Seattle: Volunteer park conservatory

Seattle is firmly in the grip of Old Man Winter's steely hands now, bringing that ominous monotone overcast lurking for what seems an interminable stretch of days to our skies, and ample moisture to boot. All those clouds like to bring their friends' drizzle, mold, and humidity along for the ride, lest we forget, so it's regularly damp outside. So, not only is it just cold, it's wet, and a bit squelchy out, but never fear! Having evolved and acclimated into this climate, Seattleites have a bounty of ways to stay warm and dry during the drearier of times thrown at them. One of my personal favorite options is to pop over to the Volunteer Park Conservatory, a stunning piece of architecture finished in 1912 featuring over 3,400 panes of glass and lush verdant greenery that's quite easily accessible in its prominent corner of the Northern Crest of Volunteer Park. Not only is the temperature kept warm and cozy for the plants all year long, making it a welcome respite from frigid temps, but they're among an increasingly shorter list of places where the parking is free! 

The admission fee is exceptionally reasonable, as well, at only $4 per adult, making it an awesomely affordable date option; bonus points because it's super photogenic so you can take all the cute photos! According to their website, you're more than welcome to take photos for personal use during your visit, but the use of tripods is limited to Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and if you intend to do a full-on photoshoot during your visit you'll need to reserve time outside of their regular operating hours, so plan accordingly if you want to get more involved in your photography. It's an absolutely stunning environment and quite popular for engagement and wedding shoots, but also some really cool creative fund-raising events, too, so be aware that you might need to book out a little bit in advance. If you, like me, want to take lots and lots of photos during your visit, that's fine, just be mindful of the people trying to also enjoy all the gorgeous flowers on display. That's fair, right? No one particularly enjoys having to dodge a photographer's butt jutting out into traffic. 

 The conservatory is pretty spacious, too, as there are five separate houses to explore, each with their own precision-controlled climate to accommodate their delicate denizens, of which there are many! The oldest surviving part of the building is the ornate lunette or peacock window panel above the front door, with the rest of the building having been rebuilt over the years. The conservatory has been here since 1912, so she's gonna need some love to keep on protecting and preserving her vast assortment of foliage over the years. Whether you're a sucker for succulents or go mad for a good carnivorous beauty, you've got plenty to choose from here. There are so many gorgeous specimens tucked into each room it's hard to really set eyes on each and everyone in a casual stroll. It's worth taking your time and really stopping to appreciate, and, uh, smell, the flowers. It's well-worth the $8. Go! Get you some flowers! They do, in fact, sell some plants out of their gift shop, so you can quite literally go get you some flowers. And you absolutely should. You never know what you'll find!

Edmonds: Vibrant sunrise and life updates

Hello internet friends, randos, and other curious visitors! It's been a minute since I posted last, for which I apologize. Life has been a bit hectic for us at 710studios, as we're currently in the process of preparing for a move and our internet connection went from decent-ish to utterly and laughably abysmal, so the battle for bandwidth is a real struggle right now. But that's right, y'all! We're moving out of the suburbs and into the big city proper, and we're so excited!! Not only will the relocation make my daily commute incrementally easier than it's been for the last 10 or so months, but we're absolutely stoked about the new home we've found. We'll have our own private space and be able to walk around naked again! We'll have tons of storage and the space to do tie-dye again! There are fruit trees, hammocks, a community garden, even a yoga studio on-site! It's like a dream come true and I can't even begin to fully express how grateful and enthusiastic we are about this change up to our routines. We're looking forward to learning more about our new community, too, which is comprised of some truly talented and inspiring creative and professional individuals who are involved in some utterly mind-blowing artistic projects! 

