1. What item would you be embarrassed for people to know you own? I have some pretty hideous underwear hidden in a drawer LOL, it definitely wasn't pretty like I thought it was going to be :P
2. What is something you splurged on just for you? The first edition (2 vols.) of The Worst Journey in the World
3. What is something that you own with no real world value that is priceless to you? My bus ticket to Wheathampstead, one of the best days of my life
4. Do you collect anything? Sure, postcards of four-poster beds, books, shirts from places I travel to, etc
5. What item belonging to a friend/family member do you covet? I really like the curtains in mom's room, even though I like my own curtains haha..one time I wrapped up in them and watched the Northern Lights from her deck haha!

Yesterday I was reading in bed and heard something fall onto a decorative plate I had in the living room..I jumped up and walked over, hoping it wasn't broken, and saw this:

I about melted from his cuteness and told him to stay so I could get a picture haha (Abby would get up on top of the cabinets too before she got old lol). I told mom he was surveying his kingdom :P (thankfully the plate was fine too)

Our sign at work is finally up!!

Yay!! Yesterday the store made over a thousand dollars, so people have definitely noticed! I was worried by the days that were like $200 something, but people just had to find us first. Busy days make me really happy, I love selling books!

Mom and I saw How to Train Your Dragon this week, and Hiccup's connection with animals made me SO happy. <3 I loved the scene where Hiccup and Astrid were riding Toothless and the Northern Lights were out! Such a great live-action remake, I can't wait for the sequel!

Ughhh it's been so hot this week..my coworker said her arms were sticking to her desk! In the afternoon storm clouds build up over the hills to the north of town (air mass thunderstorms, not associated with a cold front and they dissipate quickly from lack of energy. I love mom's weather knowledge!), and yesterday they looked CRAZY and intense! A volunteer at work lives out that way and she said her plants got pummeled by hail. Of course the lightning caused a bunch of forest fires (I could smell the smoke last night), and people are being told to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice..yikes. When mom was driving me to her house earlier I saw a smoke plume from one of the fires (Vicki's firefighter boyfriend is Sam is off work because he had surgery, but I'm sure he's following everything closely too). Thankfully on Monday some storm clouds associated with a cold front will come through, and on Tuesday it's supposed to be 69 degrees!! That'll feel amazing haha, it's gross sweating so much while trying to work :P

( june 17-20 )

Today I turned 36, woohoo! I know I'm getting old because sometimes I forget what I'm talking about in the middle of a conversation LOL. Both Ryan/Jo and dad got me the same cat card from Barnes and Noble haha! I got two gift cards too, so I'll have fun buying lots of books there. :P Vicki and her boyfriend Sam came over in the afternoon, their first time going to my parents' house and meeting Ryan and Jo! Curti was a little overwhelmed by her loud voice, but still walked over to her. I'm glad he doesn't hide when he sees strangers. We went to Chena's Alaskan Grill for dinner, my traditional birthday restaurant spot, which was super fun! Vicki is so much fun to hang out with! After good food and conversation we went back to my parents' house and had cupcakes and ice cream, yum! Vicki got me a game called Exploding Cats, which I'd seen before but never played..we'll have to play it together sometime! I'll miss working with her, but I'm glad to be great friends with her too!

( some pics from the night! )

Mom's birthday is next week, so it'll be my turn taking her to dinner, yay! I can't believe she'll be 70 O_o

7. What adventure do you want to go on? I want to brave the Drake Passage and sail to Antarctica and see the sights!

8. If you owned a store, what would you sell? Books, obviously :P

This past two weeks of moving/shelving/arranging shelves at the bookstore has not been easy on anyone. We only had TWO days to get as many books as possible on the shelves..many of the boxes are a mix of genres, which slows us down some. When volunteers would come in Vicki would say "welcome to hell!" I asked Bill if he was dying inside when he sighed and he said "I'm already dead" lol. So many things could have gone better, but now it's just best to move forward. There's still a LOT of work to do, but we still opened today. I was greeted by the smell of whatever Lucie used to clean the floor with, which smelled fresh and nice, perfect for a new start! Lucie insisted on being the first customer LOL

Yeah, it is definitely weird checking customers out in the kitchen haha! (The building was some food bank program.) Shelby must have taken time off, because she looked refreshed and cheerful. Many regular customers came in today and said the new place looked great (even with semi-empty shelves, which they undertstood), yay! It was nice doing my "regular" job again haha

Here's a pic of part of the store:

