the after 30 part...

Happy Holidays from Seattle, WA!  I just arrived home from Ketchikan, Alaska, where I spent Christmas with Mom and the family.  It was lovely.  We had some snow, ate a lot of Christmas cookies, and enjoyed watching Avery open her presents.  However, this blog isn't about home.... it's about the five days I spent in Fargo, ND and Minneapolis, MN, before I flew up north. Nate, my boyfriend, (Yes, boyfriend!), invited me to come meet his family before the holidays.  Nate is from Fargo.  Most of you, I'm sure, have seen the movie Fargo.  I was anticipating what the movie depicts, and to be quite honest, it wasn't that far off.  It was snowy, and flat, and people talked with Canadian accents.  Everyone I met was super pleasant, people opening doors and saying hello as you passed.  I even got a photo of me in front of a wood chipper that they have outside the visitors center. Nate's family is incredibly nice.  I met his parents, his two sisters, their kids, his gra

Hosting Thanksgiving is always a reminder of how much I appreciate my mother.  From cooking the turkey to baking pies, I don't know how my mom does it every year for 10 plus people and all by herself.  Luckily, I had help with the cooking and just three guests. Michelle, Nate and Ella joined me at my house in Kent for a festive day of Thanks.  Turkey, sweet yams, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, stuffing, cranberry sauce and hot rolls, with pumpkin pie for dessert. YUM!! The one thing I am most thankful for that happened in 2012 is Mr. Maxwell Chandler, thee best dog in the world!  I'm also thankful for my friends and family.  Thank's for always loving and supporting me in everything I do.  OX Snow and Oscar joined us for dinner (Ella insisted!) Michelle enjoying dinner! Nate and I not posing at all. Ella enjoying Snow the bear! Max :)

Wait just a second.  Has it really been since May that I wrote my last post?  It's almost OCTOBER?!  What a fast season.  With managing a store in Ketchikan, flying back and forth, and still managing SMC, I was busy.  When one is busy, days seems to fly by in a blink of an eye.  I like this.  I LOVE OCTOBER! So the faster we get to this month, the happier I am.  October is the month I get to go "home" to Ketchikan and Seattle, see friends and family.  Fall colors, warm drinks, my birthday, Halloween, travel..... so many wonderful things that make it the best month ever. I leave today to Ketchikan for a few days and then onto Seattle.  This fall I will be making some big decisions for my future.  I can't tell you what about quite yet, but just know they are big for me, and a possible transition to a home that is more year round.  Skagway, this last summer, has finally (about time!) grown on me.  I had a great season, meeting lots of new people, and having a really goo

I'm not a dog person.  Never have been.  In the last 20 years or so, my natural reaction to dogs is to pull away.  I'm allergic.  So to have a dog in my house still shocks me.  I'll be doing the dishes and see Max peak around the island in my kitchen, and I'm still surprised every time.  The 16th marked our first month together.  Just two days after I had him, I freaked out.  I actually called my Mom, while having a mild panic attack, even crying, because I felt overwhelmed and anxious about what I had "gotten myself into".  I felt like he was a ball and chain.  What if I wanted to travel for months at a time?  What if I forget to feed him?  Do I have to take him everywhere?  What if he gets sick and I can't afford to save him?  I don't want to think about anybody else but ME ME ME!  Selfish?  Yes.  True? Embarrassingly so. However, after one week, his cute floppy ears, silly looking under bite and his need to cuddle 24/7, won me over.  He loves to be

It's Mother's day today.  The day to celebrate how awesome and amazing our Mom's are.  And as much as my mother is pretty kick ass, I'm not going to be talking about her.  I'm going to talk about another mother, not a mother to me, but one that inspires me.  I hope that when I do finally become a Mom, I am as giving and loving as Christy McDonald (Parrott) .  Christy and I grew up in Ketchikan together.  We became very close in high school and have been friends ever since.  She graduated from college in Arkansas and then married Danny McDonald.  They soon had their first son, Taylor, and then a daughter named Bailey.  They are the cutest children ever and she is one lucky Momma. Bailey is a year and half now and has Downs Syndrome.  This doesn't define Bailey by any means, but it was something that Christy had to prepare for and educate herself about.  Since Bailey has been in her life, I have been reading her blog and watching Bailey grow up through pictures

