Empire State of Mind

I saw this amazing video the other day and it made me think about my NYC trip. I loved every minute of being there, and the video just reminded me about how special of a place NYC is.  I'm making plans to one day live there.

One of my favorite moments was visiting the Empire State Building. The art deco building is breath taking and the views are over whelming. I do feel that the views from the Rock are better but if you have an option to do both, you should.

Enjoy this little video, maybe it will inspire you to visit NYC.

A Year in New York from Andrew Clancy on Vimeo.

Case of the Mondays

Do you dread Mondays as much as I do? Opal never does and she is here to make sure you have a great Monday! Sarge on the other hand, loathes Mondays. 

Hope that you all have a fabulous day! Only five more days until the weekend! Hurray! 

Honore

Honore is a French bakery in my neighborhood and I want to kick myself for just now discovering it. CB and I went this past weekend for breakfast and left with the most divine macarons. The coconut salted caramel macarons are to die for and the pistachio is a close first. We also purchased the Mexican chocolate and the passion fruit, both were great but not my favorite. Next time I'm purchasing the lavender chocolate and the hazelnut macarons.

They also have a variety of tarts and croissants to choose from. The dining area is pretty small but on sunny days you can eat out back in their garden. Oh how this bakery has stolen my heart!

Touring our city

I love having out of town guest. I am a huge sucker for Seattle sights and love taking people to my favorite spots.

CB's grandparents came into town for the weekend and I'm so grateful that I had a chance to show off our city. We started Friday night by having dinner at Indian Bistro and dessert at Molly Moon's. Grandpa said he wasn't a huge fan of Indian food before hand but after dinner he kept raving about how good it was. Yes Sir, it was soooo good.

Today was our treat to them and we went all out! We started with breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe and a tour of Cute Boy's new stomping grounds at South Lake Union.

We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and came back to Seattle to walk around Pioneer Square. While at Pioneer Square, Grandpa saw an antique nautical store and had to go in. "Layla, this is like Disney Land for me!" He instantly made friends with the store owner and well it was a charming store after all.

To finish off the day, we walked up to Pike Place Market to buy some flowers, fruit, and pasta. Dinner was at our favorite sushi place, Umi Sake House, where Grandma announced that the miso there was the best she had ever had. I do have to agree with her.

So, who wants to visit us next?

The North Shore

On our second day in Oahu, we drove up to the North Shore and I instantly fell in love with the area. It's exactly how I pictured it to be.

We first grabbed lunch at one of the only restaurants in one of the towns that dotted the shore. I had a burger, and well it  was a burger. We also grabbed some shaved ice at Aoki's.

Check out my hideous sunburn

Then we made our way to Waimea beach to play in the ocean and maybe build up some courage to jump of the giant rock. We were only there for about 40 min before it started to pour rain! We decided to call it a day and find some fresh local fruit instead.

On our way to search for a fruit stand, Cute Boy stopped to take some pictures of an old  burned down building.

Hunger struck (or maybe just our eyes) and we stopped at Giovanni's shrimp truck and devoured the garlic shrimp plate.

Oh North Shore, how I loved you!

Is it really Spring?

This is the view from our balcony and that little tree with it's pink flowers gives me hope that full on Spring is just around the corner. I can not wait.

Pearl Harbor

On the first full day that we were in Oahu, we went to Pearl Harbor. It was one of the most humbling experiences that I have had. I left feeling very patriotic and thinking of ways to better serve my country and others.

USS Arizona Memorial

Parts of the USS Arizona

The only regret of the day was that I didn't wear any sunscreen and left with the most hideous sun burn!

*All photos taken by the Cute Boy.

I'm baaaack!

Diamond Head

I'm home and Oahu was killer. More stories of my holiday to come. I'm just really proud that I climbed Diamond Head in 20 min. I could have done it in less time but OMG those stairs!

Glamour

I'm not really a glamorous person. I wear make up maybe twice a month. I straighten my hair maybe up to five times a month. Basically, I am pretty lazy.

But I adore glamorous things. I love looking at the beautiful things in life. I could spend all day searching out fabulous photographers, fancy dresses, and gorgeous homes. I am a bit materialistic. I love good design.

There have only been a few times in my life when I have truly felt completely glamorous. Of course one of those times was when I got married.

The first time I really felt glamorous was when I was 16 years old (or 17, I can't remember). I had just picked up my prom dress and as soon as my photographer cousin saw it he demanded that I put it on and drive to the park to take pictures. I was a bit nervous about the whole idea of me modeling around in a prom dress. But I obliged, curled my hair and borrowed my aunt's red lipstick. I am so happy that I did.

