Alas, cupcake crawl is over.
To be honest, I don't know how anyone could really eat more than one cupcake in a day.
We went to Sugar Rush in West Seattle first, which was pretty cool. The neighborhood is accessible by the West Seattle bridge, and honestly it probably offers one of the best views of downtown around. The day was pretty chilly, mid 60s maybe and overcast. So we felt comfy in our layers of t shirts and sweaters. I am coming to believe that proper layering for Seattle weather is like chess. It's easy to learn; hard to master. It was definitely a typical Seattle neighborhood. The cupcake place was next door to a "natural" pet foods store. We couldn't resist, of course. I, for chewy balls for Sadie, Riley for cat toys, we strugglingto get the abnormally large and heavy wooden doors open enter, struck by the smell of dog food and leathery toys. No chewy dog balls, and in fact, a pretty lame selection of dog toys all around. Riley did find two little cat ball toys that had sparkly tinsel around them. They were apparently dual-purpose. We used them later in the Cheesecake Factory lobby, while waiting for a table to distract Taylor, who was fascinated but terrified of them and refused to touch them. Anyway, back to cupcakes.
Walking in, you'd never know they had cupcakes. It looked and smelled more like a coffee shop. I think there were even two names for the place. One had to do with cupcakes, the other with coffee. Weird, but not surprising. They had a lot of mini cupcakes which thrilled Riley and I because we didn't want to start the day off with a belly full of sugar. So I ordered a slice of bacon and cheese quiche, and she got a cupcake because she'd had cereal. The quiche itself was totally worth the drive. Taylor stayed in her stroller, reaching all the while (which is new and quite challenging when navigating tight spaces) for everything she could grasp. She loved the cupcakes and was crying out for more each bite she had. We tried to forego giving her the frosting so that she wouldn't be sick. Her cupcake was awesome. It was mini and had yellow cake, purple buttercream frosting and silver (YES SILVER!) sprinkles. They were all metallic and almost didn't look like you could eat them. I got a lemon something that was WAY too lemony and filled with lemon curd (which I love) but that made it a little too much. Riley also got a different lemon one, and hers was a little less tart. As we leave, we notice that there is another cupcake shop, Cupcake Royale, on the opposite corner. Really? Funny, too because that cupcake shop is on our list but in a different location. We debate going there now, but decide we are too full of cupcake and must utilize the ten to twenty minute drive downtown to gain motivation to eat more cupcakes.
The second spot we choose is Dahlia Bakery, because on the menu online there were also sandwiches. We decided we needed real food first before more cupcaking was to be done. Well, we park a few blocks away or so I thought. Turns out that fiveish city blocks are really much farther than fiveish suburban blocks- which I knew but had forgotten. Oh well, we figure we need the walk if we are to cupcake all day. So we trek, baby in stroller, backpack on back, anticipation of yummy sandwiches in our bellies to Dahlia Bakery. As we open the door, we are immediately struck by two things. 1. The entire shop is like 4'x4'. Boo. No tables to eat yummy sandwiches. 2. They have 2 different kinds of cupcakes, and they don't sound yummy. Green Tea something or other.....ugh. We, after getting stroller wheels stuck on the corners and probably a few pairs of ankles get back onto the sidewalk to regroup. The dissapointment hangs all over us, as does our growing hunger. I think at this point Taylor had already struck her rockstar-fingers-in-the-mouth-i'm-starving pose. So we decide to walk the few blocks to close to the next spot, which turns out to be in the middle of abandoned buildings, and apartments and no other restaurants. All we saw was a thai place. Doubtful we could find a decent bagel sandwich there. In we walk to Yellow Leaf cupcakes anyway. Then we see it! The tomato soup cupcake. Needless to say, neither of us were too interested in a savory cupcake, let alone, tomato soup. They did have one that was red, white, and blue and part of the proceeds benefitted a fallen troops charity. We smiled. I kind of felt like, even though we were without our troops and they were suffering ridiculous heat in the dessert, we were doing something good for them by being here at this cupcake place indulging our sweet tooths. Call it a rationalization if you want, we tipped into the charity jar, so we are good people. lol.
I got Delmo a carrot cake cupcake, and myself a french toast cupcake (which I'm sure Adam is laughing about because of my stubborn resistance to his french toast)(long story). We took them to go because we still wanted a real lunch.
