things i miss about alaska

dry weather - this includes my clothes feeling dry after being put away for a day, towels drying overnight, the lack of heavy thick air. i'm already sick of constantly feeling damp and gross.

cable tv - a luxury, i know. but even having a handful of regular channels without cable would be nice. especially if we didn't have to pay about $500 to get the regular crappy channels. hulu has its moments, but it doesn't work half the time - even though we are paying for the service.

grocery stores 3 seconds from the house - i miss being able to run out to pick up simple things like benadryl, sour cream, half & half, or peas. now, i have to drive 20 minutes to find out that the store is out of sour cream - for 3 weeks straight.

healthy dog food - it was nice to have a selection of good meals for my pups. if we wanted to mix stuff up, we could try something new. now, we order food a month out and hope it gets here on time. feeding our pups healthy food is just as important as feeding ourselves & our soon to be born baby good food.

coffee - lattes on every street corner and good coffee availability (steamdot and kaladis). not that i've been able to drink coffee due to the pregnancy, but having to wait 4 years for a decent latte instead of a couple more months is depressing.

our local breakfast place - being able to throw on some sweats and drive a minute up the road to have some delicious greasy spoon chow was the best.

lack of mold - the disgusting mold that grows and regrows constantly and makes us sick is probably the most frustrating and soul sucking part of living here. we clean and clean and clean - it seems like we clean everything all the time, to the point that we don't have time to enjoy ourselves.

our old house - i loved our house. there were so many memories wrapped up in our home - it's where we got engaged, where we brought home our puppies vito & mia. i knew we wouldn't be there forever, but i guess i just wasn't quite ready to let go.

winter - the snow and ice and cold is something i miss more than i anticipated. i actually like the cold. i like wearing sweaters and drinking hot drinks. playing in the snow with the dogs was a blast. freshly fallen snow is beautiful.

and of course my family & friends. no explanation needed....i just miss them.

hi there!

hello friends! it's been quite a while since my last post and i've recently been feeling the urge to blog again. i'll probably be inching my way back into the blog-o-sphere in the near future and have a bunch of catching up on your posts too.

the big move to japan is still on - we have about another week here in snowy alaska and then we start our adventure to the other side of the dateline. two sets of movers have packed up all of our belongings and sent them on their way, not to be seen for another month or two. i finished up my day job in mid september and have been surprisingly busy since then. i honestly thought i would be getting bored, but there's been so much to do day to day that i feel like i haven't had a chance to slow down. i have spent time working on books and printing cards (especially since my big press is going into storage, sadly) - creating all of these items has had a somewhat calming effect on me. i've realized that as things get more and more stressful, i'm going back to doing things that are familiar and comforting - making art and knitting/crocheting.

while the impending move has kept us busy, we've had another surprise come up:


that's right....i've been eating a lot :) hubby & i are expecting our first bipedal kiddo!! i'm at 17 weeks now and finally have a bit of a pooch. it's pretty amazing to see how my body is changing and adjusting to growing a mini-me. i was a bit hesitant on how and when to announce the big news on my blog, but i figured that this community has been incredibly supportive and kind in the past and i'm sure sharing this announcement won't be any different.

i'll do my best to post a few things here and there - i would like to write and share more about my pregnancy, but i don't want this blog to become a journal for baby stuff galore. i want to make sure i maintain my own personality...that being said, if i get a little baby crazy from time to time, try to be understanding :) that's all for tonight....take care friends!

wanna help?

on saturday, i received news that my friend's house had caught fire. she lives in condo with a handful of other residents that share the building. all people got out safely, but one kitty didn't make it :( a couple of the units were incinerated and the other were damaged by smoke. go here to read her first blog post about it, and here to read the newspaper article on it.

this wonderful friend is named annie and she's a local jewelry artist & owner of bella boutique. she's freaking awesome. she was the first person to approach me about selling my work in her shop and has had a big impact on my artwork. she's super supportive of local artists and has been a great friend to me.

due to the fire, there are quite a few unexpected expenses that she & the other residents of the building have had to deal with. if you would like to help, here's some options:


1) are you a local resident? drop by bella boutique and drop some dough in the donation jar!

2) you can send a check, made payable to:
Bella Boutique
2601 Spenard Rd
Anchorage AK 99503
Memo: Fire Donation
(checks will be immediately turned to cash and given to the residents)

3) donate through paypal to shop.bella@hotmail.com

if you can help, please do - even if it's just by spreading the word on your own blog. every little bit will help.

produce, the noun

hubby and i have been talking for months about ordering produce from Full Circle Farm, an organic farm in washington that delivers fresh, nutritious produce in their home state and in alaska!

source

with the long, cold, dark winter steadily approaching, we alaskans don't have a whole lot of options for fruits & veggies. we figured this is a good option because it's convenient & will give us an opportunity to try some new food that we wouldn't normally buy...hence, new recipes to try...and a better, more well rounded diet.

so if you are interested, check out their website here!

catch up

over the weekend, we hosted a small barbecue for our alaskan friends who couldn't make it to the wedding. we had hoped to have this get-together sooner, but things have been so busy since the wedding - i don't think we've had one weekend open! we had WAY too much food (yay for leftover cupcakes). it was really nice to see everyone.


