a little winter update
Hi, Tumblr. It’s been a few months. Fall went by fast. Returning to school was intense and challenging. Those first papers, mid-terms and finals were nerve-wracking. But our whole class survived, and learned a few things along the way about language and brains and data collection methods. And now I’m half-way through the second quarter and have my own client, and spring break is right around the corner!
The holidays in Seattle were a lot of fun. The weather this winter has been really balmy. We had flurries one morning, but other than that just lots of rain interspersed with sun and stunning views of snow-peaked mountains. We had fun walking around downtown and seeing everything all decorated for the holidays. We took in a small jazz venue near the Seattle Center and Space Needle. We spent Christmas with the DeKoekkoek family: Christmas carols, yummy Christmas cookies, amazing home-cooked food, puppies, babies, and lots of great company with good friends. We took in a Christmas movie with our neighbors: elementary, Watson!. We have a movie theater here called Cinnebarre. It’s a movie theater and bar combo. Brilliant idea for a date night.
Other fun Seattle things we’ve enjoyed this past year include: Discovery Park with lots of hiking trails a fun beach and a great view of mountains, Caffe Vita coffee, New Years dinner of sashimi and Kirin beer at the sushi restaurant we live above, local microbrewery tours like RedHook (lutefisk, lutefisk, lefse, lefse, all for Ballard, ya sure, ya betcha!), the famous Experience Music Project and attached Science Fiction Museum that reminded Dan of his dad, and some racquetball at the UW gym. Other than that, life is full of grocery shopping, laundry, and making plans with new friends when we have free nights.
I also hopped on board with the Seattle-active-fitness-outdoorsy-thing by making it through a 5k jogging program. Gotta start working on speed now… ;-) Just found out a lake near us is almost exactly 5k diameter, so I’ll be giving that a shot sometime when it’s not drizzling.
Dan’s schedule at work has been pretty inconsistent since he started last fall, but he’s gotten full-time hours and more. And the great news is that he just got a full-time position with them, so he’ll be part of a team and be assigned a kid and maybe have to run group sessions, or something like that. He’s super excited, and he’ll have more control over his hours starting next month.
Seattle is starting to feel like a home. We’ve got down the local names for the different districts and neighborhoods of the city. We have our favorite coffee shops and bars. I’ve been clubbing in Belltown. We call Ranier “the mountain.” Dan has found a bar that shows UFC fights. I now have a vague idea of how the streets are laid out downtown, but smart phones help out with that, too. I’ve been harassed by multiple crazy bus people. We covet all the dogs as we sit and ponder our busy schedules and how to fit training a puppy into it. We no longer find dogs in stores to be odd (yep, Seattle is green and four-legged mammal friendly). And it still costs a month’s rent to fly and visit people (Speaking of which, I miss rent that was under 4 digits…). Sigh, I think we’re stuck here for good. :-) Off to get a pedicure… and then coffee?
-Christina
