Sometimes you need to...

...dream...

...slide down an icy hill in your dress...
...daydream about camping in warm weather... ...remember summer bonfire's with your friends......break out the old photographs......plan another hiking trip with people who make you smile......drive...

...sing...

...wear your sunglasses in February...

...hug a tree...

...travel...

...explore...

...take a moment to appreciate God's smaller creations...
...and laugh...

recycling is F-U-N-!!!

I've been busy getting ready for the craft fair and have been experimenting with plastic. Here are a few of my recycled plastic earrings and necklaces. I love that it's fun AND helps the earth! Thanks Erin for eatting all those freezy cups and saving your plastic =)

I'm still playing with button rings. Joanne's had a 50% off button sale last weekend so I went nuts! Here are a few of the rings I'll have for sale at the craft fair.

I think we finally figured out what Molly's craft is going to be! Does your butt ever get tired when sitting at a basketball game?? Never fear, MOLLY is here! =)

our new house mate

This weekend we went to home depot and fell in love with a plant. I know, it sounds crazy. How in the world do you fall in love with a plant?? Well, we did. As soon as we walked into the plant section Adam and I both rushed over to this one and knew we had to bring it home with us. We spent our Sunday repotting, trimming, and giving it some much needed love. Here's the finished product.

We also rearranged some of our other plants and hung up my 1-dollar-thrift-store-macrame-bargain.

I love all the green in our condo these days!

Hooping Article from the Juneau Empire!

Hula HoopLa!New hula hooping group meets Thursdays; Nelson talks with world record hooper 'Dizzy Hips'
By Courtney Nelson Straight Talk Hula-hoops are back and they aren't just for kids anymore. The hula hoop revival officially hit Juneau with the emergence of a group of hoopers called HoopLa! Carolyn Bergstrom watched her friend Heather Ridgway hula hoop in a hoop off during an intermission at last year's Alaska Folk Festival event. Ridgway got the hoop over her head, and Bergstrom, impressed, gave Ridgway a how-to-hula hoop video and two hoops. Ridgway invited friend Valerie Snyder over to try them out. They loved it, but it was a little crowded in her home. The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council said they could use the main room to practice so more friends joined them. They projected the instructional video on the wall. It was summer weather, so they started hooping on the lawn of the JAHC, and friends and some passer-bys joined them. It caught on. This recent adult hula hoop revival started nationally in a similar grassroots fashion. World record hula hooper Paul "Dizzy Hips" Blair, who'll be performing at the Olympics in Vancouver next month, started hooping a large homemade hula hoop at a "String Cheese Incident" concert (http://www.stringcheeseincident.com/) in Telluride, Colo. "The band noticed me and asked me to make five hula hoops for them," Blair said from his Idaho home. Soon the band, credited with the hula hoop revival, was giving hundreds of hoops away at concerts. Known for themed concerts and visual effects, they even had a Halloween show called "Hulaween." Hula hooping also is good exercise. In Washington, First Lady Michelle Obama made national news when she hula hooped 142 revolutions before she dropped it at the Healthy Kid Fair in October. In Juneau, after kids and a gravel driveway at an office party destroyed the two hula hoops Bergstrom loaned Ridgway, she looked online for a hula hoop recipe. She bought materials for eight hoops at the hardware store, then festive decorative tape. "I had to have the colorful tape," Ridgway said. She replaced Bergstrom's hoops and shared the remainder with the group. Amy McCormick and Valerie Snyder are part of the core HoopLa! group. "I met new people and learned a fun skill," said Snyder, who didn't know how to hula hoop before last June and now uses it as her primary exercise. Bob McCormick, the only male of the group so far, tagged along with his wife and actually shed some blood during one freak hooping trick accident involving his ear. Personally, I found myself drawn to hula hoop performances by Dizzy Hips last summer at his gig at the San Juan Island County Fair. Dizzy, a hooper from age 5 who held a world record of 197 revolutions per minute, was swirling everything from a tiny hula hoop to a hundred pound tractor tire twice a day. Motivated by his steel core, I decided to start hooping too. Dizzy gave my kids and I private lessons and made me a custom designed hoop made of heavy construction PVC pipe. It bruised my whole torso, but I didn't care. Waving to Dizzy as his natural gas powered RV headed off to Burning Man, I felt as empty as the littered deserted fair grounds we stood in - the lone hooper. It didn't last long. Overhearing my dinner conversation, a waitress told me about hooping.org, a Web site that posts video of new hula hooping tricks weekly. I witnessed hoop dancing at an alternative fair in Friday Harbor and a yoga retreat in Colorado. Hoopers were everywhere. My hoop almost didn't make it back to Juneau because security at Sea-Tac was unable to stuff it through the X-ray. They eventually determined we were a traveling circus family, opened the hoop to dump all the noise beans, and waved us through. Hooping alone at Cope Park while playing ball with my dog, Snyder approached me and told me about the group HoopLa! I showed up to the Juneau Arts and Culture Center on Thursday night to witness a group of harmonious hoopers who were laughing, sharing tricks and telling stories. Hoops were flying and crashing, a baby cried, yet everyone seemed almost meditative. HoopLa!, performing under their stage name "Arctic Circle," will make their first public performance in this year's Cirque de Pluie themed Wearable Art Extravaganza, on Feb. 13 and 14 at Centennial Hall, and will do a workshop for the Bartlett Hospital Foundation's Women's Day on Jan. 30. If you want to try hooping, HoopLa! meets from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at the JACC. • Courtney Nelson is a Juneau resident breaking it down with sassy, sensible truths. She can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

