What's Happening in Seattle this Week

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Financial: Sell Your Own Home , July 1st, $45.  When half-million dollar homes are standard, it can be tempting to save those six points for yourself.  Of course, the web is making selling your home by yourself easier every year.  Learn key principals, points of law, pricing, and negotiation.  If you're willing to put in the work, the payoff can be impressive. Food: Mushroom Festival, June 28-29th, $5.  Mushroom fans tend to be real earthy people.  They have some A-list Seattle cooking talent providing demonstrations, as well as notable sponsors.  While everyone knows about the button mushroom, they explore mushrooms in other edible dimensions.  To round the festival out, there's an antique show. Women's Networking: Jazzy June, June 26th, $40.  A networking event for women. Over 70 vendors showcase their goods, along with the usual party nosh of appetizers, music, and a fashion show.  Now that this event has been around for a couple of years, it's building up good momentum.  *  Also, Girl Power Hour , a women's monthly social event, $10, networking for savvy gals.  Connect with entrepreneurial and like-minded women in varying industries and social circles. Outdoors: Greenway Days , June 27-28th.  Because of this organization, we're looking at forests on the I-90 drive to Spokane instead of clear-cut mountains.  These folks are putting together events along the corridor: a geocaching competition in North Bend, a Mountains-to-Sound relay in Snoqualmie, an 11-mile hike at Rattlesnake lake, tours of the Cedar River watershed, and more. Environmental: The Last Polar Bear , opening June 28th.  They bring everything about this bear together, focusing upon how global warming is deteriorating the big guy's environment.  Touch polar bear fur, ring seal, and arctic fox pelts.  A photographer with a decade's experience journaling their lives talks on June 28th, as well as a polar bear expert from the US Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center.  Learn how these bears live in the most inhospitable land.  This event is also a good reminder that the Burke Museum is free on the first Thursday of each month. Out-and-About: Sorrento Hotel, most people know of this place for the Hunt Club or the Fireside Lounge (or because they shot a scene from Sleepless in Seattle here).  This place is worth a personal tour if you're in the area.  The atmosphere has a real aristocratic vibe.  The building just celebrated it's 100th anniversary, and of course, it has a resident ghost on the 4th floor.  The other unexpected feature is the complimentary London taxi to downtown points (for guests). Family: Architectural Tour , June 28th and July 26th, $10/adult and $5/kid.  This is a hands-on activity driven tour, designed to keep those little kids active.  This is a good way to spend a day with your little ones.  They learn how buildings and nature interact together, the vocabulary of buildings, and using critical thinking to make architectural decisions. Seminar: Great Relationships , June 26th, free, on the relationship dances we all supposedly do.  Specifically, the topic is boundaries, of secret boundaries we harbor, damaging dynamics, and employing guilt-free boundaries.  Topics on relationships are like diet books - you'd think just about everything that can be said has already been done, but then, somebody comes out with another new hook on the subject. Real Estate: Buy Low, Rent Smart, June 28th, $49.  Be vulturistic and buy bank-owned foreclosures for cheap.  If this is your thing, it's a great market right now.  Then, after acquiring your property for discount, learn how to rent smart and make a profit.  There's a lot of money to make in real estate, but it's certainly not for the faint of heart. Organization: ASTAR, helping parents of autistic children.  Raising a child has enough challenges, but now there's a high-maintenance child who very much needs your dedicated attention to have a decent shot at life.  Gain education and support from other parents and the medical pros.	Theatrical Young Patron Groups: If you're between 20-39 years old, that makes you young, for an arts patron.  The opera, ballet, and symphony have well established groups courting these desirable youngsters (Bravo Club , Backstage Pass, and Wolfgang Group).  Given their success, Seattle theaters are duplicating the recipe.  Besides the bonus fun, these groups provide a way to see great theater too. Membership Club at ACT Theater : Since this is a new group, it's still in the planning stages, launching for the new season.  There's no cost yet, being in the free trial period.  This means if you join, expect a new club undergoing development, one that's hungry for your feedback and participation. Upcoming planned parties include a beer tasting, "pink-a-boo!", and a "marvelous" party for the main stage performance, as well as the usual lot of pre and post performance get-togethers.  Some day, you get the bragging rights of being "a charter member". Avenue New Club, for fans of 5th Avenue Theater .  This club is just coming together, maturing from an informal get-together, to an organized club.  They're planning 5-7 events for the next season.  Most of the activities are pre or post show get-togethers at nearby restaurants, offering a chance to talk with  members of the creative team and gaining a first-person account of what goes into constructing a musical.  Since this group is new, there's no cost to join (yet), which is amazing, since they offer great discounts (subscriber discounts, pre-sale offers) for members.  This upcoming season, they're planning to put together a couple social activities outside of show events as well. Seattle Rep Theater : As far as theater groups go, this is Seattle's oldest group of young professionals, with over 200 members.  These folks have the best behind-the-scenes tours, so you get to see the scene shop and how the costumes are put together.  Then, there's the usual membership benefits, of social events, food and drinks before the show, crew parties, and ticket discounts.    Cool Video: This is the best Seattle classis ever: Almost Live - Roscoe's Rug Emporium Featuring Pat Cashman.  Now, ask the usual question of why Almost Live isn't available on DVD?

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About: Seattle Spin is a weekly email newsletter highlighting the best restaurants, activities, and venues in Seattle this particular week Contact: Publisher: Gerard Wirz; Editor: Nathaniel Hollywood; Contributors:  Mike Ford and Mary Novak .