My Nieces are almost 3 yrs old

I just had to brag, because my nieces are soo cute! They are turning 3 yrs old the end of April.

Here's a picture of them at an Easter Egg hunt at church:

Another Easter Pic:

Ashlee Simpson Before and After

Did you like Ashlee Simpson before plastic surgery or after? Even though she had a lot of work done, I really like her red hair and the way she has matured in her fashion. She doesn't look like she's a teenager anymore.

-----------------Kids Choice Awards 2004---------------------------Kids Choice Awards 2008-----------------------

McLeod Residence Pics

Wes is member of The McLeod Residence and this private art group is now open to the public. Here are some pics of Wes and I at the McLeod Residence before it went public. Right after these pics Wes rocked the bass playing Rock Band!

Pic 1


Pic 2

Pic 3

Here's some more info:

"McLeod Residence, located at 2209 Second Avenue in Belltown, is a commercial art gallery open to the public Thursday - Saturday, noon-6pm. The lounge is currently open Tuesday - Sunday from 6pm-2am."

BBQ Salmon Salad Recipe

Last Friday, Wes was flying home from Denver and would get in around 7pm. I thought I would surprise him with a delicious dinner. This is what I came up with:

Drinks:
Big Sky IPA Beer (he had never tried this brand and he loved it, score!)

Appetizer:
Crab Cake Tarts

Main Course:
BBQ Salmon Salad
- Salmon, that I marinaded that morning in Caribbean jerk marinade. When I got home from work I BBQ'd the salmon for about 30 minutes
- Romaine Lettuce, chopped up
- Cucumbers sliced and surrounded the outside of the plate in a circle
- Walnuts crushed
- Gorgonzola Cheese
- Lentils
- Tomatoes only on my salad
- Balsamic Vinaigrette to top it off

Dessert:
I had cookie dough ice cream, but Wes doesn't like dessert, so he had a beer!

He said this was the best salad EVER!!! I think i might have to agree with him. Sorry I didn't get a picture :(

Trip to Bend, Oregon Day 3

Even though today we were going to sleep in I still woke up at 6am and Wes slept in until around 8 or 9. We kind of sat around and watched a movie until it was time to fill our belly's with some food. We ate at this local place down the road from our hotel called The Victorian. My old co-worker said it was the best breakfast place around town.

After lunch/breakfast we used our free ice skating passes and skated at our hotels ice rink. You would think that it would be freezing cold since the rink is outside, but the sun was coming down on us and it was warm enough to take off our jackets.

Once we got tired of ice skating we headed down to the Old Mill Theaters to see the movie Vantage Point. The movie was about how the President Ashton (William Hurt) is attending a global war on terror summit in Spain. Then an attempted assassination of the president is told from several different perspectives.

For dinner we headed back downtown and ate at Toomies a delicious Thai restaurant. This place is a bit expensive for Bend, but the food tasted great and they had a jazz band playing in the front of the restaurant.

Once we got back from dinner we took advantage of the 3 hot tubs the hotel has and went in them and the dry sauna until bedtime.

Here are some pics of today:
The Victorian - breakfast place we ate at.

Me skating backwards

Wes karate chopping the air with his skate blade...

Trip to Bend, Oregon Day 2

Wes and I decided to catch the 8am free hotel shuttle ride up to Mt Bachelor to go skiing, even though the weather wasn't looking so good. When we were almost up there, I realized I forgot my goggles. So, we rode the shuttle back down and back up again. Luckily it only takes 25 minutes to get up to the mountain, so we were back up there by 9:30am. It was so cold, windy and snowing up there, that we only took a few runs the 5 hours we were up there. The snow was actually really nice, new and light powder, but it was just too cold.

We ate lunch at the Scapolo's Bistro in the Pine Marten lodge at the top of the hill. Then before we went home we stopped at the Clearing Rock Bar in the West Village lodge at the bottom of the hill.

When we got back into town we met up with my old co-worker Kelsey at another brewery in Bend called Cascade Lakes Brewery. They had some really good beers. For dinner Wes and I headed the a mexican restaurant the Kelsey recommended downtown called El Caporal. It was some of the best spicy salsa I've ever had.

