Four Years Ago Today...

...I met the man of my dreams, who would ultimately become my husband.

On May 31, 2006, Corey and I met for the first time, over a handshake (I know, I know, I'll never live this down), and then headed to Via Tribunali on our first date. We went back the following year for our anniversary, and after dinner, Corey proposed.

Last year, we continued the tradition by going back to Via to celebrate our first date and proposal anniversary on May 31, and will continue to do so every year for as long as possible.

I am the luckiest girl in the world - Corey is the best husband and best friend I could have ever asked for. Happy 'First Date / Proposal' Anniversary, hubby!

Photo taken on the Hunt's boat, during a surprise wedding send-off, just weeks before our big day.

Our New Addiction

No, it's not drugs or alcohol. Lately, we've become slightly obsessed with playing the lottery. When Powerball hit $97 million a few weeks ago, Corey and I discussed in detail over dinner one night what we'd do with that much money - trips to places like Australia, the Maldives and Europe; a new house on the water, with great views; a winter / vacation home in the tropics, early retirement (sorry, co-workers!), and so on. The next day, we bought our first Powerball ticket.

Over the last few weeks, we've switched between Powerball and Hit 5. (You have a chance at winning much more with Powerball but your odds are much lower than with Hit 5.)

Even though we'll probably never win, $1-$2 / week gives us a small (okay, minuscule) bit of hope that all our wild and crazy dreams could come true.

Powerball is up to $260 million - what would you do if you won???

Lovin' Lemons

There's something about lemons and lemon flavored things that scream summer - lemon bars, lemonade, and Fuzzy Zellars (sweet tea vodka and lemonade cocktails from King's Hardware) are a few of the things that come to my mind when I think of summer.

So even though the weather doesn't scream summer, it still seemed appropriate, given that June is just around the corner, to whip up Giada's Lemoncello Cheesecake Squares to take to Corey's mom's house for dessert tonight.

These, combined with cocktails Joan is making in honor of the release of the latest Sex and the City movie, will make for a perfect ending to this (so called) summer evening.

My take on Giada's recipe - I just topped each bar with a few blueberries to add some color.

Washington D.C. 2010

Corey and I just returned today from a fabulous Washington D.C. getaway. Corey had been there about eight years ago, but I'd never been so we decided a trip to visit our dear friends Spence and Renata was in order. (You remember them - we attended their Connecticut wedding back in October.)

Spence and Renata were the perfect hosts - allowing us to stay in their beautiful house, making us delicious meals, taking us to some top notch restaurants, and acting as our tour guides throughout the weekend. The weather was perfect - sunny or cloudy in the upper 70's for most of our stay.

Some of the highlights of our trip include:

• The Tourmobile, with stops at the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetary, and the White House.
• The JFK tombstone with the Eternal Flame and the Tomb of the Unknowns Changing of the Guards Ceremony within the Arlington Cemetary.
• Magna Carta, the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives.
• The Star-Spangled Banner, Judy Garland's ruby red shoes, and Julia Child's kitchen at the National Museum of American History.
• Amazing pieces of art in the Smithsonian Gallery of Arts.
• While very depressing, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was extremely well done.
• Drinks at the W Hotel rooftop bar, which overlooks the White House.
• Finally getting to see Spence and Renata's current house in D.C., which is so cute charming, as well as their recently purchased house in the nearby neighborhood of Chevy Chase, MD.

Below are a few of my favorite photos from trip. Check out all the photos from our trip here.

The Capitol.

The Lincoln Memorial...

And Lincoln himself.

View of the Washington Monument from afar...

And close-up.

Arlington Cemetery.

The Changing of the Guards ceremony was amazing.

We never did see Obama while hanging out in front of his pad. Weird,I know.

There's no place like home!

Which one is the true work of art?

Our fabulous hosts, Spence and Renata.

Enjoying the views from the W Rooftop Bar.

Spence and his adorable cats Lily and Cat.

