How to Spend a Snowy Seattle Spring Day

Apparently, Mother Nature did not get the memo that spring has sprung, and so this morning we had pretty heavy snowfall. Fortunately, it wasn't cold enough to make the roads anything but wet, so I could still venture out without much worry. And I had a lot of plans today, so that was a good thing.

Around 2:00 or so, my friend Ruby and I went to Waxen Art, because we thought it would be interesting to make our own candles.

It was a lot of fun. First you pick out a candle shape and size that you like (they range in price from $12-$52). I chose a small oval - one of the cheapest options. Then you choose a scent. They have everything from Peony (my pick) to Washington Apple (Ruby's choice) to Monkey Farts (which smells like bananas).

Then they prepare your mold and give you a sharp implement (looks like a scraper) that you use to cut the wax into chunks. You pick out the colors of wax that you want. I decided to go for earthy, neutral colors, so I picked a tan, which I wanted to accent with some green.



Then you start putting your candle together, putting the various wax pieces in whatever arrangement you like at the top, bottom and sides of the candle.



Once you have filled the mold, they pour in more wax, scented as you request. It holds together all the wax bits that you put in the mold, and you end up with a customized candle that is almost too pretty to light.

Result!




This is my Grandma's birthday present. Nobody tell her!

Anyway, on a busy day, it takes about 3 hours for your candle to be ready. Since we were the only ones insane enough to be out in the crappy weather, we were the only ones there making candles at the time, and we were told we could pick them up in an hour.

(By the way, on weekdays they have make one candle, make the second at half price, so we paid for ours together and got a good deal!)

So...to kill time while awaiting our candles, we went to happy hour at Duke's Chowder House (it had stopped snowing by this time, but turned to pouring rain while we were inside), where Ruby and her husband are frequent customers. We ordered cucumber mojitos, named "most refreshing cocktail in Seattle"...and while I can't verify that, I suppose there is some truth to it. It was very refreshing, although more of a hot weather drink. And I didn't take a picture of it. It was a pretty cocktail. We shared an appetizer - dungeness crab dip with crackers. It was a wonderful afternoon pick-me-up.

So that killed an hour...and then some. Our candles were ready and we picked those up and walked around Kent Station and the surrounding area, going to Bella and Chair & Trellis, two stores that sell very lovely things.

Around 5-ish, we headed to Pizzeria Fondi, which I have mentioned previously. It's definitely my favorite pizza place here. We ordered the vegetarian pizza, which is a work of art. Behold...



Fantastic. I have never eaten anything there that wasn't absolutely delicious.

Anyway, we had around 2 hours to kill after dinner, as we had tickets to see Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago at 7:30. We went to Target and then I had to stop by my house for a few minutes and Ruby went back to her house to let her dogs out. We met up again at the Auburn Performing Arts Center.

The performance was wonderful. Our seats were very good, considering I just got the tickets yesterday. I wasn't as fond of the first act. The first act was basically a lecture on the history and influences of jazz, using dance to illustrate how jazz has evolved over the decades. It was entertaining, but I would prefer just to see dance and hear the music without any commentary. But still, it was nice to see all the various styles of dance and how they are incorporated into jazz. And they did a very nice improvisational dance to Chicago blues music, probably my favorite part of that act.

After intermission, they did 3 numbers: Entropy, The Man That Got Away (performed to a song sung by Judy Garland, and very comic!), and Pyrokinesis, which I think was my favorite. That was done to piano music, which I recognized as George Winston, who is one of my favorite artists.

Since Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago travels around, try and catch them if they come near you. It really is worth it. They were given a standing ovation at the end.

Anyway, that concluded our evening. It's been a great day and a wonderful way to chase away the post-winter blahs.