Coffee

Populus Coffee: Berlin / Neukölln

Of all the coffee spots I went to during my month in Berlin, Populus Coffee was my favorite, zweifellos. They were one of the cafes on the list that I’d put together, weeks before I was even set to head to Berlin, and they did not disappoint.

Since this trip was part of a study abroad program, I was staying in the hostel, Die Fabrik, in the Kreuzberg neighborhood. Oh, Die Fabrik was an interesting experience, as the lone, “older” adult in the group—thank god I had a room to myself. But when I say “interesting,” I actually do mean interesting. I had a lot of fun, especially the times I sat on the dirty hostel floor of a classmate’s room, chugging cheap wine from the bottle, eating too many Prinzen Rolle cookies, and recounting our days’ adventures. It was awesome.

There was another cafe, 19 Grams, across the street from the hostel. 19 Grams was good (I’ll write about them later), but Populus was further, and I liked the early morning walk before classes. Populus involved a brisk, 20-minute walk from Kreuzberg, through Görlitzer Park, and on to the Neukölln neighborhood. I loved that walk. I loved hurrying over for my espresso early in the morning before classes started and being part of the hustle and bustle of Berlin. I loved dodging cars and being carried along in the traffic of Berliners on foot and on bikes, as they made their way to work. I loved hearing the menagerie of German and Arabic and Turkish serenading me in the brisk morning air. In the time of walking to Populus and back, I listened to so many new playlists and recaptured much of myself that had been lying dormant in the last decade. It was pretty fucking magical, I have to say. After crossing through Görlitzer Park from Kreuzberg to Neukölln, I would then cross the Landwehr Canal and turn right. There were a couple of ways for me to get to Populus from the hostel, and I would always go the way that had me walking along the canal for several blocks. Populus is situated on the street next to the canal and, in the Summer, there really was no lovelier place to be.

So before I even had my coffee in hand from Populus for the first time, the cafe had burrowed into my caffeine-chugging heart. My love for Populus Coffee wasn’t just about the cafe, but that entire journey to and from and the simple fact of being a “regular” somewhere.

But then you get inside the cafe itself and yes, even the interior is lovely. So many shades of green and plants everywhere. Their coffee was the strongest I found in Berlin, and they had some simple and satisfying small bites, too. There are specific things I liked about the next few cafés I’m going to write about, but Populus was the whole package (strong coffee, great vibes, friendly baristas, perfect location on the canal). I’m a Third Wave girl through and through, but all the cafés that I go to from Seattle to Philly to Firenze to Prague to Berlin have the same modern hipster aesthetic. I’m over the Scandi-minimalist design of every single new café that opens. It’s kind of ironic, given that Populus has Finnish roots… but that’s not Scandi, it’s Nordic. So call me a Nordic fan. Populus felt different—they had a really down-to-earth quality that I loved. Maybe they aren’t that different; maybe I was just distracted by all the plants and the slick, emerald green coffee packaging… but it felt different and I loved it.

And did I mention, they have the strongest and best coffee of all the places I tried? I’ll be bringing back more than just one bag of beans this time!

Berlin Study Abroad – 5 senses (in Berlin!) / Journal #1

There are many aspects – sense-wise – that have been fairly universal in my European travels over the years. There’s certain smells or sensations that have been imprinted on me that, whenever I smell them elsewhere, immediately take me back or fill me with nostalgia. When I noticed these things in Berlin, I knew I was in Europe again.

This first one will seem very strange, I know, but one of the smells I always notice, overwhelmingly, is that sewage-y type scent. (I once read an article that said something about how “The stench of medieval Europe still echoes today”.) I don’t know if it’s medieval Europe I’m smelling but I’m sure most of you know what I’m talking about. The strange part about this is that I have occasionally smelled it (especially after big rain storms) back home and whenever I do, I always feel waves of nostalgia for my time abroad before feeling something closer to repulsion!

