life and times of kate

Life is standard. I'm still working at the coffee shop, cleaning the bank, and pounding through school stuff. Life is good. I'm working on having some down time. I'm usually really good at that, but lately it's been a little harder for me. I'm taking Economics right now, which is lame, but it's all for a tangible purpose, which makes it easier. It's a gorgeous day in Haines, which is great, but I can see the snow creeping down the mountains heading for town, which makes me think that it's going to be winter all too soon, which really is inevitable in Haines, but alas, it's just the way it is. I miss my niece and nephew. The rest of the family I can talk to regularly, but it's a little harder with kids under 3... oh well.

Back in AK!

I'm almost home. Juneau is close, but oh so far away. And the ferry is of course at the most inopportune time. I'd prefer to not be on the ferry from 1:30 am to 6 am, but you can't win them all. So, I'm hanging out at the Southeast Waffle Co, which is the coolest place in Juneau, but still unfortunately in Juneau. I did get to go to Costco though, which was exciting.

mv malaspina

3 days on a boat is a long time. i'm bored. but so stoked to be hanging out in haines this time tomorrow. and for the record, i think Pedro likes the cold. that little bugger.

no better title than random thoughts

1. i have a strange desire to quote air supply... but don't know why
2. i have spent 12 of the past 15 hours on my bed. no joke
3. i had cake batter ice cream yesterday. much better when consumed as just one scoop instead of 4 of 20
4. i have resorted to selling some of my instruments to make some money... it makes me cry a little
5. my back has been sore for some reason lately. possibly related to weeding at my uncles or #2
6. i leave for Haines, AK a week from today SO STOKED!!
7. i'm hungry. and my mommy loves me so she made me pumpkin bread that is all the way down stairs... to get off the bed or to not get off the bed? that is the question
8. it's my birthday tomorrow, so don't forget to say something nice to me
9. i'm tired of taking anti-biotics that have caused my existence over the past week to look something like this:

my hospital visit

so, i went to the hospital for a few days. they call it a clinic, but i had an iv and nurses came to check on me in my hospital-style bed, so i'm going to call it a hospital. i had a bad reaction to my parasite medicine. i feel better now, but health is still a bit of an issue for me...

My last night in a familiar place

Tonight was pretty fun. I got to have some crazy good food with my family and just relax for a bit. Then I got to hang out with my bible study from last year. Ellie, Anna, and I went on an adventure to find pencils for Dominicans. It didn't go very well, and Ellie had to be home relatively soon after we departed, so Anna and I plugged on... First we went to the bank so I could get some money, but I didn't have my ATM card with me. I figured that's why I have a credit card, so we continued anyway. So we went to 7-11 so I could get a last minute corn dog. I ordered my three hour old corn dog, and upon deliberating, decided that I didn't in fact want to put 82 cents on my credit card, so I handed the checker my dog and said, "hang on, I bet I can find a dollar in my car." (since it was my mom's car, this was no problem) So Anna and I continued. We made it into Top Food, and I found one of the things that I had been looking for: chalk. Although, still no cheap pencils, which bummed me out a little. And we also got some Go Diego Go yogurt drink, which was amazing. So we continued on. I let Anna decide which way to go at each light, and we ended up down in U Village. Since there is a 24 hour Starbucks down there, and I had a little bit left on a s-bucks card, I decided that we were going to go in. I got a scone, and upon giving my card to the barista-type, was informed that I still owed her 85 cents. Now, as we have already established, I didn't want to put a charge for that amount on my card, so I found myself asking the barista, "can I borrow a dollar from your tip jar? I have some money in my car, I'll leave my scone here, and I'll be right back..." Cheesy, yes, but I sure did enjoy my scone, and had a good laugh about the fact that I borrowed a dollar from a tip jar.

my nose

is really, really burnt. it burned last week from the car wash, and then this weekend it burned really bad again because i was out kayaking the san juans. but this weekend was amazing. my friend jamie and i ferried out to lopez island on friday and spent the night at a little state park. then saturday morning we packed up the kayaks and headed out toward shaw island. after giving jamie a few quick lessons on paddling, we kayaked around shaw and decided that we wanted some ice cream, so we went to friday harbor. upon our arrival in friday harbor, we saw san juan brewing company, so we also stopped for a beer. :) then we headed back across san juan channel (not a super easy task) and camped on shaw island. so that day was roughly 15 miles. then sunday we got up and kayaked back to lopez where the car was and headed back to the mainland. it was pretty dang rad. a little intense for jamies first real time kayaking and my first time out on the open water, but it was amazing.