a day with Micaela from dolce vita, someone that I discover I have more in common with every day. I can't wait to see what she shares! Thank you, Kait, for a great post this week! Be sure to stop by yuppie love and see all of the wonderful things that Kait makes and does.

a day in the life of melanie from kittenrocket

This week's day in the life post is brought to you by Melanie from Kittenrocket, one of my daily blog reads. Melanie's illustrations are so bright and fun and I really wanted to get to know a bit more about her. Lucky for me she agreed to share a day here on the Sadie blog. She also makes jewelry and has a degree in a field that's related to my own area of study. I'm so happy that people are using these posts to introduce us to their pets, too. I know there are a lot of animal lovers out there. Without further delay, here's a day in Melanie's Montreal life...

It’s hard for me to write about my typical day because my days are very different -- I work part-time at an international NGO promoting women’s rights. I also work on several side projects, related to urban planning, which is what I have a Master’s degree in. On top of that, I try to spend as much time as possible creating things -- photographs, illustrations, paintings, jewelry, writing, knitting… I hope one day to work full-time as an artist and writer, and maybe even to photograph for a really spectacular magazine.

On one of my “creative days”, I am usually woken up by my cat, Fern, who always knows the time when I intend to get up and starts licking me about a half hour before that. The first thing I do is make coffee with my very awesome vintage Pavoni espresso machine – one of the best gifts I have ever received. While I drink coffee, I usually look at interesting pictures on the Internet. Lately, I am trying to listen to the radio in the morning in French. I live in Montreal, which is in a French-speaking province. Most people here speak English and French and I have had a hard time improving my French in the last few years (I have been lazy). I am really working on my second language these days…

After coffee I try to answer emails and categorize all the things that need to be done in the different parts of my life (Fern helps a lot). Then I might work on an illustration or on some other design-related contract and try to update my blog. After lunch I usually get pretty restless in my small apartment and go for a walk to work in a café in my neighbourhood. Montreal is brutally cold in the winter so I have to spend about 5 minutes layering up before leaving the house. Whenever I go out around the neighbourhood, I try and take one of my film cameras. I have a couple of plastic toy cameras and a Leica point-and-shoot that I got from a thrift store for $2.00. These are my regular choices.

I like taking pictures of things that get left out on the streets. I also love taking pictures of the contrast between old/new and industrial/handmade – there are so many strange juxtapositions of this sort in Montreal.

In the evening I try to work out and see friends for dinner or a drink. If I stay in at night I usually paint or knit and I try to watch some French TV. At the moment the snow is SLOWLY melting here and the sun is shining. Soon everyone will be out on the streets in Montreal and I will be incorporating a lot of sitting out on my balcony or on terraces into my daily schedule… it’s a tough life :)

Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures with us, Melanie. I really have to get to Montreal again sooner rather than later! Be sure and visit Melanie's blog and shop! Next week's day in the life post will feature the multi-talented Kait from Yuppie Love. Fun times!

guest post: 6 days 6 cities

This week my friend Kait is running a new series on her blog (one of my favourites), Yuppie Love. Starting tomorrow six different bloggers/creative minds will be writing about their favourite cities in the world and sharing what I'm sure will be some amazing images, too. Check out Kait's post on Tuesday. She's sharing her love of Santa Monica/Venice Beach and I know that I for one would rather bet there right now. I guess for now we'll have to live vicariously through her lovely imagery and description. I have an exciting guest blogger series coming up here on the Sadie blog, too, but I'll wait a little while to share the details.

My post about my hometown and favourite place, Halifax, Nova Scotia, will be running on Saturday. I'll be sure to send you that way near the end of the week, too. In the meantime, have you entered the Sadie Designs giveaway yet? You have until Friday, March 4 to throw your name in the hat. And, yup, that's me at about three or four years old in Halifax. It looks like someone's been throwing snowballs at me, too!