i also heard from my friend christine, who was also one of our wedding photographers, and our wedding pictures are finally ready!!!! they are currently making the long trip from australia to alaska and i can't wait to see them!! check out christine's new website: pobke photography. and if you go to the weddings section here, you'll see a couple pics of me & hubby :)

i've also been working on a long overdue project for a very patient client & am almost done with it. i'll post pictures later in the week - but i have to say, the finished product is going to be very chic.

more soon!

lost lake hike

the scene: alaska wilderness on labor day weekend (aka the last weekend of summer)

we prepared for our trip friday night, keeping the knowledge of the weather forecast in mind: 90% chance of rain. i, of course, assumed that the forecast would be wrong, because there is a 90% chance that it will change. sadly, i was wrong. the hubster, friends jamie & cole, 4 furry kiddos, and i drove two hours south (in 2 cars) to the start of the lost lake trail. i rode with jamie and we took turns talking to our guys on the walkie talkies. actually, it was more like they were backseat driving...even though they were in the car ahead of us :) silly boys.

we unloaded the gear and the guys set up the cars at two parking lots. the cool thing about this particular hike is that you can hike in from one spot and the trail goes all the way through, which means no doubling back & no repetitive scenery. just as we all slung our packs on and headed towards the trail....the rain started.

rain, drizzle, rain, pour, rain, drizzle...somehow the rain always came down in the direction of our faces.

okay okay, it wasn't as bad as it sounded - it was wet, but not super cold. and the dogs had a BLAST! we got such a kick out of them running up and down the trail. mia would always run & check on the last person in line. vito wore in his new pack and it did well - he even went swimming with it on!

i unfortunately did not get a ton of pictures because it was raining...but here's a few from the morning we were hiking out, when it stopped raining!!

awesome views

see how the leaves are ALREADY changing?!

lost lake in the distance

jamie & cole

hubby & cole discussing important man stuff

bear & gauge (the good dogs)

mia licking her lips

vito looking handsome with his pack

overall the hike was a lot of fun. it was refreshing to get out of town for a couple of days, even if it was raining.

p.s. if you even plan to do an overnight hike with a 40 pound pack, i would highly recommend training for it first. because i could barely walk the following couple of days.

engagement pictures

last week, bfff & i drove up to flattop (a common local mountain to hike) and met our friends judie & steve for our engagement photo session. steve had suggested flattop as a good background for our pics to get some scenic views of alaska. we brought our puppies up with us to attempt to get some shots with them...but they were a little too crazy to sit still. the weather was pretty ominous the whole week and was supposed to rain...but the clouds broke for a couple of hours, just when we needed them to. here's a small assortment of the amazing photos that steve took:

bfff & i walking...

hanging out on these random log benchs...

check out the snow on the mountains...in june

through the trees...

bfff making me laugh (as always)

my bling!

puppy training put to good use

look at those sweet faces!

our little family

an enormous thank you to steve and judie for the photo session! we had a wonderful time :)

engagement dinner

we decided to celebrate our engagement by going to a fancy restaurant for dinner! the view was spectacular:

and it got better as the evening progressed:

i forgot to take a picture of our dinners (which was amazing!) but i did get dessert :)

us in between courses:

me, deer in headlights:

then me looking very Japanese (i should have shown the peace sign):

yay us!

the end :)

made in alaska

i've finally gotten around to looking at the application process to become an official "made in alaska" artist. the application is for a permit to use the official made in alaska seal, which is a mother bear and cub - see it at the official site here. the symbol is well known in alaska. many of my artist friends have said they've seen a significant difference in their sales after getting their permit. since i applied for a new show in the summer and the primary customer will be tourists, i thought it would be a good idea to submit this application. so wish me luck!

pretty day

the other day, the weather was gorgeous! we decided to take vito out for a walk to the inlet with his best friends (and our friend too!) we followed a trail through the woods and it opened up to this:

view to the right

view to the left

what a nice day :)

wildlife visit

i ran home today to check on vito and we went through our usual routine...i said hi puppy! and he comes out with a big s-t-r-e-t-c-h, a good strong tail way, and a little hello kiss. we tromp downstairs and i let him outside to do his business. but instead of trotting out like normal, he just stands on the porch with his nose up in the air, sniffing away. i figured a cat had been through the yard & that's what he was smelling. after he hopped off the porch, did his business, he sees something around the corner and stops. then his ears go up, his posture changes, and the little silver streaked section on his tail puffs out...and then the big boy bark! i hurry & get him inside to see what the heck he's looking at.

we race upstairs and i struggle to open the window, since it's been nearly frozen shut. all i can see is a brownish blob. and it's pretty big. finally got the window open and i look down to see a moose laying between our house and the fence. just chillin'.


he (or she?) eventually got up and lumbered over to our backyard, did his business too (lucky bfff - he's the picker-upper), and posed for the camera a few times.



for the rest of lunch, vito & i followed the moose, window by window, until he found a nice little tree to snack on.


what an exciting lunch for the puppy! just another day of life in alaska.

winter

alaskan winters are known for two things: cold & dark. lots of it. the cold hasn't been so bad this year, as the temperature is hanging around the mid-teens right now. but the dark is getting to me more than normal. the sun rises at 10am and sets before 4pm. i feel drained, like i'm going into hibernation mode - although i'm probably still catching up from all of the art shows & work in the past couple of months.

in the midst of all the cold & dark, anchor-town has been seeing a lot of fog. or i guess not seeing, since you can't see through fog. anyhow, the fog has left behind a layer of frosty-ness on everything, making the great outdoors gorgeous. see:

even the weather is decorating for the holidays!