And Now for Something Completely Different, or #SelfCare

Tonight I went out to dinner.  #selfcare. By myself. I am getting used to this. I bring a book and either ask for a table for one or I sit at the counter. I could say I sit at the bar, but that often doesn't imply there is a full menu.

Anyhow, tonight I went to Google Maps and clicked "Restaurants Near Me." There are a million restaurants downtown, some of which are super posh and expensive (see Maxilmilien or Sushi Kashiba) and some of which really touristy with mediocre food (not gonna name names). I'm looking for something in the middle--good food that is not outrageously priced that I will want to go back to again. Likewise, there a dozens of restaurants down here. I want to try new places instead of always going back to the same place again and again.

Tonight, I found The Hart and the Hunter on Pike. I've walked by this place a hundred times and never noticed it. (Thank you, Google Maps for the help.) The restaurant is attached to a hotel. The waiter asked if I was a guest.

"No, I'm a neighbor," I said and he gave me 10% off. Sweet!

Anyway, it is nice to write about something banal instead of writing about my angst-ridden life. On that topic, I was out and about with friends last week and for the first time in a million years, I talked about myself--not Jack, not the Boy, not work--me. It was so strange, I almost had forgotten who I was.

Jack and I are going to Parents Wellness Weekend--nevermind. Not going there tonight.

Snow Day 2 and Work From Home

We had another wintery day here in the Pacific Northwest.

I am so done with this.

I worked from home again today. Here are a few random observations.

• The snow is dominating our consciousness, for good and bad. 
• I am glad I live in an era with weather forecasting. As much as Cliff Mass is having a hard time predicting this storm, can you imagine living in a time when we didn't know that arctic air was coming down the Fraser River Valley and would converge with the warm air off of the Pacific creating this weather system? I am impressed. Maybe more people will now study weather forecasting. That would make Cliff Mass happy.
• There is a new, insidious form of ice that I've discovered. Trees are covered with snow, and yesterday the temperature got to be around 33 so some of this snow melted and dripped on the sidewalks. Then it immediately froze into evil little ice lumps. There is no god. Or if there it, he has a sick sense of humor. He. A woman god wouldn't do this. She'd make a world with typhoon-free Maui climate, which wouldn't make the Boy happy. He'd miss snow in the mountains.
• The barista at the coffee shop around the corner from house keeps showing up for work. She drives in from Capitol Hill. I go in and buy something every morning to show my appreciation for her being there. I tip her 25%, and it seems insufficient.
• I wonder what is going to happen to our local economy (as aside from my barista) as we are not spending any money.
• I am realizing how much we eat dinner out now that someone has to cook dinner every night. :( This is a total drag. Last Monday when it snowed a wee bit and the Boy and I stayed at the condo, we went to dinner at the Virginia Inn. It looks old and stuffy, but the food was delicious. I had duck confit with lentils and the Boy has risotto with chanterelles. While most people were clearing out grcoery shelves last Thursday night before the Friday storm, the Boy and I went out for chinese food and ordered enough food for leftovers for a few days.
• The good news is that we are not spending much. Snow makes money dieting easy.
• I misplaced my make-up this morning and I wondered if Sephora at U Village would be open today. 
• Yes, I wore make-up today when I worked from home.

Condo Weekend and the City Mouse

This weekend, Jack took the Boy skiing in Canada while I spent the weekend at the condo. Two friends came to visit. It was fun to entertain and they seemed to enjoy my urban oasis. Or at least the novelty of it.

This is the longest time I've spent down here, and it is kind of weird. Maybe it is odd because I've spent a decent amount of time down here by myself as opposed to with other people in my family. I don't know. Nevertheless, it feels like vacation, but a homey vacation instead of a stressful vacation where you have to be places at certain times. For some reason, many of my past vacations came with a tight schedule instead of just chilling.

