Baby bump - 19 weeks

19 weeks today! Still very tired at night but then I'm up most mornings by 5:30 a.m. and can't fall asleep for a while. This being my first pregnancy, I'm not sure if the baby is moving or not -  I don't know what to watch or feel for. There were a few butterfly flutterings this week so that may have been baby movement (I like to think it was).

I'm planning on staying in town this weekend and finally shopping for some maternity pants because the pressure on my tummy is getting ridiculous! My dresses and skirts (with stretchy waistbands) are falling into the work clothing rotation more often now.

Happy weekend everyone!

Hollywood comes to Alaska

The Alaska Film Office has been revived in recent years with some cash from the State Legislature and really wants to entice productions both big and small to film in Alaska. Because of the tax incentives, the movie "Everybody Loves Whales" was shot in locales around the state - it starred Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Ted Danson, etc. I think it comes out sometime in 2012. 


The next big Hollywood production is a movie called "The Frozen Ground" and will be shot over the course of month in Alaska. You can read about it here: Anchorage Daily News story. The big name actors are Jon Cusack, Nicolas Cage and Vanessa Hudgens.


The story calls for a couple scenes set in a hospital and guess where the director wants to film? At my workplace! I showed a few of our spaces to the pre-production team last week and yesterday the director came with a crew member to scout it out. It was pretty cool to see their process of picking out areas to set up shots and scenes. So if they decide to go ahead with using our facility for a couple days, we'll have Nicolas Cage and Vanessa Hudgens here on campus and you can bet your booty I'll be down there trying to catch a sneak peek!

Fall Moose Hunt 1

It's not even winter yet and I feel like cabin fever is hitting me already. So when D asked if I wanted to tag along on his moose hunt this past weekend, I jumped at the chance! We had a nice dinner out at Club Paris (arguably the best steaks in town) on Friday night to celebrate our summer birthdays, and then got up at 4 a.m. (!!!) on Saturday to start the 3 hour drive north. 

We came to this area last year to hunt for bull moose. It's so beautiful in the fall and we got lucky again with the clear, crisp weather.

D decided to launch the boat from another area on the lake - it was a little deeper than the State Park launch we used last September and much better for our v-bottom boat. Most people out here had river boats (flat bottoms with a jet motor). 

Ready to go! That is D's canoe - we pulled it behind the boat.

Our first stop was a beach near the shallow lake channel.

  

Lots of yummy blueberries out here! At one point D and I were literally sitting on our butts, cramming blueberries into our mouths by the handfuls. They were huge and delicious.

All the red leaves were hiding blueberries underneath.

Nice sandy beach.

The weather was so great. During our drive I slept for a bit and D says it was 35 degrees out, even with the sunrise. It warmed up a little to the low 60's by midday.