Lately in Instagram

(1) Murray is the biggest baby and he loves his dad. 

(2) Nice new nail color from my mom! 

(3) Kitty shaming! We had a LONG night last night cleaning up after this stinky girl. She left poop stains all over the house at 1 a.m. and we had to run her butt under the tub faucet to clean her off! Ugh. Baby training I guess? 

(4) Hanging out on the windowsill while I crochet.

(5) We got these awesome wine glasses as gifts. They have a hand painted bear family! So cute!! 

(6) Murray seems to know we think it's cute when he hides behind the curtain.

(7) Look at that face... so innocent. So stinky.

(8) We have been taking Murray to the dog park and he has so much fun. This giant fluffy chow chow kept trying to hump him. It was pretty funny!

New Year

Last night Joe and I celebrated New Years at a Devotchka concert. It was an amazing show and we were right up front. I've still got their music playing in my head. 

This is the end of our holiday visit with each other... it's really sad to have him leave again, but it's been so much fun. There was a ton of baking, cooking, going out for food, and playing with the dogs. We started playing a really old school game that I remembered from when I was a kid, called Myst. Doing simple things like that is so much fun!

Even though neither of us are religious I still insisted on doing "Christmassy" things since this would be our first holiday together as a married couple. We made sugar cookies and iced them together. We built a ginger bread house, even after little Muffin decided to eat part of the roof off (bad doggy!) We went downtown and saw a gingerbread town at the fancy Anchorage hotel, Captain Cooks. I really wanted to make some fun family traditions. I think the gingerbread house and the roasted pears I made early Christmas morning are going to be keepers. 

My only Resolution this year is to have a home with Joe. And to get a pet kitty. Everything else can wait.

Walnut Marshmallow Fudge

It's been a difficult month. It isn't going to get easier either. I'm hoping something will happen soon so my husband and I can live under the same roof for the first time. Even the same time zone would be nice!
Aside from that mess, I had an okay Thanksgiving. I also got to dog sit for my friends doggy, Charlie. He's the sweetest doggy ever!! I'm so excited to get a pet of my own too. It makes waking up and coming home a lot more fun.

One can of sweetened condensed milk, one bag of chocolate chips (dark chocolate), half a bag of walnuts and a handful of marshmallows. Melt the milk and chocolate together in a sauce pan. Add the marshmallows and walnuts right before pouring the mixture into a cake pan lined with parchment paper, Chill and EAT!

Mister Charlie!

Thanksgiving pie.

I made some rolls with spam, avacado and cucumber.

A girls night out at the wine bar.

Espresso to sober up after all that wine!

Holiday nails

It's in the Details

Nothing will stress you out like money! I'm trying to be thrifty with my wedding plans, but with catering, locations and plane tickets the dollar signs are increasing before my eyes . I let hubby pick out the location for our honeymoon because he hasn't had the chance to travel like I have. He chose Hawaii, which is nothing to complain about! We have a friend who is a travel agent, so we may get a good deal. I'm sure things will all fall into place. 

I picked out some bakers twine from In The Clear on Etsy and made my own little tags for the place cards...

As promised, the Guestbook I made. I am going to buy a bunch of Instax-Mini film and have mustache-on-a-stick props for people to take silly pictures with.

I found some washi tape at the same Etsy store as the bakers twine for guests to tape their photos in the guestbook...

Aaaaaaaand my silly photo props made from cardstock and wooden dowels. I made a Hello Kitty Bow and some lips as well, but didn't take pictures yet.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

I really have to learn how to take better photographs! I thought I could use the excuse that it's been dark in Alaska, but now the days are getting longer. It's not a good excuse anymore! I need to get the hang of this whole "natural light" thing.

But enough excuses... Here are my bridesmaid and groomsmen invitations!

The Week in Instagram

Last night I had a girls night with my friend who just moved up to Alaska. She'll be deploying pretty soon. We had sushi take out, drank cold saki and talked about our boyfriends :) Nothing like a good girls night!

Another week is over for me, and here's what it looked like according to my iPhone...

Lopez came back from Puerto Rico and brought candy with him. I loved the coconut ones!!!

