Hello! I hope you’ve been having a good week. This spring has been so lovely, I think it’s now my favorite season in Seattle.
I’m still working on my events calendar / Seattle dashboard and I’d love to get some feedback and opinions from a few of you on what would be most helpful. If you’re interested in helping me out, reply to this email and I’ll send you a calendar link to schedule a quick 15-minute call where I can screen share and you can tell me what you think.
Enjoy this week’s recs!
*This post is a little long, so don’t forget to expand if it gets cut off in your email!
💎 Local gems
Real Roots | Various locations
Have you been getting these ads in your IG feed? Me too, but I hadn’t done much digging into it until I was looking for a fun and fulfilling part-time gig and found an application to be a Real Roots guide.
I just got started last week, but I’m obsessed with this concept. The gist is that you sign up for a 6-week program that matches you with a group of “carefully curated” women and you enjoy a series of guided, shared experiences together so all you have to do is show up. All planning and facilitation are handled by Real Roots / your guide! During the 6 weeks, you’ll also have 1:1 hangs with the girls in your group so you can get to know each other better. They also have a guarantee that if you haven’t met at least 1 new friend you really click with, they’ll rematch you and put you into a new series for free.
As an example, last night I met with my group at Black Bottle in Belltown and we played a fun storytelling game over drinks before heading to a Thai restaurant nearby. I had prompts for us to discuss friendships, but the conversation ended up going way deeper than that. I haven’t been part of a big girl group since my early 20s (before all my friends moved away), so it felt special to be back in that space.
If you have any questions about it, please reach out! I can’t recommend it enough. I’ll be attending the next few meet-and-greets to help check people in and will likely lead another group when mine comes to a close, so I’ll keep you posted on those details. They’re still looking for guides if that interests you as well! The next available series kicks off on 5/22.
Deep Sea Sugar & Salt | Georgetown
Picked up some slices of Deep Sea cake for a friend’s birthday this past weekend and they were delicious. The shop was packed with people chowing down on and picking up cake at 1 pm (kind of wild to me), but the line wasn’t too long and I was able to secure a slice of their signatures: Funfetti and London Fog. The London Fog was my favorite as the flavor was unique and not as sugary as the Funfetti. But a warning for anyone who doesn’t have a sweet tooth (like me), the cakes here are very sweet.
Sykart Indoor Racing Center | Tukwila
My brother wanted to gokart for his birthday, so we went down to Sykart in Tukwila to challenge each other on the track. I reserved our spots the morning of because it was cheaper to pre-register ($25), but you can do walk-up races too ($30). The races are ten minutes long, which sounds short, but I’m not sure how much longer I’d want to be ripping around a track. We decided to just do one race, but you can get a slight discount when you buy multiple.
As a relatively cautious person who does NOT have a need for speed, I was a little nervous going into it. But they make you watch a safety video beforehand and do a few test laps before they wave the green flag, which helped me feel more comfortable. Even though I got passed every lap, I still had a blast! We raced with four other people who seemed to do this regularly, which made it fun for the more competitive people in our group to race against them. I’d definitely do it again, but I’d get two races next time since the first race you’re just getting a feel for it. Afterwards, I’d recommend going to Old Saigon for lunch, which is just 5 minutes away.
👀 On my radar
Peapod Boat Rental | South Lake Union
The Center for Wooden Boats offers a surprising amount of free programming with their monthly free boating days, public sail, and free peapod boat rentals. From my understanding, the peapods are 4-person row boats that don’t require any experience to use and you can rent them for 1 hour for free from Wednesday to Sunday.
It says on the website that the boats book up quickly, but reservations for a new week in the future open up every Sunday and at the time of this writing, I’m seeing a few openings for today and tomorrow. This would be a fun date or double date idea! Afterward, I’d recommend grabbing a drink + bite to eat at White Swan Public House.
Coffee Tab | Belltown
While searching for a spot to meet someone for coffee in Belltown (not that many good options, surprisingly! ), I came across Coffee Tab. It’s a walk-up, non-profit coffee shop that employs underserved youth through its mentorship program, which includes on-site barista and business management training, career support, and resume and interview preparation. So cool! Will make a point to stop by the next time I’m in the area, but they also have a coffee subscription service if you want to support their cause but don’t live nearby.
