It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers. As always, please pipe up if you have any input or are knowledgeable when it comes to any of the following questions:
Hi Mavis, I will be in Seattle, WA next week for a company work conference. I was wondering if you had any recommendations for a great coffee shop/bakery near the Motif Hotel? I know Seattle is known for coffee outside of just Starbucks and was hoping you might know of a place.
Thanks! Andrew
Yes! My two favorite Seattle Bakeries; Ines Patisserie and Bakery Nouveau are both within about 1 mile of the hotel. I’ve walked to both of them from about your same {hotel} location and it’s an easy walk. Especially in the morning early afternoon. Have fun!!!
Hey Mavis,
Where did you get your chicken coop? I love it!
~Sheri
Omlet.us It’s the third coop we have purchased from them over the past 10 year and I LOVE it. Omlet coops are crazy easy to clean {just hose them off} and very durable. We have never had a problem with critters getting into the coop.
Hello Mavis,
I’ve enjoyed your blog and following your adventures and tips. I’ve been toying with the idea of relocating to Washington state and know that you currently live there. I picked up on that you truly want to move to the east coast and would sincerely appreciate your input as to life in Washington state. I know you are a good researcher and was curious as I thought the tax base was better in Washington state but I’ve only begun the research. Thanks very much for your great blog and I wish I was at every bakery you have visited. I’d probably need to join optifast afterwards though. LOL Appreciatively, Michele
Hi Michele. You’re right, Washington state currently does not have a state income tax {although I think I heard they are trying to get it approved for certain areas of Seattle for those making over 250K a year, I could be wrong}. Business tax is low. Food prices are excellent {in my opinion}. Housing totally depends on what side of the state {and what city/town you want to live in.} If you could let me know what cities/towns you are considering I could probably be more helpful. And YES, I love researching towns. There is PLENTY to things to do here {especially outdoors} believe me, but you’ll want to bring an umbrella. 😉
I would LOVE to hear from other Washingtonians…. What’s your favorite thing about the state?
There is a website https://www.ripenear.me which maps out free food often from households with excess produce. You can post your freebies and search for nearby foods as well.
~ Stephanie
Thank you for the reminder Stephanie I think RipeNearMe is a wonderful idea, food waste stinks!
Have a question for me? Submit them HERE and I’ll try to answer them.
~Mavis
Emily says
I LOVE living in Washington. I grew up on the East side of the state and moved to the Seattle area after college. Ya – it rains a lot here, but it is also so green. And so beautiful! And if you take the time to appreciate the sun –
whether its a sun break or a bright sunny day – it’s even better. It really doesn’t rain all the time. Just a lot of the time. 🙂 We get all 4 seasons (and depending where you live they can be somewhat extreme or somewhat mild). Everything you could want is just a few hours away. Like the outdoors? We have mountains! Real mountains, rolling hills, and everything in between. With awesome hikes or drives and amazing views. So many good camping locations! And don’t forget Mount Rainier! Every time I see that beauty it just stops me in my tracks. It’s a good day when “the mountain’s out!” 🙂 And the Pacific coast!! Quaint little towns… Beautiful views… Awesome sunsets. The coast on a beautiful day is awesome – but I love a stormy day on the beach where the waves are crashing and the wind is roaring and you really experience nature in such a wild form. More a city person? Seattle is literally bursting with “tourist” activities, little surprises, and fun quirks. We have a troll under a bridge. We have a gum wall. We have the Space Needle! The food here is amazing – so fresh and so diverse. The local beer scene is expanding like crazy. Worried about the weather? Don’t worry – before you know it, it’ll change. The winters are *generally* pretty mild. The summers are *generally* pretty mild. 🙂 I’ve learned that every year we say “it’s usually not this hot/rainy/nice/cold/snowy/etc.” ha! If you want heat, Eastern Washington has hot summers. Plenty of boating, camping, and exploring on that side of the state too. And we can’t forget Leavenworth! And wine country! And the local produce! And the shopping! And the sports! And I could go on forever… So I’ll quit now. I love this state. 🙂