Dad's been driving me, but we took the bus one day together and it gets to the bookstore very quickly! I'll have a longer ride going back home, but that's what books are for. :P We'll do an "official" grand opening in June, I think. Hopefully things will run smoother now lol

Curti is definitely part dog..dad said he went down to the lake, got a stick, and brought it in the house haha! Yesterday he got one of his toys and jumped up on my lap with it. I just find that SO cute, awww <3

( may 24-29 )

I got home very early this morning and now I can do a recap since I'm not socializing/exhausted haha. I wasn't sure how much time mom and I would spend with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dean since their friends (Pam and Ken) were visiting too, but we actually spent a lot of our time with them! They were super nice and didn't at all object to having to share Cindy and Dean with us haha. One of the days Pam and I added each other on Facebook and she fistbumped me and said "we're friends now!" Heck yes! Haha. We spent a lot of time shopping downtown (with me admiring all the shops' curtains LOL). There were LOTS of tourists around..for some reason most of the time it was super windy, but otherwise it was sunny and nice. Downtown is dangerous because there are too many things to buy haha. I kept wondering why I was so out of breath doing simple things, until someone said something about the altitude (7,199 feet)..ah yes, that explained it haha. It's also SUPER dry, even drier than Fairbanks! Drinking water didn't help much, but lip balm did, thankfully. We also went to a couple bookstores (one with thousands of books in Spanish..the most in the country, according to the owner), but unfortunately, the one I usually went to was not in business anymore..the last time I was there the owner talked about how much he wanted to retire, so he did (another bookstore owner said he moved to California). It was a cool bookstore though..I wonder what he did with all his books? The library had a little store, with amazingly had a copy of The Worst Journey in the World, which I made Cindy buy LOL..she was like "every time you visit, I end up with a stack of books!" haha. I hope she likes it!

On Thursday I was excited but nervous to see Drew Lynch! Another comedian opened for him, and she owned horses, and said her pronouns were neigh/nem, with I thought was HILARIOUS lol. Eventually it was Drew's turn! He always opens his shows by making fun of or making observations about where he's performing. He mentioned being blown away but the crazy wind, blaming the altitude for stuttering, making fun of the town Truth or Consequences, and also having to use lip balm. There was also someone who was deaf in the audience, so there were a couple ASL interpreters to help him. When Drew came onstage and saw her he was like "oh no, I have to try not to stutter, would that look like a seizure in ASL??" That added part made the show even funnier..I can't remember the deaf person's name, so I'll go with Gary..he and the interpreters had a lot of attention from Drew (both of the interpreters were having fun lol). My favorite part of the show was when Drew stuttered, looked at the interpreter, and said "did you just sign my stutter?!" That's a huge reason I like him so much, he uses humor for his situation (like I do with autism). He's not just another guy trying to be funny..I feel like he would feel vulnerable, but he doesn't seem fazed. I also like how good he is at ad-libbing, like when he saw the interpreters. He has a fun laugh, though the volume was too loud. Mom said she had trouble following him sometimes, because he would start to say something and stop and change what he was going to say, but I'm sure that's because his stutter wouldn't let him say it..that would be frustrating, but he says something like "oh you know!," and continues on. I didn't understand or like ALL of his jokes, but it was still really fun! (I was super exhausted after it was over, too much stimulation!) He likes to post funny parts of his shows on YouTube, and I can't wait to see what he posts from this show! (Hopefully his interactions with the interpreters!) I'll have to share it if he does post it. At the end of the show, he said "you guys were f-ing awesome!" Why thank you. :P Haha. I'm glad he had fun too!

I flew home yesterday, but mom went on to Florida to visit grandpa (he's having cancer treatments and sometimes doesn't feel well). I HAVE to go back to work tomorrow, so I told mom to tell him I said "hi." It was nice to get away for a few days after working so hard during the move! I'm sure there's lots to do still though. :P I'm pretty sure Curti grew while I was gone, he's getting so big!!

( pics from the trip! )

17. What makes you angry? Animal abuse, slow internet, being mean for no reason, etc

18. What five things do you want to do on your next birthday? I'd love to take a plane ride to Black Rapids Glacier (there is a company that does that now!), eat cake, open presents, shop at Barnes and Noble haha, relax online

19. Your most recent dream: I can't really remember..

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom evar!

I wouldn't have gotten this far in life without her support, understanding, love, etc. <3 We went to Green's, a fancy restaurant (we went there last year too), and got a table next to the curtains! (That's why our faces are that far apart, to get the curtains in the pic haha!)


