Three Year Celebration

This weekend has been an extremely enjoyable weekend. DJ and I chose to enjoy an entire weekend celebration of our commitment that began 3 years ago this coming Tuesday, January 27. Three years ago, I was in the midst of mononucleosis (aka the kissing disease), which I did not contract from him. We had been talking for about 3 months and had visited each other in our respective cities, LA and Seattle. It was shortly after I had taken my first trip to LA and DJ had mentioned that he may consider moving to Seattle, at some point, that I decided it would be ok to commit. And, well, here we are three years later and still going strong :) Since DJ and my anniversary falls on a Tuesday, and we will be preparing to open our next program at the ballet, we decided to have a weekend full of celebratory activities.

We began our fun on Friday night. As many of you know, Im kind of bored with Seattle. I couldnt figure out why I didnt feel like it was a very metropolitan or exciting city. I finally came to the conclusion that I feel like this because once you have explored a neighborhood in Sea-town, there isnt much that you havent seen. When I lived in NYC, I could visit a neighborhood 20 times. Even with that, everytime I went back, I would see a new store or restaurant that Ive never noticed before. In Seattle, there isnt anything unknown or exciting after a few trips to one place. So, my aim lately has been to find places in neighborhoods that Ive never seen or been to.

So, Friday, after a hard week of work, Dan and I made our way to Galerias Mexican restaurant up on Broadway in Capitol Hill. We have walked by this restaurant a bunch of times, but never eaten there. Not until recently, when I was walking past this place, did I notice it existed. I was mostly drawn by the fact that the restaurant was giving a 25% recession style discount Monday through Thursday to all diners. Although, the inner Jew in me wanted the savings, I knew this could be an exciting new find. We showed up and enjoyed a first class Mexican meal in Seattle. It was not 100% genuine Mexican food, but probably the closest experience you will get while in Seattle. We were looking for ambiance...and we definitely got ambiance. There was even a harpist to boot. We were sitting next to her and she asked for requests, but we had no money for tip. After two more songs, we told her we couldn't give tip. She said she didnt care and played a few songs that we wanted to hear. It was awesome.

After enjoying our relatively inexpensive anniversary meal (which of course included Mole Poblano and a shared flask of Sangria), DJ and I made our way to Julia's on Broadway to see their weekly drag show, Le Faux. Now, I was a little suprised to see that it cost $20 for the show, but I was pleased in the end. This isn't your typical run of the mill drag show. They actually use the expensive cover towards the production. There was a host and four other leading ladies, who sang (or lipsinked) to the best of them; Cher, Madonna, Reba, Dolly, Pink, and my favorite...Lucille Ball (in Vitameatavegamin, which was a treat). There were also backup dancers, video clips, confetti explosions, and fog. It was a true production that I feel any visiting, non homophobe should attend.

The next day of our celebration consisted of a trip to Ballard. Ive only recently started exploring Ballard. Ive been to this distant neighborhood before, but never really explored it until Rogayn showed me around during our past lay off. DJ and I took the 18 over the Ballard bridge and settled down to eat lunch at Snoose Junction. Ive never even heard of this GREEN pizza parlor. DJ and I enjoyed sandwiches and a few games of Addams Family Pinball (complete with clicking paddles for the theme song). We, then, walked around Ballard making the obligatory trip to Archie Mcphee's and Cupcake Royale. We checked out a couple of shops and made our way home for a rest.

Following our rest, we made our way across the street, from our apartment to Elliott Bay apts, for our friend Joermanny's annual holiday party. Yeah, a little late, but it was delayed due to snow and overly busy Seattle-ites. The name of this event was "Feuerzangenbowle," which essentially means "fire tongs"...I think. I cant really pronounce it. I kept on repeating something along the lines of, guh-flerk-in-zan-gin-blerk-in. Anyway, it was fun to watch Joermanny light the bowl of redwine and 151 rum, and even more fun socializing and sipping the warm, biting liquor.
So, finally, we get to today. Today, Danya and I went out to brunch with our former neighbors from the 3rd floor. We chatted and enjoyed the common actions of the two Jews at the table (we had two dreamers and two realists/debbie downers)...which ones do you think were the Jews ;) Anyway, we left there and took a bus to the U-District. I dont go here often because I get bored there quickly, but we had heard that there was an Upper Playground along the Ave. DJ and I have visited the one in Portland, and were surprised to find that Seattle could have this fun, edgy store. We stopped by there and checked out a couple places along the way. Then, made our way home for the typical food shopping and cleaning that we do on Sundays.

Altogether, we had a very awesome anniversary celebration that consisted of new explorations, which excites me. As I have learned, in order to keep spark in my relationship, I always have to keep exploring us. I feel it is the same for cities, too...at least for me. I get bored with the city if I dont have new things to explore. It made me happy to be able to do both this weekend :) So, with that...CHEERS TO THREE YEARS...AND MANY MORE TO COME!!!! L'Chaim!