The reason I haven't updated in three days is because my mother-in-law is in town and we've been running around entertaining her. I know you all must have missed me TERRIBLY.

Anyway I will tell you all about my favorite parts of today, which were spent in The City of My Birth.

Though the sky was overcast from one end to the other, we nonetheless paid $16 each to ride an elevator 50 stories up to the observation deck of the Space Needle, which I seriously haven't visited since... high school? It's glorious on a clear day, but even when cloudy it's pretty neat. I think the Hancock in Chicago is taller, but the view in Seattle is, IMO, much lovelier, what with the mountains and islands and lakes and hills and so on.

The other favorite thing today was visiting the main public library an hour before it closed tonight. The stillness; the stunning architecture; the fourth floor with its blood-red floors, walls, and ceilings; the glass elevator bank on the tenth floor, exposing the pulleys and cables in the chamber; the neon green escalators and elevators... I could go on. But it really is one of my favorite buildings on earth. Oh and it's also full of books.

Lastly, we were killing time before the ferry left and went to Pioneer Square to check out an ice sculpture competition. I do love this city.

Tags: seattle

( saturday in west seattle )

Tags: photos, seattle

West Seattle was beautiful today. Pictures and more tomorrow. We drove all over the place. Had lunch at a very strange diner, then followed that up with a treat at a cupcakery/cafe -- chocolate with lavender buttercream. I photographed its loveliness.

I talked to my dad as we crossed the bridge back into Seattle proper, and found out that their best friend's son, who is my age, is a realtor. In West Seattle. BOO YAH.

Tags: seattle

As the rectangle of sun travels over the carpet, right to left, Simon follows. He is a slave to direct sunlight. OMG I THINK I SAW THAT IN A GARFIELD CARTOON ONCE.

I wrote last night:

"The only thing he remembered, before it all came back to him, was a dream he had while lying on the operating table. Floating on his back down a dark and bottomless river. A swarm of mosquitoes diving toward his ears. The keening of their diaphanous wings, needle-shaped mouths salivating, searching for a place to land so they could drain him dry."

I hate mosquitoes and I hate when they invade my dreams with their whiny wings just before they feast on my blood. Bitches.

Leaves in the back yard have turned a pale orange color. The pot of marigolds on the porch turned black. I'll have to throw them out. But everything else in the yard should be fine through the winter, as far as I can tell. Oh shit except I bet we'll have to rake those leaves up once they fall.

We're going to West Seattle tomorrow! And it's going to be sunny!

Tags: book, seattle
music: radiohead: all I need

Walked around downtown a lot today. There was a bite in the air, but luckily I had my Marc by Marc Jacobs fingerless $5 gloves that I bought with Michelle Orange last year on Fillmore Street. First thing to do once off the ferry was to find a good bathroom. This involved wandering through Rainier Square mall to no avail, and ended up walking into the Hilton Hotel, acting like a guest, and taking an elevator to the grand lobby. By the way, this works every time, those who find themselves in a downtown area and needing to pee. All hotels have lobby restrooms, and they are almost always nice. Just walk with confidence!

That done, I asked for a glass of water at the Hilton bar. Love that free water, man. Then I walked another ten or twelve blocks into Chinatown, or The International District, to have lunch with my friend Ann at a veggie Chinese place on King Street. It was very entertaining/excruciating to read the literally dozens of typos on the very strange menu. We ended up with orange "chicken" and a sorta boring fried rice, but it didn't matter as the conversation was so lovely.

After that we got petite espresso drinks at a bubble tea place nearby, then walked over to the Wing Luke Asian Museum, which was very small but somehow just the right size. One side was dedicated to Pacific Northwest Asian-American history, and the other side was a space devoted to some cool art installations. For $4, it was a bargain.

We kept on toward the sound and ended up exploring Elliott Bay Books for a while. Ann told me she was going to a Hump (The Stranger's annual amateur porn contest) screening this weekend, so I look forward to finding out what that was like. I predicted lots of laffs. I didn't buy any books because I have two that I need to read here first!

Finally, it was time for me to head down toward the ferry terminal again so that I could avoid too many commuters. I had a little time, so I visited the drug store inside the Exchange Building. My dad worked in that building for 25 years. I remembered the dimly lit lobby and curved bank of old elevators, and eating in the first floor cafeteria. I used to go to his office when he had to work late nights, and I suppose couldn't get a babysitter or something. Or maybe I wanted to go -- he worked in the graphics department for Metro and his office contained every art supply I could ever dream of. They didn't use computers back then. Hundreds of felt pens, sheets of rub-on letters, pads of trace paper, drafting tables, the works. I loved being there. While my dad worked on whatever deadline he had, I busied myself drawing horses with stinky markers.

Tags: seattle

This morning I cleaned the house. Vacuumed, swept, washed, wiped, etc. Changed bedsheets, shook out rugs, all those things that get done at least once every week. Satisfying. I used to clean houses for a living, a long time ago. I wonder if I would work harder or differently if I pretended that this house was one of my jobs, if I gave myself two hours to go through the rooms...

