a little unusual around here...

I am from the beautiful state of North Carolina. I grew up in a coastal county (even though my little hometown is about 30 minutes from the beach) and I am very familiar with what 100% humidity feels like.  I have been through numerous hurricanes that knocked out power for several weeks at a time.  I was there for the first 25 years of my life before I moved to the fantastic South Carolina coast.  I love Charleston and am only 97% sure we will end up there when our time in the military is over.  Why am I telling you all this?  I am just establishing my heat cred.  I am no stranger to the heat.  I know what triple digits feel like.  And here is the bottom line... here in Anchorage, Alaska...

IT.  IS.  HOT.

I know a lot of the issue is that we have no air conditioning.  And our houses are built to hold heat. Oh!  And our sun stays up almost 24 hours at this point.  ;o)  That is a bad combination when you are on your way to breaking the record for the warmest day in Anchorage. ;o)  Talkeetna actually broke the Alaska record today for the highest all-time temperature (it was 96 in Talkeetna!  OMG!)  Anchorage was 3 degrees off for tying the record (84 is the highest recorded temperature in Anchorage at the National Weather Service Forecast Office) but it was higher all around the city.  It was 88 on the way home at 6pm.  Phew.  Moby is L-O-V-I-N-G it but Willow is NOT loving it.

ha!  poor girl!  she is just miserable!

It is so funny to ride through our neighborhood and EVERY SINGLE HOUSE is rocking a sprinkler.  We definitely did NOT have this problem last summer!  I had a deja vue moment of being back in Charleston where everyone had to water their brown grass. ;o)  It made me feel so... summery!  I love it!  And hopefully our grass will be back to green soon!

But I cannot complain because the sunshine and warm weather are so welcome after our cold and rainy summer last year.  I mean seriously.  I remember ONE WEEK (and it was the week of summer solstice which means it was exactly a year ago this week!) last year of awesome weather!  And it was NOTHING as warm as this.  We have been experiencing this incredible weather since before Memorial Day and according to the 10 Day Forecast we are good to go with the sunshine and warmth until the weekend... and then we are supposed to get some much needed rain so again, no complaints here. ;o)  Plus I will be in North Carolina... so seriously, no complaints about rain this weekend.

willow and her friend, porter enjoying the sun!

In case you forgot, we had the longest winter on record this year so to say that the people of Anchorage were ready for warm outside weather is a gross understatement.  ;o)  We have been enjoying lots of evenings on the deck (if only we had a HUGE mosquito net to keep those suckers away!) and just laying in the sun.  True story.  But when temps climb as high as they did today... it does get slightly miserable... and people are not sure what to do in such heat.  ;o)  I was explaining it to my eastern North Carolina mother like this...

Me:  You know how people in North Carolina go crazy when it snows because it is not something they are used to?
Mom:  Oh yea.
Me:  So that is what we are currently having up here.  No AC.  No super cool clothes.  No way to combat the heat except to finally enjoy a long commute because our vehicles have AC.  ;o)  We just don't know how to live in a HOT Alaska!

It was 88 outside when I got home... and 87 in our house.  Phew.  I kept asking Z if we could check in a hotel with AC... and he kept laughing at me.  I wasn't being funny.  ;o)

Update post tomorrow!  It is super busy around here!  Camping, baby shower hostess, The Color Run, and the list goes on!  Yahoo!

Cheers to a beautiful summer in Alaska (so far! ;o)

Do you like super warm temperatures?

the lately...

No apologies for not blogging lately... you can blame it on the weather.  We have had such rocking temperatures and beautiful sunshine!  We had a whole week and a half of 60s to mid/upper 70s (INCREDIBLE!!!) AND even a day or two of 80s!  And the abundant sunshine is just so warm here!  AHHH!  This past weekend provided rain and cooler weather... but the warm sunshine has roared back for the work week!  It is not AS warm (only upper 60s and lower 70s... no 80s in sight right now...) but it is THE perfect weather and I swear it feels warmer here than it says it is because of our proximity to the sun.  I am sticking to that statement.  ;o)

The puppies have also been enjoying the beautiful weather.  They love to spend time outside relaxing.  They are TOO CUTE together!

