one purse and a puppy

I was able to have Thursday off this week, again, and instead of continuing the quilt (yes, this quilt), we had a one-day project. They were called Cute Jessi's instead of the trademarked name that Jodi C pulled the pattern from - oops. Last week I even helped her cut out all the patterns, and yet I still felt like a novice while sewing... until I looked at it last night upon completion. I love it: 

When I asked Tessa what colors she wanted she said purple and green so they compliment one another. I was really only supposed to have two colors, but I could not find a quilted fabric that I liked in either color. So I went bold and decided to match by not matching. The purple fabric is chaos with the brown, but the green adds just enough punch, that I think it works nicely. Oh Tessa, Merry Christmas. 

I made the pocket to be able to fit a cell phone in one pocket and then other, larger things, like makeup or a bottle of lotion, or a notepad (like I carry in my purse) for the other pocket. Tessa you better take good care of this heirloom!
Then the zippered pocket on the very front. ta da! Another ta da moment after I made Buckwheat look like a little scrappy puppy. I love his long Toto hair, but it was just becoming too hard to wash and clean because of the wet snow. Now he'll just have to be quicker outside:

pretty dang scrappy, but truth be told, he feels like velvet!

Halloween with the Reeders

Featuring....

Full dinner, including roast, potatoes, my first green bean casserole ever (turned out as a success!), pie, pumpkin cookies, and ...

Caramel Apples:

Musical Chairs:
Donut-String Contest:
El Guapo the Pinata: 
*while swinging at Guapo, we were listening to Nacho Libre music, and inside Guapo were all sorts of free candies and coupons. Including: Free Parking at the Reeder's (offer valid only once) and the movie Nacho Libre! aye, aye, aye! *notice the whoopie cushion costume? 

Limbo! 

and Pin/Stick the Wart/Gum on the Witch:
*while trying to avoid all the other pieces of gum. Go Megan!

new shag rug

... is really our front lawn. When we pulled up to our house tonight after driving around our neighborhoods a bit, I realized just how much our lawn looked like a white-retro shag carpet. Nature is just so chic.

first snow

Sunday night when Mark and I were driving to base, Anchorage's first snow of winter was falling. It was so beautiful! A little early, but still beautiful. That night, it was icy, slippery, and snowy, so I drove for the first time on icy roads. I chose to because Mark was in the car with me, and wouldn't be the next morning on my way to work. I did alright and learned some tips and cautions from my ice-skilled husband. 

Monday morning I saw 5 cars/trucks off the road and on their sides. I was warned that everyone forgets how to drive in the snow during the summer. Stupid. But I promise to not be 'one of those people.' Since Sunday and Monday, all the snow has melted. We are back to fall. But I am excited for winter!

a little off target

I only made it a DAY! My intentions were to make it an entire month, but I had today off work, and I found myself at Target after lunch. I started like this (not expecting to get anything much): 
And ended up with this: 
A sweater-thing for me, a shirt for Mark, long-sleeves for me, earrings, a purse, a cauldron, an adorable door mat (perfect for big winter boots), and a few other things that just looked like they needed a good home. Thanks a lot, Target. 

Even Mark decided to join in on the fun with me. We've missed you!

Chelsea, are you more partial to Alaska, now?

mushrooms

I wanted to post this before it gets too wintery up here. Did I get your attention with this cute little guy above? In Alaska we have the strangest mushrooms that grow everywhere. Some grow in circles, others grow in little town-formations, and some just grow wherever they want to. Our friends, the Cochrans snapped the little troll pictures a while back, and I loved them!  
This, above picture, was a huge mushroom somewhere behind our house. I took about 4 different angled shots of it, but this one was my favorite. I feel about the size of the little troll doll when I look at it. 
Another one courtesy of J & J C. I think they said that the troll was picked up by a family member of theirs in Europe. I could be wrong, but I'm thinking Norway. 
The above picture I took back in early August, right at the end of our yard; you can even see the clipped grass on the bottom left from the lawn mower. Notice the bright sunshine and clovers? mm.. it was so nice and warm then.
The parting shot. The mushrooms look just as real as the troll does. Thinking about mushrooms really makes me feel like a little kid again, and all the cartoons that used to be on; I'm sure you all remember the ones I'm talking about!

setting up for fall

Nearly all the leaves are on the forest floor outside, and inside, I'm setting out all my fall furnishings. It is such a cozy time of year! I love the scent in the air when the leaves are wet and on the ground, priming for the snow to come. This morning there was frost on everything outside; the sun didn't melt it until after noon. 

Back to the inside of our house. I have candles that smell like pumpkin, ginger, and cinnamon when burning, porcelain jack-o-lanterns that you place tea candles in so they glow. There are little gourds with leafy, spiraled vines. I have a fake pumpkin, and a few real. This time of year just makes me want to get toasty with a blanket and a mug full of soup. 

