Internet!!!!!!

Oh internet, I have missed you so. It maybe a bit rocky as we get used to each other again...but oh internet, I am just not myself with out you.

While I stream my ridiculously backlogged Hulu list, we are going through a major cleaning effort this weekend. So far I have gotten rid of 55 out of my goal of 100 items...and dear Dan literally brought over a truck load of stuff from his parents house to our hosue. (I am very well aware of the fact that I am fighting a loosing battle.)

The weather has been great this weekend so Kepler has been getting his fair share of exercise...he even got to ride a snowmachine for the first time. All he really wants to do today is sleep on my bed....which frankly, is all I want to do as well.

saving the world...one phone call at a time.

So this time I was off and running around, saving the world. Okay, so I wasn't stopping the pipeline leak with my own two hands but I was working my tail off to help out any way that I could (even screened some phone calls from the White House), after a week in the office, I spent a couple of days back in Prudhoe Bay. Its been a long couple of weeks...long hours, lack of sleep and very little puppy time.
I am back..things are settling. I worked normal working hours (for the most part) today. Alaska's oil is flowing and I no longer have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning.
Tonight, I even had time for baking some banana muffins.
However...its quickly approaching my bedtime...and there is no time for wit, wisdom or babbling, me and my sweatpants have a hot date.

My random photo of the day comes from my trip to Rome in January of 2010. The world is such a magical place...I can't wait to have some time to explore it again!

Resolutions

Its that time of year where society gives us a big reset button. I think I actually heard January 1, 2011 challange me, "Okay Ashley....2010 was pretty stinkin awesome, but now you have to make 2011 even better"
1. Read more books. Now that graduate school has finished sucking my soul dry I want to learn what I want to learn...if that makes any sense. Spending tiem outdoors the last few weeks has rekindled my love for astronomy. There is nothing more beautiful than the night sky on a clear night. I passed up on an opportunity to study spectroscopy and its application in determining the atomic make up of the stars and now I can read what I want about them and when I want to.
2. Of course there is the sterotypical "get in better shape" resolution..which I hate...but I need to. ugh.
3. Work with Kepler to turn him into the worlds most well behaved dog. Okay, this one might be a little high but shoot for the stars right? I figure if I spend a really solid year focused on training and building our relationship the next however many should be much easier. This week we are doing leash training and the "lay down" command...He has already learned "sit" and shows great promise for learning things quickly.
4. Work on building our house into a home. The new house is so great, and I love it a lot...we just need to contiue to make it ours and fine tune things, both on a big and a small scale. We dont plan on this being our forever home, but there is no reason not to me it ours for now.
5. Develop my more artistic side. I have a few paintings I have promised people. I would love to get into a couple of local shows...more as a pride issue than anythign else. I also really want grow in the world of photography. Photography is a little bit more of an instant satisfaction vs. painting and I wnat to be able to document as many beautiful things this world has as I can.
6. Keep faithful to my blog :)
7. Travel to places I have never been before.
8. Become a better cook...this is for the sake of both me and Dan.
9. Be better at using resuable shopping bags
10. Waste less of everything
11. Be a better friend/sister/daughter/girlfriend..think of myself a little less and others a little bit more.

He sure is a cute puppy :)

Update 2011

Whew! It has been some busy weeks since last I updated. I have flown from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Kotzebue to Nome (got stuck in Nome due to a snow storm) to Unalakleet to Anchorage then back to Fairbanks...had Christmas with Dan, my family...dear Kepler and Mocha then hopped on another plane to go to Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse to tour the oil fields at -80 degrees (not kidding) came home after a couple hours in Barrow and packed up and then went for a snowmachine trip down the Denali Highway (photo above) the next day to bring in the New Years with some friends.

Well now I am back. Back to a normal routine. Honestly I couldn't be happier that A. I got to experience all of that and B. to be home...on my couch about to watch a movie with Dan with my puppy at my feet.