Pacific Northwest

5 Things to Take On Your Pumpkin Patch Trip

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When the leaves start to turn and the air turns crisp, we all know what season it is.

Pumpkin season. (Or spooky season, depending on your preference.)

It’s definitely the time of year to put on your best flannels, your coziest scarves, your muckiest boots and head out to your favorite pumpkin patch.

There’s something about traipsing out into a muddy field and selecting the perfect pumpkin that just screams “FALL” to me. I remember my mom used to take us out to Remlinger Farms every fall to pick our pumpkins and take our photos, long before Instagram. (And yes, I asked MamaCakes for photos of said pumpkin patch visits, so if she finds some, I’ll update this post with them. Just so y’all can see my epic thick curtain of 80s bangs and my brother’s cute red hair.)

I’ve been to many many pumpkin patches in my life and I’ve been caught with muddy pants (literally) multiple times. Let me spare you the same cleanup I’ve been through, and provide you the top 5 things I recommend you tote with you when you head out to hunt for your great pumpkin!

Five things you should take on your trip to the pumpkin patch

1. Cash

Not every pumpkin patch has a credit card system, especially the smaller ones. Even if they do take cards, cash is a better way for you to pay as the credit card fees can really add up.

Make sure to hit an ATM before you hit the fields.

2. A change of clothes

On the trip pictured above, I got caught in a rainstorm that was not in the forecast. We were out picking apples after choosing our pumpkins and ended up soaked to the skin (through four layers, as you can see). I had to sit in my wet clothes the whole drive home, which made the ride really uncomfortable.

Take a plastic bag just in case you do have wet clothes. I keep a roll of garbage sacks in my trunk because we go on a lot of adventures where we get wet or dirty, and it saves me from having to scrub my upholstery!

3. A box or tote

If you take kids, they may want to hold their pumpkin the entire way home, which is understandable. I used to name my pumpkins and make up stories about them and cry when we carved them.

If you don’t have kids who want to cradle their pumpkins on the car ride, you’ll want to corral them somehow to prevent them from knocking around and possibly bruising or breaking on the way home. I have a collapsible tote like this one that I keep in the car for multiple bags of groceries, or keeping things like pumpkins from sliding around in my trunk.

A tote or a box would also help if you’re not able to snag a wheelbarrow from the farm to carry your finds back to the car. Sometimes you can wander pretty far out in the fields, and your arms can only hold so many pumpkins at once!

4. A portable battery for your phone

You’d be surprised how many times I found myself out in a field without my camera or with a dead cell phone battery. (I do go to a lot of farms. It’s one of my favorite things.)

Even if you don’t think you’ll need it, take a portable battery or charger for your phone. I prefer smaller portable batteries like this one when I am out on the farm because they fit easily into a pocket without too much bulk. They carry multiple charges for your phone, and even with older phones with short battery life, can keep you charged all day long.

No missed photo opportunities, no getting lost on the way to or from the farm because your GPS is on your phone.

5. Water and snacks

Some farms have food available for sale, like the tiny farm in Fall City, WA that has the best tiny donuts and you can sit and watch them being made … and some are just a muddy field with a guy weighing pumpkins and collecting money.

Staying hydrated is important for any day in life, but keeping your squad from getting hangry in the middle of nowhere and then throwing a tantrum in the field because they are too hungry and don’t care about pumpkins anymore is essential.

Seriously, we were about 2 miles and a train ride from the car on that rainy apple/pumpkin picking trip and the hangry attitude hit one of our group. He laid down in a puddle in the middle of the apple orchard and said it was the worst day ever.

I do have photos of that, because I remembered my battery! (I was sworn to never show those photos to anyone, so you’ll just have to imagine a fully grown man throwing a fit in a puddle.)

BONUS: Don’t forget to have fun

This isn’t just an Instagram trip, it’s a fun memory you can make with your friends/family/SO. It’s a story you can tell during the summertime when it’s so hot and you can’t wait until the next pumpkin patch trip.

For me, it’s a tradition I’ve only broken a handful of times. Fall = pumpkins and apples and horror movies and spooky things for me, and I hope you have fun on your trip to the pumpkin patch!