I am about to share with you one of my all time favorite pictures of myself. It's not the best quality of a picture and it was taken with film. But I adore it.

 

 I am pretty glamorous. 

Photo Booth

Amazon.com had their post holiday party on Saturday and The Cute Boy and I hung out a bit at the photo booth.  I wish I had a photo booth to my disposal at all times!

More details on the party to come!

Sidekick

Sarge the GQ model

I've got a new sidekick. Sarge is the perfect little kitty to come into my life. He's curious, playful, and is right there with me at all times. He's pretty stylish too.

Salted Caramel

You guys I am nuts over salted caramel. If it's a dessert option, I'm all over it. I was beyond thrilled when I found a salted caramel recipe on Smitten Kitchen and could not wait to make it. I made it on Sunday and it is heavenly. I do feel that if I had let it cook for just a tad bit longer that the flavor would have been much richer. I was afraid of doing that though, since I had failed at my first attempt and had a complete burned mess of sugar. But the good news is that sugar is cheap, so if you burn it you could easily try again. I highly recommend reading this and this before attempting to make this recipe.

Deep, Dark Salted Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 1 1/3 cups

Ingredients:
1 Cup of sugar
3 oz (6 tablespoons) salted butter. Try to get a high quality butter for a better flavor.
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, at room temperature

Directions:
*Melt the sugar over medium to moderately high heat in a two to three quart heavy pot like a Dutch oven  (do not use a nonstick), stirring the sugar as it melts to make sure that  it heats evenly.
*Cook the liquefied sugar to a dark copper color.
*Add the butter all at once and stir it in.
*Before turning off the oven pour in the heavy cream, whisking it until you get a smooth sauce.

Use right away or store it in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

2010 Recap

2010 was one of my least favorite years and I am happy to bid it farewell. I'm super excited for 2011. The Cute boy keeps reassuring me that it will be epic, it will be our year. I believe him. Here is a recap of 2010 in photos. We did have some good times after all.


2010 in photos from layla judkins on Vimeo.

2009 Recap. 

Music is My Love by The Bird and the Bee

Can't stop staring

I have been wanting to have nice pictures taken of us for a very long time but for different reasons we kept putting them off. The Cute Boy and I don't have very many good pictures of ourselves. We both dislike our wedding pictures and our engagement pictures were taken by a friend with a point and shoot. I was dying to have beautiful professional photos taken.

When I first saw Tysha's portfolio, I was smitten. I wanted her to take our pictures and was a little sad when I saw on her website that she was completely booked for the rest of the year. When I casually mentioned to her how bummed I was that she was completely booked, she broke the news to me that she would love to take our pictures!

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot. It was so hard to pick which ones I liked the best! I seriously can't stop looking at them.

From the Streets of San Francisco

You can kinda see the Golden Gate Bridge. No?

The Mighty Pacific

Weekend Update

We flew to San Francisco for the weekend. $66 round trip via Virgin America. 

I went shopping for boots in the Haight and the Mission and came back with vintage glass jars instead. I hate that I have huge feet.

Hung out with good friends and spent a huge chunk of time at Golden Gate Park.

And ate here, here, and here. We basically went to San Francisco to eat. I didn't get a single picture of anything that I ate.

We didn't go to the Wharf, Chinatown, or Union Square. We spent our time in places that I regret not spending more time in when we lived there. My excuses for not going to the city before were so lame.

I loved this weekend.

My Perspective

The above picture is my submission for the Get Perspective Project that Shrimp Salad Circus is conducting. She gives you a word and you take a picture that you feel best describes that word. I  took the picture yesterday evening with my iphone and it's the view I saw from my friend's balcony.

This week's word was gone. The picture I took represents that the gloomy days of Seattle are officially gone and that sunny days are finally here!

Or so I thought...

For more information and for your chance to participate, click on the button below! A new word is coming soon your way!

Tulips! Oh My! Oh My!

Last Saturday the husband and I  along with some friends went up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Ever since I moved to Seattle, I have been waiting in anticipation to go to this lovely festival. I am crazy over tulips and was pretty sure seeing miles and miles of them would make me smile!

Once arriving, we were told that 90% of the tulips had already been harvested since the tulips came up two weeks early. Bummer.  Instead we had to pay $5 a person to go to some tourist area to see the 10% of the tulips that were yet to be harvest.  Even then, most of the fields were a sea of green instead of bright colors.

The best part about this particular farm that we went to, was that we were able to see quite a variety of tulips. They really were stunning, and I had no idea that there were so many different types of tulips.

Look at me being all sassy. I crack myself up.

I LOVE the great state of Washington! Especially the Seattle area. I'm so lucky to live here!

A Day at the Docks