How in the heck did May already get here?  April flew by!!   Friday we get our first ship and start our 11th season at Skagway Mining Company.  11 springs of bringing in boxes, unloading, pricing items, and merchandising.  11 summers of customer service, stupid tourist questions, and long days.  11 falls of counting 800 of this and 1,001 of that for a physical inventory.  11 lovely ferry rides home.  I can't believe it's been ELEVEN years! This year, however, there has been a big change.  I had to say goodbye to my awesome leadership team, Jared, Katie, Willie, Brittany, and Jene, and welcome a new one.  I hired six new people this winter down in Seattle and it turned out to be a huge success.  Here are a few pictures of April. From left to right top row: Jamie, Kaeli, Nick, Kevin, Cole Bottom row: Adam, Sarah and Keri Meet Kaeli from Louisiana!  She is in charge of our jewelry and has a super cute style! Sarah, 11th season, and Lauren, from White Pass, h

Last winter I created a vision board . On the board were pictures of cute mini dogs, such as Malteses and Bichon Frises, as well as many other things I dream of, e.g., marriage, babies, traveling, happily ever after.  After looking for a mini dog all winter, I came up with nothing.  Either the puppies were from puppy breeders or $2,000.  My landlord here in Skagway gave me three conditions on having a dog in my apartment: 1. It has to be a mini, 2. It can't bark, and 3. I never leave it home alone. I felt overwhelmed with finding a puppy to train, so I put it on the back burner and let it go. Today, however, one of the images on my dream board came true.  A cute, three year old, Bichon Frise named Max, landed in my lap.  A friend of mind, Brittney Thomas - thee coolest, animal loving, rock star in the world, knew I had been looking for a puppy.  Brittney also knew that one of our mutual friends, Courtnay, just rescued a dog that was left at the dog groomers, (owner never picked hi

It's already Tuesday.  My trip here in Mexico is coming to an end.  Saturday, all 6 of us piled into the van and drove 5 hours to the coast.  We arrived, tired and hungry, and went to Happy Food for dinner.  It made us happy.  As we were walking back to our van, Maiya saw a little girl playing.  She looked at her, stopped, looked a little closer and realized she knew the little girl.  It was Rosetta, Jeffrey's daughter, from Skagway.  There were Kori (also a Skagway local) and Jeffrey sitting, 5 feet away, at a bar.  We knew they were in town, as we were planning on having dinner together, but to run into them in a big city... small world! Sunday, I ventured out on my own and went to La Cruz for the farmer's market.  Best farmer's market I have ever been to in Mexico.  Vegan muffins, cilantro hummus, tortilla de espanola and more.  The prices for the crafts and jewelry were much higher than usual, but the only people shopping there, were Gringos, mostly retired white

I made it!!!  After ten hours of sleepful travel, I arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico to a torrential downpour of rain.  Just my luck. Rainforest raised girl seeks sun to find nothing but more rain.   Alisa & Jared  are hosting me here for a week in their wonderful home located in a little  Ajijic , Mexico, right next to the fifty mile wide lake of Chapala. It's huge and gorgeous and I really hope to see more of it this week.  Alisa and Jared have three wonderful children, who are the cutest ever, two red heads and a blonde.  Ella age 7, Maiya age 4, and Ethan age 18 months. This morning we started bright and early (early by my standards, which is like 8 am), and headed to the big city for "Market Day"! It wasn't raining, just overcast, but cold enough that I had two coats on.  Wait, what?  Two coats?  Am I really in Mexico?  The one time they have a cold snap in a billion years just has to be the same time I come to visit.  It's supposed to warm up by this wee