Snack Time

Top Pot...a popular Seattle treat. How could you go wrong: rain, coffee, doughnuts. It's like peas and carrots; they just go together. Everyone raves about this Seattle establishment. "Oh, those doughnuts are so good." I've direct several Starbucks customers from out of town to the Top Pot location downtown. In fact, Rachel Ray even recommends it as a best bet for java. I believe it was $40 a Day or some show of her's like that. Oh, and President Obama visited it on his Seattle travels too.

After living in Seattle for about six months now, I thought "this place is popular, I better give it a try!" Today was the day. I haven't eaten a doughnut in FOREVER. Seriously, I don't think I have since elementary school (ok, maybe a bit of one in college late, late at night - just a bit though!).

So as Josh and I were having a lovely Saturday afternoon (yes, I had off work!) in Bellevue, we decided to stop by Top Pot. We shared a delicious pumpkin spice old fashioned doughnut. Then I had a cappuccino and Josh a regular old joe.

The snack:



Here's me eating:



Part of the reason that they are so tasty is that these donuts are hand craved, and you can see them working away in the kitchen:



Not to mention some cool logos:



Other donuts places that are pretty famous around the Pacific NW are Mighty-O Donuts, Pink's, and Voodoo Doughnut.

I'll end on some "food for thought"...what is the difference between doughnut and donut?

1.1.11

A cool date, right? All ones = 1.1.11. Not to mention, yesterday marked the end of a decade. A whole decade; that's nuts! 2000 and Y2K seems like just yesterday. I must be getting old. This is my "I can't believe it's 2011" face:



New Year's wasn't anything too exciting for Josh and I. Picture this: couch, warm blanket, movie, and cupcakes. Then going to bed early. That was our New Year.

I have to say, the cupcake was special though. The owner of the Yellow Leaf Cupcake came into my store and we started talking and he offered me a free cupcake. I decided to get two cupcakes for Josh and I to celebrate the end of 2010 and the start of 2011. I picked up a fig and fennel as well as a classic red velvet cupcake. Yum! I'll return. I think it's better than the Cupcake Royal and Trophy Cupcake places that are so popular up here. Will 2011 still have the cupcake mania we saw in 2010?



Back to New Years, we watched two Netflix movies, so now we'll start 2011 with all new, fresh Netflix (as soon as the mailman comes that is). Then we just had a nice relaxing evening. At midnight, I woke up very briefly to the sound of horns and fireworks. I mumbled "happy new year" to Josh and fell back to sleep.

Part of the reason for the low key New Year was that I had to open our Starbucks store today. It wasn't as early as usual, but still I had to be there at 6:30am which means waking at 5:30am. An early start to 2011! The store was slow for the most part though.

On an ending note, this year started off cold. As in freezing. As in I had to scrape ice off my car and avoid ice patches on the road. ICE! The same thing for the end of 2010, there was ice. How shall I battle this ice and cold? A new jacket!

Post-Christmas Depression

No more stockings at work and just plain, ordinary cups.

No more Christmas movies or music.

No more Christmas lights or garland on houses.

No more Christmas cheer.

No more holidays until February.

I'm depressed.

What do you do about this kind of depression?
Go do stuff.

See a Movie...Check.

While we were down in Encinitas visiting my family, we took an afternoon and saw The King's Speech. I had been waiting to see this movie from the previews and I was not disappointed. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush do a great job. Trying to do a stutter would be a hard role to play and Colin Firth pulls it off excellently. Not to mention, he ranks up there with my favorite actors (see Pride & Prejudice or Bridget Jones). I just found out it's nominated for 7 Golden Globes too. Go see it!



Go out to Dinner with the family. Check.

We all went out to dinner the day after Christmas in Del Mar. We tried a new restaurant called Prep Kitchen. It was quite tasty, although the portions were a tad bit small. Next time I'd be sure to add a salad or extra side dish. I was thrilled when my dad mentioned it should go on "the rotation," which means he really enjoyed it and it was reasonably priced. It's tough to get one dad likes...bravo to me for finding a new place!



Brunch in La Jolla in the sun. Check.

