alaska recap

Welp, I’ve been back from Alaska for about a week and half and am just now getting around to posting pictures and a recap of the trip.  One reason is because my parents actually came down here the same night I did so I’ve been a little busy doing stuff with them.  And another reason is just because I’ve been lazy and enjoying my days of having few responsibilities.  But things are changing today!  I’ve posted some pictures on facebook and now I’m writing this post.  Crossing stuff off the list.  So make yourself comfortable, I think this is going to be a long one.

The trip was great.  One of the best trips home in recent years.  I was able to see quite a few of my friends (sadly, for only quick visits with most of them), I got to spend quite a bit of time with my niece and nephew, I got to hang out quite a bit with one of my closest friends Carlie (and help out with her brother’s wedding), and I got to attend (and plan and set up) my 10 year high school reunion.  The weather was amazing.  As in pretty hot – it was in the mid 80’s for most of my trip.  I only remember it reaching those kind of temps maybe once or twice growing up.  I had of course packed completely inappropriately.  Luckily I’d brought quite a few tank tops for layering, so I just dropped the extra layers.  And I never once touched the fleece jacket that took up tons of space in my suitcase.  Oh well.

The first weekend I was there, my niece (A) and nephew (Z) stayed with us at my parents’ house.  A is 4 1/2 and Z is about 15 months.  They arrived on Saturday evening and we had them until Monday morning.  It was fun, it was exhausting, and it reminded me of just how amazing my sister in-law is to be able to keep up with them on a daily basis.  It took my dad, mom, and I all of our effort to keep just 2 kids in line.  Dad and I took A to the park where she ran around for 2 hours straight and someone thought my dad was either homeless or a creepy old man because he laid down in the shady part of one of the jungle gyms and was taking a snooze.  When another lady asked me about him I was confused at first and then realized that she was talking about him.  A little embarrassing to say the least.

That evening we took the kids to Kepler Park for a boat ride.  A decided that her life jacket was killing her after my mom tied together the top set of ties.  So, much of the ride was spent listening to her complain of choking and saying that her vest was “sooo heavy”.  Finally she perked up a bit when she got the chance to row the boat with Granny.  Then Z started fussing and we couldn’t figure out what his deal was.  Turns out he wanted to row too.  He’s very mechanically minded, which doesn’t surprise me a bit seeing as how my dad is a civil engineer, my brother is an areonautical engineer, and Z’s other grandpa owns his own construction company.  And while a bit small for actual rowing, he did seem to have a grasp on the concept and was as happy as a clam after that.

That night Z fell asleep in my arms while we watched Black Beauty (um, how sad is that movie?) and when I went to put him down on his makeshift bed of couch cushions, I couldn’t believe how much he actually looked like a little cherub.  It helped that he was just in a diaper and wrapped up in his champagne colored silky blanket.  His blonde hair didn’t hurt either.  I wish I had a picture of him at that moment.  So adorable.

I met up with lots of my friends for lunches during the week.  I went with one of them to this newer restaurant called the Red Beet.  They don’t have a full menu there.  Instead, they make one entree a day and that’s what you get.  It helps that the food is totally gourmet and delicious.  I can be a picky eater so I was nervous they’d be serving something I really didn’t like, but the food was fabulous.  I thought it really couldn’t get much better and then we ordered dessert!  I got this amazing almond cake with cream and I couldn’t believe how good it was.  I’ve been craving it ever since that day.  I can taste it right now it was so great!

My friend Carlie was up from Tennessee for her brother’s wedding and our high school reunion.  Her husband is originally from Florida and has only been up to Alaska once before.  It was actually when he proposed to her and it was a pretty short trip with disappointing weather, so he was excited about the chance to visit again.  I asked my dad if he would take the three of us up in his plane to fly over a nearby glacier.  The sky had gotten pretty hazy because of wildfires up by Denali, but the view was still amazing.  I think Tony had a great time and it turns out it was Carlie’s first time having a scenic flight like that (and she grew up in AK).

I spent my last Friday and Saturday there helping with the wedding.  Friday was pretty fun because Carlie and I got to zip around in my dad’s Miata going from place to place.  There was the normal wedding stress, but I had fun for the most part.  Saturday was a bit of a different story.  I had fun, but was a lot more stressed.  I’ve coined the day as “running a marathon in bad shoes”.  Seriously, one of the worst blisters I’ve ever had on my heel.  But it all worked in the end and the bride and groom are married (they were high school sweethearts!) and everyone survived!  (But I’ve only worn flip flops since then.)

Oh, and that Friday night we celebrated my brother’s 31st birthday.  I made him a spice cake because my sister in-law told me that whenever they eat spice cake somewhere he always says something to the effect of “why isn’t spice cake in our life more often?”  I got him the first season of Lost on dvd because a couple of months ago he called me on a Wednesday night about 10 minutes before it was on.  I told him I could only talk for that bit of time because Lost would be on and I couldn’t miss it.  And he had the audacity to ask me, “What’s Lost?”  AAAAHHHHH, are you kidding me?  I understand to some degree – they don’t have regular tv and basically just watch things through Netflix.  But Lost just seemed up his alley especially with all the conspiracy theory stuff.  So now I hope he does actually like it seeing as how I went ahead and just bought the season for him instead of telling him to get it on Netflix.