Smells are very strong here – cigarette smoke is more prevalant than it’s been in other cities I’ve been to in awhile. Unique to Berlin, though, (particularly Kreuzberg so far) is a pervasive scent of marijuana. (Between the cranes and the marijuana, I might have thought I was still in Seattle…! Haha)

I love the sounds here, the hustle and bustle of the city. I haven’t ventured to many other neighborhoods yet but the soundtrack of an urban space is on constant loop – traffic, people socializing, shouting, laughing… I’ve noticed a distinct lack of horns honking, which surprises me. And, of course, my favorite sound of all – the sound of languages all around me. Mostly German, of course, and English, but I’ve caught Spanish, Many Arabic conversations, Turkish, etc. It’s the collage of languages that make the urban sounds of Europe different from those back home (and this is the thing that I think I love most.)

And, sometimes at night, in the hostel, we get to hear people who are completely unaware that there are people trying to sleep around them…! (Though we’ve heard some interesting conversations!)

Tastes are wonderful. The food is not so different here and yet it is. We had Lebanese food the other night and I was woefully reminded of how watered down food often seems to be in the United States, when it comes to cuisines from other countries. You couldn’t pay me to eat a plate full of parsley at home, but I had the brightest, most delicious, proper tabbouleh here. I’m writing this in a “health food” cafe (after so much bread and cheese, I needed something green) and even the green smoothies which have the same ingredients as what I make back home taste slightly different. (Not worse, just different). Though I love the bread and cheese and I have a huge appreciation for a culture that so values it’s bread (such a nice reprieve from the gluten free culture back home), sometimes I need a day without the bread and cheese…! 😉

One particular taste that I’ve been seeking as “familiar” is the coffee. I am a diehard “third wave cafe” coffee drinker (think of all the swanky coffee shops in Seattle) and I’ve been seeking out a new coffee place each day from a list I’ve been cultivating for a year. The coffee is exactly the same as Seattle (I’m not going to say better because, come on… I live in Seattle!) but this is the one thing I do to give me a sense of routine and remind me of home. 🙂 One interesting note: Third wave cafes are completely globalized, I think it’s safe to say. That is to say they are all exactly the same – the same aesthetic and interiors – no matter what country you go to! (I had hunted one down in Italy, as well and you’d have never known you weren’t in a hipster cafe in Seattle…) Normally this isn’t something I’d like – globalization and homogenization of culture concerns me… but coffee, oh coffee. This is a familiar, routine thing and Berlin puts it’s own spin on it. (Actually, I’ve never seen cafes back home as beautifully designed as Populus here in Berlin. Maison Han is also quite lovely.)

I LOVE the visuals of Berlin. It’s a feast for the eyes here! When I first walked around Kreuzberg, I was amazed at all the graffiti and street art here. It seems like every surface is covered with layers of colors, scribbles, words, images… I don’t have time to read every word and look at every picture on any one street! It’s creative chaos. (Conversely, I’ve been to Dresden a number of times and the thing that always struck me there is how pristine and orderly it was. It surprises me to see how different Berlin is.) The fashion, as well, is wonderful to pay attention to – there’s plenty of “normally” outfitted people but in between there’s some wild outfits, brightly colored hair, risque clothes, chains, piercings, ink, hairstyles that I wish I could get away with and to a greater extent than I’ve seen on my other travels around Europe. It’s just an incredible mishmash of EVERYTHING here in Berlin – the modernity of the new buildings and sculptures, old buildings and cranes creating new, carefully detailed art and chaotic amateurish scribbles… It’s easy to be inspired here and it’s pretty much everything I love about Europe.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that, like Seattle, there is a great disparity between the new construction, the tourism, and all the “privileged” things about being in the city versus the street populations (homeless, squatters, etc). We passed a squatter community the other day that I’m interested to learn more about – Kopi (I’ll need to double check the spelling.) I am constantly comparing and contrasting – mostly contrasting – with Seattle, though. From my perspective (which may also still be a bit starry-eyed), there’s a greater freedom of movement and use in the space here (greatly helped by the incredible transit system… Oh, Seattle. Why can’t we have this?) The human element feels strong, unlike Seattle which often feels very sterile with all the new buildings that are mean to look impressive. Though certainly, Berlin and Seattle may have more in common eventually – the signs of gentrification are everywhere. A friend who lives in Neukölln said her neighborhood has changed drastically in the 3 years that she’s been there.

