Keep on keeping on

Yesterday evening I was feeling a bit anxious about the things on my to-do list for today. Mondays are always hectic, but I managed to make it through!

• At work, booked a photographer to shoot a new lumbar disc replacement procedure -- while my boss took care of the tv news station which filmed the same half-day procedure. It was SO crowded in the operating room today with all the cameras and staff and doctors! I even got to chat with the physician from France who created this new technology.
• Made airline reservations for trip to Tennessee in August (thankfully my boss approved the 9-day vacation request!) after many coordinating phone calls with family
• Found 10 lbs of fresh Alaskan shrimp and am having the company overnight the package to my grandma (we don't have that much shrimp in our freezer yet)
• Figured out how to fit enough salmon and cooked PWS shrimp in a box to mail to my California relatives
• Made plans to meet up with high school friends after work for a mini-reunion

Phew...I'm surprised I got any real work done today.

Later on tonight I'll go through my photos from this weekend's fishing adventures on the Kenai River and pick out some good ones to post. D, his parents and I had such a great time!

Happy camper

As I hoped, D loved his birthday present -- a mission/craftsman-style recliner! Last month I blogged about my search for the elusive Craigslist recliner, but was sure that one would not pop up before D's birthday -- what are the odds, right? The universe must have thought I needed a dash of good luck, because the perfect product appeared on Friday via Craigslist. Even better, the price was WAY cheaper than I expected -- so affordable, in fact, that I thought it was a typo!




The woman who sold it is moving out of state very soon and surprisingly accepted my lowball offer. It may have helped that I complimented the photos of her grandkids shamelessly and bombarded her with my most charming self. Anywho, the two of us barely fit it in my car and I'm still sore from doing this half dragging/pushing maneuver in order to get it up the stairs from the garage at our house. Um, mission recliners? Totally heavier than they look.


Oh, and I had to remove the stair handrail to get it in the living room. And I think one of the cats may have been a tiny bit squished in the process. It probably would have been slightly easier to take it up the front porch steps, but then our neighbors would have witnessed me grunting and cursing. Not the kind of impression I want to make.

My civic duty

With the Dividend comes certain responsibilities and yesterday they caught up with me. The state says it's time to call me up for jury duty.

Confession time: I'm (almost) 32 and have never actually gone in for jury duty! I was excused once for attending college in another state. When I was called up after graduating and returning to Anchorage, they never got to my group number.

I'm counting my lucky stars that it's only petit jury duty, and not a grand jury session. One of my girlfriends was on call ALL SUMMER for grand jury duty. No vacations, no nothing.

If anything, it will be an interesting experience -- although my week to call in begins August 2nd and I'm considering a month postponement. If I get picked for a jury in August it'll really screw with my plans for a trip to see my family in Tennessee.

Green thumb

Yay, Friday!

A good friend of mine here at work is out of the office until next week and has entrusted me with the care of this pretty little Hawaiian volcano plant:

I know...totally looks fake, right? It just needs to be kept alive until next Thursday and then I'm in the clear! My instructions are to keep a half-inch of water at the bottom at all times. And that is not dirt the roots are clinging to -- it's a chunk of lava rock, which sucks up the moisture and nourishes the roots.

If you're so inclined, you can pick up your own volcano plant at Home Depot.

Solstice almost here!

Right now we are getting over 19 hours of daylight (19 hours, 20 minutes to be exact) and I'm not going to lie, it's pretty awesome. Summer solstice is June 21st and communities all over Alaska will celebrate the longest day of the year. after that we will start losing daylight again and begin the slow march to a cold and dark winter.

I recall one year when a few of us decided to climb Flattop for Solstice...lo and behold, the rest of Anchorage thought it would be a great night for a climb too. It was so crowded we had to park a mile or so from the trailhead lot. On the way up I saw a man climbing with a CAT perched on his SHOULDERS. I love cats and all, but I would never take one hiking. That is some serious crazy cat person behavior.

Most people think Flattop is an easy in-city, day hike -- it's only about 3 miles round trip from the parking lot and for the most part a trail exists for hikers. The part that scares me is towards the end when you have to scramble up a scree field (loose, jagged rocks on the side of a mountain). Actually, going up is not so bad -- it's coming down the scree on your backside and trying to not freak out when you lose a foothold.