Don't look at the menu yet, we have to take a pic with the curtains first!!! Haha


I was having way too much fun LOL


Ryan, Jo, me, mom and dad, yay! After dinner we got ice cream. A very fun day! (Curti brought up his mouse on my bed and played with it, so that was his present haha. It's SO cute when he walks around with a toy in his mouth hehe)

( may 10-11 )

1. When did you last send someone a heart emoji in a message, and what color was it? The earliest I can find is March 5 (when I got tattoos of Abby's pawprints). It was red
2. When were you most recently over the moon? Today, which I'll explain later!
3. When you draw a five-pointed star, which of the star's points do you begin and end with? I don't think I've drawn a star in years lol..I feel like I started on the left maybe..
4. When did you last walk barefoot in clover (or some other grass-like groundcover)? Not sure..
5. Do you have any lucky charms? The number 16 lol

I was right when I said the bookstore had been slow because people were waiting for the 40% and 50% off sales..today was super busy and it was SO much fun!! Finally lots of books, DVDs, etc are selling..I'm glad, because it's depressing when it's slow at the store. Mike (the former Executive Director) and family came too, and it was so good to see them again (especially Elias, I have a soft spot for him since he was basically raised at the Literacy Council lol). I took a picture with them!

Mike, Elias (omg he's so big now!), Lydia (she proudly told me she was three years old lol) and me. Yay! Tomorrow starts the 50% sale, so it'll probably be crazier than today lol..yay, more fun selling books! :D

Curti's sleepy face is so cute!

Awwww. <3 It's tough being a kitten LOL

I had to increase the doses of my antidepressants since these last couple months have been crazy..the Amitriptyline is supposed to help with sleep, though I never really noticed until now. I'm sleeping SOO much better now, it's amazing lol. Yay!

There's been no one living in the apartment below me for two or three years now (it was Donald, but he accidentally left his back door open when it was like -30, which first froze the pipes, then flooded the first food), and I've been thinking that's a good thing since Curti sounds like a herd of elephants when running around haha, and of course NOW they've decided to work on the apartment..lots of drilling going on (doing it at 8 in the morning is rude though, people are still sleeping! :P). I'll have to tell whoever moves in that Curti likes to play at 10 PM..hopefully they'll understand :P

( 2. Who was your favorite teacher in elementary school? )

Today mom and I saw The Fourposter!

I was disappointed the bed didn't have a canopy lol, but it was still pretty good! I think that's the only play I've seen with just two people in it. In the movie the couple died, but in the play they moved away..a nicer ending, I think. I thought about taking a picture with the couple, but I was too shy lol

Here's the whole stage (which of course changed throughout the play)

So cool that Fairbanks did this play!! Since taking tech theater in high school, I always wonder what it looks like behind the scenes though..that's where I would be, opening and closing the curtains LOL

Speaking of four-posters, I've been watching The Penguin (one of the main characters stutters), and the mansion one of the families lives in has four-posters! I love seeing them unexpectedly, so exciting haha. There weren't any curtains though, which is just so wrong..the bed is naked and sad!! Haha

Curti met Sid for the first time today, and the poor kitty was terrified..it was the first time I'd seen a cat drool from fear..poor guy. :( He doesn't seem to mind other cats, but he's definitely not a dog kitty so far (Abby tolerated Sid, though she would growl if he got too close)

( april 19-20 )

1. If you could retroactively erase one TV show from the history of entertainment, which one would you choose? Arrested Development..ugh, SO annoying :/
2. Are you more like your mother or your father? Hmm..maybe mom, but I'm probably a mix of both
3. If you could take a year-long vacation, what would you do? Go to Antarctica, Iceland, etc
4. Can you think of a reason not to answer this question? It's not about cats :P
5. What's the nicest thing you've ever done for someone? Been there when they've needed it most (she literally became more confident and changed right before my eyes! It was cool to see lol), given food to a homeless person on the street in Puerto Rico, taken mom to dinner, etc

A couple days ago I thought "hmm, I haven't looked for "new" pictures of Cherry in awhile!," so I did, and found this!

