1. In German, fernweh is a longing for distant places, perhaps even places you’ve never been. What place you’ve never been do you have fernweh for? Iceland, for one
2. In Finnish, myötähäpeä is “the kinder, gentler cousins of schadenfreude, something akin to “vicarious embarrassment.” For whom did you last feel myötähäpeä? One of the most annoying customers at the bookstore..she thinks she's being amusing, but she just gets on my nerves! One time Vicki checked her out and when she found the book she wanted she literally got on her knees and was like "HALLELUJAH!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!" O_o She actually worked at the bookstore for awhile but didn't last long because she was that annoying D:
3. In Japanese, shouganai means “there’s nothing we can do about it, so we accept it, rather than waste time worrying or being angry.” How good are you at saying shouganai and putting it into practice? I've gotten better, but it can be hard, like the situation with Denise..I keep thinking about all the ways it *should* have gone lol. Sometimes I'll sigh and shrug it off and keep going lol
4. In Scots, tartle is the “panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember.” When did you last experience tartle and how did you handle it? Not sure..
5. In Georgian, zeg means “the day after tomorrow.” What are you doing zeg? Relaxing online, probably going to the grocery store, etc

Tonight's sunset was so cool!

So pretty!! The sunrises/sunsets are definitely great this time of year!

( nov 7-8 )

This morning when walking to work I saw the clouds looked really cool and figured the sunrise would be pretty..I got distracted at work and would have forgotten to look had Becky not said to look outside. I was not prepared for THIS amount of awesomeness:


It was incredible..SO pink and pretty! My coworkers and I were all gathered around taking pics haha. Everyone on Facebook was talking about it too. :P Probably one of the best sunrises I've ever seen! I love nature <3

Here is another. Too bad pictures don't do it justice lol:


So I got that birth control implant out today..it wasn't working at all and just made me miserable. Too bad, it would have been awesome to not have a period for three years lol. My GYN said there aren't really any other birth control options that would help with pain..she did say Aleve would help keep the bleeding down and help with pain when you take it every day during your period. She also said there's this ablation (heh, like a glacier :D) surgery they could do that would burn away the bad cells or something. She was really concerned about doing it since I'm so young and might want kids later on and the procedure could scar the uterus or something (nope, I'm pretty sure mom and I convinced her I never want kids haha). She said to wait a couple or so months to see if I feel better without all those hormones and trying Aleve. I really hope it helps..I'm sooo tired of being miserable and feeling experimented on lol

( Day #10: Your favorite original character (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc.) )

Today's trivia: The fact that some pirates wore eye patches most likely had nothing to do with a missing eye, and everything to do with being able to see—specifically, above decks and below them. Pirates frequently had to move above and below decks, from daylight to near darkness, and the smart ones wore a patch over one eye to keep it dark-adapted outside. When the pirate went below decks, he could switch the patch to the outdoor eye and see in the darkness easily

Mom and I couldn't resist getting a cache after going to the store haha (especially since we looked for it twice and the owner recently replaced it). You probably can't tell it's snowing in the pic, but I thought it looked pretty :) (Appropriately enough, the cache is called "The Perfect Spot" haha)

( 17. What Inspires you? )

One thing I like about geocaching is you get to explore new areas. Like yesterday mom and I went to a cache on Chena Hot Springs Road..it was in a lovely quiet evergreen forest and the Pipeline went through there too! I didn't even know the Pipeline was by that road haha. Funn

( Day 22: Five favourite gadgets )

Would you rather sleep in a human size nest in a tree or in a burrow underground? Hmm..maybe in the tree

Today's trivia: Hurricane Ivan generated estimated 132 foot waves in the Gulf of Mexico in 2004

I woke up and thought the color outside seemed funny..so I looked and saw an awesome sunrise! I had to go to the top of the hill (well..almost to the top haha) to get pics. We're having another chinook so it was pretty warm for that time of day! It's 61 and forecast to be 70!! Woww haha. Awesome for the first day of fall ;)

( the rest )

Today I went to the botanical gardens at the university with Judy and her friend. They were rather ragged since it's September, but still nice. I bet they look awesome during the height of summer. There were some really beautiful tamarack trees that were pretty big. Judy took pics that she's gonna email to me..I'll post those and the ones from the hike last week tomorrow or Sunday. After that we went to Judy's old office..she was a psychology professor and founded the Northern Studies program. She's written books and writes columns for the newspaper. She graduated from Harvard with a doctorate..wow haha. She is definitely super smart. Her former student is now the director of the program whom we met. Cool haha. Then we went to Alaska Coffee Roast again to eat. I wonder what we'll do next..

