Weekend before last, Troy and I went to the Seahawks preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Troy got the tickets for free from one of his co-workers. They were pretty good seats, only about 20 rows up from the field at the 40 yard line, and normally cost over $100 each.

It was really fun going to a football game again and sitting in those nicer seats was cool. We got to see Aaron Rodgers play for the Packers and the Seahawks scored three touchdowns, if you can believe that. Unfortunately we forgot to bring our camera, so we don't have any pictures. I was surprised how late so many people stayed for the game, since most starters were taken out at half time. It briefly sprinkled a few times, but we didn't get that wet since the roof blocked some of it. We stayed until late in the 4th quarter. The Packers won 27-24, but it was still nice to go to a game for free. It made me wish football season would be here sooner.

We went to pick blueberries today in North Bend with a group of friends from church. Berry picking is a fairly common thing to do around here, but we've never done it before. We went to a u-pick farm to pick our own blueberries at the base of Mount Si. There were a lot of cars in their parking lot, but there were many rows of blueberries and we rarely ran into anyone.

Picking blueberries was a new experience for me, I've never looked at a plant to find food on it and then eat it. We had to move branches aside and reach toward the back to find the ripe blueberries. There were also some thorny invasive blackberry plants that scratched us a few times.

There were two different kinds of blueberries available for picking, one was sweeter and larger and the other was more tart and better for baking. We got a little of both and ended up with four pounds of blueberries. We'll probably snack on quite a few of these and maybe make a pie or a smoothie with some others. A lot of people pick blueberries and then freeze them for later in the year. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and something that we'll look forward to doing next summer.

We haven't done much hiking this summer, but we were able to get out for a hike on Saturday. We didn't want to do anything too difficult, or too easy, so we opted to go to Rattlesnake Mountain. It's not as hard as some trails but still has a great view. The weather was really nice for hiking, in the upper 60s. I got a little tired on the way up since I haven't hiked much this summer. It was a fairly busy trail, but not as busy as some that we've done. We spent plenty of time relaxing and enjoying the view at the top before heading back down. It's probably one of my favorite hikes in the area.

We'd been hearing good things about Paseo Caribbean Restaurant in Fremont and decided to go there yesterday. We'd heard the line can get long, so we tried to make it there shortly after opening, and as such, didn't eat anything for breakfast, expecting an early lunch. Still, we ended up waiting in line for 20 minutes to order. Lesley ordered the Midnight Cuban Press and I got the popular Cuban Roast.

There isn't much room to sit inside, so we got ours to go. We were very hungry, however we had to wait probably 20 more minutes for our food to be ready. Once it was ready, we drove to nearby Woodland Park to eat on one of the many picnic tables there. I was really hungry, and even though I doubted that any sandwich could be good enough to be worth waiting for more than 40 minutes, I was glad that I had something to eat.

Once I started eating, I didn't want to stop at all. It was really good! It was also very messy, but fortunately there weren't any other people nearby, so I didn't have to interrupt eating by wiping my hands and face. I did however still have to breathe, but that didn't slow me down too much. The bread was crispy on the outside but soft and tasty on the inside, the meat was incredibly moist and tender, the caramelized onions were thick and remarkable, and the aioli (basically garlic mayonnaise) added the perfect amount of flavor. Typically I like to try a bite of Lesley's sandwich and let her try a bite of mine, but I didn't want to give up a single bite, so I didn't suggest it. I was really hungry, so anything would've tasted good, but that sandwich was great - one of the best I've ever had.

Next time we'll have to call ahead to save the wait, but I'm looking forward to going there again.

The streetcar that runs through our neighborhood and ends downtown will have a new plaza built around it at its downtown terminus over the next few months. We don't ride the streetcar often, but we walk around the area, and that part of downtown will benefit from having a plaza.

The plaza is part of an effort to create more vibrant, urban spaces for people to gather and enjoy, said Charles Bookman, SDOT's director of traffic management. The plaza surface will consist of granite pavers, illuminated at night with inlaid LED lights. The plaza will feature a kiosk for food vendors, covered parking stalls for bicyclists, new street lighting and a rain garden to drain stormwater runoff.

A second boarding platform will be installed for streetcar riders. The South Lake Union Streetcar hit 2,193 weekday boardings last month, it's highest ridership ever.