But I will say that Willow the Alaskan Weim is not used to such high temperatures.  She was HOT!  I am a little nervous as to how she is going to adjust when we move out of Alaska.  I mean it was only 81 and she was acting like it was 101 degrees with 101% humidity.  Moby the North (and South!) Carolina Puggle was not impressed with her lack of appreciation for the warm temperatures. ;o)

Ha.  Those puppies.  They seriously make us smile all the time.  What a hoot!  I cannot imagine our lives without them.  ;o)

Friday night kicked off race season for summer 2013!  I did not do the Twilight 6K/12K last year because we were halibut fishing but I really really really wanted to do it and made sure not to miss it this year!  The problem was... I have not been running.  I mean I did do the Shamrock Shuffle 5K in March... but before that it was September... and since the Shamrock Shuffle it has been... zilch.  No big deal right?  ;o)  But I did do the 6k and I survived! I even increased my pace by 1:04 (HOORAY!) and ALMOST enjoyed the race.  And since the race I have started re-working the Couch to 5K Program (modified) and feel confident that my running will improve.  Coming up we have the Color Run 5K, the Bearpaw 5K, and then the Big Wild Life Run Snow City Cafe 5K (this was my favorite race last year and I am excited to run it again!)  I have personal goals that I am determined to meet and I feel like I have the best plan and support system I have ever had for running so maybe this will be my breakthrough into becoming a "runner".  Fingers crossed!



nina is determined to make me a runner.  ;o)

work would be so boring without steph!

Friday night was perfect weather for the race... but we woke up Saturday morning to rain and cooler temperatures.  I don't know if it is just stress at work... or the extended daylight that doesn't allow me to get good sleep... but I have been EXHAUSTED and ended up sleeping all day on Saturday.  Snuggle puppies did not help my laziness.  It was a waste of a day but at the same time... so incredible.  While I was sleeping, Z and his sous chef, Moby, were super busy preparing a feast for our friend's "dude baby shower" aka Daddy Diaper Party. 

I think the guys had a great time!  And I know they enjoyed the food because we had such a tiny amount left!  I think I had enough for lunch on Sunday.  The end. ;o)  And Jay and BriAnne got a few diapers to start them out as new parents.  Success!

I closed out the weekend with a show at the Performing Arts Center.  It was the last Broadway show for the 2012-2013 season and the one I have been looking forward to since the schedule was announced and we purchased our season tickets!  MARY POPPINS!

And it was awesome!  Such a great show!  The singing, the dancing, the costumes... ahhhhh!  It was such a wonderful production.  AND the 2013-2014 season has been announced and to say I am excited would be an understatement!  We have The Addams Family, West Side Story, and Memphis to look forward to!  Hooray for season tickets again! :o)  I cannot wait!  I love evenings at the theatre!

And now that The Bachelorette is over (DVR catch up night!) and I can stop rotting my brain (I mean seriously... does anyone watch this but me?  This season is already so whack!  Where do they find these people???  I love how a few guys were already in "love" on night one!  At least wait until you get a one-on-one to profess your love. Geesh.  Don't you know the rules of the show???! "I really put myself out there and I don't know where to go from here!"  um what?  You met her 15 minutes ago...) I will end this random and possibly pointless rambling post... ;o)  But not before I share one last dog picture...

Like most siblings... fights are had... lines are drawn... and pouting takes place.  Luckily they didn't have access to any duct tape to draw a line down the middle of the bed so a pillow barrier had to work instead.  ;o)

Hope you are having a great week so far!

and the winner is...

Or to be more grammatically correct that should say... And the WINNERS ARE... ;o)

 

Hilary, Taylor B, and Alison!

 

I just couldn't choose between the 3 of you... and since you were the only contestants I thought why not. ;o)  And to answer your question, Taylor.. yes, we have polar bears in Alaska.  :o)  Obviously not in Anchorage but wayyyyyyy up in the Arctic Circle are many polar bears.  I have patients that work on the North Slope (oil jobs) that occasionally see one.  It is not an exciting thing as polar bears wouldn't mind eating a human... especially in the winter as polar bears do not hibernate.  ;o)  But I am with you.. I would like seeing one... in the wild... but its not going to happen... oh well.  ;o)

 

So email me at lauren.c.coburn@gmail.com so I can get your winner package in the mail!