This picture is in a copy of Worst Journey someone is selling (for thousands of dollars, of course). I hate that it's so small here, but in the bigger version I could tell he was wearing his glasses (super rare! He almost always took them off for pictures) and smiling! He looks peaceful and content, which makes me happy lol..he had a hard life after Antarctica. I definitely need to meet his uncle someday lol

After Abby died I saw on Facebook something called Cuddle Clones, where a company makes stuffed animals (and things like PJs) that look like a pet you've had. I thought it might be weird and creepy, but decided to do it anyway (other peoples' designs looked a lot like their pet!). I got mine this week and...it is 100% completely creepy. O_o It has some of Abby's features, but its face with giant eyes is SO creepy and just not that well made. How disappointing! I had to put it on the windowsill facing away from me because it weirds me out too much. They definitely could have done a better job :(

( april 10-11 )

Today the bookstore staff went over to see our new building! The front is has nice wooden floors and is well-lit, even when the blinds are down. The back area definitely has more room for incoming donations, yay! Everyone is pretty excited..Vicki said I was "glowing" when we were talking about how nice we're going to make it look. It's a bit too far for me to walk, so I'll have to see if a bus stop is nearby. Hopefully the customers won't panic when we tell them lol. Change is hard, but it can be exciting too! I'll have to find a place for my very important cat curtain LOL :P

Not only did I sprain my ankle last week, a couple days later I got sick from the cold that's going around town..ugh! My ankle is a lot better today, but the cold seems to want to hang around. I didn't feel great when I came home from work yesterday, but I did better today. Mom said Ryan is sick now too..evil contagious virus! Hopefully I'll feel a lot better soon

Curti's gotten big in two weeks!

No one can get over how cute he is LOL. When he's in your lap and shifts position, he'll meow or make another cute little noise. He gets super energetic at night, so me or mom has to play with him so he doesn't play with wires or curtains lol. I can't believe I got lucky again finding such a sweet, loving kitty!

( march 22-26 )

I've been busy looking for a new cat this week (it was killing me coming home to an empty apartment :(). I visited some massive Maine Coons (way too much cat and fur for my apartment lol); visited a cat rescue place with a very odd lady who didn't want to let me adopt anyone because I have a balcony, and the cat could "fly off the balcony" (I wouldn't let a cat jump off my balcony, if it even wanted to). She was also concerned because I go to my parents' house on the weekend, and the cat would have to get used to riding in the car and going to another house. I also visited someone who has to give his cat away because he's terminally ill. That was probably the fattest, most miserable looking cat I've seen..he had to have weighed at least 20-25 pounds. D: Poor kitty! There have been no cats at the shelter the last few days, so yesterday I looked at online ad things where people were wanting to sell their cats. One was a super cute little kitten..I wasn't sure I wanted a kitten (so much energy!), but then I realized..if the cat is young enough, it would quickly get used to riding in the car and going to a different house, and would just think it was normal. I texted the number and they told me where to meet them. Weirdly enough, the person selling the cat sometimes shops at the bookstore! Fairbanks is small haha. The tiny kitten (he was born around Christmastime) was meowing in a very squeaky voice, and seemed nervous, but as I was holding him, he snuggled in my arms and started purring. Yep, he's mine now. :P He seemed kinda nervous and restless in the car, but eventually snuggled into me and purred. He had fun exploring my apartment, and ate like he was starving. :P For such a tiny kitten, his purr is SUPER loud! I about died when he jumped off my bed, but he was fine..I'm not used to an agile cat anymore! Haha. He loves jumping playfully, and absolutely LOVES to be snuggled and pet. Mom was melting when he curled up next to her hehe. Here is what he looks like!

Snuggled in mom's arms! He LOVES kneading the air lol. After wracking my brain, I named him...Curti! Short for curtains, of course! He learned his name in about five seconds haha, so I guess he approves. :P He's been using the litterbox fine and didn't freak out overnight, which was nice lol

Today I came home during my lunch break to see how Curti was doing (I was worried he would panic and meow nonstop while I was at work), but he was just fine. He's smart and will probably learn my routines quickly. I'm not sure if he was fed much at his previous home, because he's been eating like crazy..it seems like he gained two pounds overnight! I had to take him to the vet because he had earmites..now I'm suspicious of the previous owner..did they not notice him scratching his ears?? The vet washed his ears out, with Curti purring the whole time..she was surprised, because most cats hate that. She was happy to see my new kitty, and that he's so friendly! He did better in the car this time too, yay! I hope he's still this happy and loving when he grows up lol

( more pics of him! )

8. The most disappointed you've ever been? Seeing the Colosseum in Rome (I thought it would be more intact), hating books I thought I'd like, etc

9. A place you could visit again and again: Valdez, for one..I love being surrounded by glaciers!

10. What do you consider to be your culture? Uh..American?? Haha

11. Your first week in college: Probably just going to class and learning how things worked
12. Your favorite songs: There are so many!! "Do You Hear the People Sing?," "Ghost River," "Little Talks," "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," "Only Time," "Something Just Like This," etc

13. If you could change one thing about your life, what? Hmmm..maybe weigh less, or be better at math haha