Frau Rosen says
I am a Washington native and have lived in the Seattle area all my life. Since there is no income tax, money is raised through sales taxes and property tax, which is actually a more regressive system (poor residents pay a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes {16.8 in 2015} than the wealthiest one percent {2.4%}). I would rather pay an income tax and not 10%+ on sales tax for everything (except food) that I buy. Washington should really be two states—the western and eastern sides (divided by the Cascade Mountains) are very different. The cost of living in Eastern Washington is much lower, but the climate there is different, with hotter summers and colder winters with regular snow. Eastern Washington is also very “red” and not liberal, progressive and diverse like most of the Seattle area. (In Bellevue, an eastern suburb, 30% of residents are foreign born, many of whom came here to work in high tech jobs.) As for the rain, as seattle.about.com says, “Seattle is known for its steady, gentle rain rather than big storms where many East Coast cities get huge bursts of rainfall all at once”. We actually get less rain per year than Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Portland. Instead, as Mavis often notes, we’ll have day after day of gray skies and/or drizzle. I love the gray and the drizzle and the the rain, but it tends to drive people from other places, especially California, quite crazy. Other than potentially catastrophic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions 😉 there aren’t many natural disasters to worry about. Our economy is booming and the cost of living is very high, with our housing market being the hottest in the country. Where Mavis lives, at the south end of Puget Sound south of Seattle, is less expensive than Seattle itself and the Eastside, which is what we call the suburbs east of Lake Washington (like my home town, Redmond, home to Microsoft HQ). Google “Seattle freeze” and you will find people with complaints that Seattleites are not friendly and welcoming. (Maybe we are just tired of dealing with the increased, insane traffic and housing costs due to people moving here and accepting jobs at Amazon.com. 😉 ) I just wanted to mention that because I guess it’s a real thing, although as a native I couldn’t say from personal experience. Best of luck to you, but if I were you, I’d move to Portland. Seattle is not as nice as it used to be, and Portland’s cost of living is lower.
Joann says
I have been having trouble clicking on the daily deal especially the lodge pans to find the price you have listed, like today when I click the name for the lodge Dutch oven it comes up 43.00 plus, same as a biscuit pan several days ago. Am I just doing it wrong? Thanks so much (I buy a different lodge pan for my 4 kids for Christmas each year so 4x the price difference adds up)
Mavis Butterfield says
All the prices are valid when I post them around 6 am. Sometimes they hold, and sometimes they change. It’s really pretty random.
Patrice near Chambers Bay says
I agree with Frau. I am also a native Washingtonian, born in Seattle, now living near Tacoma. Housing is becoming quite expensive, traffic is quite dense, not unlike the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been wondering where to go when I retire and can no longer afford to live in the Puget Sound area. Oregon is sounding pretty good!
Roberta says
I’m a former resident of the Seattle area, Edmonds to be exact, drove into the city every day for work. I’d move back in a heartbeat. It’s my belief that you get out of an area what you put into it. If you are friendly and genuinely interested in people, places, and the local culture, you’ll be rewarded with kindness from most. That said, the winter weather can be tough to swallow, we found it useful to try to get away in January or February to look for a little sunshine – even over the mountains can be good enough. Also, I found the winter sky to be interesting (unlike the leaden winter gray of the eastern US – gray sky, gray trees and gray pavement). It’s swirling with those classically PNW “sun breaks” when the mountains show through the clouds. Beautiful. The rest of the year was bearable, and the summers are GLORIOUS! I now live & work in a small Florida city with the “best beach in the USA”, we’ve been discovered now, and can’t even get to the beach in tourist season. The grass truly isn’t always greener. I guess the take away for me is this – if you are a positive person with a positive outlook and make friends easily, you’ll do well anywhere. Things have a way of working out.