Touch A Truck

My brother LOVED this event when he was little! Kids get to climb into huge trucks, police cars, fire trucks and more. Great photo ops and sure to be a hit with boys and girls alike.

Touch-A-Truck
September 8th, 2007 10am-1pm
Marysville Jr. High School
1605 7th St. NE
Marysville
360-363-8400


Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average Dictionary

Jennings Park

Took a short stroll around Jennings Park today and remembered what a great park this is!

Taken from the Marysville Parks website:

Jennings Memorial Park & Jennings Nature Park

51 acres - 6915 Armar Road

Surrounded by a natural trail setting, Jennings Memorial Park along Allen Creek provides a peaceful environment for the entire family. Jennings Nature Park, dedicated in 1993, is joined to the Memorial Park by a pedestrian bridge. It is situated adjacent to a 17-acre wetland observatory.

The Memorial Park offers picnic facilities, trails, playgrounds, softball fields, meeting rooms with kitchen facilities in the Jennings Park Barn, restrooms, the Gehl House Museum, a WSU master garden and compost demonstration site, Rotary Ranch Petting Zoo, Lions Centennial Pavilion and Jennings Dinosaur Park. The dinosaur park includes a Pterydactyl swing, and ride-on prehistoric beasties Barney, the Tyrannosaurus Rex; a Triceratops and a baby Brontosaurus.

I have fond childhood memories of this park. Great playgrounds, petting zoo, and beautiful gardens make it wonderful for kids. Info on the walking trails here. Also, on September 8th there will be an "Autumn BBQ Bash" from 1pm-5pm, and on October 30th they'll host a Teen Halloween Egg Hunt at 7pm for ages 11-15, $3 admission (pre-registration recommended).

Hector's in Kirkland

At Hector's the interior design is classy and cozy, and it's in a great neighborhood, by Kirkland's waterfront. However, the food is mediocre (my friend actually sent back her chicken and brie sandwich it was so bad), presentation is blah, and service was slow. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama

This is a fascinating concept, which could be a lot of creative fun:

The Swap When you attend the swap bring at least one bag of your unwanted clothing and a small donation (each swap varies depending on available funding). Every swap begins with a giant collective pile of clothing, the unwanted clothing of all who attend. Everyone is welcome to dive in and find their next new/used items from the pile. Take as little or as much clothing from this pile as you like, it's all free.

DIY WorkshopsAfter you have chosen your new clothes slide on over to one of the sewing stations and attend a workshop. Learn to make modifications or totally transform your finds. Each swap features a variety of workshops by local artists who are there to share their sewing and modification secrets with you. All the materials you need to sew, embroider, bead, fix, repair, knit etc, are suppled.

On Site DIY StationsSwap-O-Rama-Rama also offers on site DIY with skilled artists to help you get started. You'll find professional designers with sewing machines ready to teach you how to make modifications to your new/used duds. Or you might try the hand sew area and decoration station where you can learn to embroider, knit, crochet, etc. A silk screen station offers many amazing designs for immediate transfer and an iron-on station provides internet access and photoshop so that you can design decals that you can print and iron on, on site.

We all have clothes that we are sick sick sick of, and would love to part with. Bring it to Swap-O-Rama-Rama and put them to new use, all the while waking up your right-brain and getting creative!

September 29th and 30th from noon to 4:00pm at the Ballard Public Library (5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle), free admission.

http://www.swaporamarama.org/

Red Bull Soapbox Races

On September 29th, 2007 Fremont Ave. will be filled with a bunch of fun-lovin' crazies racing soapbox cars in the shape of bananas, ferry boats, rhinos, salmon, Polaroid cameras, pickles, baby strollers, the A Team van and much, much more. Fremont is great place to wander around anyway, so I have already marked this on my calendar as a "must do". Can't beat free silly fun!

I'll post starting times as soon as I find them.

Click for more info on the Red Bull Soapbox Derby

Spontaneous Solo Saturday Afternoon

This Saturday I found myself unexpectedly alone and bored out of my mind. DH was volunteering at the church, Mom wasn't home, and the rest of my friends were working or otherwise occupied. Being that I am self-employed and spend all week ALONE in my home office, I was climbing the walls with boredom. So, what's a solo artist to do on a cloudy Saturday afternoon? (Lord knows I'm not about to clean the house, haha!!!).

Be the stereotypical Seattleite and read a book at a cozy coffee shop, Barnes and Noble, or at the park.

Go swimming at the local indoor pool.

Get a spa treatment. Call around and you'll find an open appointment somewhere. Also, beauty schools are great for cheap manicures/ pedicures/ shampoo and style/ body waxing, etc.

Google around for something to get involved with. A class, club, sport...The roller derby is holding tryouts. ;-)

Shopping is obvious, (and a delicious bad habit), but I believe shopping solo always yields purchases you're happier with - no friends selling you on stuff you may regret when you get home. (See the shopping links to the left). Let me preach for a sec, though. As Americans we have overwhelming excess and I believe it's because shopping is a hobby for so many of us and also that we get so sucked into "great deals" and feeling like you must have something. When you shop, be brutal in your criteria. Forget about the price or trendiness, do you LOVE it? Is it everything you want in that kind of item? Will you smile at it when you see it, or will it be just another thing clogging up your closet/ garage/ kitchen cabinets? William Morris said, "... Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Also consider the "one in - one out" rule. For example, when you bring home new shoes, you must eliminate one unloved old pair.

Seeing a movie is another obvious choice, but cheaper than shopping...

Call a friend you haven't talked to in ages. Maybe they're bored and restless too.

Or you could knock on your neighbors' doors and see if they're bored and want a new friend. ;-) How come nobody does this anymore?

Alligator Soul

Alligator Soul has great atmosphere! They feature live music every Friday and Saturday night. Matt and I went on a Saturday and were blessed to catch Star Drums and Lady Keys. The singer/ drummer is a 69 year old man with more energy than my ten year old brother!We split the Corn-Fried Platter (great sweet potato fries and fried dill pickles, but I think the okra is an acquired taste), then I had the Fried Green Tomato Salad (realllly good), Matt had the Soul Smoked Pork Ribs (he wasn't impressed), then we split the Bananas Foster Beignets (yum!). We left thinking we'll definitely have to come back when they move to their new, much larger location in October (with room for dancing!), and also that I need to learn how to make remoulade sauce because now I'm addicted to it. Overall, I recommend coming on a Friday or Saturday because the music and atmosphere is really what makes the place worthwhile, though the food is good enough to stand on its own.