** Check out the email signup for my newsletter in my blue/pink/purple header up at the top of this post and stay up to date with all my favorite fall things!

Take Your Bestie to Cirque du Soleil Day (Alegria)

by Mia Cupcake 1 Comment

I was provided with tickets to see Alegría in exchange for this piece. I received no other compensation.

It’s been a hell of a few years. I don’t have to tell any of you that. We’ve all experienced loss and isolation and blows to our mental health. It’s been brutal.

For those of you who are fans of my Instagram, you know I’ve had a fairly rough go of it personally. Battling anxiety, dealing with my “muggle job”, losing my housing, enduring a breakup, finding myself…it’s been a lot.

Sabrina, my best friend has been there for me through all of it. So when an invite slid into my inbox from Cirque du Soleil asking if I wanted to cover the opening night of the revamp of their Alegria show, I don’t know that I bothered to read the email in its entirety before I responded “YES PLEASE” and told Sabrina she was coming with me.

This particular Cirque show has fairly special meaning for me. It was the very first Cirque show I ever saw (Alegría in 2004, Quidam in 2005, Kurios in 2013, Volta in 2018 and now Alegría again in 2022). My boyfriend back in 2004 bought tickets for my birthday, and it was the first “fancy date” I’d ever been on. I bought a dress and wore heels and he wore a suit and it was a VERY big deal. Completely out of character for him, so it was a special treat.

And I was HOOKED from the opening riffs. I watched all the YouTube videos I could find. I tried to find circus classes. I sang the theme song for YEARS (and was pleased to see they reworked it for this show).

I get sidetracked easily when I tell y’all my stories, but trust me. This invitation could not have come at a better time.

So Sabrina and I hopped in the Iron Van (her mini van, the transpo for many of our shenanigans) and sped our way to Seattle one very rainy Wednesday evening to walk our very first red carpet.

Until I saw the unbridled joy on her face at seeing that blue-striped tent, I did not realize it was Sabrina’s first Cirque du Soleil experience ever.

See, Sabrina is my “serious” friend. She’s my rock. She’s the one that is right there with me when I can’t stand by myself and claps the loudest when I win. She’s the one who tells me I absolutely should NOT buy a prom dress just to sit around in my house. She’s the one that reminds me that internet dating is a terrible idea for me, and holds my hand when I break my own heart again.

She’s my hetero life mate. She’s the Silent Bob to my chatty Jay.

So getting to see absolute glee and wonder spread slowly across her face as she took a glass of champagne from a disembodied hand sticking out of a foliage-covered wall, and see that light in her eyes shine through the entire show and all the way home? Hearing her giggle at our new friends and our shenanigans (because hi! It’s still me, I make new friends wherever I go)? Watching her eyes grow big at the gent on the German Wheel, or hearing her squee at the hula hoop artist?

Having her say “YES!” I should buy those wings from the Alegría merch shop that were made for children but matched my hair?

Hearing her whisper “this is so magical” as she covers her mouth with her hands and watches the trapeze artists fly? It’s priceless.

Sharing one of my favorite experiences with the person who has done more for me than I could ever repay was the best way to help see that this “new normal” might not be so terrible.

Everyone should take their adult friends to Cirque for the first time. Or their third. Or their fifth. It’s a gleeful childlike experience that we could all use after the difficult times we’ve had lately.

Alegría is showing at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA through March 13, 2022. Tickets are available here and you should absolutely go if you are able.

Bellingham Farmers Market {local love}

by Mia Cupcake Leave a Comment

Every Saturday from April to December, you can find me at the Bellingham Farmers Market.

If you come with me, you have to be prepared though. I mean business…but I will also stop to talk to everyone I know.

A “quick trip” will take an hour. I don’t mess around.

Close to the opening bell at 10am each week, I start with the vendors in front of La Fiamma on Chestnut and Railroad. My friend Matt sets up most weeks right under the big maple there in front of the bike racks with his awesome Perler bead creations, and I always stop to say hello and see what’s new. We’ve been decorating our awesome basement game room with his creations.

Sometimes across from Matt, there’s a kid there with the most beautiful cutting boards, but sometimes there is a Native American gent in that space with beautiful jewelry, who sings with a hand drum on occasion.

