Happy Thanksgiving!

We just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. My cousin Chris forwarded this picture that his son Beni did and I thought that it was appropriate to to share it all with you. We have so much to be thankful for this time of year and we hope that you are surrounded by family and friends this Thanksgiving. To our family that is scattered throughout a couple of different countries we send our love, wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and will be thinking of you all.

Over the Top

So a couple of years ago during the 2006 summer Cam came home from work telling me about this "crazy" guy, Adrian Flanagan, that was docked at the Nome port with his sail boat. He went on to tell me that he was from England and had left England in October and he was going to sail over Russia and back to Englad when he left Nome. I was able to met him and listen to his adventures of attempting the world's first single handed 'Vertical' Circumnavigational voyage. Adrian had to leave his sail boat Barrabas in Nome over the winter of 07 due to the complications of ice and paperwork in the Russian waters. Adrian returned to Nome in July 2007 and finished his voyage in May 2008. We have kept in touch with Adrian and his family since he has left. We are hoping to visit him within the next couple of years. He is truly a remarkable man and a friendship that we treasure.

Since May I have been waiting anxiously for his book. The book went on sale in early November and I have been checking the mail in anticipation.

Yesterday I received the book in the mail and I am half way through it already. Even though I am not finished with the book yet I highly recommend it to anyone that likes true stories and that wants to be inspired. I am having a hard time putting it down. Also if you live in Nome you may recognize some faces in the pictures and names in the reading. I will say that Cam and I are mentioned in the readings and we are honored to be a part of this book. If you want to read the book you can search for Adrian Flanagan on amazon or visit his website below.

It is truly an inspriational story of not giving up on your dreams.

http://www.alphaglobalex.com/

7 Random Facts About Me

1. I hate having doors closed or having doors without windows. We even sleep with our door open (Cam really had to get use to that). I guess it is from watching too many scary movies when I was little.

2. I took many different dancing classes growing up: tap, ballet, hula, jazz and clogging until I was in 6th grade.

3. I hate things on my feet but I love shoes of any kinds. I prefer high heels but don't wear them in AK becuase my feet would freeze and I would probably slip and fall in the ice and snow.

4. I want to relearn to play the guitar and write my own music.

5. I dream of writing my own kids book one day with Cam doing the illustrations.

6. I love cheese of any kind. One of these days I am going to try and make my own.

7. I watch the soap opera General Hospital daily. It is an obession that I can't quite break the habit of.

Shishmaref, AK

I just got back from Shishmaref, AK. It located north of Nome and I love going there. The people are always friendly. Here are some pictures of the children at our Head Start site.
The little boy is Michael. He is my co-workers son and was very shy when I first got into the classroom. Everytime I tried to sit by him he would get up and go the farthest table from me. I was thinking I was starting to smell or something. By the end of the day he was my buddy and even let me take his picture. The other picture is of my co-worker Wilsa (Michael's mom) and myself after a drive around Shish. Wilsa has gone on a couple of work trips with in the past couple of years and I always enjoy visiting her in her hometown.

On Line Shopping....

So did you know that there are only 45 more sleeps until Christmas?

As Thanksgiving draws near I get the urge to start shopping for Christmas presents. Usually in September we sit down and talk about what we want to get people or what they think they will like. Since moving to Nome I have found my love of shopping online. Shopping is very limited in Nome with 3 grocery stores and a couple of gift shops. This will be our 3rd Christmas of shopping online and I love it!!! Last year we shopped at Omaha Steaks for Cam's parents and they loved receiving a box of meat that they could enjoy through out the year.

I typically do all of my shopping the day after Thanksgiving but online. Not only do they have awesome deals online but I don't have to stand in the long lines, try to find a parking spot or deal with the crowds of people.

Our friend Jenny recently introduced us to a new website: http://mileageplanshopping.com/. I highly recommend this website for your online shopping needs. It is a pretty simple website to use. You log on to the website and then you browse through the stores and pick your store and it will take you to their website and let the shopping begin. I can now earn 4miles for every $1 when I shop online at Nordstroms or 5miles for every $2 spent at Sephora. You not only can get what you want but you can earn miles at the same time. Your miles usually post on your statement 6-8 weeks after your purchases. I can't wait to start using this website and collecting those miles for our next dream vacation.

Happy Shopping!!

On a side note: Does anyone else have problems shopping for their parents that have everything? Anyone want to share their ideas of what they have gotten their parents in the past? We would love to hear them.

Gambell, AK

So one of the many things about my job is that I get to travel. Now when most people think travel they think of fun warm places...don't get my wrong my job has taken me to Seattle, Baltimore, Oklahoma and throughout the beautiful state of Alaska.

I first went out to Gambell 2 years ago. It is located on St. Lawerance Island and it is a beautiful place to go and visit. The people are friendly and it is so peaceful. Gambell is very close to Russia and on a good clear day you can see the Russian Mountains. One of my staff that teaches there is trilingual: English, Russian and Siberian Yupik. Many of the residents here live a subsistenece lifestyle of marine animals. Whales are a huge part of the culture and the history. The very top picture is of me on some old bowhead whale bones.

View from my Office

I get to enjoy most mornings in my office with sunrises like the one pictured above. Yes we already have snow but with views like this and a warm cup a tea I really don't mind.

Just a Reminder to...