That night the kids ran around my parents’ yard for quite awhile.  I just sat down in the middle of it and started taking pictures.

Sunday was our reunion.  We had planned on having a potluck BBQ at one of the local parks.  I’d gotten kind of anxious about all the details of it (but not about seeing any of the people).  Luckily my friend Hailee really stepped up to the plate and got lots of decorations and nice things to make it feel more festive.  I spent the better part of the week worrying about parking, which of course turned out to be a non issue.  I’d say about 40 people from my class (out of 216) along with families came.  So a little dissappointing size wise, but it was so great to see the people who were there.  And everyone was so gracious about thanking me for putting it together.  I was really glad we did it, even if I had anxiety about it for a whole stinking year.  Everyone looked pretty much exactly the same and it was weird to see little miniature versions of them running around on the park’s jungle gym.   And their were quite a few little babies there.  So sweet.

That night I took the red eye flight back down to WA.  My parents were on another flight that was scheduled to take off at the exact same time (I’m pretty sure we were on 2 different runways).  Once we were in Seattle I took the shuttle bus and they had a layover and then a commuter flight up to B’ham.  And I beat them there by 5 minutes.

awake

I should be getting ready for bed right now.  Actually I should be in bed and have been asleep for awhile.  And I’m tired but I’m not sleepy.  My brain is still whirring from the day.  And not about anything exciting.  Tuesdays are just my really long days right now.  I go straight from work to a 3 hour cheer practice to the grocery store to grab something quick for dinner and then on to my small group (always arriving at least 15 minutes late) and then finally home.  So thoughts and ideas pile up all day and I hardly have time to process anything until the time I should be getting into bed.  I’ve found that I’m definitely someone who has to sit in front of the tv and watch something inane before I can even think about falling asleep (tonight it was 8 minutes of Friends, an episode of Sex and the City, and about 2 minutes of House Hunters International).  I don’t like that I have this habit.  Mostly because I don’t like that I depend on tv to help shut me down.  That doesn’t seem to be the healthiest thing.  I think right now I just need a break.  Good thing I’m taking next week off of work!  I’ve been feeling anxiety slip back into my mind/body/soul and it scares me because I know how paralyzing it can be for me.  And while I can see where having some concern about different things coming up or going on in my life would be okay, its the sense of dread and negativity always at the tip of my brain that just wears me out and gets me in a sort of state of nausea.  I think at the moment a lot of this stems from cheer (random different parts – it is by no means all bad right now) and I’m so looking forward to July just because we’ll be done with camp and we won’t have practice or many events until at least mid August.  It is reminding me a lot of my first 2 of years coaching when I’d wake up with worst case scenarios running through my head and then I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep.  Its not at that point, but I fear that it could get there.  Ok, I had no idea this post was going to get all deep and troubling.  Apparently that’s what’s on my brain that I hadn’t processed yet and can’t shut off yet.  Ugh.

looking ahead

Yay for June!  I can’t believe how fast this year is already going by, but I am excited for this coming month for a bunch of reasons.

1.  I’m taking next week off of work.  Our PTO runs from July – June and we have to use it all up in the year or else we lose it.  For some reason this year I had a quite a bit left over and had to figure out what to do.  But I’m already going to Alaska in July so a trip up there seemed silly and I didn’t have anyone to travel with somewhere else.  But I do have a bunch of stuff I’ve been either putting off here at home and stuff I’ve just wanted to do but haven’t had time.  So I decided to stick around town and take care of it.  I’ve got a big list of stuff to do and I’ve got to make a plan so that I have at least half a shot at actually following through.  I am really hoping that I get my act together and take advantage of this time rather than just sleeping in and watching tv all week.

2.  My roommate and I are planning to go to Friday Harbor for a day next week.  Its her finals week and she’ll be done with tests pretty early in the week so our time off timing worked out well.  We went last year and it was so beautiful and we had a great relaxing day.

Friday Harbor

 

3.  I get to see my friend Danyeal.  But only because I’m mooch and needed a place to stay in the Seattle area and called her out of the blue to see if I could stay at her place.  But luckily she is a very gracious person and immediately said yes.  It’s only for one night and I have to be somewhere pretty early the next day (thus the need to be down there in the first place).  Anyway, I haven’t seen her since November so I’m excited to get to hang out with her even if its just a short time.

4.  Cheer camp is at the end of the month.  I’m looking forward to this for 2 reasons.  First, the girls always learn a ton and even though its tiring and can be overwhelming it is always a good experience on the whole.  And second, once we’re done with camp I’ll have a break for about a month and a half!  I love coaching, but having time away always makes it better when we get back at it.

5.  So You Think You Can Dance is on TV.  Okay, so technically this season started in May, but it’s about to get to my favorite part (basically anything past the auditions).  I grew up dancing and this show makes me wish I was 17 again and dancing all the time and could go and audition myself.  And this time some of my friends are coming over to watch along with me which always makes it more fun.