I can't believe I haven't shared this already! I love Cactus! I truly love a great mexican meal, and to me Cactus take the lead with their fresh, modern, and delicious menu! Every time I go for dinner I try to save room for dessert, but the food is so good I never end up having room left for dessert.
There are a few Cactus restaurants in the Seattle area, including a location in Kirkland. Every morsel of food I've had at Cactus is bursting with flavor, but my current favorite dish is the Butternut Squash Enchilada. The menu describes this delicious dish as a, "Crispy white corn tortillas with jack and goat cheese, sautéed spinach, roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions. Topped with manchamanteles mole and guacamole."
A great value & perfect night out, make the Kirkland Cactus an excellent date night, or any night choice!
Check out there site at http://www.cactusrestaurants.com/kirkland.html
I was walking through downtown Kirkland tonight and came across one of the super fun shops in Kirkland - The Bath Bar.
Sadly, I didn't realize The Bath Bar closed on 9.26...all the great natural bath and body products and fun atmosphere will be no more.
Although there was lots to love about The Bath Bar, it may be the bubble-filled claw foot tub in the window that I'll miss the most...
Goodbye Bath Bar, you and your bubblicious fun will surely be missed!
It amazes me how quickly our seasons shift from summer to fall. Last week, I woke up to a new scent in the air, leaves changing color and quickly blanketing the ground, and an ever-growing urge to pick pumpkins and drink apple cider.
One of my favorite elements of the fall season is the whimsical, fun, scary, and creative time that comes at the end of October in the form of Halloween. As a teenager I was excited to pull out the bags of clothes ready to go to the Goodwill and figure out what incredibly creative costume I could pull together. I was always up for the challenge!
This past Saturday, I joined a panel of judges for Seattle's Top Model competition at the Bellevue Art Museum. This competition is made up of a series of fashion shows, each with a different theme. The theme for this Eastside show was "A Masquerade," highlighting many gorgeous costumes from the Bellevue costume shop. The models paraded through the Bellevue Art Museum in garments from the Renaissance, the "Old South," classic Hollywood, to name just a few time periods, to a live classical duo and soprano. The music, setting, costumes, and models were all beautiful!
It was a wonderful evening that mixed so many artistic and creative elements together.
So, all of those costumes sure got me thinking, "What will I be for Halloween this year?" A Masquerade is a costume shop in Bellevue that originally started from a private collection of 500 costumes and has significantly grown. This shop puts Party City-type shops to shame.
If you want to do it right this Halloween, get your costume from A Masquerade!
http://www.amasquerade.com/
I'm a sucker for all versions of pretty paper. I love stationary, note cards, wrapping paper, and all accoutrements that go along with gift wrapping. The art of creating lovely presents is almost more important to me than the actual gift inside.
So, I was really excited when I discovered PS Stores in Redmond (they have a Seattle location too)! It's like Willy Wonka's factory for the fine-paper-obsessed, and it really got me in the holiday gift shopping mood.
In addition to selling really cool stuff, they also hold classes to show you how to make even cooler stuff out of the supplies you buy. One class that sounded really interesting was their environmentally friendly gift wrapping class. Please see all the details from PS Stores below:
Environmentally friendly gifting
Environmentally friendly gifting is the hottest trend this year. Sign up for this special event for great ideas on eco-friendly wrapping.
Holiday Green
Sharon Reding & Alice Krause
You've made your list and checked it twice. But what about the environment? It seems like everyone's going green and we're glad you want to take action too. Sharon and Alice will share their ideas for wrapping the green way.
Events require a $10 fee due at the time of registration; you will receive a 15% discount off purchases on the day of the event
and a $10 voucher for store merchandise. Call 206-762-0540.
Redmond: Saturday, November 15 - 10:30 – 11:30
It's a pretty good deal too, especially compared to other craft store type of classes. Although you pay a $10 registration fee, you get it back in money to spend in the store. Sign me up!
At last week's IADT Seattle Fashion Show, my friend Eduardo showed off some of the creative garments student designers made using coffee beans. Eduardo's a creative guy, and he's got lot's of interesting fashion related events coming up as part of his "Seattle's Top Model" project. I'm really excited for his next fashion event for a number of reasons, including it's at the Bellevue Art Museum, all of the fashions are from A Masquerade and just in time for Halloween, and it is a fundraiser for fashion design students at IADT. This should be a lot of fun and something a little different for us on the Eastside. Check out all of the details below:
I'm just a sucker for facials. I just love them!