*the camera was on a landscape setting when I snapped this shot, so that is why it has the weird curve in it; in case you wondered. Please ignore the tags still on the stems. ha! 

vintage

I'm not a huge car fan, but I do love old, swanky cars that have vintage running through their tubes. ha! So when it comes to this or this, I am a huge car fan. 

This: 

belongs to this: 

a 1972 MG. When I was growing up, our old neighbors had a canary yellow MG parked out front for years. I remember because my mom and dad didn't think too highly of it, but I loved the look of it, even with the little rust spots. Plus, it provided a great hiding place for Ghost in the Graveyard during night games. The only thing I know about these cars is this: when I asked my mom why our neighbor wasn't driving it, she would say, "Because these cars catch on fire really easily." 

Bummer. It would be a lot of fun!

autumn updates

Autumn is here! The trees are breathtaking colors, and I'm already setting out my autumn decorations around the house. Speaking of the house, I finally took a picture of our textured paint using Theresa's EOS (see below post) and am putting it on our house blog. Take a looksey if you're interested. 

Also, I finally sat myself down and posted some photos I've been busy snapping this week. Yes!

*This picture was taken (using the EOS) of the mountain side across the valley on Thursday night.

canon EOS

Thursday night, a woman at work, Theresa, let me take home her Canon EOS that is a few years old. She knows about my curiosity for the 'bigger cameras,' and is trying to persuade me to the Canons. I use a canon point and shoot right now, and love the vivid colors. 

I got home a little late after work, but had to beat the sun before I started my homework for the night. I ran and drove around our neighborhood trying to get some shots of various colors, textures, and distances. Here are some shots from my photo-shoot with the very big and heavy Canon EOS; my arms weren't used to it! Maybe I need to start pumping iron. I was able to use her regular lens and her favorite, the telofoto lens. The focus was incredible how it would adjust and settle, with little or no work from me. Is that cheating? naaah..

In our backyard. I love the shadows at the edges, and how the flash had brought out the closest branches without drowning out the sun through the trees. 

Where the street ends, I climbed through our GX's sunroof to get the height advantage for this shot. The colors were beautiful on the hill, even with the encroaching snow.
Close up on a snow capped mountain in the same spot (from the sunroof!):
The Eagle River:
More Eagle River:
Thank you, Theresa! I loved using it! I only wish I knew more about the camera itself. Now I just have to find someone with a Nikon digital... anyone? 

around the world in 5 days

Mark's trip around the world certainly blew the hot air balloon out of the water. He was only flying for 5 days! 

Mt. Fuji over Japan: 

Flying over the Indian Ocean, not far from Thailand: 
Mark in all his desert-glory. Shortly after this picture there was a wall of dust coming in their direction. They all made it inside the plane just in time: 
Diego Garcia, the British owned, US military operated island in the Indian Ocean. It is only 7 miles long, and is shaped like a horseshoe, but the bay is deep enough for Navy ships to anchor: 
Then in Germany, before making the long flight back to the sates. Here he saw a friend of ours, Austin Hansen. Talk about it being a small world, after all. 
Thanks for all the pictures, my traveling man! 

a night in and out

After a nice night in yesterday, I knew Mark would want to get out and explore a bit. We had Stake Conference's Adult Session, so afterwards we went to midtown to Manhattan Pizza. Across the street is this lit up windmill... serving a purpose only known to the person who built it. But it was so vivid against our now-dark-night-sky! We're losing our night-light. 

My favorite quote came from Mark's Priesthood session: "It takes a pretty good meeting to be better than no meeting at all." - ? 

weekend relaxation

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." -Henri Matisse 

Maybe this bench isn't as relaxing as what Henri describes, but it did provide some relief two weekends ago at the State Fair. This weekend is stake conference, so I will be soaking up my relaxation whenever I can. Here's to a nice Friday night watching television, playing for the first time Clair de Lune while Mark starts the fire to roast the mallows,  taking cat naps and reading the end of my book! Tell me a few things you do to relax? 

eee! wolves

I am sitting here on the couch in the living room with the sliding door and windows open to let the cool breeze in. It is so refreshing! In the quiet of my typing and Buckwheat's window-gazing, I begin to hear quiet howls. In the distance (probably across the valley), I can hear the wolves. They must be coming back from the mountains with the cooler weather. I haven't heard them since June.

Oh gosh! You all know of my fear of wolves. I'm glad I'm reading Twilight and understand the facts. They're not all bad. right? HA! right..

