Neighborhood Hopping, Seattle Style

I am a neighborhood hopper.  I live, work, and go to school in Queen Anne, like to eat at restaurants all over the city, and go out mostly in Downtown or Ballard.  On the occasional day, I’ll find myself venturing to Fremont or Capitol Hill for entertainment or even to Green Lake in an attempt to stay in shape by running around the lake.  I love that, even without a car, I am so close to an abundance of neighborhoods that offer a wide variety of things to do and eat.  I am never bored.

Queen Anne is over to the left, kind of in the middle. See how close it is to everything?

A typical week begins and ends with grocery shopping.  Because I spend the majority of my day either at work or school, I try to get my weekly cooking done over the weekends.  For this, I head to my friendly neighborhood Whole Foods or to Fred Meyer (if I’m lucky enough to convince someone to take me shopping).  I’ve been working on remembering my reuseable bags and can finally admit that walking to and from the store isn’t the chore I once thought it was.  City Girl 1 – Paper Bags 0.

My FAVORITE breakfast spot, Skillet Diner, just opened a second location in Ballard, so I've been spending a lot of my weekend time waiting in line to feast on the Little Rob!  

For you Seattleites who don’t know what that is, do yourself a favor and order one for Sunday brunch.  Ask for the breakfast potatoes instead of the side salad.  You can thank me later. 

Most of my weekdays are spent over near the Seattle Pacific University campus in North Queen Anne.  I work out at Stoneway Crossfit right off of campus and get my caffeine fix at Tully’s.  I'm going to Thailand in a few short months and love having this gym close to home so I can voluntarily get my butt kicked as often as I want.  Now that it’s getting a lot colder, I find it harder to make it to Crossfit and easier to make it to Tully’s for a steaming hot Americano and a pastry.  I'm sure I was meant to live in Paris with that attitude.  I guess that’s the next challenge for me to face!   

This week is Thanksgiving, which means family, food, wine, and...Apple Cup!  I'll be spending the holiday on Bainbridge Island and venturing over to Husky Stadium on Black Friday to watch my beloved Cougs defend their title.  Who really wants to shop on Black Friday when Washington rivalry football is happening anyway?

Butch says it all!

Ditching the Car for a Reusable Bag

I’ve lived in Washington State for the better part of my life, moving from the frozen tundra of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to beautiful Bainbridge Island at the tender age of 14.  I was so excited to live anywhere that didn’t have snow, and gladly traded it for the grey days of Seattle.  From there, I went on to Washington State University and, after graduation, to San Francisco.  It wasn’t long before I heard the Pacific Northwest calling my name and returned home to Seattle.

Until this time, I had been reliant on a vehicle.  You can’t get around a secluded island or ice covered town with ease by walking.  I even found myself relying on it in SF – crazy because BART is such a great public transit system.  My car, nicknamed “Lulu the Malibu”, had been with me through the college years and my brief stint in California.  It was shortly after my move home that I sold her.  I had money in my pocket and I felt liberated!  That is, until I realized that I had sold my car and was living back home on Bainbridge Island.  I was living a repeat of high school.

The only logical remedy to this problem was to move into the big city.  Since moving to Seattle, I have lived in both the Capitol Hill and Queen Anne areas.  Each place has provided me with close proximity to grocery stores, gyms, parks, bus routes, and nightlife.

Like Jimmy, the biggest changes for me all revolve around grocery shopping.  I routinely forget those re-useable bags in my kitchen drawers and end up paying for the paper bags that break half way home.  On the days I do remember them, I end up buying the heavy stuff – milk, flour, spaghetti squash – the stuff I seem to live without on regular weeks but find oh-so-necessary when I have the proper carrying vessels.  Either way, walking home from the store ends up being a bit of a battle. A battle I plan to win one day.

In the next few weeks, I’ll let you in on how I made the switch to a walkable lifestyle and how I’m still working on that transition.