Lust for leather

I love Coach handbags because of the relative affordablility (compared to Louis Vuitton or Prada) and classy design (for the most part). But Kate Spade is another one of my favorites and I scored an unbelieveable deal on this purse (in brown):

Let's just say I didn't pay full price - or even half! Probably one of my best deals yet. It's coming with me on my upcoming trip since the bag is huge - it's my new favorite carry-on.

Wheeee!

I'm feeling pretty great today -- it's one day before I leave for Miami. People are definitely jealous when I mention where I'll be traveling...

Can you feel the excitement?!

Trashy design

Ahh, I just love innovative design for been-around-the-block household items, via this Swedish design studio:

Organizing

Since D comes from a "less is more" type of background and I have a "nesting" type of personality, the name of the game in our household is compromise. And that's difficult for me - I like to have fun, beautiful and useful things all over the house. But now, before I buy random things I ask myself if we really need this whatsit or thingamajig and what purpose it will serve in our lives. So we still have leftover random stuff around, but it seems to be getting better.

Stuff we can live without gets shuffled off to a few places, depending on value:

• eBay -- lets you reach a wide audience, but must deal with no bidders (or non-paying bidders) for your item and schlepping boxes to the post office. I have a little 30# scale in my craft room so we can print postage from home.
  
• Craigslist -- woohoo, this site is awesome! Through Craigslist D and I found tenants for our rentals, sold furniture, got rid of the awful original cabinets in the kitchen, unloaded scores of small items and overall found some great deals. Just be prepared for people to flake out. And NEVER hold items -- say first come, first served. Otherwise you'll be waiting at home for a buyer to show up and when they don't, you will kick yourself for telling everyone else the item has already sold. And cash is king, people. There's also a free section on Craigslist -- it's surprising to see how many people will drive across town for a free item worth $5.
  
• Consignment stores -- my nicer clothes get dropped off here. It's a 50/50 split and the store sets prices. This place is Sarah Palin's favorite Alaskan consignment shop.
  
• Salvation Army / Big Brothers, Big Sisters / Value Village / SPCA / Goodwill -- call these places to pick up big pieces of furniture or lots of bags - drop off smaller items yourself, it saves the charity time and gas. Make sure you know what to drop off -- for some reason the Salvation Army in AK will not take exercise equipment. Go figure. Don't forget the slip -- new IRS rules dictate that taxpayers must have evidence of their tax-deductible donations.
  
• Clothing exchange party -- also called a Naked Lady Party! It's not risque, I promise. The girls and I have done this once so far -- you get together with your friends and bring clothing, accessories, shoes, purses, etc. to exchange with each other. Make sure everything is clean and neat - no one wants to take home dirty or stained stuff. If at home, serve drinks/snacks -- we held ours at a dessert bakery and were able to enjoy pastries and coffee.

Honestly, an organized home makes you feel better -- call it Feng Shui or common sense, but it's all good. If you can, clean everything out of a closet and go through all items one by one. OR try this technique -- turn all of your hangers backwards. After you have worn a piece of clothing and are ready to put it back in the closet, put the hanger back the right way. After 6 or 12 months you will see the clothing that hasn't been worn. That stuff should probably be sold, given away or burned -- your choice.

I know that Martha can be a bit annoying, but that woman knows her stuff. Some good ideas here: Organizing Tip of the Day.

The white stuff

Yay! It's finally snowing again after weeks of cold, dry weather.

Can't wait to dust off the snowshoes and x-country skiis and hit the trails! Here I am in 2006 out at Nancy Lake (near Wasilla):



Cabins can be found all along the edge of the lake, which is pretty popular with snowmachiners -- tracks are visible next to me in the photo.

Mr. Roboto

Had to share this photo from Friday -- one of my coworkers dressed up like a robot for Halloween, complete with video screen! Faces of famous robots would scroll across the screen - R2D2, that robot from "Lost in Space," Transformers, Bender from "Futurama." It was pretty entertaining:



He even had a fan inside to cool it down -- leave it to the Tech guys to create such an innovative costume!

3 cool things -- 10/31/08

Hey - it's 3 cool things Friday!

I just made that up -- but doesn't that make this blog more interesting? Now you'll want to check back with me at the end of every week...muah ha ha ha ha!

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Hidden doors: I want one of these so bad -- and would even give up one of my coveted Coach purses to have one. This one is from Hidden Doors Direct:

I can't remember where these are from:

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USB stuff: gadgets that plug into the USB port on your computer...

