Once a year.

Happy birthday (yesterday) to Spenser!! :)

Back in town.

Hello all! Spenser and I returned from Seattle late last week and it's back to the grind, but in a better, less tedious, two-is-better-than-one, married type of way. For me, that means the 9-5 working routine and for Spenser, that means going from full- to part-time at his warehouse gig and starting a new semester at PSU.

But back to Seattle. A perfect honeymoon destination! Spenser and I enjoyed cruising the city by foot, taking in the touristy stuff to a reasonable degree ($18 to ride to the top of the Space Needle? Puhleeeeeeeeease, heck no) and enjoying the beautiful weather.

On Monday night, we were walking downtown, window shopping, when we got a call from Spenser's mom. She said that Grandpa F (her dad) would like to take us to dinner. Whaaa? Is Grandpa F, who lives in Beaverton, in Seattle? we asked, bewildered. No, he was not; but he had called someone at the Four Seasons in Seattle and made all the arrangements. !! We had just strolled by the Four Seasons five minutes ago, so we made the short trek back to see what was up.

Feeling a little unsure walking into the lobby of the gorgeous five star hotel, Spenser approached the restaurant hostess and started in with "Umm, I think my Grandpa called you a bit ago -" but was interrupted with "Ah yes! Mr. and Mrs. DeLong, we've been looking forward to your arrival," at which point we were swarmed by waiters, waitresses and even the restaurant manager himself (who, fittingly, possessed an exotic, hard-to-place foreign accent). We were congratulated warmly more times than I can count on our marriage, seated at a cozy corner table next to the window with gorgeous view of the sunset, and served chilled Martinelli's in delicate champagne flutes.

Then came the menu and the food. There are not words! My main course was pan-seared scallops, served on a bed of spinach, tomato and garlic orzo pasta with a blackberry and boysenberry reduction sauce. The scallops were cooked to perfection - not undercooked, but miraculously not the consistency of erasers either. Spenser had a yummy Indian-inspired salmon dish. Everything was incredibly delicious, and almost too beautiful to eat. And of course the service was unreal. We agreed that we have never had such a pampered dining experience in our lives! It is an awesome memory - and a classy move on Grandpa F's part to put together something so special that we never would have done for ourselves. Thank you so much!

I will let the photos of the trip speak for the rest of the Seattle festivities. I will also, hopefully, post some wedding photos soon, as well as a long list of shout-outs to everyone who made the wedding possible (because we had a LOT of help, and we really, really appreciate you all).

We love you! ...and each other (aaaaaw/vomit, ok - give me a break. It's a post about our honeymoon! I get to be a little sappy :) )

See a few more photos of the trip here.