fremont

Cafe Ladro is overrated. My chai was gross and my friend's frozen vanilla latte was gross.
And some general questions for the world: Why is it that when you order a chai tea, people get you a chai tea latte? And why is it that when they make said chai tea latte, they use chai tea syrup instead of chai tea?
Despite my bad Fremont coffee experience, I did enjoy the vintage shopping there. The underground vintage mall and the useless junk store didn't disappoint--I got a handful of jewelry (six necklaces and eight earrings) for $1.
We ate at the PCC Deli, which has everything (but still can't beat Portland's Elephant Delicatessen) and was delicious. I also had my first experience with the troll. Can you believe that I've lived in Seattle for fifteen years and I've never seen the troll before?
Also, while driving in Maple Leaf the other day, I passed a sign that read "Cloudcity Coffee." I'm gonna check it out ASAP. Today, though, I think I'm gonna go to the coffee exhibit at the Burke.

coffee review

I went to the Stumptown on 12th (right next to Seattle U) and of course it was great because it's Stumptown, but I still favor the one in Portland at the Ace Hotel.

I also discovered a new coffee place on my walk from the U to Children's--it's a place called Coffee Crew and it has an epic vibe. An everyone-knows-everyone small town vibe. It's on 36th & 45th and I strongly advise you to go.

I'm also thinking about going to the coffee exhibit at the Burke this week but I don't know if I'll have time before I leave for L.A... (One thing I am squeezing in though, is a trip to Sexy Baristas. More on that later.)

oh, my life..

So I got home at 6 last night and woke up at 8 this morning and don't remember anything in between. Could I have slept for 14 hours?

So I'm about to make my first venture to the Stumptown Coffee in Seattle and I'm very excited. Then I'm going to volunteer for 8 hours, come home, and sleep again.

head & shoulders

Thought dandruff shampoo was just for people with, well, dandruff? Wrong! I recently purchased a bottle of Head & Shoulders in effort to wash some of the black dye out of my hair and discovered something magical: Since it gets ALL the crap out of your hair, it can significantly help with summer hair oil problems.

devil

my new favorite song is devil by standfast. i don't even own the song; i'm just listening to it on pandora. my limewire recently broke.

also, as always, i'm loving iris by goo goo dolls and wonderwall by oasis.

the premier of august

I'm out so much that I see the same strangers more than once.
I'm actually excited for school to start up again this year. I'm eager to take my AP classes and English. I also miss debate, and I'm hoping that we get to go to more tournaments this year.

salinger

Today I picked up the last book of my Salinger collection at Elliot Bay; Franny and Zooey. I've already read it, but it's one of those books that's so epic you have to go back through and read it again, underlining quotes and writing in the margins. I've recently been going in every bookstore I see (Elliot Bay, Barnes & Noble, U Bookstore, Third Place Books, Twice Sold Tales, Powell's...) looking for used copies of all of Salinger's books, and now I've got all 4. I would highly recommend reading any of them, but I'll list them by favorite: Franny and Zooey, The Catcher in the Rye, and Nine Stories (I have one left to read: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, but I'm saving it for my days at the beach in L.A.).

underground tour & urban craft fair

If you live in Seattle, once in a while, the subject of the underground tour will come up. In my case, a few days ago my friends and I were trashtalking trashy girls, when one of my friends shared a story about how whores used to stand on sidewalk skylights with their prices on the bottom of their shoes to lure the underground guys. (In Seattle, there are skylights on the sidewalks so that there's some light in the underground area which is mostly used for storage nowadays.) Anyway, that got us talking about the underground tour, which we wasted no time buying tickets for.

It's not all it's cracked up to be. They didn't even mention the thing about the whores. There wasn't even anything to see underground; there weren't even rats. It was a good history lesson though, specially for those who get the Tacoma jokes.

While downtown, I also went to the urban craft fair at Seattle Center. What can I say, all craft fairs are the same; I look around, don't see anything, (and even if I did it would be too expensive), then leave. One thing that did catch my eye though was the chalkboard t-shirts. I didn't grab a business card, but I'd recommend googling it if you're into obscure crap like that.

There's something real special about doing tourist activities in your own city. Maybe I'll try out Ride The Duck sometime..

i love

Reading. Walking. Debate. Portland. Writing. L.A. Travel. Road trips. Sunrises. Learning. History. Linguistics. French. Latin. Psychology. Psychiatry. Journaling. Photographs. Hiking. Fashion. Shopping. Blogging. New socks. Driving. Exploring. Maps. Encyclopedias. Shoes. Coffee. Tea. English. Dressing up. Magazines. Messenger bags. Cancer research. Globes. Planners. Cities. Bookshelves. Cats. High heals. Walk in closets. Sleeping outside. Volunteering. Nordstrom. Consignment shops. Italian soda. Sun. Beaches. Coffee shops. Atheism. Democracy. Windowsills. Buses. Airports. Restaurants. Converse. It Jeans.

drug of choice

Coffee. Not just lattes, not just Starbucks, but real coffee. Espresso from Stumptown is my current fetish. I also recently found out that they've got two locations in Seattle... something I didn't know last week in Portland when I stalked up. Check this place out even if you're not into coffee; you'll undoubtedly be able to find a delicious pastry. (But really, why does the non-coffee brigade insist on invading the Northwest?)

reed college

For those of you who don't know about Reed College, it's a private liberal arts college just a few miles from downtown Portland. Why do I love it?
-Great selection of majors (aspiring mathematicians, don't go here)
-Beautiful campus in a great neighborhood near a spectacular city
-No sororities, major sports teams, or religious affiliations
-A library that stays open late to fit the needs of its ultra-nerdy students
-Dorms like palaces
-And of course my favorite thing: language-focused dorms. The ones I remember off the top of my head are French, Spanish, and Russian, but there are definitely more than that. In these dorms you speak that language the majority of the time. You can see why this sounds appealing to a prospective French major..

Just a bike ride away from Stumptown Coffee.

genesis

Don't get me wrong; we're not religious here. Why did I call this post "genesis" rather than any of the other words that may have sufficed, such as "commencement," "inception," or even "beginning?" It's actually because I stayed at the Marriot in Portland last week and read the first 2 pages of the bible in the drawer to pass the time while my friend was in the shower.