Why Seattle?

"Why would you move up here to the rain?" This is the question I am constantly asked every single day at work, school, and everywhere else. Here's my story: I am from Miami Florida and felt like I never belonged (blah blah blah). My only brother left his wonderful five sisters to go be a man in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wa. I decided to come visit him to try a new place.

I have to admit that even though I was so excited to leave Florida for the summer after a month Washington became a living hell. I packed my bags and hopped on a greyhound back to Florida. After a while I realized that I didn't really give Washington a shot. I based all of my negative opinions from Tacoma and not Seattle. At the same time I kept comparing Washington to Florida and I should've just appreciated Washington for what itself.

I moved back to Tacoma about eight months ago through a transfer at work. I still hate Tacoma but I love Seattle. Seattle has all the things that I love like indie music and films, great food, relaxed atmosphere, safety, four seasons, and good people. I spend my weekends in the city soaking up the good vibes and waiting until my lease is up so that I can finally live that Seattle life. Moving to Seattle will finally keep me in one place. I fit in here wonderfully. This city now excites me as I learn more about it and it's little neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, and Ballard. I love Ballard.

I'm currently signing a lease for a place in Queen Anne and am excited to FINALLY be living in the close vicinity of downtown Seattle. 

I found my happy place in Seattle and I think I am finally going to commit to one city...for now!

The Outdoors

I was a city girl that had never been on a camping trip let alone go on hikes. Living in Seattle I noticed that Washingtonians love the great outdoors! Learning this was exciting but I didn't know where to start with trying to even go camping on my own. How would I build a tent? What can I eat? I was clueless.

Fortunately my boyfriend had friends that wanted to get away for a few days to go camping by a town called Eatonville. It was finally happening; I was going to spend a few nights in the middle of nowhere. OK I had a million questions like would there be toilets? Would we have Internet access still? BEARS? Oh and how would we cook because I really hoped we didn't have to really build a fire. 

We drove to the town and upon arriving everything changed. We were in the this small town that had one building for each type of business: one grocery store, one bar, one liquor store, one diner, etc. Craziness. We went from big city to where the heck am I the twilight zone? 

Anyway my boyfriend's friends were great. They taught me how to build a fire and build my own little tent. What a blast! The weather was beautiful that weekend to so we swam and wrestled in the lake and  walked some nice trails. 

In the end I was thrilled that I tried something different and I didn't have to travel far to do it. I love how the people here are both city and outdoor cultured; it just gives me a broader perspective of Washingtonians. I'm impressed by how Washingtonians can really dip into city life and outdoor life so easily like it's all in the same. It's not something people can't do where I'm from so this was an experience for me and appreciate the open mindedness of the people here and the sense of community no matter where you are.

A Night at a Local Theater

I decided to try the local trend of watching independent films at small, local theaters. What a blast! I visited two theaters: one in Seattle and one in Tacoma. Both had so many films that I have never heard of but full of life. I decided to talk about my experience at The Grand Theater in Tacoma, WA.

The Grand Cinema

As I entered the Grand Theater on Fawcett St in Tacoma I couldn’t help but wonder how they were still in business. It was such a small theater that as soon as I walked in there’s a small booth for a cashier on the right by the entrance. The cashier was a nice elderly lady with a volunteer badge and she rang me up on an old school cash register; I didn’t even think those registers were still used! I handed her cash and she handed me a ticket; it wasn’t a regular ticket that showed a movie title and show time--it was one of those raffle tickets. Interesting. By asking some of the employees there I discovered that this theater is ran by volunteers. They are there to keep the art of indie films alive. Different.

Anyway as I walked into the cinema room I realized this wasn’t going to be my regular visit to large, popular theaters like Regal or Muvico—this was like an eight row theater where I actually had to sit next people I didn’t know because personal space didn’t really matter here. That’s ok, I managed and it really wasn’t too uncomfortable sitting next to a stranger.

I began to watch the film Stoker. Brilliant. 

I have to say that by the end of the film I was in love with this theater. I really underestimated it and surely did not recognize it’s value. I say this because as I was leaving the cinema room the people sitting by me began to have a discussion on the film and invited me to take part in the conversation. Incredible. These new friends wanted to know my opinion on this film.

I found it quite interesting and ended up leaving for a bite to eat afterwards with them. The discussion continued as we ate and I began to think about how friendly people are here. I come from a city where you can’t easily meet people and strike up an intelligent conversation with them. Amazing.

Surprisingly living in Tacoma gets better everyday when I actually go out and give this place a shot. I ended the night with some new movie buddies.

A Look at Seattle

Welcome to my  adventure blog everyone! 

I wanted to start my first post with what my idea of Seattle is. I think of this city as a cultural hub and very environmentally friendly. If I were to close my eyes and think of "Seattle" the images of Nirvana, coffee, and the Public Market Center would appear. I went out and walked the downtown and shopping areas to get an overview of the city and here are few things that I learned about Seattle.

The famous downtown market at night is a popular social hub.

This is me scoping out Seattle. Beautiful Pike Place Market where I took a look around at all that is offered here: fresh seafood and produce and nice little shops and artist studios. Of course I had to make a coffee run while in downtown Seattle at the ol' so famous Starbucks. Coffee is all the rage in this city. There are cafes at almost every corner or every block in this city.

Washingtonians really like to keep caffeinated.

The city is trying to change how we manage our trash.

Remember what I mentioned about environmentally friendly? Throughout the city, indoors or outdoors, you'll see these types of bins. Trash is well separated in order to promote recycling. 

I tested these Washingtonians to see how passionate they are about saving this planet so I left an empty beer bottle right on the compost bin and walked away. A stranger then picked up the bottle and tossed the it in the recycle section of the bin. Touché Seattle.

The City of Seattle added a little funk to their city center trees. The new blue color is fun and seems to attract more people to the shopping area. At night the white lights that are wrapped around the branches light up and makes it feel like Christmas all year round. A simple change goes a long way.

                   

What I am liking so far about this city is that it is natural and urban at the same time. It's not a huge city but then again it's not small either. This city seems to pack enough if you are person who enjoys a simple night out, listening to a live band, or just having a nice dinner with friends. It's not what I'm use to but I can appreciate Seattle for what it is: A simple big city with a lot of heart.