Regarding our “scavenged item” yesterday – mine wasn’t really “found” as I knew I wanted to see the Book Burning memorial as soon as it was mentioned. It was one of the more interesting memorials I’ve seen because it was styled differently than most. I had to look closely to realize it was an actual space underground that held several empty bookshelves (I’m told it was enough space to hold all the books that had been burned.) These things are all particularly interesting to see now because of the political situation in the United States. I see memorials like this and the possibility of being told we should burn books or censor society in some similar way doesn’t seem like a completely far-fetched idea. (And this frightens me. Sometimes I wonder if it’s paranoid to walk through all of the history here in Berlin and think, “This history of fascism and censorship could be our future.”)

I am also constantly reminded of my privilege here (which I’m glad for) in the simple fact of my mobility. With all that’s going on in the world today – particularly the US – I was hyper aware of how easy it was for me to just leave the US to come to Berlin for a month. All I needed to do was decide to go and then buy a ticket, essentially. (I need a passport, too, of course, but I’ve had mine for 20 years and it was very easy to acquire. Filling up my first one well before it expired and having new pages added was a point of pride for me.) Even in terms of the public transit, I can easily afford to get around this way. When the program in Berlin is over, it’s nothing for my husband & I to casually mention countries we may go to afterward. I’m reminded of something I read in a previous class on immigration, that “having a passport from a Western Country such as the United States or England is like being royalty.” The Palace of Tears was another thing that reminded me of this idea of mobility and how much power there is in controlling how people move. I’ve often taken for granted my ability to just go wherever – to other countries, other cities, other states. This ability is one of the things that I consider most important to me and I tried to imagine being told I can’t leave Seattle or can’t enter Pennsylvania to see my family. This idea of “mobility” and borders and movement has been on my mind for awhile – it really is an incredible freedom that should be a right for all, not a privilege.

Ich bin zzzzzzz….

I had been immersing myself pretty hard into German last Summer and had planned to keep going. But then I made a fairly spontaneous (and pretty fortuitous) decision to jump into Arabic for my language requirement at UW. I’ll need two years of it to fulfill my departmental honors requirement. I wanted something new, obviously, instead of just testing out with Spanish. I thought I would continue with German on my own but Arabic is really requiring some focus this first year. It’s only now that I’ve started the third quarter that it’s finally started to feel more natural to me and readily available to me in every day use. German was too easy to slip into daily use and it was interfering with the Arabic. So I set German on hold for the past 6 months or so.

BUT! Now that Berlin is coming up pretty quickly for the start of Summer, I’ve added 15 min of German review to my day and I’m actually surprised at how much I remember and how quickly it’s coming back. Of all things, regenschirm is the one word that will not leave my head. Perhaps it’s because I tripped over it so badly when I first learned the word and then it wound up being one of my favorite words… or maybe it’s because of all this rain in Seattle (which is making me crazy at this point) and because, in fact, ich habe einen gelben Regenschirm! I DO have a yellow umbrella. (*laugh out loud* yes?)

I can also tell you, in Arabic, that there is a lot of rain in Seattle and I am crazy now because of it. (I don’t quite have the grammar to say “It’s raining a lot in Seattle and it’s making me crazy” but I can say “I am crazy because of the rain.”)

!أنا مجنونة بسبب المطر

But the most important things to know, in my opinion, are how to say “coffee” and “tired.” (When I lived in Prague, I had a fabulous French teacher for a short while who demanded I say something other than “Je suis fatigué” every time we met and he asked how I was. True story.) The importance of the word “coffee” – well, that should be self explanatory.

Ich bin müde. Ich brauch Kaffee! Ich mag Kaffee… nein, ich liebe Kaffee!

