flights of fancy

Last night Dave and I ate dinner in a wine tower. A wine tower? you say. Let me explain.
We were trying to meet up with my friend Crysta and her guy Ric for dinner, who are in town from London. Anyway, communication was misfiring on all cylinders so Dave and I just ended up going out to dinner alone. We went to our default fancy downtown restaurant, Purple Wine Bar, primarily because it was close to the lounge where Crysta would later be, and more importanttly because we had a gift certificate burning a hole in our pockets.

Seattle has been mega chilly and rainy, two major deterents for Saturday night outings. In our optimism, we figured we could waltz in and sit down, no reservation needed. Plus we got there at a nerdily early dinner hour- before 7. I totally forgot that theater-goers flock to Purple because it is smack dab in Seattle's (cute) theater district. (I should know better- that's where Cookie takes me and Becky before shows.) Anyway, the hostess informs us that it's going to be an hour wait, but we could hover around the cramped bar area in the meantime.

The place was hoppin', service was middling...but then...Dave caught the attention of our friend Chris, who is Purple's self proclaimed "wine guy". He was like "So you guys looking for a place to sit?" and he led us up this spiral staircase that circles about 12 shelves of wine, into his office. The fact that his desk/table was covered with boxes, opened bottles, and paperwork was no matter. He just shoved it aside and set two places.

Purple is the only place in Seattle where I'm treated like a VIP. Often times when Chris is working, we don't even look at menus, he just orders up the best shit. Which is great if you're looking for wine, because their list is daunting. Last night we did order, but it was more like a trivia game.
Chris: "What would you like tonight?"
Me: "Lamb burger?"
him: funny look
Me: "Chopped salad? ....um, grilled halibut?"
Chris: "Excellent choice! Grilled halibut it is."

The wine tower is where they keep their supply, so staff were coming in all night, probably wondering who the hell we are, and pleasantly asking us to scoot over so they could get some old vintage down. Needless to say, we ate and drank like Kings (and Queens) up in our little tower. That Chris, he's a real gem.

After stuffing ourselves, we braved the pouring rain and found Crysta and Ric the Zig Zag Lounge, so called because you have to zig and zag through all these random staircases to get there. Good times all around.

between neverland and thirtysomething

I did some sketches on the flight to Denver (while looking out the window and humming to myself This land is your land, this land is my land!). The sketches were originally for an event invitation that I'm working on. Although I don't think we'll use them, I had fun imagining grown-up fairy tale characters. I'm sure it's been done before but I don't care. For some reason, I couldn't help but make them hipsters. Maybe I've been perusing this site too much...

This ain't no costume in a bag

Happy Halloween from Slaughterberry Shortcake the roller derby girl, and Glenn, the Phinney Ridge Zoo Tunes VIP!

Cheers to 1980

Last week I celebrated my 29th birthday, and it went well, because I basically ate my way through the day. It all started with a mini coconut cream pie at 8am, washed down with coffee and half a cranberry scone. My office always provides birthday treats of our choosing and I requested Dahlia Bakery (cute shop that makes stupid good desserts, soups, and sandwiches). For lunch I went to my favorite downtown Seattle watering hole, the Virginia Inn. Although my ideal birthday included a Crossfit workout, you know that was the first item to get crossed off my schedule. Instead, I bought some flowers at Pike Place Market and then went home to eat some Hawaiian pizza and drink red wine with friends. And I shouldn't discount the appetizer that Dave set out, a big ol' bowl of Kit-Kat.

Dave got me a sweet Steve Largent throwback jersey for my birthday. The best thing about it? He was number 80. Just like the best year to be born!

Oktoberfest: beer, brats, and bar-b-q

This month has been chock full of trips and parties and deadlines. I'll start my October re-cap series with a little ditty about a town called Leavenworth.

To get a sence for Leavenworth, envision the German village portion of Epcot Center (sturdy ladies holding two beer steins, smiley guys in Lederhosen, squat brown and white buildings, flowery storefront signs). Now drop that into the middle of the Cascade Mountains, and watch for the tourism dollars to roll in. Who knew there was such a market for faux-Bavaria in central Washington? Anyway, the company I work for gave us a gift certificate to Leavenworth's Sleeping Lady Inn for our wedding (our friends Chris and Julie also got one). Not coincidentally, we decided to cash them in during the town's Oktoberfest, one of the biggest in the State.