Friday night before Jack and the Boy went to Canada, Jack and I went to World Market and bought plates for the condo. Previously, we were using Jack's plates from his bachelor days. He had a set of four dinner plates, four salad plates and four bowls. While this was fine for a while, it wasn't enough to have people over for dinner. Even if there are four people over, sometimes you need an extra plate for the raw fish before it is cooked. And then you are cooking and cleaning at the same time, which is, as the Boys says, no bueno.

So now we have twelve dinner plates, twelve salad plates, and a slew of bowls in different sizes. Hurrah. Saturday, I bought an iron, an ironing board, extra sheets (more of a want than need) and three alarm clocks. I feel like we have hit a major milestone with stocking the basics. As far as stuff we need for the condo, we are nearly there for being functional. We still need internet installed, but the rest of the stuff we need is decorative: rugs, lamps and art of the walls. I was at a restaurant and saw really cool blown glass light coverings that would look awesome in my kitchen.

Now that we have nearly everything we need down here, I feel like the tide is turning for how we use the condo. Now we are using it more for fun and relaxation instead of trying to fix it up.

This morning, I went to Top Pot donuts for breakfast and got a mocha and a double-trouble. (Sure, there is a nice Top Pot in Wedgwood. A great one, in fact.) As I was walking home, I remembered how when I visited Seattle years ago and saw apartments near Pike Place Market that overlooked Puget Sound. I remember thinking I wanted to live there someday, and now I do.

As I unlocked the door to the courtyard, I wondered. After going through the hassle of finding a place, buying it, furnishing it, etc, was it worth it? It is as cool as I thought it would be?

Yes. Yes it is.

So my two friends visited. Katie and I walked along Elliott Bay and through the sculpture garden, which was nice. But I did something else this weekend, something both bad and good: I shopped and ate, the whole purpose of living downtown. I am not a big shopper. The guys in my office probably think I am thrifty because I pack my lunch every day. I pack my lunch because I don't want to decide every day where to eat. I have other hobbies besides being a consumer, but when the boys are having a weekend and I was left home alone, I cut loose. Steelhead Diner for dinner Saturday, lunch at Etta's with Ella today.

The Foxee Dog cocktail. Of course, I had to get it.

Ella and I were out and about, and she asked if I had ever been in Isadora's, an antique jewelry store. It is one of those shops where they have to buzz you in. It took the sales women less than two seconds to open the door for us. I didn't buy anything, but I left with a wish list. (Here is something fabulous...)

I walked to Lush and Sephora for soap and make-up. I stopped in the "Made in Washington" store because it had a sale sign in the window and bought chocolate and tea just because. I stopped in a clothing store called Beyond Threads and bought a sweater.

After dinner tonight, I walked Fox, which aside from hanging out with my friends, was the highlight of the weekend. If I didn't have a dog, I'd be some random woman walking the streets at 8:30 at night when most things are closed. But no one looks at you strangely when you have a dog on a leash. I walked through the closed Market. I looked at the closed Highway 99. I saw the stars and the super moon, all against the lights of the city--the ferris wheel, the lights of the West Seattle harbor, and the tall buildings behind me. Tomorrow, I'll have a six minute walk to work.

I like being a city mouse, in case you couldn't tell. So does Fox(ee) Dog.

Condo Dog, or as the the Boy calls him, CORNdo Dog.

Fox & the City

Jack, the Boy and I spent the our first night in the condo last night. Yay! At first, the Boy didn't want to go because he is a teenager and has to crap on any idea that isn't his own. Whatever. He got over it and was fine after he ate and saw the Warren Miller movie.

Last night, we were all ready to go to sleep around 11:00 or so. Except Fox. Once we were all tucked in, the dog started to fuss. He'd walk back and forth between the master bedroom and where the Boy was sleeping, his nails clicking along the floor. We put his dog bed upstairs, but that didn't help. He was lost like a toddler who needs to sleep in a new place but can't get settled. I don't even know where Fox ended up sleeping last night. I think he might have slept on the Boy's bed. Perhaps the Boy had empathy for Fox, thinking, "Yeah, they dragged me down here too against my will. You can sleep with me. We are a team." As if living in downtown Seattle is a prison.

