Although I complained about it last night, the highlights reel episode of Grey’s Anatomy reminded me that some of you might be new to Seattle or new readers of this site. In the spirit of getting everyone caught up and reminiscing about the year that was, you’ll find a month-by-month rundown of 2005 after the jump. It’s a mix of a Seattle timeline and a few posts that might even make your 2006 a little better.

I think this officially concludes the site’s “looking back” portion of the program (even we have a limit to the amount of history we want to learn in order not to repeat it).

January

• Metroblogging Seattle’s First Annual Favorite Things Post [#]
  
• Cat started crawling the Broadway coffee scene [#], starting with Joe Bar [#], Le Petit Cafe [#], Extaz Espresso [#], and even a Starbucks [#].

• Snow fell on Seattle. We were excited [#, #]
• Ben Exworthy bought an issue’s worth of content in the Stranger [#]
• After much anticipation, Bus Stop as an unofficial Cha Cha overflow space with occasional craft nights [#]
• George W. Bush was sworn in for a second term. Although J20 was no N29, people took to the streets in protest [#]

February

• Starbucks let famous people “start conversations” with “the way I see it” cups [#]
• the Stranger published their Valentines issue, crushing the hopes and dreams of many wannabe sexiest ____s and allowing creative interpretations of other people’s love notes [#]
• The Seattle Times featured an article about the “Seattle Freeze”. A debate-worthy meme was born [#, #]
• Before he was “Mayor Gridlock”, they called him “Allen Wrench” [#]

March

• Bill Gates knighted [#]
• Grey’s Anatomy announced. Little did we know what a monster of recapping and creative geography was about to be unleashed [#]
• As is their custom, the UW cherry trees went into full bloom [#]
• Mount St. Helens Burped [#]
• Libraries were hot with a new Ravenna branch opening [#] and SPL going all RSS [#]
• Macy’s mostly completed its rebranding of the Bon [#]
• the UW men’s basketball team went to the big dance, but no further [#]
• Skye went to Kelsey Creek Park, cuteness ensued [#]

April

• April showers bring April flowers — tulip time in Skagit valley [#]
• The First Christian Church was demolished, no word on the status of the Second [#]
• In television news: Grey’s Anatomy begins,bringing national attention to “ferry boats”, “mocha lattes”, “perpetual rain”, and our dreamy skyline. [#];
• Alex was fired from the Apprentice [#]; and Death Cab for Cutie took the o.c. by storm [#]

• Streetbeat faced Fankick in a retro downtown danceoff [#]
• there were plenty of places to get tipsy after work [#]

May

• Joann explained FareStart to the curious [#]
• Skye looked at birds and birdwatchers [#]
• Secrets were revealed: outlet malls [#]
  and frappuccinos [#]

• SIFF was displaced by SITH [#]
• Speaking of SIFF: pre-festival excitement [#, #, #], weekly journals [#, #, #], and a little Miranda July love [#]
• New signs simultaneously protected and endangered pedestrians [#]
• victrola’s experiment with wi-fi free weekends (not free wi-fi weekends)
  [#]

• a pilot was interviewed [#]

June

• Seven months after the election, the governor’s race was settled
  [#]

• A big month for Broadway. In true Seattle style, there was a lot made of changing the building height guidelines on Broadway [#]. Then Pride “exploded” [#] and announced plans to explode elsewhere next year [#]. Finally pho cyclo opened [#] and has survived in the cursed storefront for more than six months.
• Tibet came to Seattle [#]
• Scooters got hotter [#]
• Even the Stranger questioned the monorail’s budget [#]

July

• Seattle showed it’s true colors by celebrating Bastille Day [#]
• Reliable weather meant that it was daytrip season with hiking [#], Port Townsend [#], and Jetty Island [#] drawing Metbloggers out of the city.
• Washington State Ferries got the hookup, laptop toting commuters rejoiced [#]
• In out of town news, the Enumclaw Horse reared its ugly head [#]

August

• More summer fun with kayaking [#]
• In neighborhood news, there was a new high rise in Bellevue [#], Ballard tried to hip itself up with a new neighborhood designation [#], and trio of awesome were born on 2nd Avenue [#]
• In parks & rec news, volunteer park [#] and Zoo Tunes [#] were appreciated diversions.
• Ghost cycles appeared all over the place [#]
• KEXP started podcasting [#]

September

• We provided some tips and tricks for Bumbershoot [#]
• The Chop Suey e-mail list spun out of control [#]
• There was a city council election, candidates debated [#]
• A parrot was lost [#]
• The 17-year moratorium on strip clubs was taken down in court [#]. Victory parties were short lived — new fluorescent lighting and four-foot lap dance requirements followed soon on the heels.
• Seattle has lots of active meetup groups, including photographers [#] and webloggers [#]
• Oktoberfest provided an excuse for beer drinking in September [#]
• The end of summer brought root vegetable season [#]
• Starbucks dropped the Torrefazione Italia brand [#]

October

• Not everyone in Wedgwood was happy about getting a Starbucks [#], but Top Pot eased the pain [#]
• In service journalism news, we explained Flexcar 101 [#] and pub quizzes [#]
• The symphony went pops with Star Wars [#]
• Capitol Hill launched its own First Thursday artwalk [#]
• In vintage or retro news, photo booths were hot [#], the Kalakala found a new port to call home [#], and Leilani Lanes called it quits [#]
• Rusty’s runaway tour of Seattle provided a blueprint for anyone with visitors but no agenda [#], Samantha’s trip to Leavenworth highlighted a reason to get out of town for a day or two [#]

November

• Early signs of winter brought snowboarders to First Avenue [#]
• Tom Douglas represented on Iron Chef [#]
• Laura Viers was underappreciated [#], John Hodgman was interviewed [#]
• There were several reasons for being thankful to live in Seattle [#]
• The prospect of early snowfall sent the local media into a tizzy with SnowWatch2005 [#, #, #]
• USA Today confirmed that Seattleites can and do read [#]

December

• Colonnade park opened in Eastlake [#, #]
• Space Travel Supplies came to Greenwood [#, #, #]
• Santa clones took to the streets [#]
• The smoking ban goes into effect
  [#], horrible anti-smoking commericals continued to pollute the airwaves[#]

• Jim Compton announced his resignation from the City Council [#]
• gold fire hydrants appeared all over [#]