Seattle: Crisp Air, Good Food, Fresh Coffee

I don't know what it is about traveling that makes me want to eat everything
that comes my way. My trip to Seattle was no different. The big question of
the day: where are we going to eat? No trouble there, so eat we did. We hit
our old favorites like Dick's and Anthony's, as well as new spots like
Salumi and Etta's.

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Dick's was awesome. Always is. There's something about the way they toast
their buns and the perfectly melted cheese that makes it a yummy grilled
cheese sandwich, but with a juicy beef patty inserted in between.
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At Salumi , they cure their own meats on premise and have eight or nine different kinds of salami
to choose from. I had the Salumi Salami Sandwich with Provolone ­ - delicious.
Next trip, I¹m trying the Mole salami (chocolate, cinnamon, ancho and
chipotle peppers).
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Etta¹s Seafood was solid. After a tiny little brouhaha between my husband and the manager ­ - we had the gall to walk in without (gasp!) a reservation - ­ we enjoyed the rest of our experience. I had the Seared Alaskan halibut, roasted fingerling potatoes, green garlic cream, spring radish. The halibut
was cooked to perfection, moist yet slightly crusted on the outside. I only
wish the garlic cream had a bit more bite to it. The guys with me had the
Alaskan ling cod fish and chips ­ which they scoffed up. The beer choices
were limited, which surprised us a bit. Still we drank up our Pike Brews,
IPAs, I think.

Missed the Pink Door and Rays, plus a bunch of other yet-to-be-experienced
restaurants like Delancy and Betty­. I¹ll just have to save some
room for our next visit.

Remembering Rupert

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 I miss the little wagging tail;
 I miss the plaintive, pleading wail;
 I miss the wistful, loving glance;
 I miss the circling welcome-dance…
 -- Henry Willet, In Memoriam 

After years of listening to me whine and plead, my husband finally agreed – it was time to get a dog. We made up our minds. We wanted a Lab and it had to be a puppy – no more than a year old…okay maybe a year old, but that was it. And it had to be a rescue.

As quickly as we had made up our minds, we changed them the instant we saw his picture on the lab rescue site. He was described as a “big hunk of love” – and he was eight years old, hardly a pup. We knew what that meant – heartache sooner rather than later. Still, we couldn’t resist. The moment he looked at us with his big brown eyes, we were hooked.

   That was seven years ago. Not too long ago, we put Rupert to sleep.

Seven years is a long time – longer than we ever expected to have with Rupert. Still, we wish we could’ve had more. At fifteen years old, his body just couldn’t keep up with his puppy spirit. His daily long walks turned into daily short walks, then up-the-street-and-back, to-the-mailbox and finally to-the-end-of-the-driveway with my husband’s two legs acting as his back legs. A lot of people would say his quality of life was gone. Maybe it had, but aside from not being able to walk (yeah, I know that’s a big one) Rupert still seemed to enjoy life.

So we continued to take care of him for a few months more until it was obvious that he was just too tough, too strong and too obedient to let go. We were going to have to make the decision for him. It was as gut wrenching as I had read about from other owners who had been through the same ordeal. I won’t go into it. It’s just a damn hard decision to make, even when you know you’re doing the right thing.

   I’ve read a lot of stories about the grief people feel after losing their beloved pet, but this isn’t about that. Even though our “big hunk of love” left a huge hunk of emptiness in our lives, Rupert gave and taught us so much more. I can only hope that his sweet, gentle and noble spirit rubbed off on us. The big lesson: he taught us that by being open to something other than what we thought we wanted, we ended up with something much greater. For this, we are forever grateful.  

There are a lot of senior dogs out there waiting to be adopted. The next time you’re thinking of getting a dog, consider adopting an older dog. They may not be as cute and adorable as a puppy, but they can offer just as much love.

     
 We recommend Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue – though there are many great Phoenix rescue organizations to choose from.
 

Tagged adopting older dogs dog rescue organizations dogs labrador retrievers rescue dogs senior dogs

Marketing lessons from a garage sale junkie

My neighbor and friend, an antique shop owner and self-proclaimed garage sale junkie, taught me some valuable lessons about marketing and business in general last weekend when she let me piggyback on to her garage sale. Now shopping, antiquing or garaging (not sure if that's even a term) just isn't my thing. But watching people and figuring out why they buy what they buy is.

So other than being reminded again that I’m not a natural-born salesperson, I observed and learned the following marketing lessons:

Selling is really sharing. People don’t want to be sold – they just want to know exactly what they are buying and they want to feel confident that the dough they’re shelling out is worth it. There’s a fine art to this, but it usually involves an exchange of information told through a story. Example: one of the shoppers was eyeing a blouse for sale. My garage-sale-junkie-guru shared her personal the story with the lady of how she got it, where she got it, how much she paid for it and why she was selling it – all within a few seconds. Suddenly, the blouse just wasn’t a blouse – it became a major brand label from Macy’s purchased on sale for $45, but originally marked for $65. And my neighbor really liked the blouse, but found that after wearing it only a few times that the green color didn’t look good on her. The result? After a little haggling back and forth, the lady bought the blouse. Something tells me that if she had taken a more “saleslike” approach, the woman would have placed the blouse back on the rack and walked away.
  • Always be merchandising. My friend never stopped working her sale. When a few items sold leaving empty spaces on shelves or in between items, she would quickly rearrange – moving stuff around, filling in gaps, and folding cloths. So when people walked through, they didn’t feel like her stuff had been picked over by others. It felt fresh and new – well as fresh and new as a garage sale can feel. The lesson here: be it a retail store, a restaurant or office – your customers judge you and your business by the atmosphere you create. In this case,  “junk” looked less like junk when thoughtfully arranged.  Speaking of junk...
  • Junk is in the eye of the beholder. The old saying “one man’s junk is another’s treasure” is true. This was played out after I witnessed the sale of something I swore would never-ever-in-a-million-years sell – a huge 3ft purple vase with gold painting. I’d go into more detail, but all you need to know is that it was ugly. Or was it? I mean someone bought it. Someone thought it was (gulp) cool. So what can we take from this? Well, never underestimate your customers. People are complicated and unique. If you think your awesome groundbreaking widget is awesome and groundbreaking – great. But you better do your homework and conduct research to see if there are others out there who agree.

    All in all, I made about 30 bucks that day. It took my husband and me a whole day to gather our stuff, clean it, pile it in the car and lug it down to my friend’s house. I spent another half a day at the sale (hiding) and the remaining hours recuperating. All that people watching is so exhausting. Plus, we spent $3 in gas taking most of the stuff  that didn’t sell to St. Vincent DePaul’s. A success? Clearly, no – but an interesting experience none-the-less.
     

    • The squatters next door


    I guess there's an upside to Arizona's foreclosures. It gives safe haven to
    all the wildlife looking for a place to roam and relax without worry. With
    no mortgage to pay or lawn to cut, they have it pretty good. I just hope
    they don't knock on my door one day and ask for a cup of sugar.

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