Embark

In a mere 24 hours, Jeff, Emile, Oscar, and I will be on the ferry, embarking on the beginning of our long drive up to Anchorage. The last couple of days have been full of cleaning, packing,  and throwing/giving our stuff away. We are beginning a lifestyle of living with less things. I am excited to see if I can control my spending, and let go of my attachment to stuff. It is tricky, because I love my clothes. I have cut my wardrobe in half over the last month-so I am proud of that. I will never be someone that only has ten things in my closet. That's just not me. But if I can only hold onto what I really like wearing, that's enough for me.
I don't know what to expect when we arrive in Anchorage. I am a little nervous. Juneau is my home, but I've never been one to shy away from a little adventure-especially an awesome road trip.

We are taking about four days to get to Anchorage. We'll take a ferry to Skagway, spend a day in Skags, drive to Tok, then on to Anchorage-with 24 hours of actual traveling time. And I'll be taking pictures the whole way.

Time for more packing.
xo
Alli

Three Days

Only three days until Jeff and I hit the road for our six month adventure in Anchorage. Now, granted it will be more work than adventure, with a few spurts of fun mixed in. But I'm anxious just the same. Our condo is in complete disarray. I'm overwhelmed, scared, and in enough denial to just take a nap instead. 

I am no stranger to temporary moves. I haven't lived in one place for more than six months in more than six years.  I love moving because it gives me the opportunity to downsize, and attempt a bit of reinvention.  We already have goals for a healthier lifestyle. We  signed up for a weekly local, organic produce box; we've noted the local farmer's markets; we live close enough to work to walk or bike; and we are even trying to live with only 100 things each-but I'm counting my wardrobe as just one thing :). Who knows if we'll adopt these changes, but we definitely need them-whether in Anchorage or Juneau.
Even with our combined excitement, I will still be nervous until I'm there and settled. I'm nervous for a new town, new people, new job, and a bit of a new life. I hope I can get it all together in the next 72 hours. 72 HOURS?! CRAP! I better make another donation pile, but I'll probably just procrastinate on facebook instead.

xo
Alli

Not a Baby Blog

I read a lot of baby and mama blogs. I love the adorable pictures set against colorfully clean fabric backgrounds. The faces and clothes are always clean, and life always seems so happy and perfect. Now that I have some some time with some real life munchkins, I realize that those blogs don't always represent the truth-they just show the joys. Luckily for the past ten days, I tended a couple of kids that seemed to be right out of one of those perfect little blogs-most of the time. Oh, there were screams, and tears, and definite confusion on my part-but it didn't matter. I love my niece and nephew so much more than I did eleven days ago. I will miss carrying that little potato-sack boy on my hip, with his constant giggle. I will miss Caroline's love of all things frilly, pink, and princessy, with her unbelievably obedient nature. What a wonderful eleven days, even if it wasn't perfect.

Here are some bits..

Lulu stringing beads.

A cupcake and her cupcakes.

James and James.

Jimbo and his Great Aunt Julie.

Memorial Day gathering at Memorial Estates.

Princess making crowns...

...for everyone.

Modeling some crowns.

Indoor tea party.

Outdoor tea party.

Gorgeous and gorgeous.

And a lot of sugar.

Goodbye sweet nibs!

xo

Alli

Princess Tea Party

I am day NINE into babysitting my little sweet-um niece and nephew. It's been pretty tiring, but overall they have been so much fun to hang out with. I get stressed and worried about eating and naps, but I am reminded that it's all a crap shoot. When dealing with babes, just be sure that they're clean and fed. I hope to savor the last couple of days I have with them, before I have to venture back north.

On Wednesday, we had a sweet little princess tea party. It was the perfect little activity to look forward to, and Grandma decided that it should really be fancy. ;) 

"The cream" (Sprite) and "the tea" (apple juice). They are Mormon children, after all.

"The Queen" (grandma) and "the Princess" (Lulu).

"The Prince" (me).

and "the Jester" (Jam-a-lam).

 The princess is pretty pleased.

After a few cookies, and lots of sprite, we let set all manners aside.

