Tag Archives: Greenlake

Cake Envy and Deschutes Brewery come together December 15th

Posted on December 1, 2012 | 1 Comment

I’m used to brewer’s nights at my local pubs, but on December 15th Deschutes Brewery will be sampling beers at a different kind of venue – Cake Envy in Green Lake.  The bakery, which offers beer & wine alongside their cupcakes and cake pops, will be hosting Deschutes for their first “Winter Wonderland Bash.”

Jubelale, Black Butte Porter and Obsidian Stout will be paired up with cupcakes in the flavors pumpkin egg nog, tirimisu, and a very special Deschutes Black Butte Porter cupcake.   Along with the tastings, there will also be a raffle with prizes including Cake Envy gift cards, Deschutes merchandise, and Cake Envy products.  There are two ways t0 enter into the raffle: first, by bringing a toy for the Toys for Tots drive, and second, by wearing an ugly sweater.

The event will be Saturday, December 15th from 1pm to 4pm.  Cake Envy is located at 7900 E Green Lake Drive N.

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Posted in Community News, Local Business, Local Eats & Drinks

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Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Cake Envy – help them celebrate!

Posted on September 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s been almost one year since Cake Envy delivered their wonderful cupcakes and celebration cakes to the Green Lake neighborhood, at 7900 E Green Lake Drive North.  To celebrate their major milestone, they’re throwing a party – and everyone is invited.

Head to Cake Envy on Saturday, September 22nd from 1pm to 4pm for samples, small bites, music, raffle prizes, a cake walk, balloon sculptor, and caricature artist.  Plus, if you’re getting married soon, enter a raffle to win a free wedding cake.

Families are welcome, including on-leash pets, so its sure to be a good time.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some new flavors in mind for the occasion…

You can RSVP on their Facebook page here.

Photo courtesy Cake Envy

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Posted in Community News, Local Business, Local Eats & Drinks

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Photos: Police finally nab naked man at Green Lake

Posted on September 4, 2012 | 1 Comment

I headed home tonight from the office to the sound of helicopters as I pulled into my drive.  Naturally, I had to go check out what all the commotion was.  The Seattle P-I has a great story here about what happened:  a mentally ill man attacked two young people, then took off his clothes and went into the lake.  He led police on a bit of a chase on the water and then attempted to hide out on Duck Island.

Eventually police managed to get the man into custody, which was right around the time I made it down to the lake for my regular evening run.  Here’s a few photos from the scene down there, as things were wrapping up:

 

 

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Green Lake Real Estate – June Stats

Posted on July 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

Thank goodness summer is finally upon us – I’m on vitamin D overload this week and just can’t get enough of being outdoors.  Traditionally though, summer also means a bit of a slow down for the real estate market as home buyers and sellers go on vacations and spend more time at the barbecue than the computer (Hey -does that mean us real estate brokers can go on vacation, too?).

According to NWMLS data, Green Lake saw the closing of 14 single family homes in June this year, ranging in price from $340,000 to $1,120,000 and with an average price per foot of $287.17.   And 14 must be our lucky number, because that’s also the amount of homes that went to ‘pending’ status in June that haven’t closed yet. Overall June was a very good month for total number of sales, but it would appear to me that we are seeing a slow down of the multiple bid situation that has had us in a frenzy the past few months.  Whereas in May the average home sat on the market for just nine days before selling, in June that number shot back up to a more “normal” 24 – giving buyers a better chance of getting their offer in on time and in a less competitive environment.

We currently have 12 homes on the market in Green Lake (as usual, 80th to 50th, Aurora to I5), priced from $299,000 to $1,220,000.  Quite an assortment – but still not a lot of inventory.  In fact, of the homes that are on the market right now, only 3 were listed in the last 30 days so the homes that are on the market are generally a lot of the same ones that were listed a month ago or longer.  We’re thirsty for freshly listed houses.

This 1912 home with 3,350 sq ft is currently listed – for the first time in 54 years.

So, where are we headed?  Back to normalcy, I expect – at least for the next few months.  Another kick in the market tends to happen in September and October, but until then we’re going to see homes start to sit on the market for around 30 days before a sale.

