Two weeks!

Two weeks from today and I'll be back in Pittsburgh to celebrate Christmas with family and friends!

Too bad Pittsburgh ism't somewhere warm and tropical...

It's hard to believe that it will have been nearly six months since I left Pittsburgh behind when we set out on our Journey to Alaska.  Sometimes it has seemed like time has flown by, and other times it seems impossibly long since I've seen the people that are so important to me.

My very last photo in Pittsburgh, commemorating the moment we hit the highway and headed so far away...

Karl will be holding down the fort here in Anchorage, so I get to plan my trip entirely around things I want to do.  I'm already starting my list of places to go/things to do:

1. Benihana - Yes, there's one here.  And it's awful.
2. Classic Chinese Cuisine - why does no one else in the world know how to make fried rice properly?
3. Panera - mmmm, Panera...
4. Drink some apple cider - I already told my dad to have some in the fridge.  Who would have thought that the crud shipped up here would be such garbage?

Places not to go:
1. The grocery store - Under no circumstances do I need to be reminded of how cheap groceries are in PA...

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list (that appears to be all food... hmm...) as my trip nears.

Who wants to join me?  More importantly, if my dear friend Linda hosts a gathering for my pals, who's in?

Willow's got the right idea

Poor Willow is the biggest wimp when it comes to the cold.  Apparently, sitting on the couch, smashed in between Karl and I, still doesn't keep her as warm as she wants to be.

Instead, she sleeps on top of the furnace vent.

Yes, there is a vent under there.  Hard to see considering someone is hogging all of the warm air.

I must admit, it is pretty cute when her ears are flopping all over the place from the air blowing...

Christmas Decor, Part II

We don't have much room for a full size Christmas tree, so I decided to just go with my three little Charlie Brown trees that I scored at Michaels last year for $7.  My massive star on top doesn't even look too ridiculous if you don't look too closely.

The red extension cords are totally classy, right?  Yep, that would be our cords for the outside lights since there aren't any plugs outside.  The one benefit?  All of our Christmas lights are on one timer, so the holiday spirit comes in full force at 5:15pm each day.

Even though I have about 200some ornaments, I kept it simple with my clip on butterflies.  Of course, Karl hung his Family Guy ornament front and center.  I did mention how classy we are, right?

Good thing I was too lazy to hang my pictures above the couch - It was the perfect spot to to hang a few more decorations.

And finally, my favorite decoration of them all - My sledding moosie!

Hope everyone else is getting in the holiday spirit and enjoying the season of decorating!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I finally managed to get some photos of our outside Christmas lights.  I know I promised them awhile ago...  Oops.  It's been way to cold to stand outside in the street taking pictures, so I've been procrastinating.  This weekend gave us temperatures of over 40 degrees though, so I figured now was probably the best time.  Especially considering that all of Anchorage is going to be one massive block of ice as soon as the temperature drops again...

Having the house all lit up so brightly is a wonderful thing to come home to...

We even had some real icicles to go along with the icicle lights.  Too bad they have since melted with our bizarrely warm temperatures.

I can see them through the window as I sit in the living room each night.  I'm thinking my lights may just stay up through April.  It's quarter to five Sunday night as I sit here writing this, and it's 100% pitch black outside.   My lights help make winter life just a little bit brighter!