I made some bread this week! I got the recipe from 101 Cookbooks, Easy Little Bread recipe.

Just a silly random photo!

My weekend plans are to bake a strawberry rhubarb pie, finish up my friends baby coat, and use up as much of my cilantro as possible before it wilts! The same goes for the bunch of spinach I picked up. I'll be posting some photos and some recipes this weekend as well!

The Week in Instagram

This week was pretty busy! Today I went to the Alaska State Fair and had a great time. My friend and I went shopping and visited every tent with alcohol the fair had :) I intended to only eat terrible unhealthy fair food (like fried twinkies) but I ended up having a vegan boca burger! Don't worry though, I got a square of peanut butter banana fudge too. My friends tried the doughnut burger, but I wasn't interested. I probably should have tried it. I like trying out weird foods. My top three strange foods I've eaten are (1)Freeze dried larvae, (2)Squid innards, and (3)Jellyfish tentacles. The jellyfish were the most delicious.

My Birthday flowers

My Birthday lemon tart

I was bored in the office... This is a shot of the drawing of the airfield we surveyed back in June.

Bored in the office again... a safety brief from the General for the long weekend.

At the bowling ally. A farewell party for Maxwell, who is shipping off to Japan.

Organizing my Instax photos from when I was on leave. Scrapbooking, here I come!

We dressed as zombies for the Mud Run on Thursday.

A view of the mountains on Steward Highway.

Cutest puppy EVER at the State Fair!!!

Sweet goats!

Wine Bar at the Fair. I'm wearing my ADORABLE necklace my friend gave me for my birthday.

A beer tent at the Fair. Gotta find the drinks! Lol

I have a love for Ferris Wheels... It's the only ride I'll go on besides the Carousel. I get sick too easily!

Back Home!

I went on leave to visit my hometown in upstate New York. It was a busy week with my brothers marriage, visiting family and spending time with my boyfriend, whom I hadn't seen in 9 months. I will put up wedding photos once I finish putting together the little scrapbook I'll be making for them. But here it is, my vacation in photos....

Wedding Fever

So much has happened since I last posted! I had given up on blogging. Things got busy and I really didn't have the time or the knowledge to make my blog what I wanted it to be. But now I'm back and I've decided I will continue posting even while it's in progress (I don't have any readers to worry about anyway! teehee!)

I'm going on leave soon to go visit my boyfriend and to be in my brothers wedding! I'm so excited to go home I can't even describe it. I've been away from my honey for 9 months! I also get to be a bridesmaid. After the wedding I'll be pestering my little brother to start making babies soon, I want to be an auntie :) On top of that my best friend got married here in Alaska! I'm so happy for them. So many weddings this year! It seems like in my circle of people it's been the year for marriage and babies. Congrats to EVERYONE!

So now, without further ado... on to the crafty updates! I had a creative block for a few weeks before going to Fairbanks for an airfield survey. I think I was dreading it so much it drained the creativity out of me. I spent a month straight working 16+ hours a day, living in squalor. But when I finally made it home I had the itch to craft again. It's mostly about scrap booking these days. I've been pleased with the progress I've been making since I started scrapping only a few months ago.

This one is my favorite! I love my Marion Smith trinkets! I think I'll take some photos at my little brothers wedding with my new Instax and make this a wedding gift for them (one of the gifts, anyway!)

Here are a few others I put together...

I've been working on my scrap "style" and checking out online classes. Live with Prima on U Stream has some pretty good ones. The above project was one of those classes. I've ordered my first scrap kit as well, from Drew Scott. I'm looking forward to working on it!

I also picked up a book called "Expressive Handmade Books" by Alisa Golden. It's an awesome resource for scrappers who like making mini albums. I made the above album with her Pocket Fold pattern.

Obviously I'm LOVING my Instagram iPhone app. I've been taking random pictures everywhere...

I'm completely dreading the coming of winter. It feels so unfair! I just got into the feeling of summer and now it's quickly going away. Alaska is an awful place. My boyfriend and crafting are the only things that keep me sane!

Much Love and XOXO,

Sarah Grace