Back we walked to where we started, but headed right towards the sound and Pike Place Market saturday-pandemonium. ugh. I suggest never ever going near there on the weekend. Too crazy. We saw a bagel place, so we made a beeline for it. I got a veggie burger bagel sandwich to share with Taylor; Riley got turkey and cream cheese. Taylor and I loved our veggie burger, and gracefully rebuked Rylee's (I keep spelling that wrong) ribs about how Taylor will become a veggie-tarian because I never feed her meat. So what if she eats Morningstar Farms veggie sausage patties and veggie broccoli cheese bites, and doesn't really even like chicken??? I try; but she doesn't like meat. She does love blue cheese, olives, mushrooms, and other weird earthy tasting foods though. She was born on the west coast.....makes sense, Adam, if you think about it. She's destined to be a hippie. lol
Anyway, back to cupcakes. So we then go back to the car and decide to drive to the next spot because it was way up almost on Capitol Hill (which is a huge ridiculous San Fran hill.) We get there around 1:30 and THEY'RE CLOSED! WTF! I was so pissed. We compose ourselves and head to Cupcake Royale, in the heart of capital hill. But, as we pull up to what seems to be the coolest looking cupcake joint we've seen, little miss punky-chunky falls asleep in her impossible-to-take-her-out-of-without-waking-her-up carseat. Of course. Literally, as I demonstrate my parallel parking skills to Rylee, almost at the very moment the car goes into park- her eyes closed. We were like "no!!!" (but quietly). We debated going one at a time; but then decided that would totally be no fun. So we totally sat there. I was like "Taylor, you ruined it!" and we laughed and decided that she did. But, we came for cupcakes, and nap be damned, we were gonna have em. We reasoned that we'd be quick and she could restart her nap because this was our last stop. So I get her out of her seat, and shocker! She didn't wake up! We went in, ordered, took our picture (we took one of both of us at each place) and got her back into her seat and she stayed asleep!!! It was so cool.
I was almost jealous. I wish I could just fall asleep whenever tired, and someone would carry me around everywhere. We decided to go to the stride rite store at southcenter mall after this, because that was the only stride rite in the metro area. So we head down, which gives Taylor a good half hour of nap time. We get there and park, and she wakes up as we arrive (as expected).
Now, shopping with Rylee is great. But, it's definitely not for the faint of heart. She is a pro, and I like it. We hit all the interesting stores, talk about how cheap some of the other ones are, and eventually meander over to stride rite. It's small, smells weird and is packed with kids and moms and literally ONE sales guy. Ugh. We look at the selection on the wall and then decide to head to Nordstroms, because they have stride rite and much better service; etc.
At Nordstrom's we run into one of Rylee's friends, who was really nice and they talk for awhile before we head upto children's shoes. The salesgirl was super friendly, albeit deathly and sickly skinny. She measures the wubba's foot and it's a whopping 4 1/2! The poor thing has been walking around in size 3 shoes. I'm a terrible mommy. So Taylor proceeds to pull all the brightly colored crocs (bleh!!!) off of the stand and run around with them while the salesgirl picks out a few pairs she thinks that we'll like. I was impressed by her knowledge of children's shoes. I guess you get used to dealing with people who know nothing and then when you deal with someone who knows their job it's like "holy shit! Why do I shop anywhere else?!" So she says Taylor has a long narrow foot (thanks daddy!) and that certain brands fit better. The adidas run big; so we 86 them. The stride rite fit well; but seem really big and bulky. We try on a pair of saucony and they are perfect! So, I buy them and she wears them out. She seems to walk well in them.
We continue shopping for awhile, then head to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Taylor, being cooped up in the stroller or carseat all day, is super exicted to be walking around the lobby and proceeds to run all over, surprisingly only knocking into or grazing a few people. At dinner, she ate bread, salad in bits, a little mashed potatoes (that she fed herself with her spoon!), and I attempted to give her a bite of my steak but she spit it out. Rylee totally gave me the "i told you so" look. It was funny; her "mom look" will be good. I try, but have no mom look. I am won over by her charm and smile and how everytime she does something wrong she follows it with a huge smile, tries to give me what it is she shouldn't have, or she giggles her fake sounding giggle.
It was a really busy day, lots of walking, talking, activity, social interraction. Perfect for us right after our hubby departures. Tomorrow, we have no plans and I plan on lounging around the house and possibly a picnic lunch at the park across the street if the sun decides it wants to come out. Poor Sadie was in the house all day 9-8 and while she did poop, she pooped again when I took her out and peed too. I didn't yell at her though, because she was in the house for a really long time today.
Oh! I forgot! We, on the way to lunch found a store called "the chocolate box" which was on the list of stops of the real cupcake crawl but I hadn't put it into our itinerary. So we went, and got some mini cupcakes. I got latte, espresso, peanut butter, chocolate, and some other one. It has pink frosting. I plan on giving Darina and her kids each a cupcake on Monday. Sabrina I got a raspberry lemonade one from Cupcake Royale. (LOL they even have a cupcake called a "royale with cheese". It's chocolate with cream cheese icing if you were wondering.) That chocolate box store was heaven. Rylee got a mini eclair. They had some crazy truffles and candy flavors, tons of boxed and bar chocolate. Chocolate EVERYTHING! I could live in there!!!
Well, my people magazine came (no muscle mustangs yet, sorry baby. I may have to pick up some magazines at the store to send to you) so I am going to go read it in bed with my comfy pants and a mini cupcake and a glass of milk.
Oh, and I got you the rubber things for your sunglasses. I'll send those too.
Wubba
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