Hiking - Bridal Veil Falls

Back before J. went to Key West (whew that was AGES ago), I hiked Bridal Veil Falls.  J. couldn't come because he had to work, but his old roommate, G.S., came with me and Lucy.

The view from the start of our hike:

Bridal Veil Falls:

This was a great hike ... the trailhead goes to both Bridal Veil Falls and to Lake Serene.  J. has hiked Lake Serene in the past and really enjoyed it, but it's a pretty challenging hike.  Lots of elevation gain over a few miles which equals lots of uphill!  But Bridal Veil Falls was very manageable, there was a little bit of elevation gain at the very end but overall not too bad.  After we finished the hike, we stopped by a little diner near Index for a milkshake.  This was the view from their back porch (if you look VERY closely, you can see Bridal Veil Falls right above the treetops):

Then we headed into Index to check out Index Town Wall, which is supposed to be great for rock climbing.  J. and G.S. are very into rock climbing.  Me?  Not so much.  I'll watch, thanks. 

Indianapolis & Toledo Recap!

At the beginning of this month, I headed back to Indianapolis for the first time since the big move!  It was great to be back in the city.  I met up with friends and celebrated birthdays:

 Our amazing dessert: 

Had a photo shoot in front of the monument:

 And then headed to Toledo for my best friend's wedding:

Me and Gummy (BFF's grandma)

BFF, Me and BFF's cousin:

Me and BFF's brother:

 Getting her hair did:

 The Junior Bridesmaid getting her hair done:

 Post hair do's:

 Make-up time:

 The adorable bags we got when we checked-in:

 The beautiful bride!!!  I loved the fireplace in the room we got ready in:

 The Bridesmaids post-wedding:

Our table at the reception:

 Me and the Sister:

 Jordan, The Sister and I:

 Me and Mother-of-the-Bride:

With our Mad Lib ... instead of a guest book, they did Mad Libs and Advice Cards for the Bride and Groom ... such a great idea! 

 The Sister, Gummy and Jordan ... Gummy was the LIFE of the party.  

 Me and the Bride ... she was so beautiful! 

Me, the Bride and Sister:

And then I headed back to Indy, where Sister and I carved pumpkins:

 Hard at work:

 Sister hard at work:

 The finished product:

Sister and I with our pumpkins, right before I flew back to Seattle (don't I look ridiculous in my sweater and boots??  It was 85 degrees in Indy):

What we're eating this week ...

J. is back!  Yay.  We are having a short week since my college roommates are coming to visit on Wednesday, but we're going to eat well until then!

Sunday - Baked Potato Soup with sourdough bread and a salad.  This soup was amazing.  I've never been able to find a good potato soup recipe that tastes as good as a restaurant.  Until now.  This soup is definitely going to be a regular in our household.

Monday - Mahi Mahi was on sale at Safeway this week, so we will be having Mahi Mahi filets with asparagus and couscous.

Tuesday - Steaks with leftover Cheesy Chilie Grits from last week and a zucchini squash vegetable medley.

Wednesday - We are going to use the leftover steak to make fajitas.  I am convinced that you can't make good fajitas at home but J. seems to think we can.  I will let you know how that turns out.

I sucked it up and purchased more storage for my photos, so I should be back tomorrow with posts about my trip to Indy/Toledo and recent hikes.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

Update ...

This week has been SO busy for me ... but in a good way!  I've actually been up before 11:00 a.m. everyday, YAY.  

I have apparently used up all of my free space for this blog, which seems kind of silly since I've only been posting for a couple of months, so I am trying to decide what my next step will be.  Bear with me while I try to decide if I should just suck it up and buy more storage space or figure out if there is something I can do so I don't have to buy more storage space.

Also, I won my first giveaway!  Life Blessons gave away 250 business cards and I won!  YAY!  Hopefully this will help with my networking and my job search!

Hope you all are having a great week!  As soon as I figure out my whole storage issue, I will have some new posts up about hikes we have done and a recap of Indy/Toledo trip!

Hiking - Park Butte

A few weekends ago, we headed up to the North Cascades to hike Park Butte Trail.  We got to the trailhead around 1:30 p.m., which is a little late but it turned out to be perfect.  We didn't pass that many people coming up or down, and when we finally reached the top, we had the lookout all to ourselves.

A big meadow at the start of the trail ...

Down the path we go! 

Our group ... about half-way to the top

Mt. Baker ... covered in clouds!

J. and I with Mt. Baker in the background

Up, up, up ... it's always up!

A hidden mountain lake

We finally reached the top ... a restored 1933 fire lookout perched atop a rock pile.  Such a neat little place ... you can reserve the lookout for a night and camp out.  I can't imagine staying up there!

The view from the lookout

Mt. Baker ... still covered in clouds!

Inside the lookout ... very primitive sleeping quarters!

Another shot of Mt. Baker

And then we headed back down the trail ...

On the way down, we stopped at this little lake for Addy and Lucy to splash around

Lucy and her back-pack!

A dirty stream that we had to cross

One last glimpse of Mt. Baker ... it looks like the clouds finally went away!

One more shot of me and J.!

What a great and beautiful hike ... challenging but not too bad.  Perfect for a weekend afternoon!