The last post for 2009

Happy New Year's Eve!! I'm spending New Years with Tasha and her husband Adam. I believe we are going out for pizza and maybe some karaoke. It should be fun regardless.
Today Tasha and I went out to Pat's lake. It was a nice little hike, much shorter than yesterdays. It was still very pretty. At least today there was no almost falling off a cliff. I failed to recount that tale about yesterday. When Tasha and I were going back down the trail from Rainbow Falls, we were going down some steps and I slipped. I then proceeded to start to roll towards the edge of a cliff. I caught myself, but it was pretty funny. Ok, well I'm laughing over it. I'm a little sore still from the slip but it's all good.
I'm having a great time visiting Wrangell and will be sad to leave and go back to work. I take the ferry Sunday to go back. I decided to get a cabin for the ride from Wrangell to Ketchikan, that way I can sleep in a bed till I get to Ketchikan. The ferry departs Wrangell at about 3:30AM which means I need to be there around 2:30AM. We get into Ketchikan at about 9:30AM. I should be able to get several hours of good sleep.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.

Rainbow falls

King of the Hill

Hiding

Rainbow Falls

Ta da

Stupid Stairs

The sign at the Trail head

Today Tasha and I went out to Rainbow falls. It was quite a hike. It was a lot of stairs, but the view was great and we had a good time. I started out with the hoodie on but later was way too warm so I hiked most of the trial without the sweatshirt. We may have had a little too much fun and went a little camera happy.
Yesterday we went out to Petroglyph beach. That's what the prior post of pictures. It's been great being up here visiting Tasha. Good friends and some good food. Woohoo!!

Some exploring

Day 1 in Wrangell

I arrived in Wrangell yesterday afternoon at about 4pm. It was a pretty uneventful ferry ride. Tasha picked me up from the ferry terminal then we went back to her bowling game. She plays on a league and it was couples league last night. We went to her inlaws house for dinner that night, it was fun. We had a good time hanging out.
This morning, after being woken up by my mother at 6AM which I fell back asleep afterwards, I finally got out of bed about 8:30. It was nice to sleep in. Then Tasha and I were kinda lazy for awhile. We went and had lunch with her husband Adam at a diner in town. Mmmm double bacon cheeseburger. Then Tasha and I went out the road. We were going to go to Pat's Lake but when we tried to go up the road we lost traction. Then Tasha was going to back down it, instead we started to slide backwards. We then started to slide sideways. It was kinda funny. We luckily didn't end up in the ditch and we made it safely back onto dry (not ice coated) road. We drove around some more. We went to 10 Mile pipe, which is literally a rusty looking pipe sticking out on the side of the road that fresh water flows out of. I'll admit that I drank out of it. Apparently everybody does. It was pretty good water. It was kinda funny though drinking out of a pipe on the side of the road. Other than that, it's been a pretty lazy day. I'm glad I'm on break.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Another beautiful Alaska Morning

It's a beautiful morning this morning. I'm glad the sun is shining because I'll get some good pictures while I'm on the ferry. It was nice to be here in town last night. I enjoyed hanging out with Bryan, Caitlyn, and Megan. Bryan got on his flight this morning back to Anchorage. As I'm writing this, Megan and Caitlyn are still asleep. I'm good and tired but I can sleep some on the ferry and when I get to Tasha's. Yesterday morning was also a beautiful morning up here. I have some pictures that I should post.
Yesterday was pretty laid back. We only got to see Sherlock Holmes because there was an enormous line for Avatar. It's ok. We had a good time.
I'm excited about the ferry ride and the awesome weather. I think it may be about 40 degrees here this morning. It feels great.
Well off to the ferry I go.

One of my christmas presents

My Christmas present from Bryan.

Merry Christmas and etc.

