The Hagans visit Seattle

It was so nice to have my parents in town last week for 5 days. It's always nice to have visitors and be with people who really know you well. This was a nice vacation for my parents and felt like a vacation for us! We loved showing them around and exploring things with them that WE haven't even seen yet.

It was just an added bonus that they brought us Easter gifts, treated us to many meals, were some of the cleanest house guests ever, did laundry, stocked our kitchen with food and other items we're lacking, AND cooked dinner for us after Chuck and I both worked all day! Yep. They spoiled us.

Parents are the best.

While we worked all day Monday, they explored Pike Place Market and the Space Needle.

Here they are with one of the fish guys.


My dad also has a great video of the fish guys yelling "Go Cards!" right before the throw a fish over his head.

On Tuesday they were on their own for a little while in the morning, so they took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch.


They said it was fun but that really the ferry ride was the main reason to go. Chuckie and I will have to go on a nice day!  That night, Chuck scouted out a restaurant for dinner, and we ate at Senor Moose, voted Seattle's best Mexican restaurant in 2012. And it totally was. The food was incredible and they had a crazy list of margaritas- some had jalapenos and cucumber in them- and they were gooooood. You can't go wrong at a restaurant with a wall full of tequila.

 

On Wednesday morning I drove my parents to the University of Washington's campus. We parked and walked around to the bookstore and to the Quad where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We made a pit stop at Savery Hall, the building where my Uncle's office was when he was a professor at UW back in the 70s.

Later that day, Chuckie got off work early and we made the long trek to Mt. Rainier. That was one of the coolest places I've ever been, and I took a lot of pictures so, that will get a blog post of its own.

Thursday my parents weren't scheduled to fly out until 10 pm, so we had the whole day to continue exploring. I drove them around Fremont, our old neighborhood, and we did some shopping. Then we drove north to find my aunt and uncle's old house from when they were living here while my uncle taught at the university. We found the house and found it was for sale!  My mom considered buying it. She was really excited to see the house again. She came to Seattle and stayed in that house a few different summers while my aunt and uncle lived here, so she has great memories there from her teenage years.


The rest of the day and evening we just hung around the apartment, ate all the leftovers from the week and made sure they had everything packed up.  It was a great visit and we were sad to see them go... But- we only have to go a few weeks without seeing them and all the rest of our family. We go home for Derby in just a few weeks!

 

Louisville- The 2013 National Champions

We did it. We won the National Championship!

And it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys. Having a husband who is a megafan, I know way more about these players than the average person should really know. Chuckie makes sure I know where they are all from, how tall they are, what they've said after each game... I follow them on Instagram. He tells me their stats after each game. And even though we've lived in Boston and Seattle for this entire season, we have found a way to watch almost every single game this season. So I can truthfully say, I feel like I know this team personally and I could not be happier for them. The hard work and humility has paid off! Congrats, Cards!

Anyone who knows me and Chuckie knows that we are BIG Louisville fans. We own way too many UofL t-shirts, way too many UofL blankets, and just way too much UofL STUFF in general. But we can't help it- we just love the Cardinals!

Though we both went to the University of Kentucky for college, we both grew up Louisville fans. My parents have always cheered for the Cards and my grandpa was one of the biggest UofL fans I've ever known. He held season tickets to football and basketball for years, and refused to give up his season tickets until he was almost 90 years old and just couldn't physically go to the games anymore. He was a superfan, for sure.

Chuckie grew up in an all Louisville household too. One of his sisters was a Louisville Ladybird (the best dance team in the country) and his brother-in-law set records as a wide receiver for UofL's football team. Chuckie used to be a ball boy at the basketball games and has had Louisville posters hanging in his room for as long as I've known him. And if you have ever watched a football or basketball game with him, you know he is a passionate (and kind of intense) fan. Thank God my family raised me a Cards fan or I don't think Chuck and I would have ever worked out.