The next morning, Fox came running to my side of the bed as soon as I stirred but wasn't awake. Fox wanted me to know he was there. Jack and I walked to the Biscuit Bitch for breakfast to get bacon and egg sandwiches, and we brought Fox along. I told Jack what I wanted to eat, and he went into order as I walked the dog around the block. As we walked, Fox pulled at the leash, in a big fat hurry to get I don't know where. He was skittish as he stopped, smelled, and peed on every lamppost, tree, garbage can, building corner, planter and patch of ivy. It was like Fox was Rube in from the country walking downtown, like he had never seen or smelled a garbage can before. For the first time in his life, he had to poop on concrete. Nor could he wait until no one was around because it is the city. Someone is always around, from the cute tourist couples getting breakfast to the crazy guy wondering if he is going to barf or not. Fox survived.

As I work in the same neighborhood as my condo, I have seen other dogs walking in the city before, who look and act like normal dogs, not like my hick dog. The other dogs act normal, blase to food scraps left on the street. Fox found something to eat this morning on the ground and he acted like he had never seen food before. You'd think he was some crazy mutt, not a Pomeranian-chihuahua for god's sake. If a lapdog can't be a city dog, what is wrong with the world?

And I was worried about the Boy being the blocker for the condo. Instead, it is the dog. Hopefully, one of these days Fox will turn into a civilized city dog.


Biscuit Bitch at Cafe Lieto, 1909 First Ave, Seattle WA

Le Pichet and My Dinner with Michelle

First news: We got a condo. We closed almost a month ago. Like when I ran for School Board, I stopped blogging a) because I was busy looking for a condo, b) I didn't want potential sellers to read my inner thoughts and c) once we got the condo, we needed find furniture and that was a huge endeavor. Now that the place is livable (minus kitchen supplies like pots, pans and food), I have a few moments to write.

The week before we found the apartment we bought, I thought we'd never find a place in a location we liked, in a building we liked, that fit our space needs and had a nice layout and was affordable. I thought our search would be like two circles in a Venn diagram that have no data points in common, never touching.

Just as I was beginning to despair, the Seattle Condo Gods smiled upon us and we found a really, really cool town home.

Tonight, Jack and the Boy went to see Warren Miller's latest pre-ski season, testosterone fueled epic.

"Do you want to go?" Jack asked.

"No," I said.

"I feel bad going out with Peter and leaving you alone," Jack said.

He should never feel bad about male bonding with his son. Ever.

I went down to the condo, dropped off the dog, and then headed out to find a place to eat. Should I have cassoulet at Cafe Campagne or go some place new? I walked around and remembered a place my friend Diane and I used to visit for lunch when I was a stay-at-home mom. So I went to Le Pichet for dinner, a posh French bistro around the corner from the condo. I sat at the bar and ate dinner with Michelle Obama. I got the last copy of her new book at Third Place Books today. The bookseller had read up to chapter five and was crying about how good it was. We joked about how Oprah was endorsing it, as if Michelle Obama needed promotion.

In the opening of her new book, she talked about a night after Obama was out of the White House and she had an evening alone without her family. Barack was out of town, and her daughters were out. This was the first time she was truly alone. She went to the kitchen to make toast, and there weren't any White House kitchen staff there helping her watch the bread turn brown. She loves her family and her old life, of course, but still she had a night alone. And it was awesome.

As I was eating my steak, I overheard a man tell his wife how he needed her to support him working more. She listened quietly, and drank more wine. I looked out the window, watching city life go by. I left the restaurant, walked down the block and around the corner, and I was home. Fox was waiting for me at the door. I don't think he left the door since I left for dinner. I took him for a walk along the waterfront.

It was awesome.

Le Pichet, 1933 First Avenue, Seattle WA