Social butterfly weekend

This weekend was all about being a social butterfly. Saturday I went to a meetup group, then met an old friend for lunch and a movie, Grayson and I investigated Queen Anne, and then got stuck in and around the SeaFair hubbub. Today we went to brunch with said friend, then I took a big, long journey to the northernmost parts of the county. I saw an Albertson's! Then I attended a book club meeting. Now we're trying to plan the week's meals. We'll see how it goes.

Finally a Seattleite

Because the criterion for citizenship could only be:



a liberry card!!! I have already gotten two insanely long books I will never read!

Also, I have my almost-official Washington State ID card. The real one comes in the mail in two weeks.

Variously:

We investigated Fremont this week. Here is the obligatory picture of the Fremont Troll:



He is apparently not a fan of German cars. He does not, however, mind every child in Seattle putting their entire fists into his nostrils. Grayson refused a photo-op with his head in a nostril. :(

We saw crazy stuff at the Fremont Sunday Market, and I almost bought an astoundingly beautiful orchid with SIX BLOOMS!!! I would have killed it though, most assuredly. It was too beautiful. We bought too many books this weekend. But, I have joined a few clubs to meet people, and now have three books to read for reading groups in the next few weeks. Exciting times. Grayson and I went to a Hawaiian/Tiki restaurant in Wallingford for one such meeting. It was pretty cool inside, but none of my cruddy cell phone pictures turned out.

While walking to said restaurant, I found my dream home. It was grey with white trim, an adorable craftsman with a tidy lawn, an attic and the house numbers were in Futura. It was adorable. I took a picture, but it may be creepy to post on the internet.

In other random news, Grayson has taken to cooking. He's getting quite good. We are having steak tonight!

Beverage Edition

In the Seattle sphere this week...I am still a temp, kitty got sick, and the weather has been sunny and clear all week. WHAT THE HELL, SEATTLE?

I discovered my new favorite hangout, this place called Remedy Teas in Capitol Hill (where I work). It is really cute and modern inside, and specializes in all kinds of exotic, awesome teas. They even have a nutella sandwich on the menu. They have hundreds of kinds of teas that they brew for you by the cup or pot, or you can take the leaves home. Super-awesome-o. I've actually seen a couple of tea shops that I want to hit up, but perhaps more-so when it is warmer.

I tried a taro bubble tea, finally. Taro was the single flavor on the menu at all the bubble tea shops that I had never heard of. Before I blew $5 on something I might hate, I looked it up on Wikipedia...it was thoroughly unhelpful. It sounded like a plant-y, leafy green, but there was no help on the taste front. I even asked the guy at the shop and he was at a loss for words. I decided to take the plunge and I really loved it...it's purple! It tasted (to me) somewhere between a really faint almost grape taste and strawberry milk. It was AWESOME. New favorite flavor. Though I have to try them all, so it may be a while until I get that kind again. The menus are HUGE, there are too many flavors to pick.

In other weird drink news, I've found two things in the local convenience store that are pretty exotic. Canada Dry apparently makes a sparkling green tea ginger ale, which tastes exactly like it sounds: half green tea, half ginger ale. I haven't seen it anywhere else yet. You can also buy Pocky at the CONVENIENCE STORE!! How cool is that? Even in flavors I didn't know it came: I got coconut pocky and Brazilian pudding pocky (which tastes like carmel-ly, custard-y flan). These are just the flavors at the convenience store! Super happy-making. And for the other exotic drink available at convenience stores is "Ramune," which is Japanese, comes in a little glass bottle, and basically tastes like an Italian soda. Except that it is somewhat complex to open, but it pops this little marble in a convenient hold that makes a fun rattle while you drink! Woohoo!

Yesterday we went to Tivoli, the Scandinavian Festival at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Among other quaint goings-ons, there were SWORDS and LEGOS! Observe:



That's the Midgard serpent, getting what's coming to him.

Today we were pretty boring. We saw Wall-E, it was pretty cute. Next weekend, we're going to the Center of the Universe, Fremont!

Studio living room

Okay, now, the minimal, spartan, spare, not-quite-past-the-college-look piece-de-resistance:

Front door on the left

Sofa bed

Eating area on the right

Closet on the left is where we've magically fit everything from our 750 sq ft apartment into 416 sq ft. On the left of the closet is the kitchen area.

Chinatown adventures, Explosions and our minion, Hobbes!

