Fifteen years ago on this very day, Ed and I were married. Fifteen years ago, my friends. That's a long time. I don't feel nearly old enough to have 15 yeas of marital bliss behind me but there it is.

We had a lovely weekend in Seattle. We stayed at a small hotel called the Alexis which was only about 2 blocks away from my favorite place in all of Seattle--Ivar's Fish Bar. For "breakfast" both Saturday and Sunday, we had the world's BEST fish and chips at Ivar's and then fed our leftover French fries to the seagulls that live around the area. They are very skilled at hovering nearby and delicately taking French fries right out of your hand. It was great fun and I *loved* the fish and chips. I wish I could have some more right now!

Friday, we stopped by my dad's house. It was the first time I've been there in 6 years. It was just too hard to go there the last time went but my dad has very thoroughly taken over the house so there really is no (or very little) vestiage of my mother's touch in the house. That made it much easier to go there. He took us out to lunch as his favorite Mexican restaurant and we chatted a long while. He even teared up a bit while we were talking. It made me sad a little.

After checking in to our hotel, we walked all along the waterfront and then up the steps to Pike Place Market. We watched the fish mongers throwing fish at the market then walked along the booths and looked at all the merchandise. In the summer it is wall-to-wall produce vendors but this time of year, flower vendors way outnumber the produce vendors. There were others, too--meat market, a few other fish markets, sausages, jewelry, etc. We walked and walked and walked--up to the trade center, all around--about 25-30 blocks total before getting to our hotel again. We rested our dogs for a half hour and then walked the 6 blocks to FX McR0ry's, which is near Safec0 field where the M@riner's played Friday night and lost 10-0. We had a very tasty dinner there and then started walking back to the hotel. We hailed a cab and rode to the Cheesecake F@ctry for dessert. Oh man, that was the tastiest cheesecake I've had in ages. We wandered around the area, went to Pacific Place, got hot chocolate and water at Starbuck's and ate our dessert. Then we walked the 10 blocks back to the hotel. That's a lot of walking! But we weren't *too* tired when we got back to our room. ;-)

Saturday, Ed got up early-ish and worked out and then we ate at Ivar's before heading up to the B@llard Locks. I've never been to B@llard but it was very interesting. Tons of fishing boats and sailboats! There were no fish in the fish ladder but it was interesting anyway. We came back to the hotel and got changed to go see a play.

We had 10-row center seats at the matinee performance of Hair at the 5th Ave. Theatre. It was a fabulous performance and I was completely entranced by the guy who played Berger. He was completely beatiful and he had an incredible body. The guy who played Hud was pretty hot, too, in a Jimi Hendrix sort of way. Mmmmm. I was just quite impressed with the whole performance. They really interacted with the audience, too. It was great! When it was over, they took one curtain call and then kept playing "Let the Sun Shine In" while the cast stood on stage and we all clapped and danced around and half the audience when up on stage. I didn't go up but I wanted to. I wanted to tell Berger what a great job he did. He was incredible! It was kind of fun to see all the nekkid people, too. ::wicked g::

For dinner that night, we went to a fabulous restaurant called P@lisade. It is at the marina just below the Magnolia Park area of Seattle. (Very nice homes and beautiful location--I'd want to live there if I lived in Seattle.) When we go there, we had to wait only a minute and then were shown to our table--a wonderful view table. There were rose petals strewn on our table and a card that read "Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Lobotomy from all of us at the P@lisade." It was great! Our waiter greeted us by name and also wished us a happy anniversary and was very attentive. My salmon (encrusted with parmesan risotto) was the best salmon I've ever eaten. Oh man! Ed's crab and macademia-stuffed halibut was delicious, too. For dessert we had our usual favorite--creme brulee--and he brought it with candles in it. All in all, it was one of the most wonderful dining experiences we've ever had! After that great dinner, we drove all around Magnolia until dark and then went to Borders to look around. We spent about an hour there, until 10pm, and then went back to our hotel.

Today we woke up around 8:30 and Ed went to work out while I waited for Mary's call. She wasn't able to join us for brunch so we had a leisurely morning and then went to Ivar's for "breakfast" again. After that, we went back to the hotel to check out and then went back to the Market to get a salmon. We bought a whole King salmon and had it fileted into 2 filets, one for us and one for Marcus and Stacey as a thank you for keeping Joey for us. Then we went to Ikea and got some orange towels for Joey's bathroom and a lighting fixture for Joey's room

We got to Stacey's house around 5:45 and when we gave them the salmon, Marcus suggested that he cook the filet right then and have us over for dinner. "Heck yeah," we said. He put a rub on it and then cedar-plank roasted it for us. It was quite a tasty dinner and it was nice to hang with Marcus and Stacey this evening.

All in all, it has been a truly wonderful weekend. It's nice to know that after 15 years of marriage and 3 years before marriage, we still thoroughly enjoy each other's company, have lots to talk about, can still crack each other up (we laughed a lot this weekend) and have a stable and loving and passionate relationship. This is a good thing. A very good thing.

--L