Carol's maternity shoot

 

My beautiful and awesome sister-in-law Carol and I did a maternity shoot of her while visiting the Potter family in Idaho Falls. We had fun playing with lighting and shadows while capturing her third pregnancy. Isn't she gorgeous? This was probably one of the most fun photo shoots ever. Moms-to-be: I would love to do your maternity photos.

Golden Birthday: 28 on the 28th

We went to the Whale's Tale for wine and food Saturday to celebrate my birthday. This is the fabulous new wine bar in the bottom of the Captain Cook with wine vending machines. Yes, you read that right. SO fun. My husband gave me that awesome bedazzled birthday cup for the occasion.

 Crayons on every table. For the kid in all of us.

Oh goodness, scary eyes.

Open for business

Well, it's official. I am a full time freelance graphic designer and photographer. In a series of amazing events, my dream of taking Kern This Studio from a side project to a career became a reality — months, perhaps years sooner that I ever dreamed possible.

Some of the great folks I worked with at Alaska Newspaper and Camai Printing have kept in touch and connected me with some great opportunities. I have taken on the design of the weekly Cordova Times and First Alaskans magazine on a contractor basis.

I have an especially courageous woman to thank for offering me what seems like the best visual journalism gig in the country — at least for me. When Calista Corporation announced it was closing Alaska Newspapers she couldn't bear the thought of Cordova, Alaska losing it's hometown paper. So she bought it. And then called me and asked me to help. So I agreed and here I am typing away at my new Mac sitting in my HOME. I love it.

The last couple weeks have been a blur of setting up my home office, learning about taxes as a sole proprietor, bookkeeping, private heath insurance and all kinds of other fun stuff.

I'm thrilled to begin this new step in my life and have found a personal silver lining a difficult series of events that included the closure of the company I worked for in August.

I have been incredibly inspired by several woman business owners, entrepreneurial spirits and freelancers out there and would like to publicly thank them for their guts and creativity. So thank you:

• Jennifer Gibbins of The Cordova Times
• Victoria Barber, writer, editor, photographer journalist extrodinaire
• Beth Skabar of Beth Skabar Photography
• Margie Bauman, the quintessential Alaska journalist
• Meghan McCausland of Entrepreneur Alaska
• Allison Doty of Allison Doty Graphic Design
• Sara Gray of Sara Gray Photography
• Jonalynn McFadden of Turn Up the Rad Creative

I will also be forever grateful to my parents for their support, encouragement and go-for-it attitude about my decision. As well as their lifetime of being great examples of entrepreneurs, hard workers and all-around fantastic people.

I also owe everything to my husband and son enough for: (1) Putting up with me when I madly thought I could run a business AND work a full time job, and (2) equally supporting me when I decided to quit my job and focus on my business.

Well, I think I hear the speech "wrap up" music now.

UnWINEd Grand Opening

I had a great time taking photos and lending a hand at the UnWINEd Grand Opening last weekend. UnWINEd is Anchorage's newest boutique wine shop and when Joshua went in to sell them advertising a few weeks ago a short chat turned into a career change.

They were so impressed with his wine knowledge combined with his advertising and business management experience they recruited him to be the store's resident wine expert, or sommelier. One of the owners was recently telling me how happy he was to have my husband join their team. He felt the way Josh explains wine is a unique service he doesn't think you can get just anywhere and a key component to the store's future. I told him I was just so pleased to see him doing work he's passionate about. And it doesn't hurt that I'll have to help him with his homework (read: tasting).

At the Grand Opening celebration there were tasty treats, tons of customers and even the mayor came down to do a ribbon cutting. The owners hope to cultivate a store where you can find unique wines that aren't distributed everywhere else in town. They also carry a variety of gifts such as cork purses and jewelry, specialty foods including tapanade and flavored olive oils, and a plethora of wine-related accessories.

I'm excited to see the store grow and have a connection to such creative, hard-working business people in Anchorage. If you live in Anchorage, I hope you drop by sometime to check it out.

 Anchorage Mayor Sullivan cuts the ribbon to commemorate the Grand Opening of UnWINEd, with the store's owners at his sides.

A hipstamatic fair time

I realized on the way to the Alaska State Fair yesterday that I had forgotten to put the Scandisk back in my point and shoot. So I decided to document our day at the fair with the Hisptamatic app on my iPhone. Hipstamatic is kind of one of those guilty pleasure things that I hate to admit I like. Like the Kardashians and Katy Perry. The photos look cool. In fact I got far more comments on one of these pics on Facebook mobile upload than expected. But I prefer a truer image. I wouldn't submit it to the Pulitzer committee of anything ... But it did make a fun set of pics to remember our day.

 Davin and his best buddy.

 The rat race.

