I love this commerical

I love this Amazon Kindle Commercial:

Song is Annie Little – Fly Me Away, and I think that may be her in the commercial too.

What a good lookin’ turkey!

Our Thanksgiving turkey is just too pretty and delicious not to share…

Third Place Books

Wow, I’ve been all about the book posts lately.

Today was a beautiful day in Seattle. Sunny and just the right fall temperature for a great walk. So I walked on down to Third Place Books in Ravenna. It’s about a 40 minute walk from my house. I could have taken the bus, but I would not have been able to take these great pictures on the bus:

Sunshine! The gray hasn't bothered me yet, but I do notice I appreciate the bright sun when it makes an appearance! It was a beautiful fall day.

There is an apartment complex nearby called Raleigh Court!

I love this wall covered in beautiful green moss.

Third Place Books is a great bookstore, with used and new books. There is also a coffee shop AND bar. What more does one need?

I spent a good deal of time perusin’ and cruisin’ and finally settled on three purchases:

Reading List

I’ve been reading for pleasure more than usual lately, I think because I’ve had to read a lot of dense research papers for my classes and my brain has really longed for something to balance that out. I just finished The Color of Water and have been working on Haruki Murakami’s collection of short stories, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman here and there. Next on my list are:

A Million Little Pieces This is my current bus book. I used to do my reading for class on the bus, but the sometimes long papers I have to read in really tiny print have started making me kind of sick on the bus (I think I’m starting to have eye problems…need to do something about that haha…) so I’ve picked A Million Pieces as my current bus reading because a) I have the paperback and don’t have to lug around a big heavy thing like HP7 and b) I feel like it is acceptably intellectual enough that any potential cute boys will not pre-judge me for reading Twilight.

Anyone have recommendations? Also on my to-red list that I don’t have my hands on yet are The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, After Dark, and East of Eden.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blah, I rewrote this post three times and kept having issues with some of my code not working and half of the post got deleted every time I submitted it. You will just have to trust me when I say that I had a wonderful Thanksgiving instead of reading all the details of our fabulous menu. It was so delicious and I am still full! I made mashed potatoes and sausage balls. The turkey was great and so was the pie. I am thankful that I was able to spend the day with such great people. I truly missed everyone back home, but grateful I could experience Thanksgiving in a new place with amazing new friends.

Read: The Color of Water

I recently finished The Color of Water by James McBride. I bought it a little under three years ago (wow, time is flying) in a used bookstore in NYC across the street from Magnolia Bakery. My mom and had just gobbled down our cupcakes and wandered in, so upon the recommendation of my mom I purchased The Color of Water. For some reason I just never read it. I could only fit a limited number of books in my bags to Seattle, so I picked only ones I hadn’t yet read. This one came along for the ride. For whatever reason I picked it up to read on Sunday, and finished it last night. It is simple and reads quickly, but eloquently written. For some reason it just spoke to me and I really enjoyed it.

More rain tunes

Today was rainy. And cold. Ohhh the cold. But my shuffle has be ON FIRE lately! These songs made the rain and cold not so biting. And getting to wear my new electric purple H&M toboggan helped too.

The Submarines – Brighter Discontent (link is not the real video…)
The Beatles – Got to Get You Into My Life
Band of Horses – Our Swords (
Kid Cudi (feat. Ratatat) – Alive
The Never – Leaves Start to Fall

The Airborne Toxic Event – Does This Mean You’re Moving On?

Man vs. Food: The Triangle!

I love the show Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. I recently discovered that it is watch instantly on Netflix, and also found out that there was an NC episode! I got so hungry watching the host, Adam, at the Pit. I want REAL bbq right now. Someone get on a flight with some bojangles and smithfields RIGHT NOW. k thanks.

Anyway, as Adam was cookin’ up a whole hog with Ed from the Pit, I noticed that he had on a shirt from one of my favorite Seattle restaurants, Beth’s Cafe!

At Beth’s, the challenge for Adam was to eat a 12 egg omelet. My roommate and I split the 12 egg omelet, and brought leftovers home. It was so so good. Ours was onions, mushroom, and CREAM CHEESE. yum. All that on top of a huge pile of hashbrowns. so so good. Plus, how could you not love a place that sells t-shirts with a slab of bacon on the front?

Speaking of cream cheese, Seattle loves it. The hot dog stands sell hot dogs with a strip of cream cheese. This may sound weird, but take my word for it: IT IS AMAZING.

Crap, now I’m starving.

Some pictures

Seattle, in pictures.

Coffee is key. And Pike Place is amazing. (Picture by Emily!)

Morning fog

The flowers at Pike Place are amazing. I buy them everytime I go. $5!

West Seattle Sunset

Pretty views on every corner

Washington gray skies (Mount Rainier National Park)

Delicious sushi

Big trees abound!

Soundtrack for the rain

I’ve learned that one key to success in the rain is having a good soundtrack. An iPod and good songs makes the walk back from the bus stop in the cold rain a great experience. I would highly recommend improving your rainy days with some music! Some of my favorite rainy day soundtrack songs are…

Feist – I Feel It All
The Avett Brothers – Kick Drum Heart
Passion Pit – Better Things
Owl City – Hello Seattle (DUH!)

The XX – Islands

Phoenix – Lizstomania

YACHT – Psychic City

Friendly Fires – Jump in the Pool