Yesterday I arrived in Seattle around noon.  Anna picked me up and we drove to Café Fiore,where she got an americano and I got a soy latté.  We both ate toast with peanut butter.

We sat on the porch outside on little stools, facing the various plants growing in back that covered other old brick buildings: apartments or shops.  

Anna showed me Ballard, an area of Seattle, where Café Fiore is and where TwentyTwenty is.  This is a great vintage store she works at and we stepped inside for a bit. 

After sitting, getting a little lunch, and walking around a bit we headed to Anna's house and set down my things.  At around three we headed toward the international elementary school where she works.  

The children are adorable and rather charming for first grade.  Their eagerness to learn about the world is wonderful and their knowledge of languages is vast.  It was continent day and they were able to travel the world and receive many stamps in their passport :)

Today is not as sunny as yesterday, but still great.  It is a bit cloudy and has been misting off and on.  Anna and I came down to Ballard again for lunch. We went to Patty Pan Grill. It was delicious.  Grilled vegetables (like cabbage, onions, peppers) were so incredibly good! I can't wait to go back.

Right now I am at Cupcake Royale (with peppermint tea...yum) while Anna is at work.   She has to work from 1-6 pm.  Today is my day to walk around on my own and do whatever I would like.  

I think the sun may be coming out :)

And Fleet Foxes is definitely playing in the background.

Excellent.

After sitting at Cupcake Royale for a couple hours and ichatting with Tiffany (a blast!) I left the place, seeking the outdoors that were suddenly, hopefully, willingly bringing sunshine back into our eyes.

I turned corners, crossed streets, stopped and watched the happy people spend their Wednesday afternoon.  I walked into a couple shops, saying "hello", then taking a few looks and walking back out.  I took a couple pictures of the avenues, so full of trees the sky only leaked through bashfully.  On my way out of Ballard Avenue, soon arriving at Market Street, I noticed a barbershop called Rudy's and walked straight in.  "No appointments! Just walk in!" 

Yep, I just walked in.  I also walked straight to the front desk and told them I wanted a hair cut.  They starred at me and said, "Ok, what's your name?" I told them, and one of the blonde girl hovered over the counter, shot up and said, "My name is Heidi too!" I smiled, nodded my head, she said, "There arn't many of us out there".   Yeah, ok, she's right.

So, I cut my hair. It wasn't much, just a trim here and there, a few layers in the front.

You can't tell a difference.

After the haircut I headed towards Market Street and got on a bus to take me back to Wallingford.  

Phew, my adventure was complete.

However, when I arrived back at Sunnyside Avenue in Wallingford I saw the city peaking through the neighborhood down past 44th and 43th.  I was on the top of the hill, but I wanted to be closer to the city.  I wanted a great picture of it.  Therefore, instead of turning left on Sunnyside I turned right and followed the city.  I walked several blocks down, but the city was gone.  I had followed it so far, but it was no longer in site.  Although a nice walk it was, I was disappointed in not finding the city.

               Oh, but there it is!

When Anna was done with work around 6 pm, I met her on Sunnyside and 45th and we walked to the Wallingford market together.  We tried on some jewelry a lady was selling.  Anna almost bought some hot pink ones.  What we did end up buying was some broccoli, a honey crisp apple, and asparagus.  It seems we bought more, but that is all I can think of.

After the market we went to Trader Joes and bought the rest of our groceries, which only included green trea, dark chocolate covered espresso beans, bananas (my pick), butter and several Luna bars.

After Trader Joes we walked down to Scarecrow.  This was a huge movie rental store! It had thousands of movies, all arranged by director on the main floor. On the top floor they were all arranged by genre.  At first Anna and I took a look at the Classic Dramas, then ended up looking at Hitchcock and rented "To Catch A Thief".  We went back upstairs to look at the Comedy Television shows and ended up renting the third season of Seinfeld. Why??? I don't know.