Best friends

I'm definitely dragging ass today. My three-day weekend was packed full of fun stuff with my best friend from Phoenix, Lil J, in town. I absolutely love having visitors, but I almost need a vacation after their vacation!

This was Lil J's first time in Seattle, so I planned to throw all of the touristy stuff into her first day here...went to the Public Market, hit up a beach for pretty city views, went out to a good Asian dinner, and hit up some trendy bars for the night.

There were some pretty awesome highlights from that day, despite the touristy-ness. We had a couple flights of wine at The Tasting Room in Post Alley down by the Market. I absolutely love this place. Click here to check it out. Aside from having great Washington wines, they have a plethora of board games to play while you're tasting. Lil J and I opted for a game of Battleship....she kicked my ass twice in a row.

There was definitely one sight in this tasting room that made me and Lil J raise our eyebrows. The two ladies working the place had on some rather interesting shirts. On the front of the t-shirts the logo was present for The Tasting Room, but on the back was the script reading, "Women taste better." Needless to say, we weren't quite sure the direction these two ladies were taking with this statement, but it kept us quizzically guessing the whole time we were there. It's a free country...fly your own flag if you want to! I fucking love this city.

We also discovered a new viewpoint, Kerry Park, in Queen Anne. This view might seem familiar for any of you Grey's Anatomy fans out there...."Meredith Grey's house" is right down the street.


On Saturday we opted for a roadtrip...somewhere I had never been, so that I wouldn't be bored with Lil J's vacation going to all of these places I've already been. We headed to Port Townsend, Washington, which is only 58 miles from Seattle, but takes about 2 hours on a good day given the wait for a ferry from Edmonds to Kingston. Lil J found out this weekend that her body doesn't like ferries so much. WOOOOZZZIIIEEE!

This place was choc full of hippies, which is usually the case when cool little towns are concerned (we know from experience...trips to Jerome and Sedona in Arizona come to mind). But, I will give you this...it had some of the coolest Victorian style buildings and awesome downtown architecture. There is one building down near the pier that stands out like a sore thumb. Love it.

We made it back that evening in time for a lovely seafood dinner with our guy pals, Joe and Kane, and then finished the night off at ZigZag Cafe located on the Hillclimb up to the Market. If you're ever in Seattle, this is the one place I STRONGLY suggest you go to for cocktails. Click here to check it out. Very amazing ambiance at this place...and the drinks are fucking fantastic. The bartenders there are well known for their mixology. You literally just tell them the taste you're looking for and they'll mix it up in a drink. We put this to the test. Lil J asked the bartender for a drink that tasted like a steak. You wouldn't believe the concoction he worked up. It was called an Old Pepper. This thing looked like crap water in a martini glass...had rye, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and god only knows what else, but the damn thing tasted like a seasoned steak. FREAKY.

I had a break from Lil J on the last day of her trip, as she was headed up to the San Juan Islands with our mutual friend, Kane, for a little adventure of their own. While she was absent, I didn't take the time to rest (go figure), but rather made my way out to a horse show in Monroe to cheer on my fellow riders from the barn. I spent the majority of my day there, too torn to leave, since it's the first horse show I had been to since March. The hardest part of being there...I WAS WITHOUT HORSE. It made me very anxious to get back in the show ring, but I know after some hard work with the trainer, my time will come again.

So, back to the point of why I'm dragging ass today. After the horse show, I stopped in to give my own horse some loving, then headed home for a snack. I vacuumed, played with the pup, threw in my laundry, then proceeded to beat the shit out of my legs. Literally...last night was legs, back, and abs for an hour and a half. I fucking hate lunges. My quads feel as heavy as bricks today. But, it made up for some of the sweets I allowed myself over the weekend. After this, I had to run Lil J to grab some dinner, and then it was time to pass out for a couple of hours...why only a couple of hours?? Lil J wanted to make the most of her vacation time, so her flight back to Phoenix departed at 5:05 a.m. THIS MORNING. Which means we had to leave my place at 3:30 a.m. to get her there in enough time. At least I got a couple more hours of sleep in after I got back. On the menu for tonight....laziness. (Who am I kidding...I will probably workout anyway.)

P.S. I'll be sure to post some cool photos from Lil J's trip in the coming days..they're stuck on her camera for the moment.

Song of the day: "Nineteen" Tegan & Sara (for those nice maybe-lesbians at The Tasting Room)