ell.el.p meets Seattle

2010 is here and I've coined it as my year of trying new things...check, check and check! In February I packed up my stuff and my sunny Huntington Beach, CA life and moved to the "Great Northwest!" A two-day journey with my wonderful mom and dad and two awesome freindy-friends, Umba and Vero (as I affectionately like to call them), landed me in Bellevue, WA (or the Eastside as they like to call it - dance-off brawl, anybody?) where I share a house with my two "white-bread, Bellevue boys" Bill and Cody. ;)

I've been here for three months now and can't believe how the time has flown. I was fortunate to have a job lined up as a contract event planner for a local non-profit in Seattle called The Greater King County Police Activities League. It's been a whirlwind, but we are about a month away from putting on their first fundraising event and so far we are having a good turnout! We are fortunate to have the backing of an amazing lady, King County Sheriff Sue Rahr who has been a great supporter of the organization. This is my first time as a contract employee - I have done freelance PR in the past for a friend, Peter Brandon, Huntington Beach country singer and songwriter, but this is my first gig as a contract event planner and the experience has been amazing!

Once this is over, I'm not really sure what I will do next...maybe become a dog walker or pick up some crazy craft and try to sell it at a farmers market somewhere ;) Soy candles, organic dog treats? Paper mache underoos!...Seattle is booming with opportunity! But really, who knows.

I seriously LOVE taking the bus to work and have traded in my beach cruiser for a road bike (OK, I forgot to bring it from HB - otherwise I would totally have rocked it here...but not on the streets of Seattle - that would be more disastrous than the time I decided to ride it from HB to Yorba Linda - about 26 miles on a beach cruiser made for a real pain in the arse - literally).

About a month ago, I was initiated as a "real Washingtonian" when I got my WA license plates (I literally got them on the day my CA plates expired) and also took the dogs to the dog park - in the rain. I also got a dose of what it's like to live here when our soccer game wasn't cancelled because of rain...in OC, if there was so much as a steady drizzle, our games were cancelled....here, not so much...

All in all, I have been enjoying it here - and all the clouds and rain that come with it (which is actually much more mild than I was expecting). I love that I get to drive over a beautiful body of water (Lake Washington) to get to work everyday and that I am surrounded by an immense amount of trees and nature - just coming home from Target!

For my next feat, I am hoping to take a trip to Greece and try my hand at "woofing" for a couple weeks. I'm also looking forward to visiting my little Umba who is taking the plunge into the Peace Corps and heading off to Bulgaria!

In the meantime, there are still a million things I want to see and do in Washington and I'm looking forward to the adventures that await me....

ell.el.p meet Seattle, Seattle, meet ell.el.p... I think we're off to a beautiful friendship!