Marvelous Monday..

Today was marvlous because...

....This little taste of spring was what welcomed me to my desk this morning...

XOXOX

Marvelous Monday...

It was just a plain ol' day today but sometimes "plain" is nice. These are the things that made my Monday Marvelous...

*Laughing with Adam's students. Sometimes his boys just crack me up.
*Getting in an extra good workout tonight....sometimes sweating feels so good.
*Watching hours of mindless episodes of Parks & Recreation...sometimes you don't want to think.
*Trying out our new juicer... sometimes you want to try something new.
*Opening my e-mail to find a dinner invite for the weekend...sometimes you just need to hang out with people who will make you laugh.
*Knowing that we are one day closer to the weekend...sometimes you need to countdown.


If this doesn't make you smile I don't know what will ;-)

 Happy Monday
XOXOX

Looking forward...

To a weekend spent with friends and family.....

To a wine night with Erin and the monkeys....

To sunshine and bonfires!!

To a VEGAS anniversary trip!

To a week in Tenakee with Stephie and Marissa!!

To finding happy messages in random places...

To more photoshoots....

To my annual "Molly Date" to the wearable arts show..

And to loving every moment of this crazy thing called life....

I'm in love with this charity

I've always been in love with photography. For me, a picture is more than just an image on glossy paper. It's a flood of memories. In my mind I remember why we took the photo....where we took the photo...what we were saying or doing before or after the photo was taken...  That one little picture captures a moment that will never occur again but can be lived in our memories over and over and over.  

I've recently discovered an amazing charity called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It's a group of photographers who volunteer their time and skills to capture the final moments of a young baby's life. "The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation is there for parents and families to help aid them in their healing, bring Hope to their future, and Honor to their child. It is through Remembrance that a family can truly begin to heal".

https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/home/

If you're looking for a way to help our S & K friends I'd encourage you to find a charity that is close to your heart and make a donation in honor of Baby G.

XOXOX

Marvelous Monday....

Ugh, finding the strength to write a "marvelous Monday" post is tough today. The thought of skipping this week definitely crossed my mind. The last few days have been filled with tears and pain. My friend's sweet baby passed away Thursday night and on Saturday we went to a memorial service for the father of two of Adam's former students.

It's easy to wonder why life is so tough sometimes. Why all this heartache and pain? The one thing I've realized through all this is that life is precious and can change in an instant. For me, the last few days have been a reminder to love the people in my life, cherish the moments we have together and live each day to the fullest.

My sweet friend is so strong...through all her pain she asks only one thing of her friends and family. She asks that we, "appreciate the moment by loving on those around you - give them kisses, hugs, high fives, hip bumps, do whatever to show you care!"

So, my marvelous Monday post is dedicated to appreciating everyone and everything I have in my life.

*I have a husband who is a rockstar. He's strong and compassionate and caring. He makes me laugh and we have so much fun together.
*I have amazing friends. They are caring and supportive. They are people that I can laugh and cry with. They let me be silly and I love the time we spend together.

*I have the most wonderful family from my parents, brother, sister, in-laws, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephew....I couldn't have asked for a more perfect family. They are full of love for each other and we laugh and make the best memories when we're together.

*I work with some wonderful and caring people. I love the way they pull together to help the people around them. Teachers are truly the most caring individuals I know.
*I have the best pets a person could have. A snuggly dog full of spunk and personality and a cat that drools.
*I work with 400 kids that do their best to drive me crazy, make me laugh and cause me to question my sanity on a daily basis and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I hope your Monday was marevous...I know mine was.....

Banana Smoothies * Recipe *

 We've been drinking a ton of banana smoothies at our house lately. I've enjoyed them for years but the boys in my house have just recently discovered this yummy treat  (the hubby swears I've been keeping this drink a secret from him because I don't want to share) and are now huge fans. 

I figured I'd share the recipe incase any of you are looking for a low-fat, healthy and tasty treat. They're easy and delicious! 

What you'll need: 

4-5 FROZEN bananas

Milk

Fat-free FROZEN cool whip 

Your favorite glasses

Straws

Throw your bananas and milk into the blender and blend until smooth. I usually put about 2 cups of milk in but you can adjust depending on how thick you want your smoothie to be.

 

 Put a scoop of frozen cool whip into each glass 

 

Fill your favorite cup with the banana smoothie and drink with a straw! 

                            They're a Berkey favorite and I hope you enjoy them just as much!!!

