Hello friends.... where has the time gone? Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner, and June will rapidly follow...

Alaska has been BEAUTIFUL! things are finally turning green and the weather has been gorgeous! The days are getting long, it has still been light out when I arrive at my childcare gig at 11pm. I love it!

Speaking of childcare (aka job #2 of 3), I did not expect to receive firearm training when I showed up to the cabin last Friday. Apparently there have been more break-ins in the Sterling area and the mom wanted to make sure I could defend her house and her boys! With the 22, both single and double barrel 12 gauge shotguns and an amble supply of ammo, I was good to go! If anyone tries to come into THIS cabin, they're in for a surprise... ;)

Michael graduates from Skyview High School on Tuesday. He's planning on going to Seattle Pacific University in the fall. He's been focusing on track and music the last few months, and its been paying off. His band, the Band Next Door (BND) recently had fun recording their first demo, and are trying to get as many shows in before the boys leave for school in the fall. They will be opening for Everyday Sunday later this summer, and possibly Thousand Foot Krutch as well.

Michael dominated the 110 Hurdles at regions this past weekend, and shaved 1/2 a second off his PR! State, here we come! Secretly I was most excited that he beat this kid from So-Hi who thinks he's all that and apparantly trash talks like no other. Michael just beat him and walked away! SO PROUD! Here's pics from the last two weekends- the SoHi kid is on Michael's right...


and here he is finishing at Regions! the other guys aren't even off the ground yet!! :)

Katie just got home from Indiana for the summer. It's great to have her back! She's working at Angler's Lodge for the summer...and I'm secretly hoping to get hooked up with a guided fishing trip like we did last year! :)

David comes home from Paris the first of June- he'll be in Alaska for a week then headed back to Indiana (I think...who knows with him!) I'm looking forward to seeing him and having a sibling photoshoot!

Speaking of photos, I'm slowly but surely continuing to lose weight/tone up. And I got my nose pierced last week. I LOVE it! Its cute/sexy and fits me well! :) Pictures will be forthcoming. I'd post some now, but my camera is officially kapoot. The tribe had the Grand Celebration at the opening of the fish net for the summer season, and in the midst of playing with kids and sandcastles I got sand in my camera and...yeah the rest is history. So now its an excuse to upgrade!!! hehe...any camera suggestions? My computer quit on me again and, after much consulting and belaboring, I decided to convert....my macbook is on its way! :)

Alright, I've rebelled and neglected today's to-do list long enough...I'm off! It was nice, though, to linger at my mother's kitchen table, steal internet, sip coffee, enjoy the sounds of the birds and wind chimes outside, and update you on the recent happenings in my life.

I promise I'll be back sooner rather than 3 months later with more news from my corner of the world!

Hot Knights

What a weekend... For those of you that recall my announcement a month or so back, I landed a role in a murder mystery dinner theater production. Well the show was this weekend, and it was a smashing hit!! We had sell-out crowds both nights, and great audiences! They were so responsive and cracked up throughout the entire show, making for high energy for us to feed off of. I had so much fun playing the role of Pepper Devine, the soon to be Mrs. Prescott Knight, whom the entire family believes is only marrying the old geezer to get at the family moolah. (would I do something like that? seriously... ;) )

I made the small town news! Click here to read the article about the show and see rehearsal pics!

Hope my clients don't mind seeing me in hot rollers...I have a show tonight!

Voila! BIG HAIR!

all the girls...

Sassy the maid

Pepper Devine & Shiloh Devereaux

Vide did my hair both days...I like day 2's hair better :)

Gotta love the gargantuan rock!
Me and Yvette...the full get up!
Brick Tarmac & Magnolia DuKane
Sue Rae DuKane & Webster Cain DuKane
Juan, the one eyed gardener

Great Granddaddy Prescott Knight and his fiance, Miss Pepper Devine

Judge Drumm and I

the whole crew with writer/director Mike Druce

The Quickening

Sounds like a horror movie....but no, its just the current status of my life. Enough time has past since I moved here and started my job that I have now started to add other things to my schedule and have become busier because of it. Hence the quickening.

