"True Seattlites don't ever carry or use Umbrellas, Krista"

I moved to Seattle on a dreary Saturday afternoon from Anchorage. I was leaving a very comfortable and familiar place in which my professional life was good, and my personal life was fantastic. I loved everything about Alaska and will miss its beauty dearly, but as I have tendency to do, I moved on to the next thing (and city, for that matter) in my life, and hopefully something to call mine for longer than a season.

I feel, for the first time in my professional life, that I'm doing exactly what I want to do, and I'm really, really good at it. Do you know that feeling? It's that feeling you get when you find a $10 bill in your pocket before you wash your jeans. It's the feeling you get when you find out your crush likes you back. It's also the feeling you get when you work really hard for that A you go on your test. It just feels--good.

Everything about Seattle is beautiful. The music on the streets when you're walking downtown. There is this little old man that rolls his piano out every day and plays original tunes for everyone to enjoy. The little random shops and bakeries that live on every street corner. The market is so amazing-there's so many eclectic vendors and the flowers are beautiful; the fish boys love what they do; the artists are in love with the city, and you can see it in their paintings and pictures. I just love it here.

I learned a lot from my boss in my first week...Seattle 101:

1. Seattle people aren't like east coasters for the most part. Of course, they don't want to make eye contact with you, they don't speak to you, and they don't want to hear, "excuse me" when you almost run into them. They just want to get to where they're going, and in a hurry. But they aren't NY-style- blunt or rude, they just don't trust anyone; they believe everyone has an agenda.

1a: My boss told me about when she first moved to Seattle from a Southwestern-like previous hometown. She was in the grocery store and came upon a lady with her cart parked in the middle of the isle while she was crouched down looking at cake mixes. My boss didn't want to touch or move the woman's cart as she had her purse in tow. She finally decided she'd say "excuse me" to the lady. The woman, not moving from her crouching tiger, hidden meanie pose, looked up and said "I'm ALMOST finished!" I was baffled.

**Note to self** Bump into, brush, hit with purse, ANYTHING, but never say "sorry", "excuse me" or "pardon me"....it's going to take a little bit of trial and error to get this straight...wonder what will happen the first time a "y'all" flies out of my mouth...I'll keep you posted.

2. People from Seattle do not, I repeat do NOT carry umbrellas. If it rains, they deal with it. If you carry an umbrella, you're considered a tourist (See: Annoying)

3. Seattle women love wearing BLACK!! My mecca! I fit right in. If you know anything about me, you know that I love wearing the following colors: black, grey, white, and more black. Of course, I'll add some red pumps, a colorful scarf, and turquoise jewelry from time to time, but nothing takes me away from my color scheme ;)

4. Public transportation is vital to inhabitants of Seattle. It's not weird or degrading to take the bus. I've sat next to many beautiful people on the bus. I'm sure they not only own and have their house paid off, but most likely have 2 more elsewhere in the world. Everyone reads on the bus. They are very cultured in Seattle and everyone has everything high tech and cool. "I want one of those!" is something I've said here and there ;)

4a: Additionally, about the bus, you never want to be the guy who is a loud talker at 7 am. No one talks to anyone on the bus unless they truly know the person they are sitting next to. And, if in the chance there is a couple of people that are chatty Kathy's, everyone else can't stand it. They look over the books and roll their eyes. It's actually quite entertaining. I stick to reading my Nook, and having music in my ears. I steer clear of intentionally making myself look like an idiot...well, for the most part.

I hope to keep up my adventures from time to time. Wish me luck, I wasn't too good at this whole blogging thing the first time, but I like to keep people up to speed on what I'm up to these days.

Enjoy, my friends.

Mosquito bite count: 11 and counting...

Ok so I thought I'd be so good about updating this blog thing weekly, but apparently I'm not! I will do my best to keep this updated a little more often! (Sorry Grandma!)

