Where The Rubber Meets The Road

The countdown is on, we've got a huge week ahead. Our opening date is officially Saturday August 9, at 11 am. We're only five days away but I still have a to-do list a mile long and I'm so exhausted that I don't feel like doing anything. 

We have two designated spots we're going to be parking at.

1.) 1250 Denny Way, Seattle
This spot is an empty lot that's going to be turned into a substation next year. Right now though, curators from Portland have turned the spot into a place for public art and performances. 

The green box is where we'll be parking, not to scale, obviously. 

2.) 516 Broad St; Ride The Ducks Seattle

We will be parked almost in the shadow of the Space Needle, it's a dream spot! We went down there last weekend on a Saturday to see how the traffic would be and it was really busy. I'm hoping we will definitely be easily seen on that busy corner!

Right now we've got a set schedule for 3 days a week but we can definitely pick up other spots as they come available. Some people double book themselves and sell their spots for a discount at a certain place for the day so we might be able to pick up some places that way. 

It's not a commonly known fact that food truck owners have to pay to rent the spots they part at. Sometimes the property owners even expect a percentage of sales. Sometimes they set stipulations on the spot such as we can't sell anything pre-packaged like drinks or chips that could compete with another business nearby. 

There's a lot more that goes into owning a food truck than buying a truck and hitting the road. I wish it were that easy!

A View or Two

On Tuesday Mom and I submitted our paperwork to get our truck through the King Co. Health Department. After paying a huge chunk of change to get our inspection, we decided that such a lovely day would be best viewed from the Columbia Tower which was two blocks from the health department. We needed our spirits to be lifted after we are both flirting with being completely broke. 

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Now, I know that part of the experience of going to Seattle is most definitely the Space Needle- it's an icon, it looks like a flying saucer, and was part of the 1962 World's Fair. But, let me tell you, it doesn't even rival the view you'll get of the city from Columbia Tower. It was just remodeled last year to go from 270 degree viewing to a full 360 degrees. 

Standing at 76 stories tall, Columbia Center stands as the tallest building in Seattle and in the state of Washington (and the second tallest on the West Coast, second to L.A.'s US Bank tower). Because of this, according to the 9/11 Commission, Columbia Center was also going to be a target of the 9/11 attacks. 

The Sky Deck will cost you a mere $12.50 (or $9 for Senior, Student or Military) which is less than what the Space Needle will cost you ($17-22) and it's usually never as busy as the Space Needle, the view is infinitely better, and you can view the city any day comfortably regardless of the weather outside (the Space Needle has an outside and inside observation deck but the view inside isn't that great). 

Now, I'm not knocking the Space Needle- I DO love it there but if you have to pick between the two in terms of paying for a view of Seattle- Columbia wins hands down. 

Port of Seattle!

Mt. Rainier stands at 14,400ft and I've seen it as far away as 80 miles!

And you can see the Space Needle prominently from Columbia Center!

I also went there in January during sunset and the view was even more breathtaking. In the bottom lefthand corner of the next image you can see the ferry leaving the dock. 

Vintage Creep Show

Last week my brother took me along with him to go to the Fremont Vintage Mall and it had some pretty cool stuff in it. Unlike a lot of antique stores that have things that border on grandma-like antiquities, this store had a lot of things mainly from the 1950's and up. 

Strangely, I came out of the store with pictures of mostly creepy things. Isn't that the best part of going to places like this?

I couldn't even garner a guess at what this decapitated plaster baby head would be for. The tag hanging from its mouth almost seems as if it was caught by accident on someone's fishing trip.

Who. Would. Want. This? I can't even explain why someone would want to own some malicious-looking unibrow acne-freckle man mug. 

"Honey? What's on tonight?" 

"Oh, you know... my worst nightmare."

And who wouldn't want a toothless clown with a nesting bird on his head giving them the side eye while walking down a dimly lit hallway? I wonder if he has any balloons? 

A soulless green child stands next to a splotchy woman with a huge leg-growth. Perfect for my bedroom!