Although Oktoberfest itself was nothing to write home about, some unexpected details made the trip. Dave navigated through treacherous traffic then gnarly mountain roads for 2.5 hours in the pouring rain. The biggest big rigs whooshed by us, rattling our trusty Subaru. Road beers, music, and a lively game of "Top 3" made the trip more fun (Dave, are you with me??). We miraculously arrived in one piece and headed out for some shnitzel (like little doughy turds).

The next morning, Dave and Chris went into town to watch a football game, while Julie and I took a two hour walk through the hills. We stumbled upon a public salmon hatchery, where they nurture baby salmon in incubators. They look like eyeballs with tails. It was way cool.

Oktoberfest was wet. Great big halls were filled with drunks, townfolk, frat kids, ladies in sexy dirndles, and Germans looking to save money on airfare. We drank beer indoors, chatted with our table-mates, and watched German showgirls dance, play bells, sing, and pique the interest of every guy in the tent. Again, picture Epcot.

We then moved the party down the street to soak up the beer with some respectable German food, including goulash, brats, and sauerkraut. I can now check off one place in the Top 1,000 Places To See Before You Die book.

Traveling home on Sunday, we stopped by a converted roadside school bus that served bar-b-q. Chris is a born-and-bred Texan food lover, and had heard about this bus in his quest for authentic bar-b-q. None of us were hungry but we had to stop. After ordering, Julie and I dipped into the Reptile Museum next door to use their bathroom. Our eyes lit up like little children at the freakishly large and creepy critters (a two headed turtled- saw it with my own eyes!, an Anaconda that would eat us for a snack, and an albino aligator). After our reptilian peep show, we ran back to the bar-b-q bus to tell Dave and Chris about the wonders of the museum and to pick up our junior-sized pulled pork sandwiches. The food was delicious! Chris and Julie, the self-proclaiming food snobs, were raving about the just-sweet-enough barbeque. Did I mention we ate our sandwiches in the converted school bus, which had alphabetic magnets all over the ceiling? We did.

not think so far away

I will try to not fret about the future. I will live by this Robert Frost poem instead:

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

And on the fifth day God made....burritos!

Tonight I went to a conference on sustainable cities at University of Washington. It was cool to be on a real campus. MassArt is comprised of two buildings (one is a quasi-skyscraper), and some scattered dorms around the city of Boston. I never got to roam the hallowed halls or lounge in the Quad. Not that I roamed or lounged tonight, but still...

The lecture was given by a pretty young Chicagoan with some forward-thinking, if not half-baked, ideas about how to manage the impending water shortage. When I learn more about modern ecological crises, I always have to balance a feeling of dread and hope. On one hand, that shit is scary. I don't see enough people shifting their behaviors to proactively manage the issues we face today. Besides that, some populations are still making babies like they're rabbits, further taxing the world's resources. Federal policy seems stuck in the stone ages. The fact that Seattle administration wants to build a huge ass tunnel along the waterfront to move more cars through makes my heart sink....and Seattle is a pretty progressive place.

Then I feel hopeful, because at least people are talking about these problems that we are now responsible for. I think of the really smart people in the world, and people in my profession, the sciences, education, and technology, who are working towards finding solutions. And I don't mean the keynote speaker's ideas were half-baked in a bad way. His visions for a Chicago that has renewable irrigation canals to serve the people and feed Lake Michigan are inspiring. His models look like a lush metropolis filled with a grid of waterways ("blue belts"), greenery, food-bearing gardens, and no cars. Eden? It seems like it'll take a while before the masses place value on that ideal. Maybe when water becomes a commodity like oil.


Sometimes I think that we are on the brink of an Environmental Revolution, much like the Industrial Revolution. All of the sudden, boom, the whole world is working towards a common goal and ideas are flowing and so is the money. Other times I think we are not doing nearly enough.

Dave picked me up from the lecture. We stopped at Rancho Bravo on our way home, a parked taco truck that makes some damn fine food. The impending water shortage may be scary but at least there are enough burritos to go around.