Our Space Needle Date

We had a great date night at Seattle's most recognized landmark, the Space Needle!  The evening was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better experience!  To top it off, Josh had checked weather several days in advance and decided that last night (Tuesday) was probably our best option for clear skies.  For February in Seattle, he truly picked the perfect time!  Not only did we ride the elevator to the observation deck, we also dined at SkyCity Restaurant, a rotating restaurant looking over the city from 500 feet above.  This is where we were able to enjoy the sights and flavors of Seattle!

The views were incredible!  One particular thing that we chose to do was make our reservations for the first dinner seating at 5:15PM.  That was the the best decision because we saw it during daylight, sunset, and dark!  Perfect!  

The food was great!  With tourist attractions, it's always a gamble if the food is good or not; however, we LOVED everything and we know why this restaurant received the restaurant of the year award a couple of years ago.  We shared crab cakes as an appetizer, Josh had filet mignon and crab legs and I had peking duck for entrees, and then we shared a dessert!  The dessert thing was pretty funny because Josh is all about some chocolate cake and I'm all about ice cream.  We weren't going to get a dessert at all until my wise-guy husband discovered the option where he could get a hot chocolate cake that came with ice cream!  ha!  And to top it off [literally and figuratively] they had Makers Mark ice cream!  Seriously!  You know this Kentucky girl was all about that!  It was really good......anyone know if they make this in Kentucky (or anywhere else for that matter?!)!

If you're interested, you can read history and fun facts of the Space Needle.  One particular fun fact that I will point out and I think is so cool:

"In 1966 11-year-old Bill Gates, now Microsoft chairman and co-founder, won a dinner at the Space Needle restaurant offered by his pastor. Gates had to memorize chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, better known as the Sermon on the Mount, and he recited the sermon flawlessly."

I think the following pictures can tell the story of our wonderful date night:

 

As you can see, we had the best time together as we enjoyed the Space Needle!  Here are some tips for those of you who might travel to Seattle and are thinking of doing this attraction.

1.  Do this attraction!

2.  Go for the gusto and dine at SkyCity Restaurant!  Yes, it's on the high-end of price, but it's so worth it!  So do what we have done and skimp and save in many ways, then go enjoy this place without restraint!  Trust me with this.....don't just go to the observation deck.  I promise that the views and experience in the restaurant are worth the difference! (and I am an extremely frugal person, kind of a tightwad to be honest, so trust me and do the restaurant too.....see #4 for further reason!)

3.  Make your reservations early.....as in days or weeks (in high tourist season) in advance!

4.  When you dine in the restaurant and spend the minimum (which is not hard to do), your observation deck tickets are included -- that's a value of $18 per person!  (which can go a long way toward your meal price)

5.  Depending on the time of year and the season, try to make your reservations where you get to see both daylight and dark while you dine.  Seriously.....this is one of the best decisions we made!

6.  They have daily specials (not cheaper, but a different and nice selection) that are not on the menu....which is what Josh ordered his meal from.  We didn't know this until we arrived, which is fine....but since I'm all about knowing info ahead of time, I would have called earlier in the day to ask what the choices were.

7.  Right now there is a $25 gift certificate (off a minimum of 2 entrees) for purchase on restaurant.com (after the coupon code I used, I paid $3 for it)....this definitely helps!  However, if Josh and I were going again we would stick to our usual behavior of sharing an entree when dining in a restaurant.  That is the only thing we would have done differently.....we would have split one entree instead of each ordering our own.  Add to that the appetizer and dessert, of course. Instead, they boxed up leftovers to go so I will warm those up for lunch today.

8.  It was also nice to go during a season where there are nearly no tourists in Seattle.  The place was not busy or crowded, so that was nice!

9.  The restaurant had a professional photographer come and make a picture of the table.  The cool part is that you don't even have to buy the picture from them.  If you want to order a photo you can or you can opt for the free email of your picture.  We did that and it arrived within minutes.

10.  The waitstaff was amazing!  They kept our drinks refilled and were very friendly.  Also, the waitress was so kind to take our picture multiple times.  On her own she came to us and said "The sun is setting, let me get another picture of you two!"  She grabbed my camera, put in on the right setting (on her own and without my instruction) and took the pictures!  I thought that was a very nice gesture!

