Solaris wins!

well, solaris won the granite contest. the votes were:
solaris:
4 blog votes
1 playdate vote
.75 of a blake vote
.25 of a dana vote

leopard river:
1 text vote
.25 of a blake vote
.75 of a dana vote

that said, let's be serious, my vote is really the most important. :) I'm half kidding, but half not. blake didn't feel strongly or care much and the two of us have to live with it. but... when we got there the solaris looked better in large slab form than the small bit we could see in the show room. (I like granite with big sweeping patterns, not a small consistent look, and solaris had more of that than we thought) and it had the rounded edge that we preferred. it didn't look as good w/ our cabinets, but it didn't look bad... plus, even though I prefer dark granites over light ones, I wasn't in love with the shade of brown of leopard river (I like more of a darker chocolate brown), and I was told by a person who picks out granite for a living that lighter is more "in" now than dark. So... solaris. blake and I are both happy with the choice.