I started a second job a few weeks ago. I'm an approved childcare provider for the State of Alaska, and am providing childcare for two school aged boys (9 & 7) five nights a week. It works out pretty great actually, cuz I basically get paid for sleeping. The boys are already asleep when I get there around 11pm and so I just crash and then get the boys up and ready for school in the morning. Their mom gets home around 8:30am, then I head straight to work from there. I'm gonna put the moolah from this job straight towards my loans, to help chisel them down as much as I can. It's been good so far- the boys are good boys, and I enjoy playing mom on occasion and getting my "kid fix." :) Plus the waterbed at the casa has felt good on my sore muscles. Here's the view I had as I was leaving their house yesterday and headed to church...BEAUTIFUL.



Speaking of sore muscles, I've taken up kickboxing and LOVE it. Plus I met with my new personal trainer today and am all pumped to get a new program underway. She laughed when I brought her in a copy of my ridiculous schedule, and I explained to her hey, I have to organize my life in order to survive it! :) I'm anticipating my body to go through some major changes over the next few months with the combined nutrition (Weight Watchers) and exercise (aerobic/strength training) piece. Plus having the Biggest Loser competition at work has proved to be an additional support. Secretly, my boss is showing me up tho...and I need to get my butt in gear!

This past weekend was the Peninsula Winter Games. Athletes from all over the Peninsula come together to compete in different events, carve awesome ice sculptures, enjoy food and kid-friendly activities, fireworks, etc. The Native Youth Olympics (NYO) took place this weekend as part of the Peninsula Winter Games. Saturday after work I headed over to KMS in time to partake in the Cultural Celebration/Feast. Our drum group drummed during the potlatch along with several other drum groups. Afterwards I stuck around to watch the last event of the day. These kids are amazing athletes. It's so cool to watch them in their different events- for them its not so much about competing against each other, but competing against themselves. Some start as young as they can walk and improve by leaps and bounds over the years. Here's a short video I took of the Two Foot High Kick. This was after the actual competition. They were doing a sudden death round and seeing how far they could go. Check out how how the ball is! They raise it every round by a couple inches... these kids are amazing!










Here's a link with descriptions of the different NYO events...
http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/NativeGames/games.html

For those of you that watch the news, you may have heard that our very own Mount Redoubt is set to erupt at any time. Here's some pics from when it blew back in 1990. I remember being evacuated from school, wearing little face masks to protect us from the ash.



We've been getting prepared by purchasing masks and getting our house ready... If it blows, I'll be sure to post pics! :)


I continue to be heckled by a certain coworker due to my living at Papa Pilgrim's old place. Last week I noticed an addition to my nameplate on my door.... Oh Tim... :)

Before....and after

Here you go! As I promised, the finished pics of the face lift on the living room/dining. Just for fun, here's a couple before shots I took shortly after we moved in....




And after... do you like?






Last Sunday, I went to support my brother and rock out at the Band Next Door (BND) concert. They did great! They're auditioning to open for Cutless when they come to Anchorage in May!



Caught God painting the other day...cool to watch him work in the canvas outside my office window...

Since the New Year...

January 10, 2008
Last night, Yvette and I auditioned for this Murder Mystery Dinner theatre. Afterwards we picked up Martina and went to keep Yvette company while she worked the back bar at Hooligans. The band Static Cycle played that night, and I have to say I was impressed by the show. Great musicians. Check them out on Myspace...they are originally from Anchorage, but got signed and now are on tour. Glad to see they haven't forgotten where they came from, and so glad they came to play this weekend.


Yay- Michelle came out too! I heart my BFF!!


Thursday, January 15

Alaska's newsworthy run of subzero temperatures broke the other day, but I'm not sure I really prefer what we have now. Along with the 60 degree jump in temperature came freezing rain and slush and treacherous driving conditions. But at least our house is warm again. The old homestead house has its share of energy deficits, and both Sam and I spent a couple weeks sleeping under piles of blankets in layers of clothing. It's nice to be back to my regular pjs again...

