3 days at work? I need a vacation!

Getting back to normal life after such a lovely vacation is always hard, so planning a second vacation the weekend after you get back is a nice way to ease back into things. 🙂 T. and I had planned a trip to Orcas Island for our anniversary before I’d really thought about it’s scheduling proximity to the training camp, so it wasn’t a completely intentional plan, but I must say a very pleasant accident. We headed up to Seattle early so we could have the day to hang out with M. and other friends before heading up to Orcas tomorrow.

Arriving at M’s we got to meet the infamous Fergus (her new kitten) who apparently was being a maniac just prior to our arrival. But all we saw was this:

All together now: “awwwwww… ”

We proceeded to hang out at M’s place for a little while, eating J’s baked goods (delicious banana bread and ‘regular bread’ plus something called ‘Anzac biscuits’ which taste like oatmeal cookies and are addictive… ) and taking photos of the cats being cute:

Hanging out with Martha, you get used to this view of her:

But since it results in amazing photographs, it’s totally worth it…

I didn’t want him to feel left out, so I shot a quick photo of T:

Doesn’t he look thrilled to be photographed?

Since it was a gorgeous day outside, we decided to take a little walk through M’s neighborhood. There were some eating stops (Jamba Juice, Top Pot donuts) and a few little browsing stops at some cute shops and it was a nice little meander through the lovely Queen Anne neighborhood. Along the way, we came across this hilarious customized bike finish in the back of a pickup truck:

(It’s Astroturf, if you can’t tell… )

The last time I was in town, M. had told us a hilarious story about the express line in the Safeway that she’d inadvertently gotten into with a cart full of groceries because it was “confusing” and poorly marked “except for the sign” etc. Since we’d heaped abuse on her, we decided it was time for some photographic evidence of her story. So here’s the incredibly poorly marked express lane at the Queen Anne Safeway:

Hmmm, it does have those confusing balloons blocking the all important second ‘s’. Plus there’s that full-sized conveyor belt…

And here’s M. at the scene of the crime. She’s such a good sport…

When we got back to the house, J. had called to let us know he was leaving work early to come hang out, so he showed up not long after we’d gotten home. Being the good host, he shared with us his newest discovery – an amusingly vile product called Chelada:

Finally, the great taste of Bud Light and Clamato, together at last!

Being the adventurous folks we are, we agreed to try some. (And by some, I mean the tiniest sip known to mankind… )

It smelled far worse than it tasted, which was also pretty bad. Amusement wise, I give it two thumbs up, but taste-wise, there aren’t enough thumbs down in the world…

Meanwhile, Ms. Cyclone was stuck in traffic on her way home from work and would call in with sad little dispatches from the road. Upon hearing about the Chelada, she was less sad about missing out on the pre-dinner beverages. But finally she survived the horrible traffic and made it over for a much needed glass of wine and some photographing by M:

After a little wine and relaxing, we headed over to Via Tribunali – an awesome little pizza place that we’d passed on our walk earlier in the day. It has a great atmosphere and really delicious pizzas. I didn’t take many pictures in the restaurant (because I need my flash when I take pictures inside and I HATE when people take a bunch of flash photography in a restaurant… ) but I couldn’t resist taking this cute shot of M. previewing her photos:

It was a wonderful evening, filled with wine yummy food and lots of laughter. When we got back to M’s house, J started prepping another loaf of banana bread and fresh bagels for our breakfast tomorrow. I love hanging out with my Seattle peeps!