I have a ticket to Blogger’s Summer Camp to give away! This is an event put on by Schoolhouse Craft (who are also some of the hardworking people behind the Urban Craft Uprising here in Seattle).

Summer Camp is on Friday, June 14th and it’s held here in Seattle at the Mount Baker Community center. I’m really happy to be speaking on one of the panels. Go read more about it. If you’d like to win simply leave a comment on this post. If you’re already attending or buy a ticket between now and when the winner is announced your ticket price will be refunded. I’ll be closing comments and picking a winner at noon on Tuesday, June 4th. The fine print applies. Good luck!

Urban Craft Uprising, the winter edition, is coming up very soon here in Seattle! It’s December 1st and 2nd, 11am to 5pm at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. As usual there are free craft demos and book signings as well as a swag bag for the first 100 people. Don’t wory, if you cannot make it in time to grab a bag they have have an hourly raffle. And this year there is a $1 coat check, so hopefully those aisles will be a little easier to navigate (the show is nearly too popular for it’s own good). I’m excited by all the artisan food vendors they have, and the number of new vendors as well. This is my favorite sort of shopping!

The Top Five Secret Spaces in Seattle. Here is how to find those speakeasies.

Seattle Magazine | Our Favorite Hidden Restaurant Patios.

David Sedaris and the Lit Crawl That Wasn’t a Lit Crawl | Slog. I am out of town for the David Sedaris reading in Port Angeles that is linked to here and, well, darn. You should go.

New Food Truck Pod: Come on Seattle, Don’t Screw This Up – Voracious. We have a food truck pod! Weekly calendar can be found at their website: 2nd & Pike. Might I suggest checking out the Off The Rez truck if you happen to come across it? It’s my favorite.

BevMo is opening a store in Northgate! And if you happen to be free on Friday morning and finding yourself in need of some booze you might also get a gift bag (first 500 people get one).

The Sun is Out! Catch a Bus and Take a Hike! | Slog. Seattle Metro is suggesting bus routes that will take you out to locations where you can hike, as the article says: this is a good idea.

Cider Summit Returns to Seattle on September 8. Awesome stuff needs to stop happening in September because I want to go to all of it.

Save the Liege Waffles at The Belgian Waffle Co. – Voracious. I am so angry that I was not told about this waffle truck earlier.

Bake It in a Cake • Seattle! I am very happy to announce my official cookbook release party! Yay! I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while.

Seattle Modern Home Tour. An upcoming day of getting to peek inside fabulous homes, the tour is self-guided so you aren’t tied to a group schedule, nice.

Dinner in White « Tea & Cookies. I so dearly want to be a part of this someday.

Where to Eat With Kids Near the Burke-Gilman Trail – Seattle – Voracious.

This upcoming weekend there are four events going on and I wanted to attend them all. Each time something new came up I’d throw an increasingly quiet and more intense hissy fit. I’m listing them here mostly so that if they happen again next year (I hope they do, on separate weekends) I’ll be able to find them easily. I need more versions of myself to go around so let’s get on that, science.

• Design Camp Yay! AB Chao is bringing her Design Camp to Seattle, it’s a two day workshop on interior design, and we get to focus on a room in our house. I need this class, my design skills only get as far as driving myself to Ikea.

• XOXO Festival Put on by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan this arts and technology festival is in Portland and I’ll just quote from the site now: “bringing independent artists who use the Internet to make a living doing what they love together with the technologists building the tools that make it possible.” Happily Scott is going and since he’s been playing around with game engines lately I’m expecting a very excited full report when he gets back.

• Bounty: Yakima, a Farm to Table Dinner This is put on my Sasha Vino whom I had the pleasure of meeting a few months back. She told us all about the old estate that the dinner is being held on (the W.P. Sayer House) and I so, so wanted to go. I’ve joined the mailing list so I hope the next event is soon.

• Washington Outdoor Women Weekend Workshop My friends were joking that this sounds like Lady Summer Camp but it does take place in a scout camp so if you want to relive the days and learn which wild plants work for emergency food this is ideal. Classes include Big Game Hunting Basics, Field to Freezer, Situational Survival Skills and Tracking. Do I want to know how to field dress? Yes, yes I do. WOW offers day long classes during the year and I think I’d like to take Shotgun Workshop next time it comes around, my bb-gun skills from summer camp has long faded.