The Conservatory Art & Yoga Studio | Columbia City
Now this is a dream combo. I discovered this newish studio when I came across their Clay Club event (it starts this Friday and costs $125 for 4 weeks — so reasonable for anything clay-related). In addition to art workshops and classes, they have a full yoga schedule as well as blended yoga + art classes — like the Creativity Flow class on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays which is a combo of “gentle physical exercises, journaling, and intuitive mark-making techniques.” I also like that they offer open studio time on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-7 pm to practice yoga or work on art projects on your own.
Food Forest Friday | Beacon Hill
This is an accountability post lol — I really want to get involved in the Beacon Food Forest this summer (I went once last year!), so I’m sharing my commitment to attend an upcoming Food Forest Friday here so I’m forced to report back. Every Friday from 12 - 4 pm the BFF team orients new volunteers to the forest and works on a small project together to get you prepped for the monthly work party on the third Saturday of every month. If anyone wants to join me, let me know!
📆 This weekend’s events
Thunderpussy Live on KEXP | Thursday, 5/2 | Uptown | Free
Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk | Thursday, 5/2 | Pioneer Square | Free
My Name Story Opening Reception | Thursday, 5/2 | Pioneer Square | Free
An Evening of Poetry | Thursday, 5/2 | Seward Park | Free
A Dreadful Beauty: Gothic Art Exhibition | Thursday, 5/2 | Pioneer Square | Free
Andy Shauf Live on KEXP | Friday, 5/3 | Uptown | $25
Get to Know Your Plant Friends Hike | Friday, 5/3 | Issaquah | Free
Seattle Reign FC vs. San Diego Wave FC | Friday, 5/3 | SODO | $15+
UW Planetarium Public Show | Friday, 5/3 | U District | Free
Aqui Mercado | Friday, 5/3 | Pioneer Square | Free
Clay Club! | Friday, 5/3 | Columbia City | $125
MayBloom Festival at Beacon Food Forest | Saturday, 5/4 | Beacon Hill | Free
We Hike to Heal - Women’s Group Hike | Saturday, 5/4 | Ravenna | Free
KEXP Pop-Up Market | Saturday, 5/4 | Uptown | Free
May the Fourth | Saturday, 5/4 | Rainier Beach | $26
The 2024 Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy! | Saturday, 5/4 | Capitol Hill | $25
The Bloody Mary Festival | Saturday, 5/4 | Uptown | $49.95-67.50
Free Comic Book Day | Saturday, 5/4 | Various locations | Free
AANHPI Heritage Month Celebration | Saturday, 5/4 | Uptown | Free
Rat City Roller Derby Home Team Championships | Saturday, 5/4 | Magnuson | $30
Alison Roman: Gives Solicited Advice | Sunday, 5/5 | U District | $37.50
Ben Schwartz & Friends | Sunday, 5/5 | Downtown | $45
Fogón's Cinco de Mayo Block Party | Sunday, 5/5 | Capitol Hill | Free
Multi-day:
The Naked Truth | 5/3 - 5/5 | Uptown | $20
Belltown Bloom | 5/4 - 5/5 | Belltown | $65-165
🚨 ICYMI
Manolin closed 🥲 My current favorite bagel, Hey Bagel, is opening up a brick-and-mortar in U Village! Another bagel I need to try, Bloom Bagel, also just opened a bistro + grocery in Georgetown. Atomo, a beanless coffee startup, opened its roastery last month (you can give it a try at Heard Coffee in Pioneer Square). A new “Chill Bar” is planned for Capitol Hill.
🧰️ Seattle Toolkit
A few of my favorite resources to stay tuned in to what’s happening around the city:
Everout - Events & things to do
SEAToday - Daily Seattle newsletter
The Nudge Seattle - Text-based event planner
The Intentionalist - Discover + support local small businesses
Your turn!
What are you seeking this week? What do you already have planned? Share it with us in the comments ⬇️
Random, but I remember reading in a past post that you were researching Seattle third places! Are you still planning to write about that?