The beginnings of the house tour!

There are things I will miss about the old place... the beautiful brick fireplace, the lovingly painted rooms, the storage!, and the jaw dropping views of the range.  But the new place is quickly seeming more like home. I'd love to give you a tour, but I thought I'd split it up into a couple posts. 

First and foremost, the biggest (and my favorite) room in the house is the bedroom!

Here's a pic of our old bedroom:

Yes, that color was intentional! During the dark, winter months, this cheery bedroom made it possible to wake up in the mornings. The bed is a king size, so there was only enough room left over for a rug at the foot. We removed the closet doors opposite and stuck a dresser on one side. This room was a great bedroom!

The new bedroom:

(the pretty, edited version) We decided to put the bedframe in the shed, we wanted to take full advantage of the windows. It's kind of magical, falling asleep in the treetops. Kitty loves it too! 

(the real life version) Graham needed a stand for his alarm clock and since there is no overhead lighting, we needed a lamp. We repurposed a broken speaker set that act as little tables. The lamp, a present from Graham's sister, will eventually find a home in the office or living room. I'd like to get one of these instead:

not this color

On the left of the bed, is a space heater and my laptop. At the foot, the same rug and a dog bed Finn claimed as his yoga pillow. I love waking up in such a serene space! And to help celebrate Valentine's Day, I put up a paper chain with alternating 'love' and 'xoxo' rings from a template found here. Sweet and simple. 

And opposite the bed:

The couch! We were unable to fit our couch downstairs through the door to the living room, so it was sent upstairs. It's like having a suite, there's so much more room! There's a small, built in closet (teeny tiny if there's two sharing!) and to the right we hung our old curtains on a shower curtain rod to cover up some storage shelving. Every morning I wake up to a beautiful, fiery sunrise and am so thankful. 

Stay tuned for the next part of the tour!

Battle of the Boots

For a long time now, I have been obsessed with Hunter rain boots. 

I remember first seeing them in England and I loved how classic they looked.  Part Anglophilia and lover of not having stretchy, wet hems of jeans (the worst!), Hunters just appealed to me.  And can we talk about all the cute colors they come in?  From lime green and canary yellow to bubblegum pink and chocolate brown!  However, just this past summer my eyes swayed from my beloved Hunters to a decidedly more Alaskan pair of rain boots.

Xtratufs are favored by Alaskans, and those from Anchorage in particular.  They're not as pretty, but rather cool in their tough appearance.  Worn primarily by fishing enthusiasts, Xtratufs come with or without a steel toe and boast comfort and function.  After deciding I really don't fish at all enough, I'm back to being in love with Hunter boots, but something still makes me pause when I see a pair of Xtratufs.

(x)

What say you fellow bloggers/ rainboot lovers?

PS. Love these boot liners on etsy!

The Mystery of the Slashed Windows

The other day, I discovered two big slashes in the plastic helping to insulate the large window by the stairs. The next time I went upstairs there was another! Where could they be coming from?!

the large window by the stairs

the office window

Finn doesn't get his nickname Destructo Kitty for just any reason! We guessed he was the culprit and sure enough, the next morning I found his little body wedged between the plastic and the office window. Our friends educated us about some glue on caps for their claws (they come in fun colors too!). I can't be too mad at the little guy though. He found out the hard way, that the wood burning stove is hot on top and burnt all his little paw pads :-(. He hadn't been acting like himself and was having a hard time moving around. Poor, little guy has been getting wet food and kitty rubdowns all day.

Lucy misses her big brother and keeps trying to run in and play with him, so she's pretty beside herself. It's a good thing she's not an only child! I took her on a long walk (well, for -15 degree weather) and she seems to have calmed a bit. Lulu learned how to shake about a week ago and soon she'll start her Canine Good Citizen Class. Lucy and the word "good"in the same sentence? hah!

We're still settling in, and the place still needs a few more finishing touches, but we really do love it here. We're much closer to town, we use all of the rooms, and it feels so cozy! Just the other day a moose was racing me home...

