A happenin' week!

Hello Friends! What a week. Such a lot to report. Let's see.
The brunch I mentioned in my post last Sunday went swimmingly. Andy's new study pals are all really nice people with interesting stories. And it's refreshing to find other people who are geeked about many of the same health/environment things we are! One of the women from his study group, Sarah, just finished 2 yrs with the Peace Corps in Morocco in June, so we were sharing pictures and swapping stories. We made the Best Recipe pancakes again- a big hit. This time Andy tried innovating a bit and adding some of our copious rosemary from the front yard, finely chopped. a nice addition to their rosemary-themed study party (Remember it helps with memory!) Afterward, we all went to check out the Ballard Farmer's Market, right as it was closing. Better luck next week. Pictured: the crew stopped off in a plant store just off of the market street.
Monday Andy had a study day- they built an extra week into his school year so that they could give all the 1st year NDs a day off every once in a while through the year to catch up. He's been really hard core starting out with all of this anatomy; his first quiz was Tuesday, and it sounds like he's following his post-bac pre-med tradition by not missing more than 1 or 2 questions on the whole thing.

Wednesday, I took my first trip Downtown on the bus, easy as pie. It took a little while, but really not bad at all in the non-rush hour time I traveled. I'll have to try it again soon earlier in the morning. I had gotten an enthusiastic recommendation for a great haircut place from a friend's sister at a party, and Drew, who I'd love to make my usual stylist, did not disappoint. Love it! (Click below for a video! Since I was sitting waiting to Skype that afternoon anyway, & I figured it'd be a good test to see if video works on here.)


Thursday was a big day-I had a job interview with a restaurant, and ended up getting it! Julia's looks pretty mediochre, I have to say. We haven't actually eaten there yet, but it's probably less than 500 yards from our apartment. One of the waitresses there I met when I dropped off a resume said that she usually makes between $85 and $150/shift. Here's their website, but beware- it's hideous! Looks like I'll be working Thursday & Sunday evenings, and Saturday/Sunday mornings. Should be a good time to make a buck, and still give me time to continue to the "real" job search during the week & enjoy [cooking for] Andy in the evenings , social life weekend nights and maybe still a Sunday brunch. I am thankful to be in position to pay bills soon, and will keep you posted.

Also got two calls about tutoring Thursday, and met with my first tut-ee! (I was going to say when it rains it pours... but it's not quite time for that one yet, right?) It's exciting to realize how much I know, and quickly gain confidence. Tutoring could be a fun, extended adventure.

Later Thursday evening, I hopped on a train to Vancouver to visit Hannah for the weekend, who is settling into her new post as a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering at the University of British Columbia. She's on a team analyzing the spine and head in order to build a better helmet. She seems to really like Canada a lot so far, is pretty happy in her program, and to have made a few decent friends. She's doing the super-distance thing with her beau Matt, who's finishing up his PhD in Geneva, Switzerland this year, and then OSU next year. (Hopefully up to Vancouver after that!) The train ride up from Seattle was just about 4 hours, despite the drive being around 2, and $35. Very comfortable.

Hannah's new place is lovely- wood floors & nice windows in a 3rd floor walkup that's just a few blocks from the medical center where she's doing a lot of her postgraduate study. Great little deli, market, & coffee shop just around the corner. Here's how it looked before we started filling it with her first round of essentials. ( I wish I'd taken "after" pictures of the bathroom at the end of the hall, and her cute new dining room table complete with a sunny striped runner.)


