Last Saturday morning I met Kristin and Reilly in the area between south Lake Union and downtown Seattle for their anniversary photo session. They were really a cute couple. Kristin has her own wedding consulting business and her husband, Reilly, works for the City of Bellevue. They just moved from Puyallup recently and still unpacking!

Yesterday was a very nice and warm day, and I just found this south Lake Union area very charming. It still has many old building and yet new offices and condos are rising. (Paul Allen’s) Streetcar also runs through this area. So we just walked around and had some really good time. Thanks Kristin and Reilly!

I do have one regret! After we split, I drove around a corner and saw the building for Jones Soda. Oh, that will be an interesting background!

The last pair is what I am talking about: Starbucks vs. Tully’s.  The latest news here in the Pacific Northwest is that Starbucks is introducing new espresso machine, etc. in an attempt to re-boost its performance.  Well, I hope they can get some good results out of it as lately I have been in serious doubt about their coffee. 

I drink on cup of short Americano daily.  No more, no less.  It gives me the necessary boost each day.  But I have been quite disappointed by their Americano.  It is very watery like, just a like a drip coming out of my own coffee maker.  On the other hand, for the several times I have ordered from Tully’s, when I open the lid, there is a thick, brownish form floating on top of the coffee.  One smell, it goes right into your heart…Ahhhhh, the aroma! 

For $1, 75, that’s something I am looking for.  And if I don’t see a positive change (“Change”, isn’t it a catchy term nowadays!), bye-bye Starbucks and hello Tully’s. 

I was not happy when Mr. Schultz dumped the Seattle Sonics to that guy from Oklahoma, just to be on the record.  Not to mention you have to pay a fee for using Wi-Fi at Starbucks.  What’s up with that?

update: today I ordered an Americano from a Starbucks Issaquah store.  Yikes!  Even worse. I think was only given a half of the shot.

This evening these two organizations (ABC - Association of Bridal Consultants) and ISES (International Special Events Society) had a joined dinner meeting at Hotel 1000 in downtown Seattle.  The theme was table top design.  Oh my, aren’t there some very talented people.  There were 12 specially designed table set up, each by a different individual with an unique design idea.  I felt so lucky sitting at one of the tables.  I was going to take some shots but the rush hour downtown traffic was so bad and I was terribly late.  Nonetheless, it’s great to see friends and colleagues and met some new people.

We are all fascinated by train, that big rumbling machine rolling on the tracks.  Here I panned my camera as it was flying by with a high speed.

And then I follow it to the train yard:

The curving tracks were beautiful:

But then…Oh-Oh, one train stuck in the tunnel, a piece of mountain had to be removed!

They were all model trains now showing at MOHAI. Absolutely fascinating!  My son and I spent two hours there the other day just to watch them.  The details were beyond imagination.

I won’t post any images from me this time.  I just want to mention the new site for ABC (Association of Bridal Consultant).  It was designed by Kristin Pittman of Focus Event.  Kristin herself is a wedding consultant and obviously a very, very talented and artistic web designer.  I used to hate to go to the old site, but now after she completely re-designed it, it is a pleasure to browse through.  The design is simple and artistic and it flows very smoothly.  What a great job!

My son loves to go to uncle Jon’s place in Ballard.  Going to uncle Jon’s place automatically means something good to him:  1. he got to hang out with dad and since he normally behaves, dad always reward him with some goodies.  2. uncle Jon lives in a cool place and he has a cat called Theo.  3. uncle Jon himself is a cool guy and is a natural kid person.  and then, after dad chats with uncle Jon for a while, we all go to this cool Pizza place.

As we live in a suburban area east of Seattle, I love to visit the city and visit my good friend Jon and I always take my son Anton with me as he likes the experience too.  Last Sunday we first strolled around Golden Garden beach and then headed back to Ballard to hang out with Jon.  Lots to catch up over coffee, pizza, and micro-brew.

Not really a wedding ring situation, but after I looked at a photograph I took earlier this week, this ‘Got ring?’ comes in mind

There is a small zoo (Cougar Mountain Zoo). It’s tiny and expensive. It has some cougars and lemurs, etc. But the unique part is that it host many beautiful macaws, and you can get really close to them (touching and feeding are not allowed). I took my son there the other afternoon and we spent all our zoo time at the macaws. Look at the first image.  Does it look like a bride asking her man “Hey, got yours?”