Who doesn't like to sit outside on a nice sunny San Diego winter day and eat yummy breakfast? We all enjoyed our french toast and pancakes, while Josh, the outsider, enjoyed his chilequitas. I just love downtown La Jolla.



More coffee (in the sun too!). Check.

And nothings quite beats a coffee stop on the Encinitas coast at Pannikin. It's a funky coffee shop with surfer dudes, soccer moms, college hangouts, and all sorts of other folks. The coffee and bakery goods are tasty too. You'll hear more about this place when my Coffee Tour takes a look at the Pannikin as a side review.

Yearly Commitment

Every year I am committed to making one Christmas Cookie. If can only make one cookie, this is the one. It's a family tradition. It's heritage; our Swedish roots. These are a cookie tradition I've carried on from my Grandma Norma. She taught me how to make these cookies. Plus, they have a fun name: Pepparkakor! (Pronounced Peppa-Kaka). It is my understanding that "kaka" means cookie in Swedish.

To make these cookies, you must dedicate an afternoon. They are similar to the classic gingerbread and sugar cookie, but a bit thinner and crispy. They are best eaten with a cup of tea or coffee!

How do I make them? Well, let's go through it together.

You start with some dough...



Mix it up. I wish my Cuisinart mixer wasn't broken. It's perfect for this tough dough. Make sure you wear an apron with these bad boys, they get flour everywhere!



Then you roll out the dough, and start going to town with the cookie cutters.



Then you bake. Roll, cut, put on pan, bake. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then pile them all up.



Voila! The cookies are done three hours later. Now, I'll just put on a pot of tea and have myself a little snack.

Tis the Season

The day after Thanksgiving my Christmas music was playing. The season had finally begun!

Every season I start worrying how fast time is going. I only get to celebrate this season once a year! I must make the most of it. So far I'm doing good, but there is so much more to be done and we're already through the first week of December.

Last week Josh and I got our Christmas tree. It's so tiny and cute. Almost a Charlie Brown tree, but not quiet so barren. And by tiny, I mean we could both carry the tree. Easily. It's perfect for the apartment though.



Josh had this great idea for decorating the tree  - we added fresh baby breath flowers. Apparently his parents have done this for years (and looking back at pictures from last year - he's right, I see it on their tree!). Then I added poinsettias, which is something my family does with our tree. Together it's quite a beautiful, little tree.



As I said at the start of the entry, the Christmas music has begun. Today I opted to add to my Christmas music collection. I need to keep it updated and fun. I bought the Glee Cast Christmas album (here's a song). That was inspired by the Glee show that aired this week. It was themed after the Grinch with Sue as the Grinch. HA! Then I bought Owl City's Peppermint Winter. (Did you know Owl City if from Seattle?). I took all these songs and burned a CD for my car. I added some Straight No Chaser songs too since they are my favorite. If you don't know them, listen to the 12 Days of Christmas song they have - it's awesome.

I've also made huge progress with Christmas shopping. I'm *almost* done. Just a few odds and ends for stockings stuffers. I might help my parents with stocking stuffers too - they ask for help each year, haha. Here's a pictures of Josh and I shopping downtown:



We've also decorated our little home. Their are Christmas lights over the door and a wreath. I put out the Christmas decorations too. I cut out some snowflakes and taped them up. It's looking very festive in here.



There is still much to be done though. I need to watch more Christmas movies. I've only watched the Muppets Christmas Carol so far. So many to watch! I should just plop on the couch for a day and do a Christmas movie marathon. That'd be sweet. If only there were time to do so. Josh will be out of town for work, so perhaps I'll fill time with movie watching.

Not to mention, I need to get into the kitchen for cookie baking. I do like to get a bit closer to Christmas though because the cookies are best fresh on Christmas. However, who says we can't just enjoy them all month? That's a self appointed rule I made up though. It's fun to have all the cookies on display on Christmas day. Just something special about it. I will make pepparkakor and biscotti soon though because they last a while. Plus pepparkakor takes a long time to put together. They're like sugar cookies. Rolling and cutting, and rolling and cutting, and baking and cooling. Repeat and repeat. Delicious though!

