Tacoma Branch - NW Eco-Building Guild Starting Soon!

Hi Naturally Tacoma:

Just to let you know that the Tacoma Branch of the South Sound Chapter of the NW Eco-Building Guild is starting soon and we need your help and hope you will be involved. This blog is great! Call 253-564-5000, or 206-786-4415. You are part of it!

New format for the blog

Ok, so I have not been so great at keeping up the blog. However, I have lots to say, and I am beginning again with renewed enthusiasm! We've switched focus in our lives and on the blog, and will be dedicating this space to sharing with folks all the local, sustainable, green and organic products we love. I am looking forward interacting with fellow Tacomans of like mind, and learning of new ideas and products myself.

Point Definace Flower and Garden Show WOW!

Check out the Point Defiance Flower and Garden Show this weekend, (starting Friday) it is going to be awesome! http://www.ptdefianceflowershow.com/ We volunteered last year and did so again this year. Due to family illness I will not be able to attend on the weekend but just walking around today seeing what was going on WOW! Even in the rain it is going to be cool. Amazing displays and some great Vendors. Very cool Tacoma Show.

Tacoma is Great! Things are Changing!

We are another Seattle family that moved here last year for the real estate opportunities. One of our clients who owns a considerable amount of downtown Seattle gave this synopsis "Seattle is a Town of Players" meaning that when you have the funds to live in the best place in the world, you will find your way to the Northwest. My family has been here since the inception of Seattle, (taken from the native people that were here - by the way the Point Elliot treaty was signed by our govenment) We have had a wonderful time in the Northwest. The ease of life that the native people had here compared to other places also attracted the European people and in truth wealth has always come to the Northwest. Thanks to Bill Gates and Microsoft this region has also created its own. We are in the final Western Frontier. Having said this...the south sound region is in the same pattern. Our family has definitely gone through a culture shock as a previous writer spoke about because of the more conservative and sometimes blatently closed attitudes. Seattle has a very large Catholic influence. This means that attention is paid to helping other people and building a very livable city. Tacoma is a great place to live with great people. I hope the direction that is taken is to be "unique." The bottom line. The Northwest is a beautiful place to live because of "nature." As the development continues to spread we hope that real attention will be paid to going "green." Tacoma is probably more like the rest of our nation; working people who are trying to better themselves. The vast wealth of the Seattle area has made people think that everyone is living the "computer wealth" dream but this is not so. Tacoma has some sobering reminders that we must do everything in our power to create opportunities; and be open to new ideas. Sometimes the politics here seem contrary to that. Progressive ideas bring progressive people who want to solve problems and no one would argue that we have some pretty large problems to solve. What do you think?

Jenna and Sugar

Jenna was hurt to be left off the blog, so here's her contribution!

New Lounge in Tacoma! Tempest Lounge

My ever-lovin husband Greg (GD) went to a new lounge the other night with our friend Jason, aka Handsome. Needless to say, right after bar hopping to several fine establishments here in T-town, they ended right back at Tempest because the vibe there was so very cool. Lucky for us, it is within walking distance to our house here in the Upper Tacoma/Hilltop neighborhood. He describes it as a sleek-modern-hip yet old school feeling. The exterior is quite unassuming and belies what is inside. There is a menu he says, that I would like. Whatever that means(upon quizzing him about the menu, he tells me that he was there to party with Handsome, not as a restaurant critic, hence the sparse information about the menu). It is owned by two women from Seattle trying to get in on the ground level in the restaurant/lounge scene here in Tacoma. I believe that I heard that the owners were in some way connected to Wild Ginger up in Seattle.

Anyway, GD was quite enamored of the place so I imagine we will be going back soon. Being a non-drinker I was glad to hear about wi-fi access there. That will give me something to do while the rest of you get plastered and act like idiots.

Tempest is located in the ACLU building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, just south of S. 9th St. They open early like around four and they have appetizers for that after work noshing.

OK, It's me!