A Brief List of My Most Favorite Seattle Spots

Coffee
Seattle has a bajillion coffee shops. They're all pretty decent. These are my top 5:

1. Zoka
2. Stumptown (also my favorite in Portland as well)
3. Caffe Fiore
4. Cafe Ladro
5. Muse

Dining

• 5 Spot (Pretty much anything from Chowfoods is a winner)
• Hiroki (Great for dessert and tea)
• Dick's Drive-In (ONLY get the Deluxe with fries and a shake. Everything else pales in comparison. Trust me. I learned the hard way.)
• Peroshki Peroshki (Onion and potato is my favorite. On the north end of the market.)
• Jack's Fish Spot (Great for fish and chips)
• Pagliacci Pizza (Tasty local pizza chain. Excellent for late-night pizza.)
• Royal Grinders (FANTASTIC gelato and sandwiches!)
• Dad Watson's (Great beer. Be sure to get the cajunized tots to nosh on.)
• Jolly Roger Taproom (Another place to get great locally-brewed beer. Get a large plate of fries to share with 3-4 friends. Be ready to engage with surly waiters—part of the experience for sure.)
• Thrive (Raw food bar. Only enjoyed their raw juice, but it was spectacular. They work hard at having delicious food. They also take volunteers, if you've got some time to spare to pit dates or juice limes.)

Cupcakes and Donuts
This deserves a category of its own. Seriously.

• Trophy Cupcakes (Cardimum Chai is my favorite. The S'More one is pretty dang tasty too.)
• Mighty-O Donuts (Organic and delicious.)
• Top Pot (Expensive, heavenly donuts. Great place to work out of as well. True story.)
• Yellowleaf Cupcakes (Haven't actually been here yet. But I hear their tomato soup cupcakes are to die for.)

Attractions

• Archie McPhee (If you make a stop anywhere, go here. You'll thank me.)
• Byrnie Utz Hats
• Greenwood Space Travel Supply (A lovely front for Dave Egger's writing program)
• Easy Street Records
• Market Street in Ballard (Great for walking. Lots of great shops. Some kind of festival goes on weekly. Check out the Locks nearby. Think there's also a ship from the Deadliest Catch harboring there.)
• 45th in Wallingford (Also great for walking. Great eats and interesting shops all along here. Start at Archie McPhee's and go east.)
• Gasworks Park (Great to take a picnic to.)
• EMP (Attached is the Science Fiction Museum. Need I say more?)
• Open Books: A Poem Emporium (in Wallingford. A store full of just poetry. How...poetic.)
• Peter Miller (What design heaven looks like. Really close to a Design Within Reach Store)

Mustachio

Heart It Races

 

I have a heart condition called Superventricular Tachycardia.  It's an electrical problem that causes my heart to have extra beats, which in turn causes it to spaz out, beating way too fast (set a new record of 240bpm!).  I've got a history with this and have dealt with it since I was a teenager.  Usually comes in short bursts, remedied under a minute, and is typically brought on through a cocktail of dehydration, sleep deprivation, stress, and caffeine.  Been to the ER and seen cardiologists twice.  Was taking meds about a year ago, but it seemed to be under control and infrequent enough to not worry about it.

While shooting Chanelle's family portraits Saturday morning, it came on suddenly and unprovoked.  I tried some of the typical maneuvers that usually help break the shorter episodes.  We went back to their house, tried a few other things, but nothing was working.  Not having health insurance was pushing toward avoiding the ER at all costs, but nothing was working and our quick trip to urgent care turned into an immediate turnaround to Mercy Gilbert.  I was admitted right away (they took my pulse and the machine emergency alarm turned on), hooked up to the EKG, and given a nice dose of Adenosine which broke the rhythm, and put me back to normal, all within 15 minutes.

4 hours later, I met with a cardiologist, who gave me a recommendation concurrent with my other two cardiologists: radiofrequency ablation. Basically, they burn a little part of your heart.  (Seriously, how emo does that sound?  Thinking I should wear skinny jeans to the procedure.)  It's outpatient, simple, over 90% effective, and expensive.  It's necessary, but doesn't need to be done right away.  Dr. was comfortable with me waiting to sort out my insurance coverage before proceeding with this, which was a relief.  Between that and my traveling schedule, later this fall, October-November-ish looks to be the projected time.  Until then, I'll be on meds to help regulate my heart beat.

I've been able to rest through the weekend, but was pretty worn out from the whole episode.  Definitely feeling heaps better, but will be doing my best to take it a little bit easier this upcoming week.  Please pray for continued rest, financial provision, and a quick response from Access about whether I'm eligible for coverage or not.

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Highlights:

- Clint and Chanelle's forbearance with all the all the home remedies attempting to get my heart rate back to normal. This included standing in their shower while they dumped ice water on me.  True story.  They're *that* good of friends.  :)

- Having my brother there through the whole ER experience was a huge blessing.  Great to catch up with him, laugh, dream, and have someone look after me.  We had definitely some great brother-sister bonding moments.  He also took on the responsibility for keeping everyone updated on Twitter/Facebook, texts. He's pretty awesome like that.

- After having my consultation with the cardiologist from Mumbai, she and I had a delightful conversation about our favorite Bollywood films and Indian musicians.  My referral card has medical information and movie recommendations.

- All the encouraging tweets, e-mails, wall posts, texts, and visits.  I am grateful for your prayers and feel your love deeply.  I am really blessed to have wonderful friends.

Posted via web from Luz's Posterous

Greetings, Wreckerators!

Hello, Cake Wrecks, visitors! Thanks for stopping by!

I wanted to take a moment direct you to the entire set of the original cake wreck instruction manual, Magic in Frosting. It truly is "magical". There's a few extra wrecktastic gems in there gawk and giggle at. Enjoy!

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For the non-Cake Wreck readers, you really ought to check Jen's fantastic blog. Highly recommended for her witty cake-oriented humor. http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/