The season celebration is not limited to home either. Our store has decorated too. Starbucks is great at Christmas time. The drinks, the merchandise, the music - it's great. As a barista though, it's busy. We've had parades, tree lightings, Santa across the street, and caroling contests all outside our front door. We've also made stockings with our names (using puff paint at our last store meeting) and hung them over our fireplace with care.



Oh my, the season is here!

All I Want For Christmas

Today I witnessed a Christmas miracle. It was early in the season, but wonderful. As I went to downtown Queen Anne this afternoon to get some odds and ends at Bartell Drugs, Josh noticed some balloons near the sidewalk where i knew the building of a frozen yogurt store was being built. Could it be? Is it true? Is the frozen yogurt store open?

Yes, indeed! Frozen yogurt is now just 5 minutes from home! I'm thrilled. I'm estatic! Now Seattle is complete. And I'm lucky that the one store they decided to built is in the part of town right near home.

The store is called Menchies. I first tasted it in Federal Way, which is just south of the SeaTac airport. Apparently this chain is growing fast because my sister mentioned one opened near her a couple months ago. Feed the masses sweet froyo.

To the important stuff, my first taste of frozen yogurt in months. It was superb. I had so many choices - there are about 5 machines (=10 flavors). I picked two all time favorites: cookies and cream & pumpkin. I guess I'll have to going back to try the others.

Come visit and I'll take you to Menchies.

The Return of the Turkey

PART 1: Gooble Gooble Goodness


Since I was sick the days leading up to Thanksgiving, and the fact I had to work a long shift the next day, Josh and I opted to go out for Thanksgiving dinner. Not to mention, we received a gift certificate to help fund the restaurant experience as well (thanks - you know who you are!). Luckily, the snow and ice had mostly melted and we could venture out of the hose at last and drive downtown. And aren't we glad we did...dinner was delicious. The turkey so moist; probably some of the moistest I've ever eaten. The sides were scrumptious and plentiful. All and all, it was a fabulous night. The best part of it all...no dishes or clean-up involved!

We ate at a Tom Douglas restaurant called Lolas (side note: Tom is a famous Seattle chef). Here's the Thanksgiving menu:

• Free range Washington turkey


• Caramelized onion-thyme gravy


• Liam's Thanksgiving stuffing


• Creamy fennel mashed potatoes


• Brussels sprouts, pearl onion, bacon


• Yams, metaxa, hazelnuts


• Cranberries, orange, apple


• Dahlia bakery pumpkin pie, whipped cream

PART 2: The Turkey Strikes Back


But the above was not it. Oh no. After eating Thanksgiving dinner, Josh and I began to crave more turkey. No turkey leftovers. Ahhh. We did have leftover sides though. I asked Josh to pick up some pre-cooked turkey at Wholefoods so we could enjoy the leftovers. However, when I returned home from my 10 hour shift on Black Friday, Josh had a bone-in turkey breast cooking away in the oven. Hurray for turkey. He also bought us some spiced autumn cake from Macrina. It was like Thanksgiving all over again.

Now, we have leftover turkey but no leftover sides. Make more sides? Just kidding. It's turkey soup time. Oh yea!

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I am so very thankful for all of my friend, family, and the country I live in. So much to be thankful for...I'm truly blessed!

Josh and I are staying in Seattle for Thanksgiving this year. I have to work a big Black Friday shift tomorrow - 10 hours. Probably one of our biggest days of the year at the store. Across the street is Santa. In the morning is a parade. And in the evening, the lighting of the Christmas tree. Since I've been sick, we're not cooking. We're going out to a lovely Seattle restaurant called Lola's (thanks to a gift certificate we received!).

Let's check out the History Channel's Thanksgiving story:



Now, on a lighter note (well, perhaps not lighter if you see what they are actually making) another video on birds:

Now Extreme Winterland

At first everything seemed so beautiful and snowy, but then reality hit. The stress of commuting in the snow in a city full of hills and ice. Josh had the first taste of all this on Monday.

