Sunday, December 26, 2010

We took the Hum out of Bug

For Christmas this year for the first time in over 11 years it has just been Shawn and I . No kids, no family, nobody but the two of us. Trust me we aren't sad and suffering, we are enjoying every last minute of it. This means, no shopping, little cooking on my part, no traveling, no cleaning, no stress, no mess. Yeah sounds God awful doesn't it? HARDLY!
So I saw this Cafe on Another Bloggers Blog. I have been dying to try it since I go there in Wasilla.
It's called Metro Cafe, inside was empty but the LINE for the drive up was 8 cars back. We had the fireplace and leather couches all to our selves. What a treat that was.

Then as any white trash wanna be Paparazzi would do , we drove up to the Palins for a little Lookie -see. Shawn is a tad obsessed with the local celeb.
You see that fence? That is the one they had to build because of the freaky nosy neighbor. How rude to just pull up into someones...errrr uh huh.. Moving on

Ahhh the Christmas Prime Rib. My Mom and I see differently on how to cook the slab , but they both are delicious. I stab the holes and put in the garlic and sage into the holes. looks cute and oh so yummy.


So what does a girl do when she has pigged out enough for 10 pregnant women? Run and Run some more. This was the sunset over the lake I live on.
I ran a 5k early this month and will be doing one a month until August when I actually do a half marathon ! I am just that crazy ...


We went to a friends house, ate some more, sat in the hot tub and came home. Very exciting, but for us it was a much needed break of all of the stress of the move. I missed everyone, but not the drama of it all.
Happy Holidays Everyone!

Monday, December 20, 2010

I love me a pony face

I was so grateful to Jen over at AKPONYGIRL blog for inviting me to go ride on Sunday, that I braved the most bitter cold I have ever been in just to kiss a pony face.
Yep that says -2 degrees. I have never been so cold in my life.
Not just any pony face but a super cute half draft pony face aptly named " mare" .
She is big boned as you would say, my girth that fits my 16 hand appendix mare was not even remotely going to fit her. I made do but it sure looked funny.
She doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but she did test me for sure. I want to roll, NO we trot, I have an Itch, NO we go forward, I think this Shadow might eat me and I need to roll, NO WE TROT.
Isn't she just too cute?
Don't tell Star she might get all Mad Mare Face on me again.
I am so grateful to Jen, thank you so much! Coffee is on me next time!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

What I do know

What I have learned the last few months.

1. Never leave home without a hat, gloves, jacket and your cell phone. If you don't you will be sorry.

2. When someone says it's " not that far" it sure as hell is " that far" its that and then some.

3. There is Jocelyn time and Alaskan Time. These two are never to be in sync.

4. There is a difference in City Moose and Country Moose. City Moose can read traffic signals, Country Moose cross the roads in 5 O' clock traffic and kill people. So much so there are signs on the highways warning you " High Moose Crossing Area Next 5 miles" .

5. My home is now considered the " lower 48" and that is NOT a term of endearment.

6. In order to keep sane you must have sunlight, friends and the Internet. Of which I only have one of right now, so I am pretty darn cranky.

7. I learned a new term BEATER WITH A HEATER, every home must have at least one that runs and one that doesn't and is sitting in the driveway under a tarp.

8. If you live in Wasilla you are accepting the fact that you live on Mars and you like it. To all my Oregon Peeps, I would say I live in Molalla, but a Hybrid Molalla/Woodburn with better stores.

9. This is not the place for Sissies, not sure why I am here but if you are one go home , your Mommy is waiting for you.

10. Do not and I mean DO NOT freak out about the prices of things here, it only annoys the locals. See # 9.

So hurry on up everyone and come visit me!

Monday, December 13, 2010

A little peek into my life in Alaska

Hello Again from the Great White Tundra! We went on a day trip one Saturday and on the way home the night skiing was lit up at the local ski lodge. It was much prettier in person!
Shawn and I at his Christmas party. It was fun, but we knew NO ONE so we called it an early night.
Santa and his elves handing out the raffle gifts. I REALLY REALLY wanted the .22 , it wasn't meant to come home with me.. ( sad face)

This is the front of the house we moved into.

This is our main living area/great room.

This is the loft over the great room where I am sitting typing the blog. Right up against that blank wall.
THIS HAS BEEN CLAIMED AS A NO WANKER ZONE.
If you are a card carrying member of the male species, you are not allowed up in here.
I can see the Palins from my back yard.
2nd house to the right.

This is the back of our house, it sits on almost 2 acres, gazebo, lake front, boat dock, fire pit, you name it I have it.