I have this dream of going to London, Liverpool, and Dublin within the next few years. I love to travel and am especially interested in international travel. I'd like to see Big Ben, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Westminster, the Tower of London, Abbey Road, among several other things. In Liverpool, I'd obviously like to see all the places made famous by the Beatles such as the Cavern Club. Ireland and England are very close together and you can take a ferry between the islands. I'm not sure what I'd want to do in Dublin, but I'm sure there's lots of beautiful scenery and old castles to see in the countryside.

I'm sure it would be much more fun and easier to get around if we went with someone else or if we knew someone that lived there, like we knew our friends in Australia. It was much cheaper too because we were able to stay with them for a week instead of paying for another week of hotel rooms. International travel isn't cheap, but hopefully we can save up some money over the next two years and maybe go to London, Liverpool, and Dublin for our 5 year anniversary in 2012. Coincidentally the summer Olympics are being held in London in 2012, so we'd probably want to avoid those few weeks during the summer when it would be most crowded there. Or, we could go to some events if we wanted to spend a ton of money on it, but probably not, I guess we'll see what happens.

Last week I went to the podiatrist for the first time for my plantar fasciitis. I went back today so he could show me the x-rays of my feet and help me figure out which type of orthotics to get. He continued to explain how my feet have gotten this way. He said a lot of it has to do with genetics, but also the fact that I'm very flexible, which is a good and bad thing. The good part is that I could have been a ballerina or contortionist. The bad part is that my ligaments in my feet aren't as rigid and strong as they should be in order to keep my feet from pronating.

Looking at my x-rays was really fascinating and weird at the same time. When you're looking at feet x-rays, you're looking at 1/4th of the bones in your entire body, which I thought was crazy. Apparently my right toe bone is pointing toward the other toes by 13° more than it should. It's pointing toward my other toes to the right and my bone is sticking out too far on the left side of my right foot, if that makes sense. If I don't get this fixed now, it could obviously get much worse and eventually my toe joints would deform and fuse together, eliminating the tissue between my bones and causing arthritis and other ailments. My left big toe is worse than normal also, but not nearly as bad as my right big toe. Interestingly, I read online that 9 females to only 1 male have bunions. Also, I'm showing signs of a heel bone spur in my left foot, which is developing because of my pronation and plantar fasciitis.

So, the doctor looked at my hiking shoes and walking shoes and actually said they were pretty good. The key is for them to be pretty rigid and offer enough support. Three things are important to look for: 1) they shouldn't bend in the middle 2) I shouldn't be able to twist it too much when I'm holding it by the heel and the toe and 3) the cushioning around the heel should be stiff to where my heel doesn't lean too much one way or the other.

He showed me tons of different types of shoe inserts and we finally decided to make custom ones for my athletic and hiking shoes. So, they did the casting of my feet for the custom ones and they'll be ready to pick up in about 3 weeks. In the meantime, I also bought a pair of generic inserts for my athletic/hiking shoes to wear instead of my crappy insert I got from Foot Solutions. He showed me the difference between the Foot Solutions insert and the ones he had that I could order through him. The Foot Solutions ones weren't nearly as strong and supportive as his orthotics, so I can see why mine didn't help much. Once I get my permanent orthotics for my athletic/hiking shoes, he'll modify the generic inserts I got and make them fit my dress shoes, I think. Everything happened so fast and I felt rushed because I was late getting back to work (I went during my lunch hour).

Hopefully the permanent orthotics fix everything. Stopping the pronation sounds like the key to fixing my plantar fasciitis and my developing bunions. I'll keep everyone posted and give an update in early September.

We had some blueberries that we kind of forgot about in the fridge and didn't know what to do with them. I got the idea to bake a blueberry cobbler, so we used an online recipe to make it. A few of the blueberries were bad already, so we ended up walking to Whole Foods to get more, along with some vanilla ice cream.