Saturday, we hit the garage sales hard in the morning, and then the mall. Her GPS was super helpful, though "Karen" (The name given to its calm, Austrailian woman's voice) kept trying to get us to make left turns across lots of lanes of busy traffic. "Recalculating. Recalculating. Please drive to highlighted route." Pictured: One of the garage sales featured a Girl Guide (Canadian Girl Scouts) who was selling what were basically Thin Mints. When we told her about how we had been Girl Scouts for 12 yrs and our mothers were the troop leaders, and asked her to pose for this picture, her friendly smile was barely enough to mask impatience; we were interrupting her math homework.Ian, looks like you're going to have to teach those Canadians a thing or two about which movies to keep and which ones to put in the 'For Sale' pile. Or maybe you already did, and they now just celebrate Arnold's entire collection via DVD, in HD where possible.Getting a little lost and venturing to new parts of town for a Craigslist microwave and a few other finds offered a good opportunity to learn new parts of the city. The mall was a crazy experience! PACKED, and complete sensory overload to such a degree as I've rarely experienced in a mall. Luckily, we found some decent fare in the food court, likely in part because of the super heavy East Asian influence everywhere. Pictured: gathering ourselves for the shopping ahead. (Hannah is saying goodnight to Matt in Switzerland. The drink on my tray is green passion fruit bubble tea- with the little tapioca "bubbles". It was actually pretty good! And Dad&Amy, down there in the bottom right is your next postcard. Hope this doesn't ruin it- haha.)


After several hours of mania, we arrived back at Hannah's place around 9. Took price stickers off, lined drawers, put things away. Went to pick up our pizza for dinner. Ahhh and then there's the bookshelf. I didn't even write to you all about the rediculosity that was the process of acquiring one for OUR apartment and bringing it up to par.... Why must the matter of finding a decent, reasonable bookshelf for erudite twenty-somethings be such a bother? (I guess because it would rob us of our stories.) So at the end of the day of hitting garage sales & the mall, and just missing the window of time when other furniture stores were still open, we opted for the good ol' Ikea bookshelf. (At least we found a few other useful items on our trip as well. And Ikea was only 15 mins from Hannah, making it more like a trip to Home Depot than the 6 hour crazy excursion it always turns into anywhere near NYC. And we did take a step up from their classic "Billy" model to something a little less modernist looking, and perhaps a bit sturdier too.) We got it home and realized only after we had uncorked our Canadian Shiraz, eaten our pizza, and settled in, that the directions actually required both kinds of screwdrivers and a hammer. (Don't these things come with cheap Alan wrenches?? It seemed late to ask a neighbor. I wished I'd thought to bring my tool set -that she'd given me in High School!) Hannah had the screwdrivers, so in favor of getting her books up and not having her have to spend her whole Sunday study day putting together the thing, we decided to get resourceful. She didn't even have any canned goods yet. I started thinking- minimal surface area, maximum weight/pressure... how about a high heel? For the cans that we needed to drive into their pre-drilled place, it ended up working perfectly! And as an added bonus since it was getting late and the walls of the Richelieu Manor apartments aren't so thick, no loud pounding.We managed to get the whole thing just about together, and got all the way to putting the back on. This was no job for a high heel. Hannah really wanted to finish and get books on, so we decided to go in search of something close by that would let us tack in just enough penny nails to keep the back in place until she could finish it off properly. Off to the Safeway grocery store, where we found... a meat tenderizer! (and some nice flowers for the table to go in my thrift store vase find.) I'm going to have to come tenderize some meat for Hannah. :oD Less than 15 minutes later, we had it up, backing on, with all of her books on it. We'd planned to crack open the Martinelli's for old times' sake to celebrate, but Hannah was completely wiped out, so we headed for bed (Which, in truth, was probably just as close to our High School style).

The train back early this morning was just as pleasant as the Thursday evening ride, and the southbound view was lovely. Amazing how much of the trip was over water. Though I didn't get to really "see" Vancouver- I wasn't in a hurry to do so: I know I'll be back up again and again over the next few years! Andy seems to be hosting another study session. Spinach, tomato & mushroom fritata; oatmeal, and fruit salad awaited me upon my arrival home. Gorgeous day- think I'll go enjoy it! (Perhaps after a short nap.) Love to all,
-k

Starting our routine

Pictured: Andy's new suit for gross anatomy lab. He's not happy because with his long appendages he was forced to get the large size, and evidently they don't account for tall & skinny people, so he's got tons of extra plastic around his midsection. Mom, he wished you were here to take it in for him. (I suggested duct tape.) "Maaa, I can't put my arms down!" "Well... You can put your arms down when you get to school." I think it might have been this same day of orientation that he came home with a little pouch enclosing bits of milk thistle and rosemary. Rosemary is said to aid in memory, so he's been encouraged to smell it while he's studying, and then bring some in on quiz/test days to class. And the milk thistle helps support the liver, which will see some duress because of exposure to formaldehyde from his cadaver for anatomy.