Shawn and the Labrador out on the lake, Momma is the smart one I only go out so far and call it good, the dogs and Shawn go out way to far for my nerves.

I adore art glass and pottery, these Moose Shakers are totally coming home with me soon.
I .... MUST...... HAVE.... THEM......

I got to pet some reindeer at the Colony Christmas in Palmer.
Besides the Art Galleries, The free Coffee and shopping, I went to pet the Reindeer.

So in Alaska they apparently EAT the Reindeer, you see it on all sorts of menus, but mostly in sausage form. I was aghast at the thought of the visions of my childhood Christmas Movies were atop some jerk offs pizza. Then it happened.. Shawn ordered it for breakfast. I about fell out of the booth. I told him the Caribou are for eating, Reindeer are for Santa, no exceptions.
I think he ordered it just to watch my reaction. Needless to say every time he took a bite I said
Was that Donner? Blitzen? Vixen? Comet? Does Santa know you just had Cupid with a side of eggs?
So thank you everyone for welcoming me back to blog land, I have missed it dearly and wish everyone the Happiest of Holidays.
Hugs and Love to all my Blogger Peeps
Jocelyn

Friday, December 10, 2010

I can't see Russia but I can see the Palins

Seasons Greetings everyone!

The movers dropped off all of our CRAP errr. stuff on Tuesday.

We still have not been invited to the Palins for Tea and Scones, but we are hopeful still.

So the poor kitty Seamus decided that sneaking outside was a fantastic idea until he got locked outside and the temps dropped to below ZERO.

Let's just say that he was more than ready to come back in this morning. He didn't even put up a fuss when we checked him over for frost bite. It's a safe bet that he won't be doing that anytime again soon.

The girls are settling in fine and this weekend will be some of my best recipes , if I can find the rest of my pots and pans! The movers labeled our boxes as if we were mind readers and had X ray vision!

Hugs to all my Blogger Peeps!
I will be back up and running next week!

JP ~ out

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I am ALIVE!!!

Hi Everyone !
I am alive and kicking.
Shawn and I have made it safely up the Al CAN Highway, rented a house across the lake from the Palin's and trying to stay sane in the constant darkness.

I have some pictures and more updates coming soon!

I have missed all my blogger Peeps!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Finally heard from my girl.

I have been getting updates on Star's progress in school, but I had yet to hear from her myself.

This morning I got this email. Seems as if the Diva isn't appreciaing Fancy School as much as she should.


Hope it is ok to get on Auntie Toni's email and send you a note.... Where the hell are you! Oh sorry... Hi mom... how are you doing. I miss you. Just wanted to tell you that I got 4 (yes four) days of work this last week.... is this OK? I was thinking I would have yesterday off cuz it was like 80 degrees out, but noooo.... i even got my dark spots removed that were covering my whites... I don't think Toni gives me my bath quite like you, but I did see her out there with that big dark handsom boy Logan too so maybe she did not have enough time to wash my tail an extra time and condition it a ton.... felt kinda good though since it was hot out. - Do you know I have to carry my head in a certain way? She says it will help my topline. I doubt it, but whatever. I do it cuz I am told to and well, she gives me lots of breaks so I don't get too muscle tired. So far little Kara is the only other one that has ridden me. She does pretty good with me, but I understand Aunti Toni a little better.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi, i love you and miss you..... Miss Star.

--Oh and did I tell you everyone thinks I am soooo pretty! Well, except Tim... he thinks i am pretty, but tells me my stall is a mess every day.... well, duuuhhhh, where else is all that food going to go. Guess I don't have to move it around, but that is what i do... .so there.... i can cuz i am pretty!
S

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

More Alaska

Last night we went to a place called Potter's Marsh it is a Bird Sanctuary. We are standing on the boardwalk that runs the perimeter of the marsh.

You can barely see them, but those are dying spawning salmon. This Marsh is special as it is a cocktail of fresh and saltwater. It makes the perfect environment for the salmon to come here and spawn.
Well, it look like some critter came and got din din before we got there. These tracks were fresh :)

The boardwalk expands clear around, if you click on it and bigg i fy the picture you can see it.


The host family :) See the telescope? Those are free, not like other places where you have to put in quarters. I saw Bald Eagles and when the sunset I saw the moon for the first time in my life in such amazing brightness and clarity. It was awesome.



More of the boardwalk. See that cluster of houses up in the hills? That's where I live.

The headlights are from the Seward highway, it's like more than a mile away.

Cool Moon picture.
The reflection of the moon in the water was pretty cool.