Palm Springs Getaway

My mom and I just returned from Palm Springs after a fabulous mother / daughter weekend in honor of her birthday / Mother's Day. We had a fabulous time and are already talking about taking a trip there with my dad and Corey in tow in the near future.

We landed early Friday morning and didn't waste any time making our way to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets. With 130 stores to choose from, we had the first part of our trip cut out for us. While we both are usually on the lookout for good deals, neither of us expected to find the bargains we found there --- we made out like bandits! The best deal of the day was a pair of $208 pants for $29!

After the outlets, we hopped back in the car for the 20-minute drive to Rancho Mirage to check-in at our hotel and spend some time at the pool. With temps in the 90's, we were excited for some much needed sunbathing.

For dinner, we headed several miles away from our hotel to the El Paseo Shopping District and enjoyed drinks and dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza.

On Saturday, we geared up for a day at the pool with a breakfast of champions at The Palm's Cafe. It was highly recommended to us by the Reeder's and, with it being so close to our hotel, we definitely didn't want to pass it up. The omelets were delish!

After an afternoon at the pool, we hit up the nearby Macy's for even more great deals (i.e. a $79 skirt for $9!) and then made our way into Palm Springs (a 15-minute drive from Rancho Mirage) and swung into Blue Coyote Bar & Grill for cocktails and dinner. To wrap up our day, we spent some time at the Spa Casino, only to lose all of our gambling money.

We wrapped up our trip with some last minute souvenir shopping at Hadley, where we found all sorts of yummy treats to bring back to the guys.

All-in-all - a fantastic mother / daughter weekend and we can't wait for the next one!

We made it!

Enjoying the first dinner of our desert getaway weekend.

Ahhh...nothing beats a cool cocktail on a hot, sunny day.

A pretty desert sunset...

All photos from our Palm Springs getaway can be found here.

Happy Mother's Day!

Corey and I are so lucky to have such great moms in our life and we were so fortunate to be able to celebrate with them this weekend!

We started the weekend off with a trip to Yakima to spend time with my family celebrating both my mom's birthday (May 6) and Mother's Day with both my mom and grandma.

One of the highlights of our weekend was seeing the shock and surprise on my mom's face when she unwrapped the itinerary I made her to let her know what her gift from Corey, my dad and I was - a trip for her and I to Palm Springs, planned for next weekend! It'll be a great mother / daughter trip where we'll be able to spend time together shopping, enjoying the sun, doing a little gambling, etc. In addition, we enjoyed dinner at El Porton, sipping Starbucks drinks in the sun, and playing fetch with Roxy in my parent's backyard.

We made it back to Seattle this afternoon in time to celebrate with Joan with a homemade dinner at our place. After steak, grilled veggies and rice, we completed dinner with champagne cupcakes with champagne buttercream frosting. Good food and great company - couldn't have had a better ending to our Mother's Day weekend.

Thanks to our moms (and grandmas!) for being such great role models and for always being there for us. We love you!

Surprise! I'm so looking forward to our girls' weekend in Palm Springs!

Happy birthday, Mom!

Goofin' around...that's what too much sugar will do to you.

Random peacock chillin' at my grandma's neighbor's house...only in Yakima!

No trip to Yakima is complete without a few rounds of fetch.

Champagne cupcakes - yum!

Dreaming of Paradise

I'll start by saying that I know Corey and I just got back from Hawaii a month ago. That said, I'm still dreaming of summertime; long, hot days; and a deserted beach somewhere.

Work has been absolutely crazy for me over the past month, leading up to the conference I attended in Orlando last week. And I'm not going to lie - these cool, windy, gray Seattle days being thrown at us (in May, I might add) are really making me wish I was back in paradise, lounging poolside with a good book and my hot hubby.

Don't you wish you were here, too?

Photo courtesy of hot hubby; taken at Secret Beach in Kauai, while on our honeymoon.