Seattle-Date night!

Dan and I managed to have a date night last night. Elijah got to hang out with grammy and had no trouble saying goodbye to us as we walked out the door.

Feeling nostalgic, we decided to spend the evening in our old neighborhood, the University District. We both lived there with room mates while in school and also made our first home there as a married couple. We spent hours and hours walking The Ave (University Way). We met countless friends and mentors for coffee, attended RUF on the Ave, and ate at the numerous Thai restaurants at least twice a week. Since my first weeks in Seattle, there is one particular Thai restaurant I went to and still like to visit every time I am in town. Thai Tom is a literally a hole in the wall. It seats about 20 people and the wait time is rarely less than 30 minutes.

When I first started going there, most dishes were $5 flat. Since then, the prices have gotten up to $7.45 each which is still pretty cheap! The cook knows me by name (I often ate there 5 times a week!!) and he cooks my Phad Thai to perfection, loaded with veggies like zucchini, broccoli and carrots. It's the only Thai restaurant where I am confident the Phad Thai will be flavorful and a bit spicy with a little bit of burn to it. Dan always gets the swimming rama which is a bed of spinach over rice and tofu with peanut sauce. Honestly, this food is amazing, the best Thai in Seattle and I will fight anyone on that! (ahem-Jessica...)

After dinner, we walked The Ave and did some shopping at Buffalo Exchange (a used clothing store). Dan found a great pair of jeans for $14 and I got a tote that will work perfectly as a diaper bag. After shopping and walking hand in hand, we quickly drove to Dicks (our favorite desert place) for a chocolate milk shake. We had a great time together, reminiscing while also processing the last year together.
We ended the night with the Riberas, again-just like old times. It's strange when you look at your life and suddenly realize that things have changed. We're not in school anymore, living with room mates and fighting about dirty dishes. Now we have kids and responsibilities beyond anything we could have imagined just 4 years ago. Still, sitting in Brendan and Jessica's living room, we joked and teased each other as if nothing had ever changed. I almost didn't want to go home, but instead wanted to hold onto that moment of familiarity forever. I'm just glad we've been able to spend so much time with them.