seattlejo.com

I love the idea of a single serve coffee maker. I’m not the kind of person who can drink a whole pot of coffee in a morning, let alone in a sitting. I’m  also a sporadic coffee drinker. I drink not just for the buzz but for the flavor. I crave coffee at night, in the morning, midafternoon.  I crave strong espresso I crave milky iced coffee, I crave just about anything except Folgers.

I’ve heard talk of the Clover before. The ultimate Single Serve machine. With industrial bones it runs a mere $8,000. No really Trabant on Saturday was the first time I  saw one. Its not often that someone offers multiple  kinds of drip coffee. For $2.25 they pulled a cup of drip coffee for me from freshly ground beans. And it was one of the best cups of drip I’ve had. Full bodied, fresh and strong, not bitter, not overly acidic and not  offensive.

I look forwad to seeing what the company from Ballard does. There is talk of a home machine in the future, something smaller in the $100-$200 price range.  While in the past I’ve been enamored by the idea of a K-Cup machine, I think this is more resonable for the future, after all, if I start roasting my own coffee wont I need a superior brewing method?

The doorbell rang at 8:30 in the morning, at least I was dressed and half caffinated,  and nearly ready to go.
“Hold on Melissa , I’m almost ready. ” I grabbed my pcc bag, my camera,  and glugged down the last of my coffee.  Out the door we went, leaving my copy of the passport behind.
Dangit!

Friday Saturday and Sunday were the Destination: Yarn! Local Yarn Shop Tour here in Seattle.  20 shops banded together, created cute little passports and inspired nice ladies, young and old to drive around like lunatics for these free patterns and the chance to win $400 in free yarn.

i began my journey on Friday with 2 stops alone. First was Weaving works in the University District. Then on the way home i decided i would bike by the Fiber Gallery and see what their one skein pattern was.

Saturday morning began the real  tour. Melissa and I had decided we would not be stupid and attempt all 20 stores. The gas and hassle involved, particularly when you only have one driver, for the “chance” to win $400 didnt make sense. (Had the stores banded together and had a prize for those who had hit all 20 I might have been more willing. Perhaps a special bonus pattern or something.

We first stopped at Red Twig for Eggs Benedict  and hot strong coffee. Edmonds was also our first yarn stop of the morning.

Spin a Yarn is a shop I’ve been to many times and the service has always been a little weird.. She’s moved to a new location  an old house and its very quaint.

Stop number 2 was Bellingham, JanJ NeedleArt

Set in a stripmall, it is jammed full of yarn and needlework supplies.

They had a cute pup named Saucy, he was about 8 and looked like a sausage.

I’ll be honest, they were a little eccentric and we were glad to make our escape.
(ok crazy was the term we came up with but yeah)

NW Handspun was GREAT! Friendly shop, great location, and a fantastic array of yarn and weaveables.

The owner was cute and funny, as i took pictures from the landing above she said “Is that lightening? in the store” Nope just me with the camera.

Our lunch stop was a place in Bow Washington,  It was an old barn/ country store/ restaruant that had the best beef barley soup i’ve  ever had. We picked up apple Empanadas and then headed to our last yarn shop.

No pictures of Anacross, but I swear they had the biggest selection. Big Big overstuffed yarn cubbies where balls of muppet yarn came cascading down on me. Again, no purchase from me, but I’ll be back.

We finished our day in Washington Park, overlooking  the islands and the water, and just contemplating what a great day we had.

Life is good.

1. Bike to work
2. Make it to work on time
3. Don’t die.

My alarm was set for 5am to get me up, get me showered and get me out the door by six. Sadly it went off at 3am and I was sure that it was omg time to wake up!! I fought and fought with my sleep filled eyes to force myself up only to realize I needed to go back to sleep. I did so, but then slept till 5 till 6 missing my  alarm. (mental note, with the new laptop I can return to using it as an alarm clock, start doing this tonight)

I got out of bed,  shook the sleep off of me and decided I would bike in anyway. Now the big concern was would I get there on time.
So I adjusted my normal route. (Both routes are found here )Instead of riding down fremont to 65h then cutting through Wallingford, I came down to 85th, Rode the bus in from 85th to 75th ,got off the bus  stopped by the Bike to Work day station,  and  then biked in the rest of the way. I got to work at 7:30, not bad considering I left at 6:45. I feel a little guilty about that bus portion, but again that feeds into goals 2 and 3. I havent biked period this year. I’ve been so lazy about it, so getting up and  doing it was a big step. And getting here

I dress like a hooligan. Well perhaps not. I biked in in my jeans and t-shirt, my favorite Seaside hoodie, and my backpack. I’m wanting a new bag for when I bike in  but thats a reward for a super sekrit project I’m working on. I do not wear spandex. I do not wear clicky clicky shoes. My bag does not match my spanexy top.

I huff and I puff. My cycling motions are not smooth graceful motions, I peddle as consistantly as I can, in starts and stops.  I get on the sidewalk when the traffic scares me. I stop and catch my breath when I feel like I am going to die.

But in the end the result was what I wanted.

I biked to work
I got here on time
I am not dead.