"ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves – or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth."
+i love alaska... it is pretty much as simple as that. i am also reading atlas shrugged for about the fifth time in my life, and therefore feel a distinct joy and appeal to all things that require integrity, ability and reason. the picture above is on the matanuska river the other night when mr and mrs s. and i were hunting pretty rocks and driftwood in order to decorate my home... and this quote popped into my head. this is pretty much heaven.
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| love the clouds coming in... beautiful! |
+last sunday my roommate j. and i went around town and ended up going to flat top to check out mckinley from anchorage, since it was so clear! this mountain is around 150 miles away from anchorage and you can still see it from town on a clear day... it looks a lot closer in real life...
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| thats the city of anchorage in the foreground of the picture... its the population of st. cloud in more space than new york city... in other words, spread out! |
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| flat top mountain... |
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| i love the twisted trees here! |
+monday night j., m. and i headed out to have dinner with some friends, and before that stopped at beluga point to watch the sunset... beautiful! the turnigan arm is beautiful as well!
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| the sun is so much fun to play with! |
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| i really can't get enough of railroad tracks, mountains and ocean... perfection! |
+last friday m. and i drove out to her parents house in glacier view to relax and hang out! also because her and jamie had acquired a rooster that needed to be "taken care of."
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| one of my favorite views! |
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| moki! what a great pup! she was sad... she got left behind when j. went to get wood... |
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| j. carrying m. across the river so her feet didn't get wet, what a good husband! |
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| m. and moki during our search for river wood and rocks to decorate my mantel and home! moki was happy to be included! |
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| he is like a kid in a candy shop here.. or pretty much any time he is outside of anchorage! i have never met anyone who hates the "city" more! |
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| j. with his prey in sight... |
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| what a good little hunter! |
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| mr. b overseeing j. hunting... |
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| the men with their kills... |
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| m. and i also decided to make aprons this weekend... mine isn't quite finished, but it is double sided! i love it! thanks mrs. b for helping us with these, and handholding us through using your sewing machine! |
+after chicken hunting on saturday morning... the whole clan headed up over the river to bring in some logs for the fire... i would like to now add lumberjack to my resume... the softball team would be proud! i had rachels lumberjack song in my head the whole time!
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| i was a little worried about the steam coming off of the truck, but j. said not to worry! |
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| lovely snow on the talkeetna mountains... |
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| the intense logging that was going on... mr. b officially scares me to death with a chainsaw... he just goes around and cuts... in fact i dropped a log on myself because he yelled timber and the tree definitely fell four inches from where i was standing... great times! i really did love it! |
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| the haul on the way back.. the log on the right most definitely fell off halfway back... and if you look closely marlins tailpipe is dragging... no big deal! he lost the muffler to the river on this trip as well... jamie, melissa and i were laughing pretty hard as it sailed down river |
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| victory peak... lovelove |
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| i wish that it was easier to capture the eerie beauty of a hazy day and snow capped mountains like amulet... so incredibly beautiful! |
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| documenting how high the water was on the truck as we forded the river... |
+thank you, thank you, thank you to the b. family for your wonderful hospitality... you all are wonderful! i am so blessed toknow people like you!
+m. and i headed back into anchorage saturday night and the rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and crafting attempting to make our house into our home! julie was on a youth retreat over the weekend, so i took that as a cue to clean until three a.m. but... the bathroom is now spotless! love a clean bathroom!
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| the blue hand towel looks out of place, but there are blue flowers in the shower curtain, you just can't tell! |
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| one of my projects, they still need roughed up so they look "rustic" but not to shabby, i could have paid for this off of etsy, instead i paid twenty cents for the jar from a thrift store! |
+ for those of you who have heard about my ginormous loft, here it is in all of it's glory... it is pretty incredible... thanks j. for building it! what a great contractor! and he works for food! even better! anyways, i had this bed sketched out (i love playing architect!) and j. got on board, with a few minor adjustments to the overall integrity of the structure... i now have the coolest loft ever!
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| the loft. |
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| my "office" |
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| my awesome bulletin boards as the ceiling to my office! |
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| all of the awesome jars that my creative utensils live in! and of course my lighting of choice, twinkles! |
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| the great chairs i got for $15 for two at a thrift store in anchorage... love them! |
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| the inspiration wall... things i love and want to use... the stick candle holders are in progress right now! |
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| my actual bed... its a full... this loft is a beast! and yes, there is a deer and a peacock on my tapestry! there are also three shelves up top, they are being hidden by a lot of pillows in this! |
+we are still working on the living room... we are pretty poor, so it is going slowly! but we have an awesome fireplace, unfortunately it doesn't work... we are also looking for another chair to use and some end tables... but they will be bought when we can! we are in no hurry!
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| living room from the hallway... |
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| living room from the entrance... |
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| i found the idea for this on etsy... it was a crazy amount of money... so i made my own... pretty easy actually! now it just needs flowers or something fun! |
+i love designing and decorating... here are my works in progress and wishes in progress!
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| my frames that i want to eventually put together like the ones in the following picture from anthropologie... |
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| i found this picture years ago and was inspired by it... the frames below have been in use for the past few years, and i finally found a mirror to go with them at a thrift store! now they just need painted! |
+remember my driftwood hunt... here is the final result of all of that river wood! i love the look of this! I am still working on a few other frames, but these turned out really well!
