Likes and Dislikes

An alternate title for this post would be "Things we do and don't miss about St. Louis."

 We LOVE the weather here. We are in the non-rainy season, so for the most part we haven't seen much rain. The temps have been in the 60s or 70s and when the sun is shining, it is totally gorgeous! We certainly don't miss the awful heat of Missouri, although I do miss the thunderstorms. It doesn't storm here...no thunder, no lightning, no ominous clouds. It just sorta rains, then gets tired and stops for a bit but might get a second wind and give it another go later.

Coffee. Oh, how I love thee. Yes, there is coffee in St. Louis but in Seattle there is COFFEE. And it is everywhere. I have decided that Seattle-ites have a uniform of sorts: pants (usually jeans), a t shirt, a hoodie or sweater, and a coffee cup. I think the coffee cups are permanently attached to their hands.  In addition to Starbucks, Tully's, and Seattle's Best being in every strip mall, corner, and grocery store, there are also these tiny little coffee stands in practically every large parking lot you drive past. I find these are the best quality with the best prices. Graham doesn't like coffee and I had more or less weaned myself off of it, but now I am back...with a vengeance. I want a Keurig quite badly so I can make it everyday...Christmas maybe?

Things we miss about STL...obviously friends and family-OBVIOUSLY! I miss the ease of going anywhere in STL in 20 minutes. Traffic here is nuts, nuts I tell ya. "Rush hour" lasts for about 4 hours in the am and another 4 in the afternoon/evening. You have this tiny window of time between 10a-1p if you need to go anywhere. Pretty much we stick close to Newcastle and Bellevue during the week. If there is something we want to do downtown, it has to wait until the weekend!

It is so weird...but they don't have Sonic here. WTH?!?! We used to get it all the time in the summer at my old job and now that I can't get it, I think about it all the time. Strawberry limeade...yummy...first place I am going when I land in STL on October 6! Other than Sonic though, there is a huge selection of food here...particularly large amounts of ethnic food. Lots of Indian (yuck, not a fan at all!) and Vietnamese (ever had Pho? its pronounced "fuh" and there is a restaurant in Bellevue called What The Pho? Cracks me up every time I see it). I've had Pho once and willing to try again, and G really liked it. Eating out is very expensive here. In STL, we found that we could often go out for about $25 for the two of us, here we are lucky if we get out under $40. So, I cook a lot and there is great access to local, organic products at reasonable prices.

That's all I can think of for now...I'll probably write another post on this in the future!