Dirty Thirty!

I turned thirty last week. I have some really great friends that helped me celebrate this milestone of a birthday, even though I couldn't drink. :( The night before my birthday, Kate came over and brought some my favorite Moose's Tooth pizza! It was so yummy and it was good to hang out with Kate!

On my actual birthday, I had tons of calls from all over the place wishing me a happy birthday! Thank you to everyone that called or texted me! It was nice to know that you all remembered my special day even though we are so far apart.


I met my friend, Amy, for an early lunch at Moose's Tooth (I do love that place!)! I was somewhat pizza'ed out, so I got soup, salad, and breadsticks to eat! hahaha! It was a nice lunch and I'm so glad I got to spend some time with Amy.


My friend, Jill, then met me at a nail salon and she got me my very first pedicure!! I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about someone rubbing my feet, but it was WONDERFUL!! I got the spa pedicure, so it was an extra special treat! The man that did the pedicure told me to bring Michael next time so he could teach him how to do the pedicure! Hahaha, I liked the way that man thought!




Michael had some beautiful roses for me when he came home from work. He's gotten really good with this flower thing! :) We then went into town to pick out my birthday present. He got me a laptop computer!! I was kind of hesitant at first, but now that I have the laptop, I LOVE it and never have to leave it! The way we look at it is that I will be able to stalk everywhere now! hahaha! We picked up some Taco Bell for dinner (my idea), a cheesecake, and a scary movie! It was a really great way to spend my 30th birthday!

The day after my birthday, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with some of our closest Alaska friends. It was a really fun dinner with presents and ladybug cupcakes too! Thank you so much to everyone that came out for dinner. It really meant a lot to me and thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts! Amy, thank you again for the wonderful ladybug cupcakes made completely from scratch! They were amazing!

On Saturday, Michael went with Kate, Jill, and me cross country skiing at Hatcher's Pass. It was a great day and I think Michael really enjoyed himself too! The dogs definitely enjoyed themselves! :)




Then, finally, on Sunday, Michael took me to the Double Musky Inn for a very nice belated birthday dinner! Double Musky is voted one of the best restaurants in the country!! It is really good and definitely a special treat! I have a the best husband! :)

Hole-in-one?

Michael, Amy, Bryan, Jill, Paula, and I decided to do it old-school and play some putt-putt a couple of Fridays ago. Since it is so cold and snowy up here, the putt-putt course is indoors! However, it is very old and we don't think it has been renovated or updated...ever! This was a lot of fun though since we were all together and we aren't serious putt-putters! If we were pros, we may have had a heart attack over this place!

Michael standing over the "little river" that runs through the course. He is trying to concentrate!

The ladies of the course! From left to right: Amy, Me, Jill, Paula

Amy actually got a hole-in-one on the 18th hole! Hahaha!

A funny pose with the ladies!

Damn!!! No hole-in-one for me!!!

Rusted Root!

Alaska does not get many big bands to visit, at least not at the frequency of other cities in the Lower 48. Moose's Tooth/Bear's Tooth put on this concert once a month, called First Tap. Moose's Tooth is a brewery, as well as, a great pizza place. They make a new beer every month and introduce it at "First Tap", which is the first Thursday of every month. In the winter months, it is held in the Bear's Tooth auditorium. During the couple of warm summer months we have, they hold it outside in the parking lot at Moose's Tooth. They are all pretty fun and they do get some good bands. Most of these bands are smaller and not as well known as, say Ludacris or Puddle of Mudd.