+our mantel is still a work in progress, but here is our inspiration...
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| we intend on using river rock and sticks to get a similar look! i love the idea though! so creative and inexpensive! |
+Something j. and i both love are the old japanese floats, and we now are the owners of a few of them... they will be an addition to the mantel...
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| these glass floats were used as bouys to keep fishing nets afloat... most are replicas, but up here you can find originals, like this one! we love them, they are super expensive though, so you have to get lucky! we did! |
+ things that i am still waiting to do...
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| this is my idea for the fireplace part of the fireplace... since we can't light a fire, i would still like to have something there... i love the candle idea! so cute and creative! it is on the to do list for the next few weeks... |
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| i would love to reupholster a chair or something like this... i love the design of this settee... beautiful! it will be my winter project! |
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| we are currently looking for a bench or something similar for next to the front door... i love love love this one! i found it on vintage junkie's blog... what a great idea! |
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| i adore this house... everything about it... the tree outside of it... the fact that it blends in... it reminds me of something howard roark would have made in the fountainhead by ayn rand... amazing! |
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| how wonderful is this! i am often inspired by random things... i came across this and fell instantly in love! i love putting indoor things outside, and outside things indoors... |
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| my example of putting outdoor things indoors! |
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| yum! i want to make these... my candle that is burning right now... is salted caramel, and is making me crave sweets!
so that is life in pictures... as far as life in words goes... i love alaska... it is the most beautiful place. unfortunately it is still 3500 miles away from my family, which is really hard. it has been a great three weeks, but a very hard three weeks. on top of it, i just realized how much my plane ticket home for christmas will be, and i don't know if i will be coming home. which is the hardest thing. because i am a christmas fanatic, i love everything about christmas... and to not be in minnesota would be pretty difficult.
i spend most of my days being drooled and thrown up on... and it isn't horrible. i love kids, and it is pretty fun, but, it can be a little lonely... it is pretty great having friends here and having my roommate that i have known for a long time though, and overall life is good... but i am a social butterfly, and i know that god will provide people around me... i am just waiting, and i am not the most patient person!
my theme is definitely god provides. because it is truth, and i sometimes have to remind myself of that, whether it is providing people or jobs or just something that brings me joy, but he always provides... i was giddy when j. and i were at flat top, because it was so beautiful and i was reminded that god gives us joy through his creation! that is why i love the outdoors, and the snow and the cold and why i love to just be out... he gives me so much joy through that... not to mention there are so many people that i have in my life that really invest and bring me joy that i have no reason to not trust that god will keep providing me with what i need. i have met so many great people and while i am pretty sure i won't go to church at the place my roommate works...great church, i just don't think that is where i am supposed to be... i have met awesome people through that, and it gives me lots of hope for being up here!
i am hoping that made sense! haha! you know i like to talk in circles!
it is definitely a growing period for me, and i am learning to rely on myself and god in a lot of ways, but i think it will be a part of the journey that i look back on and love, so i am trying to stay logical, find truth and embrace the tough stuff along with the great things... like great music, salted caramel candles and down blankets... i love fall and early winter!
the list: fall mellow mix
fall mellow music mix:
one: let it be me, ray lamontagne
two: head full of doubt, the avett brothers
three: white daisy passing, rocky votolato
four: your new twin sized bed, death cab for cutie
five: world spins madly on, the weepies
six: falling or flying, grace potter and the nocturnals
seven: i and love and you, the avett brothers
eight: take it from me, the weepies
nine: fix you, coldplay
ten: transatlanticism, death cab for cutie
eleven:always love, nada surf
twelve: for emma, bon iver
thirteen: breakable, ingrid michaelson
fourteen: belated promise ring, iron and wine
fifteen: not over you, gavin degraw
sixteen: almost everything, wakey!wakey!
seventeen: hands open, snow patrol
eighteen:blue skies, noah and the whale
nineteen:keep the car running, arcade fire
twenty: set fire to the rain, adele
twentyone: just a feeling, maroon five
twentytwo:sing, travis
twentythree:all my days, alexi murdoch
twentyfour: the great salt lake, band of horses
twentyfive: picture perfect, tyler hilton
twentysix: running around in my dreams, tyrone wells
twentyseven: picture of success, rilo kiley
twentyeight: faithful, tyler hilton
twentynine: turning tables, adele
thirty: pitterpat, erin mccarley
thirtyone: city, sarah bareilles
thirtytwo: to be alone with you, sufijan stevens
thirtythree: twenty two fourteen, the album leaf
thirtyfour: start a war, the national
thirtyfive:heartbeats, jose gonzales
thirtysix: let go, tyrone wells
thirtyseven: down the line, jose gonzales
thirtyeight: can't go back now, the weepies
thirtynine: one of those days, joshua radin
forty: i won't, colbie caillat
fortyone: little lion man, mumford and sons
fortytwo: can't get you out of my mind, matthew perryman
fortythree: soon enough, the constantines
fortyfour: furr, blitzen trapper
fortyfive: down, matt kearney
fortysix: sigh no more, mumford and sons
fortyseven:shelter from the storm, bob dylan
fortyeight: glitter in the air, pink
fortynine: missed the boat, modest mouse
fifty:i just don't think ill ever get over you, colin hay
fiftyone: driftwood, travis
fiftytwo:twenty years, augustana
okay that is it finally!
peace, love and sunshine!
a.
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