The year's gotten off to a great start! Andy started his full routine bright and early 7am Monday morning after having spent the week before in intensive orientation sessions. I've decided to get up at the same time as often as I can, and to treat my job search like a full time job itself. I've been getting up and running and/or doing yoga most days, and trying not to spend too much time at coffee shops where it's easy to rack up a bill on a latte and a scone. Our friend Cicely teaches a yoga class 3 days/week at a studio walking distance from us, and she's invited me to attend for free as often as I like. After some difficulty with being able to use my design software last week, we're up and running (thanks to brother Dave and his friend Eric), and I've applied/submitted my resume (the tailored for retail/waitressing edition) to a number of stores, restaurants & coffee shops near our house. Surely some sort of temporary gig has to present itself! Wanting to just get moving, I figured it best to start with the least labor-intensive applications and get them out, so as to have some interim funds for a job search that could take a little while. My goal will be to have my portfolio finished, and cover letters/resumes submitted to at least 4 private schools for their substitute teaching lists by the end of the week. It feels good to be making progress again! I think I was king of turning my wheels a bit too much during our unpacking phase. Just being productive, but still having balance, I'm starting to realize I could treasure this transitional phase rather than being anxious about it.

Andy meanwhile has been STUDYING. One of his classmates joked that he learned more this week than he's learned in this whole year so far. So much anatomy! Labels & diagrams, memorization, poking of bones, explaining things to me... He estimated pretty calmly one evening earlier in the week that if he gives himself one hour of free time per day besides studying, and studies all the rest of the time, he should be ok. This means though that if he cooks dinner, that's his hour. I therefore have been taking on the role as head cook most evening & packing leftover lunches, and preparing some breakfasts too. This is an interesting shift for us, and we're communicating about it a lot, and handling it with grace, I think. Since my last post, I've made pureed yellow split pea soup, black beans & rice, fresh sauteed turnips/beets & their greens, white bean soup and a quick bread to go with it, a tofu pot-pie, and for Friday to celebrate the successful completion of his first week, I made Braised chicken legs with fig, honey & vinegar coupled with an arugula salad. (Andy's mom Kay consistently makes some of the best chicken I've ever had, and he's been missing/craving it. Plus, he seems to be requiring more protein for all of that brain power! Also, I had the chance to Skype with Mackenzie Martin while I made this meal, in Spanish, which was a lot of fun. She's sure not my sweet little 6 yr old babysitting charge anymore!!) ) It has been fun to take the "dried bean challenge", to surprise him with meals, and to feel more capable in the kitchen. I also look forward to experimenting with our new crock pot more: I'm definitely accepting favorite recipes! :oD

I put a down payment on a nice new bike. The bike shop near us was having a huge sale, so I found this really nice hybrid/road-ish ride for over $200 off! The woman said that if I take good care of it, since the components are so well-made, it should last me a very very long time. I was proud of myself for putting it in no-comittment lay-away instead of just paying for it with my credit card. It would be so nice to be able to go exploring already... Hopefully I'll tackle the bus system this coming week and expand my radius a bit.


