Wallingford

Wallingford is a new addition to my favorite places. The fact that it's in Seattle makes it that much better. Housing doesn't open up there as much as it does in Lower Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, or Belltown, but it is now our first choice.

I think things are looking good for a move sometime this Fall. For the non-library position I applied for, I should hear back sometime on or around the 2nd; for the library position, I'll know by the 8th; both interviews went well. Today I talked to someone at the public library about how to apply for their lower & mid level paraprofessional positions, and it was a very encouraging conversation - she used the phrase "shoe in". I'd really love to work with kids in a library. I ascribe to that cheesy old value that children are our future. Well, they are! I'd like to do something positive - other than being a teacher or parent, and this seems like a great way to get involved. But, that process could take a while, so maybe it would be my second Seattle job.

My tummy still hurts. It's been hurting too long to be food poisoning, and it's been more pain that nausea, so I'm starting to wonder if it's stress. I don't think I'm that stressed, but I suppose all of these interviews and applications have brought us through a lot of ups and downs. We'll see.



This is the Wallingford town center. It used to be an elementary school. A really, really, cute one. Now it is home to local businesses, shops, boutiques, and restaurants. Wallingford had an amazing variety of vegetarian food in all types of restaurants. It put San Francisco to shame.



They have a nice little cupcake shop. This variety was basically a smore cupcake, with lightly toasted marshmallow frosting, and a grahamcracker crust below the cake. The baker was taught to make them by Martha Stewart. It was one of the best cupcakes I have ever had. Erik was commenting on how nice it was to try something he felt like we wouldn't be able to make as well. Yummy.




This used furniture store was closed by the time we got there. It looked so full of life in the evening sun.



This is really a picture of Erik's hand.



Summer is all about the amazing clouds.






We saw the most amazing variety of hydrangea. Some of the smallest, and the largest, I've ever seen. This bush wins for most-dense-with-blossoms.


This is the same place you see in the background, up above. It was a bar/restaurant that looked very interesting inside, and had nice outdoor seating. I am a sucker for outdoor seating. I couldn't resist capturing some of the colors, as the lights changed.

Cupcakes

We made tiny cupcakes

Erik took this picture. He took the picture and sent it to me just now..... I don't know how he knew I had wanted to show y'all, and had tried to take a picture of them this morning (it proved difficult with no camera). He must have intuited it :) He is an awfully thoughtful boyfriend.



Kahlua pudding and peach cobbler. Cobbler cupcakes are the bomb, we will definitely be making more of them in the future.

Another Saturday

Here's another update on another weekend. I wonder if this will become a regular thing?

Friday was leap day. That means slippers (your FAVORITE slippers), finger food, wizard people, dear reads, and dinosaur cupcakes, courtesy of the lovely Hana:






Saturday, I finally got to work on my quilt. I purchased fabric at 3 fabric stores, washed it in 4 loads of laundry, ironed through 2 episodes of Start Trek (next gen), and cut a ginormous stack of little squares.






Which do you think is cuter - my new pin cushion, or Aketa?






Sunday, I woke up at 7:30, and made myself go back to sleep. I woke up at 8:15, and made myself go back to sleep. Finally, I started dreaming about fabric, and decided I could not wait any longer, it was time to start arranging.











This quilt is not as classically beautiful as the last, but I am a sucker for rainbows. The yellow is a bit washed out in these photos - it's much sunnier in person. The old ladies at the fabric stores love the lurid colors. Especially the lime greens - I have heard from so many older women about lime greens, I'm starting to wonder if it's a color that the mind somehow appreciates more with age.

In any case, one more trip to the fabric store should do it, and then I can start sewing. When I'm done with the big quilt, I will have enough extra fabric to make a smaller rainbow throw blanket. I haven't decided what to do with my extra blanket!

Typical Saturday

We went to the paint store to get paint for the kitchen. We met a gnome on the bus, and


a seagull in the parking lot.




When we got home, I dyed my hair, and Erik dyed his. We then snuggled up and read for a while, an made dinner when we got hungry. I've recently been craving ginger soy sauce, so we made out own by putting ginger in the soy sauce bottle. So tasty.

Especially on lightly sauteed carrots, with fennel, Jerusalem artichokes, and parsley.





Next, we made cupcakes. You always start with picking your appropriate alcohol base.


(ok, so that's not all alcohol - we keep our soy sauce, oils, and vinegars on that self also. )

After picking a carrot cake with strawberry, and a mate-irish cream, we set to work.




These are filled with pudding. The mate Irish cream didn't taste much like mate, or Irish cream. They mostly just tasted like custard... which was ok with me.


Rarr.