Whoops!

Thursday night before I fell asleep I turned off my iPhone alarm, since I was spending Friday with my nephew.  Unfortunately I forgot to turn it back on last night so I am late today.  It dawns on me slowly in these cases.  First, I wake up refreshed (big hint) and then I notice that it seems a little lighter than it should be and then ....I remember the alarm.  Ah well, no big deal.

Thursday night my sister and nephew made their way to my little place and, since we had time before we had to meet people for dinner we stopped at Twigs for a cocktail.  I haven't seen my sister or nephew since August when I went down there for a visit.  That's too long, but Christmas got all messed up and this is the first she could get up here.  Dinner was loud and fun but I was exhausted, having woken up at 4 am Thursday.  Ali was also tired since they had to get up super early for their flight, so Kelli went back to the hotel downtown and Ali and I were both in bed and asleep by 9:30. 

Friday was a rainy day but we made the most of it, togging up for the weather and heading down to Pioneer Square.  We gallery hopped and ate a nice brunch and did it some more.  I fell in love with a painting, but it was a bit out of my league.   And all this time it is alternately pouring down rain or just blowing a bit.  That's spring in Seattle.  We made our way downtown looking for a restaurant for dinner.  It needed to be somewhere Kelli could walk to from the hotel.  I had Sazerac in mind - something not too fancy, but interesting.  We stopped in there for a beer and to check out the menu and it got a thumbs up.  All this time we're walking and walking in downtown Seattle, which if you didn't know, is quite hilly in places.  My foot was screaming by the time we finished our beers so we headed back home for a little rest.

Ali had a concert he wanted to see and Kelli had been working the convention center all day so dinner wasn't a long affair.  I must say though that I was a bit disappointed with my dinner.  Sometimes I'll order the vegetarian choice and on their menu they have listed "Ricotta Dumplings  Chard,Crispy Grains & Shallots, Parmesan".  That sounded good to me.  Something not too heavy, and savory.  I had a lovely salad to start and then ..... then they brought me a plate of gnocchi in a very rich sauce!  No sign of chard and the shallots tasted like those nasty fried onions that come in the can.  I ate about four and I was done.  Everyone else had super great meals though so that's nice.

We had a big party planned at Ben's for Saturday so that was a long day, broken up by a trip into Seattle to pick up Kelli and Ali.  The reason Kelli was up here was to work the ComicCon and the number of costumed people parading around Seattle streets was staggering.  When we were driving up to pick them up Saturday we saw a group of guys and one girl, all dressed in the same Flash costume.  It was hilarious.

The party was huge and long - from 3 until ... gosh midnight I think.  Everyone we invited except four showed up.  It was noisy and really fun.  Sunday I took everyone out for a gorgeous brunch, starting off with blood orange mimosas.  I think the brunch was the best meal I had all weekend.  Kel needed to be at the airport by 3 and I was home by 4 and simply wrung out.  All I wanted to do was sit and knit and sip some good wine, and that's what I did. 

I got the most wonderful early (WAY early) birthday gift Friday and I have hardly had time to think about it!  But now I can start getting excited.  What is it you ask?  Only a trip to Paris!  I still am trying to wrap my head around it.  I need to get a few ducks in a row but it looks like the soonest I can go will be July.  Which would actually be awesome since I haven't been to Europe in the summer in a very very long time.  But first -- I've got to get my day started and maybe this afternoon I can start day dreaming.