Carving pumpkins and roasting seeds

Halloween is Monday so it's pumpkin carving time. We drove all over town looking for the perfect pumpkins after early release from school today and ended up getting these beauties at the Carr's [Alaska's Safeway] down the street. Bell's Nursery, which advertised a pumpkin patch on the radio only had discounted, tiny, Charlie Brown pumpkins left.

The ones at Carr's were huge and of course Davin wanted the one at the bottom of the crate. So we rearranged nearly every pumpkin in the stack to get to it.

Above, the victims before carving.

We also toasted pumpkin seeds, at batch of sweet and a batch of savory. The savory were coated in olive oil, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. The sweet were coated in olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, savory and a spoonful of brown sugar. Just spread on a baking sheet at pop in the oven at 400 for 20-30 minutes. If you do sweet, watch that sugar, it will burn if you don't pay attention.

Happy Halloween.

New on Kern This Studio: Never Sets certificates

 The folks at the Never Sets Film Festival asked me to design certificates for the winning films last weekend. The logo and other marketing materials we so sharp, I couldn't say no. Friday night we wend to the screening and awards. There's some true film-making talent in Alaska and some really great people involved in this event.

See more about these and other Kern This Studio projects over at my design and photography studio website.

Friday Fun: Not pictured, everybody else

Happy Friday! Anybody else love this poster poking fun at U.S. maps that exclude Alaska and Hawaii? Because I do. It's funny to think Alaska is almost 1/3 the land size of the rest of the country and gets shrunk down to a little corner on most graphics. Find the clever artist here.

We're kicking the Anchorage dust off our shoes this weekend and heading down the Kenai Peninsula for a camping with friends and salmon fishing on the Russian River. Don't worry, I'll take tons of pictures like always.

Have an adventuresome weekend!

Some enchanted evening at the Anchorage Opera

I didn't realize I was sitting two seats from the director Friday night. I didn't realize this reputable opera director had been flown up from Seattle halfway through the show to take over. Further, I did not expect to be toasting to his success with rose champagne, the conductor and a handful of cast members after the show. Lastly, I didn't realize he would be telling my husband and I were to get the best Chinese food in town. After all I've lived here two years and he's spent less weeks in Alaska than you can count on two hands.

The curtain came up over the set of South Pacific last weekend to bright colors, warm lighting and tropical music. It was the Anchorage Opera's crossover musical for the season. The Anchorage Opera is bringing in big Broadway musical show names once a season to pack the theater, attract a broader audience and help fund the rest of the year's shows.

South Pacific was no exception. The beautiful voices of a cast made up of both Anchorage locals and talent from outside. Days later, still find myself humming the Rogers and Hammerstein tunes, "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Out of My Hair," and "Some Enchanted Evening."

We were among a small group selected to go for a quick backstage tour after the show that concluded with a champange toast to the cast and crew. I got the joy of meeting director Jeffery Buchman and conductor Kelly Kuo. I found out Kuo resides in Oregon and was born in Richland the next door neighbor to my Tri-City hometown, Kennewick.

There's still five more shows to see it for yourself, Anchorage friends:

SHOWS: 
Wednesday, April 6 at 7 p.m.
Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
Friday,  April 8 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 9 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m.

BUY TICKETS:
At the Anchorage Opera website.

Tri-City friends: Go see Katie in "Mary Stuart"

My amazing, talented BFF Katie Hunt** is playing the starring role in "Mary Stuart" at the Richand Players and it opens tonight! If you are in or near Tri-Cities in the next three weeks, please and go see her for me.

Richland Players is the community theater in the Tri-Cities. Here's the theater's synopsis of the play:

"Schiller's Mary Stuart in a new version by Peter Oswald is being produced with an industrial rock theme. Schiller's ability to mix private and public worlds and his profound understanding of real politics assures that what you get from this production is not just some obscure history lesson (one that takes great liberties with the truth), but a fast-moving narrative about the imprisoning effect of power. It has all the sex, politics, religious bickering, double-dealing and treachery of contemporary drama."

Should be exciting, so go see it!

Performances: March 25, 26, April 1, 2, 8 and 9
Curtain: 8 p.m. (Get there by 7:30 p.m.*)
Matinee: 2 p.m. April 3 (Get there by 1 p.m.*)
Ticket prices: $12.00; $10.00 for seniors and students

Call the box office to reserve tickets: 509-943-1991
Or book them online: http://www.richlandplayers.org/

Break a leg, Katie!

*From me, the drama geek: Please make a habit of showing up for live plays AT LEAST a half hour early to get good seats. Walking in after the show has begin is super rude for the audience and the people who spent weeks preparing to go on stage. Community theaters like this one are usually all volunteer. And please turn off your cell phone. (Stepping off my soapbox now) Plus, pre-shows usually have a great social vibe to chat, check out the program, etc.

** Yep, she caught the bouquet at my wedding and I love this picture of her.

Alaska SeaLife Center

The Alaska SeaLife Center was the highlight of our trip to Seward last weekend. It's no Sea World, but it is the only aquarium in Alaska, and it packs a lot in a small space including a huge puffin exhibit, and both underwater and above ground viewing of stellar sea lions, seals and more. I especially enjoyed watching the kids as the stellar sea lion continuously looped by the main display window like the photo of Isabelle above. Although they also seemed to enjoy the hands on pool station where you could gently touch starfish, sea anemones, hermit crab and other underwater critters.

