Residency

It really doesn’t feel like I am a tourist here. Somehow, in the matter of a couple of weeks, I have settled into Seattle and feel like an actual resident. I don’t know how this came about so easy but it has. And pretty much everyone has commented on the fact that I have plans nearly every night and have met so many people. Like I said, I cannot explain this. In Michigan I was a homebody for sure. I would go out with my friends once in awhile but I didn’t make plans everynight nor did I ever want to. I don’t really know if it is the city that has changed me or being in the corporate world that has changed me. I did this last summer in Boston too but it feels ever so slightly different this time.

So I’ll recap what I have been up to lately. I have been spending a lot of time with my new BFF Ashley. We walked around Green Lake last week chatting and gossiping in “preparation” for the Shore Run. Oh yeah, we ran a 5k with 20 of the employees from work on a beautiful stretch of the Lake Washington shore and in a ritzy glitzy neighborhood that I will most likely only live in if I marry someone from Microsoft (which is not a very big stretch of the imagination).

The race almost didn’t happen because neither of us wanted to make the early wake-up call or run on such a preciously rare weekend morning, plus we had stayed out pretty late listening to some of her friends play in a band in an ice cream parlor, eating very original ice cream (salty caramel was amazing!) and setting high scores in Ms. Pac Man. I stayed the night in her place and felt right at home! Oh, and then she made me drive her car to the race the next morning because we were running late. She also joined in on shenanigans Friday night.

Spontaneously, my roommate, myself and her boyfriend and his roommate (all from UM) ordered gourmet like pizzas from Tutta Bella and picked them up a mere 5 minute walk from our house. They were really delicious pizzas and after signing up for their email club we bought 4 but only paid for 2. Yeah, a lot of leftovers were welcome. We then walked down 45th Ave. to a little whole in the wall called Seamonster to listen to this funk band. My discovery. It was fun but there is something about those two boys that make me a little uncomfortable. I don’t know what it is or it might just be that the three of them obviously already know each other so well but I don’t. I don’t know but it was still fun. And Saturday night before the concert I had an awesome Moroccan dinner cooked by a coworker at her apartment in Capitol Hill. Couscous, fish tagine and a chicken chickpea stew just like my mama makes were phenomenal and it didn’t hurt that we ate on their rooftop patio overlooking the city. There were about 10 coworkers there which is just so crazy to me for a very casual party on a Saturday night with a 24 hour notice.

Another friend I have made cheered me up after work on Monday at a very classy wine bar called Purple Wine Bar and Cafe, just two blocks from my work. They have a deal for 1/2 off wine bottles on Monday nights when $25 of food is spent. So I had my first feelings of inadequacies and uncertainties at work on Monday. Absolutely nothing happened which makes it very ridiculous and a very boring story. I just felt like I was being asked things I didn’t know how to do but should have known how to do and my confidence took a little spike. Plus it was a Monday. Having those post-work plans that night really saved my day. I vented, drank a ton, dined on a seafood stew with hunks of soft bread and slept well that night. No more of those thoughts to be concerned with. Similarly, hump day was celebrated at another bar in Belltown called Amber. Seriously, who am I? I’m sure I mentioned before that Seattle has absolutely amazing happy hours. Well they do. So Amber was where I went to cheer on the Bruins to two glasses of white wine and sharing a $4 chicken, pesto, and goat cheese pizza that brought fond memories on Georgio’s back into my head and a $4 plate of SPICY bbq ribs with a friend.

So that is most all of my updates. The temperature here still does not want to break 70 except on the weekend but from what people are telling me this is the worst spring ever. It’s not spring anymore people…or at least it shouldn’t be. I bought a grill, a Master Forge grill that I am excited about. It is very good looking and petite for our small patio but has fold up/down sides for extra space when wanted. It’s a nice grill. My room is all finished so expect my next post to be of my home.

Chelsea