Yesterday I scooted out of work a little early to get my haircut. There's something so great about going to a salon and pampering yourself- feeling beautiful and refreshed as you walk out the door. Do you like the new look?



Katie and I headed to The Crossing for a nice dinner out, and I bought my little sister her first martini! Crazy that she's 21 now... We enjoyed the leisurely dinner and savored the tastes, smells, the delicious ambiance of the room...as well as discussion about life, love, and other mysteries.

mmm....The K-Beach

Katie's prime rib...

stuffed chicken with cranberry spinach mousse, rosemary garlic potatoes and fresh asparagus.

The evening could have been perfect even if had ended as we left the restaurant, but we topped it off with some window shopping in the home decor section of the only department store still open in Soldotna (wait- it is the ONLY department store in Soldotna haha) and then picked up mom and headed back to the homestead to watch P.S. I Love You. I love that movie... and I love my house. The has freshly painted walls now, and a whole new look that I love.

Some pictures of the recent painting party... (finished product pics to come):

Aunt Kate made me curtains for my room! What a labor of love... and they're beautiful!

Saturday, January 16

Soooooo I recently auditioned for this Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre thing that the Kenai Performers is putting on at the end of March. We only read a portion of the script during auditions but it is called Hot Knights and is over the top hilarious. I got a part! It's a small all-adult cast- 6 men and 6 women. We're only gonna have a handful of practices between now and show time due to everyone's ridiculously conflicting schedules.... so it's gonna be down and dirty, but the cast is made up of seasoned actors and this director seems really cool and talented and flexible... he's looking at everyone's schedules and then will just pick nights that work for everyone. We have our first meeting next Thursday to read over the script in its entirety and discuss the direction of the show... so stay tuned for more news on this one. I need to start practicing my southern... :)

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Thursday night was a restless one for me....I haven't had an evening like that in a while. My roommate, young as she is offered her insight with the comment that maybe my sexy new haircut was contributing to my restlessness. I think she had something there... part of me wanted to go out- where, I don't know- but I just intensely desired to be seen and appreciated and enjoyed... Thank goodness the roads were treacherous that night...I think it was God's way of seeing that I stayed put in my casa and therefore, stayed out of trouble. Thank you Abba, for interfering and saving me from myself. A few days later I was emailing a new friend while at work and commented on how hard it is to meet quality men in this town. Her response hit home and normalized everything I'd been feeling a few nights prior. An excerpt:

"I know what you mean about quality men here. I have been lonely for some time now and it can get pretty dreary. Im pretty much done with the bars here but it can get hard to not be tempted in the middle of the night when you end up feeling just a little too lonely on the weekends (not just for boys but just for company- seems my friends just go out every weekend and I need to make some newer friends with other hobbies)."

How encouraging to be reminded I am not alone in this place of singleness. How good to hear someone else has simular desires and struggles with loneliness. I'm not insane, afterall! ...or at least not alone in my insanity! :) I hope to kindle this new friendship, but even if that does not happen, her words served a purpose that day. God works even through procrastinators' email exchanges... :)

Sunday, January 18

I joined Weight Watchers this week and will be starting at a new gym. I loved Elite and my personal trainer there, but since moving it has proved to be too great a commute. And with the PAC (Peninsula Athletic Club) only a couple miles down the road, it only makes sense to make the change. Last week at work we started our own Biggest Loser contest. We each put in 50 bucks and after 6 months whoever loses the greatest percentage of body weight takes it all! (There's over 400 in the pot now). How's that for a motivator? We even are doing weekly weigh ins every week at the job site. It's nice that we can all encourage each other...although I swear someone is still bringing in sweets since this thing kicked off and I think the plan is to sabotage us all. I will resist :)

This morning my Katie left to fly back to Indiana for another semester of school. I SO enjoyed spending time with her these last 4 weeks. So special...I love her. :)