2009: Year in Review

January
The year started off with 10 to 15 degree below zero weather. D and I finally took our first real joint vacation (after 3.5 years together!) to Mexico and ended up with some bad luck, but had a great time overall. I did manage to come back with bruised ribs. Boo. We all waited for Mt. Redbout to blow.

February
Still waiting for a volcanic eruption. Bought new dining room furniture. Started ordering organic food through Full Circle Farm CSA. Our crazy high gas prices started to come down a bit. D began snowmachining out to a cabin up north and shooting critters.

March
I attended my second BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) weekend. D continued his love affair with his snowmachine. Mt. Redoubt finally blows its top and luckily Anchorage only receives light ashfall. Of course we went to a party that evening and drove my car through the ash cloud. Figures.

April
We had been living in our new house for one year as of April 1st. In that year, D completed MANY home improvement projects (total kitchen remodel, popcorn ceiling scraping, 2 bathroom renovations, painting, etc.) D finished the master bathroom remodel in record time!We participated in a home energy rating in order to get money back from the state. I took a really neat train trip for a work excursion just as the whole swine flu hysteria broke in the US. Breakup hits Alaska -- temps hit 40 degrees and snow starts melting, making for messy streets and cars. We attend the annual Sportsman show and get pumped for fishing season!

May
D, Drift and I take the boat out to Deep Creek for our first trip of the summer. We had amazing weather and 60 degree temperatures, which is extremely abnormal for the beginning of May. D installed a new sliding glass patio door in the dining room and I finally bought a new dishwasher. Towards the end of the month we took a day trip out of Whittier and experienced the most beautiful (and HOT) weather in the Sound ever. The fishing was ok that day, shrimping was great.

June
Summer officially arrives and I get all of our flowers planted outside. D's parents arrive in Alaska after a long drive from Minnesota and the combat fishing season begins in earnest. D turns 35 and I get him the best present ever: a mission style recliner. We replace our 2-car garage door.

July
We continue to have kick-ass warm and sunny weather, and hit summer solstice. The grass grows faster than D can get around to cutting it. In celebrity news, I see Bear Grylls at Humpy's while out for a pint with friends and Sarah Palin resigns the governorship. D fishes every weekend with his parents and I drive down to the Russian and Kenai Rivers when I can. Dipnetting for salmon happens this month too.Oh, I caught a really nice king! We are vacuum-sealing and canning fish like crazy.

August
Best month ever! We celebrated my 32nd birthday, got ENGAGED and I won $1,000 worth of girly gift certificates from a radio contest. Took a wonderful trip to Tennesssee to see my family. Something not so great: one of my cats begins to bring home mice she has caught in the yard.

September
D goes moose and caribou hunting, and comes home with a really nice caribou that may make it into the Pope & Young record book for Alaska! We finally order my engagement ring from Blue Nile online and it is gorgeous. Construction continues on the main feeder road to our house. We take day trip at the end of the month to Lake Louise and Bonnie Lake for some hiking, canoeing and target practice.

October
We take another day trip, but go down south this time to Seward/Moose Pass to look at possible wedding locations and hike out to Carter Lake. I hit the one-year anniversary of my blog! We start wedding planning in earnest; setting the date and location, hiring a caterer, dj and photographer. Still no snow on the ground, which is odd. I work a lot of Saturdays because of health fairs. I help babysit triplets and realize that I do not want triplets.

November
I visit Texas for my 10-year college reunion. We fiinally get snow on the ground back home and have a snowy Thanksgiving. It's cold.

December
Ice fog hits Anchorage and my sister arrives for her yearly visit. D and I decide to go low-key for Christmas and not do presents. Without discussing it, we end up buying ourselves a big gift anyway! Kindle for me, chainsaw and snowmachine bibs for D. Our wedding save-the-dates finally go out in the mail. Risha and I go wedding dress shopping. Winter solstice means we have the lowest amount of daylight all year. We go x-c skiing one last time before the new year.

Inn photos

I cannot recall where the following photos came from, but do know that they are of some other couple's summer wedding at the Tern Lake Inn!

The first two show the Inn's back deck -- a good place for hosting cocktail hour after the wedding / before dinner. The body of water in the background is a creek that swells to a good size in the summertime, but when we were there last September it was barely a puddle.

