The Official Christmas Ornaments of 2008

Pike Place Market

Every year I buy a new ornament for the Christmas tree. For some reason I have a lot of ballerinas which is really strange since I’ve never taken a dance class in my entire life.

During the first Christmas that Chris and I celebrated, after we moved in together back in 2006, we each picked out new ornaments. I selected a cozy kitchen scene to celebrate my foray back into blogging via ErinCooks.com and Chris picked out a snowboard. The poor guy dreams of the fresh powder in Utah like Blair Waldorf dreams of Manolos and diamonds.

Bainbridge Island Ferry

Last year we settled on a David Ortiz ornament to celebrate winning free furniture in the Jordan’s Red Sox World Series contest. Much like Ortiz’s on-field personality, this ornament literally dominates our tree. I swear all you see is Big Papi. He completely outshines all of the other glass balls and tchotchkes in his vicinity. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I came home from work one day and the ornaments were smashed half way across the room.

This year we chose ornaments that would remind us of our fabulous trip to Seattle. Now we’ll never forget all of the delicious meals and food we ate in and around Pike Place Market, or the eventful ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island when a mischievous bird gave me an extra special “welcome.”

On the Way to Bainbridge Island

On Thursday, CK and I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. I channeled my inner Meredith Grey while sipping an amazing White Mocha and getting a huge kick out of checking our location on the iPhone GPS. Look guys! We’re surrounded by water. Please ignore the fact that I am in desperate need of a manicure.  Unfortunately, shortly after my shiny happy ferry ride began a seagull went to the bathroom on my head. Best of all? I didn’t notice it until we got to the restaurant we were having lunch at. Birds are evil.

So Happy in Seattle!

Look! I actually smiled. This is pretty much how I felt in Seattle every day. I can’t remember the last time I was outside in the fresh air for so long. We walked everywhere. It was so awesome to not be stuffed on the T or trapped in my windowless office. PS: like my new glasses?

The View From Our Hotel

This was the view from our hotel room on the 17th floor of the Westin. There are about a million floors in this circular hotel, including those that featured water views, but I think our view was pretty fabulous anyway. We were told by quite a few people not to stay at The Westin, but Chris and I actually got an amazing “name your price” deal on priceline.com so we threw caution to the wind.

In the end the beds were super comfortable, the rooms were very clean, and the location was perfect for all of our toursity whims. Our only complaint was that there wasn’t free in-room wireless access and the wired connection in our room didn’t work at all. Thankfully Chris’s co-worker let us use his laptop cell phone card (Chris says it’s called an EVDO card) so we weren’t completely internet deprived. In addition, there was free wireless access in the lobby of the Westin. So in the afternoons we usually went downstairs, had a few drinks, and caught up on emails and our respective Google Reader addictions.