OH, I forgot.  (Dad, I thought you'd get a kick out of this)  I bought Hemingway's In Our Time book where he writes a little bit about the Two Hearted River.  The book is a collection of short stories, so I've only read the Two Hearted River one so far.  It was pretty good.  I kept picturing my dad while reading it....the main character is camping and fishing at the Two Hearted.

Okay, that was it.

I want this jacket sooooo bad!!!  http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/womens-waterproof-nano-storm-jacket?p=84235-0-512  WHY does it have to be $300 dollars?!?!  And WHY do I feel like I need this so badly.  It's quite annoying.  Explain this to me Lacey.

Brittany's back!  As much as I enjoyed the apartment to myself, it's really nice to have her back...someone to talk to.  Haha I think I might be annoying her with my talking.  I think I drank too much coffee this morning.

Yesterday I was so productive that today I don't have anything to do.  I wish the pool was open.  I'd go down there and swim some more laps.  I'm feeling a bit lazy today.

I'm really loving all the horror movies on TV this past week.  I've watched sooo many....Halloween, Friday the 13th (remake), 30 days of Night, Prom Night, Twilight, and Casper.  Well, maybe those last two aren't horror.  AND, I'll be watching Paranormal Activity 2 tonight with Chris!!  Has anyone watched the FX show American Horror Story?  There's a marathon on tomorrow of the shows it's had so far.  I think I might watch some of them.  It looked pretty good.

Well, let's hope my day gets more eventful.  I'll be watching the Lions game in a little bit.  GO DETROIT!!

Well, I think I' have been doing pretty good with updating this blog.  I'm on a roll!

So, today was a pretty decent day.  I got to sleep in, which felt really nice.  I did some cleaning, laundry and dishes.  And then I walked down to the pool and swam some laps.  I swam a mile in about 45 minutes.  The pool director pays the lifeguards (me) to swim a mile a week as an incentive to stay in shape.  So, then I walked home and made Tuna Salad in a Popover Bowl for dinner.  YUM!  And then I did some more dishes, more laundry, and more cleaning.  The place looks pretty nice now.

Yesterday at school one of my students further injured his knee.  He had hurt it a few weeks ago during a wrestling practice.  Yesterday, he was just walking down the hallway and his knee bent backwards (probably something with his ACL).  He's supposed to have been wearing his knee brace still but hasn't been for a week or so.  So when he fell, his knee started to swell really fast.  It was about twice the size of his other knee in a matter of minutes.  I hope he'll be okay.

OOOH, my skype date!  It was fantastic and super fun!  It turned out really well.  And, afterwards, we even watched a movie together on Netflix!  Dinner and a movie.  We watched An Officer and a Gentleman.  I forgot how good that movie is!  Chris had never seen and I think he liked it as well.  Our next movie date is to watch Paranormal Activity 2 tomorrow night.  YIKES!  I hope it's not too frightening.  The first one creeped me out quite a bit.  But, a good scare is always fun.

Well, time to skype again.  Goodnight All.

Hey Hey.

Well, Brittany left today to meet her parents in Seattle.  She is coming back Sunday morning, so I'll be home alone for a couple days.  It'll be nice for her to see her parents and it'll be nice for me to have some time alone.

I've got at least one fun thing planned while she's gone.  Chris and I are having a dinner date over skype!  We're going to make the same meal (spaghetti) and then eat together while talking on skype!  Isn't that the best idea!  I think Chris came up with it.  So, I'm excited for that.  It'll be kind of hard with the time difference.  I might end up cooking right when I get home.  Or else, Chris will just be eating kind of late.  We'll see.

Anyone watching Survivor?  Ozzy is sending himself to redemption island!  What a gamble.  What a crazy person.  Also, speaking of shows, anyone watch the new show Revenge?  I like it a lot!  It's quite good.  It's kind of a Monte Cristo type story.  The main girl is pretending to be someone she's not to get revenge on the people who framed her father for murder.  If  you don't watch it, DO IT!!!