I found some extras from the best worst movie in existence, Troll 2!

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The sad clown hobo just doesn't know his own strength and mourns the loss of the clown he killed that is now resting at his feet.

When I first saw this picture I thought it was completely terrifying. 

Then, while sorting through albums my brother came across this and we realized it was a rendition of the album cover. Still. Completely blood-curdling. Hard pass. 

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This artwork was creepy yet morbidly awesome. It reminded me of a card game Russ introduced to me called Gloom. It has the same type of artwork... I'll have to look up the artist to see if they are both done by the same one. 

It's a card game in which you play a family and the object of the game is to make your family as miserable as possible (and ultimately kill them off) while you make the opposing players families as happy as possible. It's really fun because you have to weave a story around the events of the cards (example: "[person's name] was attacked by mice" or "[persons name] was charmed by ducks."). It's a pretty funny game!

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Even with such a goofy hat on she seems snobby, huh?

And here's some cool things I saw:

This picture was marked for $75... because it was the end of the month I offered $50 and got to take it home! I was drawn to it for some reason and think it's got a cool dystopian vibe to it... I plan to mess with the frame a little to change up the color but I love this!

I think this table was $250 but I thought it had a very interesting and pretty top. 

They had tons of neat things to be framed like these vintage children's cards. They had flashcards and other game cards that would've been really cute framed for a kids room... I almost bought the kitten one for me though.

Russ would have loved this vintage Marvel card because Doctor Doom is his favorite!

I took this picture to show Russ what kind of display they had going- he would have enjoyed weeding through there.

It was a fun trip to the vintage mall and I plan to go back soon! Brayt found a large amount of vinyls he wanted so it was a successful shopping day!

Introducing... bakemydayseattle.com!

I'm proud to introduce our website at bakemydayseattle.com! I'm hoping to be updating more things soon on our 'news' portion of the site once we have some truck improvements to report on. I'm really excited to finally get this show on the road!

Counting the Days

With Russ gone, I've been trying to stay busy. That's harder now that I don't have a job and am trying to focus entirely on the business (which has been sloooooow moving since it's so hard for companies to return calls... but anyways). 

I decided before Russ left that it would be cool for him to see a snippet of everyday that he's been missing. I know it doesn't even begin to make up for the time he's lost at home but I thought it would be better than nothing. So, everyday I've been making a point to take a picture of something. It could be what I'm working on, what's happening, something cute, or just a snapshot of the day. 

So here it is:

1.) Russ' ship leaves on deployment day.

2.) I spend my time drawing schematics of the food truck.

3.) I spend part of the day sweeping and wiping down the food truck (it was quite dirty).

4.) I went to my first movie alone to see Veronica Mars (and it was AWESOME).

5.) I went to SeaTac to pick up Mom from the airport.

6.) Zelda and I take a self-portrait.

7.) I tried out a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and it is amazing and I've discovered our go-to bakery basic chocolate chip recipe. 

8.) I checked the mail and got our official Bake My Day LLC name registry from the state of Washington.

9.) Spring is coming but Winter is trying to hold on during its last day.

10.) It's the official first day of Spring and our little flowers are making an appearance.

11.) Mom and I have breakfast at a local cafe that's WWII & Navy-themed.

12.) Mom and I spend time reorganizing the garage and collect things for a garage sale.

13.) The three of us go to Ikea (on a weekend, we ARE crazy!).

14.) Double rainbow!

15.) Beautiful day for the first lawn-cutting of the year!

16.) My Ikea shelves are put together and lookin' fine.

17.) Mom and I begin to put together care packages for Russ and the sailor onboard that we "adopted."

18.) Gizmo lounges as he's prone to do.

19.) Brayt and I visit the Fremont Vintage Mall and it's awesome!

20.) Rainy Seattle.

21.) Ian squints at me lovingly.

22.) April Fool's Day special on National Geographic! 

23.) Our cherry blossoms are blooming in the yard.

24.) A self-portrait to start the day. (I still feel weird taking these...)