After my post on Monday and a safe return home from my store downtown, Josh took off to help get a friend to the airport. They left at 3:30pm on Monday. After they left, the winds picked up, the snow came down harder, and it got c-r-a-z-y. I kept looking out the window to see him walking up the path, but he never came. Around 5pm I got a text message, "still on the 99." I thought, "whew, he must be on his way home now." Oh how wrong was I! I got a call later and they were only just arriving at the airport -- it was 7:30pm. What?!?

Once they got to the airport, his friend had missed his flight. The airport was doing okay, except one cargo place skidded off the runway. Otherwise it was functioning; just a bit slow. They decided to grab food at the airport and head home. The ride home was a long one. They left around 9pm and trudged through the 5 freeway. At one point, they were stopped in one place for hours and only moved a few yards. Along they way, they had to deal with maneuvering around cars (out of gas or parked), buses, and semis. They even had to get the car pushed out of ice. The return time home...2:30am! That's eleven hours round trip. Side note to make that sound more dramatic: Generally the airport is only 30 minutes away. Needless to say, Josh was tired the next day.

Then I had my experience with commuting in the snow. I had to get to work at 7am on Tuesday. 7am sounds fine until you factor in such things as: freezing temperatures, icy roads (can't drive from our home right now), buses either delayed, on snow routes, or canceled. I called in to the store before heading out. They needed me there. My co-worker had walked 2 miles in the snow to open the store and we were getting customers. Apparently all those people on foot in the city needed warm coffee and tea.

I layered up -- ear muffs, scarf, jacket, gloves, snow boots, and hat. I stomped down the icy and snowy stairs to the level area where I could catch a bus. I waited for my bus, and then when it arrived I got the last seat in the bus. The next stop, more folks crowed in and filled the bus to capacity. The bus had to turn down all other bus-goers along the route. Poor people in the cold trying to get to work. I finally got to the store, only 15 minutes late. Woohoo.

As for today, I had the schedule switched because I was supposed to open the store.  A bit difficult when you have to factor in such things  as: no bus (it doesn't run early enough to get me to the store to open), no walking (too far), and unable to drive (we're on a hill with a layer of ice on the road). At least I have time today to rest and recover from the cold I have right now.

All in all...Seattle is crazy in the snow. Temperatures remain at freezing but it's except to warm up and rain by Thursday and Friday.

Check this out (keep watching - a bus (see 3 min 15 sec mark), fire truck, and numerous cars involved:

Seattle Wonderland

It's snowing! And it's sticking to the ground! I often get asked if it snows here by friends and family now that I live in Seattle. Before my answer was all speculation, but now I can officially say that, "yes, it does snow."

As I sit here typing this entry, I can look up and out the window to see...white. It's coming down pretty hard, with blustery wind. Brrr!!!!

However, I did have to venture out into the winter wonderland to get home from work. The buses were running on snow routes (less hills, etc), and a whole lot slower (some with chains apparently). I lucked out though. As I arrived to my stop 15 minutes late, my bus was helping a wheelchair person. Since it was delayed, I made it...Hallelujah! I didn't have to wait in the snow. I had my extra hot Chai and hopped on the bus. Then I stomped up the stairs to home sweet home.

It's the talk at my Starbucks right now. People telling me about waiting for the bus and then it never arrived, all the traffic, or late for work. Crazy, I now live in a city that snows.

Alright, enough about snow. Let's get to some pictures.



I think I'll need to invest in a scrapper for the windows...



Our home with the snow on the roof and trees.



Brr, get the photo...quick.

And the Sky is Grey

Listen to this song to help set the scene for this post. All the Leaves are brown here (actually, brown and on the ground) and our skies are grey. I don't really go for walks on cold days. And yes, I do think it's warmer in CA, but I'll be down for the holidays. Okay, I'll stop that now. Read on please, don't let this first part deter you.



Yes, it's cold here now. Not freezing, but cold. The fall is come and gone, and now we are starting winter. The talk about town is how this is going to be a cold winter here in Seattle. And let me tell you, I get to talk to lots of people at Starbucks. Everyone is excited and nervous. Our store is talking about snow back-up plans. Oh my! Snow in Seattle my first year here.

