Are you looking for a community that trains students to become good jazz and concert band musicians?  Kirkland, in the Lake Washington School District, offers that choice.  As a parent volunteer for Kirkland Junior High and Lake Washington High School bands, I can truly say that I have enjoyed chaperoning, fundraising, and watching these musicians grow, from elementary band to seniors in high school.  By the time these students graduate, they are very accomplished musicians.  Last weekend, the KJH Jazz Band performed at the Poulsbo Jazz Festival.  They and many other school bands are already sounding like big bands of the past - with some outstanding improvisation.  They are learning history, music, teamwork, performance, and musicianship.If you want your child to receive a valuable pub... 02/05/2007

Studio East and Kirkland Junior High PTSA presented "Seussical" the musical this weekend at the Lake Washington High School Cadle Theatre.  These students performed at a much higher level than what I remember in my high school days.  Theatre, at its highest level, not only entertains, but also makes people think.  Dr. Seuss takes on some very serious subjects, such as war, prejudice, vanity, social conformity, desertion, chaos and more.  The students in the play displayed great perseverance through storms, snow days, no electricity, and illness.  They began to realize that the story was important and that the show must go on, in spite of obstacles.  I really appreciate the efforts of the Directors, parent volunteers, the students themselves, and the neighbors who came out to see the fin... 02/04/2007

How do you find your new home?  Instead of looking at houses for sale in person or on the internet, first visit all of your friends.  Ask them what they most like and dislike about their homes.  Take notes.  Write down the address of the homes you like most. It always amazes me when people head out to find a home as if they have never seen a house before.  What is appealing to the eye is not always the most comfortable home to live in.  After you life in your home awhile, that "eye appeal" factor becomes less and less important, and your comfort in functioning in the home on a daily basis becomes more and more important. I have never found someone who moved out of their home because of what it looks like, and yet it seems almost every buyer chooses a house because of what it looks like.... 01/26/2007

The City of Kirkland has an interactive map.  By clicking on the Neighborhoods, you can check out the building permits and their status.  Be sure to check out all of the features of the City of Kirkland Website.  It is one of the very best and shows that for a quaint little town on the Lake, it is very progressive. In real estate, these Neighborhoods are not all called the names as they appear on the map. Market is actually called West of Market. Norkirk is called East of Market.  Moss Bay is Downtown The tip of Lakeview is Carillon Point Juanita is pretty much just called Juanita and not broken into North and South. Though not shown on the map, Lake Washington is on the left through Sough Juanita with Juanita Beach in the cutout just north of the Market Neighborhood. Many of the neigh... 01/24/2007

Kirkland, the City built with its Downtown on Lake Washington, is full of quaint charm and character.  In the Seattle Area, Kirkland is one of the Cities in the area we call Eastside, along with Bellevue and Redmond, Washington. This home with fabulous views of Mt. Ranier, Lake Washington and Downtown Seattle, is a good example of why Kirkland is a very special town. I'm not absolutely positive, but I do think that little circular hedge was planted in 1921 when this home was built.  This home is now over 3,000 square feet with a 750 sf master suite and five piece master bath with a jacuzzi and double headed shower.  Adding square footage and modern amenities, while keeping the charm of yesteryear, is " a Kirkland thing to do". Don't see the garage? It's in the back, with alley access. 01/24/2007

Netled in a small commercial complex at the top of Rose Hill just off 85th, The Ashram Yoga provides its students with much more than a typical hot yoga workout.  This facility was custom-designed by owner Gary Olsen, who has been practicing yoga for most of his life.  Not only does the simple-yet-elegant plan and design of the studio create a comfortable atmosphere, but also Gary and his instructors set a welcoming tone, greeting and giving each student the personal attention necessary to develop a healthy and enjoyable yoga environment.  What's more, the instructors do a superior job of teaching to the whole class, so that each and every student - whether its their first time or they've been practicing for years - has a challenging yet relaxing yoga experience. Gary's teaching style i... 01/18/2007

The lockbox holds the key to your front door. An agent has an electronic keypad that will open the box with an infra red beam after entering their identifying security code. The box does not register who came into your home.  The keypad in the agent's hand, when updated, is what records which homes that agent went into today. The agent cannot go out the next day, or the next time they need to show homes, without updating that keypad.  So while the registration of who was in your home is not immediate.  And active agent will update their pad more often than an inactive agent. Usually we can print out a list every day of everyone who was in the home. 01/08/2007

Yawn... this might turn into a post a week about this experiment.Nothing to report.  No calls, no emails.  12/11/2006

Following up on my Zillow experiment for my house listing. So - Real Estate Agents - just how slow is December?  :)  I imagine Nov - Jan have got to be about the worst time imaginable to sell a house. Day 3.  No calls, no emails, nothing. Not many houses listed in the area on Zillow. 12/10/2006

Nada.  Same as yesterday minus any noticeable street gawking. 12/08/2006

I know Realtors aren't exactly thrilled about the Zillow announcement yesterday... making it super easy to be a FSBO.  While this experiment is far from scientific: I don't really want to sell probably wouldn't even vacuum if someone came overam definitely not staging (although your hired when I do Craig)it's a few weeks before Christmas, etc. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to list off all the negatives and then not budge on the priceI decided to put my house up on Zillow; just to see what would happen.I don't know how many views my listing got.  I can't find a "this has been viewed # times" anywhere.  I know it's been viewed a few times.To Date: Number of strange mid-day, probably was a Realtor, drive byes that involved getting out of their car and staring at my house for 5 minutes, ... 12/07/2006

If you are looking for a great place to live near Seattle, Bellevue, or Redmond, please consider Kirkland, Washington.  I was born and raised in Seattle, and have lived in a number of its neighborhoods.  From my experience, I think that Kirkland is the best place to live!Kirkland has an historic town center, situated along the eastern shores of Lake Washington.  It boasts a marina, public art & galleries, fabulous restaurants and shops, and all are within a short walking distance of the downtown core.  It also has all the resources a family would want; a library, performing arts center, baseball field and team, skateboard park, public swimming pool, teen center, senior center, public farmers market, movie theatre, dance & acting studios, and many parks with access to the lake.  The comm... 09/09/2006