Chinatown
This week, Grayson and I went to Chinatown, which really should revise its name: there were tons of Thai restaurants, a huge Japanese bookstore and grocery store, and some Korean restaurants, too. There was even a retro gaming store called Pink Godzilla...check out their rad logo! There was also a Chinese restaurant called the Purple Dot Cafe, with an awesome illustration that I am kicking myself I didn't get a photo of, with a like, weird dinosaur thing coming out of an egg? It was awesome.

Grayson and I also discovered a frozen yogurt place on the Ave that makes frozen yogurt actually taste like yogurt...their plain flavor was a bit too tart for me (which means Grayson adores it), but their green tea flavor was really good. Though I couldn't really taste the green tea, like you can with green tea ice cream.

Fourth of July
Grayson and I got to watch the fireworks from our roof. The view was really cool. I attempted fireworks photography, with shameful results:


Next week I have a job interview for my current job. If I get it, my pay rate goes up almost $3/hr. I will be making 220% of what I was making in Boise-HOURLY. Not to mention the fact that I work 25 more hours a week. w00t! Now I can afford to eat...luxury pie!

And, introducing to the world...Hobbes!


Affectionately known as Hobbeses. Hobbes is the progeny of my brother-in-law's kitty Gypsy. He was the solo, adventuring type of the bunch, which was perfect for us, because we could only (barely) afford one cat. So we flew him from Idaho up to Seattle with us, and he's been alternating between a cute, fuzzy, love-fluff adventure kitten, to a scratching, biting, but still totally adorable disastercat. He's about 11 weeks old. He was named after Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher and Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes, so he's mostly Grayson's sidekick. I guess that makes me Suzy?

Movin' in

As it stands, we are almost entirely moved in. There remain only six more boxes, three of which are leaving tomorrow (they're donations). That leaves three boxes of books that we've listed on Amazon.com to sell and get rid of. Who knows how long they'll be here. But, that means that the living room is 95% done, and the bathroom and kitchen are complete.

Bathroom





Kitchen




Living room pictures next Sunday.

In other news, I have a job: I just finished my first week temping at an HMO, as a 3rd tier admin, makin' some pretty sweet cash. I'm not sure how long I'll be temping at places, but I am glad to be pulling in some cash sooner than expected.

This weekend is Pride, I'm heading out for festivities later today. Yesterday we ate breakfast at Portage Glacier Cafe (really good), then went to Northgate mall (almost 4 hours north) for some housewares. I never thought I would actively seek out a mall, but they have a Target there, and we gotta buy things on the cheap. After that we hung pictures in the living room, ate lunch at Fourno's on the Ave (Grayson's favorite), had a bubble tea (see below), took two backpacks worth of books to Half Price Books to sell, and then came home to watch movies. It was entirely too hot yesterday...into the 90s, and we have no sort of AC in the house, just a noisy little fan in the window. Hobbes spends all his time laying on the kitchen floor, where the tile/linoleum stuff is cool.





Bubble Tea is something I had never heard of before I moved here to the University district, as there are about six places along the Ave alone that serve it. Basically, it's tea with milk that you can get these things called "boba" or "tapioca" in ... it's a treat that came from mainly Southeast Asia, though our favorite shop is Korean. At our favorite place (which is heavy on the Christianity) makes milk tea like milkshakes or smoothies, with tapioca in them. The tapioca are these little gummy balls about 1/2" in diameter, that are relatively flavorless but gummy and tasty. Last night we had a cookies and cream one, so it basically tasted like a cookies and cream milkshake with a hint of black tea, and had these fun tapioca to chew on. They seal the top of the cup with a lid that you puncture with these extra thick straws to suck up the tapioca in. They are super awesome. I've also tried a Banana (*****) and a Chocolate (**, only because it was neither very blended nor chocolate-y, we avoid that bubble tea shop now). Bubble tea was only invented in the 90s, so I think it just has not caught on yet. It will though, I think...they are delicious and fun!

Scenes from a Move

Before the big move, I spent many fun days with my friends before we left. Then we got the nitty-gritty:



Loadin' up the U-Haul (that's my little sister...while it may appear that she helped us move, I think that's the only box her dainty little hands touched. She just stopped in before we headed out.)



SNOW in the mountains through Oregon and Washington in JUNE. Crazy weather. The drive was nice and pleasant. Just mom and I in the U-Haul, while Grayson and our new kitten flew up together.



Here's Grayson and our new kitten Hobbes, the morning after the move.

So long, Boise!