Have Done: Seattle Before I Go

Go salsa dancing again. Wear more comfortable shoes this time and bring an ice pack.

Havenā€™t done that yet, although I did buy some more comfortable dancing shoes. It will have to be next Thursday, if at all. Whoā€™s in?

Bake an Italian cheesecake and garnish with fresh strawberries. Take to potluck. Graciously decline marriage proposals.

Not yet, but maybe for the going-away party. Actually, wait. I did make an Italian cheesecake for my Memorial Day barbecue but our oven is messed up so I burned it and I felt embarrassed to take a burned Italian cheesecake so I just brought my zucchini tart. And strawberries weren’t really in season. I donā€™t know if I succeeded here or not, frankly. I didn’t get any marriage proposals, since no one wants to marry a girl who burns the cheesecake, but I did get to wear my bikini in the hot tub and a couple of girls did hump my leg at various points. I’m calling it even.

Take a bhangra fusion workshop, if one is indeed offered this quarter.

Oh yes indeed, one was offered (right before the abovementioned barbecue, as a matter of fact) and I did in fact go and it KICKED MY ASS in the best way ever and I love Choli Ke Peeche even more now that I know how to actually dance to it. My right calf was sore for days afterward and I couldnā€™t stop bouncing my shoulders for weeks. I love bhangra.

See Circus Contraption perform.

See, what happened was, I was going to go and I made plans to go and I bought the tickets and everything but then AC and CT I ended up just talking all night in our pajamas, so there was no circus for me. I really wanted to go see it but the talk that night resulted in some important and amazing stuff for me so I cannot regret it. Sorry, Circus Contraption. Maybe next year.

See burlesque at the The Pink Door.

No, but I did see burlesque at the Rendezvous so weā€™ll just count that a yes.

See Dudley Manlove play out.

Yes! Twice! Once at Angela and Andrewā€™s wedding and then just last week at prom.

Go to the spa. Get a massage and some bibimbop.

No. No no no no no. So sad. There is nothing sadder than a girl who wants to go to the spa and canā€™t find the time. I really want that bibimbop, too.

Eat at Mesob.

No, but Iā€™ve eaten at Queen Of Sheba twice since I wrote this so again Iā€™m going to cheat and check it off the list.

Eat at Cascadia.

Nope. Sigh.

Eat at CafƩ Flora.

No. Where all my vegetarians at?

Eat at Carta de Oaxaca.

No. I tried several times but itā€™s always very crowded, as any place that makes mole sauce like they do should be.

Go to the zoo.

No, sadly. Well, wait. I kind of went for just a little while when my cousin was in town. We had a great time in the greatest zoo exhibit in the history of zoos, i.e. the Night And Day exhibit, which involves not only poisonous snakes and dwarf crocodiles but also vampire batsā€¦vampire bats!…and my beloved two-toed sloth. So, strike that. I totally went to the zoo.

Go to the aquarium and see the octopus one last time. While down there, pick up flowers for the house at Pike Place Market and some Beecherā€™s Flagship. Oh, also while down there, eat at Le Pichet.

Sigh. No. I went to Pike Place Market with Dawn last weekend but we didnā€™t go to the aquarium or eat at Le Pichet for some unfathomable reason. Oh, wait, we had conveyor-belt sushi and gelato in Fremont instead. It was a very tough call. Iā€™m not sure Iā€™ll have time to see the octopus before I go, and that, my friends, is a very sad state of affairs. However, I am going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is totally the aquarium of my heart, in a couple of weeks, so I’ll see an octopus then. Phew!

Find or create an occasion to wear the pink dress my mom got me when I was in Miami for Thanksgiving. Graciously decline marriage proposals.

I wore it to Angela and Andrewā€™s wedding a couple of weeks ago and l felt pretty hot, thanks for asking. (Cleavage will do that).

Participate, somehow, some way, in a bellydance performance. Also, see an InFusion show at the Capitol Club.

CHECK!

Go bowling at Sunset Bowl.

Dang, no. Erikā€™s birthday party was held there this year (since they have torn down Leilani Lanes, sniff) but my mom was in town that weekend and I couldnā€™t make it.

Have a Naked Lady/ book swap party to get rid of a bunch of my stuff while hanging out with awesome girls at the same time.

Sigh, no. Iā€™ve given away a lot of my clothes but I havenā€™t gotten it together to do so in an organized fashion. Awesome girls who want my stuff are just going to have to call me and Iā€™ll drop it off on their front porches, I guess.

Go dancing at Neighbors in a mostly non-ironic way.

Not yet, but maybe next Friday after my last day of work.

Eat dinner at my cousinā€™s new house.

Yes. Several times. Am still dreaming about the fennel-salt chicken and the collapsed chocolate cake with berries from last Wednesday.

Sing karaoke in public. (Do NOT try ā€œTainted Loveā€ again, no matter how sorely I may be tempted.)

No.

Make it my mission to go through a flat of assorted berries per week when berry season FINALLY gets here.

Iā€™m trying but itā€™s not really berry season yet, UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME.

Do a volunteer day with Seattle Works.

Yes! I mulched the front gardens of the Pacific Science Center as part of Seattle Works Day. When you go by the Science Center? And you think to yourself, damn, that mulch looks good? Thatā€™s my mulch! It was a super fun day because not only did I get to see my old housemate C and her cool friends, I also got to feel pleasantly self-righteous about my serving the community and some free tickets to see the Under The Sea IMAX movie, which had ten minutes of octopus footage that took my breath away.

Visit this cute new baby.

Sure did. Twice even, and one of those times I got to visit this cute baby, too. Cute babies! Iā€™ve visited them!

