Saturday, February 5, 2011

Older Now...

It seems less exciting to blog about Seattle than it did about Athens or Corinth or Chernigov, (not that Seattle isn't amazing, it is) but I miss writing (in a non-work sort of way) and this might quell my literary urges.

To catch everyone up on my life... Alex and I moved to Seattle. We love it here. We even love the rainy days. Strange coming from the mouth (fingers?) of a born (okay not really)-and-raised country gal (but not raised BY country parents, maybe that's the difference) but I love love LOVE the city. As I was walking to my internship (I'm doing some part-time marketing interning at Grist.org in downtown Seattle) yesterday I was writing the pros and cons of Seattle/city living. Oddly, in the middle of my thought process someone came up to me (one of my favorite things about this city/cities but I'll get to that soon) and asked where he could get a good breakfast burrito. I had no idea, but pointed him towards a crepes place. He was from SoCal and really missed burritos. Anyway, we got to chatting about the pros and cons of Seattle. He mentioned the cold. I mentioned I was from New Hampshire. (45 degrees is NOT COLD PEOPLE.) He also brought up a point I hear a lot, Seattlites are "cold" in the unfriendly sense. I don't really agree with this (after all, aren't New Englanders the iciest of them all?) but I liked his quote (which I think he stole from his friend), "Seattle is the only place where "let's meet up soon" means "let's never talk to each other again." Ha!

Back to my list.

Pros:
-Capitol Hill is more of a community than I've ever seen in the country. We know our banker, our grocer, our 681 local baristas... even the "Spare Change" newspaper sellers all down Broadway.
-When there is a nice day in Seattle it beats the hell out of a nice day most other places. Or maybe you just appreciate sun more here.
-Three words: Grocery store nearby. In fact, EVERYTHING nearby, from mouth-watering Italian food to at least 5 coffee shops only steps away.
-No driving. Now that Seattle parking is the most expensive in the whole bloody country, I never drive in the city and I sort of love it.
-People living in cities (generally) have a lower carbon footprint. Take the suburbanites.
-People are friendly. On the same breakfast-burrito conversation walk to Grist two random people complimented me on my jacket. Just strangers. What?

Cons:
-I am allergic to Seattle. Seriously.
-I don't really love all the crazy people and all the drunk people. It can be scary being a girl in a city. Less so when I have my Ukrainian body guard with me.
-We could use an extra few rooms... Alex decided to take a nap (it is 7:30 on a Friday) and I can't leave the computer without risking waking him up.

All for now.