! أنا متعبة. أريد قهوة. أحب قهوة

PS For learning resources I love DuoLingo and Memrise. Separately, each one is nice. Together, they’re amazing. When I’m learning German, I like to watch German movies and listen to the news in German. I also use the UW German coursebook “Kontakt”, which I’ll be using formally next year when I attempt 2nd year Arabic and 1st year German at once. *gulp* Ya allah!

For Arabic, I’ve realized something: I first attempted to find native speakers to practice speaking with but realized it’s better to stick to my classmates and course materials. We are learning the grammar in manageable chunks – Arabic grammar is complicated. It gets confusing when native speakers try to explain grammar I haven’t gotten to or use their dialect and words I don’t know yet. I DO love to listen to BBC Arabic and practice reading the BBC Arabic website. The grammar is more advanced but I can manage it on my own. I’m always surprised at how many words I understand and can recognize the roots of, even if I don’t understand the function of the way it’s used yet. Same with listening – I listen for words I recognize, the prefixes and suffixes, as well as simply getting used to hearing it spoken quickly.

DuoLingo does NOT have Arabic (boo to them for that) but Memrise does. Memrise not only has several Arabic courses, but they have many that are pulled from the Al-Kitaab book (the most common book used for Arabic language learning in schools). I only realized they have vocab courses that exactly line up with each unit a few weeks ago. It’s been a HUGE help in mastering the vocabulary for each lesson, which is the most challenging aspect.

London Plane

You may recognize this name or just be tired of it – I mention it frequently (at least, on Instagram) but it’s one of our favorite places to spend a quick morning or afternoon. Aside from the fact that it’s in my favorite ‘hood – Pioneer Square, the interior is lovely, the staff is really friendly, and the food hits the spot every time. Husband & I popped in again this past week while I was on break after Winter quarter. I tried something new this time, since we aren’t usually there for the breakfast menu and I have to recommend the polenta – I could eat ten bowls of this!

Ein Kaffee in Berlin

Most of the German movies that I’ve been watching are older and I’ve already seen at some point – Run Lola Run (of course), The Princess & the Warrior (and old favorite), Das Boot, Europa Europa, etc. I was really excited to come across a newer one that I haven’t seen – “A Coffee in Berlin”. It’s a new favorite. The best way I can think of to describe it is if Jim Jarmusch’s artistic German doppelgänger made a movie that was a cross between Frances Ha and Coffee & Cigarettes. The latter was ok – I really only remember and enjoy two parts (Bill Murray Bill Murray and the one with the woman who keeps protecting her coffee from the waiter who continuously tries to top her off. Having the perfect coffee/cream ratio, man – I was right with her.) And I just love the quirky former.

I highly recommend this movie. I love movies like this (versus the old classics) because I enjoy listening to the German and picking up colloquialisms and slang though the movie itself was excellent. And oh – Tom Schilling. Er ist sehr schön, ja?

important words in Deutsch / coffee talk

To learn German, I spent the first month using Pimsleur (my old fallback) language cds, the “Step by Step German” book (the step-by-step series is GREAT), duoLingo, and Memrise. Being the obsessive linguaphile that I am, I’ve probably tried at least 50 different language apps for specific languages over the years and at least that many language-learning podcasts. These two apps are the only two I’ve ever stuck with. DuoLingo was great for some basic German (I prefer it for learning survival phrases and brushing up on Spanish) but the Memrise A1 German course has been FABULOUS.

*** I also follow a couple of “learn German” Instagram accounts: Lerne Deutsch, Basic German Words, and Hallo German Words.

A month and a half ago, I reached out to the German department at UW to see about finding a German teacher to work with this Summer. I now have a wonderful German teacher that I really like but I learned on my own for about a month, first. She was pleased that I already knew a fairly good amount when we started. My only problem now is that I prefer to sit at home and use Memrise every day but I really need to be following the lessons in my book from the teacher. (Fortunately, I’ve found some topics to follow along in A1 German – like this week I’m learning about die Familie. No body parts in Memrise A1 German though. Bummer.) I could just learn with Memrise and practice with her what I learn there, but my purpose in having a teacher through my university is that I want to work through the University’s 101 course so that I can not only practice in Berlin but also test into level 102 or above when I get back from study abroad.