Louisville has not won or even played in a National Championship game since 1986, the year before we were BORN. So to say we've been waiting for the Cards to play in or win a National Championship for a long time, well that's an understatement.

Yesterday was the longest day ever. The anticipation of the game was rough. And right before gametime, we were both so nervous we couldn't sit still. Chuck couldn't eat. I couldn't stop burping. (It's what I do when I'm nervous. I know it's weird.) We had a couple of friends over to watch the game with us. While the rest of us sat and watched the game, this was Chuckie.

He does not sit during games.

I wish more than anything that we could be in Louisville celebrating in the streets and attending the parties and parades. But we are celebrating in Seattle and will remember this for the rest of our lives! Finally, we've witnessed our team take the biggest trophy of all. Ahhhh. Victory is sweet. And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find yet ANOTHER job so we can afford to pay for all of the National Championship paraphernalia Chuckie is about to buy.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend this year was extremely exciting for us here in Seattle for multiple reasons.

For starters, Thursday night as I left work at Niketown, I saw I had several missed texts and phone calls from my best friend Elizabeth. As I was walking outside, she was calling again. Seeing as it was midnight on the east coast and a school night for Liz (who is a teacher) I knew she must be calling about something important. When I answered, she told me that her boyfriend Shane proposed to her earlier that night! Liz and Shane are engaged!

 

Chuckie and I are so so so so happy for them and all the excitement ahead!  They are going to be so happy together and have a beautiful wedding and life. The hardest part of being in the LGO program is that we are not home and able to celebrate in person with our friends and family when good things happen to them. But, that's just part of it and just means when we ARE together in person, we have to celebrate that much harder. :)

 

 

Friday after work, Chuckie and I had dinner and then colored Easter eggs!

 





They were brown eggs, so the colors came out really different!

Saturday we drove up to the outlet mall and did some shopping, had lunch and then came home to prepare for my parents' arrival. That preparation included buying some tulips. Because it doesn't feel like Easter until you have tulips, right?

My parents arrived late on Saturday night. For their first day in town, Easter, we went on an Easter brunch cruise on Lake Washington and Lake Union. A few weeks back we had been looking for something to do for Easter while they were here and found this brunch cruise online. My dad bought the tickets and we've been praying for good weather ever since. Well, the weather more than delivered.  It was the sunniest and warmest day in Seattle since we've moved here. It could not have been more perfect. (Well, except for my eye infection that appeared Sunday morning. Would have been a little better without that.)

Our boat!

Bloody Mary party.

Parents on the front of the boat.

As soon as we stepped onto the boat, they handed us champagne. That's my kind of boat cruise.

After the cruise, we headed back to our apartment where we changed into our Louisville shirts and got ready to watch Louisville vs. Duke to see who would go to the Final Four. But I already knew we were going to win. Just look at my perfect Midwest region bracket for proof.

It was so nice to watch the game with other Louisville fans (my parents) instead of in a restaurant in Seattle alone like we usually do. It was also nice to have my mom here so that when Kevin Ware went down with his injury, I wasn't the only one in the room crying.

After the victory, we went to our favorite Seattle hangout, Yardhouse, downtown and had some drinks and appetizers to celebrate. We walked to and from the restaurant and had some amazing views along the way.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. We did much more with my parents during their stay, but I'll have to save all that for another post or two. Too many pictures for one post!

 

A New Routine

A lot has been happening around here lately.

For starters, I turned 26 last weekend. It was one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. When we woke up Saturday morning, Chuckie asked what I wanted to go do and of course, I said "donuts." If you know me, you know donuts are my favorite food. So what better way to start off my birthday than with some fresh donuts and coffee?

After donuts, I had an interview with Niketown in downtown Seattle for a part time position, which is in addition to the other two part time marketing/arts jobs I already have out here. Then Chuckie and I went shopping at Banana Republic because we had a Friends and Family discount for 50% off everything and we both had gift cards. Then, only 2 hours after my interview, I got a call from Nike letting me know they'd like to hire me and could I start this Monday?! Um, YES! So now I have 3 jobs.

