Seattle Trip, Day Two: Breakfast
The weekend we went to Seattle also happened to be Father's Day, so not only were we jam-packing our weekend with family graduation activities, but we also wanted to do a couple of special things for Big-T's Father's Day celebration. On top of even that, my best college friend lives in Seattle, so I had to make sure to squeeze in time to see her (and meet her new beau!) while we were galavanting around. "Around" is a preposition, right? So what would it be, grammar-wise... while we were galavanting? Is it just on it's own? Okay, anyway. 
We went to Café Campagne at Carly's suggestion, a delicious French Bistro that was the perfect setting for a nice-but-casual Father's Day brunch.
But, wait! There's so much more that happened before that. Let me start at the beginning...
Ah, that's better. Let's start with the oysters.
Or, rather, let's start with Pike Place Market, where Carly, Matt (her beau! I just want to use that word as much as possible and you just... have to come along for the linguistic ride.) and I got coffee before breakfast with the rest of my family. I hadn't seen Carly in so long (almost a year! Which isn't that long, except before that trip last August I hadn't seen her in almost a year, etc etc and so on and so on.) and I had never met her beau (alright just start counting now) so we figured we'd do a mini pow-wow get together before exposing him to more strangers. 
We got coffee at the original Starbucks (the original one!) and walked around the marketplace looking at my two favorite Seattle things: oysters and flowers. I don't know what it is about oysters but I think they are the most photogenic food... Something about the texture of the sea-worn, outer shell contrasted with the texture (or lack thereof) of the slippery smooth innards, placed strategically on piles of glistening ice, just draws the lens to them. Draws the lens in, I tell you! It's not that weird that I think they're so photogenic. Ok, maybe it's weird.
A birds-eye view of the market signage.
"Quality always"! Cracks me up.
Peonies are in season now, and I couldn't be happier about it.
I wish I could have taken some of the peonies or sweet pea blossoms back to the hotel but we were only there for two days, and I'm sure I can find some somewhere in SF. They're just so beautiful! I love fresh flowers. I think that is one of my favorite adult indulgences. 
Carly was kind enough to buy us lavender shortbread for my mom and me, and ginger pig cookies (look, they really look like pigs!) for my brother and stepdad. So hospitable!
See that grey cowl she's wearing? She changed into it once we got to the restaurant. Yep, that might just be one of mine! Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Ok moving along.
Back to what I was saying earlier - we went to Café Campagne, a French Bistro set in a little alleyway off the main drag of the Pike Place area, close to our hotel but hidden enough that we probably wouldn't have found it without Carly's recommendation. So helpful to have a native Seattlite on our side!I got the Croque Madame, a Gruyère sandwich with a fried egg on top, combining my two favorite breakfast foods - eggs, and cheese. Oh, and bread! All of those are my favorite things. So really, I just loved it. 
I think Big-T had a decent Father's Day! There's no picture of mom here but she was seated between Big-T and Ty. I decided not to post unflattering photos of the woman who gave me life. You're welcome, Mom!
Notice my brother's cool symbol of teenaged rebellion? Hilarious that he sports his lip piercing so casually while wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt. Don't worry, everyone has their thing, little bro! Really though, he's doing just fine. And look at how cute he is! I still call him Munchkin, from the days (those few, few days) when we were taller than he was. No more. Those days are...no more.
The gist of it is: brunch was lovely, meeting Matt and seeing him and Carly together was lovely, seeing fish and flowers around Pike Place was lovely, and as far as mornings go it was a great start to what eventually became an incredibly action-packed day.
Tomorrow: Abby's Graduation!