Keep your quarter... I'll take a gold star.

Our friend Justine is in town visiting from Boston before she moves back to Brazil this coming May. After 12 years, she is returning back home. I can't imagine the excitement and trepidation. I think it's great that she is making all these visits all over the country to see friends before her flight back. It's been great having her here!

This morning we went to Glo's for breakfast, and we both had the delicious eggs benedict. They also make really great hot chocolate. From there, we walked down to Pike Place Market -- saw them throw fish, visited the "first" Starbucks, did some food tasting, and survived a Kian "I'M HUNGRY!" meltdown. It's a gorgeous, sunny day (though a bit nippy), so she continued on to the Space Needle to see some of the views and get some pictures. Justine has an awesome camera, and she certainly puts it to great use. I am very excited about some of the pictures she has taken of Kian!

She and I parted at Pike and 1st, and then I was going to be brave and take Kian on the bus for the first time... with his stroller! However, I realized that I was a quarter short and they only take exact change. Sadly, I only had $5, so my option was to lose $3, try to get some change, or walk. Well, I tried to get some change, and a rather grumpy woman said she couldn't open the register. I saw my bus come and go, and I decided... what the heck. Let me push this 25lb up to Capitol Hill (down was def easier), and it was great! I really enjoyed the walk - way easier than I expected, and I got in a good chat with my friend Viviana on the phone. Let me just say - it wasn't the walk that scared me so much as another meltdown, but we made it just fine and it felt great. Amazingly, one of the perks of friends visiting is that I'm much braver and force myself to do things I'm more wary of usually, and I've always been grateful after it. I'm also thankful that I have a pretty awesome baby. ;)

And now I'm listening to some Persian Radio (had a fun dance party with Kian - he laughed a lot!), and I'm thinking it's been a pretty good day so far!