 Award winning giant cabbage.

 To the birds.

 Cotton candy.

 The masses.

 It was windy and chilly, but my Alaska jacket from Homer kept me warm.

One non Hipstamatic for the mix, the kids while by on the highest part of this ride.

Fresh pressed: Homemade fruit juice

We've been on a homemade juice kick at my house. We picked up a juicer at Costco in early July and have been making cranking out homemade fruity (and sometimes vegetable) concoctions ever since. We've been working on injecting more fresh fruits and vegetables to our diets. Orange-mango juice is my current favorite. Pineappe-orange-strawberry is amazing. Pear-apple is pretty delish too. Carrots are surprisingly sweet and drinkable, and produce way more juice than you would imagine. Don't overthink it, try apple-carrot juice. A leaf of kale in fruit juice can turn the whole thing green, but the taste is still sweet and yummy. 

Why make juice?

1. Homemade juice is packed with nutrients. Plus, there are no chemicals, preservatives or added sugars. Just the natural stuff you drop in the juicer. 
2. You can make a mean martini with the juice of your favorite fruit. Try a grapefuit-tini.
3. If you're the kind of person who takes a light breakfast, a tall glass of iced juice can really add a punch to your morning.
4. Make lemonade out of lemons: It's easy to find out one bad apple literally did spoil the whole bunch in Alaska where our store-bought fruit isn't always the freshest. But you can salvage bruised, or less-than-crisp fruit and vegetables by making them into juice.
5. It's SO much more delicious than the store-bought stuff. And think of how impressed your next out-of-town guests will be when you serve them fresh orange juice at breakfast.

The drawbacks?

1. It's kind of a pain in the patootie to clean, but do it right away before any sticky pulp dries to make the job easier.
2. All the pulp can be a menace to your sink, I recommend using one of those little drain screens you can pick up for about $2.
3. Fresh fruit can be expensive, especially up here in the 49th state. Keep it on the cheap by adding just a small portion of exotic fruit favorites to bargain granny smith apples or ordinary oranges sold in bulk.
4. It doesn't keep. The shelf life of fresh juice is only about three days, but you can avoid waste by only making what you'll drink right away.
5. High calories and sugar. Remember, just because you drink it doesn't mean it doesn't count. If you're watching your calories, make sure you look up how many calories and natural sugars are packed into fresh fruit.

Random notes: 
 In case you take a stab at making juice yourself, there's a few weird things you might want to know.

1. Homemade juice is thick, almost like a smoothy. Don't be afraid to water it down with a little mineral water and ice.
2. It's frothy. Yep, you might see a weird foam on top. There's nothing wrong, but you can skim it off or use a straw if it bugs you.
3. No pits. Don't ever put stems or pits in a juicer unless you like broken appliances. Then it's OK.
4. No skins you wouldn't eat. Take a peeler to your oranges, grapefruits, mangoes, pineapples, etc. The white white of the orange is OK, but the actual orange-colored rind is bitter. Skins on apples, strawberries, plums, peaches, nectarines, etc. are fine. Don't waste your time peeling those.
5. Grape stems are OK. Yep, there's an exception to every rule, and in juicing you can throw a whole bunch of grapes in -- still on the stem. There are nutrients in that stem. (Check instructions on your individual appliance to make sure it's grape-stem approved.)

Enjoy!

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!

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.

Cooper Landing and Homer anniversary weekend

We packed up the Subaru and hit the road last weekend. Saturday we set up camp on the shore of Crescent Creek in Cooper Landing next to the only patch of snow around. Our campsite was just a few miles from the site of our wedding the previous year. I waded in the blue creek of glacial melt, we cooked dinner right on the coals of the fire and listened to the water rush all night.

  Nature's ice chest. Why yes, that is Costco brand beer.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Homer at the far west end of the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped to look at Mt. Iliamna and Mt. ReDoubt, the latter of which erupted for several months the first year I lived in Alaska. Homer is the "Halibut fishing capital of the world" and known for it's adorable tourist trap, a 4.5 mile spit lined with shops, restaurants, docks and tour companies. We had never been there before.

 Mt. Augustine is currently in an active volcanic state, visibly releasing steam here.

The view of Homer from just outside town. The strip of land projecting in to Kachemak Bay is the aforementioned Homer Spit. We booked a room at the Land's End Resort at the tip of the spit.

 

A row of shops on the spit.

Art in a restaurant where we grabbed chowder and cocktails.

  Me and my martini.

  Our shadows and the view from the deck of our hotel.

Josh was wincing from the sun in every single photo of the two of us from the weekend. So I gave up and posted this one anyway.

NEXT UP: The last morning of our trip we hopped aboard a charter halibut tour to try to catch some fish. Photos soon.