Marvelous Monday

Coffee was definitely needed this morning. My blanket was warm, my dog was snuggly and it was dark and cold outside. All-in-all it was a pretty marvelous Monday......no drama at work, a beautiful sunset (the days are getting longer!!!), a great workout, 4 episodes of The Office (this show was definitely intended to be watched back-to-back...it is HILARIOUS! I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time) and banana smoothies for dessert (Recipe post tomorrow-I promise!). How was your Monday?

Couldn't have been better....

It was a beautiful and sunny weekend here in Juneau. We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend-couldn't have asked for more.

We started the weekend off with a clean house (one of the benefits of a Saturday open house) and managed to finish all our errands early in the day leaving the rest of the weekend free to P-L-A-Y!!!

On Saturday I went walking at the airport trail with my pregnant friend Stephenie in an attempt to bring on baby. No baby yet but it was so nice being out in the sun. The weather was perfect and there were lots of doggies for Rosco to play with. We took another walk on Sunday out at Dredge Lakes. It was colder but just as gorgeous.

View of the Mendenhall Glacier from the Airport Trail

This is the view we all (including Rosco) soaked in for a few minutes at Dredge Lakes

I stayed out of the kitchen on Saturday night and was treated to the best Rueben sandwiches ever! One of the benefits of having a brother-in-law who used to work at the best burger joint in Ketchikan is that he knows all their yummy recipes. Gavin made the dressing while Terry made the sandwiches and threw together a big cobb salad. I did get in the kitchen long enough to make a huge pitcher of banana smoothies for dessert (I'll do a recipe post one of these days-they're soooo yummy!). I had a hard time convincing the hubby that they were healthy and good for you - he's sure that they are milkshakes and there's ice cream in there somewhere.

This was us after dinner...so full and happy ;-)





The rest of the weekend was super relaxing....drank some wine, read The Book Thief and caught up on my online newspapers and blogs. Hope your weekend was just as relaxing :-)

Happy Birthday, Chance-a-roo!!!

Two really great things happened 5 years ago....Adam and I got married and our little nephew Chance was born! Happy Birthday, Chance! Wish I could be there to help you celebrate it AND eat that good looking cake!
XOXOX

Marvelous Monday....

Well, it was back to the grind for us today. I guess it had to happen and really, we have such great jobs that it's not too bad having to go back to work. Despite the fact that I had to pull myself away from the awesomeness of sleeping in, reading and staying home all day my day was pretty marvelous because....

*I Woke up an hour before the alarm went off...enjoyed that feeling of knowing I had another hour to sleep and snuggle with a fresh and clean puppy.

AND

*It was a great mail day at our house! I got the new boots I'd ordered, our new Netflix showed up, we got a sweet anniversary card from Adam's mom and my sister sent us home depot cards for Christmas! 

Hope your Monday was marvelous too ;-)

MeMoRiEs of aN AlaSKaN BoAt giRl **January Edition

Welcome to my little snippet of childhood memories. Growing up on a 32 foot sailboat in a family of 4 created some weird and wacky memories. It wasn't always a fun experience, it wasn't always an adventure and some days it didn't even feel do-able but we managed to do it. As my dad always said, "it builds character". Well, THIS character thought it would be fun to share little pieces of boat memories on occassion.

One of the best Christmas presents I received this year was Hall Anderson's new book "Still Rainin', Still Dreaming". In it is a collection of photographs from his 30 years of work at the Ketchikan Daily News. This is probably the best representation of Ketchikan, Alaska that I've seen and with each page I was reminded of the uniqueness of that little town.

As I turned the pages I was pleasantly suprised to find some people I know....my first boss teaching swimming lessons at the pool, my lifelong best friend's younger brother fishing at the derby and a nearly forgotten boat family that I used to play with on the docks.

This is the Bunton family. A family of 7 living on aboard a barge/boat with their big ol' dog and a rooster. There weren't many other kids around the "neighborhood" (aka...the docks) for my brother and I to play with so we ended up befriending the younger Bunton boys.

We'd go with them as they took the dog up to the parking lot and walked him along the trail that led from one end of the docks to the other. My brother and I would watch in facination as the Bunton boys would swing from the top of the ramp rails or jump off the top of the ramp into the ocean when the days were warmer.

If life was interesting for our little family of 4 to grow up in such a small space I'm sure that things were just as entertaining over at the Bunton's boat. For those of you who can't make out the quote on their refrigerator it says, "If God had wanted us to live on land he would have created more land than water." Guess that was my parent's philosophy too.