I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. We hosted Christmas for the first time this year. My mom came over for Christmas Eve and Raz's parents came for Christmas Day through the weekend. I'd be lying if I said it was relaxing, but the food was great and it was wonderful to not have to travel over the mountains.
Raz's dad turned fifty two days after Christmas, and when I knew they were coming to Seattle for the holiday, I set to work celebrating him in true Whitney fashion.
We started the day by surprising him with a luxury whip.
We couldn't get his dream car, so we got mine - a 2015 Audi Q7 with all the bells and whistles.
Vroom, vroom! Thank you Jess at University Audi!
She even left us super cute notes. Once we buy our Audi, we'll be stopping in to see the great people there. They even let me keep one of their pens as a souvenir.
Next, we plugged a secret address into the GPS and it took us on a fun little trip over to Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie for brunch. They brought out a surprise for the birthday boy. Also, complimentary valet! Try their seafood chowder - it's incredible.
A view of the Falls doesn't hurt either.
We had some time before our next activity, so she stopped for a quick wine tasting at Januik.
It's the most modern-looking tasting room in Woodinville. Fun vibe and good wine.
Couldn't leave without some bottles of rose. They were even on sale! Always the bargain hunter over here.
The Q7's fancy GPS then took us to the one place the FIL had requested - the top of the Space Needle, a place he'd never been. We bought tickets beforehand so we wouldn't have to wait in line (in the rain, no less). Given the time of year, we knew 3 p.m. would give us a good shot at seeing the sunset from on high.
She's taking in the views of the gift shop.
It's all Christmas-fied.
What's fun is you can see a bunch of the Chihuly sculptures from the line to board the Space Needle elevators.
He's having a great time. Kinda looks like my cousin.
We were right about the views that day - they really were incredible. Very moody and Twilight-esque. Just like I like looking at my Seattle. Not necessarily being cold in it, but looking at it.
All the construction can be annoying to watch when it's cranes throwing wrecking balls outside your office window, but it sure is cool from above. A bunch of float planes flew in while we were standing around with the rest of the tourists playing with our selife sticks. Totally worth it.
Amazing views of the islands. For a winter sunset, it lasted a good half hour.
Love this guy's Space Needle pop cup. He's totally owning it.
The last stop of the day was at a place I'd been wanting to try, and had heard good things about from the local pubs I read and our vendor friends at Curalate - a guy from their team is a part owner! I'm obsessed with them, so I knew it would be the perfect place to end the night. It's in Pioneer Square, which has been totally popping lately, and one of the many neighborhoods in Seattle that has a bunch of new spots on my list to try.
I didn't get a good pic of the restaurant, but I thought this sign right outside was pretty funny. It plays hommage to Pioneer Square's roots.
It would have been extra awesome if we were like "Surprise! We're keeping the car, too!" but alas. Maybe for his 60th.
Hope you have more reasons to celebrate this season!
Raz's dad turned fifty two days after Christmas, and when I knew they were coming to Seattle for the holiday, I set to work celebrating him in true Whitney fashion.
We started the day by surprising him with a luxury whip.
We couldn't get his dream car, so we got mine - a 2015 Audi Q7 with all the bells and whistles.
Vroom, vroom! Thank you Jess at University Audi!
She even left us super cute notes. Once we buy our Audi, we'll be stopping in to see the great people there. They even let me keep one of their pens as a souvenir.
Next, we plugged a secret address into the GPS and it took us on a fun little trip over to Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie for brunch. They brought out a surprise for the birthday boy. Also, complimentary valet! Try their seafood chowder - it's incredible.
A view of the Falls doesn't hurt either.
We had some time before our next activity, so she stopped for a quick wine tasting at Januik.
It's the most modern-looking tasting room in Woodinville. Fun vibe and good wine.
Couldn't leave without some bottles of rose. They were even on sale! Always the bargain hunter over here.
The Q7's fancy GPS then took us to the one place the FIL had requested - the top of the Space Needle, a place he'd never been. We bought tickets beforehand so we wouldn't have to wait in line (in the rain, no less). Given the time of year, we knew 3 p.m. would give us a good shot at seeing the sunset from on high.
She's taking in the views of the gift shop.
It's all Christmas-fied.
What's fun is you can see a bunch of the Chihuly sculptures from the line to board the Space Needle elevators.
He's having a great time. Kinda looks like my cousin.
We were right about the views that day - they really were incredible. Very moody and Twilight-esque. Just like I like looking at my Seattle. Not necessarily being cold in it, but looking at it.
All the construction can be annoying to watch when it's cranes throwing wrecking balls outside your office window, but it sure is cool from above. A bunch of float planes flew in while we were standing around with the rest of the tourists playing with our selife sticks. Totally worth it.
Amazing views of the islands. For a winter sunset, it lasted a good half hour.
Love this guy's Space Needle pop cup. He's totally owning it.
The last stop of the day was at a place I'd been wanting to try, and had heard good things about from the local pubs I read and our vendor friends at Curalate - a guy from their team is a part owner! I'm obsessed with them, so I knew it would be the perfect place to end the night. It's in Pioneer Square, which has been totally popping lately, and one of the many neighborhoods in Seattle that has a bunch of new spots on my list to try.
I didn't get a good pic of the restaurant, but I thought this sign right outside was pretty funny. It plays hommage to Pioneer Square's roots.
It would have been extra awesome if we were like "Surprise! We're keeping the car, too!" but alas. Maybe for his 60th.
Hope you have more reasons to celebrate this season!