the after 30 part...

I'm not a dog person.  Never have been.  In the last 20 years or so, my natural reaction to dogs is to pull away.  I'm allergic.  So to have a dog in my house still shocks me.  I'll be doing the dishes and see Max peak around the island in my kitchen, and I'm still surprised every time.  The 16th marked our first month together.  Just two days after I had him, I freaked out.  I actually called my Mom, while having a mild panic attack, even crying, because I felt overwhelmed and anxious about what I had "gotten myself into".  I felt like he was a ball and chain.  What if I wanted to travel for months at a time?  What if I forget to feed him?  Do I have to take him everywhere?  What if he gets sick and I can't afford to save him?  I don't want to think about anybody else but ME ME ME!  Selfish?  Yes.  True? Embarrassingly so. However, after one week, his cute floppy ears, silly looking under bite and his...

Most of you know my amazing friend Miss Barbie Hull , and if you don't, then you SHOULD!  Barbie and I have known each other since high school and she is one of the silliest persons I know.  So silly, that she has a blog called 'I love Facedowns '.  Facedowns?? What is a facedown? This is a facedown. Just like it sounds, laying face down.  And it's  HYSTERICAL!  Ps. that's Matt! She gets so many submissions every week for her Facedown Friday blog posts, that King 5 heard wind of it and wrote an article about it and it was also on TV!  Check out her latest facedown post of Michelle's Bridesmaids in Ketchikan, AK!  I'm the one in front, the blonde!

Today I was interviewed by a man named Christophe from France about "happiness".  He is one of my couch surfers.  He asked me "Are you happee?  Have you found happiiiness in you life?  And what makes you sad?"  This was all on video.  What he asked were the exact questions that I have been asking myself the last few years.  He is a professor of film in Montreal and I might possibly have my 30 seconds of fame on youtube in the near future. Coincidentally, on my two minute walk home from work, I had a conversation with Marcos about Skagway and happiness.  I put my arm around him, walking slowly and said "I have to find my happiness here, period."  For so long I have hated it here and felt out of place.  Why is that?  I believe it's all in my head.  I can make Skagway what I want it to be, or I can remain miserable.  I need to find that happiness.  Living here is a love hate relationship.  I have so much freedom ha...

Hello friends! Did I mention that when I flew back from my Oklahoma excursion that I brought a Spaniard in hand?  That's right folks, Marcos Antonio Cruz Diaz made it to Alaska.  What a journey.  From Cadiz, an eight hour bus drive to Madrid, then to New York, courtesy of Mrs. Jodie Chandler, where he had a 3 hour lay over.  At this point, it got a bit frantic, as they flight was over booked and he was flying stand by.  He called me and told me that he was last on the list and that there were no seats.  When I began to tell him what to do next, the call dropped.  Marcos ran out of minutes on his phone.  One minute of an International call uses about 30 minutes of a local call.  I was hoping and praying he would just figure it out.  The reason I worry so much is because Marcos had no credit cards, very little cash and no way of getting a hold of me. I tried to page him in his terminal on the white courtesy phones, which I thought they h...

Every year I make new years resolutions.  Some people think they are stupid, booo on them!  I love them.   Last year I had five.  Before I wrote them, I had the mindset that 3/5 would be good enough.  I somehow, miraculously, accomplished four of them.  They were: Start the introduction to my book - didn't finish. Study Spanish weekly - mastered Find a way out of Skagway - Plan made. Do a pull up - Conquered Fall back in love with fitness - Did and then fell back out of love. (it's a love/hate relationship) This year I have five simple ones.   I will not use the escalator or elevator for one year, even if I have to go to the 25th floor. (unless it's an emergency and I am running late to catch a plane for example).  I will finish the research for my book.  (Maybe that is why I didn't get last years resolution finished.) I will read a book in Spanish from beginning to end and understand it. I will start my year round life in Seattle (m...