I tried to make a blackberry cobbler before and it didn't turn out too great. I was afraid this would be the same, but it tasted great! The vanilla ice cream really complimented it well. It's one of the better desserts I've made from scratch. It has a ton of sugar in it, but it has fruit in it too, so it's healthy right? :-)

Earlier this year I mentioned that I have plantar fasciitis and that I went to Foot Solutions to get some shoe inserts to help. Unfortunately the inserts didn’t help and I still have plantar fasciitis, which I’ve had since February. I’ve tried all the following remedies, none of which have solved the problem:

• Icing my heel
  
• Stretching a few times a day
  
• Wearing a night splint
  
• Shoe inserts to help support my arch (which I was told was collapsing)
  
• Stayed off it for a week
  
• Reduced the amount of hiking we do
  
• Massaging my heel with a massage ball
  

So, I finally decided to go to the podiatrist to see if he could help me. I walked there after work yesterday since his office was only a 5 minute walk away from my building. It's so nice to work and live downtown and be able to walk places. Anyway, he diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis, bunions, and over-pronation. He said usually this problem happens over time and there probably wasn’t a single instance that occurred. I do believe that it happened in February because we walked around Vancouver so much and I wasn’t used to all that walking since we hadn’t done much hiking/walking during the winter.

He said I do not have high arches, just that I over-pronate and my feet become flat when I walk. The bunions have been caused by the over-pronation as well, although they haven’t gotten bad enough to bother me yet. They took x-rays of my feet while I was there and also taped my feet with some padding on the bottom. It felt tight, but the support seemed to instantly help my heel. The tape is only meant to last a few days and it’s best to keep them dry.

He recommended doing more rigorous stretching, continuing to ice my heel after activities, continuing to wear my night splint, and getting custom orthotics (shoe inserts). He said the generic ones I got from Foot Solutions are better than nothing, but that they won’t completely fix the problem. They aren’t cheap though and I haven’t met my insurance deductible this year, so I doubt insurance will cover any of the cost. The only other options are to have cortisone shots or surgery. I suppose it would be worth it to get custom ones made. I just wish I hadn’t wasted the money on the ones from Foot Solutions.

I’m going back to see him again next Tuesday so we can make the final decision on what to do. He told me to bring in all the pairs of shoes I normally wear so he can look at them and see how they’ve worn and how supportive they are and which type of orthotics would fit the best for all of them. If we decide to go with the custom orthotics, he will do a casting of my foot and send it off to be made, which takes 3 weeks. Hopefully this will allow my heel to heal and keep me from over-pronating.

Last summer we had an all-time record high of 103 in Seattle. We had several weeks where the highs were in the 90s.

But this summer has been completely different. Apparently, there has been a strong high-pressure system over a large portion of the Pacific ocean which has been pushing cooler air into Washington. When you add in storm systems coming south from Alaska, we've had lots of cloudy and cool summer days this year. Here's an excerpt from a Seattle Times article:

Since July 10, the data paint an even glummer picture: nine hours a day of low cloud cover, compared to the seasonal average of 1.6 hours.

This summer appears to be the most cloud-shrouded in Seattle since measurements were started in 1951, UW postdoctoral researcher Jim Johnstone said.

I really don't mind the cloudy, cooler weather. The weather is one of the reasons we moved to Seattle. I love being able to go outside and not being all sweaty after 5 minutes. It's too bad my parents couldn't have had this nice weather when they were here last summer. It cleared up this afternoon and should be sunny the rest of the week, with highs in the mid-80s this weekend.

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

Packed with restaurants, bars, and retail, Lower Queen Anne is a fun urban walk.


View Walking Lower Queen Anne in a larger map

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I've been wanting to go to Cafe Besalu in Ballard ever since someone brought in some of their croissants to work for breakfast a few months ago. So Troy and I took the bus to Ballard this morning and went to the small cafe, where the line was out the door. Cafe Besalu specializes in croissants and quiches.

I got the regular croissant that comes with a small container of strawberry jam and Troy got the strawberry danish and coffee. It was easily one of the biggest and best croissants I've ever had! It was perfectly flaky on the outside and nice and fresh and buttery on the inside. Troy's danish was also very good. I was still hungry though, so I decided to get a slice of the quiche Lorraine which comes with bacon, swiss, and green onions. It was fresh, hot, and delicious!

All together we spent about $11, which isn't bad for such awesome breakfast pastries. I liked the sign outside the cafe too, with a croissant hanging from it. I can't wait to go back again and get more croissants! We'll also have to try the blueberry or nectarine danishes next time. The more time I spend in Ballard, the more awesome it gets!