Don't believe me? Here's some proof: The weather guy says he is "...predicting that the worst of winter's cold and snow will be from the Pacific Northwest into the northern Plains and western Great Lakes. That will put cities like Portland and Seattle that escaped with a very nice winter last year, colder and snowier this year." (Source link)

Apparently, when it snows here the city closes down. Seattleites just don't know what to do! The hills get frozen and driving is practically impossible without sliding. Josh and I will be trapped on Queen Anne! I better start a safety kit or something.

I started preparing with some cold weather wear. Example #1: A new hat.



I'm also wearing my warm, fluffy vests (see picture), scarves, boots, and gloves. I also got Smartwool socks. I think I'll consider some ear muffs and umbrella.

Okay, getting under the blanket on the couch now. Stay warm this winter my friends!

P.S. A new coffee series will be starting soon.

Chuckles

It's too funny. It's hilarious. Laugh.

• Fiddler on the Roof - This is a wedding one that's pretty awesome. Sing along if you're a Fiddler fan like me. Yes, I went through a stage in my youth when I was a bit obsessed with the music from FOTR. If I were a rich man, yada yada yada...and so on.


• Auto Correct - All of you text messengers will know this stuff. Pretty dang hilarious.


• The Oatmeal - Just a funny site. For starters, check out cobwebs, email meanings, and phone calls.


• What? - Okay, only those that watch Mad Men, a new t.v. series favorite of mine, will get this YouTube collage.


• Dog Tricks - I love this band; they do such great videos. By the way, it's Ok Go. Now, remember the This Too Shall Pass music video.


• Charlie, the Unicorn - Sort of bizarre, and sometimes I think "why is this funny?" But it's interesting if not freaking crazy hilarious. Actually, just plain weird, but you'll find yourself saying, "Charlie" in a weird high pitched voice.

Fall Back

Did I remind you of the time change? It's happening tonight. Another hour of sleep - hurray! This is especially good news considering I open tomorrow. Another hurray!

Time change is among the top indicators that fall has arrived. Besides the changing colors, the gourds, rain, and cool weather, etc.

Let me tell you about some of my fall indicators:

Orange, Red, Brown, Yellow - these are the fall colors. Auburn and burnt sienna are some of the colors Josh said when I just asked him (not being specific at all - wink wink). It's so beautiful to drive along and see the colorful leaves. The past two falls in the Pacific Northwest have been a great experience.



Fall means pumpkins, spices, fruits, and veggies. Yum. For instance, I had a tasty caramel apple from the Ballard Farmers Market stand JonBoy Caramels. Then there is the newly discovered Essential Bread Company and have enjoyed fall breads. The Perrin bread has fresh pear, figs, and hazelnuts. It screams fall. Or the sweet potato pecan bread. Quite delicious as toast.



Pumpkin. Time. Oh pumpkin, how I love thee. There isn't lots of frozen yogurt here, but there is gelato. I had some pumpkin gelato. It was heavenly. Those of you in frozen yogurt lands, please consider this (click here) frozen yogurt review. Also, I found a review about Jell-o pumpkin pudding. I had to try it. I found it in the seasonal portion at the front of Safeway. As the pumpkin mousse it was quite good with some graham cracker on top.



As for weather, well, this is Seattle. Enough said. No really, we actually had some beautiful days. For a while there was only rain every other day. The other days were slightly cool, clear, fall days.

This evening I made some delicious molasses crinkles. I've also made pumpkin muffins, pork with sauteed apples, mashed sweet potatoes, and some other tasty dishes. Josh approved.

Have I inspired you to enjoy fall? I love fall. Enjoy it!



Above is our pumpkin on our door step!

Something Better Than Nothing

I've been pondering what to write about the past week. Nothing awesome is coming to mind though. Life it just chugging along. And by chugging, I mean super fast. I'm shocked it's already mid-October already. What? Wait! Huh? How'd we get here?

