VI am overdue! It is spring break right now for the school employees so that means one week of r&r! Being already Wednesday, I have dedicated myself to cleaning, cooking (a little), and of course, rejuvenating! Yesterday, my friends and I went out to lunch and shared some laughs. We then hunted down an antique store that we wanted to visit but of course, it (along with every other antique shop in town) is only open Wednesdays through Saturdays! Also, every store of convenience in Fairbanks doesn't open until 10 am, something that I have been finding out the hard way (i.e. driving 15 miles to get to various places that AREN'T open!). It has become rather frustrating and each time I pull into an empty gravel parking lot with a tiny CLOSED sign in the corner of the window, I give out a yell, pity myself for a minute, and then realize how stupid I am for not checking the store hours ONCE AGAIN! Today was my fourth and my last time of trying to visit a store before and after hours and as you can tell, I'm still healing. Since Andrew and I share a car, I like to drop him off at 9:00 and do my errands but it is difficult to be productive at that time of the morning in Fairbanks, Alaska. Oh well...I will live.

Andrew is on duty tonight, meaning he attempts to stay awake all night, head-bobbing and all, on-post in an office. It isn't very much fun for him but it is part of his job and he has duty about 2 or 3 times a month. That means I am at home, watching FOX, eating leftovers, and making chocolate covered strawberries (Yes, really!). Although chocolate covered strawberries may be associated with romance...the only romance these berries are seeing is my stomach. I was so excited to see fresh, red, strawberries at Sam's Club for under $7.00 so I bought them and convinced myself to smoother them in chocolate...delicious!

Being home alone isn't very frightening when you live in a townhouse because I constantly hear people coming and going from their homes. However, I did hear a particularly loud female yell through the wall and then I heard footsteps stomping and running around the home, then the door slammed, and then a car peeled out of the driveway (by this time I had my eyes and ears peeled out the window). That particular situation makes me a little bit nervous so I'm going to be nosy and pay close attention to who comes and goes from their door. Andrew told to not hesitate in calling the police, so need be, I will dial! (The neighbors do make me a little nervous to begin with...if you live near me, you know why.)

So, I mentioned on my last post that Andrew and I had a future endeavor for the summer months! Here is the story. I have become quite interested in reading peoples' blogs about home decorating, crafts, remodeling, etc. Well, in our Sunday (Sun-dee as my folks from PA like to say) newspaper a few weeks ago, there was a cover story about a young housewife who has taken it upon herself to create the plans for and build furniture in the most beautiful and simplistic ways. Her furniture is inspired by Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, and stores of that like...some of my favorites! In fact, the majority of her furniture plans, once completed, resemble the beautiful pieces that can be found in the store-brand catalogs! The major difference...the cost of the pieces! Of course you have to work hard to achieve the look but how satisfying to build your own furniture! Visit her blog and take a look at what she has created for herself and others! It is Knock Off Wood! She is quite talented and I can only dream of having her skills, but for now I thank her for giving the less talented, but equally eager people an opportunity!

I became so motivated after looking at her website and my motivation soon rubbed off on Andrew, when we both realized, HEY, WE CAN MAKE STUFF LIKE THIS TOO! The very cool thing too, this woman lives only about 45 miles away from us so we have the same resources out here in the last frontier! So, on Saturday, we ventured to Lowes and Home Depot (yep, we have these stores!) and surveyed the tools sections. Knowing that tools are a hefty investment (but will be well worth the cost) we are going to take our time in acquiring them. We purchased a circular saw and a small table stand for starters. I learned more about tools on Saturday than I have in my entire life but it was exciting! Since I am doing a few crafts (currently on our kitchen island) Andrew and I have decided to build ourselves a nice little sawhorse table THIS WEEKEND! I just can't wait any longer! Andrew has off on Friday, as do I, so we are going to get ourselves a miter saw (quite important apparently!), the other tools, and the building materials, and set up shop in the garage (with the car pulled out of course). It is our first official "Knock off Wood" project but we are up for the challenge...where there's a will there's a way! Cute, painted sawhorse table, here we come :-)

Now, for some pictures from the week.


Andrew making his delicious German Schnitzel :-)


Andrew was in the post paper! I tried everything to flip this photo around but it will not upload correctly! Andrew was on the range...what a model profile shot!