This is a little video of my new adventures in Alaska.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

on the 8th day GOD created Alaska

I arrived in Alaska the 8th of September. It has been a non stop whirl wind of work and play.
My host family as I call them have been the ultimate tour guides.
The weather here has been nothing short of spectacular.

The Cook Inlet
McHugh Creek Falls

More of the Cook Inlet


A Farm run by the LDS church. It's a U Pick it. They have everything you could imagine.
This was a good time, I made a picnic lunch for the fam and dug up taters until the sun dropped.

Yummy red potatoes. Did you know if you don't wash them and let them dry with the dirt on them, put them in cold storage they will last for 4 to 5 months? Cool little tid bit.

The farm was surrounded by these mountains, just amazing the scenery everywhere you go.




Well this wraps up the first 4 days of my new life. I will only have sporadic access to a computer for another week or so.
I miss all my blogger peeps and look forward to getting back to everyone soon.
JP~ OUT

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Splash Zone

Sorry for taking so long to get these up, but we BOTH had cameras and took a Tourist-load of pictures! These are all from Shawn's camera, mine was not fast enough to get the good shots.
We are sitting in the "splash zone". Which means you sit here , you are getting wet.
The whales make sure of it! Shawn and I wanted to be CLOSE as possible, so there you sit waiting to get drenched for the sake of good pictures!

We were in awe, such amazing and graceful creatures.
The trainers are no longer allowed to swim with them since the accident early this year. You should see the gates they open and shut between the show pool and the holding pools. Wow, imagine a baby gate for a whale !

We couldn't believe that Shawn got these pictures, we get all excited when we get good shots. It's like capturing a memory for eternity and since we love animals so much 99% of our 1000's of pictures are of animals!

This is how they got the whales to come by and splash, they would swim by and smack their tails like boat oars . So gross, salty nasty water, but totally worth it!
You can't see it here, but that pool is DEEP and I mean DEEP.

I thought this was a cool shot. Can you imagine standing there and having that whale come full speed and slide right up next to you? I would have to change my shorts for sure.

So one of the things I was excited about seeing was the Gators... We are in Florida right??
Well, no such luck, I only saw one big wild one at NASA, and these little critters at Sea World.
Shawn promised that on our next trip he would take me Gator Watching, kind of like Whale watching here in the NW :0 Yipeeeeeee.
I think this guy would make a cute belt .... kidding...
Sea Dragons, oh how I love thee. The males do the birthing and raising..
Shawn took some amazing pictures of these animals. You should have seen us snapping away like we've never seen a sea creature in our lives.

This was so cute, a Mamma and a calf holding flippers while taking a little nap.
Funny, this is how Shawn sleeps too.

We didn't go to the Dolphin show, but we went and saw them in the tank instead.
Out of 20 pictures this was the only good one.

ahhh The Manatee. Need I say more? These Manatee's actually belong to the State of Florida and are being rehabbed( from sickness, human negligence or what have you) at Sea World. If the State comes back and says let them free, then Sea World has to let them free.
Let me tell you they are bigger then you think.


We went and watched this cute show, for us we have seen many many sea lions, but the trained ones are much cuter than the naughty, fat, lazy ,barking ones we see at the condo in Newport.

Well, another end of a long day. We had a great time, and can't wait to do it again!


I promise I will get back to everyone's blogs when life slows down a tad!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Love like no other

I was in my car coming up the driveway, so I stopped and called her name and out she came

Then she whinnied and met me at the stall door .
I sure do love that horse.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Where have I been?

Well, we ran off to Florida for a quick trip. The Air Force has a program called the Yellow Ribbon Program. It helps returning soldiers and their families reintegrate after long deployments.
So We went to Kennedy Space Center. For a TREKKIE like myself this was super cool.
I am a total nerd, I know....
This was the actual mission control Center for the Apollo missions.


IBM.. Does anyone remember them? I do, but I'm OLD..

Launchpad, this was 3.5 miles away from where I was standing, so that tells you how HUGE it really is.

This is the actual rocket/shuttle building, the shuttle and rockets will be assembled together and then moved out of here by the "Crawler".It is the largest building in the world. All under one roof.
The stripes on the flag are 8 feet across.

So, this was day one of our holiday. We never had a honeymoon or ever been on a real vacation, so this was fantastic.
All I wanted to see were Alligators, but nooooooooooooooo. I only saw one!
Where did I see the one gator? On the Nasa/Cape Grounds.Of course.
This was my favorite part of the trip. Shawn loved Sea World I will post those soon.