With time flying, I'm realizing my blog posts are becoming more infrequent. I promised more frequency, and here I am going the opposite direction. I'd give you a lame excuse like I'm tired when I find free time (I do get up at the crack of dawn often, i.e. 4-something) or I've been busy with this or that. Now I've just reached the point where I shrug and say, "something's better than nothing." Perhaps I'll write about my shampoo (which is Aveeno). Nahh, I'll just do some random factoids and updates.

Special Days: Josh and I will have been together for 7 years this month. Crazy right? We finish each other's sentences, act like dorks together (correction, I'm the dork & he's the nerd), and explore together.

Yummies: I've come to enjoy some new stuff to accomodate the fact that there is no froyo here in Seattle. Seriously, it's a shame, but it does open the doors to other things. For instance, biscotti. There is this cranberry biscotti at my  new favorite bakery, Marcina. There is also a delcious roasted apple, fig, and walnut crepe at Miro. Delish! Drooling now.

Tea: Miro gets two points, one for crepes, and another for their tea. I've really been downing the tea these days. Chai, chai, chai. There is Miro, but there is also a place in Queen Anne called Tea Cup. I've enjoyed their Hazelnut Mocha tea and Vanilla Mint tea. Another favorite is down by Pike Place Market called World Spice Merchants. We (Josh is in the tea mode too) love the Northwest Chai. Did you know to steep chai you should really use black tea and chai tea? Yup, it's true. I get the royal treatment too since Josh makes me tea and I sit on the couch with it cupped in my hands. So nice. I might write about the World Spice Merchants more some other time - it's an interesting business/store.

Songs: I went and bought a few songs on iTunes recently that I'm enjoying. To name a few: Shine by Black Gold, Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Only Exception by Paramore, Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons, Tighten Up by The Black Keys, and Crystalized by The xx. Go check them out. It's a different mix than my usual picks, but I'm lovin' them. I'm listening to them as I type!

Coming Up: There are a few upcoming things that you'll see blog posts about. The first, and most important is that my parents are coming to town! They are coming the last weekend of October. My mom visited briefly with me on our whirlwind apartment tour, but besides that they haven't been to Seattle since I was young. Not to mention we were only in the city for a day or so (at least that's what I remember). We're going to have some fun activities and good food!

The other stuff to look forward to include: Harry Potter, Twilight, and Thanksgiving. Let's throw in Christmas while we're at it too.

Call Outs: Happy Birthday Caroline! Happy Anniversary Don & Nada! Love you guys.

A picture of us after 7 years. Smiling at one of our favorite Seattle views, Kerry Park.

Been Busy

Every day I groan thinking, "man, I neeeeed to write a blog post. It's been ages." I think I haven't written at all in October yet. Yikes! So let me apologize for not writing. I've got all these great things to post, but just haven't had the time. I only have a likely excuse: I've been BUSY. I just have been busy doing one thing after another. Like what? Well, here's a Busy Item List for you:

1. Promotion: I've been quiet about this since I didn't want to tell you all about it and then have to come back with a "yea, well...(cough cough), umm yea" type post. Anyway, I interviewed a few weeks ago with a couple managers - coffee tasting, interview interrogation, the usual. After that, things started moving quickly. It got announced at our quarterly team meeting and the next week I was training. This past week was my first week managing the floor on my own. It's actually takes quite a bit of thinking. Breaks (which have to be timed wisely), cash management, keeping the customers happy, and dealing with the "crazies" that come in (note: "crazies" is the word we all use for crazy people that we have to deal with regularly). For instance, my first day running the floor I had to kick someone out for bad behavior. The next day, I had to call the police. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it's testing me for my best mean face (can you picture it?).


2. Josh's Birthday: Josh turned the big 29 Tuesday. Sadly, I had to close the store on his birthday, but we celebrated for sure. Monday our family friends, Vince and Jonita, treated the both of us to a delicious meal at The Palace Kitchen. This is a Tom Douglas restaurant which I've been wanting to try and it did not disappoint. We went all out too with drinks, appetizers, entrees, and dessert. I had lavender goat cheese fondue to start and a succulent halibut entree. Josh has some pork & pear terrine and a lamb sirloin. Then some coconut cream pie to cap off (this pie is famous). For his actual birthday, I made a chicken tamale casserole before work and ate it after work. He also got a pair of Clark Desert shoes from yours truly. Oh, and lots of Bacon stuff (thanks Jeff & Melissa!). The last bit of celebration was this morning which was breakfast at Julia's in Wallingford. Yes, I know you're thinking: wow, what a celebration of food.


