Neighbor!!!!!

My good friend Lisa from my neighborhood in Downingtown was a huge calm in the storm for me over the past few months.  She's a nurse practitioner at Riddle Hospital and when everything happened in December she was honest with me about the long road ahead.  She is a super calm and even person and a low maintenance, chill person who is so joyful to be around.  We have always shared many similar interests in food, music, culture and more.  When we were deciding treatment options Lisa read the medical journals for me and helped me to decide which was the best course for me.  As with all of my visitors we had no idea what shape I would be in upon their arrival.  Having Lisa here made me feel a little more adventurous and so I'm excited we got to do so many fun things.  

Lisa arrived Sunday evening and we all stayed up way too late chatting.  Monday morning, Lisa and I started out in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, which I am not that familiar with.  We walked around Volunteer park with an iced coffee in hand, just catching up and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  

We grabbed an awesome lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then headed to get the kids.  

We planned ahead of time that we were going to head to Portland for a day because I was itching to get out of the house and I haven't left Seattle in a very long time.  Lisa made a hotel reservation and drove us south to Portland Monday after dinner.

We had a fabulous French meal in a very portland-esqe restaurant called Little Bird and called it a night.

On Tuesday we got up bright and early to check out the famous Voodoo Donuts.  The place was a little on the wild side and the choices were overwhelming! 

I chose chocolate peanut butter and Lisa chose maple cinnamon with sprinkles.

We then headed to Powell's books which is a famous bookstore that has it's own interior map.  We spent time perusing the shelves and buying some goodies before moving on.  

We really didn't know where we were or what we were doing and so we just kept walking!  We walked the water front and then up to the Nob Hill shopping area.  We went in and out of shops and then had a great lunch at a BBQ place. 

We tried to catch a bus to the Japanese gardens but we failed miserably at the public transit and ended up walking across a major bridge to find out way back to our hotel.  It was all fun and full of laughter.  We decided instead to drive to the gardens and none of the roses were in bloom and the Japanese gardens were pricey.  It was still all really pretty and had a nice view!!!  

We saw a lot of Portland on foot and we really did feel like we had a good taste of Portland culture in our very short visit.  

We headed back to Seattle and got settled back in late Tuesday.

Wednesday we headed to Seward Park to walk through the old growth forests and to see Lake Washington.  We picked up a salad at Trader Joes (that the geese almost took from us) and enjoyed a nice walk through the Pacific Northwest Forest.

Lisa helped Maeve to read a book with her toes.

Maeve was showing Lisa her Yoga moves and Lisa was showing Maeve how to start fast on a sprint.

Wednesday was Lisa's birthday and so we celebrated with a birthday meal and last dinner at The Walrus and The Carpenter.

We made a quick stop at Golden Gardens park to share our beautiful sun set over the mountains with her before she left!