These next images are of the interior of the Inn. The Great Room boasts a beautiful set of floor to ceiling windows that overlook the outdoor ceremony location. I'm offering up a prayer to every deity I can think of to ensure a rain-free wedding day. I know I shouldn't worry, because really, the weather is the one thing I have no control over!

For you non-Alaskans, the long hairy black thing on the wall in the photo below is baleen -- part of the whale that filters out krill and fish from seawater. It's a popular home decor item in Alaska.

In these photos you can see what the Inn's folding chairs look like. I'm debating on whether to procure chair covers -- average price is about $3.50 per cover but afterwards I could turn around, sell them to another bride and make my money back. Eh, I'm undecided right now.

We can fit 85-90 people comfortably in the hall -- this view is from the loft bedroom upstairs. After dinner the owners of the Inn will clear the area of most of the tables/chairs and then we'll use the space for dancing. They'll use their secondary kitchen area to clean up and wash dishes.

Wedding cookware

One of best things about my impending marriage, aside from getting hitched to an awesome man and starting a new life together, is finally getting my hands on the fabled "wedding cookware"! My mom bought this amazing set for me about 10 years ago and made me promise not to open the box or use any of the shiny pots and pans until I was married. When my parents moved out of state, they gave me the box to hold onto -- and it sat downstairs in the storage area of my condo, tempting me everytime I went down there.

And then for reasons I won't go into, this cookware traveled from Anchorage to Mississippi and then on to Ohio and finally to the basement of my parents house in Tennessee. For a while there, I was afraid I'd never get it back! But on my last trip to Gatlinburg I saw the huge box sitting in the basement bathroom and knew it would soon be mine, ALL MINE, muah ha ha. I seriously have not purchased any nice, new cookware in the last few years because I knew this set was waiting for me. Soon I'll have it in my hot little hands!

Another round?

What a great weekend -- it went by in a flash, probably because I was sampling beers the whole time! Friday evening meant it was time for the Beer & Barleywine Festival. One of our local convention centers was jam packed with vendors offering microbrews, barleywines, meads, lambics, and beers from larger breweries.

I didn't get too crazy that first night since I knew I'd be back to work the next evening. Someone told me that an average of 2000 people attend every night. I believe it -- the place was ridiculously crowded, practially shoulder to shoulder.

Our volunteer duties beckoned on Saturday. As "floaters" I figured that my friend Cindy and I would be cutting bread, filling up water jugs and emptying the slosh buckets, but as soon as we signed in a coordinator grabbed us and said we'd be serving beers that night! Apparently they were short-handed and needed bartenders. We were more than happy to oblige.

I worked the Oskar Blues Brewery from Lyons, Colorado. All of their award-winning beers are served in cans, which is pretty amazing because in general bottled beers are the standard with snobby beer types. Oh but we did have the brewery's barleywine on tap -- see that red cooler behind me? It had a tap attached to the front and was filled with ice to cool the lines from the keg below. Most of the breweries did the same with their offererings.

My section had a great view of the band -- not that I had time to watch them!

I had to get familiar with the beers really fast -- took me all of 10 minutes to become an expert! One of the guys I worked with gave me a quick overview and had me taste every offering so I knew what I was talking about: Ten Fidy (imperial stout), Mama's Little Yella Pils (pilsner), Old Chub (scottish ale), Dale's Pale Ale. My favorites were the scottish ale (great smoky aftertaste) and surprisingly, the imperial stout. The stout was so smooth and not overly heavy.

Cindy displaying her commemorative glass

Cindy and I got the hang of the situation pretty quickly and were giving recommendations of our respective beers in no time. We worked straight for more than two hours and time just flew by. A little after 8 p.m. our replacements showed up and we hit the floor for our second night of tastings. It turns out that Friday is the better night to attend -- most vendors run out of things by 9 p.m. Saturday night. But overall we had a blast and would definitely volunteer again!

Book Club - a look back

Last night was book club with the ladies from work. I've been jonesing for pizza so I suggested Moose's Tooth as our meeting place. Their pizza is divine and the beer is even better! I brought along our growler and filled it up with the Tooth's hard apple ale - $10.50 for a 1/2 gallon, not too bad.

I can't believe it, but next month will be the one year anniversary of the formation of our group. We have read some great - and not so good - books over the last 12 months (with time off for summer and Christmas):

Belinda - Ann Rampling
I could not get into this book. Please don't read it, the plot is disturbing to say the least.