The weather has been absolutely gorgeous- The mornings often start of cool and cloudy, but the day inevitably turns sunny and breezy, with highs in the high 70's. Today we took a walk around our neighborhood Wallingford with two of Andy's new colleagues/friends from school, after they went in this morning for extra lab time with their cadaver. We ate a huge lunch at a local little Mexican place, whose proprietor I had befriended earlier in the week when dropping off a resume, and then walked down to the Gasworks Park, and past the Essential Baking Co. Pictured: Andy, Ian (yes, a new Ian. McLogan. AND he's from Michigan. What's to be done??), and Stephanie; looking out over Lake Union toward downtown Seattle.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we're hosting brunch & a study session for these two and a few other new school friends. Last week Sunday, we had Brad & Cicely over for a brunch-time pancake blowout! (Kay, we made the Best Recipe pancakes, and the new version of the cookbook that we have is a bit different than the one in your book which Andy's used to referring to.) Fresh fruit syrups, & Brad brought the goodies for mimosas. Sounds like the start of a lovely & civilized tradition to me! :oD Also the highly-publicized Wallingford Wurst Festival is happening this weekend, to benefit one of the local schools. In spite of the nitrate-filled cured meats, I may have to venture over a few blocks and check it out. Dad, I'll be thinking of you. And last, I have very high hopes that Ken & Kay might venture onto Skype for the first time tomorrow evening. I miss them a lot!
Hope all's well on the east coast! Love to you all. -k

Apartment tour!

Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them, and then click your browser's back button to see the rest of the pictures. Or, right click your mouse to open each picture in a new window or tab.

Apartment tour part two

Fall is on the way

Happy September, All! It's really on now.

Quick-ish update since I last checked in, and some pictures. Last Friday, we decided to take the plunge and get our new desktop iMac computer. My macbook from Dave in Feb '07 is still working great, but Andy had been using my Dell from 2002 that took 20 mins to turn on and another 10 mins to load email, and with school coming up, that just wasn't going to cut it. It's going to be a great computer for us: I can use it for my design programs more easily with the faster processor, big screen, and plenty of saving space. We'll both share both computers, depending on who needs out-of-house mobility. We've been saving for a while, but still had to put some on the ol' plastic, until Andy gets his loan in a week or two.

The women upstairs, Jaya and Laura (more on them in a minute), have a cat named Lilly, and we have been happy to befriend her and share the backyard with her. Since our windows are all at ground level and we've been leaving them open more with the nice weather, we have funny little interactions with Lilly. It's kind of like how people talk about having grandkids- all the perks of having a cat, with none of the mess. :oD Ever since Andy let her in and we started paying attention to her, she follows him around like Mary's little lamb when we're outside. Ken, we're going to have to talk organic garden sprays though, because there are a few outside cats besides Lilly that like to use the flower beds right outside all of our windows as litterboxes.


Saturday we went to the Seattle Tilth harvest festival that I had mentioned before in the park across the street, which was pretty fun. They had TONS of tables on local and sustainable food stuff, community/neighborhood organizations to try and be more green etc. All that stuff doesn't even seem as new or novel out here, which is in itself new and novel for me. :oD I signed up for a few things, and look forward to getting to know (and network with) the folks who live nearby. Colin and Andy opted to forego all of the stalls and stands, and station themselves at the edge of the park to drum and enjoy the day. (pictured from left: Brad, Colin, Andy.) They had quite a following of curious/shy little ones toddling over from the playground to check them out, parents close in tow. It's been fun and shocking for me to see soooo many parents out with their kids, in strollers, with dogs, being relaxed, letting the kid be curious and have fun. Seems like there's a lot of good parenting out here, and an atmosphere of openness for families that's hard to describe. I've always enjoyed watching dads be really engaged and in love with their little kids, and it's easy to observe frequently out here. So yeah, they were coming up, doing little dances, wanting to touch, some being tentative and suddenly shy- all different levels of engagement. Andy would also want me to mention an interaction that touched him deeply: a guy that was driving on the street just outside the park (on the other side of the bush line from the pictures) parked his car and walked through the park just to see who was drumming. This man was from somewhere in SE Africa, but had spent time in West Africa, and was delighted by their playing. Andy was super humble and kind in his interaction with the man, and this guy was so into it that he walked back to his car and got like 5 CDs for Andy, and just insisted that he take them as a gift. Many were for groups that Andy either knew from his time in Mali, or listens to now. Super nice, right? People are just friendly here. We still have trouble at the grocery store sometimes, figuring out how to engage people, especially in a hurry.