 

Back later in the week for a catch-up post!  We have been having aaaaaaaaamazing weather (60s, 70s, and we even hit 80!) with abundant sunshine so it is hard to not spend every waking moment outside... and the Midnight Sun doesn't help in the least!  I am literally exhausted from getting almost no sleep.  But I wont complain.  I can sleep in the winter! ;o)

 

More later... :o)  Happy Tuesday!

the unofficial start of summer...

It looks like Alaska got the memo that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer because we are having absolutely INCREDIBLE weather.  Dare I even use the word... hot?  ;o)  Eh I won't go all crazy... but the upper 70s is SUPER warm when you are THIS CLOSE to the sun... ;o)

It is also beginning to LOOK like summer with all the green that suddenly appeared Friday night.  It always happens that way... you go from brown to green overnight.  Awesome.  It is hard to believe that just a week ago we had 4 fresh inches of snow on the ground.  ;o)

Because of the immaculate weather... it was hard to NOT be outside.  We loaded up the ATVs and headed to Big Lake this weekend to see how much we could get stuck ride.  We spent half of our time riding... and half of our time sitting in the mud getting SUPER dirty.  We had to wear our rain gear because of the mosquitoes the size of Texas Alaska.  You know Alaska is bigger than Texas, right? ;o)  (Simmer down, Texans.  It was just a jokeee!)

beautiful big lake, alaska

ruh roh!

putting in work...

happy to be muddy!

my helmet needs a good wash...

bp and jojo are really in a mud hole...

nothing but alaska frontier in front of us to explore!

It was such a fun adventure!  Z says you are not having fun unless you are covered in mud.  ;o)  We must have had an absolute blast because we were covered from head to toe by the time we got done!

Zach was so muddy he had to wash his waders off in the almost unfrozen lake before changing clothes.  I probably should have take the time to wash my face before a picture... but whatever.  I wanted to be authentic.  ;o)

Willow and Moby are also enjoying our beautiful weather!  Willow was super impatient this morning and wanted to go outside before it was time... and so we went through our usual stages of "PLEASE GET UP NOW!!!" with her...

1. She gives the In Your Face.  She will just put her nose on your nose until you jump from the coldness.  Note... this can be done with her laying down or standing up...
2. After being told to lay down and be quiet... she ignores you and pouts.  And sometimes passes gas if she is really mad.  ;o)  If she doesn't have the time to mess with you... this is the stage where she starts heaving (its all fake) so you can rush to the door and let her out.  She has done this 3 times and every single time she looks back at me and I swear she is smirking.
3. And last but not least... she gives the ultimate pitiful stare down.  The "PLEASEEE can we get up and play!!!?!"

And so finally we all get up so we can begin our day.  And today was a huge success because we found a dog park in the middle of Anchorage that meets all of our needs!  The puppies can run and swim!  Z and I can bike!  And we can all enjoy the sunshine!

the path around the lake...

moby working hard to lose 6lbs... ;o)

a dog park with a view!

my whole world...

moby asking for a ride... no joke... ;o)

With weather like we are having... you cannot keep us inside.  We are dining on the deck.  We are washing our cars.  We are washing our ATVs (multiple times).  We are just sitting and enjoying the intense sunshine.  It is perfect weather.  Way to go, Alaska!

Even though we have had a wonderful weekend... it is important to remember what this holiday is really about.  It is about remembering the brave men and women that paid the ultimate price for our freedom...

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty..." -JFK

 

To the ones that paid the ultimate price... we will forever be grateful for you heroism.

 

Freedom is not free.  Always remember that.

 

Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

 

Winner announced tomorrow for the awesome 3 readers that entered the giveaway.  It must have been a lame giveaway or maybe just my blog is lame and no one reads except for my sweet mom (HI MOM!  LOVE YOU!) because it had such little participation but oh well... Hilary, Taylor B, and Alison... you guys have AWESOME odds of winning!  ;o)  And thank you for reading!

 

the longest winter...

Rumors had been circling all week.  "Snow this weekend"... "They are saying it is really going to snow this weekend"... "Late May snow... even that is rare in Alaska!".  Oh good grief.  I refused to believe this nonsense.  And then on Thursday night... this popped up...