Sooo, Halloween is coming up.  Heather said that some people dress up for Halloween and go to school, teachers too.  Heather is dressing up.  The only thing I can come up with is to dress up as a Zumba Instructor.  I don't have much to pick from with my limited clothing selection.  We'll see, maybe I'll come up with something.  Also, speaking of Halloween, I bought some candy for trick or treaters.  I'm not sure if I'll get any at my door since my apartment is down below the main house, but there's a chance if they come from the street below.  Anyways, bought some candy just in case.  I bought a bag that was allllll Reese's candy.  So, here's hoping I get no kids and Brittany and I can eat it all!

Well, time to skype and then bed.  Goodnight!

I'm frustrated.

Brittany and I moved into our new apartment.  We really like it, except we went from a really large TV (almost as big as dads) to a super tiny one about the size of a laptop screen.  It's okay and I thought I'd be fine with it, but I just found out that I can't hook my Wii up to it.  It doesn't have any place to plug it in.  There's a place on the cable box but I couldn't figure it out.  So, now I brought my Wii all the way here to Alaska and I can't even use it.  Bummer.

On a more happy note, I received one birthday card and one birthday present this week.  Thanks mom, your card made me cry.  Love you.  And thanks to Chris who got me a CD from a band called Halloween, Alaska.  Super weird name but they're pretty cool.  Here's a video I found on youtube of them.  Thanks Chris, love you too.

It's Saturday and I'm going to bed at 10:30.  I love it.  I get to sleep in tomorrow morning, run some errands, go to Ryan and Heather's wedding celebration for all the alaskan friends who couldn't make it to their wedding, and then maybe some birthday celebration stuff with Brittany.  Then Sunday there's a pastor in town so I'll be going to church!  I'm pretty pumped to sing some hymns!  Goodnight!

Good Morning!  It is a pretty cool to have some football on right when you wake up in the morning.  The Packer's game isn't on but the Lions are! 

So here I am watching the Lion's game, drinking some coffee, eating a doughnut, and updating my blog...all in the dark cause Brittany is still asleep.  Tomorrow we'll be moving into the other apartment though!!  It's only a one bedroom but it'll still have a little bit more privacy.  Where we are now is just one open room.  I'm also excited for this new place because it has a stove/oven AND a full size refrigerator!  Woohoo!  Hopefully it won't take us too many trips to move.  I think we can do it all in one trip.  I'm also hoping that today Brittany and I get some major cleaning done with this place here so when we move it won't take us too long.  Yay!  Can't wait!

Last night Heather, Brittany, and I went to see The Help.  It was really good.  I enjoyed it.  I kind of wish I would have read the book before seeing it, but that didn't happen.  It was my first time at the theater here.  It was a bit different.  The chairs you sit in are almost like plastic lawn chairs...but better.  However, not as comfy as real theater chairs.  But, they had real theater popcorn!

I've been in the Christmas mood lately.  I think when I get my paycheck this week I might start some minor Christmas shopping.  I just realized today that I won't be able to participate in any of the after Thanksgiving shopping.  It might be better anyways to just shop online and have everything shipped home, that way I won't have to bring any of it on the plane.  I'm hoping today to buy my plane ticket home for Christmas.  The prices just keep getting a little bit more expensive so I might as well bite the bullet and buy the $864 ticket today.  Also, Mom if you're reading this, I might ask you to send me some of my Christmas movies.

I really love Skype.  I don't know what I'd do without it!  It helps a lot with mine and Chris's relationship.  We can't be near each other, but at least we can see each others faces.  Also, I love skyping with Lacey and my mom.  Casey, if you're reading this, we should do more of it.  The time difference is a little hard though.  I'm always making Chris stay up late talking to me.  Last night we stopped talking at 2am his time....yikes.  Gotta love him.

