Starbucks Reserve

I've had this post in my drafts since December 2014 and thought I would finally post it:

So Starbucks has a Reserve Store, which is like a huge, glorified fancy Starbucks cafe. The Friend took me there after seeing The Hobbit (!!), and I had a wonderful time wandering around.

It's made up of four different sections. There's a restaurant by the well-known Tom Douglas that serves pizza and wine in one corner. In another is a coffee-tasting bar. Then there's the place where they roast and bag the beans; sort of a factory-like setup. And of course, the baristas and where they make regular Starbucks orders. It was truly an experience I hadn't had elsewhere, and I was really happy to be there.

The Friend was a great sport about me taking all these pictures, which was wonderful too, haha.

We got a seat at the "bar stools" where we could watch the baristas make the drinks. It was quite busy there, and a great way to remove ourselves from the general crowdedness (it recently opened here apparently).

If you got your drinks "for here", they served them on a wooden platter with complimentary seltzer water and an almond cookie. The overall building had tons of wood accents, which lent a nice ambiance among the dreary Seattle weather.

Their mugs have the star and R logo that represents the Starbucks Reserve (SR).

The Friend and I got espresso drinks specially served at SR.

Summer: Leavenworth

Hello! It is near freezing here, and supposed to snow on Saturday. But heck, what better time to look back at summer? I love winter, all bundled up by the fire with tea, but sometimes summer sounds really good. Like right now when my dorm room refuses to budge above 66.5 degrees F. Boo.

I found these lovely pictures from when I went to Leavenworth last summer. When I was little (and gas was cheaper), my family would hop into the car for an impromptu drive, and often find ourselves 3 hours away, in Leavenworth. It is a quaint little Bavarian village, known for its friendly atmosphere, trails in the summer, and skiing in the winter. 

I had never been to Leavenworth during the summer (for some unknown reason, since summertime is by far the warmest and the prettiest...)... and this was a wonderful opportunity. Usually my family's trips to Leavenworth are more along the lines of "passing through Leavenworth" or "dinner in Leavenworth," so this was the first time we were here to actually spend some time exploring it. I looked up trails to possibly hike, and found events that were in town during our stay.

In the end, we went on three hikes, two with the whole family, and one with just my brother and I. We also went to an outdoor play, which was absolutely beautiful, though I don't have any pictures from it, unfortunately.

The first hike was around Blackbird Lake. It was a nice family hike, but still afforded some lovely views. 

    

This was one of my favorite views (and picture) from the hike. This is the Wenatchee River, and as as you can see, the weather was beautiful. I like the dip of the mountains and the clouds leading you off into the distance in the center of the picture.

I really liked the pure-white-ness (now a valid word and description) of this flower, though unfortunately my camera seemed to lose the details in the center.

We passed these kids having some fun in the water. The boy was very enthusiastic about acting out a scene in his imagination, while his sister was a little more cautious about the water.

Our second hike was just The Brother and me. I'll be posting a separate post about that one, in an effort to keep this from being a gigantic post, and because that hike in itself was one of my favorite memories from summer.

The last hike was a short nature trail:

It was a combination of trees, a river, a plain, and mountains. Here, you can see three of the four. I thought the little cloud in the dip of the mountain made for an interesting composition. Now that I look at it, it reminds me of the Eye of Sauron. Any Lord of the Rings fans?

Hope everyone is staying warm!

Destination: Home

Hello! Yes, I'm back. I spent the last 4 months in a wonderful state of mind, and this allowed the blog to slide. I would apologize, but the past few months were amazing and so I'm not sad. I was simply busy enjoying life. However, now it is the new year, and I have a wonderfully persistent boyfriend who has been encouraging me to post more pictures here. So let's start with these!

Also, I realized that I think it makes more sense for descriptions/introductions of the pictures to be written before presenting the picture. Does it? And I'm trying out the text flush to the left. Just fyi. Anyways, onwards:

One of my good friends was in town for perhaps the last time (she moves around a lot, and my hometown is a bit out of the way), so one of my friends and I took her sightseeing and touring around the city. Honestly, this was the first time I've ever been a tourist in my city, so it was quite exciting. We all had a lot of fun together, and with the city.

It was a bit overcast (in other words, a real Seattle day) but not too cold. We started down at the Waterfront, where the new "Great Wheel" was just put in a few years ago. I'm not sure why, as I'm not entirely sure it's stable or safe (it's tall, metal, and on a pier in an earthquake zone...does this not raise red flags for anyone else?). However, the Sound was quite calm, and offered a really nice reflection. One of our iconic ferries was coming back as well. If you've never been on a ferry, please ride one. You don't even need a car. It's so much fun. And if you take it at sunset, it is beautiful.

And of course we had to go to Space Needle. By this time, we were being spoiled by the sun which decided to grace us with its presence. It made for a beautiful blue sky, and very very cold temperatures (there's always a trade off, isn't there?). We actually went up the Space Needle, which was really fun. As "locals" it was fun to point out our neighborhoods (my friend even found her house).

I really like that in this picture below, you can see all the trees surrounding and framing the Needle. I find it representative of Seattle, which is ridiculously eco-friendly, and the balance of the city with nature (Washington is the Evergreen state).

I also like the composition of the clouds and blue sky. It is quite pretty, and draws your eye up the Needle.

We went a few other places as well, but I couldn't let my friend leave without showing her this gorgeous view of the city skyline. The lights at night are beautiful, and this is my favorite lookout point. The light was a bit green/yellow, due to the clouds coming back in and oppressing all the light. But nonetheless, it is still quite lovely. I love our skyline.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to 2014!