by: Cleary O'Farrell
Last weekend Dave and I traveled to
Leavenworth with a couple of our friends. They go once a year at this time to enjoy the lights, do some shopping, see the tree lighting, etc. They had asked us to come along and I was thrilled to find that we were staying in the beautiful condos above
Mapel!
During the car ride there I put a dent in finishing my Holiday cards and by the time we arrived I was ready to shop, eat, drink. In that order. Our
suite was beautiful and had a wonderful view of the river off the back deck. There was also a large entertaining kitchen, fireplace and tree.
We turned on Pandora radio and got to unpacking but after about 10 minutes I said I was “going downstairs” which seemed harmless until Dave wondered where I’d been for the last hour. Well,
Mapel was literally at the bottom of the stairs and I needed SOMEthing to wear that weekend ;-) Not to mention hang out with Jenelle, eat chocolate and chat it up about what products were hot, town happenings, good places to eat.
Once I was finished there, I emerged in
new Joe’s skinny jeans, a
white burnout l/s top, and a
black and a gold stone necklace. Our friend Emily picked up the
tweed belted coat in blue which was recently featured in InStyle mag’s top picks.
From there we headed back upstairs, imbibed in some Holiday cheer, had dinner and then hit the town. We spent most of our time at the Post Office where we began a dart tournament, perforated by occasional (bad) karaoke singing into the wee hours of the morning. Once we left for the condo I remember most of our walk … especially meeting a couple of peeps who were sledding by the gazebo. We asked if we could join in and we had a great time with them for a few of runs – I hit a couple of ‘jumps’ and got like 6 inches of air. It was pretty awesome.
The next morning I got up early and grabbed a pic of the beautiful river and all the snow!
Before hitting the streets we stopped at the coffee stand
Haus Dog Kaffee & Tea right in front of our place (which is absolutely excellent – the owners Klaus and Regina are totally funny and awesome). The main street was closed so the large amounts of people in town could walk anywhere, and stop by the occasional firepit and chat with whomever. Everyone was friendly, and in good spirits.
We must have shopped for nearly 3 hours and covered only ½ of what Leavenworth had to offer. Still, in that time I managed to go into
Mapel three times for various gifts for my family and friends.
Silver Nutcracker ornaments,
Table Topics, a
glove and scarf set, tie and cufflink set a
Two Sisters silver necklace, a dish soap/lotion set to name a few. Oh, and more chocolate.
I couldn’t wait to get my loot back to Seattle, wrap it and give it away! When Christmas day came people were very pleased with their gifts and I was so happy to see their smiling faces.
