Down to Business

Here's my September feature article for Minnesota Business Magazine. Loved writing this one - enjoy! (FYI - it's on pg. 30 in the digital edition)

The Business of Education

Twins (don't) Win...

The Twins are here!!

We went Friday night and had a glorious time with our favorite team in town. We bought left field bleacher seats, but per usual, Luke insisted that we move down and sit in seats that are NOT our own. Now, I'm all for better viewing, but it makes my stomach turn at the thought of getting caught by A.) the rightful people that actually bought tickets for the seats or maybe worse B.) the people in turquoise polo shirts that guard the sections like hawks, just looking to swoop in on seat stealers like us. After one failed attempt to walk down the aisle without the section guard looking in which I froze and wouldn't move (and then got a scolding from Luke), we took another stab at it. However, the lady guarding the section saw us from ACROSS about 10 rows and walked all the way over to our seats to check our (incorrect) tickets.

This is how the conversation went (mind you, I had my head down the whole time):

Lady: Can I see your tickets?
Luke: (Rummaging in his pockets) Sure, where's my ticket? I know it's here somewhere. (And he is definitely trying to charm her the entire time). Oh, here it is! Row 187 right?
Lady: No. Nice try. It's up THERE (points to highest row in the stadium).

Busted. Then we began our shameful walk back up the stairs. My fears had been realized.

As we walked out of the section, some random guy had been watching the whole scenario play out. He grabbed our attention when we got up to the top of the stairs and told us to try two sections over, where the guy wasn't checking tickets. "Why do you think it's so full?" he said.

And so we did. And we didn't get checked. And here was our view. Phew!

Blue Angels

It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait - it really is a plane - the BLUE ANGELS! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Last weekend was SeaFair in Seattle - which is a basically a big old festival packed with lots of boat races and air shows. Lake Washington is usually full with boaters and everyone comes out to watch the festivities. Luke was very excited about going, so we made our way to the I-90 bridge, which they closed for the Blue Angels show. It was awesome!

Waiting for the show to start!

Here's a video from the show. Pardon my shaky hands and Luke's head at the end. Whoops :)

We were sweaty, that's for sure. But we had fun!

They are so incredible. It's really amazing how they can fly that close and stay in formation without even touching.

Summer in Full Swing

Until about a week or so ago - summer has been quite the tease. But we have FINALLY encountered some warmer temps and lots of much needed sunshine. Here are a few photos from the last couple of weeks!

Some of our friends got married last weekend and had the reception at this beautiful golf club, Newcastle, in Bellevue. You could see the city, the sound and the mountains in the background. It was lovely!

There's nothing like a mountain sunset...

Earlier this month both Luke and I went to a bachelor bachelorette party in Lake Chelan for the same couple that got married. Neither of us had ever been, so we had a lot of fun. The weather was HOT and it was a great getaway for both of us. Apparently, Lake Chelan is one of the deepest lakes in the US. Who knew?

One of the views from the house that we stayed at. It was way up on top of a hill, so we had an amazing view of the lake.

For the bachelorette party we went wine tasting one afternoon at a bunch of different vineyards in the area. Here's my friend Elise and me!

Hope to see you soon, Lake Chelan!

Joining the Business World

Well, I'm joining the business world - kind of. I've started freelancing for 

Minnesota Business Magazine! 

Check out my cover story below.

http://minnesotabusiness.imirus.com/Mpowered/book/vminnb12/i8/p1

Bet you've never read so much about marketing before, huh?

I love you, Lake 22.

On Friday, I took the day off to spend with Luke. We had thought of going camping or out of town somewhere - but we opted to stay home and go hiking instead. He took me to Lake 22, which is one of his favorite hikes. I've never been, so I was really excited to see what he's been talking about for so long.

And I was NOT disappointed. It was a beautiful sunny day (yes, I can confirm that summer has in fact arrived in Seattle!). We had a great hike up the mountain, and the view once we got to the top was nothing short of stunning. Take a look!

Our lunch spot!

After eating our lunch, we decided to do a photo shoot. Luke positioned the camera up on a rock and set the timer, to which he only had ten seconds to run across the snow and climb up onto the other rock with me. It was a trial and error kind of thing as you'll see below...

 I'm pretty much holding him up on the rock on this one.

We did it!

I can't wait to go back!

Fourth of July Fun

We hope you all had a fabulous fourth of July! Luke and I celebrated by getting donuts in the morning (very American of us) and barbecuing with some friends later in the day. Of course, Luke brought the paper bag FULL of fireworks that he's been toting across the country due to our many moves. Let's just say, there was a lot of fun that was had by the boys and those fireworks. Luckily, we were able to see a perfect view of the fireworks from our friends' back porch, so it was perfect. I even made a patriotic dessert. 

Behold. My fruit pizza!

Luke had the last three days of the work week off, so we took the bus downtown on Thursday afternoon to enjoy the weather. We got happy hour at a great seafood restaurant on the water. We were hoping to take a ride on the new ferris wheel they just put up on the waterfront pier - but the line was too long. However, I did take this lovely photo!