North Douglas Beaches

Miraculously…..

It's been sunny this week! I feel like I've been writing that a lot this year.  Juneau typically gets more than 300 cloudy/rainy/snowy days per year (aka NO SUN).  This year it feels like we've had a ton of beautiful, warm, and glorious sun.  I'm never going to complain about that kind of a miracle.  

This week we took the dog out for a hike and a little sunbathing by the ocean.  It was actually warm enough (upper 30's) to hike without full winter gear.  The sun helped us out too.  We ended up lounging on some rocks for what felt like all day.  I got some great pictures.  Cody just about fell asleep on a rock.  Specks, the dog, chased enough birds to last him all week.  So warm.  So sunny. So relaxing. 

Perfection :) 

Questions:

Where is your favorite beach?

Tell me about your perfect winter day? 

Native Alaskan Culture

We celebrated a very important holiday in Juneau this week!  Elizabeth Peratovich Day is an Alaskan holiday that celebrates the woman who helped fight for the rights of Native Alaskans. You can follow the link above to learn more about Elizabeth and all of her contributions to the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. In celebration of these contributions, our school decided to host a beautiful cultural event. Cody and I were lucky to attend the event, which featured traditional Tlingit dancing and storytelling by a respected elder. We were incredibly blessed to be involved in this evening of culture!

These are just a couple of the amazing pictures that Cody was able to take of the dance performance.  The dancing was incredible to watch! It was very processional (moving throughout the crowd) and I loved hearing the singing/chanting that accompanied the entire performance.  Truly moving.  Below is a video of the dancers entering the performance area (sorry for the poor quality, iphone).  Check it out!

Questions:
What is something special that your culture celebrates?
What is your favorite cultural holiday? 

Three Days

I have a three day weekend.  And, while I am hoping to have something mildly interesting to post by the end of the weekend, all I can manage now is a couple of pictures of what I plan on spending the weekend doing.

Obviously, it's a little snowy so I plan on spending my entire Saturday having a "snow day."  I will listen to my records, watch movies, walk my puppy, drink cocoa, and cook dinner.  That is all.

Enjoy the weekend :)

Five Things Friday

There have been a lot of random thoughts floating around in my head lately! I've been struggling to compile them all into one (or more) blog posts.  So, today I stole "Five Things Friday" from many of my favorite bloggers and just wrote a blurb about each.  Some of the topics I intend to go into more detail about later on, but for now this will do.  Life has been crazy-busy the last few weeks.  But, I am glad to have a day to catch up on life.  So, here it goes...

1.) Does anybody else do this? I've been stuck in bed with a back injury the last two days and I've been living on these snack plates.  Fruit, cheese, pretzels, and yogurt.  Delicious!

2.) Also, I've become obsessed with Sons of Anarchy. This show has been my BFF while laid up in bed.  I'm obsessed with the Teller family and all of their life drama. It has all the makings of a great show: plot twists, gorgeous bikers (hah), and action.  I need a motorcycle and a leather jacket. Stat.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

3.) The weather has been just BEAUTIFUL lately.  We are back to having some pretty chilly days (between 10°-20°) but the sun has been blazing in the sky.  It looks like we may end up with some snow in the forecast sometime in the latter part of the weekend.  But, we've been without any snow for about 6weeks so I can't complain too much.

4.) Cody and I are debating taking a honeymoon trip this summer.  We are thinking of taking 3weeks off of work and driving the Alcan Highway (Alaska-Canada). Our tentative plan involves driving from Haines, AK down through Canada and camping all along the way.  We've heard amazing things about the trip and had some friends drive it this summer.  Here's to hoping!

Photo courtesy of Budget Travel.

5.) I've finally gotten my cooking-groove back! I had been really against cooking for the last two months.  Normally I am an obsessive chef.  I love to cook at my house every day.  But, I somehow lost my mojo for cooking tasty meals this winter.  I think I am getting back in the groove of feeding myself healthy meals though.  Meal planning has really been my savior here!

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend! I know that I will!

Questions:
1.) Have you ever seen SOA?  Did you enjoy it? 
2.) Have you ever taken a big road trip? Where did you go? 
3.) How has the weather been in your state lately? 

Superbowl Weekend

Superbowl weekend was a fun affair here in Juneau.  Alaska doesn't have a professional football team, but we tend to identify heavily with Seattle so there are LOTS of Seahawks fans in the state.  As a kid I never identified with my fellow Chicagoans and their love of the Bears (please, no hate mail) so I dabbled in rooting for the Packers.  Ever since moving to Alaska though I've transformed into a Seahawks fan.  I'm not a diehard supporter, but I enjoy watching a good game on occasion.  Anyways, this was a fun game to watch for Seahawks fans!  And I must say, I was pretty happy with the turnout myself!

Seattle

Seahawks

(16-3)

Denver

Broncos

(15-4)

43 - 8

Final

	1	2	3	4		Total
Seahawks	8	14	14	7		43
Broncos	0	0	8	0		8

All times are in Alaska Time

I was also pretty pleased with the food selection!  Admittedly, I am always a big fan of any holidays, sporting events, etc that involve copious amount of food.  I just can't help it.  This girl loves to eat.

We had friends over to watch them game and this was part of our feast.  We had roasted veggies, two kinds of dip (guacamole and buffalo), a cheese tray, a fruit tray, and adult beverages to drink.  Snack-y type foods are totally up my alley so I was in heaven.

This weekend was a fun and relaxing one in so many ways.  We also went out on a hike on Saturday and shot one of Cody's guns.  I don't have a ton of experience with handguns but it was a blast to try my hand (hah) at it.

We drove up into the mountains by our house and hiked about a mile off of the road (no trails, it was a bit of an uphill trek).  In Alaska you can shoot/hunt on any public land as long as it is 1/2mile from the roadway.  Thankfully, there's a ton of public land near our house.  We just found a secluded area and did a little target shooting.  It was a fun weekend all around :)

Questions
Who were you rooting for in the Super Bowl?
What is your favorite snack food?
What about your favorite game day snack?