Weekend Wanderings - November 9th-11th

The weekly post that provides my readers with all the cool happenings around Seattle for the upcoming weekend.  You will have no excuse to not get out and make memories.

Saturday and Sunday, Nov 10th-11th
Northwest Coffee Festival – Take part in this fabulous event for coffee lovers.  There will be a coffee crawl, prizes, free coffee, and tons of other activities.  Look for tons of gifts, coffee and desserts by Stumptown, Cafe Ladro, Chocolate Cakery, Cakes by CK, The Waisted Belt Co, Azula by Design and many, many more.

Details:

• Seattle Design Center (Georgetown), 5701 6th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
• 10am-6pm Saturday and 10am-5pm Sunday
• Purchase tickets here, $15 for Adults, $5/$8 for Youth

Saturday, November 10th
Couch Fest Films – This fest is quite unique, it is a cozy short film fest hosted on random people's couches.  Totally bizarre, yet intriguing right?  There are for volunteers that have opened up their homes for the event.  

Details:

• Locations here.
• Movie start times are at 1pm, 2:30pm, 4pm and 5:30pm 
• Feel free to "sneek" snacks in

Saturday, November 10th
Glitter Sale – The biggest sale of the year featuring designer clothes, gorgeous jewelry, vintage pieces and beautiful accessories.  Items are saved throughout the year for this event.

Details:

• 9am-6pm
• Seattle Goodwill, 1400 S Lane St, Seattle, WA 98144

Saturday and Sunday, November 10th-11th
America's Largest Antique & Collectible Show – The largest show in the Seattle/Tacoma area with 400 booths of cool, funky antiques, ranging from 1880s to the 1970s.  You can get your family treasure evaluated for $5.

Details:

• 10am-6pm Saturday, 9am-5pm Sunday
• Adult admission $6, Children 12-17 $3, under 12 free
• Free parking
• Puyallup Fair & Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave SW, Puyallup, WA 98371

Holiday Craft Shows and Bazaars
I love to hit up craft shows to help with my Christmas shopping.  The problem is then I end up buying stuff for myself, woops.  Here is a list of the upcoming craft fairs going on this weekend.

11/10, 2012 - My Friends & More Holiday Bazaar
Bothell, Washington
Location: IUOE Hall 18701 120th Ave NE
Contact Phone:  425-486-5864
Website: www.craftybug.com

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Wanderings: Sept. 28th-30th

The weekly post that provides my readers with all the cool happenings around Seattle for the upcoming weekend.  You will have no excuse to not get out and make memories.

Wednesday to Sunday, September 26th - 30th

Decibel Festival – The festival's concept is to provide live performances, interactive multi-media art, state of the art sound and technology based education.  This festival has solidified itself as one of the premier electronic music festivals in the world.  Some of the performers this year are:  Orbital, Kimbra and Cannabinoids featuring Erykah Badu.

Details:

• Multi-day festival for those beat lovers.
• Events are going on all over Seattle at multiple venues, to name a few: Paramount, Neumos, Showbox, Re-bar.

Saturday & Sunday, September 29th-30th

NW Chocolate Festival – If you are a chocolate lover, you can't miss this festival.  It is taste after taste of amazing chocolate, hand-crafted fine chocolate, artisan quality chocolate desserts, slideshows and storytelling by chocolate makers, tasting a fresh cacao pod, crushing nibs and tasting freshly conched chocolate in workshops, live muic and dj's for entertainment, culinary kitchen demo area with classes and award winning instructors, wine-bee-cocktail garden for the 21+, coffee and chocolate cafes, kids zone! and more tastes of chocolate than you can possibly eat in one day.  Whew that was a mouthful!

Details:

• 9:30am - 6pm both days, @ The Conference Center at the Washington State Convention Center, entered by street level on the NE corner of 8th and Pike
• Single day tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.  Go here to get a last minute deal ticket from Seattle Weekly Voice Deals.  You'll get your ticket for $15.