My long-suffering car with over 200,000 miles, Svetty, and I recently did a quick run-up to Lynden, Washington, which is kind of like a suburb of Bellingham if I'm understanding it correctly, but I apologize to anyone I may have offended with my lack of knowledge about Northern Washington's townships. Since I got booked for the event only about a week prior to its occurrence, I didn't have enough lead time to request time off at my day job and as such drove to Lynden and then back to this burb North of Seattle in one night... roughly around 3 hours of driving, on top of commuting in to the city earlier that same day for work... it was a lot. I listened to a few Podcasts, as is my usual form of vehicular entertainment, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the countryside, but upon returning I could tell my eyes and brain were starting to fry from too many hours behind the wheel combined with 4 hours of straight drawing, too, but it was worth it. Not only did I have a blast drawing at the event, but it's also wonderful to see somewhere new. If you've never been outside of Seattle, the rest of the state of Washington offers an astounding array of natural beauty and lush green spaces to blow your socks off time and time again and I'm a bit sad I didn't get to spend any time exploring while there on this brief visit. It feels really good though, cruising up the 5, feeling a tingle of excitement as Vancouver (Canada) grows closer and the trees open up to adorable farm houses presiding over large expansive lots... I don't know about you guys, but I love seeing new cities pop up on the road signs as I'm road-tripping, the possibility and shiny newness of it all. Leaving from my old hometown of Las Vegas you're faced with a few hundred miles of barren desert before you start to see other pockets of civilization crop up, but here in the Pacific Northwest, you're more likely to find yourself deep into a forest or suddenly surrounded by rolling fields of agricultural green goodness. Even in the city, the abundance of trees makes rounding each bend an exercise in uncertainty, as you can never quite predict what you might spot, whether it's a herd of goats casually grazing in the city, or a Sasquatch peeking out from behind a tree, it pays to keep your eyes open. 

I'm grateful, too, for the time we got to spend living in this cute little house in its cute little suburb. It's been an interesting adventure, for sure, and it allowed us to get onto our feet firmly planted in the area, which can be a real challenge.  But times change and it's high-time for a new chapter, and while it's been nice, the move ahead is going to be great! New dawns, new days, new adventures lie ahead! 💖

Seattle: Japanese Garden

It probably goes without saying, but just in case you need to be reminded, I'm absolutely and utterly enamored with the country of Japan, from the beautiful scenery of the natural landscapes to the dense urban sprawl of Tokyo to the kind-hearted and incredibly generous people I met along the way, there's something just so magical about the place. Given this state of affairs, it should come as no surprise that when I learned of Seattle's Japanese garden, conveniently located within the gorgeous and expansive Washing University Arboteum, there was no doubt that we had to go. The 3 and a half acre park was constructed under the guidance of Juki Iida, a renowned designer of Japanese gardens, during the 1960s and has remained a fixture of the Seattle gardens scene ever since. The Emerald City itself is home to roughly 6,000 acres of parks, so even if you're not much of a Japanophile the city will have something green and gorgeous to appeal to you. This is a city that takes it public greenery seriously, and for that, among other reasons, I'm all the more in love with it. 

There's a reasonable fee for admission, but as I said, it's reasonable. You can park for free at the Arboretum nearby, which is a rare gift to find in Seattle. The grounds are meticulously maintained, and while it was a rainy day during our visit there were still plenty of people walking about taking in the beauty of the place. It was still the midst of fall during our stroll, so shades of red, orange and yellow burst through the green to add a spark of vivacity to the surroundings. It was an absolutely lovely stroll, even in the drizzling rain, and I look forward to seeing the garden again under the light of another season! It definitely gave me some hard nostalgic pangs for my time living in Japan, and for that, I have to applaud the designer. They knew exactly what they were doing since they were a professional designer of these gardens in Japan! 

There are plenty more photos to come, but if you ever get the chance to visit the gardens in person I seriously encourage you to do so! There's only so much I can capture in a photo, after all...

Seattle: Washington Park Arboretum

If you're a consumer of cannabis, which is now legal for recreational in 10 US states, you've likely heard of terpenes before at your local dispensary. If you're not a cannabis user, and the word terpene sounds like some crazy drug terminology, chill out, man, it's good stuff. Terpenes are aromatic oils released by plants that help them to communicate, and there are different kinds that can help you out in different ways- from easing the pain of migraines and muscular aches, to fighting infection or even depression. Think of them like essential oils, like how you can use lavender to help reduce stress! Given the history of marijuana prohibition through the US, it wasn't until more recent years that the study of terpenes in that particular crop and how it affects us has been done, but scientists throughout Japan and Korea have been finding that the terpenes and other compounds released by trees (forests) are extremely beneficial for human health and well-being.  Just walking among the trees for a brief, casual stroll can boost your immune system measurably, and the more time you spend among the foliage the better for your well-being. Pretty cool. We all know we should try to spend more time outdoors, with our modern, sedentary lifestyles leading us to wrap up and nestle into our climate controlled dwellings, but we're beings of the earth and need to get out there and actually experience it from time to time. It's good for your health!

