Mumbling Madly

I spent the weekend with a myriad of people, including my sister and long-time friend Kimberly. Gina graciously brought up my painting and she and Justin came with the goal of trying out several vegan places they had heard about in Seattle. We ended up at Araya’s in the U-district, a vegan thai buffet. It was incredibly cheap at $6.99 for lunch, and absolutely wonderful in its variety of thai delights. From phad thai to black bean pudding with coconut milk, we stuffed outselves–by the time Gina discovered the bowl of peanut sauce, I was too full. I took Gina to a vegan-only grocery store and talked her into throwing down the big bucks for a decent pair of Vegetarian Shoes. They were so ridiculously cute, she just had to take them home and maybe, just maybe, retire a pair of her very worn out Converse. Afterward we walked to the beach and Josh and I bought popsicles (I’m a biter, Josh is a licker):

The beach was less then a half mile away, and we watched the ducks, geese, and one white goose swim around in the murky water:

Gina and Justin took off and less then two hours later Kimberly was at our door. The following morning we filled up on pastries from the local bakery in Columbia City. We dropped Josh off at the airport so he could go off for Leadership Training in St. Louis, MO. Kimberly and I went to Capitol Hill and because she felt obligated to get a true cup of Seattle coffee, we had lattes at Vivace’s. Famous for being the first in the states to create foam art, the owner of Vivace was recently on NPR. The long detailed description of his latte foam works of art filled me with such longing I had to turn the radio off. I vowed that if I were to indulge, I would do it at Vivace and I was not at all disappointed. That latte scratched an itch I’ve been unable to stratch for three months now. We further indulged by getting our nails done, something I’ve rarely done but love to splurge on. When debating on what nail color I realized that the practical side of me was going for the light, pale, unoffensive-if-chipped colors. I conferred with Kimberly and went all out with bright, indecent, red: Why spend the money on a color no one can see? Kimberly and I went downtown and had sushi and clam sandwiches at McCormick and Schmick’s happy hour. Then we went ACT theater and saw A Number by Caryl Churchill. We spent many hours debating politics, theater, and Kimberly put up with my manic, inconsistent driving. The company was much appreciated, as I will be all by myself for the next four days. In an effort to fight off lonliness and find out new and different places in my neighborhood I walked the mile to nearby Pritchard Beach. Very cool, very small, complete with a life guard chair and a floating dock covered with birds. Tommorrow I hope to scope out more of Colombia City and Seward Park.