All is well in the land of the midnight sun. The weather this year (knock on wood) has been uncharacteristically warm, and I'm loving every minute of it. It's only rained about 2 days, which, while that is great for being out and about, it's terrifying to a dry landed Alaska. The fire hazard has been VERY HIGH lately, and there have already been a few fires relatively close to us. Hopefully the weather will give us a little shower here and there.

Good grief, every year I think I'll escape the wrath of the unofficial state bird of Alaska, the mosquito, and every year, they never cease to amaze me and leave me itching up a storm only to look down on my legs and see that I've single handedly made a connect the dots puzzle on my ankle. Epic fail! I'm trying to invest in a full body armor suit to don on and be bite-less...I'll keep you posted on the progress regarding that attire. I did, however, get a mosquito net/hat cover thing from some girls here for my birthday. It was a sweet gesture, and I may try that on for size as well.

I did my first sea adventure last week and went down to Valdez and hopped on the Stan Stephens Whale and Glacier Cruise. I've been on this particular cruise 3 times, but it never gets old. I saw sea otters, humpback whales, porpoise whales, sea lions, puffins, eagles, and even dahl sheep. It was a great day! I'm hoping to go flying soon and get into the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountain Range and check out all of the beauty that park has to offer, and believe me, it's absolutely stunning. I hope I can go, so I can show you for yourself!

Other than all of the fun things I get to do by simply living in AK, my job is going wonderful. Granted, I'm a little bussier than I ever was as a server, I feel I really am making a difference to my co-workers, and my employees to make their summer amazing. We have a young, but great group of people this year, and they are all so eager and excited to just BE here, and it makes me smile, and kinda reminds me of myself my first year. I just hope I can make an impact on them as I was then.

I miss everyone very much and hope you're having as great of a summer as I am.

Catch you soon!

Holy Moose!

It's been a busy week here in Copper and it's about to get busier! Tonight my supervisor and I will be headed to Anchorage to pick up 3 employees tomorrow. Excited to get into town and have a Snow City hash brown...they are THE best I've had in my life. And for those of you that don't know me very well, I'm typically not a fan of breakfast foods, but this; oh it's the best.

I went to Valdez the other night to see the new and improved dock. The ride up was all rain. This was the first rainy day I'd encountered this summer and hopefully it will be a warm and sunny summer like last year. On the ride up I was reintroduced to the beauty of the Chugach mountain range, lakes, the great Alaskan pipeline, Keystone Canyon, Worthington Glacier, Thompson's Pass and all the beauty of my very favorite drive. There is still quite a bit of snow that hasn't melted quite yet, and doesn't look like it wants to leave just yet. With all of the rain and gloomy weather, it was a little spooky through the Keystone Canyon area. The waterfalls have broken through the ice and are swiftly moving down massive rocks on the mountain. It was just as beautiful as I remembered, and was truly happy to be back and see everything I think of when I'm away. While there we had sushi at Fu Kung and it. was. delicious. Hit the spot. After all of the sushi fun we saw a young eagle and two moose; a mama and her calf. The pictures I took didn't come out too well as they started to move as soon as we stopped to get a closer look. They were HUGE! Little moose tid-bit; Alaskan moose are twice the size of the moose in the lower 48. I'm hoping to get a better picture soon so you can see for yourself.

I can't say I've had any stories lately that involve me getting barked at by a squirrel or any other type of animal interaction, but rest assured, there will definitely be humor in my summer to come.

Hope everyone is having a lovely day.

I'm Most Definitely Losing 30 Minutes of Darkness Per Day....

Sorry for the delay in updates, friends, I have been quite the busy bee this last week!

Well it's been lots of work getting things ready for all of our employees and guests to come! Our opening day is June 3rd, which is right around the corner and every day that passes, I get even more excited to see what's to come.

I'm trying to get adjusted to the sleeping as it's getting brighter, longer by the minute! My new trick is burrowing in my covers so I don't see the light through my blinds AND curtains...good grief, I'm not sure why I'm so surprised; it's like this every summer!