3. Dining Next Door: I think I just came up with a cute restaurant name. But no; it was really dining next door with our neighbors, Matt and Meghan. It was great to get to know our neighbors. We know we'll get along too since they too are Rick Steve followers.


4. Val in Town: Valerie, whom we all know and love as Val came to Seattle to visit. Val is a friend from U of O law school. She's in Montana now, but had a long weekend and decided to head west to visit. We spent a lovely, rainy evening with her and catching up.

That's not the end of the list, but I'll end it there. I just think it'd start to get too long to go through. Plus it's smaller stuff, like church, groceries, and the likes. But now you know I'm still here. Still writing. Still taking photos. Still thinking of you all. I'll try to write more often now.



Bacon and Birthday Boy Above.

It's Magnetic

Yes, magnets are magnetic. Surprise! Last Thursday at the Farmer's Market I made a magnet. It's pretty dang cool and I just happened upon it. However, before we get into the thick of this craftiness, let's back track a bit to give you some background first.

It was a cloudy, looks-like-rain type of evening and Josh and I were at the Queen Anne Farmer's Market. You may recall, my saying that we try to go to the Farmer's Market every Thursday (or at least until rainy season comes and it closes). Remember? It's a great dinner because A- it's cheap(er) and B- there are usually a few booths there to accomodate both of our tastes. This time around I had a yummy fresh mushroom pizza from Veraci Pizza and Josh had some soul food at Where Ya At Matt (specifically steaming hot jambalaya). After chowing down on these delectable food items, I was headed for a crepe for dessert. As I was headed over, I walked by the Queen Anne Bookstore booth and looked over. I saw a girl making something crafty. Crafty. Cool. I said, "I want to do one of those!" The lady replied, "come on over!"

The lady turned out to be Jennifer Worick the author of Simple Gifts, a craft book with directions (simple directions hence the book title) on how to make all sorts of arts and crafts. One of these particular crafts was making personal magnets, just like I was about to create.

With some easy instructions, I was on my way to some magnetic fun. To start, I shuffled through all sorts of cards, maps, old calendars, and whatnot, After a sorting through everything, I settled on a cupcake design for my magnetic - it was a tough decision for me (the I-Don't-Know girl). To find the exact look, I put the glass stone over the design and then traced around the stone with a pencil. After the tracing, I cut out the picture. With some sort of crafty glue, I attached the picture to the stone followed by a magnet. Voila, a hand-picked, personally made magnet.



I was very proud of my magnet. What great fun too! Maybe I should do this as gifts or even wedding favors (when that day comes). I was very inspired and the craftiness and browsed through the Simple Gifts book on display. All sorts of fun ideas. In retrospect, I wish I had bought the book and had Jennifer sign it. Sigh. I always do that "if only" stuff. Next time I'm at the bookstore, I should purchase it.



Now the magnet happily resides on my refrigerator. Every time I look at it I think of the Farmer's Market and then of delicious cupcakes. What a lovely day at the Farmer's Market.

Are you feeling crafty? Share you're crafty ideas!



P.S. We also got some beautiful dahlias and Josh enjoyed (or devoured I should say) some beignets.

The Do

I hope I'm not the only one who uses the word "do" on occasion to mean hair style. If so, then you may have picked up the meaning of my title. If not, then let me clue you in on my terminology...I got a new hair cut and style.

I ventured into the hair salons of Seattle. After some walk-by viewing, some walk-in investigation, and research on Yelp, I decided on Vain Salon in Ballard. Okay, c'mon, sing it, "You're so Vain, you wish that this post was about you." Naww, it's a nice place in Ballard and had decent pricing and isn't vain. The people were quite friendly in fact.