Ugh.  FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL, Alaska.  This is an absolute spring fail!  Memorial Day is next weekend... how can we possibly leave behind our recent 50s (almost 60s!) temperatures for a couple of inches of snow???!!  As an East Coaster, Memorial Day is the beginning of summer.  I have high expectations, people!  But we obviously have a lot of warming up to do considering this is what we had last night and then woke up to this morning...

10:45pm last night... so confusing with the daylight and snow. ;o)

5:30am... so bright despite the snow!

So yea.  How about that?  And this late May snowfall is so rare that this winter is now going down in the history books just like last winter!  Last winter we broke the Snowfall Record!  It was more than double the amount of snow Anchorage normally gets.  This winter didn't want to be left out of the history books so it is going down as The Longest Snowfall Season aka The Longest Winter.  Anchorage's winter for the 2012-2013 season is clocking in at 232 days.  Oh.  My.  Word.  That is incredible.  And insane.  Winter started with the first measurable snowfall on September 29, 2012... and it ends (WE HOPE!!!) today... Saturday, May 18, 2013.  TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO DAYS OF WINTER!  So snowfall record was last year... longest snowfall season is this year... and now it is time to break summer heat records or just simply the most awesome summer EVER record.  Get on that, Alaska!  :o)

I will admit that if the Midnight Sun wasn't confusing enough with keeping up with time... the Midnight Sun PLUS snow is SUPER CONFUSING.  In the winter, our sun sets between 4pm and 6pm ish.  So when it was snowing last night... and looked "twilight"... my brain registers 5pm... not 11:30pm.  Phew.  Come on, summer!

But even the snow can't stop a good time.  I mean seriously... we live in Alaska.  I feel like we can cope with any kind of weather these days... ;o)  Last night we attended a fundraiser at the Alaska Zoo that doubled as a fellow co worker's going away party...

the social work/dietitian team with our sweet pam!  we will miss you, pam!

I obviously was not ready for the picture but oh well... ;o)  Mmm Kodiak Brown from Anchorage's Midnight Sun Brewing Company is amazing.  I recommend it.  ;o)  And Single Engine Red from Denali Brewing Company in Talkeetna is equally as delicious.  But you should definitely GO to Talkeetna and visit Denali Brewing Company and Twister Creek Restaurant.  They have the absolute BEST sweet potato wedges EVER!  Major side note there...

On top of sampling different local beers... socializing with awesome coworkers... and wishing Pam a Bon Voyage... we also got to see the bears!  :o)  It was cold and snowy and just bone chilling!  But the bears wanted to entertain so we obliged... ;o)

The black bears were provided with a peanut butter and honey concoction from a local restaurant, Glacier Brewhouse.  They were very excited to eat dessert before dinner.  ;o)  They did not mind the snow at all.  And the polar bears?  Ha.  Anchorage weather is like a tropical vacation for them.  They were snoozing and relaxing and just not even concerned with the amount of snow falling on them.  What a life.  ;o)

And being the ever-faithful alums that we are... we had to spent some time at the wolf exhibit.  Check out that beautiful pack!  We loved hearing them howl.  NC State, we hold you forever in our hearts!

Coburn loved the evening!  Delicious beer and cool animals.  Not your normal Friday evening at the Alaska Zoo! 

Oh and back to the snow... even if the humans were not thrilled with the white stuff... I know some puppies that didn't mind the late snow at all!

Aren't they super cute?  I seriously cannot handle the cuteness!  And they loved running through the snow last night and this morning!  Michelle and Howdy spent the last few night with us and Moby and Willow were so excited to host Nelson and Jackson!  It has been a puppy sleepover at Casa De Coburn!  And Willow and Moby are not happy their friends left this morning.  I have two sad puppies moping around here.  Safe travels, McLaughlins!  And good luck in Washington!

And since it is now finally time say GOODBYE to winter and HELLO to summer... lets do a summer Alaska giveaway!  :o)  All you have to do to enter is answer the following question by commenting on this post...

If you were coming to Alaska, what is the #1 thing you would want to do/see?  And if you have been to Alaska, what was your favorite adventure? 

Bonus entry for being a follower.  Bonus BONUS entry for sharing a link to this on your blog :o)

And what do you win?  