Target is opening a store in downtown Seattle! The Seattle Times wrote an article about it recently. They will be moving into a three story space on Second Avenue between Pike and Union streets, which is really close to Pike Place Market. Most of Target's 1,700 stores are in suburban areas, but there are a few in urban areas. This location will occupy a space of 103,000 square feet, a little small compared to a regular size Target, which is 135,000 square feet.

Troy and I can't wait until it opens! Ever since we moved here, we've said over and over how much we wish Target would build a store downtown. It will be so much closer to us and we'll be able to walk there instead of having to drive to the one at Northgate. Unfortunately, it won't open for at least a year. But I'm sure we'll be there the first week it opens!

Note: This post comes from my Walking in Seattle blog.

Enjoy the quirky local landmarks along this stimulating urban walk.


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This past Friday was my 27th birthday. It's kind of strange to be even closer to 30 now than 20. On Thursday we went to Discovery Park, not necessarily for my birthday, but I thought I'd mention it because it's a nice park with an awesome view of Puget Sound and Rainier to the south. I really enjoyed sitting on the beach listening to the waves crashing in and seeing the sailboats and ferries pass by.

I had to work on my actual birthday. My co-workers gave me a few cards and made peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies and spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and small chocolate chips inside and on top.

After work a few of them took me out to happy hour at Rock Salt right on Lake Union. Troy met us there after a little while. We actually had a nice view of the lake. I wasn't sure we would since happy hour is only served in the lounge, but we could see the lake pretty well. Someone got a few things for all of us to share and I also got the crab cakes and onion rings. I also had a glass of Chardonnay and a Mai Tai. The food was good and it was nice to hang out with some co-workers outside of work.

After happy hour, Troy and I went home and played some of our new video game we bought, Katamari Damacy. It's a cute, easy game where you roll around a ball picking up anything and everything until you get to the size required to complete the level. You have a time limit, so you can't just take an hour or something. It's entertaining and interesting to play.

Speaking of games, my sister mailed me a birthday present package that I got early last week and it had Soul Caliber II for the PS2 in it. It's a street fighter type of game and is really fun to play on 2 player mode with Troy. She also gave me a giftcard to the GAP to buy some clothes. There were also two cards in the package, which confused me at first, but then I figured out that one was from Lauren and the other was from my little niece, Evie! They were cute cards and it was neat to get my first happy birthday Aunt card.

We watched our Netflix movie, The Remains of the Day, which was a good, but sad movie.

On Saturday, Troy went to Noah's and brought back some asiago bagels and a super onion bagel for breakfast. Unfortunately they didn't have any sesame bagels, maybe next time. After bagels, Troy took me to see Toy Story 3 at the Pacific Place AMC downtown. It was a really good movie, possibly better than the first two.

Then we walked to Pike Place Market to grab a snack of macaroni and cheese from Beechers, easily the best I've ever had anywhere. We also saw goats eating grass on the hillside while walking to the waterfront to the market. Apparently some people rent goats from a company to "mow" their grass if it's on a steep hill and they can't get a lawnmower down there easily. Seeing the goats was kind of funny.

We went back to the apartment where Troy gave me my card and present, which was a National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the US. This will come in handy when we're planning our trips to the National Parks.

After that, Troy took me to Palisade for dinner. I told him to surprise me, but I suggested either Palisade or Seastar. We each got a glass of Pinot noir wine. I liked it more than I thought I would, it's much better than Cabernet in my opinion. I got a small salad and the scallops for dinner. They were probably the best scallops I've ever had, they were so good. Cooked perfectly and very tasty. They were sitting on a bed of black lentils and other toppings. Troy got the flash seared Hawaiian Opah fish with spicy coconut curry. We had a nice view of downtown and Mount Rainier.

We were stuffed from dinner, so we just chilled out the rest of the night and watched the Sounders beat the Earthquakes 1-0. We also played the collaborative game of Pandemic, which we lost unfortunately. It was a little difficult to get into at first because it's a little complicated, but I'm sure we'll get better at it the more we play.

I took a rain check for my dessert since we already had several desserts to eat around the apartment. Troy said he might make it later this week. Overall it was a fun birthday weekend.