Go canoeing at the Arboretum.

No, but Dawn and I walked around the Arboretum on Sunday in the blazing heat. It was a very nice walk.

See the azaleas at the aforementioned Arboretum.

Azaleas were over, I think. Mostly we saw geese and ducks, which is fine with me, because I love geese and ducks.

See the Maori weaving exhibit at the Burke.

NO! Stupid! Itā€™s over now and I didnā€™t get to see it and I feel really dumb. I guess I will have to see Maori art when I get to Aotearoa. I may as well write off seeing the Maya Lin exhibit at the Henry, too, which is even dumber because I just had lunch there yesterday.

Host a dinner party.

Does when Anna and Rob and Peter and Tracy came to visit? Even though it was Tracy who actually did the cooking?

Host a slumber party.

See above. Itā€™s a slumber party if people sleep on the floor, right? People totally slept on the floor.

Bring something I actually personally physically made to book club instead of faking it with a quiche or something like I always do.

Siiiiigh. My last book club is tomorrow and Iā€™m going to have to pick something up at Whole Foods on the way over, I think. Sorry, Gael.

Confirm or deny, once and for all, whether the rumors about Metropolitan Marketā€™s having McCannā€™s Quick And Easy Steel Cut Oats are true.

They are false. I called. Twice.

Figure out what we did with the DDR pads and see if I can get back up to Standard on the slow songs.

I saw them by the TV for a while but they seem to have disappeared again. I havenā€™t played in months. That is a crying shame, is what that is.

Visit a winery.

Nope.

Convince Anna and Rob to come up and visit.

Sure did!

Write a review of Cupcake Royale for Cupcake Planet, sampling every flavor if thatā€™s what my journalistic integrity requires.

I took a bunch of pictures of a bunch of cupcakes and made all my friends write haiku about them so Iā€™m going to try to write that entry this weekend, I promise.

Eat brunch at the Salish Lodge overlooking the waterfall.

Yes, and it was a giant RIPOFF. Ridiculously expensive and the food was fine, I guess, but not a big deal, certainly not worth the thousands of dollars we paid for it. Mom and I should have eaten at the Hi-Life and then just gone to the waterfall by itself. I had heard for years that brunch at the Salish Lodge was Not To Be Missed, but I say go ahead and miss it, especially if you like your money.

Make ginger beer out of the kit Ashley sent me for my birthday.

I would have, but then it turns out you need to have all sorts of special equipment, like empty glass bottles. I think Iā€™m going to give it either to my cousin, who brews regular beer and will know what to do with it, or maybe to Calin, who would probably be up for the challenge of deciphering the directions, most of which are in Dutch.

See Snakes On A Plane with Linda, not forgetting to bring along the adult diapers.

I donā€™t think it will be out by the time I leave.

Do a photo essay of the Ballard Sunday Market.

CH-CHECK!

Figure out how to use new camera. (Start by taking it out of the box).

Uh, sort of. I still donā€™t understand the flash. I have taken it out of the box, though.

Go to the beach at Golden Gardens.

Yup, last weekend with Dawn. It was so nice (even though it was super crowded) that I might go again this weekend.

See some live theater.

No.

See a show at The Tractor.

Nope.

Make doughnuts in the deep fryer at home.

Nuh-uh. This is probably a good thing.

Go on an all-girl overnight hiking trip. Be in charge of the food.

Oh, we had this halfway planned out and I was so excited and then I looked at my calendar and saw how booked up I was and I just couldnā€™t face having no weekend time to do pre-trip errands so I wimped out. I suck. Going into year three of not using that fancy lightweight pack I still haveā€¦does anyone want to borrow that for a year?

Have the kick-ass-est kick-ass going-away party in the history of kicking ass and going-away parties.

NEXT WEEKEND OMG.


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5 responses to “Have Done: Seattle Before I Go”

  1. Renee Avatar
    Renee

    Oh! I so want to go to salsa, but next Thursday we have an extra rehearsal (since we’re not rehearsing on our usual Tuesday since it’s the 4th.) Damn!

    I know you are probably booked solid, but if you want to try to squeeze in Cascadia some night before you go, let me know. The last and only time I went I had to leave in the middle because I had a screaming migraine and thought I was going to hurl.

    As for Cafe Flora, it’s in my neighborhood, girl! If you can sneak an afternoon from work, I will make it happen. And maybe we coupld make a pilgrimage to the Madrona Cupcake Royale while we’re at it, because really, how can you consider yourself an expert on Cupcake Royale if you haven’t eaten at both of them?

  2. Sharon Avatar
    Sharon

    See my mail, similar to Renee’s. If there is anything I, or Christopher, or some kinky combo of the two can do to help you knock some stuff off the list this weekend, we would consider it an honor to do so.

  3. ginger Avatar
    ginger

    We saw your oats at the Bartell’s up in Lake City, of all places! (Across the street from the Lake City post office.) I didn’t get you any because I thought you would still have some.

  4. Amy Avatar

    I wanna go to Cafe Flora – waaaa!!!!
    Also, I would be happy to take that ginger beer kit off your hands, we have home brew stuff just waiting to be used!! Are you sure you can’t fit the spa day in, because I would clear my calendar to be naked with you!!

  5. Mona Avatar

    I’ve been to the Tractor about two times and that was two times too many for me. During both times there was a high-schoolish band playing with a fan base comprised of their mothers. Not worth the cover price if you ask me. Neighbors was sort of the same experience with the moms replaced by a throng of oogling straight guys.

    And this list is great! It reminds me that I need to get out more. *Sigh*