Saturday and Sunday, September 29th-30th

Festa Italiana Seattle 2012 – This is the festival that follows a week long of events, all celebrating the cultural roots of Italians and Italian-Americans in the Pacific Northwest.  There is  a promotion of arts, food, culture and everything that is uniquely Italian.  And my company, Oberto, will have a booth there, so go check it out. Apparently there is a bocce tournament as well; everybody is lucky that I'll be working so they have an actual chance.  Yeah, I'm pretty good at bocce ball.

Details:

• 10am-9pm Saturday, 10am-6pm Sunday
• Located at the Fisher Pavilion and surrounding grounds at Seattle Center.
• The admission is free, just bring your cash for food and fun!

Saturday, September 29th

Seattle Modern Home Tours – Some of Seattle's most creative homeowners, architects and designers are opening their doors to you!

Details:

• 11am to 5pm
• $25 gets you into all of the homes on tour, 6-10 homes.

Saturday, September 29th

Fresh Hop Throwdown at the Noble Fir – Some of the best Washington and Oregon breweries are throwing down their best hops.  Breweries include:  Anacortes, Bainbridge Island, Double Mountain, Elysian, Engine House No. 9, Everybody's, Fort George, Fremont, Hopworks Urban, Laurelwood, Naked City, North Sound, Schooner Exact, Snipes Mountain, Two Beers, and Wingman Brewers.

Details:

• Starts at 4pm at the Noble Fir, 5316 Ballard Ave. NW
• Bring lots of money for beer!

I have to work all weekend:(  But, I will be trying to check out the chocolate festival if at all possible!

Have a great weekend!

Fremont Oktoberfest

Last night Carly, my mom and I headed to Fremont to partake in their Oktoberfest.  I have to say this was one of the better tasting festivals I've been to.  It was so spacious and spread out that you didn't feel overcrowded.  No lines, clean port-o-potties (which is just insane) and lots of BEER options!  We each had 10 tasting tokens.  The search began for the beers that tooted our horns.

Momsky's taste:  hefeweizens and ciders
Carly's taste: anything that resembles Bud Light (yeah right!), it was a challenge
Alicia's taste:  anything at all minus porters and stouts

I'm getting ahead of myself.  First we had to make our pretzel necklaces.  Every time I go to a tasting event and I see people with these necklaces, I think "dang, I forgot again!"  I was not going to make that mistake again.

Pretzel bin ready!

Momsky, actively threading her necklace, inches of sobering power!

Carly, thinking that I'm a bit crazy but she'll go along anyway.

The Deschutes traveling taste-mobile, all the way up from Oregon.

I love me a good grilled cheese.  Early on I had to eat, since I didn't eat all day.  I knew what I was having.  The classic with some A (avocado).

The Grilled Cheese Experience truck.

Final product:  sandwich with a shot of soup, tomato basil.

We had to get in a good cuddle with the chicken, duh!

They had their image projected all over buildings; it was pretty fantastic.

We did some pretty amazing other things last night, but it was too dark to take pics with my phone.  They had this Ford contest where you kick this virtual soccer ball and try to get 50 goals in 30 seconds.  You look like a spaz, cause you're just rocking your leg back and forth as fast as you can.  I only got 23:(

After we spent Carly's tokens (because as mentioned before it was challenging to find beers she likes) we headed to Puyallup to meet up with an old friend in town from Portland, Kari.  The rest of the night was laughing, rude talk, nachos, pitchers and trying to make this one guy really uncomfortable.  He loved it, you could tell.  

I'm dreading summer being over, because the festivals go away, but I really do need to start saving money and learning to relax.

What cool festivals have you gone to this summer?

What's your favorite beer variety?

Weekend Wanderings - September 14th-16th

The weekly post that provides my readers with all the cool happenings around Seattle for the upcoming weekend.  You will have no excuse to not get out and make memories.