Oh it's so nice to be on break. I can't believe how quickly a week of it has already gone, but still it's been great. Good food and good friends is really hard to beat. I've had a great week. My parents sent me an ice cream maker and Harry Potter 6 on bluray. Sadly I had to wrap them myself (well Bryan wrapped the bluray). Cara stopped over and filled my stocking, I also had a stocking at Siri's. Yay friends. Dan and Cara also got me a bop-it, I've never played bop-it but it looks fun. I had gone over to Dan and Cara's before heading over to Siri's on Christmas morning. (Of course after I loaded all the other presents in the car). I handed out presents over at Siri's and received the gift Bryan had gotten me. It was hilarious opening the box. So he had taped down all of the loose parts of wrapping paper and then after ripping all of that off was a boxed wrapped completely in duct tape. I about died laughing while trying to get all the duct tape off. Inside the box surrounded by some packing was a ring box. I jokingly asked if I should be worried. I opened the box to find a very pretty opal ring that I had admired over summer. I was absolutely amazed that he had remembered that I said I like the ring back in July. The stone even matches the necklace that he had bought me over the summer. It was such a sweet gift. Oh and he got my ring size right too. (Major kudos). It was a great Christmas.
It really has been a great week. I've had a great time. It's been fun hanging out with Bryan and all my other friends.
I'm looking forward to going to Wrangell tomorrow. Tonight we're going to go see two movies. Sherlock Holmes and Avatar. Woohoo!!
I'll write again later.

Fun times

Have I mentioned that I love being on break? I really do. It's been so nice to just have a break. Yesterday was a fun day. I had a good time at church and I went to go take care of Siri's dogs when I got a text from Bryan. We texted back and forth a little, come to find he and his family had just docked. Well I ended up picking Bryan, Siri, and Jacob up while they were walking back from the ferry. Then I dragged Megan and Caitlyn off to make more perogis with me at Nicole's. It was once again a fun time. When I dropped Megan and Caitlyn back off at their mom's, I hung out a little while and then Bryan and I went out the road (and drove around town). We just drove around and talked. It was really nice to talk. I'm glad that he and I are friends. While we were out driving around he sent a text to Siri stating that I had left him out the road. No response. Well then I sent a text saying I left him out the road. No response. Finally as he and I were sitting at my house play Super Mario Bros Wii (which was hilarious) his mom called me. 'Did you really leave him out the road?' 'Do you think I would really leave him out the road?' 'No but I was just checking.' Lol. I still find it amusing. After we got done playing Wii, we went back to Siri's and wrapped some presents. We were quickly running out of tape and wrapping paper so we'll pick up some today and finish wrapping.
I think I may go over to Ketchikan a day early to see a movie, especially if Avatar is still playing. Before that however, I should make cookies, do some homework, and do some work around my house. I have a feeling that break is going to fly by, but it's going to be fun.
Side note:
I have learned that the more people that get involved in your life, the more difficult some things can be made into. (Without any effort on your part). Sometimes the parties involved just need to deal with things themselves and not listen to everyone else that seems to have an opinion. I have found that people that love you (friends, family, etc) want to give their opinion to you but sometimes it's just best to ignore it and do what you feel is right. Breakups can be hard, but when there are no hard feelings and it's pretty much a mutual thing, sometimes it's just best to talk it out and not listen to everyone else. (Especially when people want to try to pick sides and there are no sides to take.) Thankfully things in this particular instance have turned out for the best and we are friends but it could've been different. I'm grateful for the voice of reason and for guys that know how to be adults. I'm also glad for a small void in my life that is filled back in.
I am so truly blessed in my life. I have great friends, an amazing family, and a wonderful amount of faith. I miss my family this holiday season but I am there in spirit. I am grateful for the people I get to spend my holidays with. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and lives everyday to the fullest. Take the gift that you've been given and make the most of it.
Happy Holidays!!!!