Anyway – today, through Memrise, I learned my very most important phrase:

Ich möchte gerne einen Caffè Latte bitte.

*grin* Ok, maybe not “important” in the traditional sense but I live in Seattle and coffee is very, very important to me. Through Instagram, I have already identified several swanky, “locally roasted”, organic hipster coffee shops in Berlin that I expect to frequent. For (a small) example:

(I am terribly disappointed to be missing the Berlin Coffee Festival by a couple of weeks!)

THE BARN Water Project This is an exciting time for coffee and water plays such a big role! For us as roasters we wanted to find out how our customers perceive our coffees across the globe. Are there regional differences and how big is the range in terms of water quality and the resulting tastes of our coffees. Would it warrant adopting our roast style towards different regions or is this nonsense? The result of our water project delivered a pretty close taste range and most waters we tasted and cupped were actually not too far apart. The way forward here at THE BARN is to calibrate our cupping water towards the middle ground that we observed. With that all our customers should have pretty good coffee quality in their cups! Our project covered 24 shops in 8 countries from around the world and where possible we split the countries up into different cities / regions. Read more on our FB page.

A photo posted by THE BARN COFFEE ROASTERS (@thebarnberlin) on Apr 5, 2016 at 6:09am PDT

It’s that time of year again! #distriktcoffee

A photo posted by Distrikt Coffee (@distriktcoffee) on Apr 14, 2016 at 11:13pm PDT

But first Coffee! #hancoffee #specialtycoffee #coffee #barista #roasters #coffeeroasters #hancoffeejourney #firstcoffee #specialtycoffe

A photo posted by CA PHE PASSION FROM BERLIN (@hancoffeeroasters) on Apr 3, 2016 at 12:59am PDT

Good Day

Can’t decide whether you want a straight up drip, macchiato, or espresso? We hard core Seattle drinkers just get them all! (Seriously – check out this “flight” of caffeine from Elm Coffee Roasters at Pioneer Square.)

visuals

Seattle-ites (buzz buzz)

Occasionally I go through phases where I think I need to give up coffee. Usually when I start thinking that, I wind up drinking MORE. I don’t drink a lot – I mostly stop at one morning cup though a couple times a week (or more) I might have gone to get a latte in the afternoon, also.

I don’t drink a lot but man, I love my damn coffee. I’m not giving it up. Ever. ESPECIALLY since I recently got a swanky new home espresso machine because really, lattes and cortados (Spanish style, not Starbucks style) are my weakness. I don’t go out for lattes anymore, but I still make them at home!

By the way, a tip: The fancy conical burr coffee grinders make a world of difference. We had a separate one for several years but it started to go haywire. The espresso machine has one and oh, Heaven. Having a burr grinder that works properly again reminded me why I go bonkers for all this coffee equipment.

I’ve always been a bit of a coffee snob but it’s gotten far worse since living in Seattle for going on 6 years now. I had at least tolerated Starbucks for awhile but in the past few years, you couldn’t pay me to go there. It’s not good. IT’S JUST NOT. (And what’s up with the smell? A good coffee house should smell like fresh brew and maybe an undertone of baked goods… Starbucks has an odd stale, dairy-farm like smell to it.)

When we travel, I hunt down good coffee shops. Generally speaking, I will only get my coffee in a dedicated coffee place (as opposed to a restaurant, bakery, etc that also happens to sell coffee.) I make exceptions if I know the place well and that they generally make good brew. (No, really. Did I mention the coffee snob bit?)

When we first moved to the Pacific Northwest, we naturally fell into drinking Stumptown. By now, we’ve moved past it. That’s not to say Stumptown isn’t good – it is – it’s just kind of the cliched “good coffee” up here. But I do like them. We tend to drink Stumptown, Caffe Ladro, Espresso Vivace, Victrola, Fiore, and my latest favorite – Elm Coffee Roasters in Pioneer Square.

