I’ve been reading Aaron’s posts on (the potential of) being carless in Seattle, as well as the blog of a family who is participating in this experiment. Unfortunately, being carless in SOUTH Seattle is much more difficult than being carless in NORTH Seattle, especially when you work in WEST Seattle.

I say this because the family experimenting with carlessness lives in Ballard. The father searched the phone book for the number of services within 1 mile of their home and came up with 248 businesses! I did the same process online and came up with merely 67.

Yet, here is a short list of businesses or conveniences we frequent within walking distance of our home:

Wells Fargo bank

QFC or Safeway

Video Store

Rite Aid or Long’s Drug stores

Taco Bell

Starbucks

Northbend Nails

Rainier Hair Salon

Tennis and Fitness Outlet (our workout place)

conveniences: mail box; bus lines

unnecessary without a car: car wash, gas station, Priya’s car maintenance, auto supply stores
nearby but we don’t go there: Various Pho Noodle houses, cell phone stores, wedding boutiques, ethnic cafes in which we would invariably stand out, laundromats, corner stores, other fast food places, dentists (ours is awesome and on First Hill), a high school, an elementary school, and ethnic video stores

If we lived only one mile south, we would have more conveniences, such as my chiropractor, a local 1-show movie theater, the library, the post office, great restaurants, the farmer’s market, our other bank, and some great boutiques and coffee shops. Justin is within a bus ride of his school, but it takes me about 40 minutes by bus whether my school is here or in West Seattle (where it is until the renovation is complete). Our car is making funny noises, which is why I am thinking about all of this–we may be bussing it for a couple of days…

We are finished with our comprehensive exams. I am exhausted, as I have never been forced to focus for 3 1/2 hours straight since finals in undergrad. We got up at 6 this morning and went to IHOP for breakfast, somewhat reminiscent of finals-morning Bobby’s visits. Time to go relax.

We take our comprehensive exams tomorrow for graduate school. Think of us 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Pacific Time! 4 essays in four hours…

Last night Justin and I went on a 3 hour grading/grad school homework date to Victrola Coffee house, and I bought a $3 chocolate bar. THE best dark chocolate I’ve had was last night/this afternoon (it takes me a while, OK :)  ) when I was nibbling on Theo chocolate, made here in Seattle.

Here’s the scoop:
“We are proud to be the first roaster of Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa beans and the only roaster of organic cocoa beans in the United States.”

Find out more at www.theochocolate. com. I swear it’s not a commercial–it’s just yummeh.

The old adage “April showers bring May flowers” has been unnecessary this weekend and, it seems, the rest of the week here in Seattle. Starting last Friday the weather has been sunny and warm, and the flowers are popping up all over. So are in-laws. No, not really :). Justin’s parents must have brought the weather, though, as they came in Thursday night for a conference in Tacoma.
At any rate, on Friday I was fortunate enough to have performed with the Teacher Dance Team at the school talent show. We were a hit with our fake “grills” and sunglasses, performing some easy hip-hop moves to a popular song. Of course, we had the young dance team coach who knew how to coach old(er) white people how to dance like the kids :). The fun part was actually before the show at the activity coordinator’s house in West Seattle. On her sun-drenched deck with a light breeze, we all enjoyed lasagna, fresh bread, salad, and the espresso drink of our choice.

Saturday Justin and I slept in and went to a matinee performance of “Rounding Third,” a two-man comedy (mostly) about little league baseball and philosophical differences in coaching. Afterward, we walked around in the afternoon sun until we found a place to eat. We settled on Peso’s happy hour food–it’s a fancy Mexican food place with chic decor and cheap eats while other places go by the dinner menu at 4 p.m. I got chicken, lime and avocado soup, and we split a dessert. Yum! That evening we were big dorks and worked on job apps (Justin) and grad school homework (Amy).

Sunday brought more sun, a trip to Bellevue with Justin’s mom, an 8-mile run with Aaron and Kenny (Aaron’s coworker), church at our place, last-minute schoolwork, and a very disappointing Grey’s Anatomy season re-cap.

Now you can see why I look forward to the weekends. Here’s to fewer than 40 school days, to 75 -degree sunny days, and finishing all of the courswork I have to finish in time!

Here we are at Joanna’s workplace when Anna came to Seattle. Joanna works at this nice restaurant called The Keg–it’s a steakhouse, which is her specialty. We didn’t get much time together, but it was fun being together again. don’t worry Mom and Dad–you’ll get a copy!

This has been a most happy, yet somewhat surreal, day! After getting only 4 hours of sleep, Justin and I awoke at 5:00 a.m. to attend our small group’s Easter Vigil at Gasworks park. I wore gloves, a turtleneck, a down coat, and a raincoat, and I was still cold in the scathing wind and chilling rain at the top of the hill. We read scriptures and sang as the sun rose, but there was not much evidence of the sun rising except for the pinkish sky patches amidst the grey rainclouds. I was imagining what this might symbolize spiritually as much as I was imagining how I might feel if I were still asleep in my warm, dry bed…

We came home and I slept for an hour before our Easter service and feast at the Martins’ with the larger group. When I woke again, it was surprisingly sunny and relatively warm. I actually got all dressed up for Easter with a pleated, flowing, 50s style beige skirt, a long-sleeved, collared pink polo shirt, and a cabled V-neck white sweater over it. I even curled my hair and wore hose!

Once we arrived at Le Martins’, we started with prayers, singing, scriptures, and poetry. Our feasting began an hour later, complete with roasted lamb, green salad with hard boiled eggs, goat cheese, strawberries, avocado, almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette, ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade biscuits, dinner rolls, homemade mashed potatoes, vegetarian sausages, peas, roasted potatoes, and homemade chocolate-peanut butter-banana muffins. Wow. And homemade apple pie. And cream soda. We had communion after lunch/brunch, and then we had a short egg hunt outside. How fun! With our tummies full, we came home and napped. So here I am, at the end of my spring break, with lots to do….
Here’s to the resurrection of Christ and the coming of Spring.

I just completed my first six-mile run with minimal pain and complaining! It was my first full 6 miles ever, thanks to my new shoes, some sort of asics gel shoes that I got from the Seattle Running Company. Aaron’s a great running buddy, and it helped that it was gorgeously springful outside. The smells, breeze, sun, overly cheerful people, and sights were enough to keep me going. Now I am recuperating and eating a lot after my shower and chores.

Did I mention I am procrastinating?

Earlier this weekend, we had grad school Friday night. Afterward, Andrea and I went to a Newsies Sing-Along party hosted by Joy and Marion. Yay for 1991 or -92 Disney live action musicals! And boys we thought were cute in 7th grade!

Saturday I woke up early to clean up and prepare for our graduate comp exam study session. I spent the rest of the day researching Hawaii and running errands (and spending $). That evening, Justin and I stayed home and I worked on my grad school portfolio.

Today we had whole-group church, I took a nap, called my family, cleaned the bedroom, ran, got lunches together, planned our dinner menu, showered, put away winter clothes, and other mundane things.

Time to work on school-related awesomeness.