Monday night, Jaya and Laura came down to have dinner with us. Andy had just seasoned his new carbon steel birthday cookware from his good friend Mike the day before, and was ready for a culinary adventure. Laura is vegan, so we decided to try and make something nice within those parameters. (A description especially for you, Kay, in case you're reading: First course: arugula/watercress salad on a small bed of thinly shaved raw fennel -thanks to the mandolin slicer-; tossed in mandarin olive oil with toasted walnuts and dried cranberries soaked in balsamic on top. Main course: Sauteed tempeh strips with caramelized onions, with a mushroom sauce on top; fresh cooked brussels sprouts, and and a perfectly to-the-teeth mushroom risotto Served with Castle Rock Pinot. Dessert: a custard made with almond milk, served in individual ramekins lined with raisin/pecan crust made in the Cuisinart. It was a big hit, and we enjoyed it slowly. And Andy likes his new pans!) (pictured from left: Laura, Jaya.) They are super nice, and we had a lovely meal. Laura has done a few different things in the past, went to undergrad here in Seattle, is originally from the CA bay area. She wants to go to get an MSN and seems excited about nursing that would let her travel, but didn't get in this past year so is now spending a year in limbo (tons of people our age are going back to school, with the economy the way it is, which makes admission more difficult than usual too, she said.) Jaya works in a lab at the children's hospital here. It's her parents who own the house, and her father & brother who comes to fix things up from time to time - a hobby of theirs. She's a tad older, has lived in Seattle always, and has done some traveling. We were delighted when she started telling us about a month she spent in Mali in 2004- a rare treat for she & Andy to meet someone else who has had that experience. Both of them know the neighborhood and some fun things to do here. One of the local bars has a trivia night that they enjoy frequenting (actually two, and they were discussing their relative merits), so Dad, maybe by the time you get out here, I'll be an expert, and we can go clean up. :oD

In crappier news, I've been audited by the IRS over an incorrectly filed income form from my 2007 AmericCorps grant through TFA that went directly to Pace for my 1st yr masters tuition. I'm going to have to give them $1500 before the end of January. Nice timing, Treasury Dept.

I had my first Seattle gray day coffee shop experience with Cicley yesterday morning. Got a little work done and was able to show her some tricks on how to use her new mac. Maybe I can get a picture of her if/when I go to her yoga class in the morning.

Last night I went to a job hunting for designers lecture at the School of Visual Concepts, a graphic design continuing ed place that seems pretty connected with the design community out here. I got some good tips for resumes, portfolios, and interviewing, a bit more tailored to the market out here. Just need to keep plowing ahead, courageous and active. I'm kind of stalled this week because of design software issues that Dave is helping me resolve, so I'm working on stuff that doesn't require that stuff (like updating this blog!). Andy went to Colin & Brad's place (they call it Moon Base 5- don't ask me why) to help them can tomatoes and do some drumming. Sounds like a combo that could happen pretty often out here this fall!

Andy started his orientation yesterday, and he's pretty psyched. In addition to the usual library intro, locker keys, meet & greet, he's learning about stuff like how the school was founded, and about their personal-fragrance-free policy on campus. His class will have 130 ND students in it, and they should be together for all 4-5 years, so he's going to come out knowing this small community really well. I'll be excited to meet some of them tomorrow: they're having an evening potluck for family. I'm hoping we'll take a hike or something this weekend, before he actually cracks that 23" stack of books. Let the games begin!

I'll try to send some pics of our apt next time, now that we're basically unpacked. Hope you're all doing well. Feel free to comment- then I know you're reading!

Love, -Kate

PS- Maybe once the routine gets more regular, we can set up a weekly Skype open-house time to talk to whoever signs on. Does this appeal to you?

