The Best Day!

Yesterday was such a gorgeous sunny, barely a cloud in the sky kind of day, and here in Seattle that has been a rarity. The last few days were sunny, and boy did I need it. I lived in Seattle before for around eleven or twelve years, but I really never did get used to the grey and rain. I was starting to feel like I might need to buy some St. John's Wort or something! I went to my absolute all time favorite neighborhood in Seattle, Ballard. If you ever come to visit Seattle, you have to check out Ballard. I lived in a lot of neighborhoods in Seattle before, and I didn't always feel like I fit in with the vibe, but Ballard is one part where I have always felt the warm and fuzzies. It has a ton of cool bars/pubs/microbreweries, and all kinds of restaurants. There is a place on market street(the best street) that has a tiny little Vietnamese restaurant where I had my very first Banh Mi sandwich, and fell madly in love. They also have some really delicious lemongrass tofu, and several noodle dishes that are to die for. Ballard also has my favorite Trader Joe's in Seattle, and the best library, and all kinds of shops. It has gotten a little gentrified while I was away, so a lot of the shops are too pricey for me. I went into one of the clothing shops yesterday and I almost died at the prices. But all in all it was just what I needed. There were so many families, and couples enjoying the sun and eating outside, and strolling around, it was nice to just breathe in the positive energy.
It was also a good day because I was able to find a book I had been wanting forever from the library.

I owned this book about five or six years ago, but lost it at some point. I think I might have loaned it to someone who was going through a divorce, and they loaned it, and so on. It's an amazing book, and I hope my old copy with all of the notes and underlines is still being passed around and helping people. It seems like it's written for people going through a divorce, maybe people who have been married for years, and have forgotten what being single feels like. For me, I've never been married, and to be honest I have spent more of my adult life single than in relationships, but I still find this book to be very helpful. When you are single, especially never been married, and no kids, often you get treated one of two ways. Either with pity, and a side of passive aggressive judgement, like there is clearly something wrong with you, or you get treated like because you are single, you have no responsibilities, and life is just one big carefree party after another. So for me, the first time I read this book it made me feel so much better, this was the first time someone had said to me"it's okay, and just as normal to be single as to be married" Neither one is right or wrong, or good or bad. At the time I needed the reassurance, because I was feeling bad about being single with no kids for the first time in my life. I was a nanny at the time, and when I would pick up the kid at preschool, some of the moms sometimes said some back-handed things and I felt bad. I also felt like my single status made some of them look at me like I was a floozy or something. But, if you are single, but You're divorced, you are way less of a threat. I think it's because marriage is the norm in society, so when someone is different, it's scary, or weird, or whatever, we nee to judge it. Anyway, for anyone who is single for whatever reason, I really recommend this book. The author, Judy Ford lives and practices (she's a therapist) in Kirkland, WA., which is a city that's very close to Seattle. Unfortunately I can't afford to go to her for therapy, which I would love, but I can read and re-read her lovely book! She focuses on all the positive aspects of living alone, and has little things her clients have learned to love about being single(not mentioning their name of course) I can't say enough good things, and I'm sure I will be writing about it here as I get into re-reading it. I know the holidays are coming, and it can make you blue to be single, and couple that with familial pressures, this book might help any singletons survive! She also gives you some witty retorts to some of the rude things people say. So, expect to be hearing a lot more about this book!
Happy Monday!