Good friends and good food

First things first, I'm glad to be on break. It was a nice week, particularly because the stress of the concerts wasn't there. I'm so glad that I decided to do it the week earlier. It took a lot of pressure off of the last week before break. Once again I'm glad to be on break. Pep band has been going pretty well and we're having a good time. I'm glad I have such great kids (and alumni).
As per the title of this post, I'm so grateful to have wonderful friends (and of course family even though I'm not with them). This afternoon Nicole invited me, Darcie, Cat, Darcie's mom, and Cara over to make perogis. Mmmmmmm. We only made ones filled with mashed potatoes today. Tomorrow we are going to make saurkraut filled one. Mmmmm. I have about 30 perogis from just today, I'll have more tomorrow. I put two large bags in the freezer and one in the fridge. I plan on having perogis for breakfast tomorrow. I'm so excited about it. I had such a great time this afternoon. It makes me happy that I decided to stay here over break. We had great conversation and just an over all good time. We made tons of perogis. If I were to take a guess we probably made about 200 or so. It was so fun. I don't know how many we'll make tomorrow, but it'll be fun.
I think I have an incomplete in my Multicultural Education class, that's a bit of a relief. Now I need to finish my homework.
I've had a bit of a trying week personally. I've felt very low and alone. I called my dad in the middle of the night to talk to him. I've never called my parents in the middle of the night. I've lived alone for 5 years and I've never felt homesick or so alone. It was bizarre. I feel a lot better today. I've dealt with a lot of just emotional baggage, I think everything kinda finally got to me. I've been going so hard for so long, it finally just all caught up. I had a good cry and I've moved on. I've been through a wide range of emotions but I really feel that I need to get it all out. I've always been so strong that it really bothered me to feel the way I did. I think that I've dealt with it and I'm better for it. I definitely have found some of my limits. But I feel at peace now.
I have few concrete plans for break. I'm getting on the ferry on the 27th to go see Tasha. Prior to that I'm going to do some work around my house and just relax. (Maybe play some video games) I also need to do some homework. I don't know what I'm going to do when I go see Tasha besides hang out.
It'll be a great break.

What a month

Sorry it's been so long since I've written here, a lot has kept me busy. So much has happened in a month. I spent weeks continually getting ready for the concerts. The concerts were last Tuesday and Wednesday, they were awesome. The groups did really well, I was very pleased. The concerts got rave reviews from everyone that attended. It was the biggest turnout we've had for a concert for as I've been here. I've never been hugged by some many people. What a great feeling.
Let's see, what else. I have had college classes kicking my butt. I've had way too much to do on top of everything. I'm going end up having to take one of the classes over again. Two classes with all the homework on top of teaching and everything else has been way too much. My life seems so insane.
I have no idea where I'm going to be six months from now. Honestly I don't really know what's happening in January. I don't know if the threat of termination is still there or not. I'm honestly not worried about it. I'm just going to keep doing my job. There is a small part of me that wants to stay (which is a recent thing). All year I've really felt like I wanted the heck out of here and there is just this tiny part of me that wants to stay. Now I feel a little torn. It feels like the community is finally starting to back me a little too.
I just know everything is going to work out. I know that I'll go wherever I need to be.
Well this is the last week of school before break and I'm staying in Alaska the whole time. I'm spending the first week of break hanging out here with my friends here then I ferry off to Wrangell. I'm going to go see Tasha for a week. Watch out Wrangell here I come. It will be great to see her.
In the last month I've found my self single again, stressed out, and not ready for basketball season (which started this last weekend). Our first games were this past Friday and Saturday. Got to love pep band. I'm definitely not ready. I am ready for a break. I've been thinking about where I want to spend my spring break, I don't have any great ideas. My mom is hoping that I'll come home to visit. We'll see.
I don't know much else. I'm relieved to have the concerts done and I'm ready for break. I've got all the Christmas presents wrapped. I've been enjoying my new tv.
Oh and I had a great Thanksgiving. I hung out with Cara and her family, it was great. Good food and good friends, can't beat it.
Well I think that's about it for now.