A break

Sorry peeps, life is just too busy right now...will try to blog sometime next week!

Paper fetching

Our local paper has been steadily shrinking over the last few years. Weekday editions are no more than 2-3 sections and the Sunday paper is depressingly thin. This all means the Anch. Daily News is really pushing subscriptions via neighborhood solicitations.

We signed up last month for a 10-week stint and guess who LOVES going out to fetch the paper every morning? It may help that it is usually wrapped in an orange plastic sleeve and looks remarkably like Drift's orange retreiving dummies...

Back to blogging

February is always a busy month at work and I'm up to my eyeballs in Heart Month events. Three seminars and a health fair are out of the way, but we still have 4 remaining seminars plus a symphony concert sponsorship/marketing tie-in. So I'll be volunteering at the symphony this Saturday night, which is not so bad because we also get to enjoy the concert for free.

This week is also girls' craft night (Wednesday) and book club (Thursday). Sometime this week I will continue my search for the right shade of green tissue paper. I need to start on a wedding craft that will go along with the ceramic guest favors that my sister and her boyfriend have so generously begun creating for the big day.

D has found two of these dog booties out on the trails somewhere, so we drive Drift crazy by making him wear them around the house. The dog acts like we wrapped his feet in styrofoam! It's pretty entertaining for us to see him high-stepping around the house like a Lippezaner pony!

Bachelorette party

My friend Sandra's bachelorette party was a rocking good time: burlesque lessons (complete with feather boas and elbow-length gloves), an "exotic dancer" at Bernie's and a party bus that shuffled 18 of us from bar to bar on Saturday night for a scavenger hunt of sorts.

Our bachelorette - she weighs all of 115 pounds so I'm not surprised she got buzzed pretty fast.

There was another bachelorette party upstairs at Bernie's so we were able to see this "cop" put on a show for the other bride-to-be. I'm not going to post any of the other photos of him!

Our party bus was pretty great -- drove us all around town and there was no waiting in line outside at any bar or cover charge for us.

Me, Carrie and Cindy. This may have been at the Anchor downtown. Those feather boas gave us all pink necks -- the dye rubbed off on our skin!

Sadly, Sandra did not make it to the end of the night -- she imbibed one too many cocktails and went home at 1 a.m.! She was fine the next afternoon though, and has landed in Hawaii by now for her destination wedding. D and I had talked about attending but we have too many things going on right now and are trying to save for our own wedding. I'm trying not to think of sandy beaches and warm weather right now!

Ski for Women 2

More Ski for Women photos -- some of the ladies go ALL OUT with their costumes! There were tons of other dressed-up groups but I couldn't snap photos of them all and then once out on the trail I had other things to worry about, mainly avoiding crashes with the 100 other people in my skiing space. Good times.

Hippies

Skeeters - complete with peacock-feather antennae

Solar Bears (instead of polar bears, ha ha) -- they looked like pasty white ski bunnies to us

Tigers

Mr. Potato Heads

Crabs, along with a smattering of flamingos, hula girls and a couple members of the Wizard of Oz

Airplanes, plus sandwich fixin's on the bottom

Gnomes! Couldn't get a photo from the front, but trust me, they had beards and everything. Way cute.

The overachieving butterfly group

More airplanes

Crayola crayons

Ski for Women

It's hard to believe that this was my first year participating in the Ski for Women, but I never really thought about it before and then last year I bruised my ribs in Mexico and couldn't take part. Just four of us girls were able to do it this year, but for 2011 we plan on getting a big group together and donning costumes! We already have an idea picked out and everything.

The Ski for Women always takes place early on Superbowl Sunday and is a fundraiser for awareness of domestic abuse against women and children. There are different race categories, plus a "party wave" that is untimed and open for skiers of all levels. Since our little group didn't do costumes this year we were able to get to Kincaid a little later and then watch the start of the costume contest.

The butterfly costumes were all handmade. The fabric was stretched onto frames and then hand-painted. Somewhow they attached the frames to sturdy backpacks. After seeing the wings up close I'm not sure how they were able to ski in those heavy things! This group wins the overall costume contest every year -- this year was no exception.

I heard that over 1500 women turned out for the event. After trying to avoid collisions on hills and ski around people, I believe it! The trails at Kincaid are pretty wide but certainly were never meant to accomodate hundreds of skiers at one time. This was the starting area and it was about 10 times wider than the trails.

 

Us girls. Karen, Sara, me and Cindy. Sara just got engaged on Christmas and is getting married in October, so we've been able to talk weddings. We have the same sort of ideas and design aesthetic when it comes to our upcoming nuptuals, and it's been nice to bounce ideas off each other. She and Jay cooked the porcupine for us last Thursday -- it was surprisingly good.

More photos of the costumes tomorrow!

