What Seattle Is Really Like

"Oh, you're moving to Washington? Be ready to be depressed!"

"Oh my gosh, you know it rains there a lot, right?" 

"You'll be suicidal!" 

These are the things Russ and I both heard whenever someone heard we were moving to the Pacific Northwest. I didn't care what they said though because most of my life I've wanted to travel to Seattle and we had picked Washington orders over staying in Virginia. I knew sort of what to expect: rain, evergreen trees, and fog not unlike a stupid Twilight movie. 

And now, I've been here roughly nine months so I think, as a neutral outsider, that I can accurately describe a little of what Seattle is like to someone who's never been here.

When we first arrived in December it was cold and rainy pretty much daily. Winter is known as the rainy season so instead of snow falling, rain fell with as much frequency. But one winter day, the rain stopped and the clouds parted and I was able to see Washington's beauty for the first time. 

The bluest skies, the greenest trees, and the freshest air.

Around the end of April and the beginning of May is when the rain pretty much dried up and it has rained infrequently for the last five months. Now that it's getting into Fall, the rain has returned. Weirdly, I missed it. I like the chilly gloominess every now and then. It feels moody and I like it. 

And beneath Seattle's rainy exterior there is an amazing city rich with interesting culture. There's tons of things to do and there's always a festival going on. Diversity is truly celebrated. 

But seriously, the Spring and Summer here were absolutely gorgeous. 

Mt. Rainier from the Space Needle

And now I'm ready for Fall! I can't wait to take some photos of the leaves changing (which, some started changing in August!).

But no, I don't feel like killing myself and I don't feel depressed. 

Strangely, I haven't been in the city when it has ever been raining! 

High Society

I recently stumbled upon a site that I reeeeeally love. They have some of the coolest stuff and I want, like, a million things. Society6 is totally amazing. It's where artists can post their artwork and the company behind the website reproduces it on their products.

From awesome t-shirts...

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(holy crap, look at this awesome shirt! haha!)

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To beautiful art prints...

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And the cutest pillows ever that I want to fill our entire house with (Russ would absolutely hate that). 

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I might not be able to resist buying this for my Mom because it's pretty much her mantra. 

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This. Is. Unbelievably. CUTE! I would smile every day if I owned this pillow. 

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This pillow is epic: X-Files AND Pulp Fiction rolled into one. 

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Yeah, I'm gonna go now and pin a million things from this site for the rest of my natural life. 

Friday High 5

1.) This mug. 

2.) These adorable shots.

3.) I'm going to start this new game that looks pretty awesome. I'm playing more games now since I tried out Tomb Raider and loved it so much.

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4.) We've begun taking baked goods pictures for our Bake My Day website and they are turning out beautifully.

5.) Russ has arrived safely in port. :)

I really like doing these posts because it forces me to look back on the week and find the little things that are worth appreciating. 

Falling

Since I have a loooooong time spanning in front of me until Russ gets home, I'm going to try and keep busy like I did last time he was away. 

I like keeping busy because 1) it makes time go faster and 2) it gives me something interesting to write to Russ about while he's gone. I'm sure it's better than:

Dear Russ, 

Today I worked. That's it. Life is boring without you. 

Love, Ashley 

So, I'll keep you updated on my progress with this list. I think one of my favorite Fall things is going to be Zombie Paintball Hayride. It's a hayride on a farm in Snohomish that takes you around a zombie infested farm and you get to shoot "live" zombies with paintball guns. It's going to be amazing... though, wouldn't that job kinda suck? 

What's Up?

I was sad to see that I've only posted three times during September! What happened?! 

Well, life gets in the way and work and our business have been keeping me very busy.

1.) The truck we looked at has been sold. We waited too long and didn't pounce so... it's gone.  While I'm disappointed, I kinda feel like if it's something we really wanted we wouldn't have waited.

2.) Russ has left and he'll be gone until the holidays. :( I'm trying to not feel depressed but I'm going to give myself a few days to be in a funk and then hopefully I'll get busy and time will go quickly. 

3.) We've started on some pictures for our website! We've been baking like fiends and trying to make the products look perfect so my brother can capture their delicious-awesomeness on camera. It's going pretty well with the exception that we have a CRAP TON of sweets around the house and seeing them frankly makes me feel ill. 

These are some fabric samples from the shots, cute huh? 

I can't wait to share some beautiful shots of our treats, they're turning out so well! I hope to get the website up and running by October so we can hopefully get a few orders going throughout the holidays before we obtain a truck. 

Friday High 5

1.) On this Friday, I am only $290 away from paying off Zelda's surgery after dedicating every paycheck from my job to paying this off. After scraping by with just the minimum payments for a few months, it's going to be wonderful to have one less bill a month!!