The evening of my birthday, we decked ourselves out in Louisville apparel and headed to a hole in the wall bar a few minutes from our apartment to watch the Big East Championship game. Louisville pulled out an amazing win- the best birthday present! Then we were off to another bar to meet up with friends and participate in the early St. Patrick's Day celebrations! Like I said, a GREAT birthday this year.

Oh yeah and one of Chuckie's gifts to me was Girl Scout Cookies. Does he know me well or what?

 

So that was Saturday. Monday I started my new job with Niketown, and on Tuesday we moved apartments. Because, you know, we haven't moved enough times this past year already so we wanted to add one more move just for fun. No but seriously. The apartment we were in was ok for a little while. But there were several things about it that we decided we can't deal with for 5 more months. First of all, it was in the basement of a house. We had no windows, no ventilation, crooked floors, and probably some mold from occasional basement flooding. Also, it was a studio- so basically all just one big room, which is not ideal for hosting visitors.

 

So we found this new apartment through the same company. It is also fully furnished, so moving would only require moving our few belongings we brought to Seattle, in a better location close enough for Chuck to have a 10 minute walk to work and close enough for me to walk to Niketown, a one bedroom so much bigger, a designated parking spot, and a brand new kitchen and bathroom. Oh yeah, and we have tons of windows. I am not exaggerating when I say my overall mood has improved SO much just in the few days since we moved here. I think it's the windows.

Oh and I love what we named our WiFi router.

View of the Olympic Mountains from our living room? Ok!

We love it.

So, in addition to turning 26, getting a new job and a new apartment, we're also trying to get out of the rut we've been in lately where Chuck gets home from work, we make dinner and then proceed to spend our evening watching Raylan Givens mess some people up on our new favorite show, Justified. And while we love our Raylan Givens and plan to keep watching so we can catch up to the current season, we have a new plan to start getting a run in or some type of exercise after work before the dinner and Justified routine starts. I know it's not a profound idea- this is what most normal people do on a daily basis. So we need to become normal. We need to get healthier and stop being so lazy. Plus, now that I'm working at Nike I'm required to wear the Nike Fuelband so I gotta hit my daily Fuel points goal, people!

This weekend we're looking forward to watching a lot of basketball and exploring more of Seattle. My parents come to town next weekend for their Spring Break visit- I can't wait.

Happy Friday, everyone!

 

Sami and Seattle

As you know from my Canada post, Sami came to visit me and Chuckie in Seattle last week for her spring break. She arrived late Saturday night and left Thursday morning. Since we spent all day in Canada on Sunday, we didn't get to start exploring Seattle until Monday. I of course had created an itinerary for her visit and we stuck pretty close to it the whole time!

Monday morning we were moving a little slow, so we didn't get out of the house until almost lunchtime. We headed straight into downtown to meet Chuckie for lunch at a REALLY good Mexican place right by Amazon. Then we walked over to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle and all the museums are located.

Then we took the bus to Fremont where we shopped in all the little stores, Sami got to see the troll and other fun sights in Fremont, and then we got a cookie. After Chuckie got home from work, we cooked dinner and then went to see the new Oz movie. We approved.

Tuesday morning, Sami and I took the bus straight to the Seattle Art Museum, which Sami was really excited about because the initials of the museum spell SAM, like her.

We explored their special exhibit- a collection of several paintings from a London Museum, in the US for the first time ever- and got excited when we recognized an extremely famous painting by Rembrandt.

The china room was our favorite.

Then we happened upon the Roman art section. Sami was happy.

After our very cultured morning, we did some shopping and then went to Elliot's Oyster House for oyster happy hour. Sami tasted her first oysters. She was not impressed.

When Chuckie got off work, he met us at Pike Place Market which to our surprise and disappointment, all basically closes by 6 pm. So we weren't able to get the full effect but at least got to see the fish guys throw a fish. So that was good. And then most importantly, we got to see the original Starbucks!

