coffee break...

You are going to need a cup of coffee

for this one as it is a long one...

Well sometimes life just seems so heavy and sad

like this past week -

Haiti has captured all of our hearts.

We reached the one year milestone of a friend's passing.

And another dear friend suffered a massive heart attack this week

and is hanging on by the grace of God.

And then there is the rescue going on of

4 little kitties in New York by an individual

who just couldn't walk by and do nothing.

So Matteo and I say a big

thank you to Graciel for being willing to step out

of her comfort zone and get involved!

If this mouth could talk that is what he would say,

oh yes he would.

He is my rescue cat and his head

is two inches from the keyboard

as I write this

- what a difference from his former life on the streets!

So now I will return to what I was planning to blog about...

With all the heaviness going around,

6 of decided to take a coffee break and head into Seattle on Saturday...

to find the perfect cup of coffee...

We quickly skipped this place.

and went here instead.

Welcome to Cafe Zeitgeist in Pioneer Square.

everything a coffee house should be...

and look at that crema!

and there was even art on the walls

made from old books by

Katya Marritz

and then we moseyed across the street

to our second cafe...

Caffe Umbria

which has more of a Italian contemporary sophistication...

and great coffee too...

and then we decided we were full of caffeine

and needed to stop drinking coffee so we went to Ballard

which is very Scandinavian...

and we visited Curtis Steiner's

incredible store which is more like an art gallery...

He has beautiful cards that are pieces of art

and drawers filled with stuff for sale that he has collected

and vignettes

and even his dog Mortimer

likes to greet you!

and finally we made a stop at Lucca,

my favorite store...

before we prayed for our dear friend

and came back to the reality of life.

p.s. thanks to Ed for some of the photos -

hey finally someone took pictures of me!

and what a small world because as I read the article on Katya

she mentions getting the idea for her books from an artist in Seattle...

and I think she means Curtis Steiner

because he has books like she did for sale in his shop - ha :).