Victory!

The Seattle Times reported today that Seattle will begin using salt to deice city streets during future winter storms. Sa-weet. Never again will be we completely snow-bound for an entire week of doldrums. I was waiting for Seattle to make the change - especially after ecologists pointed out that sand is actually more detrimental to the marine environment than salt. Booya!

Seattle to use salt in future storms
Seattle Times, December 31, 2008

Retrospect and Resolve

The year 2008 has been one of the most interesting, terrifying, stressful, and gratifying years of my existence. My life has changed in ways I never expected. All in all, though, I have grown tremendously and I can look back in retrospect and say to myself I did it. I made it through my first full year out in the big scary adult world.

Over the past year, I left a job I held for seven years, applied for and was hired for a new job and love it. I took serious steps towards pursuing my future career. I supported myself financially (for the most part) and learned to buy a little less and save a little more. I am single for the first time in five years. I made new friends. I finally feel settled in Seattle after moving back here a year and a half ago. And now I'm excited for a new year with more changes and more growth.

So, looking ahead to 2009, I have crafted some resolutions:

Be healthy.
Once upon a time in college I exercised five to six days a week and ate healthy. I slept better; I had more energy; I loved the way I felt. So my goal is to get back to that stage, which means exercising regularly and eating better. This will improve my quality of life in so many ways. I will be able to hike farther and faster, and I will feel glorious when I wear my favorite jeans. This resolution will rely on me adapting exercise and healthy eating into my lifestyle as I once did in college. I am not setting a target weight because I believe in sustainability. Which means establishing a lifestyle that I can maintain and sustain over time. Whatever weight that is, so be it!

Read more literature.
Like a lot of word nerds, I have a stack of books in my room on my to-read list. So my resolution for 2009 is to read more literature. I will do so by reading all the unread novels currently on my bookshelf: 35 books total. Some I look forward to reading: Catch-22, Tender is the Night, and The Name of the Rose. Some will be difficult to finish: The Sound and the Fury, Crime and Punishment, and A Farewell to Arms. I plan to record my thoughts about each novel as I finish it. I like this resolution, because even if I don't finish the entire list, I will still have read a whole bunch of great literature. The dormant English major in me is very excited for this resolution.

Try new things.
I already wrote a to-do list for myself in my blog. I have an annoying tendency to be a stick in the mud if I don't push myself to be active. So this resolution is very important to me. I want to try new things like downhill skiing, cycling around the city, yoga, rock climbing, orienteering, taking a design class, and building a Web site. I will challenge myself to step out my comfort zone and try new activities...and hopefully develop some new interests or hobbies along the way.

And...I want to say thank you to all my returning Seattle Swift readers. Thanks for you comments and thoughts over the past six months! I wish you all a wonderful 2009.

Merry Christmas to All!

It's no surprise after a week of seemingly continuous snow, I awoke to this on Christmas morning. A white Christmas indeed. Already a foot of snow on the ground and more fat goose down flakes coming out of the sky.


Merry Christmas to all of you, I hope you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends! Stay safe and warm, and happy New Year!

For the Record

In my Let in Snow post on December 13, 2008, I complained of our conspicuous lack of winter weather. Just to clear the record, I was hoping for snow in the mountains so ski season could begin... NOT for a foot of snow in Seattle that has not melted for nearly a week. Just in case any you are looking for someone to blame for all the snow. I might as well say it: this snow business is just plain awful.

Cheerio!

Happy Winter Solstice!

I know, I know, I'm a few days late. I blame the snow.

Winter solstice is a special time for a lot of reasons. First of all, it means Christmas and New Years are just around the corner - so lots of time spent with loved ones. Second of all, both solstices are exciting for different reasons. Summer solstice means the following two or three months will be filled with sunshine, warmth, long days, and glorious summertime activities. But it also means the days start getting shorter. Winter solstice, on the other hand, means many more months of cold, rain, short days, and even some snow (like now). BUT the days start getting longer - each day the sun rises a little earlier and sets a little later and we get one day closer to those warm summer nights. Now I just need to keep myself occupied in some way until then...

And FINALLY, winter solstice means that my blog is now just over six months old! Happy half birthday, Seattle Swift! Six months ago, I wished readers a Happy Summer Solstice, and here I am, six months later: a little older, a little wiser, a little less diligent about posting in my blog, but nonetheless still posting!

For the past week, the entire U.S. has been pummeled by nasty winter weather - Seattle included. Since last Wednesday night, we have been snow-bound and temperatures have remained mostly below freezing. Thursday brought an entire day of snow, Saturday brought blowing snow and freezing rain, and Sunday brought another four inches on top of that. And the snow is still sticking around, ruining or delaying holiday travel plans for many. Above is a photo from Sunday morning, before another four inches of snow arrived. You can see the snow drift piled up on one side of the steps.

