Terumi Pong

I will never get over the magic of travel where 10 hours on a plane can take you half way across the world and suddenly you’re in a place far away from home or right back where the journey started. Today my son and I are back to Seattle life, feeling fulfilled and a little jet-lagged from our 7 day trip. We booked this trip kind of last minute, maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, when we realized we might be able to see a @fcbayern game if we went to Germany for his spring break. We navigated flights and train rides (one really wild one back to the airport from the football match) and saw a really spectacular game as well as so many other places along the way. I didn’t film the gorgeous winning goal but was thankful to catch a shot that hit the goalpost by a star player- maybe a reminder that we all have tough misses and lucky saves (like this keeper) and it’s just part of life❤️ and also that we need to do our best and take all the chances we can. (Like this trip. I know I’ll cherish this one for a long time. And I don’t think we ever regret travel or time with people we love.) (PS coming from Seattle I was really surprised to see that @fcbayern is promoted by @tmobile and my son told me it has been for years and seeing banners and signs everywhere with @tmobile on them made me feel proud as a Seattleite as well a little more connected to the team.)

First few 📸 from Frankfurt, a mom and me trip to Germany with my 15 year old son and we vowed to keep the trip pretty calm but yesterday I counted nearly 25000 steps so we’ll see if we keep up this pace. We picked up a Frankfurt Card from the @visitfrankfurt tourism office and it’s helped a lot with transportation and museum admissions and this is just such a gorgeous city, we’re having a great time so far. And why did we choose Frankfurt for spring break? It’s a city we could get to directly from Seattle with @alaskaair miles we’ve saved. (PS I was more than a little excited to see a few cherry blossom trees blooming here too!)

Unexpected snow in the mountains this weekend (I totally thought it would be pouring rain!) and the guys got in a bit of skiing with my dad and I even went out for a bit too. Watching the three of them head out for some snow adventures together is the sweetest thing. I think it’s pretty cool that even as teenagers they can still go out for runs with their grandpa. When we first built the cabin nearly 10 years ago now, we had no idea what we were really doing, but this is one of the moments I dreamed about that I hoped would come true.

Don’t you just love spring walks in Seattle? Especially when there is unexpected light on a day forecasting rain? The bright pink blossoms that are starting to open up now are so pretty. And I wonder if these are cherry blossoms or a different kind of bloom. Please tell me you have a zillion flower photos in your phone right now too…it is so beautiful right now in our city.

Are we still looking for all the blooms? I love this transition period where we can do snow sports in spring gear and light pink blossoms turn to brighter, more vibrant flowers- daffodils, tulips and camellias start to fill our screens. Neighborhood walks become novel for the daily surprise of new pops of color in familiar spots. And I don’t know if we’ll get a chance to brave the drive for the tulip fields this year-it’s the time of year I always hope for a soccer game or tournament further north for a firm excuse to visit but we haven’t had one yet. Or maybe we might try on the way back from a trip to Canada? Are there tulips to visit near you? Will you go? I find this time of year so hopeful and so bright. And maybe it’s because we’re finally getting a lot more light again. Do you feel more optimistic in spring too? (PS I had to include the toast we had recently at @belldencafe cafe because it was beautiful and delicious and I love toast. Especially with beautiful toppings. I’m hoping we get to Singapore this summer and one of my favorite things to eat there is kaya toast and coffee.)

The sun is out, one teen is counting the minutes to spring break, I’m baking more bread (not sourdough, I googled “sandwich bread” yesterday to try something new and the family made it nearly disappear) and hoping to finish my book. Have you read this one? And also if you love @jamieford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet would you be excited about it becoming a musical? I am always getting @eatingwithwinnie’s cute food posts in my feed so I tried making her @hellokitty toast with the bread I made and found it is really not easy to get the toppings to stick or run away so I admire what she does even more. I also might have made a giant mess in the kitchen, making this teeny tiny toast. So eating breakfast this morning was truly satisfying and it was fun to try something new. And I hope you have a lovely weekend and please do share 👇 if you have any fun plans. (PS I finally finished @streamthisisus the other day-did you watch this?-after trying to make it last forever and I’m still totally gutted. Is there anything else out there to watch now?)

Hope you had a good weekend! Are you starting the week or do you get one more day?

I woke up later this morning because my husband drove one of the guys to school and then I found a cut up bowl of mangoes on the counter waiting for me and it felt the complete opposite of the poem about the plums in the icebox that were eaten. (Thank you love, they were delicious, so sweet) and this week has felt a little full of love. I tried to quit piano lessons because I haven’t been practicing. And my piano teacher asked me if I was quitting because I didn’t like piano or if it was because I was feeling guilty for not practicing and if it was just because of guilt then she wasn’t going to let me quit. I think that is a bit of love too. We need people in our lives who don’t give up on us. So I’ll continue. Life is busy. It’s full of constant learning. I don’t think we ever know what we are doing. I don’t think we ever feel like we have enough time. This week we’ve had soccer games and late night robotics but we also managed to get out to @tuttabella for a family dinner (and tried some of their spring menu. The new spinach salad and pasta ✨✨✨thank you Tutta Bella💕) and we got to see @trevornoah perform one night too. We all read his book during lockdown and listened to some of his comedy skits and he was so uplifting it was good to see him perform live. It ended past our bedtimes for us for a weeknight but it was worth it to be able to chat with the teenagers on the drive home. I love that we can still connect with things like this and share favorite books or comedians or hobbies and I’m thankful for this in all the busyness of our days. And so far, we’re looking forward to a relatively peaceful weekend ahead. I’m hoping to see more cherry blossoms. (Are you loving all the blooms too?) what are your weekend plans? (PS. Also thank you @seattlechoc for the surprise chocolates on my door. It was a little grey outside this morning and the @katiesmithillustration art and brunch themed chocolates are so cheery and fun!)

Photos to get my heart through a busy Monday and isn’t that why you take pictures on weekends too? This is one of the ones where we tried to squish more things into our 2.5 days of freedom than maybe we usually do for the rest of the week. The laundry and dishes are still humming away and hopefully we’ll all be to settle down soon. I think Sunday nights and Mondays are when we find out if we are truly night people or morning people. But also it was my grandmas birthday-her 95th-and she is so dear to our family. And between family events the hubs and I managed to fit in a stop at @sophiescosmiccafe a place we went to often when we were at @universityofbc but haven’t been to in ages and he was really thankful I didn’t tell anyone in the restaurant “it’s our first time back here in at least over 10 years” so of course I’m writing that here. And because Sophie’s is oh so close to @granville_island we ended up stopping there for a little while. Have you ever been to Granville Island? It was such a big part of my childhood especially with hot chocolate at @blueparrotcoffee and I try to visit any chance I get. I’m glad it’s not too far from Seattle and maybe nostalgia for it is a reason why I love @pikeplacepublicmarket so much as well. Did you have a good weekend? Are you ready this week for it to be finally spring? (PS I also had to include the Bloody Mary from the Timberwolf Pub @summitatsnoqualmie because it was beautiful and practically a charcuterie board in itself, and it was such a gorgeous bluebird day on the mountain today but I’m nevertheless wondering how many ski days we have left as everything starts to warm up. I also feel really lucky that my husband carries my skis for me and I can’t believe how much we’ve been through together since our breakfasts at Sophie’s so many years ago.) And the light! The light today was magic.