Thought you'd enjoy this one, Dad.

So, I'm proctoring the SATs this morning and while all the high schoolers are stressing out I've been looking at the student projects that are posted on the wall. The current project seems to be one of those "all about me" assignments. You know, the assignment where students have to write about their goals, favorite activities and other things that make them unique. Well, they also have to include their favorite quote. Here's one that I thought you'd like, Dad...."Early to bed, early to rise...fish all day, make up lies." Ah, spoken like a true Alaskan =)

I love three day weekends!

I just love having extra time to play and relax! This weekend there was lots of sleeping in, napping and snuggling in bed with the family. On Saturday I went over to Erin's house and did some crafting. Here's the little project I made. Crocheting is waaaay more fun with a friend and some wine =)

I also did a little crafting on my own this weekend. Here's my latest craze-button rings! They're so fun to make AND wear! Molly and I are gearing up for the craft fair in March.

I went and saw The Lovely Bones with some girls from work last night. The book was wonderful but the movie was a bit hoakie. It's not a BAD movie, just not worth spending 10 bucks at the theater.

Today will be spent relaxing and getting some stuff done around the house. I love love love this extra day!!!

You'd be late for work too...

...if you woke up and your cat and dog were cuddled with you.
...if you had a pile of blankets on your bed.

...if you had the most comfortable pillows.

...if it was cold and dark outside but toasty warm under the covers.

...if it was raining but you were dreaming of sunshine.

...if your husband was the best snuggler ever.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Today baby Chance turns 4! How quickly time flies! I think it's time to find a more appropriate nick name. "BABY Chance" just doesn't work anymore.

~ We love being goofy with our little nephew!
~ We love it when you say "hey buddy" when you're talking to us!
~ We love that you like to play with magnets and cups!
~ We love watching you run around naked and roll on the floor with Rosco.
~ We love it when you call us and don't say anything.
~ We love taking you to the park!
~ We love watching you throw rocks in the pond.

We hope you have a great birthday and can't wait to see you at Mommy & Daddy's wedding!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

time flies when you're having fun

It's hard to believe that our two week vacation is over already. Tomorrow we head back to work and face the little monsters. As much as I'd love to have more time off I'm grateful that I have a job that I love, co-workers who are my best friends and lots of time to play. It's really a pretty sweet gig I've got.

Over break I was able to spend time crafting and exploring my creative side. I made jewelry like crazy...until I was out of supplies.

