Seattle

Pike Place Market

My honey and I drove down to Seattle for the Victoria Day Long Weekend. We had a wonderful time exploring the city- taking in the sites, cheering for the Mariners, eating amazing seafood! Check out my guide to Packing for Seattle.

The Very First Starbucks


Fishmongers, Pike Place Market

Sur La Table

Byrnie Utz Hats

Pioneer Square

Safeco Field

The Space Needle

Myrtle Edwards Park

Seattle Marriott Waterfront

Check out Seattle Band, Hey Marseilles:

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Packing for Seattle

My honey and I are heading down to Seattle this weekend for Easter. We’ll be staying at the luxurious Edgewater Hotel, a romantic Alaskan lodge-style boutique hotel right on Elliott Bay next to Pike Place Market! Ominous forecasts can’t touch this excitement!

As a girl who’s all too familiar with rain (Dublin,Vancouver) I thought I’d share some packing tips for rainy climates:

Black Trench Coat- Banana Republic
Tan Trench Coat- Banana Republic Black
Leather Motorcycle Jacket- Armani Exchange
Charcoal Moto Jeans- Current/Elliott
Light Grey Cardigan- House of Cashmere
Black and White Racerback Tanks- American Apparel
Little Black Dress- Vince

The Trench is the iconic rain coat and the ultimate Classic Wardrobe Item (CWI). I also love a motorcycle jacket in the rain because the more worn and beat up the leather the better! One of the most bewildering rain dilemmas is when the hem of your trousers starts soaking up water and transporting it up to your knees. Cue the bugles: enter the skinny jean, a godsend for the rainy day city girl. Simply tuck them into some cute boots and you’re on you way!

Harness Boot- Frye
Clogs- Miu Miu

Frye Harness Boots are my go to skipping-over-puddles boots. The leather is so sturdy that they can withstand the most blustery conditions. And they look cute with absolutely everything, giving any feminine look a strong edge! I love them so much that I also have them in burnt red, which will be perfect for next season given what was showing at fashion week! I feel I would be remiss not to mention Hunter. I don’t own a pair (yet!), but I do think they’re super cute and practical and Kate Moss always looks adorable rocking them at Glastonbury! Clogs are no good in the rain, wood warping and all, but I absolutely can’t wait to wear these beauties!

Black Cashmere Scarf- Neiman Marcus Menswear
Check Scarf- Burberry
Black Leather Gloves- Florence Flea Market
Charcoal Elbow-Length Cashmere Gloves- Club Monaco
Light Grey Elbow-Length Cashmere Glove- Club Monaco

It’s always good to have plenty of warm, soft things to bundle up in! And nothing says rain-chic like Burberry!

Tote Bag- Yves Saint Laurent Muse
Digital Camera- Sony
iPod- Apple
Wallet- Louis Vuitton
Sunglasses- Oliver Peoples
Notebook- Moleskine
Pen- Cross

I never go anywhere without my camera and notebook- you never know what you’re going to encounter! My iPod and I are also pretty inseparable. I love listening to a good book on a road trips! Right now I’m listening to The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle. I love a good wine mystery, like The Billionaire’s Vinegar!

Clutch- 3.1 Philip Lim “Erego”
All Makeup- Guerlain
Perfume- Chanel Allure Sensuelle

Squamish & Brackendale, British Columbia

Photo courtesy of Winkyintheuk
Bald Eagle by the Squamish River

My honey and I got patriotic on Sunday and hit the road in our 88 Oldsmobile to spend the day bald eagle watching in Brackendale, BC. More bald eagles congregate in the Squamish Valley during the winter months than anywhere in the world!

It felt like an Irish day, the winter sun demur behind a tulle veil of mist that lay suspended across the pallid landscape, so naturally we stopped for fish and chips and Old Jamaica Ginger Beer along the way at The Wigan Pier.

Photo Courtesy of Derek Purdy
Brackendale Eagle Provincial Park

With hearty sustenance to keep us warm, it was on to the dyke along the Squamish River across from the Brackendale Eagle Provincial Park. I got a beautiful photo of what to my chagrin turned out to be a mere gull- I had suspicions from the wonky way it was flying- before the camera batteries gave in to the cold (hence, my reliance on flickr to spin this yarn).

When we were driving away we saw hundreds of birds circling the sky above mountaintops. I cannot be sure they were bald eagles, so this isn’t quite the classic anecdote I’d hoped it to be, but I like to think they were. Mission accomplished!

Photo courtesy of Patrick Doheny
Shannon Falls

On the way home, we stopped at Shannon Falls, which was simply stunning. But now I’m just showing off!

Looking Forward to in February

Photo: Style.com
11 February: Fashion Week

Fashion week kicks off in New York- then on to London, Milan, and Paris!

Photo courtesy of Tim in Sydney
12-28 February: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

I fell in love with the Nagano Winter Olympics (devotees will recall my Johnny Moseley impression)! There’s something so Nancy Drew meets James Bond about it all! Living in Vancouver for the past couple years, it’s been so exciting feeling the anticipation for 2010 build! If I’m incommunicado during the games, it’s because I’ve either set up camp at LiveCity, am enjoying the craic at Irish House, or trying to track down Stephen Colbert! T-11 days and counting!

14 February: Valentine’s Day

15 February: Pup’s birthday

Bowie turns 2! Hopefully she won’t become an angstful teen!

19 February: Shutter Island

Scorsese and DiCaprio are such class acts for making such first rate films- The Departed is my all time favorite! Paramount, not so much for pushing back the release date. As if Martin and Leo weren’t enough of a draw, Denis Lehane’s brilliant homage to classic Gothic literature is storytelling at its absolute best. Tom Stechshulte reads it wonderfully.

28 February: Hyannis Marathon

I’ll be cheering my sister on as she runs her first marathon. Go Doone! I’ve already been promised the exclusive interview, so stay tuned!

February: Road Trips

To the North: The Sea to Sky Highway. To the South: The Pacific Coast Highway. It doesn’t get more beautiful than this! Cue the wide shots and Wagner in the spirit of James Bond zipping along the corniche. Well…more like Canned Heat in the spirit of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty going up the country in their old jalopy.

This one goes out to Skinz:

Doone, is that Audrey Griswold at :22 seconds?!