 

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Posted in Community News, Real Estate

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Start chugging that milk – the Milk Carton Derby returns July 14th

Posted on July 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s not too late to get your registration in for the 42nd Annual Denny’s Seafair Milk Carton Derby, held at Green Lake Park this year on Saturday, July 14th beginning at 10 a.m.   The traditional event will include around 100 milk carton boats competing for $10,000 in prizes.

For those of you wanting a last-minute entry, there is no charge to compete in the racing, military, and open categories.  There’s a $250 entry fee for the Groups/Commercial category, which allows the vessel to race with a name/logo on it.

Children as young as eight can participate, as there is a special “youth” category for ages 8-13.  Besides the boats, there will be land-lubber activities also: displays and exhibits, the Seafair pirates, Seafair princesses, and Seagals will all be on hand.

For full details and the rules & regulations of building your craft, visit the event’s website here.  To see more of last year’s boats like the one below, visit my photo post from last year here.

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Freshly painted, Charlie’s Buns ‘N Stuff Opens on Green Lake

Posted on June 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

There’s all sorts of renovations going on around Green Lake right now – new benches being installed near the community center, a new roof being put on the Bathhouse Theater – and a new food spot opening just on the West Beach next to the Bathhouse.

Charlie’s Buns ‘N Stuff has been operating as a mobile food truck in the Seattle area, and has now opened up in the concession stand on the west beach.  Their grand opening is tomorrow, June 22nd, and they will be offering things like burgers, hot dogs, and cheesesteak sandwiches to the park visitors.

Charlie’s at Green Lake will be open seven days a week during the summer, from 11am to 7pm each day.  And of course, you can still get your burgers from their mobile food truck, often seen parked around the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. Welcome to the lake, Charlie’s!

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Non-Motorized Beer Delivery returns to Latona Pub for Earth Week

Posted on April 14, 2012 | 1 Comment

Of all the events Latona Pub in Green Lake puts on for us throughout the year, the Earth Week festivities have to be my favorite.   For one week every year, all the beer that comes to Latona Pub will come by some means other than motorized transportation.  This means kegs can be walked (with a hand truck), delivered by bicycle, or even come by rowboat (any other ideas? Let them know!).

Everything kicks off tomorrow – Sunday, April 15th – with the beginning of the keg deliveries.  Kegs come from as close as our local north Seattle breweries like Big Time, Naked City, and Northgate Ram, to as far away as Black Raven Brewing (Redmond -16.6 miles away).

A handful of last year's "keg walkers", courtesy Latona Pub

In addition to saving the planet by saving fuel and decreasing their carbon footprint, Latona Pub also hosts a few events during the week.  For Earth Week 2012, there is a “Local Food Awareness” night on Thursday, April 19th beginning at 7pm.  A portion of proceeds that night will go towards Chef’s Collaborative.

On Saturday, April 21st, bring your hazardous garbage – computers, electronics, batteries and fluorescent light bulbs – to Latona for a day of free disposal, from noon until 4pm.

Finally, on Sunday April 22nd finish the week with the Feet First benefit starting at 2 pm, with a special keg from Two Beers Brewing – the “Limited Edition Hand Truckin’ Wheat Ale.”  This event requires a pre-sale ticket which you can buy online for $20 at Feetfirst.org.

As a sign at one of my local faves Naked City says, “Save the earth – it’s the only planet with BEER!”

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Local businesses Cake Envy and Jodee’s Desserts announce new winter hours

Posted on October 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

You’ll have to get your Green Lake sugar kick elsewhere on a Monday, as both Cake Envy and Jodee’s Desserts have announced that they’ll now be closed on Mondays (come on, give ‘em a break – they need ONE day off).

Jodee’s Desserts will now be open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.

Cake Envy will now be open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If you don’t want to take your cupcake with a coffee, that’s changed now too – you can now officially order beer & wine at Cake Envy and they have a decent selection of 22-oz craft beers to choose from (for all my fellow beer geeks).

