Day Three A Day at Home

I now understand all the complaints about teenagers. They really do only think about themselves. I had plans for Friday, but on no, they went by the wayside when they informed me that there was no school today. (Yes I did check with the school. I'm no substitute teacher!)

Thank goddess for the track coach. He still had practice at 7:30am. Which meant after picking up the girl from practice I raised the dead (the boy) and we went out to brunch at IHOP. Then to the DMV to get the driver's examination manual then back to the house.....for the boyfriend's arrival. Yup, the 15 yr old girl is dating...a senior. My first thoughts as he came through the door- I can take him down.

So while the big brother chaperoned them watching the LOTR. I got to spend my afternoon going from my perch in the kitchen to checking on them to make sure no hanky panky was taking place. It was miserable!

Atleast by 6pm their father came to pick them up and take them for the weekend. A whole weekend free to wander the state!

Day Two Downtown

After the kids went to school I hung around the house for a little bit. To my discovery, its good to do this because the sun comes out around 10 and it puts you in a cheerful mind to start the day.

For some reason I remembered something being in Bellevue. So with my trusty Prius and GPS, off I went. There is the Museum of Doll Art in Bellevue but I had already been. Then there's the high end mall- not my bag. The only place that I would go into would be the Din Tai Fung restaurant, pricey though. I was hungry & this excursion was seeming meaningless when I saw the smoke billowing out of a nearby Airstream.

The Skillet Street Food is yummy. It travels around to different parking lots daily. Edgar & I argue weither or not these are just gentrified roach-coaches but I liked Skillet. They serve Duck Burgers!....but I just wanted the Poutine. Poutine for those have never had it is Cheese Fries Canadian style. This was the first place that I had seen it in the lower 48. What you get is hand cut fries; herbs; a gravy that has chedder & parmasean tossed over it. You have to wait a bit for the fries to cool down so the cheese can melt into the gravy. YUM! I also bought a gift for my brother-in-law from them, Bacon Jam. You can see where they are at daily at their website: www.skilletstreetfood.com

Next on to SAM! I had never been to the Seattle Art Museum. Mainly because my visits were short or business related or with friends and those situations don't coexist with long, quiet strolls through museums. The SAM though is not really a big museum so what takes the longest is trying to find parking. Its really near the Pikes Place Market so there's plenty of lots. The old GPS lost my confidence when it told me to go right onto a one way street!

The exhibit to go see is the Nick Cave: Meet me at the Center of the Earth. Its not THAT Nick Cave of the Bad Seeds legend. Its the sculptor/performance artist that made costumes that represent the sounds that they made when dancers moved in them.

I loved the fur suits. They were the coolest ones in motion.

But I have to agree with the remainder of the visitors. The sweater bear was awesome! I got this picture shot done right as the guard told me, "No photos in the special exhibition."

This exhibit had an adult colouring book that I wanted to get for a friend who was just diagnosed with cancer, but $36 is too much for a COLOURING BOOK. So I went across the street to a little paper store call de Medici Ming. A awesome fine paper store where I got her (and myself ofcourse) some brillant metallic watercolours. On the walk back to my car, I popped into another new store called Paper Hammer which is an independant printing press shop.

Wish Trip to Seattle came True

I've been desperately missing the Pacific Northwest with my only way of quenching would be a walk outside with wet hair followed by a viewing of Twilight or Northern Exposure. Simply LAME. I have no options to go on a vacation in this economy unless by a miracle......and one happened.

My friend Jessica's husband works as an audio engineer for a radio station. The station decided to broadcast from Ireland for St. Patrick's day. They paid for the two of them to go & needed someone to watch their teenagers to make sure they didn't go feral. Someone with no ties, that could up and come at a moments notice, that LIKE their children.....me.

I've never lived the mommy lifestyle but aparently from 7am til 3pm I have all the time on my hands to do whatever I want. With a Prius and a GPS I have the chance to see the sights that I wanted to see that never had the chance to in previous visits & to visit old favorites.

I'm in part blogging & also listing some things plus places for my friends that will be coming to Seattle in the weeks following. This is recon baby!

Day ONE:

I would fly into Seattle just to go to their International Market. A Nipponophile like me goes gaga over Uwajimaya. A supermarket focused on Japanese products. Most 'asian' markets are Korean so this is special. Based downtown, near the King Train Station, it is centrally located and near to Pioneer Square. If you are going over to the Underground Tour. Walk a couple blocks for lunch in their market. You know when you are in the neighborhood when you see the dragons climbing the telephone polls.

http://www.uwajimaya.com/

You don’t have to eat there or buy any of their cool bento goodies (like I did). You could go just to spend hours in the attached bookstore- KINOKUNIYA!!!! I wanted to buy so many books. But I bought the Christmas issure of Gothic & Lolita Bible…was tempted by a wall of fashion & music magazines…then theres the tons of craft books! Sigh, the temptation is great there.

www.kinokuniya.com

Pioneer Park is not as interesting as it used to be. Most of the stores have closed due to the economy. There are two together that I worth popping into. On the corner is Diva Dollz. You can’t miss the great windows. www.thedivadollz.com

The inside is a scrumpsious as the windows.

Inside they sell vintage inspired shoes & dresses with fabulous corsets to put over them. I didn't have over $128 to spend on a pair or a dress but I did have the amount for a fantastic Burlesque inspired cocktail hat. Its a heart with an arrow through it. Ofcourse my battery died when I went to take a picture:( Another time I presume when I have the entire outfit done.

Next door to them is Utilikilts. Kilts for the construction work. Or like their motto goes, "We sell Freedom."

www.utilikilts.com

What caught my attention is the New Rocks. Every goth man this day owns a pair but I had never seen them in brown & tan. Apparently you'll never see them either unless you shop at their store. The owner knows the owner of New Rock & only makes them for Utilikilts. Their like the usual New Rocks but with a suede like on construction boots.

That was my couple of hours. Until tomorrow!