Last night, Rusted Root played. They sold out for this show almost two months ago! I love Rusted Root and actually know their music, so I got our tickets back in November! (most of the time, I don't know the bands, but I go because it's good music with good beer!) This was my first First Tap sober. It wasn't too bad. We went with a bunch of our friends up here. They wanted to be as close to the stage as possible, but I was having a hard time with the heat and crowds. So Michael and I moved up to the balcony. We were able to really enjoy the music and show from up there, until the people right in front of us started smoking up. We had to get out of there. Then we went back to the main floor, but stood along the wall where it wasn't too crowded. It was really a great show! I'm so glad we went. I'm not sure if Michael really enjoyed the show, but I am so happy that he put on a happy face and acted like he enjoyed it for me! :)

Good Ol' Dog Park

One of the drawbacks from living out where we do now, is being so far from the dog park. It's a good 40-45 minutes to get there. Whenever I go into town, I try to do all of my errands at one time so I hate taking the dogs and then having to leave them in the car for hours and hours in cold weather...I know, I know, their dogs, they have fur, they can deal with the cold! I still feel bad!

However, I was supposed to meet Amy the other night so I thought before our cupcake date, I would take the dogs to the dog park. Oh, how they miss that place! There was fresh snow everywhere and lots of dogs to play with! I may have to make it a point to take them to the dog park at least once a week.

This is the face Freedom gives me when they want to go to the Dog Park!

Michael's Ice Fishing Trip

Michael and one of our friends, Kevin, went ice fishing the day after New Years. Kevin is from Michigan and goes ice fishing a lot, so Michael was pretty ecstatic to have a "guide". They took our Durango and were able to drive out onto the ice! They also picked one of the freaking coldest days ever to go! Michael had rented a fishing tent and little space heater from base. However, this heater did not do a very good job from what I heard. There are not many pics from this trip, since they were boys and they don't think about Liz and my blogs! :)

Michael and Kevin caught a bunch of little fish, but nothing outstanding. Above is a picture of Kevin with their trophy fish!

P.S.- You may ask yourself where I was on this trip...it was 0 degrees!!! I not only said no, but HELL NO! I was actually supposed to go skiing with the girls this day, but I backed out of that because of the coldness! Brrr!! I went to Moose's Tooth and a movie instead! ;)

2010!!!! :)

We decided to have a New Year's Eve party at our house this year for several reasons. First off, Michael nor I wanted to be on the roads...period. Even though we didn't have to worry about which one of us was going to drive or getting a taxi, we didn't want to be stressed out about OTHER people driving! People are stupid, especially on New Years Eve. Second, we didn't want to go to a club or bar where they would most likely be charging a cover charge just to get in! So with the persuasion from some of our friends, we decided our place was to be the party pad!

At first, the party was going to be pretty small because a lot of folks wanted to go to a large party or bar hopping. However, we had a lot of peeps decide last minute to make an appearance. Luckily, I still had time to get extra food and supplies. Most everyone brought something to munch on, alchohol, and sleeping gear.

The highlight of the party was not the ball dropping at midnight or all the dogs we had here, but the "Just Dance" Wii game I had received for Christmas! We started playing this game at 9 PM and it was played until 3 AM (with a 10 minute break to watch the ball drop, of course)! Even some of the guys got into it. It was a lot of fun, and these pictures just don't do it justice.

Ski lesson!

The Sunday after Christmas, Michael, our friend Kate, and I finally took a cross country ski lesson offered by base. We were supposed to have taken this lesson last year, but that's when we were still not used to the cold! Now that we are seasoned Alaskans, we jumped at the opportunity to finally take this class! Do you see the two sets of lines in the snow? These are the tracks that we use to cross country ski. The tracks make it a lot easier to classic ski.

Michael and I all bundled up and ready to start the lesson. We actually were not wearing enough clothes to stay warm for all the standing around and slow moving we were doing during the lesson itself. We were all super cold. However, once the lesson was over, we did some skiing on our own and then we warmed up!

This was the second time that Michael has been cross country skiing. He did pretty well, but I don't think he's as in love with this sport as I am. Unfortunately, he does not have much free time so he can not practice as much as I do.

This was one of the three moose that were hanging out on the golf course. These moose seemed really mellow and used to all of us skiiers. Fortunately, we were done skiing so we didn't have to bother the moose.

Me practicing my snow plow and turn. I think I did pretty well, especially seeing that I did not fall on my butt! haha!

Me!