PPS- Happy 24th Birthday on Sept 18th shout-out to brother Dave, who I miss very much.

First week in our new place

Greetings, loved ones! Sorry it's been over a week since my last post! Time is flying...

So I guess I was right to be a bit worried about our moving truck. We started waiting with friends Brad & Colin at the new apt at 5pm, but when we'd not seen or heard from them two hours later, we gave up and staked out local pizza options to take back to Colin's place. Jaya, the young woman who lives upstairs gave us a call around 10pm to say that the truck had arrived, but when they opened the back, the truck they'd delivered was empty! Andy made a few calls and got things straightened out. They had made a mistake, and our truck would have left the center in Seattle for California in the morning! They righted their wrong by delivering the right truck at noon the next day. (pictured: Andy waiting for the truck next to our new giant rosemary bush)

Colin was able to take time out of his day again, and thanks mostly to Ken's expert packing on the other end, for which I am so so thankful still, it only took us about 1hr 20 mins to get everything out of the truck and into its designated area in the house. (It also helped not being in a 5th floor Harlem walk-up with a winding staircase that had Spanish rice & cigarette butts all over it. haha.).

Since then, it's already come a long way. We've just about got our little galley kitchen organized to its max, and we've already cooked a meal using only stuff we brought in a dry goods box. The former took a while, but it's solid now, and we're enjoying the gas stove. Bed set up, little living room with couch and rugs; we're probably 90% there, I'd say. I stayed up like a crazy NYer until 5 on Thursday night breaking down boxes and smoothing out newsprint into a reusable stack.

We went to Bastyr Friday to pick up Andy's books, so that he can get a head start and not have to brave the bookstore madness during orientation next week. Here's about 75% of his first-quarter books, many of which he'll use for the year, I guess. When the bookstore guy saw his pile, he said, "oooooh. First-year, eh?"

Ash & Hannah were able to come to spend the evening and sleep over with us Friday. They had also just made the cross-country trek from Ohio, along a very similar route but faster. Hannah is starting a PhD at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver this week, a 5-yr arrangement about which I'm ecstatic, since it's only about 2 hrs away. We took a trek to Pike's Place market,

(see fresh flower pic- $5 for this bouquet. Incredible.)
then ambled down the main drag of our neighborhood of Wallingford, and ordered takeout from our new favorite Thai place, and brought it home for a living room picnic and cozy evening in. Funny to try to show somebody around town when you've only been here yourself a week or two, but we had a great time of it. Seeing them again was so easy and so nice: it's wonderful when close friends can go a long time without seeing one another and then upon meeting, get along as if no time had passed at all. Andy was happy audience for our girl talk for a while, and then was content to catch up on some piano, fresh out of its case after a 3 week hiatus. (He didn't forget everything after all. haha.)

I am sad to announce though that when we got up around 6 to take Ash to the airport for her trip back to Cbus, we found that during the night, someone bashed out the back window of Hannah's new Honda Fit with a large rock and took her backpack, containing her laptop and camera, as well as some of her special Ultimate frisbees. Andy and I had no idea she'd left them in the car, but we were all a bit devastated. We've heard nothing but good things about living in this neighborhood, that it's safe and whatnot, but it was a good wake-up call early on. We live across the street from a park, close to the UW campus, and we've definitely seen some homeless people parking vans across the street. But it's super well-lit, and in terms of safety here at home, we also have the advantage of Jaya and Laura living upstairs... Andy took Ash to the airport and I stayed with poor Hannah got right on the phone about getting the glass replaced, and the police came and took a report. She handled it with such grace.

