I had such a fun time on Saturday. It was really sunny and beautiful and I had a date to meet the lovely and talented Molly at the Pacific Place Pottery Barn for some old fashioned Pike Place Market action. I don’t care how touristy it is or how hard it is to park; the Market is fun. You get to see boys throwing fish around and you get to see gorgeous tulips and you get to sample organic apple chips and potentially some white truffle oil on cream-of-celeriac soup. You get to feel too warm wearing jeans for the first time in months. You get to ogle peppers and stroke polenta and indulge in all your wandering-around-and-poking-at-stuff dreams.
It’s even better with a new (ish) friend. Since I met Sundry…what, a whole year ago? Dang…I’ve felt pretty comfortable with the whole I’m-meeting-someone-I-know-only-through-her-writing-online thing. I figure that with a medium as personal as journalling, I can get a good sense of whether I might like someone in person just by reading her for a while. I can sort of tell (and don’t ask me how, because there’s no method here, it’s just a feeling) whether I just really dig someone’s writing or whether I just really sort of dig her and that I enjoy her writing because I enjoy her even though I’ve never met her yet. Or something. Whatever. Anyway, so far I’ve done a pretty good job at figuring out whether I’ll like someone from online in person.
Here’s a good clue: if you’re supposed to meet your online friend at the Pacific Place Pottery Barn and she comes up at you from behind and you hug just as casually as you would one of the girls in your Book Club and without further ado you just bust down the street talking as excitedly as can be, but without any of the “So. How are you enjoying Seattle?” stilted small talk that you might expect. If you both go “Oh, let’s just stop in at Sur La Table” on the way to the flower market and if you feel comfortable eating asparagus off her plate and if you have no compunction whatsoever about talking, in great detail, about boys…well, you have yourself a winner. We had such a good time.
We sampled lots of free food. We ate crab cakes and fish and chips. We had gelato and discussed the advisability of my having some sort of a passionate, sun-soaked affair, sprinkled liberally with fresh tomatoes and estate-grown olive oil with an Italian while I’m in Italy next month (the verdict was: highly). We remarked that we enjoyed both vegetables and cheese very very much. We went to the newly refurbished Seattle Aquarium and marveled over the new touch tanks (we touched some sea cucumbers, those were cool) and the new octopus tank and also, of course, the otters. I discovered that Molly does the thing that I do where I have sort of a conversation with whatever animal I’m looking at, playing both parts. This was especially evident around the puffin tank and it was very silly and fun indeed. As are puffins themselves. Have you seen a puffin? Do you know how absolutely fabulous they are with their fabulously slicked-back hair?
After the Aquarium we were in a slightly foofy mood and accordingly headed to Fremont, Center of the Universe, the only neighborhood in Seattle to have its very own statue of Lenin (right by the taco place). Fremont is an excellent location for all your foofy needs, should you be in the market, and we spent a very enjoyable hour or so pawing delicately exquisite baby clothes (Molly: “I think I just ovulated. Seven or eight times.”) and sniffing luscious perfumes and shopping for extraordinarily cute toys for her dog. We kept going “What a gorgeous day!” and kept talking about boys. So fun.
That’s really my favorite thing to do ever, I’ve decided. I just love to walk around with the whole day in front of me, with not much of an agenda so it doesn’t matter if I spend an hour and a half in a bookstore or sitting on a bench in Greenlake or at one of the bellydance stores or whatever. It just has to be with someone I really like. I’ve had them with Key Girls, with Carl, and most recently with Anna when I was there in February. I love deciding to try a new place for lunch or buying three bunches of tulips just because they are creamy and pink and perfect, or dressing up and pretending that this strolly, dreamy sort of thing is my real life. It’s my favorite thing; at home, visiting other people, for a day or a weekend or however long I can spin it out. It was just extra good luck that I got to do so with Molly.
We parted at the Space Needle with mutual affirmations of goodwill and promises to hang out at JournalCon 2004. I spent the rest of the weekend watching movies, bellydancing, and not cleaning my house. Good times, good times. I’ve decided I just love being a tour guide, so come visit me, okay?