The Postman Always Rings Twice - James Cain
My first book pick for the group. James Cain is a noir fiction writer - definitely some dark themes running through this novel. The movie with Jack Nicholson follows the book very closely. "Double Indemnity" is another good one by the same author.

The Shack - William Young
Even if you're not super religious, the book sparks good conversation and thought about choice, judgement and forgiveness. Although I had to skip some parts because it was just too preachy.

Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
Eh. A mindless read, not bad but not great. I've heard that the author's other series are addicting though.

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
I loved this book so much that I ended up downloading the second in the series on my Kindle recently. Basic premise is that a woman from the 1940's time travels, ends up in 1700's Scotland, falls in love and finds adventure. Overall it is not science-fiction-y at all and really goes into some great Scottish history.

What is the What - Dave Eggers
Sad but true story of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan. A good read but it was hard for all of us to get through this one.

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
I pride myself on reading a wide variety of books and keeping an open mind, but this one didn't grab me. It was difficult to even find any themes to discuss.

A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines
Segregation, race issues and relationships in 1940's Louisiana. I shed a few tears at the end of the book.

Naked - David Sedaris
My second book pick. We had three depressing books in a row so the girls asked that I pick an upbeat selection! Sedaris is a very funny essayist with a particular brand of humor (which I love). He mostly writes about his life and that of his family. One of his sisters is Amy Sedaris (from the show "Strangers With Candy") and she also reads his essays on the audiobooks.

The Prestige - Christopher Priest
After a slow start, I couldn't put this book down. I had seen the excellent movie (with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) and knew the basic premise, but while the book shares basic plot points with the movie it takes a different turn overall. Good twists to keep you entertained.

Committed - Elizabeth Gilbert
We've just started this one. Elizabeth Gilbert also wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" which is a fabulous book about her journey after a divorce to eat in Italy, pray in India and find love in Indonesia.

Any good books you want to suggest? My turn is coming around again!

The dress

A friend of my mom's is a talented seamstress and alterations guru, and has agreed to tackle the huge project that is my wedding dress. She came over on Saturday morning to take some measurements and see if my vision of this dress jibes with what we have to work with. Good news, she seems confident it does! It will take a few rounds (or more) of alterations to go from original to final, but we have 5 months to work it out.

These are all inspiration photos -- based on the Jim Hjelm #8663 lace dress that I am absolutely gaga over. Not so inspiring? The original's price tag -- a whopping $6,000!

Love the lace, love the v-neck (although mine will be slightly less revealing!) and love the slim silhouette.

This dress is by another designer, but you get the idea...

New addition

No, we don't have a new addition to our household here, but my cousin Angie and her husband Jay do. They had a beautiful little baby girl in California last week! Congrats to them -- sounds like everyone is healthy and happy.

Bring on the booze

This Saturday night a group of friends and I are volunteering at the annual Beer and BarleyWine Festival downtown. I've been to this event quite a few times...and even remember most of them! Turns out volunteers get free admission ($30 value) to another one of the festival's weekend sessions, so I'll be drinking for free on Friday evening. D is going snowmachining again so no delicious beers for him. Basically volunteers bring out water jugs, make sure the bread bowls are full and help set-up/clean-up.

After walking in the door, attendees are handed a wad of drink tickets, 6 oz. glass and program outlining the beverage vendors and their offerings. I like to take 5-10 minutes beforehand to sit down with the program and mark down my top picks and plan of attack. Lindemans is number one on my list for their framboise and pomme, and Celestial Meads (an Alaskan company) has some tasty and very strong meads. I've learned to generally stay away from the barleywines and anything with an alcohol content of higher than 9%, although I make an exception for Ring of Fire Meadery out of Homer and their amazing fruit beverages. The breweries from England make good ciders as well. Can you see a pattern emerging here? I like the sweet stuff!

Will try to remember and take some photos, but don't hold it against me if I get distracted. :-)

Seriously, tgif

Busy, busy week. I am going to enjoy the weekend immensely! My workplace holiday party is tonight, so I'll put in an appearance, nosh on some tasty food and hope to win a big door prize. D is off in the wilderness again, so my best gal pal from work will be my date.