This week is flying by. Saturday we did our first big grocery run to stock the pantry (gulp... we did well getting dried beans and stuff though!) Sunday was filled with more unpacking, and Colin came over to drum and have dinner. He brought fish from the freezer and vegetables from his amazing garden, and we supplied the rice and cooked it all up into a great curry dish. Monday was gloomy and non Labor Day-ish, but we did get a chance to finally explore our Meridian Park, and learned about the Seattle Tilth, who will be having their harvest festival next week, and the Meridian School, a K-5 private school where I had already planned to apply to substitute. They had an open house yesterday, and I enjoyed watching the kids play in the park at the picnic afterward. It was kind of a culture shock: they all seemed so smart, so healthy, so happy and free to play and chase and get their hands muddy. I realized that no matter what, teaching here would be different, and likely easier.
Then yesterday evening, I attended a networking happy hour with Colin, Brad, and our other Homestead friend Dave that happens monthly called Seattle Greendrinks. Free local beer! Bring business cards, and your own drinking vessel! (Colin brought a pyrex measuring cup- good conversation piece I guess. :oP) I made a few good contacts, but mostly it was another opportunity to enjoy our friends. We went after to Bastille, a french restaurant/bar where they've established a rooftop garden. They've been providing us with fresh produce all week: I'm so thankful and it's been completely amazing. Their company, Seattle Urban Farm Co., was featured in the latest issue of the Denison alumni magazine! (Click here for the article!) They've been getting some other good press too: evidently GQ came in May and shot a picture of Colin for a story titled "Grow Your Own: a man's introduction to gardening", and he was voted 14th in a competition to choose the next farmer for the White House. We're proud, and give them their share of teasing too.

Now that the dust has settled, I'll be charging in full force on the job search front. No dice on the internship that I'd interviewed for, but I thought it was a good first sign, anyway. More to come on that and plenty else soon enough! Love to all and thanks for reading. (Maybe I should come up with a ritual closing, like Garrison Keillor! :oD)

Pre move-in jitters

So today's the first cloudy (maybe rainy too?) day we've had here in Seattle, and Andy and I are sitting reading/working with a bit of apprehension. The moving truck guys are supposed to deliver our truck at 5pm, and it's now 3. We're not sure whether they're going to unhitch and leave it to unload at our leisure, or maybe help us unload it quickly and get it off the street. While it's their responsibility to figure out where to park the thing, it could be quite tricky! Luckily, our friends Colin & Brad may be able to assist with their pickup trucks.

Pictured below: 1) The moving truck, as shot from our old apt in NY/the cottage. Notice how big it is next to Andy's Toyota Matrix! There was no ramp to get stuff up into this thing. 2) Ken & Andy finishing up the loading of the 8' allotment we had in the back of the truck. [All tidy, thanks to Ken's great help- and only using up 6'!] 3) The nice little house where we'll have our basement apartment. [Remember- click on any picture to enlarge!] 4) The sreet context- maybe they'll park it across the street?? Envision Kate & Andy scurrying across with their couch/mattress...

Having fun & making progress

Hello loved ones! Sorry it's been almost a week already; I think I've talked to each of you on the phone since then at least once anyway.

So Andy & I found a place! As is common here, it's a finished basement with a separate entrance. It's really not a bad little set up. The young women that live upstairs seem really nice and easygoing (lab tech and RN in training!), we'll have some backyard space with access to the grill, washer/dryer, a study room, gas stove, garage space for bikes, and little windows in every room with an eye-level view of nice flowerbeds. Also, it's across the street from a nice park, 4 blocks from the "main drag" of the central nice neighborhood of Wallingford, and right on the street where a bus stops that can take me straight downtown (in the event I find a job down there.) It's also just a minute away from the arterial quasi-highway that will zip Andy up north every day to Bastyr, and opposite the flow of most commuter traffic. We're psyched that all utilities inc. internet came to 900 bucks/month, about $600 cheaper than the 2 bedroom house we were looking at a few streets away. A good year to save, pay off credit cards etc. Depending on what's going on with pack & ride, our moving company, we may get to move our stuff in tomorrow! Pictures to follow!