Before you even reach the market, you get a little bowled over with the mouthwatering smells. (Like those waves off of PigPen in the Peanuts comics, but delicious. Maybe not the best metaphor?)

You smell the dhal from Simmering Tava, or the sauce they put on the tuna from Fairhaven Poke. There’s a whole row of ready-to-eat items, but don’t head there quite yet.

The first thing that greets you when you get to the market area is an explosion of produce. Two huge produce stands anchor the southeast entrance to the market, gifting us with a constantly-changing seasonal cast of fruits and vegetables every week.

Spring brings fistfuls of plump green and dark purple asparagus spears, and bouquets of pea shoots. Summer delivers with fat juicy peaches and a rainbow of fist-sized heirloom tomatoes that you carry with the utmost care back to your car to prevent any possible bruising. Fall rolls in with more gourds and squashes than you’ve ever seen, and beets and potatoes and cabbages and so many colors of apples.

But don’t spend all your money before you even see what else the market holds!

The first place I stop is always the mushroom stall.

Cascadia Mushrooms brings not only gorgeous fungi every week, but also kits you can use to grow your own shiitake or lions’ mane mushrooms at home! Sometimes they even have reishi mushrooms.

We get our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box from Roslyn at Rabbit Fields Farms. You can’t miss her saffron-yellow umbrella and the matching fabric fluttering in the breeze around her huge certified organic produce stand. Our box is ENORMOUS and stuffed with all sorts of goodies. Some weeks we get berries, kale and potatoes, the next comes cabbage and kohlrabi and tomatoes. you never know until you open the box – it’s a gift full of veggies and fruit every week.

Pat is the lady with the planters made of boots and kitchen utensils and gorgeous handmade birdhouses, but she also sells the best eggs (and the best price!) at the market.

A swirl of brightly-colored, handmade hula hoops can be had just a little further down the row from Pat.

As you stroll around the corner from the hula hoops and Roslyn’s stand, make sure you stop to watch Strangely’s show. No matter how many times we have seen it, we always stop and watch.

“Bass on the face”. Enough said. (You have to see him, or catch him on my Instagram stories to understand.)

If Amy is working, we will stop by the Henna Lee booth. It’s a calm, dark oasis from the hustle just outside, and Amy has a super calming presence and makes her henna pastes by hand. (She’s also a beautiful artist and I’ve written about her before.)

When you head into the Market Depot (the big building at the north end of the market), you could go visit my friend Shannon with her handmade chocolate truffles. If you ask nicely, she might give you a taste of the lavender lemon (my personal favorite) or the sipping “chai-colate”, a thick concoction made from melted chocolate and chai.

Yes, it’s as amazing as it sounds.

Tucked back in the corner in their own little booth is Ralf’s Bavarian Bakery. That’s usually the treat the kids ask for – pretzels as big as their heads. Never with mustard, just plain. (Though they DO have mustard if that is your jam).

In the opposite corner from Ralf’s is the Breadfarm. Most weeks (except when I’m on a Whole30 and I cannot take it), I’ll pick up a loaf of their Monster Stoneground and a croissant. They always have samples, and their sour cherry lemon bread is otherworldly.

Next stop is the eastern-most row, the outside that faces the street.

It’s the last stop before we head home to squirrel away the goodies we picked up.

We slow down and say hey to Chelle of Chelle Beautiful, and her fairy squad armed with balloons and her army of face painters, ready to make you a lizard or a cat or a unicorn.

Drayton Harbor Oysters is worth a stop – they barbecue oysters with white wine and parmesan cheese. The smell will draw you in, even if you don’t like oysters. My mouth is watering and my stomach growling as I’m typing this out. Yum.

Last stop lately has been Cauldron Broths, a purveyor of delicious bone broths. They have been serving up some tasty borscht-inspired beet-infused beef and some french-onion-soup-infused beef bone broths lately, and they’ve saved my bum from diving headfirst off my Whole30 journey this summer with their plan steamed broths (with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.

(If I ever start dating again, a love of farmers markets in general will probably be a requirement for any potential dudes. I don’t mess around when it comes to who I am anymore, and the market is a huge part of me.)