TV spot

This post talked about how I helped a friend out by appearing in a tv commercial. Well, that spot has started to run on local stations and can be viewed on the Anchorage Animal Control website!

Look under "Related Links" on the right side of the page and then click on "Dog Licensing Video." Or you can check it out via this direct Facebook link.


After watching it last night, I kinda wish I had pulled my hair back or something...

Weekend roundup

We are waaaay busy at work, and then I come home and have stuff to do there too -- so I need to take a few days off from blogging.

We're having dinner with some friends on Thursday (they're cooking up a porcupine that D shot out at the cabin this past weekend!), then Friday I need to cook up some treats for my friend Karen's birthday party on Saturday, and Sunday is the Ski for Women, which I am participating in (couldn't do it last year because of the bruised ribs - remember those?). I'll take photos of everything and post next week for all of you faithful blog readers.

I did have a good weekend though...we celebrated my friend Cindy's birthday with dinner at a hole-in-the-wall pizza place and a Muldoon pub crawl! (Muldoon being the name of the road on which the aforementioned pubs are located.) And D had a fun snowmachining weekend -- shot a couple fox and finally nabbed that pesky porcupine that had taken up residence underneath the cabin. They tend to gnaw on wood and that is always bad for a wood cabin!

Have a great week everybody.

Pet roundup

A few photos of our furry dependents...

Hello!

Pets aren't allowed on the furniture, but once in a while Drift gets to hang out with us on the couch or bed. He's usually pretty happy about that...

This is the hallway leading to all of the upstairs bedrooms and Drift sleeps next to our bedroom door every night. He does this weird curl-up thing with his paws when laying down.

His kennel is right outside our sliding door on the back deck. Doesn't stay out there for long periods of time in the winter though.

I bought him a new softy toy for the new year. Drift's old favorite was "Birdie," but "Ducky" goes everywhere with him now. The squeaker is already broken! He knows the names of all of his toys and likes to fetch them for us.

Little Dude is a norwegian forest cat and has the breed's typical stocky body and very thick coat, which is prone to matting. I get him shaved 1-2 times per year.

His most recent haircut! We just laugh and laugh at him right after he comes home -- it's such a weird look on a cat. I call him my big sausage casing, but he seems to really like how it feels.

A rare treat -- soft cat food. The third cat is very old now and only comes down about once a day.

The vet finally called me back after receiving Pepper's bloodwork from the lab. Turns out she has a very hyper thyroid and we're going to start her on medication asap. Poor kitty.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Still alive

Hi all, I've been really busy lately but will try to post some things tomorrow!

Countdown

We're exactly 5 months out!

Random wedding photos redux

Another round of Inn / Moose Pass photos:

This first one really shows the beautiful windows of the Inn's great hall -- and the breathtaking scenery beyond.

The main kitchen area -- the fabric screen at far left is put up to separate this area from the guests in the great hall. You can kind of see the hall's windows at left too.

I've been thinking about placing something in the water next to the ceremony site...flowers are a good option.

Beautiful, downtown Moose Pass!

I need to post something on our wedding website that mentions the speed trap in Moose Pass. The town has a 45 mph speed limit and they are not shy about enforcing it. I would hate for any of our guests to get dinged with a speeding ticket!

Avatar

Have you seen the movie "Avatar" yet? Wow, it's an experience! We saw it a couple weeks ago in 3D-XD (the screen goes from ceiling to floor in a leather-seat theater). The story is fairly predictable but not once in 2.5 hours was I bored. The action onscreen and the amazing 3D effects keep you entertained the whole way through.

Oh and the 3D trailer for the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie (with Johnny Depp) came on before "Avatar" started and THAT is a movie I want to see! At one point the Cheshire Cat jumped out from the screen and I just about fell off of my seat.

Here's a funny overview illustrating the similarities between Disney's "Pocahontas" movie and "Avatar" -- click to enlarge:

Vet visit

This morning I had D wake me up as he left for work so I could get up early and prepare to take 2 of my 3 cats to the vet. One needs to get shaved (lion cut!) and the other had an 8 a.m. appointment to check on her low weight. Getting one cat into a car carrier is beyond hellish - don't even get me started on the process for two cats. The second one figures out the situation pretty quickly.

I left Little Dude in the capable hands of the groomer and then sat down to wait for the vet for Pepper's appointment. The doc said her temperature and heartbeat were both pretty high, and she is currently about 2 pounds underweight (not good). They did some superfast xrays and think she may have an overactive thyroid. We're going to wait for blood tests to come back and then talk about putting her on medication. If that doesn't work we have the option of removing her thyroid ($950!)

The vet did say that she is in remarkably good physical shape for an 11 year old cat -- good bones and no signs of arthritis, which is common for kitties of an advanced age. This visit was $250, not including the cost of the blood tests - the results of which should come back tomorrow.

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.