foundations

This is where Ryan and I are headed today for Christmas &...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:05:00 -0900

This is where Ryan and I are headed today for Christmas & New Year’s with my family. We could both use a little R&R, not to mention some SUN!

I am not sure if there’s internet at the resort so Merry Christmas and all that jazz.

See ya on the flip side in 2010…

Because everybody loves cute pictures of kids in the snow. And...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0900

Because everybody loves cute pictures of kids in the snow. And my niece IS the cutest.

Okay Alaska, now you’re just being ridiculous.

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:22:47 -0900

Okay Alaska, now you’re just being ridiculous.

Escape Alaska Often (EAO)

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:04:30 -0900

Ryan & I have a saying up here…EAO. I just bought tickets to Hawaii, LA and GUAM for 3 whole weeks in February! File under: victory.

I never got around to posting any of my Japan pictures on here....

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:59:04 -0900

I never got around to posting any of my Japan pictures on here. So here’s a sample of a few of the good ones. I’m pretty proud to have narrowed 439 photos to just 140 to upload to flickr and fB. And even still, I’m sure people will complain that there’s too many and as usual, not enough of me or of Ryan. It’s not easy when we’re BOTH behind the lens all the time….just sayin.

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:51:51 -0900

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:49:26 -0900

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:40:34 -0900

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:36:26 -0900

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:32:05 -0900

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:28:00 -0900

On darkness, dawn & dusk

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:33:48 -0900

I’ve mentioned it before, I realize, but I never really talked at length about what it’s like living up here during the winter. I can make this a very short post and summarize it with this: IT BLOWS. Or I can elaborate and tell you a few of the details.

As you can see from the widget above, currently it is 10:00 and the sun isn’t even up yet. It doesn’t officially rise until 10:51. It’s still pretty dark outside actually. And it will stay this way until just about noon. You see, the sun doesn’t actually “rise” like it does everywhere else in the world (except for places like Sweden, Norway etc). It comes above the horizon about 4-5˚and then goes back down into hiding again for another 21 hours.

That leaves us with perpetual dusk or dawn depending on how you look at it. The sun never gets higher than just right above the horizon so all day (all 3 hours that the sun is “up”) it actually looks like it’s either just rising or just setting—that kind of dusk like fading gray light you get everywhere else in the country.

The bright side to this is I get to see the sun rise AND set everyday during the winter. Take THAT lower 48! Sometimes, when it’s not snowing or overcast like it has been for the last five days, the sunsets are beautiful and last for over an hour. The clouds span the entire sky and turn brilliantly bright shades of orange and pink.

In addition to that, it’s easy to get a lot accomplished before the sun comes up, that is, if you are capable of getting out of bed while it’s still dark out, running errands in the dark and doing pretty much anything else in the dark. I have better days when I’m able to do this. Sometimes I’m up and out the door before the sun even “rises.” Today is not one of those days.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. It’s just too hard and too different. I supplement these hard times by sitting next to a Happy Light. And the best news is, the shortest day of the year is quickly approaching (Dec 21), and after that we start getting a whole SEVEN minutes more of daylight per day.

And then, come April through August, the sun never sets and we get to play tennis and run marathons at midnight.

Again, living up here isn’t always easy, but it’s an adventure—one that will be fun to talk about when we’re back living in “America.”

Every Christmas I go through a baking spree. I found this recipe...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:00:13 -0900

Every Christmas I go through a baking spree. I found this recipe on some blog and thought it sounded great. I’ve since made three dozen of them (one with lemon zest instead of orange) and they are fantastic!

Food Gal » Blog Archive » Orange You Glad To Discover This Cookie?

How cute is this letter we got yesterday in the mail addressed...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:11:00 -0900

How cute is this letter we got yesterday in the mail addressed to SANTA CLAUS (in all caps)? This is only somewhat funny because we live in a town called North Pole. We have street names here like Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive. And of course, we get more Santa mail up here than in any other town in America.

At first glance, I thought this letter was from a total stranger. Then I remembered that Ryan has a friend with two young kids, and he probably told her to send us a letter. We can send them back a letter from the Santa Claus House (which is about a mile away from our house) which comes with an official Santa mail envelope and stamp and of course, gets postmarked from “North Pole, AK.”

I can’t wait until my niece is old enough to start believing in Santa…

I guess this is one of the perks of living here?

I’m always seeing these beautiful credenzas on design...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:26:31 -0900

I’m always seeing these beautiful credenzas on design blogs that were oh “just another ebay find.” That’s all well and good for them however, when I do a search I find beautiful pieces that a) I can’t afford [right now] and b) that don’t ever ever offer delivery to Alaska.

A credenza is another coveted item that I finally have the space for, so hopefully one of these days I’ll get lucky…via

A glimpse from my weekend…

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:25:00 -0900

A glimpse from my weekend…

alaskavsnewyork: Alaska, tree lights (Monday)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:23:42 -0900

alaskavsnewyork:

Alaska, tree lights (Monday)

I may have mentioned it a few times, but we moved into a brand...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:09:00 -0900

I may have mentioned it a few times, but we moved into a brand new house in October. Like brand new, we built it from the ground up new. Well, technically we didn’t built it, but we watched as our fabulous team of builders built this house in less than three months.

I may have also mentioned that it’s freaking freezing in this state. And since I have a brand new house, one would expect that inside said new house it would be warmer than outside. You know, with a brand new furnace and all. Well, today it’s 20 below and our heat does not appear to be working.

I remember this sort of shit happening at least four or five times a winter when I lived in NYC and couldn’t control the heat. You have two choices when the landlord is paying the heating bill: freaking blazing hot or freaking none at all. So you know, I figured when I moved out of NYC I would no longer have that problem.

Until now…while I write this post in my down coat a hat and fingerless gloves.

Two. Weeks. From. Today.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:02:00 -0900

Two. Weeks. From. Today.