Alright, I will leave you with a youtube video.  It's from the concert that Mumford and Sons did on Austin City Limits.  Skip forward to time 8:08.  At this point starts the song I'm currently obsessed with, Lover of the Light.  I don't think they've recorded this song because I can't find it on iTunes, but it's super good.  Here it is and goodbye!

Oh yeah, one more highlight.

I beat Chris twice in cribbage. Boom.

Time for another post.

I've been keeping busy here in Wrangell: working at the high school, Zumba classes Monday and Wednesday evenings, and doing a life guarding shift Friday evenings.  Sometimes I really don't like having these commitments in the evenings after working all day int he school.  But it's all been fun and I've been meeting some nice people.  Zumba classes especially have been a lot of fun.  There's a regular crew that's been showing up and they seem to really be enjoying it which in turn make me really enjoy it.  I've been doing the classes in the racquetball room at the fitness center which hasn't been that great.  The sound especially is what bothers me.  However, tomorrow night I'll start doing the classes in the gym at the elementary school.  Hopefully that'll go well and everyone will remember to show up there and not at the racquetball room.

I just had a super awesome trip back home.  I left Wrangell last Tuesday afternoon, spent the night in the airport in Seattle, and the flew to Minneapolis Wednesday morning.  Highlights from the long weekend include....

1.  Finally seeing Chris again face-to-face!  He picked me up at the airport around 1pm and he took me back to his place and we made some pretty delicious Mac N' Cheese (without spaghetti sauce).

2. Minnehaha Falls.  Chris took me to this park, Minnehaha Falls.  It was  pretty neat park set in the middle of the city.  It reminded me a little of Presque Isle.  We walked around for a bit and made it to the falls.  There was an older gentleman playing his guitar with the case set out for tips (yes, chris gave him a tip).  There were quite a few people there too.  It was really nice and I really enjoyed it.

3. Downtown and Dinkytown.  Chris took me to dinner at a restaurant called Annie's.  I loved it!  We shared a chocolate coffee malt (delicious).  Annie's was in a place called Dinkytown, a condensed "town" on campus that had a bunch of restaurants and shops.  THEN, we took the bus downtown and walked around enjoying the lights of the city.  I saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

4.  Marquette Bound!  On Friday, Chris and I left for Marquette.  It was about a 7 hour drive.  It was pretty long but well worth it.  The fall colors were awesome and kept getting better as we got closer to the U.P.

5.  Surprising my mom and Casey!  I showed up at home with my mom not knowing I was going to.  The front door was locked and she couldn't hear me knocking.  The dogs were barking non-stop.  So, finally I ended up calling her to open the door.  I also texted Casey that I was home and she was very excited...so excited that she left work early for me!

6.  Family time!  Saturday was spent just hanging out with me family.  Adam and the family came over to visit.  My mom, Casey, Chris, and I took Natalie to the park.  I miss those kids.  Then for dinner, Chris and I went out to my dad's.  I was very happy that my dad made it back from his camping trip to come see me.  I was bummed that I had to spoil my surprise and tell him that I was coming before he left for his camping trip, but it all worked out in the end.

Some lowlights from the weekend include...

1.  Creepy worker at the airport that tried to spark conversation at 3:30 in the morning.

2.  7 hours driving!  Though it was 7 hours I got to spend sitting next to Chris :)

3.  More 7 hours driving.  The drive back to the airport was the worst!  I was bummed the entire drive because I didn't want to leave.

Okay, so there is my extended weekend vacation in a nutshell.  Soon, it less than 2 weeks now, is my birthday!!!  YAY!!!  And, Brittany's birthday is the day before mine and this year we'll actually be able to celebrate our birthdays together!!!  It should be a lot of fun!  Can't wait!  If anyone out there wants to get me a present, ask Lacey.  I gave her a couple ideas...though most were a little expensive.  SO, I will accept donations to my Coming Home For Christmas Fund.  Seriously, it's a lot of money to come home, so any amount would be helpful.

Alrighty now.  I'm pretty tired.  Going to bed now.  Goodnight All!

Dulcey