vacation entry #7: a bunch of emerald city highlights
the other day when i finally returned to update, i was overwhelmed by how far behind i've fallen. moving on, here are a bunch of highlights of my last week in seattle:
1) the 5K ovarian cancer walk/run was excellent! i walked some and ran some and finished in 34 minutes. oh man, it was so fuckin' awesome to cross the finish line and hear (my name, from my city, my state) being called out as i did so.
2) confession: during the 5K i tripped on tree roots and fell down flat near a water station, leaving me w/ cuts and bruises--battle wounds... wouldn't it have been fun to tell people it was because i was battling it out with my rival in the sprint to the finish line and she tripped me? haha!
3) everything worked out w/ my healthcare: i (age 29) was treated at seattle children's hospital (!), thanks to my sister and her colleagues/friends. i cannot thank them enough for their kindness in going out of their way to get me the (affordable) treatment i needed. and, it was an unexpected but nice way to get to see where my sister had worked and completed her fellowship this past year.
4) crazy! i met three people from here: itzie and amishboy on 7/29, and arajane on 7/30. i'd been apprehensive, but it was all good and fun. itzie is soft-spoken but sharp as a tack, witty and absolutely sweet. amishboy--hot damn! he just moved out there this past spring and i think he'll be a hit with the ladies in seattle! seriously, he was fun and seems like a great guy. what a small world: his sister, amishgirl, lives in a town about 30 minutes away from me! when arajane came over to green lake to meet me, she showed up wearing these really cool, funky specs. those were no ordinary nerdy glasses. i think i'd seen them before in her fotolog, but when i saw her in person i thought "man, i like her creative sense of style". i totally think she should model for anthropologie or a fun store like that. anyway, what a sweetheart--she was also really lovely, brilliant, and charming.
5) now i couldn't not mention this: for good pizza in seattle, try pagliacci.
6) i got adventurous: i tried scandinavian salty licorice candy thanks to my sister's friend, who is of danish heritage. you can buy them at ikea or probabaly some stores in the ballard neighborhood. they look just like gummy swedish fish candy and are licorice flavored, except that they're also...salty.
7) i may have mentioned that seattle had a heat wave while i was there. being from the e. coast, i'm no stranger to heat and humidity, but the difference is that most places back home are air-conditioned. not so in seattle, where it's not *supposed* to get hot. given that my sister's apartment was empty after the movers came and loaded her stuff, and it wasn't fun sleeping on the floor, AND it was unbearably hot within, we spent our last night in town at this air-conditioned hotel. if you plan to visit seattle or you live there and need to put guests up somewhere, it's a place to keep in mind. it's right in the u-district at 42nd and roosevelt and has complimentary wine tasting and aveda bath products.
and now since there's a storm, i'll turn off the computer and continue my vacation log at some point.