Sim Card Reader -- back up your sim card in case your cell phone is lost or stolen:

Panic Button -- playing solitaire at work? Press the panic button when your boss strolls by:

Beverage Warmer/Cooler -- not sure I would use this all the time, but coffee does tend to get cold in my office - and vice versa with soft drinks. I drink sloooowly:

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Crackle-Glaze Dinnerware: I picked up two of the blue bowls during my first trip to Target Anchorage. One is corraling hair things in the bathroom while the other holds bracelets on top of my dresser:

Happy Weekend!

On the small screen

Every once in a while at work we will get a request from a national tv network or program to film here on our medical campus. We're always happy to help out with location and talent coordination.

Last year the Discovery Channel contacted us twice and it worked out that in one of those instances we were able to hook them up with a physician (ok, basically the only doc) in Alaska that specializes in frostbite injuries. The production guys interviewed him and we trekked all over campus for good background locations.

The segment is part of a new show -- the Discovery Channel's Toughest Race on Earth, which is about our Iditarod Sled Dog Race. I caught just a portion of the first episode and am not sure when the frostbite segment will air, but keep your eyes peeled anyway.

Oh and I made the mistake of looking at the frostbite images before sending them on to Discovery. Ugh, couldn't eat lunch that day.

Random cold tidbits

In exactly one week I will hop on an Alaska Airlines flight to Miami. Yay! Those tanned and beautiful people will be shocked at my pasty whiteness, the likes of which they've never seen...
It's a mini-Trinity reunion with the best college roomies a gal could ever have.

Em, Slee and I try to get together at least once a year and we've been so lucky with our trips thus far. A long weekend with my girls is getting me through this chilly snap our fair city is currently experiencing.

Halloween is coming up and the cold weather means kids all across Alaska will attempt to fit their costumes directly over snowsuits and winter gear. Ahh, the memories. Some kids can't swing that, so the costume has to be hidden under layers of gear -- bummer:

D bought a swanky new programmable coffee maker and it's been nice to have a cup of hot java in the a.m. before work on these chilly days. I usually rush out the door in a flurry of activity each morning and set down my mug on the entryway bench before getting my purse, coat, keys, etc. This is what I saw yesterday:

Pepper has an abundance of kitty curiosity -- she stuck her head right in there and took some sips. I'm not surprised. She also eats dog food, bread and toothpaste. I did throw out the coffee afterwards since I'm not much for cat spit in my food.

I heart you

I stole this photo from another blog that I read, Alaskology. It's just very sweet -- the image, I mean. The blog is pretty good too.

Not exactly politics

Honestly, this is more funny than anything else -- so I'm not breaking my self-imposed ban on discussing politics:

Op-Art - The Electoral Map - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Custom job

Everyone probably already knows about this, but if you need a gift for someone or are looking for a cool party favor then check out the customizable Jones Soda packs.

The soda (or pop, for you lovely Midwesterners) is quite tasty and there are tons of flavors. Plus it is beyond cool to see your very own image on the bottle!

No photos to upload? No problem -- Jones has lots of ideas to pick from, even ICanHasCheezburger!

Each 12-pack is $29.99 plus shipping. If you're having a big soiree, order 10 or more packs and get a discount. Yum yum, drink it up.

Braided Scarf Tutorial

Blogger ah-yi generously posted instructions for a braided scarf. I tried it, quickly got hooked and made scarves for the rest of the week.

Here is her lovely creation:

And one of mine:

It takes a bit of time to get used to how tight or loose the yarn should be. A couple of tips: make sure to keep the yarn untangled -- especially important in the beginning; and don't do a crazy wide scarf your first time out -- it'll just be confusing -- stick with 10 pieces of yarn/5 tied strands.

Good luck!

Same difference to the dog

Did somebody say HUNGRY?

Get your hardhat, Drift...it's dinnertime! Wait, that's no hardhat -- it's the dog toy basket.

Ah, that's better. Now we can have dinner.

Getting my craft on

Got together with the girls on Friday night for some spiked cider and pumpkin carving. In hindsight, maybe rum, wine and sharp knives were not a good combination -- but we all came through unscathed. Seriously, those are some good looking pumpkins!


The internets came through for me again in regards to my pumpkin - I got the idea from this guy's website. It was actually more difficult to carve that tiny pumpkin than the larger one.

Sara decided to carve a likeness of Cindy into a pumpkin -- we were all amazed by the uncanny resemblance. Here I am holding it in front of Cindy's head:

Drift ignored my creation when I first brought it home, but when I turned my back he tried to eat the mini-me pumpkin. That dog loves putting stuff in his mouth.

Picked up a battery-powered light at Wal-Mart and it works great. Looks amazing in the dark. Now D doesn't have to worry about me burning the porch down. Happy Halloween!