( 16. Questioning )

I'm back from Denali! On Sunday mom and I drove down..it's such a short drive (1 1/2 hours or so) haha..especially when you're used to driving to Valdez. :P The mountains on that side of the Alaska Range are so different from the ones on the Richardson..they're much drier. After we got there we went shopping for like..two hours haha. We didn't even get to all the shops but we were just like "I'm done now" haha. After that we checked into the hotel, relaxed, walked by the Nenana River, got ice cream and went to bed

Yesterday we had breakfast and then went hiking at Savage River (mile 15, the furthest you can go with your car). It was 2 miles altogether. It was nice..the terrain was pretty and interesting and the sun even came out. I couldn't stop taking pictures haha. I always thought Savage River was glacial but when I got next to it I saw it was clear! The marmots kept chirping at us. :P After that we had lunch and then went on a bus tour, the Tundra Wildness Tour! That was the bus I went on the very first time I went to Denali. I like that it's narrated and they specifically stop for wildlife. We saw SO many bears and caribou! This one bear and her two cubs went down the hill, got RIGHT near our bus and went walking down the road! That was SUPER awesome!! The bears weren't even afraid. We also saw a fox, lynx, moose, birds, Dall sheep, squirrels, etc. The weather was better than other times I've been, but McKinley was cloudy again. BOO. I've done it four times and still haven't seen the mountain from the park. I've heard only 30% of people do, but the bus driver said it was more like 10%-15%. Wow. I WILL SEE IT FROM THE PARK SOME DAY. Haha. Since the weather was better and not obscuring all the mountains, I discovered new glaciers! YAY haha. I even saw fresh snow! Oh my. :P The mountains were so pretty..they're different every time I see them. After the tour we had dinner and I went right to bed :P

Today we had breakfast and just drove home (I got Abby from mom's house first haha..now she's drooling on me :P). Yayy Denali! I traveled a lot this summer haha. Pics tomorrow!

( Day 86: A picture of your favorite color )

Would you rather have to walk to the end of your driveway nude every day to get your mail or have your spouse walk to the mailbox in the nude? My spouse haha

Today's trivia: During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI tried to escape, but he was easily recognized, because his portrait was on French currency

So gorgeous!! Some of the prettiest ones I've ever seen. I keep seeing more in town now that they've changed finally haha. It's so fun to shake the tree and have the needles get all over you :D (the needles are so soft!)

( more )

Would you rather pick your nose in public and have to eat it or pick someone else's nose in public but not have to eat it? Eww!

Today's trivia: The cells that make up moose antlers are the fastest growing animal cells in nature

Earlier in the week I heard Creamer's Field was having a fall walk on Saturday (today) and I thought it would be fun so I went with mom and dad. The fall colors are AMAZING here..I don't think I've ever seen it this colorful here before. The birches and aspens are BRIGHT yellow and some have some red. The hills are crazy yellow. The walk was cool..I hadn't walked in the forest there in the fall before. It's such a dramatic change! There was one lone tamarack tree in the forest too! It's so cool to see them yellow! After that we did errands and drove home..I saw a whole bunch of tamaracks in the Goldstream Valley!! They're easy to see now that they've changed color. I didn't even know there were any there haha

( pics! )

That's an amazing picture..lucky too (assuming they didn't use Photoshop..)

Would you rather have to sleep in a bed with a cup of cracker crumbs and a cup of sand poured on the sheets or have to walk around all day, every day, with grape jelly in your shoes? Hm..if I chose the bed one I'd just sleep in another part of the bed haha

Today's trivia: Romans made condoms from the muscle tissue of warriors they defeated in battle