First snowfall: We waited all weekend for the snow to come to Magnolia. Then finally, at dusk, a few flurries. (That didn't stick, but still counts.)

2nd snowfall: It SNOWED!! 2-hour school delay, then online class.

Third snowfall: Work? Who needs to work? When you wake up to Vail outside your door, you cancel your work meetings and maybe skip some remote virtual school. Snow in the city is a rare treat. And today, we got enough to sled and build a snowman in front of our house.

One day later, what's left of our snowman and the snow. 

It was difficult work, but it had to be done. I ate a lot of dim sum to research this story for Seattle's Child: https://www.seattleschild.com/the-best-dim-sum-for.../

I have been totally sleeping on Joyale! They have been around for a decade, and I just went there for the first time. Nostalgic and comforting food, CART SERVICE, old Asian dudes, and a big fish tank. So legit. 

Twenty years ago I told Sherri I was moving to Seattle, and she said, "You have to go to Top Pot!" Today I went to the flagship Top Pot in Belltown, the one Barack Obama stopped by in 2010. We didn't know it, but it also happened to be Top Pot's 23rd birthday. Founder Mark Klebeck was there handing out "pot holes" and coffee and taking selfies with everyone. SUPER nice guy, delicious doughnuts.

The Underground Donut Tour was the kids' favorite way to see Seattle.

Walkway overlooking Gum Wall. I never knew it was there!

What? A new exhibit at the Pacific Science Center?? Now that I had to see. The science center stopped doing its big traveling special exhibits and instead is trying to do more in-house exhibit design. "Brainy Bodies" opened in December. They're still adding to it, including an interactive game due in February.

Here's my story for Seattle's Child:
https://www.seattleschild.com/play-mind-games-at-pacscis-new-brainy-bodies-exhibit/

Happy Valentine's Day! Broadening my usual beat (family and home) to cover romantic viewpoints.

In today's Seattle Times. Here's a link: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/culture/5-romantic-seattle-area-viewpoints-perfect-for-valentines-day-dates/

The only kind of running I do now is a dim sum run.

When your lunch looks back at you. The window of Jin Huang, next to Diamond Bay, which replaced House of Hong in the ID. I haven't been yet. Have you?

A quiet moment frozen in time, circa 1910. The Yick Fung Company was donated to the Wing Luke Museum and preserved as part of the permanent collection. Guided tours are free with admission.

I had not been in Pacific Place in a hot second and whoa, it's a ghost town. Spooky. There's even a retailer aptly named "Ghost Gallery." Serious Shoppingtown Mall vibes. At least Pacific Place has two things going for it that Destiny USA doesn't, named Din Tai Fung and Haidilao, for who knows how much longer. In the 2000s there was a Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Barnes and Noble and a rather large Tiffany's.

A silver lining to RTO? Authentic Taiwanese bentos in SLU. Tastes just like the lunchboxes you buy on the train in Taiwan. Yummy and filling, $16-17 a box (though half of that is rice).

Lunch On The Plate is a food truck parked in SLU weekdays 11-2. Paul's favorite was the diced pork belly, and Joseph's favorite thing was... the rice. The nice part is portions are generous, enough to fill up a teenage boy.

Mosley and Calder, they go together like sea salt and caramel. At the Seattle Art Museum through June 1.

Every time we walk through the Seattle Art Museum, we see something we didn't notice before. At first glance, this installation looks like enlarged Xeroxed pages of the Odyssey. But the artist actually hand-drew the pages, then erased most of it. She saved little piles of eraser shreds, on display under plexi.

Would you let a 9-year-old cut your hair??

Maybe if you need a fresh cut for New Year's and you're short on time and money. My stylist confidently laughed and said, “Easy!" He actually did a pretty good job, considering it was his first time. I've definitely paid more for worse haircuts.