Photos from this weekend

How can you resist?

Here we are along the way on Sunday

Some of the beautiful scenery - what a great walk!

Monday Monday...

Back to work...ah yes, Monday is upon us!

We had a great weekend away. As soon as my friends email us photos (we are lame and left the house without our camera) I'll post photos of our fun. The weather was perfect - all fallish and beautiful. No rain - thank heaven - and beautiful blue sky with crisp air, it was perfect.

And it's a good thing the weather was so nice because - get this - construction workers accidentally cut the fiber cable so the hotel didn't have cable at all until Saturday evening. Isn't that all special and ironic? So we didn't get our fill of discovery channel and VH1's "where are they now"...but we did have a great weekend. :) There is life outside of vegging in front of the TV when one is visiting a hotel...who knew?

We had two batches of friends join us for hikes in Girdwood. One set joined us from the hotel and we hiked along Winners Creek trail to a hand tram - it was a beautiful hike. I had no idea that hidden in the woods next to a fab resort was a this beautiful walk to a waterfall and fun hand-tram. Then Sunday, other friends joined us and we started on the other side of the hike and went to the hand-tram and waterfall...just as beautiful and different scenery - very cool.

Back at work and normal life today. Had to scrape the windows because we forgot to put my car back in the garage last night...oops. I suppose the snow will be here before long, I'm okay with it holding out for a while. My fingers are cold...I guess it's time to sign off!

Another DUH moment for me

I was invited to a bridal shower last weekend - fun right? Right. So my friend at work and I (we'll call her Marlene) like to go in together on gifts and she usually does the shopping. Marlene tells me that I'm going to do the shopping this time and hands me some money. Fine I think, I'm good at shopping.

I go online and order a gift card to a local day spa. Done.

Except the card doesn't come on time, so we make a little poem or something and stick it in a box and our friend is cool with that. She knows the gift is coming.

Except it still doesn't come, almost two weeks after it's ordered. Oops...Stephanie ordered the card from a Day Spa of the same name in NEW YORK CITY. The new bride isn't going there any time soon...bummer.

So I called the spa and they said it happens all the time...stupid Alaskans! The lady there was probably like...and they want us to vote for Sarah Palin? right...

Weekend Away

John and I are heading to Girdwood for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to some time together and away from regular life (and projects!). Seriously - he has been working so hard this last week that we've had a grand total of 9 hours together so far this week. I should have clocked in! A few of our friends are meeting us down there to get some hiking in - and hang out in the hotel a bit.

We get one TV channel at our house (hense my obsession with Big Brother) and we have a subscription to Netflix which keeps us only one season behind our favorite shows - we like The Office, House and 24. We are such junkies when it comes to watching TV, that we made a conscience decision not to have cable in our house because we both have a tendancy to get sucked into TV and we just can't walk away. So we limit our netflix and try our best not to get too sucked in to TV while we're at home.

Why am I telling you about our TV habits you might wonder? Because - we like going to hotels for the cable. Hotels are like a "TV can't possible rot your brain" free zone for us. How embarrassing is that? But it's true - we could watch hours of Discovery Channel and HGTV...and so on and so forth. We love hotels...and I know you do too - for the cable of course!

Oh yeah and there's also the part about being together and away from our regular life and all of that...and then there's cable!

An extra day off

I took yesterday off of work for an apopintment. It was the best day I could have picked to have a personal day - it was beautiful outside. The sun was out and there was just a bit of crisp in the air, the trees are turning their beautiful fall colors which were an amazing contrast with the blue sky. I enjoyed taking the dogs for a walk and they seemed energized by the weather and sunshine too!

I got so much done around our house - I basically dropped the ball on any housework last week and totally got caught up without feeling rushed yesterday...maybe I should take Monday's off from now on!

When did I get old?

I had to laugh at myself this week. We've had a busy week with lots of social things going on.
Back in my "hay day" I worked 2 jobs, went to college full time and managed to get out most nights. My friend and I worked at Payless Shoes together and we'd be standing all day long, get off at 9:30 and race down to the coastal trail to rollerblade for an hour. Afterwards we might have gone out to dinner at Denny's or we might have just hung out at one of our homes until 1:00 or so - up at 7:30 to start the next day all over again.

Now I have one job (well, only one I get paid for) where I sit on my booty most of the day staring at a computer. I get in a workout and I head home to my dogs and make dinner and spend the evening with my John (which is the best end to any day).

Somehow between 25 and 32, I became an old woman.

I lost stamina - not sure how it happened. This week has been full of social events, Awana, hanging with friends (SO good to see people that I hadn't seen in a while - it blesses me that God has given us such incredible friends), a movie at Bear Tooth (Get Smart was cute), Costco evening runs and more friends tonight (love it - John plays video games with hubby, wife and I have great conversation, shoulder to shoulder bonding for him, face to face for me, the best of both worlds!). More stuff planned for the weekend with some well deserved rest on Sunday.

I actually said - out loud no less - "we never have this much going on at night - we're usually pretty chill." WHAT? usually pretty chill? What happened to the old Steph that could go and go and never look back?

I got old.

The last of the stupid blogs...

So - Dan won!!! :) That's right - our guy Dan scooped the 500 K!! I'm so proud - it's like my brother won or something! YAY!! Now it's time to move to something more productive on Tuesday nights...and Thursday nights...and Sunday nights!

The dogs

While we were gone - Pike and Harley stayed home by themselves and my FIL stopped by to feed them and let them out. They were not very impressed at being left by themselves and apparently did not eat ANYTHING while we were gone. (evidenced by the abundance of food left in their dishes when we got home last night)

I thought the whole not eating thing might be a good - Harley is getting a little....um....how shall I put this..."fluffy" and I've been a bummer of an auntie by not taking him walking as much as I usually do...such is life.

So - his diet plan was foiled when we got home and he pigged out...and threw up...great I probably made him really self conscience about his weight. I'm a bad auntie. But on the positive side they are both getting much better behaved thanks to Christan and Tom and their dog whispering ideas!

Denali Trip

This weekend we joined our friends to drive into Denali National park. For those of you who don't live in Alaska - you can enter a lottery each year that gives away a limited number of passes to drive all the way back to Wonder Lake (the lake you see in pictures of Mt. McKinley). Most of the time, without the pass, you can only drive to Savage River about 20 miles into the park, so it's sort of a big deal.

We drove up to Denali and camped just inside the Park at this great camp ground (with flush toilets) - I know I'm getting really soft. I stayed at a cabin AND at a camp ground in the same summer! We got up and were out of our camp site by 7:00 Sunday morning so that we could maximize the limited time John and I had in the park.

We saw some incredible stuff - 8 count them...8 grizzlies!

This one was the closest that we saw - he was digging around for roots and whatever they eat and seemed to be happily ignoring us! We also saw a caribou - but it was too far away for our little camera to see it, and a cute little fox that ran next to the road with us as we drove.

We also saw Mt McKinley - not the whole thing, but it did clear up for a while...a beaver...a moose and a wolverine, naturally there's no picture of the wolverine! It ran across the road so cast we didn't even know what it was until we had a second to discuss what that could possibly have been. The colors on the way there and the way home were amazing. I took a picture, but I don't think it gives justice to the brilliant colors - at times it seemed as if the trees were glowing, especially from the distance. Driving from Talkeenta to Cantwell was especially amazing, and you AKers - if you get a chance to take a drive in the next week or so, I highly recommend it!

I had to add a picture of the wolverine - just so everyone knows it really does exist!! :) I found out this morning it's not at all related to the wolf, it's a weasel...and it only goes super fast or it's stopped. This would explain why it ran so stinking fast across the road. Now that I've seen a picture, I'm even more sure it was a wolverine that we saw sprinting across the road.

