Dating Seattle

No, that wasn't a misprinted title- not Dating IN Seattle, or Dating: Seattle, just dating Seattle, as in, my rekindled love for this awesome place.

 So about three weeks ago, I decided I wanted to go on some dates. Now, I'm a reasonably attractive woman with my own job, car and condo (albeit on the other coast), but I work in an ER. Which, for those of you familiar with Gray's Anatomy, bears very little, if any, resemblance to the TV show. Yes, there are adorable interns, but they are on average, 6 years younger than me, and in a very different "life place." And there are cute attendings, but by and large, the cute ones are married and unavailable. My patients are all, well, VERY SICK, and uniformly old. So, that leaves me NOT LIKELY to find love (or even a date!) at work.

 Therefore, I decided to join A Reputable Dating Website, because I'd had some friends and family members that have had luck with online dating, and I've met a few boyfriends that way. So I decided, well, I'm in a new city, I'm happy with where I am, so maybe I'll meet some guys, go on some dates, seems like a good idea!

 Basically, it has ended before it really begun. I'd met a very nice guy, an engineer (not really, but I'm changing his occupation for safety's sake, just in case there are people outside my family that ready this blog, which is unlikely, but still!), and made plans to meet up with him. But then last week, my roommate asked if I wanted to go to quiz nightr (which I did), so I canceled the date with the guy and rescheduled for this Friday. ....Buuut this Friday, it turns out there is a hash run, and I REALLY want to get into hashing here, and I wouldn't be able to both do the hash run and the date....so I canceled the date. Again. Obviously it wasn't him, it was me, especially as I haven't MET him.

 So I decided I'm going to just date Seattle for a while, and see what happens. I am still so excited to live here, and to meet people that also live here, and to have fun in this city. If I meet someone to hang out with while dating Seattle, great. And if not, I can always go online again. :)

Roommates

One of the nicest things about my new life in Seattle has been my roommates.

 I came here after having bought my own condo, and thinking that I wanted to live alone for the remainder of my single life (however long that may be!). After a long, tough look at my finances, which included needing to be responsible and able to pay for both my mortgage on my Maryland condo and rent in Seattle, I realized that it wasn't financially feasible to live alone.

 I had, of course, a few moments of sniveling  where I shook my fist at the gods and raged about how UNFAIR it was that I was on one income while most of my friends were finally getting ahead and moving forward and taking great vacations on TWO incomes- HALF my expenses.

 Then I remembered/realized that my life is my choice, and I have chosen the life I lead, and sniveling just makes you feel whiny and stupid and besides, it makes your nose red and raw. :) So I re-thought my plan and set about looking for a good house, that allowed dogs, with people that were live-with-able.

 I visited a few places, but fell in love with a house in the Ravenna neighborhood that allowed dogs and was less than two miles from work- totally commutable! Great neighborhood! Super cute AND within easy walking distance of the U Village and the Burke Gilman!!

 After interviews, applications, prayers and the kindness of some marvelous friends that let me live with them during a 2 week interim period, I moved into the Ravenna house.

 And it has been wonderful. The house was built in the 1920s, and is large and lived in and has a dignity that a suburban tract home will never have. Of course, it is also hard to heat and the high ceilings are a magnet for spiders' webs, but easy come, easy go!

 My roommates and their dogs have made this house my home. "Sean" is a former military special forces who was wounded, honorably discharged and completing a degree at a private university here in Seattle. His dog Charlie is a 1.5 year old border collie who is unbelievably hyper and sweet and also super cuddly, which is nice since The Dog isn't, really, you know, a cuddler. I take The Dog and Charlie running and they match colors, both being black and white, which makes people smile at them and me smile at people and them and run a little bit farther each day! Charlie has boundless energy and LOVES Sean. Sean has a very quick wit and the silver tongue of the Irish- loves telling stories and tells them well. We can sit and talk for an hour or two about nothing at all, or very serious topics and not know the time is gone. Additionally, he is very charismatic and appears to be quite lucky with the ladies!

"Paul" is a Julliard graduate who has lived in the house for quite a while and is the glue that keeps that house together. He's a hiker, plays soccer, and is a confirmed bachelor who spends time travelling internationally and domestically when he isn't working here in the Seattle area. He's unfailingly kind, thoughtful and fond of puns and political discussion. His dog, Pythias, is a husky/shepherd mix who is sweet and SO vocal- he howls in delight when one of the "pack" comes  home, delights in bones, and is strangely addicted to paper of any kind- paper towels, receipts, toilet paper rolls- he eats it like candy and appears devastated when some of his hard-earned treats are taken away!

 They've made me feel at home right away, and I'm so lucky to have become roommates and friends with such good people in such a short time. Thank goodness for Craigslist and serendipity!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I went exploring the neighborhood with The Dog yesterday as a break between unpacking and picking up furniture. Things that I like that are within walking distance (3 blocks, even!):
1. An oyster bar
2. Yarn store
3. Pub I used to go to in college
4. Crossfit center
5. Hair salon
6. Tapas bar
7. Greek taverna
8. Thai joint

And in easy driving distance...a foot massage place!! Perfect for after long runs!

And one of my new roommates got The Dog a bone and me a bottle of local Washington red wine. And today, I'm catching the bus to work instead of driving. Yay for the Northwest. :)

I am here.

It's been a while since I wrote, but here I am now! Thanks to T. for mentioning she was looking for a post- it got me moving on this post, which I've been thinking about for a few weeks.

I'm still in the middle of a transition- I've started my job in the new, academic hospital ER, but am still a week away from living in my final abode (for now!) in Seattle. So much has changed though. I'm no longer living with a sort of crazy lady (four page diatribe on whether a door should be open or closed, anyone? Anyone? :), I'm not working nights, and I'm enjoying my Seattle friends and environment the way I've been envisioning for, oh, ten years or so! Hikes, runs, rooftop dinners, smiles at the grocery stores, kind compliments from complete strangers, wandering around the campus of my alma mater, now older and (wiser??) more aware of the world, but still SO happy to be home. Because being here feels like home.

 Example- I'm taking a lot of non-PTO time off for my brother's wedding, moving my stuff to Seattle from the East, and a dear friend's wedding, and so the week I come back, I'm working FIVE shifts in a row. Now normally, this would send me into a panic, because there was always somewhere else I wanted to be, but strangely, while the work will be long and exhausting, I don't begrudge the time I'll spend doing it. Also, I'll need the money after all my time off! But I'm happy to be here, and I feel content, and it is such an unreal, unusual feeling for me.

 My whole life, I've moved. Moving has been what defined my family and me as a person. I always had the knowledge that I wouldn't be staying "here" -wherever "here" happened to be at the time- and that sense of impermanence permeated my sense of "me-ness." But being here in Seattle, because I choose this place, has changed that, I think (we'll give it a few more months to make sure it has really taken hold!). It doesn't hurt that the weather is gorgeous, but what has really changed is me.

 So I'm reveling in the sun, smiling at strangers (who smile back!), going for runs with the Olympics in one direction and the Cascades in the return, hiking the ridges and peaks of my home state, and working in an ER that, for all its quirks and issues, feels like a place I could settle for a while.

There are so many quotes about the Wanderer and the Homecoming in literature going back to the beginnings of oral storytelling, and there is no way I could hope to top the eloquence of Homer, or Faulkner, or Chopin, or even Cheryl Strayed, but I feel a kinship with them, because I am finally content where I am, and happy to wake up each morning, knowing I'm home.

No Reason to Complain

The past few weeks have been very, very stressful. My current job is up in a few weeks (August 4th) and I don't have a job nailed down at this point. I have lots of "promising leads," but nothing NAILED DOWN. I've also told my landlady that my last day will be August 15th. Course, I haven't got a a new place yet, but hey! What's life without drama (except possibly much calmer and more relaxing ;)?

So I had the day off with nothing to do, and was ready to just go to a coffee shop when instead I decided to drive to the Washington Coast with sweet Dog. We are at Ocean Shores, at a crappy (but clean!) little hotel, right on the beach, and happy as clams. The Dog and I walked on the beach, I walked to a great Irish pub, where I had salad, potato soup, and lovely, lovely clams in a white wine broth, with a glass of white wine. The proprietor, James, told me about their biergarten, where I sat and read the new Hilary Mantel novel about Henry VIII. So pleasant!

So much good has been happening to people in my life this week, and I can't help but be really positive about life in general, even as I fret and fuss about specifics right now.

Tomorrow, The Dog and I will run on the beach at the Pacific Ocean, and I might ride horses on the beach before I drive back to work as an ER nurse. Really, life could be so much worse. I am a lucky (if uncertain!) girl.

Yoga + Spicy Indian Food = No Good

It's been a rough week for me professionally. My contract is ending, I have lots of irons in the fire, but no "definites" right now, which is scary. I've been relying on my amazing family and a good friend to talk through this whole situation with, but what I've realized that this is really the effects of several stressors (working nights, not living as close to my good friends as I'd hoped, being super sick for a week and a half, not sleeping well, eating too well, and not working out. So yesterday, in the depths of despair, and thanks to said Good Friend, I went for a run, which made me feel better. Then, again on the advice of Good Friend, I took it easy- read my book, went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and then, inspired by that move, to a nice Indian restaurant in Tacoma. The food was a little spicier than I was anticipating, so I had more than half boxed up and decided I'd eat it over the next few days. This morning, I didn't feel like breakfast food (as usual. Why have cereal when you can have a hearty meal??), so I popped the leftovers in the microwave and went to town. Well, sort of. It was still spicy, but I persevered!

 A few hours later, I went to my first hot yoga class in a few years. And it was HORRIBLE. It was HOT, I was pouring sweat, I was practically passing out during some of the poses and the Indian food kept wanting to make a reappearance in the middle of class. SO GROSS. So here is what I learned about hot yoga:

1. It is hot. REALLY HOT. 

2. DO NOT place your mat ALL THE WAY across the studio from the only door (i.e. airsource). You will not get the refreshing cool breezes when the drill sergeant I mean yoga instructor deigns to open the door. At all. You will instead stare longingly at the door, but be unable to move your exhausted muscles.

3. Regard their "What To Bring" lightly. Bring water with gatorade, and MORE THAN ONE TOWEL. You will need it.

It was an awful hour. But at the end (after I'd determined I wasn't going to pass out or vomit or otherwise embarrass myself), I did feel better. So I will be back. You may have won the battle, Hot Yoga, but I'll be back to win the war. 

Independence

One of my favorite stories about the Fourth of July has nothing to do with fireworks or beer or barbecuing. Once most of the signers of the Declaration who WERE in Philly signed, they PEACED OUT. They LEFT. They were terrified about the repercussions of signing and openly defying the King and Country. It's fascinating. Because now we revere them as brave- which they were! But in the moment, there was real fear for families and wives and recriminations and the future and they signed with those uncertainties and none of our knowledge now that they made the right decision. When I see countries in turmoil now, I think of that- that is is real, and scary, and the future isn't known. . I also think of Opa as a 17 year old on Iwo Jima (or Iwo, as he always called it). And I think of the soldiers abroad now, and hope that their familes- and we as Americans- revere them both on the battlefield and afterwards, as I do Opa. Happy Independence Day!