Someone once told me that my blog is sometimes "too much information" or "borderline inappropriate" (mostly referring to the details of my kidney surgery), but this, my dear readers, is going to exaggerate "too much information" and may even make you gag.  So prepare yourself for what you are about to see. Last week, my mom, sister and I flew to Seattle for a week of wedding shopping, paddle boarding, movie watching and the removal of my mother's gallbladder!  She had it removed by means of  laparoscopic cholecystectomy (say this with me, "co-lee-sist-eck-toe-mee").  For the last few years, at random occurrences, my mom would have horrible pains in her back and stomach area.  It took the doctors a while to finally figure out that she was suffering from gallstones.  Gallstones as in plural.  I am thinking one or two stones, maybe five tops, (kind of like a kidney).  Ha! Little did I know.  What the doctors pulled out of her bel...

Top Ten Reasons I Deserve The Last Cupcake 10.  Wednesday:  Went into Virginia Mason for a "in and out" procedure involving a nasty kidney stone.  Procedure does not go well.  They can't get to the kidney stone because it's too far in and actually inside a "pocket".  So, surgery was a bust.  The next option would be to open me up and take it out.  I don't like this idea but I will see how I feel in the fall. 9.  I wake up to bladder spasms, which is basically like causing acid reflux with your kidney (urine going back into the kidney).  I wish this on NO ONE.  It's insanely painful.  I'm crying like a baby.  They get me to my own room and medicate the crap out of me.  I have a temperature of 102.  Didn't have a BM (bowel movement that day).  I stay the night. 8.  Thursday:   Mom flies down to be with me.  She arrives and shortly after I begin to feel the same pain I felt after the surgery, but i...

About two years I got an x-ray at my Chiropractor's office to check out my back.  After reviewing the films, we found a little spot in my kidney area about the size of a pencil eraser.  I didn't do anything about it until this fall.  After doing an endoscopy for other reasons, my doctor told me I had a kidney stone about 7mm in size, like a small raisin.  Isn't it funny how doctors describe size by comparing them to fruit or nuts?!  So I went to visit a urologist who told me I needed to get the sucker out!! Today was the day.  I really didn't anticipate it being such a big deal, but um.... yeah, it was a big deal!! Here is how it went: No eating after midnight, no drinking past 10 am.  Dave picked me up at 11:30am, get to hospital, check in on first floor, to be directed to another check in on the 5th floor, to yet again go to another check in across the sky bridge.  Wait a moment, get checked in AGAIN in another office, wait some more.  F...

I wrote this a while ago, but after seeing this article online  http://www.udreview.com/2.1980/twelve-steps-to-beat-chapstick-addiction-1.143742  I thought I would upload it on my blog just for fun: Addiction I'm addicted.  I hide stashes around the house.  In every drawer, under couch cushions, and in pillow cases.  I have a tube in every pocket of every jacket, and one or two always in my car.  I can't sleep with out tasting the tingle I get when it hits my lips… needing that last minute comfort.  I’ll search the house for hours looking for a fix so that I can sleep.  It started when I was young, and they say the younger you start the harder it is too quit.  I buy it in bulk and store it everywhere.  Burts, Wyeth, Carmex, Blistex, bonnie bell, balms, ointments, hell even Vaseline, cherry, plain, winter, tingly, whatever... just give me my CHAPSTICK! http://www.lipbalmanonymous.com/ Not that ...

I am starting a blog. Why? Maybe because I experience a lot in life and want to share... maybe because I travel so much and want a way to show friends/family my adventures... or maybe it's because I live alone and feel the need to talk to someone (something, anyone out there?!?!!) The thing is.. I'm not sure if I can measure up to my twenties as they were amazing! Full of fun and adventures, from Costa Rica to Sweden....complete bliss and in love to depression and back... insecurities to feeling on top of the world. My experiences in my twenties were unbelievable. I look back and wish so much I recorded them in a blog. Yes, I do have journals, but I don't write in them on a regular basis, and when I do, I always feel this need to write to SOMEONE... not to myself, but someone else... So here I am. Maybe my thirties will be just as dramatic as my twenties. Who knows? Anyone who subscribes, I hope I am not too boring. I encourage comments, discussions, debates, and...