Here are some photos I "borrowed" from this guy's site (http://www.photos.dougdaubert.com/vacations/Alaska-2008_compare.html) which give a good idea of the mountain:

X marks the spot

Not sure how I found this blog, but am DYING to know the location of their secret "white sand beach" in Prince William Sound. Of course, I would keep it secret too...

http://aksmith-crew.blogspot.com/2009/06/hawaii-in-alaska.html

And those kids are super cute!

Cool tools

I saw this on the Urban Outfitters website and immediately thought of D:

It's a pizza cutter! Very ingenious.

A morning visitor

Just prior to walking out the door this morning, one of the cats perked up and rushed to the window. Pepper started making a clicking/chattering noise that cats like to do when they see prey. I looked out and saw a tiny little grey and black bird sitting on the front porch railing.

Then another little bird landed and the cutest thing happened: the first bird grabbed a leaf off my potted porch tree and then GAVE IT TO THE OTHER BIRD! It was adorable. He just hopped over and they passed the leaf from beak to beak. I'm just hoping they don't do that every day or else my poor tree is done for.

More birthday wishes

Another Monday here already -- sadly, my weekend just flew by. The health fair went smoothly but all of us involved are pretty sick of fairs by now. I'm SO over getting up at 5 a.m. and losing a Saturday to work. Most of Sunday was spent on the couch as I felt a little under the weather. Today it's more nausea with a bit of dizziness thrown in. Yuck. Since there are no pressing projects on my desk today, I may scoot out early and head home to lay down.

D is down on the peninsula fishing up a storm with his parents. And today is his birthday. Happy birthday honey! I bought his big present on Friday -- and I really, really hope he enjoys it. I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle lugging that thing into the house -- obviously I should have waited for some help but my impatient nature got the best of me. D should be home by Tuesday or Wednesday (or later if work lets him fish a little longer) with lots of fish. Woot!

Work & Home

I'm a busy bee at work today, preparing for a health fair tomorrow. It is the final fair of the season so my Saturdays are free until October -- at which time I have 3 fairs, with planning for an additional 3. But we'll cross that bridge in October!

Most people know that I am an IKEA addict -- but my boss loves that boxy blue and yellow store as well. So much so that she uses her husband's pilot benefits to ship big items to Alaska. She's placing an order this weekend and is including her sister and ME in on the deal! The three of us just have to split the fee IKEA charges to pull the items and then deliver to the Seattle airport cargo area -- only about $100, not bad at all. Yay, my boss is generous! I have a couple big things and a few medium-sized items to add to the crate. Can't wait until the stuff arrives...

Clouds on the horizon

The sunny 70 degree weather disappeared and has been replaced with gray skies that threaten to open up and dump rain on us all. We sure were lucky to get those nice days -- it's been great to come home and have cocktails outside on the deck with D and his parents.

Had a short chat with my mom this morning and found out my Korean grandma is battling cancer. Please keep her, and my aunt and my dad in your thoughts, as they are also fighting cancer. I feel sad and helpless and guilty for being so far away, but I know my family is strong and supportive for one another. Love you all.

Birthday shout out

Hey -- it's my cousin Angie's birthday today! I hope she has fun birthday celebrations planned for days to come (heck, why not make it the whole month?)

Happy birthday Angie!

Where are my beer & marshmallows?

I did not take this photo and am not sure of its origins, but isn't it great?

"Hello, I am a bear. And I am hungries. Serve it up now or I tear your precious camping essentials to shreds. Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Bee + cat = problem

Poor Waffles -- he tangled with a bee and lost. Big time.

Look at his paw! It's like a club foot.

Domestic pursuits

Busted out the sewing machine on Friday night to redo the curtain on my recycling station. Somehow a dog biscuit ended up inside the old curtain and the dog spent all day trying to get it out. It was a pink, crumbly, dog-slobbery mess.

I took the opportunity to tinker around with the settings and make myself more familiar with the machine. I may need to take a sewing class (who am I kidding...I definitely need a class), but for now will practice with some patterns gleaned off the internets.

Working on a zippered pouch pattern with scrap fabric. Halfway through the bobbin ran out of thread so I called it a night after that. I hate winding the bobbin.

In other news, my hair is now three inches shorter thanks to the haircut I got last Saturday morning. Previously the length reached halfway down my back so of course I feel like it's a huge difference. HUGE!

D has not noticed yet. Hmm, apparently not as dramatic a change as I thought.