I made my favorite Christmas present for our friends Mike & Erin. I love making these reindeer beer bottles. They're so much fun and so easy! A few of our friends were recipients of my newest project-bath scrubs! I made a pepermint-coffee scrub as well as a vanilla scrub. These are super easy to make as well!

My favorite project was making these handwarmers. I've been searching for new mittens/handwarmers forever! I've found a few cute ones on etsy but haven't been able to justify spending money on them when they look so easy to make. I had a little bit of yarn laying around so I decided to give it a try. I must say that I'm pretty happy with the results. The yellow ones are mine and the green one's I'll send to my brother's girlfriend for a late Christmas present.

We had some great weather over break...clear, cold and sunny so I took advantage of it with lots of walks with good friends and drives with the hubby.

We enjoyed plenty of holiday parties with friends.

Reconnected with old friends and family members over coffee.

Found some good thrift-store deals.

Did a lot of reading.

RELAXED!

It was a wonderful break. Now it's time to finish the laundry, pre-set the coffee pot and load the dishwasher. Back to reality-good thing my reality isn't too bad =)

A little of this, A little of that....our winter break

It's been a lovely two weeks off from work. We all relaxed and had a great time celebrating the holidays together. While we're never REALLY ready to go back to work I think we'll go back feeling refreshed and able to make it until Spring Break. Here's a rundown of our winter break!

**Took these monkeys to the airport for their sunny SoCal Christmas trip!

**Visited the thrift stores almost every day! I found a ton of great deals and even managed to find a few fun Christmas presents!

**It was craft central at our house! Adam was busy making potatohead lamps

(this is the police officer potatohead lamp that he made for the DARE officer that comes into his classroom)

and candles while I was busy crocheting and jewelry making! My friend Angie has been my ultimate customer this Christmas..I think she ended up ordering over 10 handstamped necklaces and even had me working on Christmas Eve!

** Watched LoTS of movies....Despicable Me, Inception, Kick Ass and Little Fockers...

**Opened lots of presents! Santa spoiled all of us this year!

**Took Rosco out for a couple after-dinner walks...

**Tromped around in the snow before it rained and turned to ice...

**Enjoyed the variety of wine my hubby brought home for me. ;-)

**Finished our spare bedroom and bought a bed! I'd love to take credit for working on this but truthfully, it was all Adam. He repatched walls, painted and finished the trim and now this bedroom looks WAAAAYYYY better than before. Now the father-in-law has his own room!

** Celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a snowy winter walk, a movie date and dinner at the Island Pub.

**FINALLY mailed this little monkey's Christmas and Birthday present! I can't believe he's going to be FIVE soon!

**This one pretty much sums up my last few days of break....sitting in my jammies, drinking coffee and reading the day away. This is my NEW favorite coffee mug ;-) Adam has a black one that says "I love my Uncle".


It's back to work for us tomorrow....I've been so busy relaxing that I forgot to do my Marvelous Monday post last week. No worries....I'm sure the first Monday back will be SUPER Marvelous and I'll have lots to post ;-)

Happy New Year, friends!

Happy 2010!!

Welcome 2010!!!

This year we held our SECOND (!!!) annual New Year's Eve party at our house. The evening was full of good food, good drinks, good friends and not-so-good singing =)
We were so glad that Kelly and Anna could join us from Fairbanks!

It was great to have the WHOLE Carriker Clan here to help us celebrate!


My favorite quote of the evening... "Tristan, this is the best party EVER!!!" -Noah

We loved that Logi was able to help us celebrate! Last year he had to celebrate from Erin's tummy!

This guy never did put his party hat on....hmmmmm.

~Here are a few of the exciting things we did in 2009~

~ FINALLY took our honeymoon to Australia!!

~Traveled to Seldovia and married our M & D friends!

~Got to see baby Chance (who's not really a baby anymore!)

~Finally finished the wood floors in our condo!

~Had Nebraskan visitors!

~Made a didgeridoo!

~Saw the Sydney Opera House!

~These are a few of the things we're looking forward to in 2010!!

~TRAVELING!

~Watching my little brother get married!

~Hiking in Colorado??

~Spending time with our friends & family!