2.) Our beautiful business cards arrived this week!!

3.) We tried out and loved a new recipe that we want to add to Bake My Day: Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies!

4.) Here's a big one: I FINALLY got my car registered in Washington state after SEVEN weeks of this annoying ordeal! It's such a weight off my shoulders (and a weight off my wallet... $170...) to have this over and done. But seriously, why in the digital age did it take that long for a damn piece of paper!? Whhhhhhhy?! 

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First I had to call my bank where we have our loan and request a fax of my title for Washington state. Then, after waiting about two weeks I went to the licensing office here (there's no MVD or DMV... weird, huh?) to have them request it from the bank. After not hearing anything forever I called the bank again who still hadn't received the title from the Commonwealth of Virginia. In short, Virginia basically sent my title with a hitchhiker to the bank in Tennessee because that's how long it took! 

But strangely... I kinda miss my Virginia license plate. I seem to feel nostalgic whenever I sever the final tie with the last place I lived. I like moving on and going different places but for the majority of our married life, we lived there and called it home so it holds a little place in my heart. Oh Virginia! How I hated you when I lived there but now I wish I had gone to the beach more... damn. 

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5.) And finally, Russ made it home safely from his little trip underway this week! I'm glad he made it home in time for us to spend the weekend together (except for me having to work Saturday night... boo...). I have to hurry up and feed him lots of good stuff before he has to leave me again... which is soon. :( 

Pinterest Recipe: Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins

I've been trying to find some more good recipes out there that we can possibly serve on the truck. We are very anti-cupcake (because I think those are boring and overhyped and annoying) but pro-muffin. So, I've been trying out some muffin recipes to see what's out there that will be delicious.

Since my last foray into muffins was such a disgusting disaster (see: The Healthy Muffin Incident), I decided to go back to basics for a simple chocolate chip muffin.

Scrolling through Pinterest I found Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins from The Curvy Carrot. The recipe seemed simple enough and promised a delicious cake-like muffin texture so I gave it a try. 

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour 

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 cup sour cream

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted 

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Instructions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Line muffin pan with liners (not necessary, I didn't.) 

3.) In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4.) In another large bowl combine melted butter, egg, sour cream, and vanilla and mix well.

5.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula until just combined.

6.) Add the chocolate chips and mix gently until combined. 

7.) Evenly divide the batter in the muffin tin. 

8.) Bake about 14-18 minutes until a tester inserted into muffin comes out clean.

They were very good and very simple to make. They were moist and wonderful even the next day, I would definitely make this recipe again. I added a few more chocolate chips to the top before baking with I think made them look better presentation-wise. 

\m/ Legen-wait for it-dary Night! \m/

Saturday was our Alice in Chains concert that was held at the most awesome venue I've ever seen, The Gorge. Located in George, Washington (ha that town name makes me laugh), it was about a two and a half hour drive for us. It was also very scenic and Eastern Washington reminded me a lot of Arizona. It almost felt like we entered a worm hole and were suddenly back in the desert or Southern California. Weird. 

The Gorge almost looked like we were at a concert in a mini-Grand Canyon. It's among the top three places in the United States to see a concert and it's not hard to determine why. 

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We arrived at around seven and were just in time to see Coheed and Cambria play as the sun was setting. We sat down on a blanket in the grass for their set and most of the next band, Jane's Addiction. During the middle of their performance we knew we would have to head down to get decent spots during the Alice in Chains show which was following. 

Some interesting sights that we witnessed included: 

A guy next to us unsuccessfully hitting on two women who proceeded to sit there awkwardly before leaving him alone on the grass. 

There was a woman carrying a large amount of food who sandwiched a coke bottle between her bulging breasts for easier transport. 

There was also a ton a ton a TON of weed (I am super surprised we weren't all stoned out of our minds from all the second-hand smoke) because 1) it's a concert and 2) it's legal here. 

We saw a lot of drunk and stupid people both young and old. Before the AIC set started two drunk women started brawling right next to me over something stupid and I was pushed, shoved and my foot was stepped on. The big guy next to me restrained one of the women and after unsuccessfully getting her to behave proceeded to yell, "Pass her back!" and the crowd enveloped her and passed her out of the area. Pretty funny. 

During the Alice in Chains show someone threw a blow up doll and she proceeded to crowd surf for most of the show. 

It was definitely an interesting night full of awesome music and some insanely classy people. Yeah, that last part is sarcasm. 

We didn't get home and in bed until 3 am but, it was epic and I will definitely try and see them in concert again!