In addition to these it’s Cider Week and there are lots of beer festivals going on and gah! Stop being such an awesome weekend! Luckily I won’t miss the Fresh Hop Ale Fest in Yakima on Oct. 6th. Nobody plan anything good for that weekend, agreed?

This summer Seattle got it’s own ferris wheel. It’s on the waterfront so you get a view of the sound as well as a view of the buildings downtown. It’s super extra good if you accidentally manage to get on it while the sun is setting.

Apparently there is a VIP car with leather seats, a glass floor and a television screen. (It’s the darker car in the photo above.) It seems like an expensive ticket for a short ride but, well, it exists.

School House Craft is coming up! It’s September 21st to the 23rd at the Phinney Neighborhood Center (a really great old brick school) here in Seattle. School House Craft is “a three day conference for those in the creative small business community. A weekend of classes, networking and building lasting relationships”. They have classes from “Facebook 101 for Business” to “Behind the scenes at Urban Craft Uprising”. Teachers include such well informed and generous people as Jennifer Shea (who founded Trophy Cupcakes), Andie Powers (creator of Assemble Shop) and Shauna Alterio and Stephen Loidolt (of Somethings Hiding In Here). The founders of School House Craft, Kristen Rask and Andrea Porter have years of running their own small business and big events such at Urban Craft Uprising. (They also just happen to be among the people who started the Grassroots Business Association with me so I’ve seen up close how focused and experienced they are.)

If you’re starting out a craft related business or want a great environment to consult with others School House Craft is fantastic (the food sponsors alone might be worth it, chocolate!). I was a speaker last year (yaaay!) but this year I’ll be out of town (boo). Right now you can still get one, two or three-day passes at early bird prices (you can also get tickets to individual classes). And you can enter to win a three-day pass. Not bad.

I read in bed before going to sleep and usually Scott falls asleep before me so I have to be quiet which is a problem because this book makes me laugh out loud. I insist you go read it. And if you don’t already read Jenny Lawson’s site, The Bloggess, I insist you go read that too. Also she’s on her book tour and, yay!, she’s going to be here in Seattle this Thursday and Friday. See you there, yes? Yes.

When Scott and I moved to Seattle and it’s rather spartan state run liquor stores we found ourselves telling our friends about this magical liquor store that California had. It was the size of a small grocery store, it was well lit and cheerful and sold food, glassware and everything you might need. It was called BevMo and we missed it. Earlier this year liquor sales laws in Washington state changed moving liquor into grocery stores and non-state run retail. So when BevMo invited me on a tour of their new stores in Washington state, Tacoma and Silverdale, I had to admit I was curious. This is what I learned.

We started with some side by side wine comparisons and I really enjoyed the picks by Paul Gregrutt. The Maison Bleue “Au Contraire” 2011 Chardonnay and Abeja Cabernet, both Washington wineries I’d never tried before, were the standouts for me.

This is something exciting and new, the Washington BevMo stores have growler filling stations. The current offerings are Mac & Jack’s African Amber, Georgetown Brewery’s Manny’s Pale Ale, Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, Schooner Exact 3-Grid IPA, Widmer Raspberry Imperial Russian Stout, Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA, Harmon Brewing Expedition Amber and Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Imperial IPA.

The stores carry local favorites as well. I spied Cougar Gold cheese and Triple-X Root Beer on the shelves.

I was so happy to see Sun Liquor among the offerings. I love their gin. If you’re making martinis the Hedge Trimmer goes well with olives while the Gun Club deserves a twist. I highly recommend a visit to one of their locations, these people make some awfully nice cocktails.

And for those of us who like to be a bit fancy, they had all three kinds of Lillet and a wide selection of bitters. I have only recently tried Lillet and I was an instant convert. It’s true love folks.

John Ueding from Click Distributing introduced us to some his favorite Washington spirits. The Rose Geranium Liqueur from Bravo Spirits was enchanting. Also, the Woodinville Whiskey Company tasting rooms are only a bike ride away, a bike ride I will be taking very soon.