Lately, all I want to do is curl up in some warm blankets with a hot cup of tea and read my new KINDLE! I ordered it off of Amazon last week and it arrived on Tuesday. So very fabulous. Even D likes it. In an average month I burn through 3-4 books. Most of that reading is done in bed and inevitably my hand gets cramped from holding the book a certain way or my neck gets a crick in it. The Kindle is so light and thin that I can read for hours comfortably. Books are downloaded wirelessly through the 3G network.

Birthday wishes

My wonderful and lovely mother is celebrating her birthday today. Happy birthday Mom! I hope I can look as good as she does as I age. Must be those Asian genes.

In other news, I'm helping out my production-company friend by appearing in a tv commercial tomorrow afternoon. I've done this before but have never had actual spoken lines -- so I'm a little nervous. The shoot is at the airport and I get to be an airline customer service person. Wish me luck!

Toasty beverages

My throat started to hurt this past weekend and I was afraid that whatever D had a couple weeks ago had made its way on to me. I popped some pills and Emergen-C, and managed to drown that cold bug with lots of fluids -- including this yummy tea that Risha brought up with her in 2008. I do love the coconuts!

Heating up some water with the adorable kettle my mom sent me last year - I also have a big silver tea kettle but it takes a while to warm up. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate our gas oven and stovetop? Cooks everything faster than the electric one (from the 80's) I had at the condo.

A friend gave me this great Primula glass tea cup and infuser for Christmas.

Pop in the loose tea or bag...

Add hot water...

Put the top on and wait a few minutes...

Viola! Yummy tea is ready -- and the infuser sits nicely in the top, which doubles as a coaster/dish.

Hrumph, cats don't like tea. They get a little milk instead.

Eastside skiing 3

Last set of photos from our day of skiing last weekend. The view is from roughly the halfway point of our route...I love stopping here to look out over the city. Downtown Anchorage is visible off in the distance, beyond that is Cook Inlet and Mt. Susitna (Sleeping Lady).

Plenty of exercise + interesting smells = good time for the dog.

A slightly pink sky to the east as we finished up our circuit.

Somebody is tired. He almost knocked me off balance when slipping between my skis.

Let's go home!

It's hard to believe that 2010 is just around the corner. So many wonderful things to look forward to in the new year...our wedding, seeing family and friends this summer, having D meet the Korean side of my family (hopefully sometime this spring!), and lots of adventures in the Alaskan wilderness.

Happy new year everyone!

Eastside skiing 2

Expert hunter D spotted this majestic eagle perched in a tree as we skiied up to a little bridge overlooking a creek. I was able to take quite a few photos before he unfurled his wings and flew away.

Holiday cheer

Well, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! D and I decided to go low-key for the holiday this year due to busy schedules at work and the whole saving-for-a-wedding situation. We got up late, had a leisurely breakfast, opened a few gifts from family and then basically took it easy all day.

My workplace gives away pre-cooked hams to all employees as a holiday gift and I picked up a very nice one, which we ate on Christmas day. I LOVE baked ham and was really quite excited about enjoying it. So far we've used the meat in jambalya, a ham and eggs breakfast and eggs benedict. D has caught me a few times sneaking cold pieces out of the fridge. What can I say, this girl loves her ham.

Here's Drift helping to "unwrap" presents. Basically he rips up the paper until he feels like enough damage has been done. What's funny is he doesn't do this with other items in the house, like fabric or furniture or toys. I've been trying to upload a video of him doing this, but Blogger isn't cooperating.

Eastside skiing 1

Saturday was a balmy 30 degrees and we decided to take advantage of the mild weather with a cross-country skiing jaunt into the woods. We covered a lot of ground (5 miles maybe?) and were outdoors for about 3 hours. It was around 12:30 in the afternoon when we set out and the sun was already pretty low in the sky!

Some of the trails we skiied on are owned by the military, so there are lots of signs warning people to stay on trails and out of the deep woods:

For the record, I've never seen or heard of anyone setting off unexploded ammunition in this area and sometimes I wonder if they put up these signs to discourage people from trespassing on military land. 

The military also allows Alaska residents to moose hunt (archery only) in certain parts of this area through a lottery drawing. D won a permit a few years ago and brought me along for the hike. Let's just say that I was a good sport about tromping through the low-lying brush and thick forest in snowshoes!

During Saturday's skiing excursion we came upon two dead moose that had been harvested by hunters. It was interesting to check out, but I didn't take any photos because I'm not sure how you all feel about seeing moosie parts all over the forest floor!

And finally, a moose track: