Neumo-ween.

On Saturday we ventured back to Neumo's for a Halloween Bash. There were so many great costumes! Our favorites included a cupcake, Disgruntled Ronald McDonald, Evil Bert, a Space Needle(!), and an incredible Twinky the Kid. DJ Shortnin regaled us with a great dance mix of "80s to now" stuff, including the immortal "Thriller" and other nuggets.

The big draw for this show was local party-dance act United State of Electronica. This 7-piece band was completely over the top, featuring singalongs like "Emerald City" (gratuitous Seattle shout-out), "Party People", and "Throw Your Hands in the Air". The place went absolutely crazy, and rightly so: the band was a tour-de-force of musical hedonism.

We spent tonight kneeling at the altar of Franken...Al, that is. The man himself swept through town for a speaking engagement at Town Hall. We walked away wondering why you'll never hear a Democrat ask a Republican "What do you Conserve?", as posed by one audience member. It certainly makes you think...

Who we met this weekend...

A peacock! The weather was amazing for yet another Saturday! October is narrowing and I'm left wondering when I'll be seeing this horrible Seattle weather you always hear about. So far, it's rained here and there, but nothing like the storms we'd see at home that could last for a week straight. But, I should knock on wood...

Since it was so nice out, we took a short drive to Woodinville. This area has a lot of wineries, as well as the Red Hook Brewery. For $1.00 each, we took a tour of the brewery and got to sample 5 of their {rather strong} beers. What a deal! The tour was a lot of fun and we were pretty satisfied by the end of it. Afterwards, we wandered across the street to the lovely Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. Three peacocks quickly greeted us as they wandered the grounds aimlessly. Now, I know I was a bit tipsy from Red Hook, but this was just bizarre! Who keeps a peacock for a pet?

Eddie Vedder lives on our street.

Enough said. The 17-year old inside of me could just die.

Jack in the Box.

So today at lunch Mike suggests that we go to Jack in the Box, as it's one of his favorite lunch spots:
"Oh yeah? I haven't been there. What do you like to eat there?" I ask.
"Whatever is cheapest," he says.

Homesick in Seattle.

Man, these days come and go, but I'm all sorts of homesick again. I hate sitting around all day waiting for the perfect job to pop up so I can apply. I dislike a lot of things about Indiana, but I also dislike the lonely feeling I have living here. If anyone is bored, email me? ;)
{For the record, Shawn is his usual go-with-the-flow happy self... gotta appreciate that!}

This is Halloween.

Lookie what I made: Martha's glitter pumpkins. Pretty and easy, too!
{And less messy if you don't enjoy carving, like me...}

Hoosiers in Seattle.

We met not one, but TWO, people from Indiana today... and not even at the same time! Hoosier #1 was watching the Colts game at our local sports bar while wearing his Indiana sweatshirt. Hoosier #2 is a cashier at Urban Outfitters downtown. Coincidentally, they are both IU grads.

Let the photos begin.

Photos of our rental home are now up. Enjoy... and thanks to those of you who have been reading/commenting. It's nice to know we're still connected. =)

Saturday in Seattle.

Today, we visited Rick Steves' travel store and home office! We love this guy, so it was a real treat to see where it all happens... only 20 minutes north of Seattle. They offer free travel classes on Saturdays, so we listened to a lecture about Italy's art treasures. Even better.

After we got back into the city, we headed to the Japanese Gardens in Washington Park Arboretum. The maple trees are turning red and the gardens are very nicely manicured. We saw some amazing turtles sunning themselves. If there hadn't been so many people wandering around, I think we could have taken a nap in the gardens' peaceful setting.

The mountain came out yesterday.

Mt. Rainier and this beautiful city's skyline, taken from Kerry Park. We've had two days of gorgeous weather. Aah.

Winston-oke.

After stuffing ourselves at a great Thai restaurant in Wallingford, Heather, Nathan, Auri and I decided to visit an Irish pub called Murphy's for post-dinner drinks. One thing grabbed our attention immediately upon entering: karaoke! And not just karaoke, but possibly the worst singer any of us had ever seen. His name was Winston, and man was he terrible! Winston got up and butchered song after song. Seeing the obvious pain on the faces of the patrons, I knew that I had to help out.

After a couple of bracing beers, I took the stage to "Come On Eileen". I was soon reminded of a common problem with karaoke, in that a lot of the song was out of my range. Still, I think I got through it pretty well. Auri agreed to a duet if we could find a suitable tune. After much searching we came across the winner: "We Are the World"! We took the stage as the introductory screen displayed the gasp-inducing time-of-song as "7:09". Uh oh. Fortunately as the music started, I was able to recall not only all of the words, but most of the specific performances from Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and, god help us, Cyndi Lauper. The ending of the song, however, including no less than 5 or 6 choruses! It got pretty ridiculous, but a large portion of the place was singing along, so it seemed to be a hit.

I finished up with a requested encore for "Electric Avenue" from a random person in the audience, by which time was voice was shot. I believe a good time was had by all.

Pyramid Poker.

So yesterday we went back to the Pyramid Brewery, as we'd heard a rumor that poker all-star Phil Gordon would be there to speak and sign copies of his new book. That's definitely the life, touring brewpubs to sell your wares. We hung out there for a while, throwing back some apricot ale and eating some crazy chili fries, until we saw the Big Man show up (he's about 6'5"). We walked over to the signing room, where we were greeted by a PR person, who cheerily asked our names. After telling her, we walked around this small room where Phil was selling books and chatting people up. He seemed like a swell guy from what we could tell. As we were deciding to leave, the PR lady came over and asked our names again because she "couldn't find us on the list". Evidently it was a VIP event, which no one had ever mentioned!

Doing something fun.

I have a part-time job! I'm a bit homesick and desperate for some friends (LOL), so I've taken a part-time job at a locally-owned rubber stamp store. Their stores are cute and they design a lot of their own products, too... something I'm very interested in. The stores have a small amount of scrapbook supplies, as well, but their focus is mostly on card-making. So, I'm going back to my roots. =) Excited at the prospect of meeting some fellow papercrafters (even though they'll never replace my girlfriends at home in the midwest!).

I'm ultimately hoping this job will not only give me the opportunity to meet people, but will tide us over until I find the perfect full-time position. I'm interviewing with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft, but not sure if I'm cut out for that type of giant, corporate environment. We shall see.

Vancouver: Hot Smoothies and the Aquabus.

So, the forecast was not so wrong after all. We awoke to a torrential downpour that somehow kept up the whole day. That put a bit of a "damper" on things, but we made the best of it. To add insult to injury, for some mysterious reason, the free breakfast offered by the hotel only lasted from 6:30-8:30 am. Oh well, at least that gave us a chance to try the Tim Horton's doughnuts across the street. They were quite tasty, as hoped. Oddly, they also offered "hot smoothies" in butter, raspberry, and orange flavors. We couldn't see how that could be good.

Next we walked a soggy mile or so to take a water taxi to Granville Island Market. The water taxis turned out to be these adorable little tugboats called an Aquabus! We couldn't get enough of watching them scoot around. The market was pretty amazing, featuring an embarrassment of incredibly fresh produce and hand-made food.

Bussing back downtown, we made good on our promise of the night before to hit a bunch of great shopping. Vancouver certainly does not lack in great shopping, offering stores we have only seen in NYC. After all of our Canadian money was gone, we decided to dry off over a nice cuppa. Auri had found the Secret Garden Tea Co. over the internet before we left and it was perfectly English and charming! We had already stuffed ourselves with french fries covered in gravy ("poutin") at the market earlier, but we couldn't resist Secret Garden's tiny pastries and delicious scones with clotted cream. Yum!

We crossed the border back into Washington with ease. Vancouver is definitely a place we will be visiting frequently...

Vancouver: Part Deux.

After the apple festival, we headed to Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a massive park with great views, biking trails, and lots of greenery. We walked along the water and enjoyed the nice weather. The forecast had called for rain all weekend and they couldn't have been more wrong! We spent the evening eating at a goth-style restaurant that certain friends of ours would flip for, Subeez. In the time we spent there, they played Bloc Party, Phoenix, and other tasty songs on the hi-fi. Managed to find our gelato afterwards as we wandered around the main shopping street. It turns out that Vancouver is lousy with gelato shops. They were everywhere! This particular gelato shop was definitely Canadian, though--they sell a maple caramel flavor!

Vancouver: Part One.

We're just back from an overnighter in Vancouver with Nathan and Auri. We left early Saturday morning and crossed the border after a short 2.5 hour drive. Behaving like native Pacific Northwesterners, we headed straight for an "apple festival". Along the way, we began daydreaming about all of the yummy apple treats we would eat: apple fritters, apple streudel, apple pie, applesauce, caramel apples, and even apple sandwiches (Shawn's idea). All of this to be washed down with, yes, hot apple cider. Once we arrived, we discovered that the festival was actually an apple tasting event. Apparently, there are more than just "red" or "green" apples--hundreds of varieties, in fact. The first building we wandered into was proudly displaying many of these varieties on table after table. Better yet, there was also an impressive sampling of apples riddled with different diseases. Our favorite: scab.

Thinking this was the best the fest had to offer, we walked away feeling a bit discouraged. Luckily for us, we soon realized that we had overlooked the path to the main events--the apple tasting tent and food booths. The food booths offered treats more along the lines of what we had been hoping for. So, like good Americans, we sat down and ate some apple pie. We contemplated heading into the tasting tent, but decided that it might be too hardcore for us. We had slowly begun to recognize that there is a whole subculture of dedicated apple lovers that we didn't know existed. This was confirmed as we headed out and overheard a man saying, in the loudest and proudest voice, "...and that was the first time I tasted a Jonah Gold!"

Part 2 coming up soon!

Meet Archie McPhee's.

There is a crazy place here called Archie McPhee's. Mom and I visited this store when she was visiting. She was mesmerized while I wandered around, slightly freaked out. It is a sensory overload with stuff everywhere. They sell a strange mix of things you would find at Spencer Gifts or Hot Topic (such as the hilarious "Parasite Pals"), but there is also a huge assortment of parts. Parts to what, you ask? My answer is: I have no idea. Robot-builders and inventors would love this, I imagine. But, I have no idea what these parts are for.

Mom's favorite item: Bacon-shaped Bandaids. Now that I can agree with. These comedic treats would make more than one of our friends smile. The fact that they have a "bacon/meat" section of their website makes it that much funnier.

Acronyms.

We've run across some pretty funny acronyms that meant one thing in Indy and another in Seattle. It can be pretty confusing.

SBC:
In Indy = the evil phone company
In Seattle = Seattle's Best Coffee (company)

IMA:
In Indy: Indianapolis Museum of Art
In Seattle: IntraMural Athletics (U of Washington)

UPS:
In Indy (and the rest of the world): UPS Shipping Company
In Seattle: University of Puget Sound

Cute as he may be...

This little booger has been hurdling over the baby gates we purchased to keep him from scratching at our bedroom door while we sleep. It wasn't a simple set up, either. We had two gates strategically placed back-to-back at a diagonal in the hallway. Apparently that wasn't enough for this sneaky ferret-face. So, we upgraded, adding another 6" in height. It seems to be working, but you never know with a Bluebee...

Alki: One of our favorite things about Seattle.

Two nights before Mom headed back to Indiana, we discovered Alki (al-kye) Beach. It's a short 5-minute drive from our new home. There is a rollerblading/biking trail and a killer view of either the city or the mountains, depending on which part of the beach you're on. When we first got there, I stood there dumbfounded. It looks like a combination of the lakefront in Chicago and Venice Beach in LA (but with mountains!). We decided right then and there that visits from certain friends (John or Bill, for instance) will call for a campfire and guitar singalong on the beach... Aah, I can't wait.

Happy Birthday, S!!!

Happy Birthday, Shawn! The kitties and I love you... =)

{ Click here to see how Shawn spent his birthday }

Our little house.

After a long day that included 3 counter offers, we finally have buyers for our little house in Broad Ripple. We're both feeling a weird mix of emotions as a result. It's so final, but also opens up the window of opportunity for us. We had parties galore in that house--celebrating everything from our 30th birthdays, my parents' 25th wedding anniversary, and the holidays each year. Hoping everything goes smoothly during the rest of the process now...

Visiting Twin Peaks.

Today we visited the towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie, the basis for the town of Twin Peaks (one of my all-time favorite shows!). After driving about 45 minutes through the Douglas Fir-lined roads, we pulled into North Bend. It was incredibly surreal, especially when we came upon Twede's Cafe (aka "The Double R Diner"). Naturally, we had to get the cherry pie and "damn fine" cup of coffee, just like Agent Dale Cooper. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the coffee was fine, but the pie certainly didn't disappoint.