If you're in or near the Seattle area, you're in luck. Not only is the Emerald city absolutely studded with trees at nearly every opportunity, there are roughly 6,000 acres of public parks incorporated into the city! There are so many options to get out and immerse yourself in nature, or to even just walk alongside a tree-laned path downtown to help break up the concrete and asphalt of the urban jungle. One of the parks you could visit, should you choose to do so, is the Washington Park Arboretum. This park alone comprises 230 acres, with distinct areas dedicated to different trees, so that you can better understand and appreciate the diversity of this common constituent of the local environment. It's free to park, and free to enter, and there's so much ground to cover that you can spend hours casually strolling and soaking in all those delicious terpenes. The longer you wander, the better for your health, after all! Not to mention the step count going up on your pedometer, if you're into that sort of thing.  I've been keeping track for years now, and I find it a valuable measure of how active I'm being, but to each their own. 

As I mentioned above, the Arboretum is free to park and free to enter! They do have a small gift shop near one of the parking areas, and we took the opportunity to grab a mycology book that Antho had heard good things about. They also offer coffee and tea, which is great for warming up on those chilly days!

More photos below~

Washington: Fall leaves

What's your favorite time of year? 

Without any shade of doubt, I'm a child of the winter and fall months. When the summer heat finally breaks and starts to wane with a chill sliding into the shadows and caressing your bones, blushing your cheeks, fogging your breath, I'm at my happiest. The shade grows longer and colors deepen, taking on more dramatic hues. And so many holidays! With the cold asserting it's claim to the outdoor spaces, there's all the more reason to nestle into a warm and cozy blanket and snuggle or read, or pursue other pursuits best enjoyed indoors on cold, drizzly days. Halloween justifies the purchase of exorbitant quantities of candy, and then consuming them when an underwhelming number of trick-or-treaters comes a'knocking. Then there's Thanksgiving, with its shameless, unabashed glorification of gluttony and all the glories of heaping mounds of deliciousness piled upon groaning plates. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin, pies and cakes and candies galore. It's a feast for the senses, literally and figuratively speaking. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the seasons like to mark their passage with extra flair, with bursts of brilliant oranges and reds and yellows cropping up from the most unlikely of places to shout "FALL!"  

And really, who can blame them? Such opulent beauty should be celebrated, like Marilyn Monroe in her prime. It's all too fleeting in this world, as the rapid passage of fall into the greys of winter and passing of stars in their prime likes to remind us. Many of the most wonderful things about life are incredibly fleeting, gone before we even realize how lucky we are to have them in the first place. The waning of the seasons is an excellent reminder to be mindful, to enjoy the moment while it lasts, because soon it will be an entirely different moment and there's no guarantees of certainty. Storms blow through and rip branches off of otherwise stolid, sturdy trees, and friends or family can fade into the ether before we realize they've gone. Be grateful for who and what you have, while it's there, and enjoy the time you're given. All that cheese, all that jazz, man. 

  

Much love,

💘

XOXO,

NAU

Washington: Foggy Fall Morn and Morning Pages

Imagine; cool air kissing your cheeks as the first gentle rays of morning sunlight tentatively glimpse through the clouds, birdsong and squirrel chatter filling the air as rich coffee steam fills your nostrils. Kisses on the forehead and tiny smooches from a furry friend. It's not a bad way to start the day, right? I'm certainly not complaining. I can't really recall now how long Antho's been in the habit of making my coffee for me, but it's been a consistent occurrence since we've moved north. He's generally an early riser and has been since the beginning, though I'm still trying to adapt to this whole morning thing. I've gotten into the habit of writing morning pages, which is a fancy term for stream-of-consciousness journaling when you first wake up. I first heard about on the Lavendaire podcast, I think, when Aileen was discussing it with one of her guests. Since my day job gives me full permission to listen to headphones while I work, I've taken the opportunity to catch up on all those podcasts and streams I've been missing!  When it comes to morning pages, the advantages are manifold, but for me, the most important have been clarity and space. I am always traveling and running around for my job, and traffic in Seattle is no joke! It's really easy for my type-A, perfectionistic, over-analytical personality to get overwhelmed and stressed out, and I've got the white hairs to prove it. Taking the time to clear my mind and prepare for the day, both mentally and physically, has been a huge step forward in managing my anxiety and stress levels. There have been some hiccups along the way, as Antho typically has way more energy upon rising than I do, so it took a few tries for him to understand and appreciate that my morning process is a bit different. These days, he'll bring my coffee in and give me some time to write out my thoughts while he steps outside for some fresh air and vaping. This gives him some time to relax and rev up for the day, while I get my words out onto paper and psyche myself up for the day's challenges. This has given me so much insight, whether it's tuning in to my body and recognizing that I have a fever and need to spend the day resting, or acknowledging a frustration or roadblock that prevents me from achieving my goals. Every day is a work in progress, but as long as we keep working, we'll keep improving, right?