You know I won! :-)

Moving it

       Wow!  We're almost moved in! The worst part is left ; unpacking the boxes of stuff from the junk drawers and the bottoms of closets, trying to figure out how to cram a 3 bedroom house into a one bedroom cabin, and final cleaning touches at the old place.
        Everything happened so quickly! Our new landlord is a very, eccentric lady and emailed us the contract only a day before we were supposed to move in. A couple surprises in there, but it all worked out. I have never heard of paying 1st month's rent, a security deposit equal to rent, AND last month's rent. In addition to paying all fuel and water upfront as well as some pro rated rent for moving in at the end of the month. Needless to say, we were a little overwhelmed.
        After we worked it all out, Graham got excited and decided to start a day early (Sunday). Our friends offered to help us on Monday, so we rented a small UHaul at 3pm and attempted to move all our things on our own. Poor Graham ended up moving the king sized mattress into the truck all by himself. We celebrated by driving our truck over to the new place, unloading a few items and drinking root beer floats in our new (!)  kitchen.  We drove back home and with the UHaul mostly full, we passed out on the air mattress.
        At about 3am Graham woke up to start the UHaul (so it didn't freeze- thanks Alaska!) and opened the garage door to find water spraying and three inches of water on the floor. Our pipes had burst from the cold. He had to call an emergency water guy in, who ended up capping the water and dryer. Sadly, we weren't able to do the last couple loads of laundry (our new place doesn't have a washer/ dryer).
        Later that day, our friends (Thank you Justin and Michelle!) helped us haul everything inside in the -30 weather. We definitely took some warm up breaks! Our couch wouldn't fit, no matter how hard the guys tried to cram it into the living room, so we'll be on the lookout for a small couch. Unfortunately, the pipes at our new place are frozen. We already had someone come out, but they are frozen again, so it's showering at the old place and gym for now. Whew! We love the new place though, even with all the little snafus. Hopefully, it'll give Finn some more exercise so he can lose some of the pudge he's been acquiring. :-)

Kitty loves his boxes and Lucy loves trying to get him out!

Pooped from moving- so sweet!

Restless

It's late at night, but I can't sleep. Today Graham and I looked at another house in Fairbanks. It is much smaller than the current residence, but so cozy. January/ February is a terrible time to move, considering the frigid temps, but we both really liked the little cabin. There are big, open windows that will be perfect during the summer. It's closer to town, yet tucked away in the woods on a six acre plot. As I close my eyes, I can't help imagining it with our things. Or wondering how it's going to be without Graham.

Thankfully, I have Lucy, Finn, good friends, and wonderful family.

Refresh

It's a New Year, a time to reflect and grow from last year. I'm excited, hoping for a new job and maybe even a new home. The only thing that isn't going to be so great is that Graham will be gone for most of it, because he is deploying. I'm so thankful for the unexpected time we did have together this past year.


This New Years Eve, we headed down to Anchorage to meet up with some friends, who were the perfect hosts and generously offered to let us bring our two stinkers. We woke up early slept in, grabbed some bagels, then headed to REI where we rented cross country skis.  The nice thing about the sun only being up for a few hours, is it makes it unnecessary to get up at the crack of dawn. We spent a few hours going up and down the gentle slopes, and it was so much fun! I thought cross country skiing was done on a flat level, open field- boy, was I wrong! We were on trails winding up and down. Graham and Dana were such naturals (boys make everything look easy!). We even saw some wildlife.

Later that evening, we watched the fireworks downtown then headed to a restaurant and enjoyed each other's company. Tiffany found the cutest NYE tiaras and hats! We made it back home just in time to watch the ball drop and fall into beds. :-)

    

Christmas decorations are now stored away, and it makes me sad. I love the twinkling lights and the house feels a little empty in the spot where we kept our tree. (although it's probably a good thing it's gone, since guests enter through that door...)

         

And of course the obligatory New Year's resolutions:

1. Complain less and focus on being positive/ thankful

2. Exercise more

3. Write more blogs ;-)