Here are some pics of the day:
Wes and I in the Shuttle up to Mt Bachelor

Cascade Lake Brewery - Bend, OR

Wes wearing his new headband... sexy!

Trip to Bend, Oregon Day 1

Instead of driving the long 6 hours to Bend/Redmond, OR, Wes and I decided to fly. We left Seattle around 7:30am and arrived in Bend a little before 9am. I got out of the 30 person airplane in Redmond and said to Wes sarcastically "where are all the other planes?" The airport was even smaller than the Yakima airport.

We grabbed our luggage from the only baggage claim, got into our Kia Sportage rental car and drove the 19 miles to Bend, OR from the airport. Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm, we decided to check out the city of Bend. First, we drove through downtown, then to the Old Mill district and ended up on century drive eating breakfast at McDonald's. Wes had been craving hash browns and I always love the breakfast burritos. It has been a long time since I have actually sat down and ate at Mc D's. We looked out the window to see all the pretty snow falling.

After breakfast we found our hotel, the Seventh Mountain Inn to drop off our bags. We knew we wouldn't be able to check in for another 4 hours, but we thought we would give it a try. We had time to fill, so we walked up and down the streets of downtown and stopped at some cute boutiques and a local crepe/cafe shop called Batter and Beans to get some coffee. There were some comfy chairs in the front that we sat in and watched people and their dogs walk by. Wes ended up falling asleep in the chair, with his head back, mouth open and started snoring. I had to push him to wake him up, it was pretty funny.

It was getting pretty cold, so we got back in the car to warm up. We drive up to Tumalo Falls , not knowing that there was a 2.5 mile hike in the snow to actually get to the falls. We just made it to the parking lot and turned around to drive back to the Old Mill District. The Old Mill District is a cute, modern, new part of town that has nice shops like REI, Ann Taylor, etc... and a movie theater. We were going to see a movie, but there aren't too many good one's playing right now. There was a salon (Salon Estilo) up above some of the shops and I really needed to get my hair cut, so they squeezed me in. I let the stylist Shelby Reitan do whatever she wanted and she gave me a great cut!

We could finally check into our hotel, so we dropped off all of our stuff and headed to the Deschutes Brewery for dinner. The food was great bar food. When we left after dinner around 7:oopm, there was a 45 minute wait outside, so make sure to go early.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a stop at Rays grocery store to get a few things. Once we made it back to the hotel we hung out for a bit but went to bed before 10pm. OLD TIMERS!

Here are some pics:

Wes passed out in the coffee shop


The road/creek before the Tumalo Fall hike

Caffe Senso Unico in Seattle

This morning after I got my stitches taken out of my mouth at the oral surgeon, I stopped by Caffe Senso Unico on 7th and Olive Way in downtown Seattle. It's a cute little Italian coffee shop that offers Italian language classes. I didn't get a chance to see what date or time they are at, but you could swing by for a great coffee and a nice quiet atmosphere. They don't have rice milk, but they make a pretty good Chai Tea.

David Hernandez use to dance at Dicks Cabaret

David Hernandez from this season's American Idol supposedly quit his job from Dick's Cabaret to try out for the show.

Here's the full article from King 5 : 'Idol' nearly mum on contestant's past

Dinerware Company

Over the past month I've been to a few bars that have this software system that runs their business called Dinerware. Dinerware is a touch screen point of sale software system that is used in restaurants and bars. It takes just a few simple steps to add a new item, change a price, adjust the daily special and more.

This program not only speeds up the bartenders in helping their customers, but it saves the bar/restaurant money from human mistakes. It definitely helps out the Cafe Venus/Mars Bar with their fast service, even though they always have awesome people working there. The Bar Loft in Ballard was the other place I went to that had this system and I don't think it helped them out very much, or maybe they just needed more staff.

You might see the Dinerware logo driving south on the ballard bridge because their company is located on 4511 Shilshole Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107. Look for this logo: