not a cloud in the sky...this can't be seattle

Twin Lakes on Orcas Island

Sculpture outside salmon ladder

Seattle!

So, long time no update. Here's the skinny. I found a place to live, actually the first place that I looked at with my future roommate. He needed more persuading that it was the apartment for us, but a weeks worth of dashing from open house to open house and cruising the neighborhoods for rent signs finally convinced him that we had the best there is. A bit pricier that we had hoped for but worth it for what we get. A real home! Windows on three sides. A huge living room. A breakfast nook and big kitchen. Closets everwhere. And the sign for me was that when we went to see it our potential neighbor, a little Latina girl, introduced us to the complex and all its amenities to tell us what it would be like if we lived there. Good neighbors! A real community. Since then I've met other families that live there and some students. I like that it is both racially and economically diverse at this complex, meaning not just Cal students. And it is right behind Whole Foods and a little local park. Can't beat the lovely setting in a cute neighborhood. Moving in, I start to feel that this is what I've been missing in California: a sense of home. I hope that my new apartment will give me that. The thought of our lease ending in May actually makes me kinda sad. I already miss a place that I haven't yet lived in.

Ah, but Seattle, my post title says. Well, I'm in Seattle right now visiting a dearly beloved friend and fellow former longhorn. For five days I'm taking a break from the dim prospect of resuming my life as a graduate student, so for just a few more days I will pretend that I am simply a young adult with the world to explore and experience. With the help of new and old friends, so far I zipped around Queen Anne, the boat locks and salmon ladder, Orcas Island of the San Juan Islands, Capital Hill, U or Washington, and hiked to Barklay Lake. I think I caught Seattle at its best, with everday so far being warm and sunny. I could have come to U Dub (as the locals call U of Washington) instead of Berkeley and I can imagine that life would not have been bad at all. But that is also not including months of prolonged raininess and the prospect of seasonal affective disorder. But isn't that what I had to endure in Berkeley this past year with our wet and gray winter? Alright, no more comparisons! Just appreciation for what a beautiful city Seattle is.