In fact, here’s a list of the beers available right now at Cake Envy:

  • Southern Oregon Brewing Co’s Pilsner-Czech-style
  • Lazy Boy Brewing’s Belgian-style Golden Ale
  • Oakshire Brewing Company’s Overcast Espresso Stout
  • Fremont Universale Pale Ale
  • Harmon Brewing Company’s Brown’s Point ESB
  • Skagit River Brewing Co’s Gospel IPA
  • Diamont Knot Brewing Co’s Brown Ale

photo courtesy Cake Envy

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This blog post is really crappy.

Posted on September 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

No, really, it is.  I’d like to talk about poop for a minute.  Specifically, dog poop.   Even more specifically, the dog poop that was NOT picked up ON the Green Lake loop this afternoon that I nearly stepped right in (be glad there’s no photos to accompany this post today). 

I’m a dog owner, I understand that picking up your dog’s poop, well, it’s not very fun, is it?  I don’t enjoy it.  But I have a dog, and with that comes certain responsibilities, so I pick up after my dog.  I pick up not just because its the law, but because of that Golden ”treat people how you want to be treated” rule – I don’t want to step in dog poop, and I’m guessing the next person that walks my way probably doesn’t want to step in it either.

Just this summer, Seattle Public Utilities launched a “Restore our Waters” campaign where they had coasters at our local bars (Naked City was the first) explaining facts on our water pollution.  According to them, Seattle has more than 125,000 dogs – that’s a lot of poop.  And the dog poop can carry bacteria – like roundworms, E. coli, and Giardia.  If it gets washed into the storm drains, and/or ends up in streams and lakes, people could end up swallowing the bacteria and can actually get sick that way (really makes you want to swim in Green Lake, right?)  So, by leaving it there you’re not only risking someone else’s nice shoes, you’re risking their health and their children’s health.

If that doesn’t guilt you into picking up your dog’s poop, maybe this will:  according to SMC 18.12.080, you can be fined not only for not picking up after your dog, but also just for not carrying ”equipment for removing feces” while out in public – up to $54 each time.  Is it worth it?

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Parks and Recreation

Posted on September 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

Where’s your favorite park?

I bet you think I’m going to say Green Lake, don’t you.  Especially those of you that connect with me on Foursquare and see my daily check-ins.  But the truth is, I don’t think Green Lake is that special – it’s nice, pleasant to look at, large, but not special.  It’s crowded for a start – and its hard to think of a park as special while you’re sharing it with 400 of your closest joggers, dog walkers, longboarders, rollerbladers, cyclists…get the point yet?

So, I don’t always go to just Green Lake Park.  Where else can you go in north Seattle, you ask?  Well, I’m a huge advocate of Discovery Park in Magnolia.  It beats the Green Lake loop with 11.81 miles of walking/hiking trails.  That’s a lot of miles.  Whenever I’ve been it seems a little less crowded than Green Lake too – but perhaps it has just as many people, spread out over the larger space.  I like that Discovery Park has some really closed in, wooded, tiny trails – and then it also has beach and wide open spaces.  Great for the dog.  The views are amazing, and last time I went I also spotted an enormous owl (and yes, I was actually a little scared of it)!  You can go there for a few hours and feel more like you’re on a hike than in a city park, which is really what I’m looking for. 

I also venture out a little further than Seattle, north to Richmond Beach in Shoreline (head up Aurora and turn left on 185th).  The beach itself isn’t overly huge, but the wildlife you get to see is pretty amazing.  I saw this 16-legged sea star on the beach there not too long ago:

And another time I got pretty darn close to this bald eagle:

During the winter months, a large part of the beach is designated “off leash” for the dogs and they love splashing around and running through the sand.  Just be sure to keep an eye on them during low tide – the train tracks that run by there aren’t fully fenced around and during low tide a dog can get onto the tracks. 

For those looking to take the kids out somewhere fun, Sandel Park in Greenwood is undergoing renovations beginning this week, as reported on the Phinneywood blog.  The project should be finished in January and provide a better, more visible place for the kiddos to play, with a wider assortment of play equipment.

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