We ended with some beer tastings. I love a big hoppy beer and here are the ones that I fell for.

Silver City Brewery Saint Florian. Saint Florian is the Patron Saint of Firefighters and a portion of the profits go to a Washington State Council of Firefighters benevolent fund. This had a lively and big aroma.

Pike Brewing’s Space Needle Golden Anniversary 2012 Vintage IPA had a citrus aroma that left me sniffing my beer a bit more than might have been completely acceptable in polite company. Pike won a contest to brew this for the Seattle Space Needle’s 50th anniversary this year but I was told that the beer might stay around longer than just this year but if you find yourself near one grab it just in case.

Hale’s Aftermath Imperial IPA is a limited release that also had a huge hoppy aroma. The Hale’s brews seem to be evolving lately and even though I don’t live in the neighborhood anymore I think I’ll be traveling back for a visit. Just Beer has more notes on the beers we tried on the trip.

We came home on the Ferry while the sun was setting, so nice. Thanks to BevMo for a really nice day, I learned a bunch and found a few new favorite things.

Urban Craft Uprising, the DIY and crafts fair filled with awesome, is having it’s summer show next weekend. It’s July 7th and 8th from 11am to 5pm and it’s held at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. I’ll be shopping and hope to bump into you there!

I’m talking a little bit about working with ad networks tomorrow night at the Seattle Bloggers Unite meeting. Here are details:

The meetup will take place Tuesday, April 24 — 7 p.m. at Row House Cafe. Here’s the lineup of our distinguished speakers:

• Megan Reardon & Melanie Bielhe / Ad networks
• Marie LeBaron / Boutique ads
• Natasha Jarmick / Affiliate programs
• Amy Anderson / Sponsored posts

The restaurant is setting out snacks for us so there is an $8 entry fee. More details on the Facebook page. If you are hoping to learn a bit more about these things I hope to see you there!

Yessss! Super lady AB Chao is bringing her Dewit Design Camp to Seattle in September 15th and 16th. The camp is, I’m just going to quote right from her site here: “A two-day workshop with interior stylist AB Chao, where you’ll learn everything from design basics to magazine-worthy styling.” Which I need, badly. There are rooms in my house I’ve put off decorating for real because I walk in and look around and I’m gripped by the overwhelming sense of just how much I don’t know how to make a room look pretty despite all the time I’ve put in looking at design blogs and Pinterest boards. The class is going to be awesome, sign up soon because it’s also going to be small! You can read more about it, see the Q&A and sign up for the Seattle class right here.

AB Chao is bringing the Dewit Design Camp to a whole lot of cities: New Orleans in May, Austin in June, San Francisco in July, and NYC in October (what a lovely time to be there, I’m officially jealous).

disclosure: I’m getting a discount on the price of the class in exchange for helping spread the word to all of you lovely people.

If you live in Seattle I recommend you head out to visit the Curio Confections bake sale this Thursday and Friday evenings. This bake sale is put on by Maria Friedman who previously owned the (very missed) Curio Confections and she is providing a whole lot of goodies from her own kitchen so expect the offerings to be outstanding.

If you’d like to contribute something you can get in touch with Maria at curioconfections@gmail.com or 206-979-2442. More info can also be found on Facebook both here and here. See you there?

Yay! The book tour for Kelly Wilkinson’s book Weekend Handmade is coming to Seattle on Thursday, November 17th. The party will be at Dry Soda and it’s free. I’ll be there, you should come too!

Last weekend we escaped from our poor beaten up house and had a mid afternoon meal at the Skillet Street Food diner. They make bacon jam and started the business in an Airstream. I found a new favorite beer, Port Brewing Wipeout IPA. This also marks the first time I had been served beer in a jar.

This is a Fried Chicken Sandwich with “fennel seed crust, pickled and charred jalapeño aioli, kale, potato bread”. It’s even better than it sounds. And there is kale so it is good for you. No, it is. Be quiet.

That day we lucked into the booth in the corner and among our views of hipsters walking adorable dogs was this view of a hipster talking on the phone while perched on a fire hydrant. As Scott said, it was like we were in Portland.