LIFESTYLE: A DAY IN THE CITY W/ FICE

Genuine serenity isn't something that I personally experience with any consistency. The days are filled with creating and solving problems at the same pace. There are plently of phone calls, text messages and emails that get no response until two or three days later. Busy as the bees is the beekeeper. But there are those cold days in hell in when your schedule allows you to literally be free as a bird, no obligations and no faulty surprises. That was our day - when Tacomans roamed Seattle. Khris P, Fice, DJ Vespa and I hit the road for Seattle at 8am. The idea for the day stemmed from a conversation between Khris, Fice and I about food, fashion, culture and eTcTacoma perhaps starting a magazine section in-store. Fice, understanding I'm new to my state all over again, spoke up on the fact that there are ill spots in Seattle that stock exactly what I'm talking about - even better he was down to show me. 

Fice is a foodie - it's a well known fact. So we started our trek on a quest for breakfast. He had been raving about this in the cut breakfast spot ______ but when we pulled up in White Center we were met with a unopened downtown strip and boarded building where ______ once operated. That is how we end up wired on a Thursday morning at Luna Park(where I had a huge chicken sausage omelet and making Umwajimaya our next stop on a day trip through Seattle with Fice running point guard. He was right, of course, and Umwajimaya was like an amusement park - I ran around it for the first 5 mins not looking directly at anything but marveling at everything. Then Inventory magazine caught my eye, then The New Order, then Ollie Mag, then GRIND, then the Japan Bape catalogs by the register and finally the tucked away Japan XLARGE Spring 15 catalogs. It is like a reading wonderland. We all purchased our respective choices and continued on the journey. Fice had a taste for Grower's flavored peanuts so our next stop was an awesome tented corner market in search of a flavor he hasn't been able to find in the states. Yeah - the day was that rare. All that driving made us hungry all over again even after the sizable breakfast portions. Fice took us on the back roads to Capital Hill - as he did for much of the trip and it was an eye opening experience in terms of Seattle's size. It's a big spread out city. 

8oz was our lunch destination and it was breathtaking - literally. The menu was perfect and although you're suppose to show up there and eat burgers (which we did - I had the Banh Mi) there are plenty of other options. It was gourmet Americana at its finest. The ambience was enough for me, clean white floors and walls, exposed, treated wood accents and vintage beer cans serve as memorabilia - a top 5 place I will send or take any friend that isn't vegan. After the Banh Mi burger, of which I couldn't take a final bite, we were off to hit the Bait Seattle. Bait is impressive everything they have is everything that Seattle has been missing. They carry lifestyle shoes for New Balance, Saucony and Asics in addition to toy collectibles that the PNW has had very little opporutnity to touch at a brick and mortar location. Of course we made the routine stop by AliveandWellSEA to see the homies and peep the BLVCK SCALE collaboration. The half sublimation T is easily the favorite for me. 

Fice really has his pulse on the city of Seattle. He's a true Tacoman but when he took us to Madison Park for a smoke break and you across the water you can see Bellevue's skyline and what seems to be the backside of Central Seattle - it became clear that his reach is much further than the 253 area code. After a smoke to replinish the vibes we took our caravan to Ballard in search for Indian food - the entire car was determined to change my mind about the taste of curry. But after a long drive past the U-District Ballard didn't have what we were looking for relying on Yelp we ended up at Saffron Grill - excellent food and the lamb tiki masala did convert me into a curry fan. 

There are a few other tucked away other spots that we ventured into - Baba Mama, TRICHOME, Totokaelo, the 40th floor of the Columbia Center and THISTHAT for one of our three Starbucks checkpoint trips throughout the day. The day trip was as well rounded as one can get in terms of Seattle. The only side of Seattle we didn't touch was the South but we had to leave something for a round 2 adventure in the near future. 

Special thanks to Khris P, Vespa and Fice for being so squad and mobbing through the city with me.