*I took this picture when I was on a walk with Buckwheat earlier this week. This is at the end of our street where the road ends and you can see both sides of the valley and the glacier in the back. You can see the red and fall tints on the back mountains where the trees are beginning to turn.

farmer's market

Saturday, my sunny day, was spent outside! I took Buckwheat with me to the farmer's market downtown and enjoyed the shops and excited cooing that little kids would do in the general direction of "the toto dog." 

I found 3 of these beautiful Russian Matryoshka dolls. Two small ones from the vender where I took this picture, and one big one from another vendor. The second vendor was a tall, beautiful woman wearing a fur hat, the stereotyped signature of her country, speaking Russian to her much shorter, balder, but very funny boyfriend. As I finished my purchase, I waved and said, "Do Svidaniha!" We truly are in Eastern Russia up here!!

late august

After gratefully sleeping in a little past 8:30, I woke up to something bright, yellow, and round in the sky that was filling my room with warmth. I had missed the sun more than I realized!

I got Buckwheat all riled up for a 'walk' and we set out to the end of the street where the forest starts. On the way, I luckily had my camera, because there were so many pretty things out, signifying the change in seasons:

I can feel the seasons change, even with the warm sun on my skin. It is brisker out, there are branches on trees that are rebelliously turning bright yellow already. I say they should stay green for just a little longer. 

Iraq

I just talked to Mark on the phone and found out he will be going over to Iraq in the next little while. I'm not mentioning dates because.. well.. this is not a private blog. I'm excited that he'll be getting to go to so many cool places; Germany, Diego Garcia, etc. And I knew this day was coming, and I pride myself in always being strong and not worrisome about things. 

But all of the sudden I feel a heavy weight on me. Knowing that he'll be somewhere so dangerous, but I remind myself that he is a lucky one. They only let pilots in there for a few hours at a time with their planes. And C-17s have only been hit once; and they were still able to take off. phew! right? anyway. It will only be for a couple of days. But I will be glad when he comes home.

I'm blaming it on watching this movie. One that really opens up the tear ducts. It was beautiful; it told the truth as far as I know it, probably with a couple of hollywood twists to it, but it was a quiet, honest movie about the relationship between Captain Smith and the girl Pocahontas, or Rebecca and then her husband (Christian Bale). It is a movie that makes you appreciate the silence of nature where you can sit and listen; where you can really hear and understand things on a deeper level.  

Alaska State Fair

This week the Alaska State Fair is in full swing! Above, the picture of the ferris wheel is in full color. I have a wider shot with other things in the picture along with the wheel, and it's still a grey silhouette. It was a dreary day, but the following pictures helped brighten everything up: 
The deep, muted colors of these cabbages (correct me, please, if I'm wrong here on the whole cabbage thing - these are almost too beautiful to be cabbages!) really drew me in. The teal and the violet. oo la la!

The rain droplets were resting so gently on these pedals, I'm glad the camera picked them up:  
And the star of my little show, the ripe, little raspberry: 
too bad the sign said, "no nibbling, please" 

Japan

This is Mark's hotel while he stayed in Japan. Not too shabby right? And no spanking street walkers either! Just zen-goodness all around. He'll be touching down here again in the next little while for a short day trip. Hopefully I'll get more photos out of him. 

Thailand

Take a look at all the vespas lining the far side of the road: 

I asked Mark to take a couple of shots of Thailand while he was away. Above is his view from the hotel room, and below is a street view in the city of Pattaya. I'm sad to report, he was pretty grossed out by the country, but it still hasn't stopped my fascination with any culture that has this much color. The buildings, the cars, the boats, the plants.. 
Another reason he was so grossed out was he got smacked on the bootie TWICE by ... we'll call them "street walkers." Oh my!! I guess they knew it was his birthday. Ever hear of the Birthday Spanking Machine? They were carrying on the Reeder Family Tradition. How considerate!!

good night, Sun

A few nights ago there was a break in the clouds when the sun was setting around 11:00. We had wanted to drive around and look for bears, so this was our Sunday night activity. With the good morning, moon post, this was a must-have. 

The sun is setting earlier these nights so I've actually been able to see it before I go to bed. Now it's off to bed with me. Till the morning, sun. 

good morning, Moon

I saw the moon this morning for the first time in about 5 months. I never thought I'd love, so much, the sight of this misty veiled sleepyhead. For one reason or another, either because of cloudy nights or the bright and sunny nights, I haven't seen the moon for far too long. 

Welcome back, Moon!

a happy birthday

While Mark is here today (Thailand), I still wanted to wish my guy a happy, HAPPY birthday! 

He is 27 today and he has accomplished so much! I am very proud of him, and wish I could be with him on his exciting trip carrying who-knows-what to who-knows-where, exactly. 
I love you, Mark! Instead of celebrating with cake and ice cream, I'm celebrating with naps, chicken noodle soup and vitamin C. I woke up this morning with a horrible head cold. Lucky me!!