Whale Tail Pasta and Salad Servers!

Made in Alaska. 

I am a huge fan of these (and the Moose servers)!  But the whale tail represents the return of the Humpback whale to Alaska which means IT IS SUMMER!  :o)  Well, we hope...

Giveaway closes next Sunday, May 26th and the winner will be announced on Monday, May 27th... Memorial Day!  And the official beginning of summer in this East Coaster's mind... ;o)  Hopefully all the snow will be gone by then!!!

 

Cheers to the end of winter!  :o)

so so so close...

So I got a little ambitious.  What can I say? ;o)  I had this grand idea to hike Mt. Baldy after work on Friday.  I was SET on making this happen.  I mean seriously.  It has been a glorious week of weather!  I had to go outside.  Temperatures climbed into the low to mid-60s yesterday, all the snow has melted in our front yard and we have a super tiny amount in the backyard that will probably be gone by tomorrow... and just the promise of summer is in the air!!!  I just had to get outdoors and do something fun!  As soon as we could leave work yesterday... we ran and changed... I grabbed my favorite Weim... and up Skyline Drive we went to hike Mt Baldy.  Earlier at lunch, I had discussed my after work plan with Zach and our friend, JP... and JP said "I was hoping to go back-country skiing after work" and I thought this was a funny idea.  I was planning on having a nice, no snow, summer like hike and he was planning on back country skiing.  ONE OF US was going to be sorely disappointed.  ;o)

 

And that person turned out to be me.  ;o)  I hope JP enjoyed his back-country Friday afternoon skiing in MAY! ;o)

 

The Jeep showed a steady temperature of 63 degrees at the top of Skyline Drive/the start of the hike.  But one glimpse up told me that hiking Baldy was going to be more than I bargained for as there is probably a still good couple of feet of snow... and it is straight uphill. UGH.  I was crushed.  Luckily there was a side trail (somewhat flatter aka safer considering the slickness of the snow) that leads to an abandoned homesteading village (and I LOVE visiting old abandoned things like Hatchers Pass and of course my obsession with making it to Kennicott Mines this summer...) so despite the deeper than I would have liked snow... off we went.  Why not?  We were already dressed (even though I turned out NOT to be appropriately dressed... but in my defense I THOUGHT I WAS GOING FOR A NON TO MINIMAL SNOWY HIKE... ;o) so I thought why not?

 

Aaand I thought wrong... ;o)

 

look look look! a building!  ;o)  ah willow...

willow loves her red bear bell... not!

the village spring!

one of the 43 443 i fell through the slushy snow...

So if the snow had been packed down... this would have been no big deal.  If there had been just a few inches... no big deal.  But the snow was justtt high enough and justtt soft enough that we keep falling through... and landing in cold, wet, slushy water.  And having to pull up against hard packed snow.  One word.  GROSS!  and OUCH!  (okay that was two words... ;o)

 

But the views were worth it!  Ah.  I love the beautiful scenery of Alaska.  We have lived here for 17 months and the beauty never, ever, ever gets old.

I would have preferred better hiking conditions... but all in all it was a lot of fun (minus my freezing toes after the heaviness of the snow and ice pulled my left shoe off... no big deal.  HA!  And I ended up having multiple bruises from scraping my shins against the hard snow!)  I just cannot wait for the snow to melt for the season.  But no worries... I will be excited to see it arrive again... in October... ;o)  And of course, our Alaskan Weim LOVES the snow and never tires of it... or running...

 

The snow also provided better calorie burning scenarios!  It takes a lot of energy to pull yourself up time after time after time (multiplied by 443)... so the upside was the over 1000k calorie burn!  So combined with my Insanity workout for the day... I managed to burn 1652 calories in one day via exercise.  And then I ate delicious French fries.  FAIL LAUREN!

Beautiful scenery.  Warm temperatures (seriously... despite the snow you would have thought it was early summer it was so warm!  I had my sleeves pulled up half the time!).  Talk therapy time with my favorite coworker friend.  And a happy puppy (well one happy puppy... the Puggle that got left behind because he cannot run off the leash was NOT happy and boy did he let me know!)  Our snowy hike was a huge success.  In my opinion, the perfect way to end a busy work week.

 

What is your favorite thing to do outdoors?