Friday, September 14th

Organic Beer, Cider and Chocolate Festival – An event that pairs craft-made chocolate with delicious ciders and beers.  They're also organic, which is fantastic.  It's also located at a chocolate factory.  Pretend you've got the golden ticket for a day and drink from the chocolate river.

Details:

• 7:30pm and beyond... 
• Located at Theo Chocolate in Fremont
• $20 admission for 10 tastes of beer or cider and 10 tastes of chocolate 

Saturday, September 15th

Taste of Lynwood – I'm not talking about what we all know as Lynn-hood, I'm speaking of an event in the heart of Bainbridge Island at the Lynwood Center.  It's a day full of:  music, arts and crafts vendors, food and a beer garden.  There are plenty of options for kids as well in the kid zone.

Details:

• 11am-8pm @ the historic Lynwood Center
• This is a FREE event with free parking, bring cash for goodies at the festival.
• Caspar Babypants will be on stage featuring Chris Bellew from Presidents of the United States of America

Good Fest! – Redmond Town Center's biggest kids' event of the year.  Full of train rides, music, balloons and games.

Details:

• 12pm-5pm @ Redmond Town Center
• This is a FREE event!

Sunday, September 16th

Blend – This is the third annual event of "The World's Best Wine, Food and Places".  It showcases Washington's hottest blends from over 40 wineries.  There is a barrel blending station, a bubble lounge and gourmet cuisine, plus a whole lot more.  Did you read that?  A BUBBLE LOUNGE with sparkling wine, champagne and oysters.

Details:

• 3-6PM @ Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Alaskan Way
• $49 at the door which gets you food and entertainment.

I will be checking out the chocolate festival on Friday, a Husky game Saturday and Blend on Sunday.  An amazing, action packed, fun filled weekend.

Have a great weekend!

What’s Going On This Weekend? In Seattle!

One of the qualities that I pride myself on is my social planning skills.  It comes from my love for Google-ing, my desire to be busy all of the time, and my need for adventure.  If you find yourself wondering, “What am I going to do this weekend?”, just ask me and I’ll give you options.  Here I will line out some options for this upcoming weekend.
Outdoor Cinemas
Friday, August 10th @ dusk (8:30ish)

Three Dollar Cinema @ Cal Anderson Park:  This is a free screening.  They offer popcorn, drink, candy and other concessions for purchase.  Limited seating so bring a lawn chair.  And remember, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.”
Saturday, August 11th @ dusk (8:30ish)

Fremont Outdoor Movies:  This one isn’t free, but only $5 for admission.  Doors open at 7pm and they provide some pre-show entertainment.  Movie trivia, a photo booth and more.  There are food trucks that make an appearance; Crisp Creperie and Parfait will be making an appearance for your tasty enjoyment.
Parties, Festivals and Other Special Events
Saturday, August 10th-12th

Seattle Tattoo Expo @ Seattle Center:  Go enjoy the art of ink at this annual expo.  There are artists and vendors from around the country, fun daily contest, and nifty events and performances.
Friday, August 10th, Noon-11PM

South Lake Union Block Party @ Denny Way & Westlake Ave N:  This is a FREE event with a burger grilling competition, beer garden, food sampling, children’s play area, and Dazed & Confused premiering @ dusk.  This one sounds like a blast.  Tons of local restaurants and food trucks will be there to fill your belly.  Deschutes, Georgetown, Lagunitas, Lazy Boy and Snoqualmie Breweries will quickly make you forget your long week.  Drink responsibly!
Saturday, August 11th, all day (tomato battle begins @ 4pm)

Tomato Battle @ Pyramid Ale House:  The Tomato Battle unifies as many as 5,000 fruit-chucking fanatics for an afternoon of dancing to music, sipping libations, and flinging 300,000 pounds of roma tomatoes at one another.  Wear a costume for the costume contest.  And be sure to bring an extra set of clothes!  Tickets are pricey ($50 bones), but can you put a price on throwing tomatoes at your best friend or frienemy?