Fabulous Friday: Frosting

The colder it is, the more of this seems to build up. Just a couple of images to send you off into the weekend with. Happy Friday!

Cold, but beautiful. Cheesy, but fun.

Here's a snap I took of frost fringed tree from the parent car line-up waiting to pick my son up from school Wednesday. I used photo+ for iPhone, my new favorite photo app for iPhone, which I first found out about from Mashable. You can take regular pictures and then add kitschy filters and effects afterward. Cheesy, but fun all the same.

Snowy days

Davin played in the snow until it was dark yesterday. After a failed attempt to make a snowman on my part — snow wouldn't pack — I gave up and took pictures.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

I jumped the gun and started to put up Christmas decorations last Saturday. But I thought I would spare you the sight of them until today, the day after Thanksgiving. I love decorating for the holidays, especially in a new place. My dining room/kitchen area is already super colorful: An orange wall, orange, red and blue tiles in the kitchen, and bright tiles inset into the table, so I thought bright red and green might be a little jarring in that area. Instead I went with blue, gold and silver this year. 

 Upper shelf of the wine rack.

That pretty little genius was eating the gold berries on my garland moments earlier. This troubles me. Garlands hang in all my front windows this year.

My "pre-Thanksgiving" dinner table. We were visiting on Thanksgiving Day, so we had our special family dinner with a couple friends on Sunday. Those are handmade napkin holders: A spool of ribbon and leftover ornaments from the centerpiece.

Now when to get the tree?

New locks

I had all my hair chopped off today. Normally I wouldn't post such a thing, but it was a dramatic change. I've always kind of been a short-hair girl, but it's never been this pixie. What do you think?

And it begins

Just when we were all thinking Anchorage kids might be lucky enough to have a snow-free Trick-or-Treat this Halloween — this happened. Anchorage got it's first measurable snowfall last night. Goodbye green. Hello white for the next six months.

The cats didn't know what to make of this strange cold stuff.

 The pumpkins looked a little distraught too.

Friday Fun: Downtown in bloom

I snapped a pic of these flowers around 10:30 p.m. last Saturday on a downtown date with husband. (Yes, it's broad daylight, I heart you Alaska.) We went out for wine and dessert after Davin left for his sleepover at his best buddy's house.

On my weekend agenda: 

• A photo shoot with a great little family out in Eagle River.
• Final touches to a wedding invitation design for a Seattle bride.
• A trip to the farmer's market.
• I've been on a baking kick, so hopefully some more goodies fresh out of the oven.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Fun: Happy Fourth of July weekend

We're going to have to come up with a new Fourth of July tradition this year, since we no longer have a perfect balcony view of the city fireworks like in the picture above. However, I'm sure the cats will appreciate the quieter change. I'm thinking there will be barbecued food and good people involved.

The thing I like best about this weekend is it marks three years since I met my favorite boys. This picture is from Tablerock in Boise, July 2008.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Fun: Lilacs

Joshua picked me a bouquet of lilacs out of our front yard this afternoon. They make our house smell beautiful.

Summer evenings look like this

 We played in the front yard the other night and I took a few pictures.

Google Guitar

Have you played with the Google guitar yet? If not, go to google.com and run your mouse over the strings to play. It's You can even record your digital masterpieces. Google's guitar-themed gadget is to commemorate Les Paul, pioneer of the solid body electric guitar.

Friday Fun: Happy trails this weekend

Did I mention that I got to walk barefoot in the sand on the Homer spit when I was there recently? I waded in the ocean in ALASKA and didn't freeze to death. Temps were in the 70s.

Exciting plans this weekend? We're planning a long bike ride downtown to the Saturday market for a two-wheeled adventure ending ... in my case, the grilled salmon wrap I've been daydreaming about since last summer.

Happy trails this weekend.

Barbecuing weather, another sign of spring

We busted out the barbecue on Saturday for the first time this spring. A a couple friends came over to help us drink wine and enjoy the first barbecue of spring at our house. Davin even cracked open the sidewalk chalk from his Easter basket.

I can't believe it's May already. It hit me the other night when I looked at the clock and was shocked to see it was 10 p.m. already and still broad daylight out. Thank goodness for the blackout shades in the bedrooms at the new place. I love this time of year!

Friday Fun: Good neighbors

My sweet neighbor lady dropped by with yummy cupcakes to share during my lunch break yesterday. I love finally having nice neighbors after years of weirdos in the apartments I've lived in.

Excited to fire up the grill this weekend and have dinner on the deck. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Friday Fun: It hit 50 degrees

My thermometer ranged from 50 to 54 on my drive home this afternoon. Time for some springtime bicycling. Happy weekend!

What I'm Loving Wednesday: Green tea, springtime, Bossypants

This is my first "What I'm Loving Wednesday Post." I'm linking up with a bunch of bloggers from all over who post a short list of things we love each week.

1. Jasmine Blossom Green Tea by Stash. I keep a box in my right desk drawer and am favoring it over my coffee habit most days. I take my tea black (or green if you will) so it's way healthier than my beloved Starbucks' concoctions.

2. My So Called Life on Netflix instant queue. I remember watching this show in my youth and being devastated when it was canceled. Now I can re-live all the bad fashion, teenage angst and overly dramatic scenes at my leisure.

3. Alaska's beautiful springtime skies ... every time I don't have my camera! The iPhone didn't do a terrible job capturing this moment though.

4. Warm weather! Most days when I got home from work I open the door and watch my cats soak up the sun for a few minutes. I'm so grateful for temperatures in the 40s, sunshine and shrinking snowdrifts.

 5. Bossypants. Tina Fey's new book is lighting up my Kindle at the moment. I adore her and even more now that I can read about her life and climb to the top.

Friday Fun: What happens when you stay home sick

I'll try not to bore you with too many pet pictures. I know you get it: I love my cats, you don't care. Fair enough. But I stayed home sick one day back in Februrary and my husband took this picture during his lunch break. You see, it turns out my cats think putting their paws on your face seems to be something you would like.

I thought it would be fun to share. I'm probably the only one...

Have a wonderful weekend.