There are a lot more pictures - but I won't bore you with all of them - you'll have to visit and look at the scrapbook! :)

More stupid stuff

If for no one else - I have to update for Michele! :)

SO!!!! Dan and Memphis are in the final two. I am so ready for Dan to win - I'm just saying. He has played the game so well and totally deserves the win! And I suspect Jerry will be the one in the jury to win the $25,000.

In other news...we are driving into Denali Park this weekend so I hope to have some good picture of our weekend to post. I'm hoping we'll get to see something...and that we won't freeze. Both of which are huge hopes! We're going with some friends of ours and I'm looking forward to the time together.

This is a totally stupid blog

Seriously.

But if you're watching Big Brother (like you should be) then you know that this is a very serious blog (in a stupid way).

I can't believe how incredibly smart Dan is. Of course we picked him as a favorite in the beginning and I have been intrigued watching him work the game. I couldn't get over the way he used the veto ceremony last night to be sure that Keesha thought he was on her side and to set it up so that Memphis would be the bad guy. I LOVE IT! I so hope he wins - as long as Jerry doesn't get crazy and turn into a superhero - and it comes down to Memphis and Dan I know he'll win. If Jerry is part of the final two - i know the jury will choose him.

Sweet.

Okay, I'm done with my stupid post - I'm just pleased as punch at how smart the game was played this time. No weird guy/girl things just good game strategy and smart playing.

Good Friends

Do you ever have those moments when you hang out with people you've known for a few years but never really did anything with and suddenly you're like, where have these people been all our lives?

John and I hung out with a family from church this weekend and had a great time. We got in the car on our way home and thought...what took us so long to get to know them? It's weird how you get caught up in your own life and don't take time out to get to know other people. I've been thinking a lot lately about how easy it is to be so busy your own day to day that you miss others and what is happening for them. I know I've missed hurting friends because I was too uncomfortable to ask or too busy to care. hmmm...something for me to think about.

Job Well Done

Yesterday was one of those days when I left work feeling like I got something done. In fact I was so engrossed in my work that quitting time came and went and yet I was here. That doesn't happen very often for me. I'm usually running out the door just as the clock strikes 3:30 (I pretent I'm a union member! :))

I like those days when you feel like you're doing something worth doing, and getting stuff done. Yay for those days, and yay for Fridays!

Go Sarah, Go Sarah, Go Sarah

I can't help but be so proud of Sarah Palin.

Maybe I'm being too naive, and not looking at all of the political (schmolitical) issues. But seriously...a person who supports life like she does and isn't shy about saying so, and is a woman (*shock* a woman who is pro life and not afraid to say it), and has experienced moments in her own life when the world would say "wow you should have taken care of that" it makes me proud (and frankly a bit teary). And it makes me wish that I had an opportunity to stand up like that too.

Go Sarah!

The most important question

Will Dan be able to win the $500,000 on Big Brother X? This is the most important question.

So...what else goes on?

Sigh...Jeni's gone and life is back to normal.

After a fun time of hanging with family how strange it feels to be back in the normal groove of life.

We had a very relaxing weekend. We had a great time Saturday - taking Jeni out to breakfast with friends, hiking and then shopping around town for gifts. I like going into those cheesy gift shops...and who doesn't like Alaska Wildberry? Jeni left Saturay night - how sad...

Sunday we went to church and had nursery and then spent the afternoon doing some shopping. John had to do some stuff for work, so I picked some more raspberries and made jam. My friend shared her fab recipe with me for rhubarb custard bars so I made a batch of those. Yum...got them out of the house as soon as possible. I also froze some so we'll see how they hold up.

I must have been in a nesting mood because I busted out my scrapping and got to work wrapping up a book that's been waiting for me to finish it for several months. We ( mostly I) watched Gone with the Wind and finished my scrapbook. YAY! Now I can move on to January of 2007 - I'm catching up!