Tulip Time!

It's no secret to anyone that I love it here in Washington. I may be one of only a few that feel this way but to me, what's not to love? It's green year round as opposed to the shades of gray (and freezing) winters that I grew up with... we're surrounded by stunning mountains although yes, I need to just imagine them most days because of the clouds blocking the view... and we can afford to rent a nice house with a FENCED IN YARD so our dogs can run free instead of pulling me on a leash four times a day. Who knew that getting older meant being truly excited about things like fences.

All that said, whether you like to live here or not, it's impossible not to love the month of April in NW Washington. Say the word "April" to anyone familiar with the area and they think "tulips." I thought fields of tulips were exclusive to the Netherlands but it turns out that we have a lot of Dutch heritage up here and I'm thrilled that they kept up the tradition.

Bobby and I went to Bellingham on Sunday and, much to my excitement, we had to drive right past the fields to get there. It was cold, windy, rainy, and gray...but I think that made the colors even more vibrant.



We're nearing the end of the season and it has been very windy but the flowers were still holding up well and I couldn't have been more thrilled to wind up and down the rows. Bobby....not as excited. However, I spent the day going through bike shops and wandering around REI so it was a fair trade. Here he is whistling and trying not to seem as bored and miserable as he really was.



It's hard to believe that this is just one of the many fields in the area...






I was finally able to get Bobby to pose in a picture with me. Those of you that know him well, or saw any of our wedding pictures, know that Bobby can't smile on demand. Luckily, he thought that squatting in mud between rows of flowers was the most ridiculous thing ever and couldn't stop laughing.





I could have stayed there for hours...



Bobby had about all that he could take though, so we finally meandered our way back to the car. However, he was nice enough to drive slowly with his window open so I could snap a few more shots of the field just down the road. Marriage is all about compromise, right!? :)

From Bursch to Deppisch to Bursch

Well it's official....according to the social security office I am now Lara Deppisch. I got my new SS card in the mail on Friday but I still find it a bit strange when I see it written out. I'm getting better about introducing myself as Lara Deppisch but I'm sure many clients now think I'm a bit slow when I call them and say, "Hi! This is Lara Bur ummmm Deppisch." There have also been a receipt or two signed Lara Burppisch. Hopefully I'll figure it out sooner or later!

However, on the day I officially became a Deppisch, I also officially became a true Bursch. Yes...it happened...I finally got glasses. Growing up I considered myself very lucky to be the only one in the family without specs. But, thanks to my laptop and ok....maybe I am getting a little older, I am now the new proud owner of this stylish pair. No pictures of me with four eyes yet....baby steps!

Merry Christmas!

It may have been Easter weekend but Bobby and I were in Seattle thanks to a great Christmas gift. He got me tickets to the Michael Buble concert! I love Michael Buble and we even danced our first dance to one of his songs so, needless to say, I was PUMPED to see him live.

The concert wasn't until Saturday night so we decided to check another item off of our "things to do" list and got reservations at the Herb Farm restaurant in Woodinville for Friday.



Friends of ours from the squadron had told me about this place back in December and I've been dreaming out it ever since. The Herb Farm isn't like anything else I've ever experienced. Each week they feature a thematic nine course dinner with six matched wines at a single seating nightly. They don't tell you the menu ahead of time because it can change at a moments notice. Although they plan the theme far in advance, everything they use is local so it completely depends on what the weather has been and what is available in their farm on site and/or available from local vendors. Our theme was Kobe beef. One word. Yum.

We hit the road on Friday after work and, although we had hoped to visit the tulip fields that are in full bloom this month, we got a late start and the weather wasn't cooperating so we quickly sped on by. After dropping the dogs off at our boarding place, we finally got to our hotel in Woodinville about a half hour before dinner began. I have to say, I think that was the only time I've ever been sad to leave a hotel. The Willows Lodge was warm and inviting, they had a great live duet playing music by the roaring fireplace, and they even offered you a glass of wine to taste while checking in. Two big thumbs up from the Deppisch's.





Did I mention that even our room had a fireplace? Luckily I was super motivated for dinner (I know, I know. Shocker...) so we hustled on over to start our feast.



Like I said, we had been told the food would be good. But when we were sat at our table and witnessed the number of wine glasses and utensils, Bobby and I were SURE this was going to be great.



The restaurant was beautiful but I somehow wound up next to a jackilobe. (sp?) Happy Easter I guess?





During the dinner the servers would stop and tell us all about each dish and the wine they were pairing it with. In-between courses, they had an amazing guitarist playing quietly in the corner. He was honestly incredible. I actually wished he would have been louder or that we would have sat closer so we could really see him play.



So clearly I loved everything about the food and wine but I think what I will remember most about that dinner was the lovely family that sat next to us. This dinner lasts four to five hours so to bring your young boy either means that you're completely crazy or have a very mature son. Luckily he was very mature.



This little guy sat still the entire time (which is more than I can say for Bobby,) tried absolutely everything (which is more than I can say for myself,) and gave his mom about 1000 hugs. It was her birthday that night so I'm sure that was the best gift she could have asked for. I left dinner that night extremely full, a bit tipsy, and definitely happy to imagine the day when that could be our family experience.

We had nowhere to be the next morning so, given the bout of winter weather that was whipping through, we slept in and enjoyed our toasty fireplace. We eventually got moving around noon and walked across our parking lot to the Redhook Brewery for lunch. I wanted to get a picture of Bobby and a Redhook glass but the glass he had full only had a tiny logo. Being the brilliant guy that he is, he decided to quickly poor his beer into a different glass so that we could have a better photo-opp. Needless to say, I don't think he calculated the foaming that would ensue...





Bellies full again, we hit the road and headed down to Seattle. I'm not sure what happened but I some how managed to not take another picture for the rest of the weekend. You'll just be forced to read and imagine. :) After checking into our hotel, we walked a few blocks to Pioneer Square and went on the Seattle Underground Tour. Seattle is obviously right on the water so, after many years, many floods, and one fire that destroyed the entire city, they decided to start over and build the city 15 feet higher than what it had been originally. What were once sidewalks and front doors of many businesses are now tunnels and basements still open under the city. The tour leads you through those tunnels and is (normally) a comedic history of the city. That is....if you have a tour guide that isn't horrible. I did the tour with my mom a while back and had a great time. This time, not so much. It would have been like having the teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off reciting the tour script. Oh well. After the tour we headed down to the pier, had some oysters and watched the NCAA tournament. You can never go wrong with that!

Finally the time came for the concert! Bobby got us amazing floor seats and the Key Arena is actually pretty small so we were really close. Michael sang all of the songs that I knew (including our wedding song - "Everything") and was accompanied by a huge big-band. Between the band geek in me and the woman in me, I was in heaven! He sounded just as good live as he does on the radio and is actually extremely funny. You can definitely tell he's Canadian - he has that dry/sarcastic sense of humor. I told Bobby that night but, because he's deployed so often, not only was it really fun to be at that concert with him, it just really hit me that I was completely grateful he was there at all. So many times military families make plans and have fun events put together but then something changes and they're no longer able to make it. Everything about that weekend was so much fun and I was beyond thrilled to be experiencing it together.

Sunday morning Bobby headed to Tampa for work and won't return until Saturday. Unfortunately I leave for Orlando the day after that so we'll meet for dinner, swap cars and dogs and say goodbye again. Back to the real world for a while I guess!