Next we took a look at some other landmarks from the show: the often-seen traffic light, the high school, the giant log from the pilot, and the creepy traincar. We had a harder time finding the train trestle, but after several wrong turns we finally found it. By that time we were getting fairly creeped out, but it was definitely still awesome to see.

After North Bend we headed to Snoqualmie to see the most impressive wonder: Snoqualmie Falls. These falls drop 206 feet (as they say, higher than Niagara), and are topped by the Salish Lodge and Spa (aka "The Great Northern"). This sight, as shown in the opening credits every week, was quite breathtaking. This would definitely be a terrific place to stay on a special occasion.

We ended our trip by meeting up with my cousin Chad and his wife Melissa at their condo in Snoqualmie. I hadn't seen Chad in over ten years; it was really great to catch up with him again and see how he turned out. They were extremely hospitable, and we spent the evening eating, drinking a local microbrew, and chatting about everything under the sun.

All in all it was quite a memorable pre-birthday trip!

Discovering Volunteer Park.

After I picked $ up from work this evening, we headed over to Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill. I loved this park. It has a conservatory similar to Garfield Park in Indy, an observation tower that offers pretty spectacular views of the city below, and a gorgeous dahlia garden. This looks like a place we'll be visiting often, especially with a good book and my camera in summer. What a discovery!

Our Photos: Dahlias

Our lookout point.

So, whenever we drive back to our neighborhood from Seattle proper, we pass by an official "lookout point". Cars are always parked there while their drivers enjoy the view. We love going by this spot, especially at night. It's just kind of crazy to think we have a Kodak moment just down the street!

Low hanging clouds.

Clouds in Seattle are kind of strange. There can be several different types all at once, but more importantly, they hang low. Nathan has warned us that we might actually feel as if we are in the middle of one this coming winter. Apparently, mornings in West Seattle can be quite foggy and seeing how we're on a hill, a cloud might just plop down on top of us. Today we were able to witness one of the most bizarre yet -- a giant low hanging cumulus puff included.

Idlewild-ing.

Idlewild definitely rocked the house at Neumo's on Friday, even though they aren't quite as tight as they used to be. I put the blame squarly on the new bass player's shoulders. Although he's pretty good, and a trooper for playing right after having a panic attack before the show (as he related to us), Bob Fairfould was an absolute livewire on stage, and is sorely missed. Not to mention that the new album is way too acoustic-heavy, which doesn't lend itself to a rockin' live presence. The band also commented on the "great turnout", which looked to be something around 200 paid. If that's a good turnout for this tour, that's not a good sign for this band. Even I have played to more than that a few times.

I discovered another local beer at this show that I love: Mirror Pond IPA. I'm not usually that into the IPA's, but this one is great! Ever better than Manny's, which is no slouch either.

The weather here is just like Scotland.

So, it's been a good weekend here in Seattle. Although the weather took a turn for the worst, we still stayed entertained by catching Idlewild at Neumo's last night, followed by a Mariners game today.

Before the show last night, we wandered Capitol Hill to get to know the area. We ventured into Cafe Vita for a hot beverage since it was getting chilly out. While we were ordering, $ had a "Singles" moment as Mudhoney was playing over the speakers. We're officially in Seattle!

Idlewild's performance was not perfect by any means, but Roddy's silly rambling between songs was priceless. After an audience member asked how they liked Seattle, he commented that he liked the weather because it reminds him exactly of Scotland. =) It was great to see them live again and $ even scored 2 autographs at the end of the show.

We walked around Capitol Hill a bit afterwards, spotting some interesting sights. Our favorite: a dirty car that someone had scrawled "I wish my wife was as dirty as this car" on. Now that is original.

Today, Safeco Field proved to be a great ballpark! The food selection was outstanding with anything ranging from chili/clam chowder in a bread bowl to sushi/thai to the standard dog. The beer selection was pretty outstanding as well. Our favorite: the "Ichiroll", named after our Japanese baseball superstar. You wouldn't believe how many adorable girls were there yelling his name the entire game! Besides the great food selection, the park has a lot of interesting art pieces, which I found surprising. My favorite was appropriate for Seattle--recycled license plates and soda cans quilted together to form the logos of every MLB team. Very cool!



We also met a very interesting character on the bus ride to the park. When we boarded, he immediately told $ that he looks like Spiderman. ;) Somehow, he ended up on our return bus, as well, and we were treated to his thoughts on astrology, Bob Dylan, and life on Pluto.