Heat hogs

For some reason I always take photos of the house when it's messy -- everyone is going to think I have no housekeeping skills. Not true! But the pets always pose and do interesting things when there's an abundance of clutter.

Pet avoidance: "I'm not loooooking at you...."

Back in time

My 10-year college reunion is this year, October to be exact. I really can't wrap my head around the fact that it's been that long. I am 31!

Trinity always holds a big event for Alumni Weekend and I hope to attend this year, barring any health fairs or work events that I'll need to coordinate. My favorite college roommates and I made a promise long ago that we would head back to San Antonio for this reunion. It will be eye-opening to see the changes on campus. Just for kicks, I checked to see how much a RT ticket between Anchorage and San Antonio is going for in October -- the cheapest (with 2 stops) is $649.

Hey I just looked out my window and it's snowing! Yay - that's good news. The landscape lately has been less winter wonderland and more gray pavement.

Slimmin' down

I'm trying to be healthier in the new year -- I have a shiny new elliptical machine in my craft room and in my quest to lose a few pounds, a new diet too. No more full-calorie sodas, although coffee is still in. More fresh fruits, veggies and water. Yogurt for breakfast. And I'm going to stop eating the mystery food down in our cafeteria. Here's today's lunch:


Sugar-free candy is still in because I can't give that stuff up!

Accomplishments

I just have to post about my friend and college roommate Dr. Em -- I'm bursting with pride! She told me weeks ago that she is now double board certified in rheumatology and internal medicine (a BIG deal). And now her future employer in Texas has just posted a page complete with all her CV info and a gorgeous photo of Em. Not gonna post the link here (privacy and all that) but trust me, it's all very impressive.

Congrats Em!

Monday update

D and a friend of his went off snowmachining this past weekend and came back very happy. They were able to "shoot some varmints" and D came home with a fox and lynx.

While he was gone I scooted off to Target to scope out the Home Design Event, where selected items are 30% off. And eureka! I found the dining set of my dreams...


The color of the set I want is a dark dark brown, almost black. I love that the table has some weight to it and feels sturdy. It also features the shaker/amish style that I'm really into. The sales guy told me he sold the last in-stock table the day prior, so I'm waiting (not so) patiently for more to come in. Our current dining set is the one I brought with me from the condo -- white farmhouse-style in wobbly shape.

I also scored a good work sweater for $2.57...yahoo! And D almost killed himself recently in the slippery tub, so I snagged one of these swanky pebble bath mats too.

In other news, my ribs are still sore -- I can only sleep in one position comfortably. I've been feeling flabby so I did a very light workout on the elliptical. That was probably a bad idea but today my ribs don't feel any worse than they have on previous days.

Isla Mujeres

D had been to this little island before and really enjoyed it, so we hopped on a big boat and spent half a day on Isla Mujeres (Woman Island).

The side of the island closest to Cancun is sheltered and away from the wind, so we were able to snorkel there and lay out on the beach with pina coladas and margaritas.

Walking around the north end of the island...lots of golf carts and scooter rentals.

The opposite side of Isla Mujeres is another story -- talk about windy! I could barely stand up.

D and I got to practice our bargaining skills while shopping in Mexico. I didn't want to bring back a ton of stuff because honestly we don't need extra clutter -- but I fell in love with the items from this little ceramic shop. I ended up buying an adorable cat figurine, but am kicking myself for not getting a painted platter too.


These little boys were cute -- they had just been released from school and walking in front of us. They kept kicking each other's butts and swinging backpacks around. I snapped the photo as the boy on the right heard us laughing.

On the ferry going back to Cancun from Isla Mujeres. We met a nice older couple from Minnesota and the lady took my photo on the back of the boat. The water was a bit choppy -- the boat was rocking back and forth.

Cookie recipe

Whoa -- I saw these cookies on another blog and promptly scooted over to the Domino website for the actual recipe. One of my all time favorite combos is chocolate and coconut. These look amazing -- and the best part is that the recipe looks easy-peasy.

Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons
from Domino Magazine
Makes 12

The Ingredients
2 egg whites
salt
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
2 cups finely shredded coconut
2 ½ oz. bittersweet dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350° F. In medium bowl, add a pinch of salt to egg whites and beat with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold in sugar and vanilla, then stir in coconut. Using a small ice-cream scoop or a spoon, form cookies on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden, then let cool for 30 minutes. Melt chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. Pour into a bowl, dip macaroons into chocolate, and return to baking sheet until chocolate has hardened. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve, up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

Sick of photos yet?

Cool mariachis at a restaurant in the La Isla area of the hotel zone.

This guy was ensconsed in a huge tank at the La Isla aquarium. He posed for quite a few photos.

We journeyed into the actual town of Cancun via autobus to visit Walmart and Sam's Club. The Walmart was very nice - clean, spacious, featuring food AND liquor. Don't have that here in Anchorage. The bread area was different -- I had to grab a big pizza pan and pile on the bread we wanted. Then a lady weighs it and wraps it all up.

The Mexican shoppers thought were big weirdos, rightly so.

Humongo bottles of liquor at Sam's. They're actually a pretty good deal -- the Johnny Walker black on the far left is about $140 USD.

We walked up and down the aisles of wine and hard liquor. I have never in my live seen so much tequila in one place. At amazing low prizes even.

Post dates

Hmmm, I just noticed that my new template does not add the date of my posts -- gonna have to dive back into the html and see if that can be fixed...

Ok, I got it to show up at the bottom of my posts. Better than nothing I guess.

I wanna go back

Can't see them here, but the coconuts in Cancun all had smooth exteriors. We couldn't figure out if that meant they were not yet mature or if Mexican coconuts were somehow different than Hawaiian ones.

Resident lizards at our hotel/condo -- one is hiding behind the tree and the other is in the foreground.

During a nice long walk on the beach. I went crazy beachcombing and looking for shells. Was knocked over a few times by waves for my troubles.

D enjoying the surf.

Cool things

Holy trapdoor, Batman! If we really, really loved wine and had a ton of money, this might be an option: spiral wine cellar.

Housecleaning

Hi all - please bear with me as I remodel my blog. I have had the itch to make a change for a while now...hopefully I won't muck it up too much!

Warmer than normal!

Holy crap (or like D says, crap is not holy, water is) I just saw this illustration in our local paper, the fabulous Anchorage Daily News:


Warmer than usual? Hallelujah! After last year's infamous summer, all Alaskans are hoping for a sunny and warm season starting in June. Hurry up and book your tickets peoples!

Local updates

When we left Alaska for Mexico, it was 10 to 15 degrees below zero. When we returned, about 85% of the snow had melted during a freak warm period -- the temperature got up to 40 degrees for a few days with warm Chinook winds blowing through town.

It turns out that school was cancelled for 4 DAYS because the streets turned to sheets of black ice after the melted snow would refreeze at night. I can't remember classes being cancelled for 4 days the WHOLE time I attended school in Anchorage. But like my dad says, safety first!

The weather has hit a more normal level now -- overcast and about 20 degrees. It's a tad bit depressing without our normal snow cover though. The snow is hard packed and bad for skiing and snowmachining. Bummer.

I took my barking cough with me to Mexico -- I'm sure my fellow airplane mates really appreciated that. D says he knows what it's like to date a smoker now -- the cough was awful. Probably the second most annoying sound in the world. And the best part? I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis. Have an appointment to see my doctor about that and my possible bruised ribs from a night fishing incident in Cancun. Ah, I'm the luckiest girl alive!

I'm supposed to participate in the Ski for Women on Superbowl Sunday, but we'll see what the doc says about that. A couple of my coworkers have experienced bruised ribs and they say it takes between 2 to 4 weeks for a full recovery. This race isn't very challenging but I don't want to push it.

Cruise in May

In conversations with multiple people, I've heard that amazing cruise deals can be found RIGHT NOW. We can't afford to take another vacation so soon, but the rest of you lucky people could snag an Alaskan cruise for cheapo.

We've never done a cruise before, but lots of friends and family have -- this deal is for Holland America Line: Vancouver to Seward, 7 nights. Must leave May 10 or May 24. $540 for oceanside room. Taxes and fees are $111 each person. But I think you also get $100 worth of shipboard credit per room.

Come see us this summer...we'll pick you up in Seward!