On the job search front, I've already gone to a few networking events, and am scrambling to finish a pdf version of my portfolio. AIGA is the professional organization for graphic design, and they periodically hold events etc. Their Seattle chapter president, Jeff Barlow, offered me the opportunity to to a little internship with him his fall, for 12 hrs/week, with pay to follow if the project we'd be working on proves lucrative. I am just getting back from his studio, Jelvetica, where we did an interview this afternoon. While it's not quite so fabulous as finding a full time something right away, if he chooses me for it (from among 3-4 candidates I think) it'll keep me actively engaged and meeting people while I'm looking for something full time. He teaches typography at a continuing ed school downtown, and though his work doesn't look particularly cutting edge, it looks quite sound: I'm sure it'd be a good learning experience. He seems to be a family man with good work/life balance, so maybe even just seeing what that looks like in practice (nearly all of the NYC designers I met were crazy workaholics) could be great. If I do it, I'll be working with a gregarious intern in industrial design who just graduated from the masters program at the University of Washington, and we'll be making a case for an iphone that would be more novelty, made of something fun and sort of anti-tech. More to follow on that I guess.

Meanwhile, the days are gorgeous. I think it's perhaps drizzled or been cloudy once since we arrived. We've had dinner with Homestead friends, gotten lost and found every day (Thank goodness we bought a detailed street map for the glove box! With all of the hills, Seattle streets end abruptly, take jogs and restart etc. There are also like 3 or 4 sets of numbered avenues- aka !st avenue N, NW, S etc. that are all completely different streets.), and explored the different neighborhoods. Each neighborhood here has its own farmers' market on a different day of the week, and apparently they're amazing all year-round. I've already been stupefied by them, having seen them matched only by the one in Union Square NYC. Hoping to take a day/weekend trip here before too long and see some of the beautiful sights just an hour or two outside the city while the good weather and light last.

Overall, I'd say that the transition has been smoother and more enjoyable than I could even have hoped. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers: being meaningfully connected feels more important than ever.
Love to all,
-Kate

This is a map to show you what we're up to, and where. (I hope it loads properly!! Click to enlarge.) xo-k

The picture from the previous post (and above) are of Andy and our friend Colin in Colin & Brad's backyard show garden for their Seattle Urban Farm Company. There's so much well-kept produce back there that they don't know what to do with it all, and it's harvest time. Zuchinnis, squash, cucumbers, gorgeous collards, kale, sooo much basil, a huge blackberry patch, and tomatoes on the way. Lucky for them and for us, Andy has arrived with lots of culinary ideas and a bit of time on his hands. Even if we go broke before more money comes our way, we'll definitely be able to eat in style. They've been trying to freeze a bunch of stuff, so a turkey had to come out of the freezer on Saturday. We ended up putting it to brine and on Sunday, we had a bunch of friends over and smoked it. It's nice to be ready to pick up where we left off with about 5 or so friends from the homestead, and likely with a few more we haven't seen, and many of them have significant others we're meeting for the first time, or other couple friends that they're close with. One such couple is James and Karen. They both went to OSU, and Karen got her masters in teaching there, then they moved to NYC for 5 yrs. They just moved out here last year. We have lots in common with them and they're so nice. The whole group is happy to have us here, and it's such a tremendous releif to not feel alone in the venture. I'll try to start collecting pictures of the inevitable characters from stories to come, and post them with mini-bios.

Until we get a place, we are staying with Colin at his little 2 bedroom house: 3951 Evanston Ave. N.; Seattle WA 98103. Feel free to forward mail & send care packages etc. :oP More to follow in the next post about Seattle geography and our "find a place" challenge.

Love to all, -k


PS: Here's a picture of the view from Colin's back porch. We are in North Seattle looking south over Lake Union/portage bay toward the downtown area. Hope it's clear enough to see their garden overflow on the porch, and the skyline in the background.

We have arrived!

It occurred to me this morning that the easiest way for me to journal, keep you all up to date, and keep a record of this transitional time - all at the same time - might be just to start a blog that you, family, can subscribe to. I'm not going to take the time now to actually start updating, but I had a few minutes, so I thought I'd get this thing off the ground! Love to you all!!