Anyway, I hope all of you are staying warm and safe. Now, if Seattle will just get on the ball and start de-icing those roads with something other than sand - we would be golden. See the Seattle Times article here.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Intro to Parking 101

So I have lived in the Seattle Eastlake neighborhood since late September, almost three months. Eastlake is one of the many zoned parking neighborhoods in the Seattle metropolitan area. Zoned parking is designed to help residents by discouraging long-term non-resident parking, making more parking available for residents of the area. So in my neighborhood, cars without the particular zone permit are allowed to park for only two hours during most times, and not at all from 6 PM to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

I have a permit for my neighborhood, so zoned parking doesn't make a big difference, except that it means the Seattle Department of Transportation patrols our neighborhood for parking offenders, including those with zone permits parked illegally to varying degrees. I have learned over the past few weeks that I basically suck at following parking regulations. I'm racking up the parking tickets - one for not being 15 feet from a fire hydrant (when I was about eight feet from the hydrant) and another for parking in an area with no parking 7 to 9 AM (I parked down the hill when it was icy). Not to mention friends and family have been ticketed for parking without a permit since each household is only allowed one guest parking permit.

I understand that zoned parking is in place to help residents - but I'm learning that I am just not used to this downtown parking deal being a North Seattle gal most of my life. Any suggestions for dealing with the parking issue around Seattle or elsewhere? Any complaints?

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

This morning around 5 AM I woke to intense rolling thunder. Thunder is pretty rare in Seattle, and even more rare considering we were expecting snow to start overnight. I have seen lightning during snow storms a few times - it is an impressive sight - the whole sky lights up like a million fireworks are going off in the thick white clouds.

I woke up later in the morning for work and lay in bed wondering if it had snowed, and if so, how much. My house is a block down from the freeway, so from my bedroom I can always hear the faint roar of cars. It never bothers me since it's such a dull, constant, unobtrusive sound. But this morning I heard nothing. Just muffled silence. Which was one clue it was snowing and snowing hard outside. Then a text from a friend arrived saying "snow snow snow!" That was my second clue so I closed my eyes and drifted back to blissful sleep.
When I actually dragged my body out of bed I immediately looked out the window and saw there was almost two inches of snow and fat flakes of goose down floating from the sky. It's over five hours later and the fluffy flakes are still coming down.
Seattle is both one of the best and absolute worst cities for snow. Since we so rarely get real snow storms, Seattle is totally unequipped - we have very few sanding trucks and plows to clear the streets. Not to mention a lot of inexperienced drivers when it comes to snow and ice (myself included). Add in steep, treacherous hills, it can be a recipe for disaster and chaos. Yet largely as a result of these reasons, as a born and raised Seattleite, I can't help but love the snow.

The holly tree in my yard - it looks so Christmasy with snow!

Almost every instance of a snow storm during in my elementary and high school days meant no school. It meant sleeping in, playing for hours in the snow, snow angels and snowball fights, no homework, eating maple syrup with snow, drinking hot cocoa, and passing out long before my bedtime from sheer exhaustion and excitement. The city shuts down during snow, which means you have to forgo previously made plans and maybe use some vacation leave. But the snow is so beautiful that it's hard to stay mad for long - today I have resigned myself to the snow even though my office Christmas party was rescheduled and I probably won't see my friends tonight. It's hard to be unhappy when the world looks so clean and wintry and peaceful. And, this snow is perfect snowball snow. So... as long as there's no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let is snow!

My Subaru trying to blend in with its surroundings.

Ph.D. in Dodgeball

Considering the United States has one of the best college education systems in the world and our entrepreneurial, individualistic spirit is supposed to be a defining aspect this great nation... why hasn't someone in our own country tried this? I will say one thing - W. has quick reflexes.

Bush shoe incident catches Secret Service flat footed
December 15, 2008

Let it Snow! Seriously...

I will say also that Mother Nature seems to be making up for lost time. She was unbelievable easy on us Seattleites this fall with dry, warm weather. But now the National Weather Service says in a special weather statement: "be prepared for an unusually prolonged and intense period of cold winter weather" - which means for the mountains...... SNOW! Good news for all of us winter sports people, finally!

All I Want for Christmas...

Well, I know, I am seriously deficient at posting regularly. My excuse is that there is not always much exciting to do during fall and winter in Seattle when there's still no snow in the mountains. I am guessing you don't want to hear about how I watched three hours of How I Met Your Mother in one sitting...

But! We are now in full Christmas season swing, so I thought I could share my holiday activities with you.

This past week, I made the last minute decision that I needed to decorate a Christmas tree - whatever it took to find that tree. A day of considering options of how to get a live Christmas tree to my apartment, I remembered years ago when I still meticulously left milk and homemade sugar cookies out for Santa Claus, my parents had a small artificial tree we decorated each year. So I called them lickety-split, picked up the tree, purchased evergreen-scented room spray for a whopping one dollar, and decorated the little four foot tree with lights, tinsel, bells, bulbs, and my Seahawks ornament. My apartment now looks rather festive and I am now finally feeling the Christmas spirit.
Some other favorite things about the Christmastime include: my best friends return to Seattle from their lives around the country, quality time with my parents, the hope of snow, peppermint ice cream (actually, peppermint anything), Christmas Eve mass, more turkey, finding the perfect gifts for family, the Mariah Carey Merry Christmas CD, wrapping presents, an excuse to watch Home Alone, time off from work, eggnog, and Christmas lights.

Though Christmas can be hectic and usually means even worse Seattle traffic - I am happy it's that time of year again, and look forward to spending time with my loved ones... while listening to All I Want for Christmas is You of course.