Except as a house cleaner I didn't do laundry. And I only got $12 an hour. Or was it $14? Amazing, eh. Oh and that was under the table, and guess what, I never reported it. Oops!

Anyway. Today was fairly uneventful. Yesterday, we put the car on a boat and crossed the gray, rainy Sound. On the other side, after getting lost twice in Edmonds, we met up with my mom for lunch in the Snohomish Co. suburbs where I was raised.

After lunch, Brian and I headed south into Seattle. I am going to have to recalibrate my sense of distance here. San Francisco is tiny. In comparison, Seattle, or King County, is huge. So much land here! Helps keep prices down I guess.

We toured an unaffordable neighborhood near Green Lake. I remember Green Lake as small, stinky, and man-made. I seem to recall cement on the bottom. But now people really want to live next to it. Must have cleaned it up. I am really going to have to stop thinking of this city as unpretentious and humble. That's very 1980s of me. Those days are clearly over.

There are lots of places in Seattle we can afford. And even the most beautiful, ginormous, remodeled four-bedroom craftsman on Phinney Hill is selling for a price that buys you a two-bedroom condo in San Francisco, or a small fixer-upper in Berkeley. So, it's "cheaper" here. But that doesn't make us any richer -- we're still first-time home buyers with one income.

On Saturday we'll explore West Seattle and other places south of downtown. Less expensive, though you have to deal with possible air traffic the further south you go. It's a part of town I don't think I have ever even visited. Seattle is very large.

Tags: seattle

( some big pictures )

Tags: cats, photos, seattle

Today we went to Seattle. Walked a lot. I noticed (well, I have been noticing) that my fingernails were a holy mess, so I decided to find a place to get a manicure. Brian was not at all into sitting through that, so he went to an action flick while I got a full-on hand treatment + blood red polish. Much better.

We ate dinner at a Moroccan place on Second Ave. It was super dark inside and there was low seating and a belly dancer. Nevertheless, it still paled in comparison to that one place in Tokyo with the hookahs and drunk Japanese businessmen and gregarious Iranian waiter/host, but nothing will ever top that.

After that, we walked back toward the ferries, passing the Crocodile (cafe) along the way. I somehow have only been there once. I think? You see I left WA when I was barely 21, so I never really got to go to bar shows here, ever. I mainly went to the OK Hotel for shows in Seattle.

We crossed the Sound and both napped. As we drove back toward the house, I found KEXP on the radio. They were broadcasting from the Crocodile, but then the "Sonic Reducer" show started and we were treated to some early Mudhoney and a lovely tune by the Wipers. Yays.

I am pretty beat. Gnight.

Tags: seattle

The winner of the town poll was St. Augustine, and I'm glad because my gut kind of went with that one as well. I knew it was a Band of Horses song, which is fine, I like that song very much and they are from the Northwest.

July draws to a close, and San Francisco has been very cold and gray this week. I walked to the train today and the fog was so thick it had turned into a fine spray on my face. Summer!

Work sucked today because our replication server died in the middle of the morning, meaning that content I uploaded to be tested was not showing up in our preview site. This went on until about 3pm. What a waste.

Luckily it gave me time to work on my novel outline, which I've neglected since January. An outline is really important, especially when working with something that's going to be about 25 or 30 chapters.

Dinner tonight was scrambled eggs with green peppers, and a green salad. I want to make something vegetarian for dinner tomorrow. Something crazy. Maybe with beans? Hmm. Legumes!

I found out today that my pal Rena is moving back here from NYC. Rena I need your email address and I need to know what the deal is, too!

My coworkers have been so sweet about me leaving. They all seem happy for me to be taking this step, and one rad girl gave me a job contact in Seattle and her personal email. I think whenever someone leaves my company, people are a bit envious. It's a very corporate environment. Good money and benefits, but really, not extraordinarily creative or anything.

Speaking of moving, there is a house for sale in my neighborhood, very close to our building. It's a grey single family house, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two stories, garage and back yard. Really a typical family house, right? Our neighborhood is nothing special by any means, cold most of the year, but this place is three blocks from the park and a half block from the N train. The house is on a fairly busy street, close to an auto repair shop, with houses on either side built directly against the side walls. It's the Inner Sunset, not a posh neighborhood like Pacific Heights or the Marina or even Golden Gate Heights way up the hill. There's no view, it's just on a flat street. It's nice on the inside; I'll admit it, it's a pretty nice house.

Guess how much this place is asking, given all the criteria I mentioned?

$700k?

No.

Okay, $850k?

Not even.

$1.3 MILLION

And so we moved to Seattle.

Tags: book, houses, seattle

I just gave notice. My last day is August 17.

I feel a combination of anxiety and excitement all at once. I'm really doing it. I am changing my life. I am going back home. I am taking a risk, but with very little risk involved. Because we are smart and prepared well.

Feels so real now.

Tags: seattle