I'm excited to report that I'm a certified Princess driver, and I happily get to take daily trips to the Copper Center Post Office. Doesn't sound like a ton of fun, however, being able to drive is a luxury here as typically you don't have a car here, unless you opt to buy a $500 junker that for reasons unknown to many, survives the summer in AK.

Day before yesterday I got to drive into "town" which is actually another town 15 minutes away from us, called Glennallen. As I was headed back from my trek to the "big city" I decided I'd like to pull off and take a few pictures at one of my favorite pic spots. I safely parked the van and got my camera ready. At this particular look out, you have to walk a little trail through a clearing in the woods. I started walking through and heard quite the rustling in the trees. I prepped myself for a moose, as I thought, only I would have a run in with a moose on my second day of work. I quickly got low and was peering through to my right through the trees when to the left of me, 5 barking squirrels flew out of the trees and were very talkative and upset about something. Could have been me, or perhaps they had a lovers quarrel, who knows, but it spooked me enough to say the heck with the picture, I'm outta here! Looking back, it's quite the laugh, but at the time, I was terrified! I suppose living here for a few summers still keeps me on my toes!

Tomorrow, I'm doing a 5K with my Princess gang. It's for MS and we're all very excited. We made some pretty sweet shirts and my girl Nicole and I have all the intentions of decking ourselves out 80's style. Pictures to follow, indefinitely. Making this little town's world all the more exciting is, I think, one of the most fun things to do while living here, so watch out Glennallen!

Needless to say, I'm having a great first week in Alaska, and while I miss you all dearly, I can't say it hasn't been eventful!

It Never Gets Old

As Kim and I left for the 4 hour trek from Anchorage to Copper Center where I live, I couldn't help but think I'm most definitely that same 22 year old girl that came out here 3 years ago; camera in hand, being completely amazed and trying to take it all in. I mean, this is ALASKA. Before we left, I was saying something around the lines of how it was kind of sad that AK has kinda been predictable and lost it's charm and it's "normal" to me now. About 10 minutes of out town, it was new all over again, and I ate my words right up. Everything about this beautiful and mysterious land is breathtaking, and whether you like it or not, there's a God and he is great, people.

We only saw a lone porcupine on the drive up, but let me tell you, he was most definitely the mafia boss of the porcupine world and was everything about 30 lbs. Wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley! Couldn't get a picture as he scurried away as we drove past him as if we were the paparazzi stealing a shot.

Got into Copper Center about 9 pm or so. Sun still shining. Lazy lodge sitting there looking like it's ready to have some life back in it. Trying to take it all in that I'm back. Time goes by so fast, you don't realize how much you appreciate the predictability. I know that when I come to Copper, I'll love going to look out for what seems forever of mountains, rivers, trees, even the ugly pipeline. There's this place that's nicknamed "the point" which is pretty accurate as it's a point that you can see the mountains just criss-cross until it looks like a lone distant shadowed bump. I could sit there for hours, Indian style, and just stare and think, it never gets old.

Tomorrow I will start my new job and I'm very excited to see what all I'll be getting to do this year. It's a new set of responsibilities that I'm so anxious to learn and do. Here we go again, folks...

She must be crazy. Don't you want to get a real job and a husband already??

This will be my third summer living and working in one of the most amazing and lovely places I've ever seen, much less lived. I'm 25, soon to be 26 and while I have a strong desire to find a full time year round job that pays me well and offers benefits, I can't say I'm upset about being able to travel and experience different parts of our beautiful country; and do things that make my mother terrified for my life; i.e. sea kayaking, hiking around in a grizzly playground, and so on. (I'm not supposed to share with her that I WILL ice climb on a glacier this summer, and would love to sky dive, too.)

I have every intention to share with you my adventures and pictures this summer, as I know a number of friends and family who often tell me they live vicariously through me. I hope I can deliver, my friends. Truthfully, I am just a small town girl that wanted more, and here I am sitting in my friend Kim's house in Girdwood, AK looking out the window and viewing the heavily snow covered Chugach mountains with one of the bluest skies I've seen in a long time.

This ought to be good.