Catch Up!

Why haven't I been to a show yet?  Really there is no excuse, that is even something I can go do on my own.  I will do that soon.  There is practically always tunes blowing out my Bose whenever I'm home. It even helps me right now to sit down and write with a record spinning.
I mean I suppose exploring many different neighborhoods is a decent excuse.  In my head I'm already shopping for a new neighborhood, not that there is anything wrong with mine.  Now that I'm here though and able to see the different moods of the various areas, I can better picture myself settling in here.
[flip record over]
Hosted my first dinner party last week!  That was quite lovely if I can say so!  It also gave me a hard deadline for having my apartment clean, unpacked and nice looking.  It was so nice to see my friends from college, one who lives in Seattle and one who lives in NY visiting him.  After work I went to Pike's Market to get fresh flowers, baguette and Salmon.  How friggin cool is that?  Sometimes I have to remind myself that that is my life now and not just a really cool thing I got to do once or twice.
I still haven't made my mind up on the Seattle Freeze, but I think it says a lot that pretty much all the people I have been hanging out with are not originally from Seattle. Then I thought about the reverse scenario, I'm a pretty independent person, don't always need to be with others and can easily entertain myself.  Its more activities out and about that I like to have someone with me for. So maybe I like it here so much because I have some of the Seattle Freeze already in me, or some sort of different version? But then I looked at my schedule and for the last few weeks basically every day after work I've had plans, so I can't be that freezy!  Really we all know I was living a lonely life before in the small town and have found an exciting area for a lovely balance of working, exploring, excitement and of course my ME time!
I'll cheers to that!  Happy Sunday!
<3 Suz

A bit of what I do in Seattle!

Well I've been with my new job for a week now, and it is such a different environment from my last place.  Oh and its totally freakin' awesome because Pearl Jam donates money to us and Nordstrom is a business partner!  I'm sure there are more amazing connections but those are the ones I've learned thus far.  I thought I'd share this link about Nordstrom's partnership with us:  http://www.forterra.org/press_releases/nordstrom_c3program
As mentioned before it is a larger organization, which brings a lot of differences that I'm still learning and comprehending.  Right off the bat our service area is several counties, in fact we are a regional conservancy.  The projects we are working on are typically at a much larger scale, usually at least 100 acres but we have a 20 acre project and a couple thousand acre projects.
It is so rewarding knowing that while I haven't yet dove into these projects yet, I am and will continue to contribute to saving the amazing Cascades and the stunning Olympic regions. Having such rewarding work is what helps get me though the long days or the frustrating days.  Because of this, I think it would be hard for me to work for a corporation.

Another major aspect of my life that has changed out here is that I take the bus to and from work every day.  Sometimes I think of how silly it is that I'm taking a bus ride that without traffic would take like 10 minutes and ends up taking 30 minutes plus sometimes.  But I haven't gotten to the point yet that I want to get up an hour earlier to walk 2 miles.  Hopefully I'll get tot he point where I'm walking at least one way or half way there, but that requires toting around extra shoes too.

Until next time!
<3 Suz

Welcome to Seattle!

Here I am, in Seattle!  I know I need to blog more and I believe it is a productive use of my free time, especially while I am experiencing some of the Seattle Freeze (I'll explain later...). I've been here almost 2 weeks, am still in the long process of adjusting my new studio to fit my living needs and am ready to take on the big city!  I have so much to think about and discuss on here, but I will try to take it one step at a time!  

Okay, this Seattle Freeze I keep hearing about, basically it is the condition of native Seattlians to not be very welcoming and friendly, but to be cold, hence the freeze.  Transplants or new people have to work hard and long to break into the native Seattle crowd.  I haven't yet decided if I believe in this yet, I don't think I've been here long enough.  

Whether or not it exists, there are more then enough transplants to the city.  A lot of them for the obvious reasons; Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon.  I'm just so anxious to break into the music scene here though, nothing makes me more happy than live music!  I'm not afraid to go to shows by myself, but right now its a matter of knowing where to go and if its in a safe place!  

Also I must mention that I've been working at my new job for 3.5 days!  Its so odd going from a small office of 3.5 people in the middle of nowhere to being on the 22 floor of a high rise in an open office with at least 30 other people, 60 staff total.  It seems like a fun environment to work in and the people seem to get along well, its just a matter of again breaking into the office culture.  I haven't dove into my work too much as I'm doing a lot of training.  This type of land protection is very very different from what I was doing before, which keeps it interesting and complicated.  I can't wait to tell more about it!  

Well, back to varnishing my new book case!