About Christie Vandyke
Christie is a writer and the creator of offthebeatenpad.com where she humorously chronicles her experiences and observations. She spent many years working as a Project Manager before setting off on a journey to spend some time pursuing her passion for writing and bringing a little humor to people’s days. Christie hails from Michigan and has lived in Seattle since 2003. She enjoys the city life, cooking and all things wine, delighting in the abundance of wineries Washington State has to offer.
Mix, mingle and unwind for a happy hour – or two – in Woodinville’s wine country.
Our guess is that since you’re reading this, you love wine just as much as we do. So may we suggest that when the next happy hour gathering rolls around, you head on over to Woodinville wine country and treat yourself to a special happy hour that focuses on one of your favorite things, wine. (more…)
Put the heavy reds back in the cellar and trade in for some lighter wine varietals.
The warmer weather such as we were lucky to experience this past weekend gives us the urge to swap out those seemingly drab winter clothes for light, airy and carefree outfits that haven’t seen the light of day in seven months. (more…)
Say sayonara to the winter blues and get your spring on while attending these area wine events.
Spring is a lovely time of year to taste wine. Wait. I stand corrected. Any time of year is a lovely time to taste wine, especially here in the Northwest. But spring tasting is an excellent opportunity to taste and experience some of the new releases on the market. (more…)
Seattleite’s new bi-weekly column is sure to tempt your wine palate and beyond.
Welcome to Wine’ing About, Seattleite’s new wine column. My name is Christie and I’ll be your bi-weekly tour guide as I bring you, dear vino loving reader, the skinny on all things wine. From profiling winemakers, to wine gadgets to places to visit and discover great wines, I’ll unearth it all as I go Wine’ing About. (more…)
Take to the local waters for a four-course meal in an intimate setting.
Maybe you haven’t made any plans for Christmas Eve yet, but know you don’t want to stay in that evening. Perhaps you’ve promised not to sit through yet another Christmas Eve dinner with Uncle Fred, who wears ugly sweaters and incessantly talks with his mouth full of turkey. Consider 2011 the year you treat yourself to a yacht dinner cruise. (more…)
The “Bachelor” star discusses a recent Aussie adventure and his passion for travel.
While taping part of “The Bachelor” in New Zealand, Jason Mesnick fell in love with the beautiful scenery – and the animals. When the show was behind him, Mesnick did some soul searching and followed one of his passions – traveling. He began to work for (more…)
Munch on lefse and sip some glögg to celebrate Nordic culture.
Bring your yuletide cheer to Yulefest 2011, an annual fundraiser for Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum.The late Randi Hansen hosted the first Yulefest in 1978 to raise money for (more…)
