Things I never thought I'd do before living in Seattle

Walk or jog around a lake in the rain...and enjoy it.
Yes, I really do enjoy it.  In fact, I barely notice the rain until my pants start sticking to my legs.  Since it pisses so much around here, you can either stay inside and feel gloomy or get out and tell the weather to go fuck itself.

Wait patiently at a 4-way intersection.
It's the way of Seattle.  There are several 4- and even 5-way intersections around town without traffic lights that just work.  Cars just wait their turn!  I've encountered very few "stop and go" contests because most people just wait.  And, some cars will wait for you to go before them even when they've arrived at the stop sign first!!!  I still can't get over this one. 

Plan weekly schedules and meals (and stick to them).
Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that I don't like routines or schedules.  But, add a toddler to the mix and voila!  Now I'm a (semi)organized, routine-oriented woman. Actually, I've always been good at planning and organizing in, say, work situations.  I just haven't been so good at organizing my own life.  I have to say that the meal planning has been the best thing that's ever happened to our household.  The 4:00 pm "do you have any ideas for dinner?" phone calls with JJ were too exhausting.

Declare that the quality of life here is better.
Yes, I'm afraid it's true.  There are lots of self-absorbed blankety blankers back in my good ol' liberal-hometown who believe that their city rocks above all others.  Umm...reality check.  I can't tell you how glad I am that we moved up here, even though we're planning to move back at some point to be closer to family.  The livin' is easy, plain and simple.  You can get any kind of food here (there are five Thai and two sushi restaurants less than 5 minutes from my house).  The air is fresh, the trees are green, there's no road rage, and the traffic ain't so bad.  People in general treat each other better, and the politics are good (Seattle is like one long NPR broadcast).  Skiing is 45 minutes away.  And, you can buy a decent-sized house for under $1 million.  Sure, you'll find a healthy population of rednecks right outside the city limits, but it's no big deal.  Just stay clear of the pick-ups with wheels the size of Lake Washington and you'll be fine.  Back home there are a lot of aggravated types with me-first attitudes who can start a chain reaction of bad vibes just by flipping up one finger from the comfort of their car.  It slowly chips away at your soul one day at a time.

Wear so much fleece.
The quality of life might be good, but this town has very little fashion sense.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  It's great in that you don't have to put much effort into dressing in the morning if you don't feel like it, but on the down side everyone ends up looking the same and it's kind of boring (there are only so many ways you can wear Patagonia and Keen's, people).  I will say that I love how little everyone seems to care about what you wear.  You can put on jeans, a fleece vest and sneakers or a sexy little thing paired with Manolo's and parade through a nice restaurant feeling equally as comfortable and accepted.  Back in the bay area, your clothing style often defines which "group" you fit into.  Yuppie?  Hipster?  Gay?  Artist?  Hippy?  It always felt so judgmental and limiting.   

Miss being around other Asians (and feel like a minority!)
I grew up in an ethnically diverse town and have always had a diverse group of friends, including several Asians.  Most of my family is Asian.  There are lots of Asians in the Bay Area.  In other words, I've always been surrounded by lots of other people who looked like me and rarely did I feel like I was being viewed as "different" or as an "outsider."  I always felt like me...a person who just happens to be Asian.  I took it for granted.  Before moving to Seattle, I kept hearing about how many Asians there were up here and how they were the dominant minority.  Uh, no.  On a good day, maybe I'll see two, and that usually includes the little girl at the playground who was adopted from China by a white family.  There are Asians a-plenty in the International District, and I do go there sometimes to see some color and feel like I'm blending in, but the problem is that they're not really my people.  We might look similar, but I'm a 5th generation American and the I-District is full of immigrants.  Culturally, it's completely different.  I have about a million more things in common culturally with my Jewish-American husband from NY.  I've heard that there are lots of Asians in the suburbs north of Seattle and also on the Eastside (suburbia).  One Asian Seattlelite told me that most of the Asians here live where the "good" schools are, hence the suburbs. I have noticed this somewhat, but again...they're not really my people.   I hate the freakin' suburbs with a passion and would never live in one.  So, after four years of often being one of the only, if not the only, person of colour in my environment besides my daughter (be it a cafe, restaurant, playground, or gymboree class), I'm slowly adjusting.  Seattlelites (who in my experience are generally white) don't seem to find my "otherness" (or Kiku's) as an issue.  I think a lot of people move here from other urban areas and actually find it refreshing to see someone who isn't white, as if it helps them to believe there's a little diversity in their community.

Buy salmon off a fishing boat on any given summer day, grill it up, eat it, and smile.
A few years ago I learned that you could go down to the locks and buy incredibly fresh salmon right off the fishing boats.  Awesome!