Friday Fun-Day

Heyo! I've been remiss in blogging lately - been busy doing stuff. Grocery shopping, cleaning, house projects (you know, the fun stuff like cleaning the grease off the inside of the stove and reorganizing our laundry room so that you can actually SEE the floor?), had lunch out with my guy a couple times this week and then? Oh, boy. I discovered a store here in Anchorage called Habitat Housewares. It's FILLED to the brim with kitchen-y and home-y gadgets and beautiful things. BIIIG mistake. BIG.

Good news is that they were having a sidewalk sale - 40-50% off sale! So I gots me a BUNCH of goodies for Christmas gifts! I'm almost done Christmas shopping and it's only September! Yaay for that!

So, all of my relatives can thank my husband for taking me out to lunch at Ling and Louie's (fantastic Asian fusion restaurant), as their future Christmas goodies came from the store, Habitat, across the way. Y'all are getting some GOOD goodies!

In other world news, I'm kinda sad that Scotland didn't vote for independence from the UK, but I understand that there were a lot of factors that made it a scary...Certainly was an interesting discussion.

And what is UP with the Aurora Borealis showing up in New England? WTF? Here I move all the way across the Godd**M continent where the Northern Lights are SPOSTA be and then they go and show up over in frigging Massachusetts. For PETE's SAKE! Here's a picture from the Mount Washington Observatory:

Utterly spectacular.

By they by, it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In case you were wondering. Click here for instructions...

Non-sequiter warning!

I'm gonna work on my other post this morning - pictures of the Graduation and Air Force Military Ball at Columbus Air Force Base. Hope to get that up later on as Kel and I are going to head to Seward tomorrow to spend the night! Fun stuff!

For now, I'll leave you with a hilarious joke from my awesome pal, Hank: 

I  have been in many places, but I've never been in  Cahoots.   
Apparently, you can't go alone.  You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also  never been in Cognito.  I hear no one  
Recognizes you there.

I have, however, been  in Sane.   They don't have an airport; you  have to be driven there.  I have made several trips  there, thanks to my children, friends, family and  work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you  have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity  anymore.

I have also been in Doubt.    That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there  too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when  it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes  I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting  older.

One of my favourite places to be is in  Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps  up the old heart!  At my age I need all the stimuli  I can get!

I may have been in Continent, and I  don't remember what country I was in.   It's  an age thing.   They tell me it is very wet  and damp  there.
    
 
     PLEASE  DO YOUR PART!
Today  is one of the many National Mental Health Days  throughout the year.  You can do your bit by  remembering to send this e-mail to at least one unstable person.   

My job is done!

Homer, Alaska - Land's End

After staying the night on the beach near the mouth of the Kasilof River, my guy and I continued on toward Homer, Alaska. Homer - if you've never been - is a long spit of beach and land, surrounded by the ocean on both sides. It is artist colony meets hippies meets incredible food meets cruise ship tourist! What a combo!

We set up camp on Katchemak Bay - there were several campsites along the beach and we were lucky enough to grab the only available one on Labor Day weekend. Here was our campsite overlooking the Bay and the Katchemak Mountains. Off to the right there were also giant volcanoes visible but I didn't grab a picture of them...

Pheebles was chilly so we made her a nest! She's wearing my new Black Dog fleece!

A huge bald eagle (there were probably 20 or so eagles on the beach) -
carried away a dead salmon right next to our camp.

After getting back home on Tuesday late afternoon, I had just enough time to unpack, do laundry, re-pack, eat dinner, have a drink and then to bed for a couple hours, only to get up, and head to the airport at 11pm to catch my flight to see my family in Georgia. I got to Atlanta the following day at 3pm local time (7pm Alaska time). Got on the train and then finally to my Aunt and Uncle's house! Phew.

We got up early the next day and then drove through Alabama over to Mississippi to the Columbus Air Force Base to stay for a couple of days for the graduation ceremony of my beautiful and talented cousin, A! She received top honors in academics in her pilot training program. She's going to be flying C-17s out of Charleston, South Carolina. An amazing young woman, and I just could not be more proud of her.

Here are my Aunt and Uncle's dogs Rudy (left) and Lily (right). They came with us to the Air Force Base!

The weather in Mississippi was SOOOO hot and SOOOOO humid! The antithesis of Alaska weather! I bitched and complained my way through the entire trip. I do NOT like humidity. It makes me uber cranky.

However, the cloud formations and thunderheads everywhere were spectacular!

Next installment will be the Air Force Ball! What an incredible experience...Awesome five-piece band, great food, black tie event - all inside a GIANT hangar on the base. There were SEVEN planes inside the hangar, a huge dance floor, seating for 500 people, a stage for the speeches, two bars, AND? There was room to spare! It was incredible...

Here's a teaser picture:

Yes, I'm wearing a silk, vintage Emilio Pucci dress! I found that dress in a consignment store for a STEAL! It feels like a whisper and makes me feel super special. I LOVE that dress.

Ok. Off to do some baking! I feel oatmeal chocolate chip cookies coming on...

Ciao for now.