Next month is gearing up to be a busy one. I'm 99% sure that I'll be flying to Juneau to help coordinate a health fair for state employees down there in early February. Never been to southeast Alaska so even though it's a quick trip I'm excited! Only way to get there is by plane or boat and the weather is notorious for ruining travel plans. I'll be sure to take lots of photos when not working and share them here.
Back at my workplace, we have quite a few seminars on the calendar for Heart Month, plus a heart-specific health fair on the 12th. And then D and I will leave for our 10-day Maui honeymoon! My schedule is super tight for February but I'm very much looking forward to relaxing on a Hawaiian beach with my wonderful husband after the work craziness has subsided.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Parties galore
Happy Friday, happy weekend. My workplace holiday party is tonight - 775 people signed up! I'm going to scoot home a little early and then help with setup this evening at the hotel. Our party is so big that we rent all four of the Sheraton's ballrooms. I helped my coworker shop for door prize gifts this week and am crossing my fingers that I will win something because our prizes are seriously awesome (camera, flip video recorder, coffee cards, gift cards, lift tickets, ski resort overnight stays, etc.) D is off the hook for this party and has decided to go snowmachining and critter-hunting up north with a buddy instead. Aren't I a nice wife?
Speaking of holiday parties, we attended the Carpenters Union event last month and I ended up winning a $50 certificate to Club Paris downtown, which is one of THE BEST places to get a steak in Alaska. It's very Alaskan, which means you can go there and drop $150 on a fancy meal but not feel out of place wearing Carharts and XtraTuffs.
The Carpenters party was held at the Captain Cook and I got a fantastic parking spot just steps away from the hotel (there's my lucky streak again - my friends call me the luckiest girl in Anchorage!). We took a little break from the party to check out the hotel shops and came across an art gallery, Stephan Fine Arts. D and I both fell in love with a gorgeous print by Alaskan artist Charles Gause.
It is HUGE (44" x 14" unframed) but coincidentally we have open wall space above our dining room table that would fit this perfectly. D and I spend a lot of time in Prince William Sound and we both love how this evokes memories of special days spent out there. Isn't it amazing? At the gallery the print was matted beautifully with a thick dark wood frane that matches our home decor. It's a wee bit expensive though - $450 unframed and around $825 framed/matted. Ah well, we can dream.
Speaking of holiday parties, we attended the Carpenters Union event last month and I ended up winning a $50 certificate to Club Paris downtown, which is one of THE BEST places to get a steak in Alaska. It's very Alaskan, which means you can go there and drop $150 on a fancy meal but not feel out of place wearing Carharts and XtraTuffs.
The Carpenters party was held at the Captain Cook and I got a fantastic parking spot just steps away from the hotel (there's my lucky streak again - my friends call me the luckiest girl in Anchorage!). We took a little break from the party to check out the hotel shops and came across an art gallery, Stephan Fine Arts. D and I both fell in love with a gorgeous print by Alaskan artist Charles Gause.
It is HUGE (44" x 14" unframed) but coincidentally we have open wall space above our dining room table that would fit this perfectly. D and I spend a lot of time in Prince William Sound and we both love how this evokes memories of special days spent out there. Isn't it amazing? At the gallery the print was matted beautifully with a thick dark wood frane that matches our home decor. It's a wee bit expensive though - $450 unframed and around $825 framed/matted. Ah well, we can dream.
Monday, January 3, 2011
A New Year
Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a year filled with new hope, life, health and experiences.
A warm front rolled in this weekend so now we have 35-40 degree temperatures! Our street is one big sheet of ice and my car slid down the melting hill to bypass our house the other day. Some people call the warm winds and weather a "pineapple express" because of their origin in Hawaii and the tropics. I say they are Chinook winds because I'm Alaskan. And that's how we roll.
Went showshoeing with a friend from work - 3 other ladies were slated to join us but the weather and other errands called them away. I was ridiculously hot since the temp that day was 45 degrees, but we had a good time regardless. My friend had never been snowshoeing before so it was neat to introduce her to a new experience. No moose or other critters on the trail.
My dad is getting a little better every day and finally got a good night's rest with the help of a sleep aid (doctor approved). His appetite is back and my mom is visiting the grocery store almost every day to make the meals he is craving. Cross your fingers that Mayo will let him travel home to Tennessee in the next week or so!
Our honeymoon plans are coming right along. I booked a one-night stay in Hana and used Hotwire.com to bid on a hotel room for our last night in Maui. We wanted to be close to the airport after driving back from Hana, and Hotwire actually came back with a great deal. Our all-day snorkel cruise is booked, as is our rental car (a jeep - yay!). I'm debating on whether we should do a luau - I've attended a few but D has never had the luau experience - but they are running $100-$116 per person! We could eat some amazing food in Maui restaurants for that much money.
I haven't blogged about this but my kitty Pepper passed away in September. We returned home from a moose hunting trip up north to find Pepper unresponsive and very sick. I was shuttling her to and from the vet every day for a week and she seemed to be improving. But at home she escaped outside and didn't come back. I am sure she was done with being sick with thyroid disease, feeling awful because of this new condition and dealing with a scary vet office - and wanted to pass away on her own terms. Oh man, I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about her right now! I try to remember that she was an older cat who had a good life and 12 years is a pretty good run. I adopted her from the South Texas SPCA as a senior in college and she survived 3 moves (including a 12 hour plane trip from San Antonio to Anchorage).
A warm front rolled in this weekend so now we have 35-40 degree temperatures! Our street is one big sheet of ice and my car slid down the melting hill to bypass our house the other day. Some people call the warm winds and weather a "pineapple express" because of their origin in Hawaii and the tropics. I say they are Chinook winds because I'm Alaskan. And that's how we roll.
Went showshoeing with a friend from work - 3 other ladies were slated to join us but the weather and other errands called them away. I was ridiculously hot since the temp that day was 45 degrees, but we had a good time regardless. My friend had never been snowshoeing before so it was neat to introduce her to a new experience. No moose or other critters on the trail.
My dad is getting a little better every day and finally got a good night's rest with the help of a sleep aid (doctor approved). His appetite is back and my mom is visiting the grocery store almost every day to make the meals he is craving. Cross your fingers that Mayo will let him travel home to Tennessee in the next week or so!
Our honeymoon plans are coming right along. I booked a one-night stay in Hana and used Hotwire.com to bid on a hotel room for our last night in Maui. We wanted to be close to the airport after driving back from Hana, and Hotwire actually came back with a great deal. Our all-day snorkel cruise is booked, as is our rental car (a jeep - yay!). I'm debating on whether we should do a luau - I've attended a few but D has never had the luau experience - but they are running $100-$116 per person! We could eat some amazing food in Maui restaurants for that much money.
I haven't blogged about this but my kitty Pepper passed away in September. We returned home from a moose hunting trip up north to find Pepper unresponsive and very sick. I was shuttling her to and from the vet every day for a week and she seemed to be improving. But at home she escaped outside and didn't come back. I am sure she was done with being sick with thyroid disease, feeling awful because of this new condition and dealing with a scary vet office - and wanted to pass away on her own terms. Oh man, I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about her right now! I try to remember that she was an older cat who had a good life and 12 years is a pretty good run. I adopted her from the South Texas SPCA as a senior in college and she survived 3 moves (including a 12 hour plane trip from San Antonio to Anchorage).
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