So, I was psyched to learn that FaceLogic at Redmond Ridge takes the affordable approach to paradise, a la Massage Envy, and offers your first facial for a mere $59! I love their slogan, "Pure Pleasure. Pure Luxury. Purely Affordable," it fits right in with my lifestyle philosophy!
They offer membership packages as well, which can often be a pretty good deal, and a great way to make sure you fit in time to treat yourself (and skin) to something just for you!
check out there website at http://www.facelogicredmond.com/
I haven't been yet, but I'm just biding my time.
One of my first favorite places when I first moved out here was Old Main St. in downtown Bellevue. I felt like everything was so new and modern when I first got out here, and I was thrilled when I happened to drive past Bellevue Square one time and happened upon this great little strip of old town charm with Bellevue's sophistication.
One of my favorite shops here on Old Main is Amore Chocolates. This little chocolate shop is like something out of a book. When you step in you are always greeted by smiling faces and the delicious aroma of the handmade truffles, but my favorite part is watching the magic happen! I love that you can watch them make the truffles as you are painstakingly trying to pick out the very best selection of fresh truffles from the cases. It's such a storybook experience!
I remembered my fondness for Amore the other day when I was out doing some errands. I walked by the shop and tried to resist. I had to walk past again, doing my best to stay true to my will power, but...cookies??? Now, I saw tier of plates each with homemade cookies gracing the plates...no...can't...mustn't...made it past one more time, but somehow I ended up having to walk by again and this time I broke down. I headed into Amore and let them know their window of treats wone me over.
I walked out with a fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookie from the best little chocolate shop around!
Amore Chocolates is located at 10149 1/2 Main St. Bellevue, WA 98004.
PS - They'll also offer a free truffle (try not to devour) as you select your goodies.
Grrr...I hate when I get that UB40 song stuck in my head, but right now it's not the song I can't stop thinking about but this wine from Senoj Estates Winery!
Yeh, yeh we've all been to Chateau Ste. Michelle and Colombia Crest (which are awesome, of course), but did you know there are a ton of other boutique winery's all over lil' old Woodinville? I love Woodinville, but I love it even more now that I know I can go on a "Wine Hunt!"
Senoj Estates Winery is this great boutique winery that also boasts a very cool warehouse style event space, but more importantly they have some gooooood wine! Since the first time I tasted Senoj Estate's Reisling I can't stop thinking about it. It was seriously that good, cause I'm typically a red wine girl.
There's something different about it...can't really place my finger on what, but it's this great, refreshing, just the slightest bit fruity white wine, that just really pairs well with every sunny day we are afforded over here in the Puget Sound area.
For directions and more info. on this boutique winery go to http://www.senojestates.com/
Well, I'm already on the Eastside, but I am moving up...Little Courtney, Big City has to take a pause from new posts as I pack and move, pack and move... I promise there will be more fun posts to come soon!
In my line of work, I have been very involved in a number of fashion related events. So much recently, people who don't me too well assume I am specifically in the fashion industry. And while, I find this quite the compliment, it's definitely not that true, at least not very often. I love fashion and think of it as an artform, but when it's either snoozing for 10 more minutes or walking out the doors and lookin' like SJP? Well, I think you can figure out the answer on that one...yeh, I'm falling into the stereotypical pattern of PNWer's and more often choosing comfort over fashion...but, there's one savior who picks me up when I fall down and helps me out when I am broke but need new clothes.
That savior, my dear friends, is Loehmann's! I noticed this place when I would drive by Factoria on 405, but assumed it was just like a Marshall's/TJ Maxx or Ross. In conversation once, one of my good friends commented that she was a "Loehmann's girl." At first, I thought, oh goodness, she must not be talking about that place in Factoria, but, in fact, she was! She promised it was so much better than Marshall's, so I figured I'd give it a chance.
Sure enough, I was not disappointed! The look and feel of the place is the same as a Ross/Marshall's, but the selection is SO much better. I literally find lots and lots of designer pieces, not just a few designers, that, honestly, are very matronly that I often find in the other discount retail stores. I've come home with some great finds, particularly some Kenzie items, a great marc by marc jacobs bag, and some other labels that I will see in the dept. stores for like 75% more just a few months ago!
Loehmann's also has lots of coupons that come in the mail regularly once you sign up for their free rewards card, making the deal even sweeter!
So, I definitely recommend this place for great clothes in general, but especially if you want to have money for groceries this week too!
http://www.loehmanns.com/