Columbia City Extended Stay Hotel

In case you or someone you know needs an extended stay hotel, this one just opened in Columbia City. It only has 4 rooms but it looks so lovely and charming. Columbia City seems like a great place to stay for a month or longer.

The Shirley Marvin Hotel

The owners also have a link to a loft in Columbia City that they rent out as well, on a nightly basis.

I really need to get to Columbia City to explore, especially since the LINK Light Rail runs right through there now, no more excuses!

New Local Fundraiser

UPDATE! My goal of $1,000 was met in under a week. Thank you everyone for your support! Let's see how much more we can raise by August 14th.

An exciting new fundraising event for the Special Olympics is coming to Seattle. I've done a 5k, a walk and other fundraising events in the past but check out this exciting new event...

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well, I have some quick news to share. I am raising money for Special Olympics Washington in a whole new way. I am going to go "Over the Edge" if I can raise $1,000 by July 29th.

Any donation is greatly appreciated towards reaching the goal. You can donate here. (http://www.firstgiving.com/picatti) Thank you so much for your support!

Over the Edge is the opportunity to rappel down Rainier Tower in Downtown Seattle. It is 41 stories (514 feet) tall and this safe, controlled rappel starts from the roof. I'm hoping to meet my goal and help Special Olympians while doing something that may be scary for some, but for me it sounds amazing!

Rainier Tower, yeah, that funny looking building.

Special Olympics of Washington is an amazing organization that has brought much joy and fun to the life of my sister Janine, check out what they are all about here: http://www.sowa.org/

Thanks for your support!

Jodi

1st & 3rd Thursdays!

If you're looking for something unique to do on a 1st or 3rd Thursday of the month I can highly recommend Frances Farmer Organ Karaoke at Vermillion Gallery on Capitol Hill. This is no ordinary karaoke. You are backed by a live organ and you can sing with a microphone or megaphone or both, or neither, anything goes here!

I tried it out last night and was impressed! The organ even broke down but some random person went home and brought back their Casio keyboards and the night continued!

Check out their website or Facebook page for more information!

SAM Remix Friday June 4th

Experience SAM Downtown bursting at the seams with art, performances, talks, dancing and more at this late-night creative explosion!

• Artist talk and book signing with Roy McMakin (9 pm)
• Rare screenings of Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes,shown on MTV in the 1980s (9 pm and 11 pm)
• Variety performances by the effervescent Sylvia O’Stayformore with special guests OtterPop, an exhibitionist aquatic mammal, and Eva Androgyny, Seattle's premiere androgynous drag queen. (9:30 pm)
• "Pop Culture Fashion" runway show presented by the New York Fashion Academy (10:30 pm)
• Fascinating tours with members of Seattle's arts and music communities, Seth Aaron Henderson ofProject Runway, and more (every 15 minutes from 8:30 to 11 pm)
• Get down with DJ Riz spinning in the Brotman Forum
• Muscian Sean Nelson performing live in the galleries
• SAMtrax playlist curated by Kevin Cole of KEXP
• Factory T-shirt silkscreening
• Make your own cover for The Stranger
• And much, much more!

SAM members enjoy priority access at Remix through the members-only entrance and a special lounge featuring a bar, a Pernod Absinthe fountain, opportunities to mingle with local artists and Remix performers, and more.

Not a member? Join SAM today.

SAM is proud to have SAM ReGroup, ACT Theatre, Artist Trust, EMP|SFM, GSBA's Young Professionals with Pride (YPP), Henry Art Gallery,NetIP Seattle, NW NOMA—National Organization of Minority Architects, Out for Sustainability, New York Fashion Academy, Pacific Northwest Ballet Backstage Pass, Seattle Out and Proud (SOaP), Sustainable Belltown, Sustainable Seattle, Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Wolfgang: Seattle Symphony's Young Patrons Group as our June SAM Remix cohosts.

Members: $5
Adults: $10
Students: $8
Seniors: $8

Channel your inner celebrity. First 100 people wearing wigs get in free.

Do you like concerts? I do.

Do you like going to concerts? It's one of my favorite hobbies. I am getting older and have certain requirements that I did not used to have.

Jodi's Concert Goals:

1. Small Venue. (I don't care who you are, nobody sounds good in the Tacoma Dome.) My exception to this rule is the Gorge at George, beautiful.
2. No weeknight shows. (I have broken this rule lately to see some groups I couldn't pass up. I pay for it the next day.)
3. 21+ Please. (If at all possible I like to avoid all ages shows. No offense kiddos, you just don't have good concert etiquette yet.)

Jodi's Top 3 Seattle venues:

1. Showbox at the Market (do not confuse with SODO which is near the bottom of my list.) - They have been putting on concerts for a long time and they have it down.
2. Tractor Tavern - A nice diesel place to hear music. I love the Tractor, usually a good crowd and the acoustics are pretty good.
3. The Crocodile (formerly knows as the Crocodile Cafe. Please drop the Cafe when you speak of it now, thanks.) - The Croc needs a better ticketing system and they need to open their doors earlier than the time on the ticket that is supposed to be the showtime. Other than that the remodel was very well done and they are figuring things out for the most part.

Jodi's Favorite Concert Poster site: www.thesmallstakes.com I think I want every single one of the posters on this site. I love concert posters. I need more walls. If you haven't been to Flatstock at Bumbershoot, check it out sometime, maybe you'll see what I mean.

Concerts I have been to so far in 2010: (In order of most amazing to not quite as amazing as I had hoped...)

1. Florence & The Machine (Holy Hail opener) Wow. Go see Florence & the Machine if you have the chance. It was an experience, not just a concert. Really amazing.
2. Woodrush (They are a local Bob Schneider cover band with original music too. They are really good!)
3. Spoon (Deerhunter & Micachu openers). OK, so Spoon was very good, but the sound system at the Moore Theatre is not good. Go see comedians at the Moore, not musical acts. Sorry Spoon.

Wait? I have only been to 4 shows (Woodrush x2) this year? Something needs to be done about this.

Seattle Restaurant Week(s) Now through end of April

First of all, I'm not sure who chose the name "Seattle Restaurant Week" when it runs for 11 days, but moving on...this isn't that new, it's almost identical to 3 for $30 which is a biannual event already in Seattle, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt...more than 100 area restaurants are serving 3-course dinners for $25, and some are doing lunch for $15. This runs Sunday-Thursday. So if there is a fancy schmancy place you've been meaning to try but are budget minded these days check out the list:

Things I would try: The Georgian, Salish Lodge and Spa Dining Room (lovely night for a drive tonight), How to Cook a Wolf, or Mistral Kitchen (recently reopened and moved). Get out there and support your local restaurant already!

More information and list of participating restaurants here.

p.s. the logo they're using makes me miss Crave (Robin Leventhal's old restaurant), *sigh.

Biscuit Bitch!

Downtown is about to get some more late night dining! Starting February 12th, at 10pm until 2:30 am on Fridays and Saturdays, Caffe Lieto (which is already great, Guido loves going there) will be serving biscuits and gravy. You can get pork sausage or vegetarian mushroom gravy. Sounds yummy. And it's only $5!

http://kimshomemade.com/page9.php Caffe Lieto is located at 1909 1st Avenue, and it's pooch friendly if you are out late walking the dog and need a snack!