What a delightful afternoon.

xo

Alli

Auntie Alli

 For the next ten days or so, I get to take care of my unbelievably adorable niece and nephew. Lulu is four, and delights in everything pink and princessy. She is surprisingly obedient, and the perfect little companion. Baby Jimbo is about 15 months, and is basically every parent's dream. He only fusses when he's hungry or tired, and delights in life's little pleasures-waving goodbye, smiling, crawling, and little plastic balls. I feel pretty lucky to be an aunt that gets to giggle with these little squirrels.

 Lulu sprinkling some cupcakes.

 We made these cupcakes for the eventual "tea party in the park." These also come in handy when urging Lu to eat all her dinner. "If you don't eat your grapes, you can't have a cupcake." 

Works like a charm.

Grandpa James and Baby James. 

Two boys with extremely similar dispositions. 

Patient.

Happy.

Loving.

xo

Alli

PS-Last night I finally got to see my best friend in the universe, Meredith. We've been friends since forever (like, high school), and  I'm still flying high from laughing so hard. I get to see her again tonight, and I can't freaking wait.

The Backyard

Oh, how I have missed the desert. I am home in Utah for the next ten days, and I got to soak up the sun in my parents' backyard. 

I sat in the hot sun for hours, and finished reading Second Kiss, by Natalie Palmer. Natalie and I went to middle school and high school together. We suffered through zits, boys, and drama. Second Kiss is a novel about a teenage girl who is finishing up middle school, and touches on some tender growing pains that many kids go through (we certainly went through them.) It was so much fun to read a book about middle school, by one of my very own middle school bffs. I loved every word of the book, and I highly recommend it. It is meant for teenage girls, but so are Mary Kate and Ashley movies. I love those movies, but I love Second Kiss more.  

I kept picturing the halls of our middle school, and her awesome house, and even my backyard.

 As I finished the book, I became nostalgic and took a few moments to look around my parents backyard. My folks' house is not the house I grew up in. I grew up in the house just next door (you can see the roof in the above picture). The plot of land that their current house is on, was my childhood backyard. We even had a little tennis court for a while on that spot, and all the neighborhood kids would regularly gather to play on it. 

We also had a perfect little tree house that was built by one of the older neighbor boys. It was so awesome! It was two floors, with two separate ladders, a porch, and a roof (all made out of beautiful/hideous particle board ;) ). I could play in the trees and in that tree house for hours. It was constantly a mess back there, but we never had to clean it. That is, until Mom and Dad decided to build their new home back there. 

By the time my parents built their new house, I was well past the age to play in the tree house. I was 18, and didn't mind too much seeing the old thing torn down. 

Today, however, I wish I could see it one more time.

There are still a few tiny reminders of the old tree house.

 Like this little bit of wood, still nailed firmly to the tree trunk. I think this held part of the "first floor."

A rotting 2x4.

The cement blocks or "the porch."

And, of course, the trees that held our tree house. 

If I stared really hard, I could almost see it.

Almost smell it.

Almost get a horrible splinter from that horrible rough particle board.

PLUS! It's my awesome little brother's 27th birthday today! Wo. We used to play for hours in that gosh darn treehouse.

Happy Birthday, Gravy!

xo

Alli

Fishing and Orcas

Wednesday was overcast and cold. But we are still in Go the Heck Outside-mode. Jeff made plans to go fishing on our friend, John's boat. Lucky for me, I got to tag along.

I had never been trolling for salmon, but it seems a pretty relaxed activity. We basically just attached four rods to the back of the boat, and then we chatted inside while John used a remote to slowly maneuver the boat.

We caught a flounder!

John we pretty stoked, because he could use it for bait in his crab pots.

This was the only fish we caught all morning. John decided to stop fishing, because we discovered that the fish were scared away by....

...the freaking ORCAS!

After hours of just floating along waiting for salmon, we were sucked into whale watching. We rode up next to some whale watching tours and stared at orcas for a while.

I must admit, I liked whale watching better than fishing.

We didn't just see orcas. We saw some humpbacks, too. John and Jeff were unconcerned with the humpbacks.  John even said "Eh, I've seen plenty of those!"

These pictures are not good, but every time I saw those dorsal fins and white spots-I gasped.

How was I so lucky to see these incredible creatures?

People from down south ask me all the time why I live here...

This is why I live here.

xo

Alli