Oh Seattle, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways.
=)

Driving into the city is sometimes such a pain, but I always forget how much I enjoy it. Plus, you really can't beat fantastic company.
Shawn and Steve are staying near the city tonight. They are going on an Alaskan cruise in a couple of days, so tomorrow they are going to take the train up to Vancouver. Today was a blast. We just wandered around so they could see the market and some other things. We went to a fabulous pub in Pioneer Square, and I had a pint of cider....which, in case you didn't know, is pretty much my "happy place." =) We had some fabulous seafood and salad for lunch, some fabulous mediterranean food for dinner, and Shawn and Steve got to take a touristy trip up the Space Needle.
The weather was divine. Not hot, not cold, just sunny and wonderful. I felt like I had been locked away in a dark attic for years. Playing outside just made me so incredible happy. I have also been so sick recently, and feeling discouraged because of that, that it was nice to feel good for a change. The antibiotics I am on now are FANTASTIC! I have slept in a wonderful coma-like state the past two nights, and felt better in the morning than it seems I have felt in forever. So, I actually had energy to walk around downtown today.

Aside from all that, I just feel more like an actual person than I have felt in awhile. Sometimes I feel like I am a slave to my weekend job, and there is no way to ever have any freedom from it, which makes working there harder than it was before. Getting an actual day off was a serious gift from God. It was full, but not too full, and I am so pleasantly tired right now.

On the down side, if there can even be said to be a down side, we talked a lot about Amsterdam. Shawn and Steve had never been to Seattle, and they loved it. It reminded them of Amsterdam in some ways. All the flowers at the market place....Amsterdam has flower vendors on every corner. The little shops and cafes and restuarants of various shapes and sizes, stuff like that.

Ah, Amsterdam. How you taunt me.
Now it is there again, gnawing a hole in my heart. I don't doubt that I will dream I am there, or at least go to bed filled with this ache I cannot explain. It is a part of me that sometimes hides its face, but never goes away. There are days where I feel like I just don't know how I can go on without having made it back there...without dropping everything and just going. It's weird. After a day or two, or maybe three or four, it will subside again and leave me in peace for a little while.

Anyway, despite the strange yearning to be in a faraway city, I still feel great, and again, pleasantly tired. I think I will take my pleasantly tired self to bed a little bit early in fact.
So long for now.