Giving Back

Saturday was a day of giving back to the city of Seattle. I teamed up with an organization called "Seattle Works" for their big volunteer day. It's an organization for 20 and 30 somethings that's geared toward volunteering around Seattle. Yesterday was their big fundraising day which took in about $75,000 dollars! We were on different teams with different jobs throughout the city for the first 3 hours followed by a big after party in Seattle Center by the Space Needle with everyone. My team was given the task of pulling weeds in the natural habitat areas at Green Lake Park just north of the city. There were about 20 of us on site and after very vague directions and our choice of gardening tools we got to work. More often than not we found ourselves asking is this a good plant or a bad plant? There was a very helpful woman that would help us with this decision but if she was busy elsewhere we took to the plant with our "hackers" (I'm sure there is a more technical term for this gardening tool). After almost 2 1/2 hours of hacking and picking and piling and dumping we had had our fill. We definitely left the area looking more "polished" than when we arrived so I'm assuming it was a job well done. :-) In a way I found it very therapeutic to "zone out" in nature while doing my task.
Today Joe and I visited the Seattle Art Museum for the first time. They were showcasing an exhibit on Kurt Cobain and although I have no interest in his music, he is a legacy of Seattle and it was interesting to see the different artists take on his rise and fall. Paired with the Kurt Cobain display was one of Andy Warhol. We got our Seattle and Pittsburgh all rolled into one. :-)
Walking downtown today and watching the people walking about was a good reminder that summer is just around the corner. You can feel the influx of people down around the Pike Place Market.
Looking forward to the week ahead as we are spending the long weekend in San Franciso. California here we come! (another state to check off my list:-)