Midnight Memories

Kristi, Me, J Dub......hungover as hell on my sisters 2nd day in Juneau 2005.  Ready to shred though!

Fun Fact:  I'm wearing that same long sleeved shirt RIGHT NOW!!!! in 2011!!!)

It's 12:30am.  Dave is sound asleep.  I should be, but I'm too used to working evening shifts.  1am isn't an unusual bedtime anymore.  I have a blanket over my head and around my shoulders (because who knows what I would loudly knock around in the dark bedroom while searching for a hat!). It's not really cold, but it's definitely chilly.

I booted up one of the spare computers so I could respond to a couchsurfing (CS) request in time for the surfer to get it in the morning.  After writing the message, I found myself doing a quick couch search for availability in Thames.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the number of participants in our small town had dramatically increased since we started hosting!  Of course, I had to click on each profile (there aren't THAT many participants).  It was fun to see so many lovely personalities; some I've met in the "real world" and others that I haven't .......but I could!  I've wanted to organize a CS get together for well over a year now.  However, with the minuscule numbers from our town it seemed a bit pointless.  I had grand plans for a peninsula get together over summer, but somehow got busy (probably working).  Now, however, is a totally different story!  It doesn't even have to be a potluck, we could just meet for drinks!  If nothing else, there are a few people that I wouldn't mind private messaging and seeing if they want to meet up some day.

Anyhow....all this profile skimming led, of course, to looking at our own profile.  One of the first bits of the profile page is a "summary" of the person: age, hometown, occupation, etc.  There is also a link to "my website" (which I just noticed is not actually visible to all you non-member types).   Obvioulsy, this website, the one you're currently reading, is "my website".  So I started perusing my past entries.......  Ok, I just scrolled down looking at pictures!   There were two noticeable things
   1) I've missed some important events lately!  Hello, I raised NZ$1,000 shaving my head for cancer and now have 6+ weeks worth of growth!  AND I'm freaking ENGAGED!  How the hell did I not blog that!  Stupid bloody facebook.......
   2)  It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything not related to the house/home/garden/crafts.......where is all the travel/adventure/wildlife?
 (okay, I do have a post regarding our Easter travels half way completed.....I think I might have to be happy with half and just post it).  Part of the reason I am so slack in blogging is because of the writing.  I'm sure everyone has noticed by now, but I'm excessively verbose! And long winded!  That makes for some tedious typing!  Then....I feel obligated do a half hearted proof read of the entry.  I HATE proof reading.  I wrote it once, why do I want to read it again?

So, as I contemplated the idea of posting a few pictures with a brief (hahaha....as if brief is even possible for my parenthesis loving self) account of the pictures, I went back to looking at my CSing profile.  Which, of course, led to my going through all our profile pictures.
Most of them include Dave, since I took the BIG step of adding his name to my profile when we decided to start hosting in 2009. (Adding his name, to me, meant giving up my individual CSing identity......but I also got to make Dave a DOHNER!!!!!  That's one step closer to HIM changing HIS name after a certain wedding.)
If you visit our photo pages you will find, to the left, that we have three albums.  In the "top level" album are the pictures I added when I was a CSing newbie!  They're of me, and my life as a kick ass woman.  I've got work pictures and play pictures, Alaska and Idaho/Montana pictures. (none from Hawaii though, because they are before the digital era and will probably never get scanned).  These pictures reminded me that I've had some pretty awesome adventures and i have some pretty decent stories.
 I'm going to start sharing these stories!

However, I'm pretty typed out now.  So instead of going into detail about the picture I started with (when my sister stayed with me for at least a week in Juneau), I'm just going to post another picture from that same week (stolen from CSing because I'm not on my computer where my THOUSANDS of pictures are stored....and I'm not going to rummage in the dark for my backup drive either).

At the Juneau airport, 2005.  I'm saying goodbye to Kristi, but also dressed to hit the town
for folk fest.  Notice my hair is significantly shorter in this picture than the one taken
a week earlier with the snowboard on my back.  There is a crazy story involving cliffs and ropes, but
I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out of caption space some time soon!

Fun fact: That coat just made the trip to NZ this past Christmas.....the skirt is in my closet too.
I think I may have a hoarding issue.........