*If you don't believe me and only care about the space needle for the views of the city and you absolutely refuse to dine in the restaurant......save your money and just go to the base of the needle to get pictures and then go to the Columbia center for the views.....Columbia tower is much taller so you can see more and it's only $5 per person.  But still, you should trust me and do what I already suggested! :)  

And since we have already been asked, this wasn't set-up as an early Valentine's dinner; however, I'm cool to go with that and say that we've already celebrated V-day!  That way we can just stay home since we return Friday night after nearly a month away.  :)

I am no tour guide, I am just really pleased with our evening and how much fun we had!  We knew it was a rare and blessed opportunity that we get to do this, so we took advantage of every moment!

Our trip is winding down and we have had a great time!  We are in awe of how blessed we are to share this opportunity together!  There are some things in our life that are far from perfect, but we have chosen to dwell on how we have been blessed by God and enriched through this experience!

Doing Life!

We've been really busy "doing life" in our new town!

Here's a quick re-cap of what we've been up to!  (when I had my camera)

 Last week we had some friends over for dinner at our condo.  I am proud to say that I actually cooked the entire meal and also made pumpkin pie and baked banana chocolate chip muffins.  Three points for me being domestic! 

 Last Saturday was the local Race for the Cure and we were proud to join the R family in support our mutual friend, Leslie, who is currently in KY battling breast cancer.  We made posters and cheered for the runners!

Here we are out early and ready to go!  We were so excited for the runners to come by!  The R family's porch was the perfect place to spectate!

If I were a runner and these cuties were cheering me on, I would definitely be motivated to do well!  They are just too cute!

This was the first runner who came by!  He was fast!

 More participants for the cure!  Some of the costumes were very creative!

Definitely sister teamwork!  Love it!

Fun at the park!

Couldn't you just eat them up?!  They are THAT SWEET!  Love these kiddos!

I have scored some major deals this week!  It all started Sunday afternoon when we just had to pick up a few things from the grocery.  I noticed some large bottles of detergent clearanced for only $3 each.  I knew it was a deal, so I bought 3....that should last a few months!  Then a couple days later I saw the exact same thing in another store priced for $12.97!  Oh yes, pure excitement!  There must have been a major overstock where shelves needed to be cleared and I'm thrilled to have lucked out on this savings!

I also found some amazing deals for a few clothing/accessories this week!  Seriously, I am pumped!  For about $25 I scored two shirts, a dress, a purse, a pair of sandals, and a lip gloss!  Thankyouverymuch!

Our move has made us realize that we needed more file storage space.  Nothing too fancy and basically something we could easily store in a closet.  I kind of dreaded this purchase because I knew the last time we bought a file box it was between $15-$20, which in my opinion is ridiculous for molded plastic.  So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I found these regularly priced for $24.99 each, on sale for $9.99 each....combine a $10 off coupon and a $4 rewards certificate......guess who scored these babies for about $3.50 each!  Deals like these make filing fun!!  (Too much?)

We decided to dine at our local Quizno's last night (yes, I had a coupon!) so we rode our bikes there!  I caught this picture when we were stopped waiting for traffic to clear for our crossing.  However, the true story was that my husband was biking while holding a drink in one hand and talking on the phone in the other!  Hello, Mr. Superdupercoordinated!  Long story short, before I took this picture I had to find a trash can for my drink because it was just too complicated and my safety was definitely at risk. (I kid, I kid......well, kind of)

 Here we are on our bike route after eating at Quizno's! 

And this picture sums up why my alarm clock went off at 4AM this morning!  I joined with 10 other ladies from Seacoast Church to take breakfast to a shelter downtown.  Amazing group of women!  Love them!

And here's my Thursday Bible Study group!  There are actually multiple classes being held at the same time each Thursday, but this is the group I study God's Word with each week.  I have definitely been challenged (in a good and growing way) by these women. 

 

 

Except today I didn't join the ladies for study and instead spent some time with the 1-3 year old kids while their mommies were in class.  Talk about a confidence boost!  I was exhausted by the time it was over, but just imagine 3 hours of being hugged and loved!  Seriously, they are precious and I love them dearly!  We had 12 in our group today and I am excited to say that we played with dolls, cars, and balls, read books, practiced our colors and animal noises, watched (and sang to the tunes) Veggie Tales, sang "Jesus Loves Me," and I even made a few imaginary phone calls on the pretend cell phone to let grandmothers know that their grandchild was having so much fun today and is such a great kid!  (I definitely dig their huge imaginations!) 

Tonight Josh and I played tennis at the park and had fun with that!  I'm quite exhausted to say the least, but that's a good thing because we're having so much fun!

With love from Charleston!