Emily was my hair stylist. We got along well and chatted about Chicago, Starbucks, TV, and whatnot. After some time, I walked out a new girl.

Before - This is from June, so it has grown since. However, all recent photos I have my hair back in a ponytail or bun. I guess it got too long.



During - I was waiting for my highlights to dry and sneaked in a photo.



After: The new hair!

Discovering Discovery

Last week Josh and I ventured out to discover Discovery Park. This is a nearby park - just about five minutes away from our home. It has some nice walking and/or hiking trails through some of Seattle's best wildlife and also some beautiful sites (didn't that sentence sound like an article of some sort?!



According to Wikipedia, "Discovery Park is a 534 acre park in the peninsular Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is the city's largest public park and contains 11.81 miles of walking trails." The trail we took, while circumferences the peninsula was about 3 miles.

We saw a mix of trees, grassy areas, coast, and wildlife. In fact, along the way, I stopped in my tracks. Was that a bat? No way...scary. Yes, I wanted to know. I back tracked and squinted. I took a step closer. And closer. Then it struck me. It was a strategically placed toy of some crazy looking bat werewolf.



It was a typical, misty Seattle day (rained later that day) and the site off the coast was awesome. We could see Mount Rainer in the distance. If only I could truly capture the site on film.



And that was yet another check mark on our Seattle Life Chalkboard.

Josh says, "yes, that's right. Deal with it." And I say, "heck, yea."

A Personal Tour

Josh and I proudly invite you to take a personal, guided tour of our new place. This should give you a good feel of the layout and setup we have going here in the good ole Pacific NW. Now, please sit down, relax, and enjoy the show:

Seattle Home Tour from Heather O'Neill on Vimeo.

Take a personal tour of our new home!

This one's for you Caroline...

Ketchup

Ketchup is just a play on words - Shakespeare style. What I'm really getting at here is catch-up as in I'm catching up on my entries. I could write separate posts for each topic, but some are from a while ago and it seems lame to write them now pretending they just happened. For this post, I'm reverting back to my favorite bullet style update.

• One Year with Starbucks - Tuesday, 9/21 marked my one year anniversary with Starbucks. A whole year! Crazy to think how quickly this year has gone by. I remember my first few months as a barista and how nervous I was trying to learn everything, especially the drink recipes. Did you know that about 85% of Starbucks customers customize their drinks? Did you know that there is roughly over 100 recipes to learn as a Starbucks barista? Now, I'm right up there debating the correct recipes with partners (we call all Starbucks employees partners). When I go in to work tomorrow I should be receiving a beautiful 1 year pin.


• Starbucks HQ - Wednesday last week, that would be 9/15, I headed off to Starbucks world to get some live, on-site training. I was the lucky chosen one to be trained to be a Learning Coach. This means I'm Starbucks certified to train new partners. It was next door to the headquarters. The training was fun, and a nice change of pace. The better part was heading over to HQ afterwards to check out the Partner Store. This is a store in HQ that is cool stuff just for us to purchase - t-shirts, sweaters, pens, keychains, etc. First you have to check in with the receptionist on the 8th floor. Then you are personally escorted to the store on the 5th floor. It felt like a secret society. I went a little crazy and bought too much probably. I did get myself a black polo with the Starbucks logo, which I can wear at work and feel professional.


• The Bus Chase - Just as the bullet title says, I chased a bus last week. I was standing there waiting for my bus #3 17, when I saw it taking off. Where did it come from? Did it even stop? I think it must have stopped behind some buses way down at the end of the block. Two other guys were banging the bus, but it just drove onward. I said to myself, "screw this, I'm getting on that bus. I'm not waiting any long. I want to get HOME!" So I grabbed hold of my Timbuk2 bag on my shoulder and sprinted off after it. I tried to think ahead like, "which bus stop is next?" I just missed it at two stops, but then I knew where I could intersect it. And by golly, I caught up. It was a decenter 6 blocks of running, but I got on that bus. I think one of the passengers knew that I ran because he gave me a little smile as I sat breathing deeply, catching my breath. I conquered!