BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!!!

I love this time of year! These are the lights in a park in Down Town Anchorage. They have a skating rink there too and i really really want to go ice skating! Though i thoroughly enjoyed this last month, it has also been crazy busy and hectic. Many things were going on, lots to get done, and working retail is INSANE this month! Jon and I both had work Christmas parties. His was a more formal party and we dressed up. The REI Christmas party... aka: Festivus! was more casual. About 900 people attended to get crazy discounts on things in the store, free beer, and enjoy live music. It was packed! 

Jon and I also attended the Nelly concert. i gave him tickets for his birthday in November. We also attended my mom's Christmas concert. She is BOSS on the piano! I'm so proud of my little mommy!

Rebecca and I have been keeping a sharp eye out for the Northern Lights. She is so excited to see them! we havent' had any luck this year yet, but we have come across a lot of moose! in some encounters we got pretty close to those big guys!

This year I had to get a bit creative for Christmas. I didn't have the money i usually can drop on Christmas presents, so I committed to making all home made gifts this year! It took a lot of time but the gifts i gave had a lot more heart in them than I've had any other year. My gift to Jon started this whole idea of home made gifts. He had talked about wanting a blanket that was tall enough for him (6'2'') to wrap under his feet and over his head at the same time. He loved my quilt I had at my house that was 9' long for only a twin comforter. So, as the wonderful girlfriend i am ;) ;) I noticed the hints and set to work right after Thanksgiving. 

My mom had collected a lot of small 4'' demin squares recycled from my dad's jeans. In the picture I am compairing the width of the blanket to the width of my twin quilt he liked. only added 6 more inches to the width. i did make it 9' long though.

here is the finished product. i had tan plaid flannel on the back and added a thin layer of batting. it's one very heavy blanket! He absolutely loved it when he opened it up!

My pregnant sister is due in just a few weeks with a baby girl they've named KD. KD had the most presents of any of us under the tree. I had a LOT of fun making her gifts. I found a pattern online to make a swaddle (far left). It was super easy to make and took me only about 30 min to make it. I found a kit at JoAnns Fabrics to make the dog (middle) which was also fairly easy to put together (especially since the kit was for 10 year old girls) and took a couple hours, and the beanie i just loved doing. I made about 7 beanies this christmas.

Here are just a few of them. I forgot to grab pictures of all of them i made. 

Aprons i made for my mom and my sister!

for my dad, my brother in law KC, and my cousin i made these blue plaid pajama pants. This was the only picture i snagged of them. My dad was so funny on Christmas day with his awesome cowboy hat, hiking up the pants as high as they would go, holding his box of twinkies, and dancing around singing songs he'd make up on the spot! I LOVE LOVE LOVE him! he's seriously the funniest man ever!

For my parents and for Bradie & KC, I  made these picture framed plaques. They are I believe around 24 inches tall. I would have put family pictures in them, but our last family picture was taken when i was 16 years old. And with the new addition of KD soon, they will definitely need to be updated. 

I made these cute little stocking from scarves for my room mate Rebecca and I. I also had fun putting together about 12 of those cute little earrings for my friends.

I even made these cute little ornaments and chocolate covered peanut butter balls and oreo truffles! my kitchen was overrun my chocolates. I made about 200 of each and gave most of them away. :)

I received the most amazing gifts ever this year. My favorite was the snowboard and boots and bindings and helmet and goggles I got from Jon and my parents! I'm so excited to hit the slopes and test them out! I received many other great gifts from family and friends. Jon's mom also made me a gorgeous apron that took my breath away. She is a very talented woman on a sewing machine!

 I had a wonderful White Christmas with friends and family this year! Everything was perfect and I wouldn't change one thing about it. I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday season and is as looking forward to the new year as i am! Love Always, Abbigail xoxo

thunder only happens when it's raining.

Alaska, it seems, is having a hard time kicking off into summer this year. Green leaves are just now starting to sprout out from the trees and little green prickles of grass are starting to poke through the dead leaves from last fall. This hasn't stopped me from going around and visiting some of my favorite scenic spots around the valley with friends though :)

Hatcherpass! (yes i love my jeep, duuuhhh! btw this picture made Jeeps Pic of the week!)

Yes, we even had a fire down on our road as you can tell from the last picture. It started from a tree landing on some power lines. The fire made it's way into the trees by the time the trucks showed to put the fire out. An Alaskan summer is definitely starting to arrive. Another day or two and it will be bright green everywhere. 

But, what has really been frustrating about this spring is that I haven't started work yet. I've been getting anxious. I planned on going back to school this fall, but it's kinda difficult when money keeps leaving my bank account instead of collecting in it. So, after a lovely chat with my bosses, I've decided to begin a search for a new job. Don't get me wrong, I love where I worked. They just haven't been getting as many contracts this year as they expected. So, school has been put on hold for now hopefully only till January. I just really want to get out of town for a bit. I've been told about a job opportunity out in Dutch Harbor working for pen-air, and I've sent some applications to jobs available in Cordova.  I feel like I'm stuck in a hole and that there's nothing left here in the valley for me for now. Like the only thing that was holding me here was my job.  I want to go plant some roots in another place, meet some new people and develop more character.

I miss changing my location every 4 months like how I did after I graduated high-school. I had fun creating my new identity with each new location.  Temporary locations have a major benefit too.  Drama can be left behind. Getting over heartbreak is easier... "out of sight, out of mind"..... i miss that... a lot. And with the advantages of technology, i can keep in contact with the friends i do love and miss! i love that it's all up to me! I cannot explain how much i LOVE the power of the DELETE button!! Deleting texts, messages... throwing away letters... all before i read them has helped bring closure after a breakup. Oh! and deleting past conversations is really important.... anyway... where was i going with this? oh yes... "out of sight, out of mind". I'm ready for some distance between the valley and I. I guess you can say that I'm scared and I'm a wimp and that I'm just running away from a difficult situation. i'll agree with you. I am scared. I'm a wimp. And I want to take an easier way out... by just leaving.

But moving to another location encourages what is probably my worst trait- that I'm not very good at getting in touch with my feelings. I have this theory that if I open up to anyone those words can and will be used against me. With each experience it gets harder to trust people, it gets harder to believe in humanity, and I build up thick walls to protect myself. I am so concerned about the way people think of me, I try to make it so nobody has a bad thing to say about me by being careful to not rub anyone the wrong way. I have done this for so long now that I don't even allow myself to think about how I really feel. Sometimes, I believe that it's a good way to live. I don't let anyone get close enough to betray me and I have lots of good friends. But..... it also sucks. I don't let anyone get close to me. Even though I have a lot of good pals, I still end up going home feeling alone with my thoughts.

So what am I to do? Keep moving forward. I will probably move somewhere new. There really isn't anything for me to stick around here for (no offense to anyone in the valley).  We'll see what the fates have in store for me. So far this year they have made it interesting.

"Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Women...they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know"

-Dreams by Fleetwood Mac-