I don’t have enough room here to cover even half of the booths our market is bursting with. We have skin care and plants and candles and mead and kombucha and pasta and so many other things, I don’t even know where to start.

You should come on out to our market any Saturday between April and December, and choose your own adventure. <3

5 Things To Do in Seattle in 24 Hours

by Mia Cupcake 2 Comments

Seattle is so close to where I live in Bellingham, yet just far away enough that we don’t worry about traffic. I grew up just outside of Seattle, my parents still live there, and I have a crew of friends who still live there…so we like to visit a lot.

Sometimes we are there for a couple of days, but most of the time, it’s a quick 24 hour or less trip that we have to cram all the “big city stuff” into.

So as a self-proclaimed Seattle “expert”, I know what’s up. As a visitor, I know how precious time is on a trip and as a single mom, I want to make my dollar go as far as possible.

So, from south (near the train depot, where the Bolt Bus drops off and where the sports stadiums are) to the north (where there are quite a few hotels to choose from), here are…

Uwajimaya. This is my favorite grocery store in all the land, and yes that includes Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s (and y’all know how I feel about them). It’s just on the edge of the International District, surrounded by telephone poles with cool Chinese dragons wrapped around them.They have a produce section chock full of things you don’t normally see (ugli fruit? Check. Durian? Yuck, but check), a really extensive seafood section, a whole aisle of fun treats from Japan, China and beyond and a kitchenware section with really nice woks for a low price, and chopsticks and soup bowls that make great Seattle souvenirs.
Cupcake Royale. Hit the location that’s right up the street from the Pike Place Market to minimize travel time (which eats into your 24 hours). This location also serves ice cream. With cupcakes IN IT. During the summer, that ice cream can seriously hit the spot. Also, they have cupcakes and some really unique cupcake merchandise.
The Gum Wall. People think this is totally unsanitary and it might be – but it’s also one of the coolest and most unique landmarks you’ll visit in your travels. (Incidentally, they steam cleaned it a couple of summers ago, and here’s a pretty rad time lapse video of the cleaning!)
Bring your own gum (though, the last four times we’ve visited, we went empty handed and others were more than happy to share theirs), and make sure you visit the Ghost Alley Espresso, it’s tucked in down there, right as the road turns to the right to lead up to the market.When you’re done at the Gum Wall, head down the cobblestone path and to the right to head down to the water!
On the waterfront, head to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. This place has been around for 100+ years, and has the crazy treasures to prove it.
A four-legged taxidermied chicken. A “mermaid” (that might not be for the faint of heart – it’s pretty creepy!). A mummy. An antique “one armed bandit”. And so many funky souvenirs to take home to family and friends, all at a pretty reasonable price.
Hit up the Ivars next door for EXCELLENT fish & chips, and sometimes you can watch them dock or launch the fire boat from the waterfront fire station right next door!
Seattle Center is just up the street from the north end of the waterfront, and if you’re not faint of heart, you could hike that hill (past the Olympic Sculpture Park, which is worth a stop) on foot. Or call a cab or a ride-share, I don’t judge.Seattle Center holds a lot of stuff to look at, take photos of, and do.
If it’s hot outside, hit up the enormous fountain. If it’s cold outside, visit the Pacific Science Center, the Armory for lunch and then MoPop for your dose of pop culture and sci-fi history. Or catch a play at the Seattle Rep, or Shakespeare at the Center Theater! (Or a movie at the IMAX theatre!)
There on a summer weekend? Check out the Movies at the Mural, where you can lay out on the grass and watch the sun go down near the Space Needle and then watch a movie.

There’s NEVER a shortage of things to do in Seattle, especially during the summer. Stay tuned – I’ll be sharing a lot more of my favorite places in Seattle in future blog posts!

Side note: I LOVE using my Google Maps to keep track of where we have gone and help others with our suggestions! <3

The purple markers are the 5 spots from this post, the green are restaurants or coffee shops, and the red are clubs and bars (or places that are more adult-appropriate).

It’s a work in progress, so I will have more colors and more markers soon! <3

Come and get it!