After the market we had dinner at the Yardhouse and then went home and watched old SNL videos. :)

Wednesday morning Chuck accidentally took my keys (and his) with him to work, so we had to ride the bus into downtown and get them from him since our whole schedule that day involved the car.

We had breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, the same place Chuckie and I celebrated his birthday, and then went to Discovery Park for a hike. It was raining and kind of cold though, so we just walked to the viewpoint, took some pictures, and left.

That afternoon, we did some shopping at University Village, then drove through the University of Washington's campus. Sami was extremely jealous of their beautiful campus and wanted to switch schools.

 

 

 

 

 

That night we had dinner and ice cream in Fremont with our friends Jonelle and Matt and then Thursday the trip was over. :(

 

Unfortunately Sami didn't get to enjoy much nice weather while she was here and of course it's been sunny and kind of warm every day since she left. But I guess she got the true Seattle experience! We had so much fun while she was here but wish our big sister Laura could have been there too. We missed you, Laura!

Oh Canada

A few weeks ago, Chuckie and I were discussing what we should do with my sister while she was out here visiting and he suggested taking a day trip to Canada. Vancouver is only about a two and a half hour drive from Seattle, so we decided to do it! Sami flew in late Saturday night, so early Sunday morning we were off to Vancouver- the 3 of us and Chuckie's LGO classmate Gold.

Now, this is gonna sound a little crazy, but, this trip to Canada was my first time ever leaving the United States! So I was VERY excited! The drive was scenic and pretty easy. We got to the border, answered a few questions about why we were visiting, how we knew each other, where we were from, and then boom! We were across the border!

Literally less than 3 minutes across the Canadian border, Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." came on which gave us a good laugh. We decided that was our theme song for the day.

As we were driving into downtown, I snapped this picture out the window of the stadium, called BC Place, where the opening and closing ceremonies were for the 2010 winter Olympics. When we passed it at night leaving town, it was all lit up with different colors and looked really cool, but unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of it that time.

Our first stop was at Stanley Park, one of the largest parks in North America. It was a little chilly, but we had our hearts set on riding bikes around the park so we layered up and braved the cold. (It wasn't THAT cold, I'm just making it sound more intense.)

Before you see this next picture you have to know what I was TRYING to take a picture of, because it makes it even funnier. I thought Chuckie was riding right behind me, so I was trying to get a picture of him on his bike. I was taking the picture without looking because we were riding and I didn't want to lose focus and fall off of my bike. So I made a face just in case a small part of my face ended up in the picture and I snapped. Later when I looked at my pictures, I found the result.

 

 

He is SO FAR BEHIND ME and I got WAY MORE THAN JUST A LITTLE OF MY FACE in the picture. It's so ridiculous. Sami cried from laughing when she saw this picture. Last week on the blog I put a picture of us on a hike and said it was maybe the best picture ever taken of me and Chuckie. Well, I think this one definitely trumps that one.

 

Anyway, moving on...

 

Chuck proved to us that he could eat a banana and ride a bike at the same time.

 

 



Gold, Chuck and Sami at a pretty spot along the bike trail.

After biking, we drove to the public market on Granville Island. We walked around and watched a guy juggle knives while balancing on a ladder, went in and out of all the little shops, did some taste testing, and bought the most delicious donuts. Next we drove to Gastown, an older part of Vancouver with cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks. It reminded us of Boston, so we liked it!

Then we saw a building that looked strangely similar to the Flat Iron building in NYC, except this one was a lot smaller.

 

We had some drinks at a cool place there and then walked to an Irish Pub for some "comfort food that feels like a hug." It was tasty.

Right before we left Canada, we had Chuck snap a few pictures of us in some traditional sorority girl poses so Sami would feel like she got the full "spring break" effect, even though she was in cold and rainy Canada and her classmates were in warm and sunny Florida, and neither of us were/are in sororities.

It was a great day trip and a great way to start off Sami's visit!