I hope Russ enjoys seeing a slice of life while he's gone. I'm contemplating putting these together in a book to print out for us to keep when he gets home. This is an interesting time in our lives that is worth documenting, I think. 

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! 

Travel To Do List

I know I haven't been around much lately. Truthfully, I just haven't been doing too much home stuff because I haven't really been at home and/or I've been too busy at home to do any decor or yard things. I would imagine it'll only get worse once we get going with this food truck.

We didn't end up going to Portland but there's another truck north of here about an hour that we really want to go see. It's a big ice cream truck that is cheaper than the Portland trucks and already has a lot of shelves and storage in it already. Plus, it's newer and has less mileage. We'll see. 

On Saturday we finally got over to the University District to visit this game store, Pink Gorilla, that Russ has been dying to go into since Comicon. They have a lot of hard to find games, retro games, and imports at really good prices. Russ would live there if they let him. 

We also tried this really awesome burger place called well, A Burger Place. Russ, being the burger connoisseur that he is, loved it. This place was unique because the fare was simply burgers, fries, and onion rings. You take a sheet of paper, mark the type of burger and all the toppings you want and they make it just how you like it. Pretty awesome! 

I didn't take any pictures because there were enough hipsters around the area doing that.

So, I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to Seattle/Washington things that I want to do and I thought it would make an interesting post talking about them. Here goes!

1.) Ride the Ducks

This tour takes you on land and sea on a unique Seattle adventure. The people always look like they're having such a good time with fun music playing and the tour guides are always wearing funny wigs or hats. Downside: kids with duck calls. The. Entire. Time. 

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2.) Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

This place has shrunken heads. Seriously. And... if you need more convincing than that the place has mummies, a two-headed calf, money origami and just generally weird stuff. I can't wait to go!

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3.) Seattle Underground Tour

In 1889 there was a huge fire that consumed a large portion of Seattle. After that, city officials decided that all new structures be built of stone or brick to reduce the risk of another large fire. They also decided to build the city eight feet higher because of the sogginess of the ground from the constant Seattle rains. What you can now tour is the "first" level of some of the city buildings from the late 1800's. Cool, huh?  

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4.) Boeing Factory Tour

Need I say more? 

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5.) Mount Rainier National Park

I've seen Mt. Rainier a few times on my way to Seattle and on a few ferry rides and it never ceases to surprise me when I see it. Sometimes the breathtaking mountain is visible from Seattle, and sometimes it's hidden. 

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6.) Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum

Artifacts from the police force dating back to the 1880's: weaponry, uniforms, photographs, a jail cell. Seems cool to me.

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There's definitely more to see than this but this will keep me busy for a while!

Smashed Seattle

It's been a while since I shared some pages from my Smashbook with you, hasn't it? I've shared bits from my Smashbook here and here before.

Since I've been in the Seattle area, I've added a few things to my Smashbook (which is the greatest invention since ever!). I have almost filled it and am going to need to buy another one. It really appeals to my artistic nature more than regular scrap booking. I like the hodge podge, collage-messiness of Smashbooks. I used to take the same idea and apply it to shoeboxes and made one for every year of high school and filled it with things like my rose from graduation, my driving permit, wristbands from school events and the like. Maybe I'll share those sometime? That'll be in interesting blast from the past!

Since we've last seen my Smashbook, she's gotten tatted up a bit... And now it's so full that I need a rubber band to smash my Smashbook.

Here's two pages dedicated to the trip my friend Nikki made up here in early May. It's got a postcard from the Space Needle and my ticket, a ticket for the laser show at the Pacific Science Center, a ticket for the monorail, ticket for the ferry, voting card from the Mobile Food Truck Rodeo, and a couple business cards from Slave to the Needle where she got her ear pierced while here. 

My brother and I enjoyed the free day at the art museum...

Here's random tickets and pictures from the Experience Music Project Museum and Space Needle from when we first arrived here.

Here's one of my favorite new pages chronicling my first trip to see roller derby!

This spread is dedicated to Comicon back in March and has blurbs of things we did and celebrities we met.

Best. Scrapbook. Ever.