OH, but then… BUT THEN. I’ve had Caffe Lusso Coffee Roasters on my radar for about a year but just never got around to going there. Today, on a whim (and wanting to find some good espresso beans for MY MACHINE), husband & I went on a mission to track it down. The general location was easy but the actual space was not! It was in an entirely unassuming little corporate center area with a few small batch beer breweries around. We weaved up and down row after row of tiny little warehouse-like facades until BINGO! We spotted it.

I had done my research – Caffe Lusso, the oldest microbatch roaster in Seattle – was not a coffeehouse but a ROASTER with retail space (sort of.) You could go in and see the small operation and buy some beans to go. You could even open up the giant containers of beans and inhale all the incredible coffee bean goodness aroma.

The place is amazing – I love that it’s so ware-house like without the usual hipster, clean line Scandinavian design that’s so popular now. They even have a completely silent, lever-pull espresso machine made of copper (well, the sides) that was hammered by hand by some old Italian guy. The guy that was working there during our visit CLEARLY knows coffee from bean to cup and I think I learned more about coffee bean farming and roasting during our half hour there than I have in a decade.

So we came home with three pounds of beans. *grin* One bag of espresso beans, one single origin Costa Rica, and one single origin Sumatra. Apparently, in the coffee world, this particular Costa Rica is “the most pedigreed and revered seed-to-cup” bean around. The guy can explain all that better than I can ever regurgitate but I’ll just say DAMN, that’s good coffee.

I know. It’s a little ridiculous but what can I say? We live in Seattle!

Santa Barbara

Husband & I got married on Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara six years ago. We didn’t explore much then, so I didn’t remember much of Santa Barbara other than that it was pretty and was heavy with gorgeous Spanish influence. The past few months I’ve had a craving for SoCal, so when Grandmom came out to spend time with the nugget, we decided to revisit SB for a few days.

Oh, man. I adore Santa Barbara – I was sad when the time came to go and have been thinking about it every day since! It’s far more beautiful than I remembered and Husband loved how the casual/commuting bicycling scene seems to have exploded since our last time down there. When I have itchy feet for Spain or other travels, SB can most definitely soothe.

Last time we drove up from Los Angeles (where we were living at the time), this time we flew. Such a tiny, pretty little airport!

No trip to Santa Barbara is complete without strolling through the Historical County Courthouse.

When we lived in Los Angeles / Santa Monica, we often walked a few blocks down from our house to eat at Gilbert’s – great Mexican food is easily found all over Southern Cali. When we moved up to Seattle, we didn’t eat Mexican for awhile because good Mexican is hard to find. After nearly 6 years here, I think we’ve forgotten how good it can be and found a couple places that are decent enough. Oh, hell – but four days in Santa Barbara has once again ruined us for Mexican food. We had breakfast at Jeannine’s – an incredible little spot that completely reminded me of sitting outside in en una plaza en España. I got huevos con rajas – ¡ay! ¡Que delicioso! Another night we went to Corazon Cocina’s pop up kitchen at the Public Market and had some of the most amazing food we’ve had all year. Lastly, for lunch before our flight home we went to Los Arroyos and had some straight forward, basic and awesome burritos, rice, and the freshest of fresh guac.

Of course, there was lots of coffee. First we tried The French Press but preferred the next place, Handlebar Coffee. AND some great pastries and coffee at a wacky but good (wacky because… How random!) old world Danish bakery and restaurant.

On our way to check out the Santa Barbara Public Market (neat place!) we passed a little restaurant with the word “Bouchon” across the awning. We did a double take. Bouchon? Like, Thomas Keller Bouchon? Someone who worked for the Four Seasons overheard our conversation and told us that no, this is not a Thomas Keller restaurant and that, in fact, THIS Bouchon opened first and is quite possibly better. She highly recommended it, so of course we went. The source all their food locally and it was delicious. Great service, lovely atmosphere and did I mention delicious?

And then, since it was only about an hour and a half’s drive, we decided to drive down to Santa Monica. (We lived in SM for almost exactly 2 years.) Going to Santa Monica, I had two goals: One, eat at Cha Cha Chicken and two, go to the Strange Invisible shop on Abbott Kinney.

