Thanksgiving Surprise!

A few months ago, Brian and I decided to surprise Dad with a Thanksgiving visit to the farm.  Unfortunately, Brian ended up not being able to swing it due to a conference that came up in New Orleans, but we decided it was still a good idea for me to make the trip on my own. 

Pulling this off required some good secret-keeping and coordinating on everyone's parts (Ben, Becky, Tom, Laura, Caroline, ....and eventually Mom, too!) Strong work everybody, and thanks for helping make it work :)

I've flown through Seattle plenty of times, but for some reason never noticed this store sign.  Dad's favorite saying :)

I left Juneau on Sunday night at 8pm, flew to Seattle and slept overnight in the airport.

I had an early rise and could totally relate to this fellow traveler :)

Caroline picked me up from the airport and we got to visit a bit and visit her new condo.  Then, we swung by Starbucks to pick up a hot chocolate to bring to Dad, and then headed to the farm.  While at her condo, I called Dad just to check-in and see what he was up to, and talked as if I was in Juneau preparing for Brian's return from New Orleans.  Little did he know, that in about 45 minutes we'd be on his doorstep!

It only took about a minute before he was opening up some of his homemade Ferocious IPA :)

I think the best way to describe the look on his face when he saw me through the back door was simultaneous shock, confusion, and elation :)

Here's a little photo shoot where we tried to capture the moment...

THANK YOU, CAROLINE!!!!!  YOU ROCK!!!!!

 He had lunch planned on Tuesday with Mike & Linda at the Florentine in downtown Columbus, and so it was great to get to visit with them, too!  Linda is retiring in one week, so a celebration was definitely in order.




That's a lot of excitement for one day, I think.  Now, nap time :)

One Amazing Saturday in Juneau

After a great girls night this past Friday night, I woke up Saturday planning to do domestic stuff....until I looked out the window.  It was sunny and clear and gorgeous outside.  So, after a slew of text messages and phone calls between girlfriends, I ended up here:

West Glacier Trail (in August)

Oh wait, I meant here!  Same trail, just a little more bundled up this time :)

West Glacier Trail (in November)

I hiked with Megan and Allison.  Megan teaches Math at UAS and I also play volleyball with her.  Allison is the director of the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, and is a fellow Midwestern transplant.  They're both wicked smart (PhD's in Math and Biology) and thankfully very down to earth and still easy for me to talk to :)

Snow makes everything prettier :)

Megan & Allison hiked longer than I was able to because I had to work (a fully booked shift, yay!), so I turned around and headed back early, after a couple hours.  

When I got back to the house, I had a package waiting for me from Caroline!  And, I happened to be on the phone with her already, so I got to open it and share my reaction with her on the other line, which is pretty special because...

She had this bracelet custom made for me!  It is a string of cut-outs from vintage maps of Brian's and my "beginnings" (London, OH and Croswell, MI) and in between are all the cities I've lived in along the way.  

This is just one reason of many, why I love Caroline...

When the bracelet is clasped, Brian's and my beginnings are connected and no matter which direction you go down the line, it's like he was always there with me.  Um, can we say AMAZING GIFT?!?!?

The box also contained lots of random and lovely Fall goodies, and her amazing jewelry that she somehow just "throws together" with her incredible talent of jewelry making.

Beautiful stuff!  She is so creative and talented!

The special bracelet was made by Daisy Mae Designs.  Such a neat idea!

So, I headed to my work shift feeling on cloud nine after opening that lovely gift.  I had a great shift of massaging, and then went to a Thanksgiving dinner hosted and cooked by my new, good friend, Corinne!

Yes, those are pomegranate seeds in the bottom of the champagne glass.  Corinne is one classy lady.

Corinne and I have become fast friends.  We play volleyball together, and she is also a massage therapist (a really good one!)

Corinne, me, Megan - two awesome women I'm lucky to call friends :)  

Definitely feeling blessed and thankful for sunny hikes in the snow, thoughtful and unique gifts, and really good girlfriends :)  

Firsts: Friends and Baked Goods

Brian left last night for a conference in New Orleans (he's presenting a paper on Saturday, so please try to remember him then if you can...).  

Flying solo for the next few days, I decided to host my first "girls night" since moving to Juneau.  To go along with the theme of firsts, I also decided to bake my first cheesecake ever.  This is also the first time we'll have had more than two people over to our house at one time.  Woohoo!

Pumpkin Chocolate = yummy

Can you tell I'm excited???  :) 

Merry Early Christmas!

Since we don't have kids and don't need to "wait for Santa," we can open our Christmas presents whenever we want! 

And we have.  

All the way from Germany, we received this amazingly punctual box of goodies.  Vielen Dank, Mom and Dad!!!!

Can't waaaiiiiit to see what's inside!

Really beautiful pottery from Poland.  (unfortunately, didn't make it intact, but nothing super glue can't fix!!)

Another German beer container to add to our collection

Love these mugs!!  Now we can get rid of some of our not-so-pretty ones, and replace them with these beauties :)

l love my scarves, and new cookbook holder with cookbook!

My...I mean "Our" New Camera :)

Since I'm the photo-taker in our home, I've been happily geeking out lately with our new camera, a Nikon D3200.  It's funny how a new camera suddenly makes everything around you seem so photo-worthy!

Here's a random sampling of my latest string of pics from around our house and out and about in Juneau: 

our "Save the Date" with a bookmark given to me by my dear friend and former college professor, Eleanor.

love this cross from Ten Thousand Villages that was a wedding gift

playing around with aperture here, trying to get my favorite line of this scripture to stand out...hopefully it's clear which one I mean :)

this flower was given to us for free by a nice lady in Juneau in our first week here...i've done my best not to kill it :)

those handsome Vander Naald boys

yes, I even took pics of our dinner: yummy butternut squash soup

wedding pic collage

walking on the bridge over the Gastineau Channel, on my way to the bus stop

boat dock in downtown Juneau

a little public transportation evangelism

I'm hoping to continually learn new things about this crazy machine and take more (and better!) photos to share with you all.  It's definitely something I enjoy, so I'm having tons of fun with it :)

From One Island to Another

Heading home to Juneau from sunny St. Thomas made us all the more thankful we were able to enjoy this amazing trip.

Brian set about making his to-do list on the plane... 

This is what our front porch tree looked like before we left.

This is the tree waiting to greet us when we came home...

This is the sunshiny beach we enjoyed in St. Thomas...

This is our "sunny" beach in Juneau...

These are the fruity cocktails that made us smile on a nightly basis.

This is a little taste of brightness that makes us smile here (thanks L&V!)

Snow fall came one day after we arrived in Juneau...

Happy to be home...

...and a little tired, too.  :)