 

At first I wondered why they were selling finger paintings in the main lobby, but after taking a moment to read the sign, I realized these are no ordinary paintings. The artists are residents of the sealife center: puffins and sea mammals. All the proceeds go to animal conservation and supporting the SeaLife Center.

Dad's visit and spring's eventual return

 

My dad was in Anchorage last week for work, and it was also the tail end of Fur Rondy and the start of the Iditarod. Fur Rondy [or Fur Rendevous] is a 76-year-old celebration that marks the coming of spring and daylight in Anchorage. It's named for the days when trappers returned to Anchorage after a winter of work and the town celebrate their return with winter sports and festivities.

We had a wonderful time having company in the new place and hope to be hosting more friends and family in the future. This is a sampling of pictures I took throughout the week around town.

My dad before heading to teach class for Era one morning.

View of the mountains from midtown.

Ferris wheel at the Rondy carnival. I would hate to be stuck at the top of that with 15-degrees and breezy weather.

Me and my boys in our front yard.

Self portrait from the back seat while my dad drove us all back from a trip to the Ulu Factory.

Sunrise on the way to see Davin compete in the Alaska State Spelling Bee.

Davin in the car. One of the few times I have seen him without headphones while in the car lately.

Josh and Davin outside the Ulu Factory near Ship Creek.

Native crafts fair at the Dimond Center Mall.

Mask for sale at the Native Crafts Fair.

The finished project: Pottery studio follow-up

I picked up the bowl I glazed from Color Me Mine last night. Here's the final result. I'm very happy with how the speckled glaze turned out. Now I just have to decide where to keep it.

We had another great girls night out with apps, wine and a second trip to the pottery studio tonight. We might have to make girls night a weekly event. Although we'll need some other projects, classes and places to try out. Any suggestions?

Media Monday: Send your Valentine a custom Google map

I love the modern art Google logo on the site's homepage today.

Show your Valentine some love the 21st Century way with a Google map Valentine. Simply click on the link on the Google homepage that says:

Remind your Valentine of a special place you’ve shared.

It will take you to a page that allows you to make a heart-shaped Google map with a message about that special place you've shared with your sweetheart. You can even choose street view for a picture instead of a map. Add your darling's e-mail, preview and send!


We have a zero-dollar Valentine's gift rule at our house to keep things simple and sweet. So that means getting creative, and you can bet my Valentine will have one of these in his inbox today.


How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

Friday Fun: Painting of General Knowledge

For Friday, something fun.

This is a picture of general knowledge. There are more that 100 know personalities in this image. It is said that if you recognize 25 or more you are considered a well informed person and if you can identify more than 40 you are considered very knowledgable.

How many can you identify?

NOTE: I actually recieved this in an e-mail forward and spent a significant amount of time Googling it to see if I could identify the original source and have yet to do so. Please let me know if you know where this peice originates. I would like to give the artist credit.

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

Ladies Night at the pottery studio

Monday nights are Ladies Night at Color Me Mine for the month of February with half-price studio fees for ladies. So a couple girlfriends and I went last night to glaze our own pottery at the studio by the ice rink in Dimond Center Mall. 

In case you've never tried it, you select a pre-made piece of unfinished pottery and glaze it yourself. Then the studio fires it in a kiln and calls 8-10 days later when it's ready to pick up. Semi-handmade ceramics.

There is a small session fee, $8 for adults here before the ladies night discount, and for the piece of pottery itself. The larger the piece, the more expensive. The session fee helps cover the cost of glaze and the staff members who help you with technique, pouring glaze and generally running around cleaning up after everyone. The girl on duty Monday night was working her booty off to assist and guide a packed studio. She said it was unusually busy.

There are tutorial books, stencils, stamps and sponges to help achieve desired results. The whole experience reminded me a lot of ceramics class in high school, minus the clay mess and worry that your pot would blow up in the kiln and ruin everyone's teenage masterpieces.

I had only been to a potter glazing studio like this once before on a day-of-fun planned by my best friend when I turned 19.

My shell-shaped bowl, glazed and ready to be fired. The colors should be a dark plum and midnight blue. The inside is a speckled plum glaze.

A cupcake cookie jar my friend Tristan is making for her nearly year-old daughter's room to store.

This girl was amazing running the show Monday night. She could multitask like nobody's business.

Glaze selection.

A glimpse at the pottery selection.

Tiled sign on the wall showcasing a few of the glaze techniques.

It was a fun night and I'm excited to see how our projects turn out. I didn't get any pictures of it, but my friend Kim is working on a tile series. Last night she worked on a "Z" tile for their last name initial and she plans to come back to make hand print tiles of her four kids. Amazing idea.

It was a fun wintertime diversion and great creative release.

Pottery could make great home decor, custom gifts and, gentlemen, my friends and I decided you could definately wow a girl by taking her to a pottery session date. Check Color Me Mine's website for theme nights and events. Also, ask about their military discount.

Have you ever done a pottery studio session?