Cha Cha Chicken is this really fun Caribbean/Latin place that was around the corner from corporate housing when we first moved to LA. When we moved into our rented house, we were a mile up from Cha Cha and still continued to eat there on the regular. It’s, as I said, just FUN – bright colors, nice staff and DELICIOUS food. We had lunch there on our quick drive down and man, it was even better than I remembered. I used to walk the mile from our house to the beach and I would always stop for one of their refreshing agua frescas (cantelope for me!).

Strange Invisible is my one luxury item, my “vice”, if you will. I got some perfume samples of theirs through an online eco friendly skincare & beauty site and fell in love. They are pricey but well worth it – especially if you read about their process here. Perfumes that are aged for 6months! This past Christmas, I told Husband that all I really wanted was a bottle of their “Fair Verona” scent. (I get compliments on it constantly, I wear it often.) So I was excited to see their brick & mortar shop and hopefully go home with another small bottle. I couldn’t decide, so I purchased the perfume mini bar (a pretty box of samples) to take home and see which one I fell in love with next. I love EVERY. SINGLE. SCENT but some make me swoon a little harder than others.

Our old house!:

And here, where my yoga practice really started to pick up steam for the first time since my first ever yoga class a decade earlier:

And then wandering around Main Street and Venice Boardwalk, amazed to see how many shops and things looked exactly the same after 6 years.

Also, coffee, of course. The packaging and decor at Espresso Cielo was so pretty.

And then back up to Santa Barbara. More cruising and walking around town – we checked out a couple local parks and also went to the Botanical Gardens. If I add more photos, I’ll never get around to posting this – so if you’re interested, check them out here!

But I’ll leave off with these – I’ve been trying to keep my hair natural but dying for a change, so I’ve been having fun with some colored hair extensions. And tie dye, obviously. I was in SoCal, after all!

Konnichiwa, Seattle!

Husband and I like to occasionally take an afternoon to romp around downtown Seattle – we really enjoy this city and our “favorite neighborhood” is constantly changing as we discover new things. Most recently, we (re)discovered Pioneer Square – particularly a couple of shops down there that I love. So when he said we were going to check out an exhibit at SAM (Seattle Art Museum), I asked to go to Elm Coffee Roasters first. It’s a new coffee shop & roaster that I love, but rarely have the opportunity to get to. (Their coffee is delicious, the location is cool, and the space is gorgeous.) (Also, I already got my coffee fix at Elm this time, but if not Elm then I would definitely get a latte at Caffe Umbria.)

This time, I got a cortado. So damn good.

Then we took a quick stroll around the ‘hood to pop into a couple other places we love. London Plane is a restaurant/flower shop that’s also new and we checked out a couple months ago. I could sit in their space all day, it’s lovely. Dry Goods design sells the most amazing fabrics and sewing notions, I cannot NOT take a quick peek in whenever I’m nearby. And I can’t ever leave empty handed. Same with London Plane, although we didn’t stop in for lunch or even take home any flowers. But WE grab a couple of cookies (my son is fascinated with their rose scented meringue cookies.)

And then we walked around for a few because Pioneer Square is a full of great sights. We stumbled upon something we’d never seen before and had no knowledge of – Seattle is the birthplace of the UPS? Huh.

Then we headed over to SAM downtown to see what there was to see. Sidenote: I first went to SAM a few years ago when my son was 2 years old. I took him with me to see the temporary Gauguin exhibit – we’d been reading to him from the “little artists” book series we had for him and Gauguin was one of them. The masks scared him a little bit but man, did he love all the cars hanging in the museum lobby! (see below – obviously unrelated to the Gauguin exhibit and still in the lobby years later.) Husband was really excited to discover the current exhibit of Pacific Northwest Native American tribes, particularly the Haida. He loves their artwork and totems (he’s got a Haida totem tattoo on his back that he adds to every few years as well as a Haida sun on his shoulder.)

And then… AND THEN we headed off to Volunteer Park and the Asian Museum (part of SAM) to see the Anime/Japanese Neo-Pop exhibit I’d been wanting to see. So fun!!