So I wrote this blog about 2 weeks ago and haven't been able to get online with my laptop to post it but now I can! So here I go...Woaha. I have not blogged in ages and for this I am so very sorry. Apparently when the lodge advised me that the internet would be spotty they were in fact telling the absolute truth. Who knew…because of this, nearly a week or more passes between each World Wide Web session I am able to enjoy. Today I used the office computer to check my email and dabble in facebook for a minute. I would like to say that not much exciting business has been happening but in fact it is quite the opposite. Work is keeping me on my toes each and every day. I discovered (the hard way) that I will not be enjoying a “day off” this entire summer. The good news is that I do get a nice lengthy break in the middle of the day. On these breaks I have been doing a plethora of adventures ranging from kayaking, fishing, hiking, napping, etc. As hard as this work is, I just absolutely love it and cannot wait to come back next year! Just a quick example of my day: awaken between 4-5 am depending on my shift. Head down to the kitchen and prepare for breakfast. Serve breakfast. Eat breakfast. Clean dining room and set up for formal dining. Clean the cottage (That is my assignment. This is appropriate because my dad built it.) Help with whatever chores remain for other girls. Lunch…which starts whenever we are done, normally around 11…then back to work between 3:30-5:30 again depending on my shift. Serve 5 star four course dinner…clean dining room and do dishes. Set up for breakfast. Work lounge duty if it is my night. Go to bed. Do it all over again the next day. The only variation is turn over days which I may compare to the end of the world. Those are the hectic days when guests leave and arrive at the same time. Nearly everything goes wrong and people get crabby. I have yet to catch the BIG ONE. One of my captains (we each have our own…I actually have two) said he would take me out to the best spots one night and I would catch something worth bragging about. I am super excited for this opportunity. Just waiting for the right night when the salmon are jumping and conditions are just right. In other news, I believe I am single. The mister and I have rarely talked these last few weeks and so I told him “I can’t do this anymore”. I offered him the opportunity to talk about it and his lack of response indicates a decline therefore my relationship status is once again single. Normally I would be heartbroken, especially because I have wanted to be with this kid for 7 years but life goes on. Besides, I am on an Alaskan adventure and getting paid for it! My life rocks! This situation also guarantees me the opportunity to travel to BYU football games with Kenzie and find new sweet Mormon boys. Nothing about that disappoints me. Plus he mentioned that all his ex’s ended up engaged to the next person they dated after him…that is only good news for me! Ha! What else can I talk about?? Oh sometimes I have soooo much energy at night that I go run circles around the dock. I often am able to gather a crowd of people. They normally point and ask “what is that girl doing?!?” Sometimes they even wander down to the dock and that is especially embarrassing for me because I just have to run by them a million times and I don’t know if I should talk to them or just keep running…or if my butt is jiggling and they are laughing?!? I run probably close to 1000 stairs throughout the day while working so that is keeping me thin…which is important because I have adopted a strict “at least one cookie a day” policy since I have been here.
Well I should probably get to work…gotta go serve dinner. I love and miss everybody so much it hurts! I cannot wait to get back to Montana and catch up. If anybody wants to send me some Kashi cereal with the fiber twigs and protein puffs I would love you forever! xoxo

So there you go! Now that I can get online in my bunk house (just started getting service yesterday!!) I will blog more regularly. Love every body!

Greetings from the inside passage

It has been one month, 2 days, 4 hours, and 13 minutes since my last post. Never have I gone this long without blogging. I did manage to find time to type up a blog a week or so ago but have yet to get online with my own laptop and do the copy/paste maneuver...therefore, I will start from the beginning. I am not completely sure where my last blog left off so I am going to grace everybody with an example of a typical day here in Alaska. I waken anywhere between 4:00 and 5:00 am depending on my shift. We set up for breakfast and serve the guests at 6 am. Following a quick bus of the dining room, we set up for the staff breakfast during which we have a staff meeting. For those of you that are curious and just dying to know, staff breakfast normally consists of oatmeal, cereal bar (which is really just honey nut scooters and raisin bran), and whatever may be leftover from the guest breakfast. My team of hospitality gals then cleans the entire dining room...again...and sets up for dinner. This includes setting anywhere from 20-35 places for guests and captains. I am now able to claim competency in the art of setting a table correctly. I have also mastered a few napkin folds, including a boat. When we are done with the dining room, I head to the cottage and clean. This is very similar to cleaning a house every single day. This similarity is actual because really the cottage is a house. In fact it is the house that my dad built. This task takes anywhere from an hour to 2...depending on the day, the rowdiness of the guests, and how dirty people can get. It is policy that when we finish our own chores we proceed to help the other girls so typically I end up (shoulder shrug) helping the other girls. My lunch break is normally at least 2 hours if not more. This break again, depends on the day, how much work is to get done, how much work gets done, and whatever else may be a deciding factor. I spend my break a number of different ways. Some usual activities include fishing, hiking, eating, kayaking, napping, laundry, etc. When break is over I head back to work and begin getting ready for dinner. Our evening ends around 8:30-9:00 depending on what shift we are working. Later if I am on lounge duty. Basically I work. A lot.

I guess now I will let everybody know how life is going. I'm sure you all know (all FIVE of my followers) that my phone was disconnected by Alltel because they did not want me using it in Alaska. This was quite the tragedy until I realized that I actually didn't mind not being connected to everybody. I have 4 or 5 numbers in my new trac phone and that is plenty. Besides, I do not have time to text all day nor do I have time to visit on the phone. I have worn out my shoes. I bought a pair of black shoes just for serving meals in. Either they were cheap (very likely) or I am just working so extremely hard at every meal (also very likely) that the soles have just decided to become paper thin and may not even last through the week. Cross your fingers. Unfortunately we operate on snail mail here, only getting mail once a week, it would probably take until the end of August to actually get anything delivered here. I managed to secure myself a trip to the ER in Ketchikan and I had to fly PacAir to get there. I went out fishing on a lunch break last week and my coworker literally caught me with her fishing pole. She was casting out, hit my leg and pulled. The hook went as far as it could possibly bury itself in my thigh and the barbs made sure they stuck. AND THEN....my peeps thought they could pull it out. OUCH!!!!!! After screaming bloody murder and proving that I didn't need them to try anymore (after two failed attempts), a phone call was made to fly me in to the hospital and let a real live doctor finish the task. I survived. It was touch and go for awhile. And yes, that may be an exaggeration, but until you have a giant barbed fish hook in your leg, do not judge me. Gracias. We are fortunate enough to have a 4 course meal served every night and these are easily compared to 5 star meals...right down to the dessert which we all know is Sarah's favorite part. After successfully eating only brownie for dinner one to many nights for dinner, I decided to give up on desserts and get serious about eating healthy. Mission failed. Not even 24 hours later, I received a care package packed full of treats. The only way to curb my dessert fetish is to force myself to eat the meal first so that I am to full for treats. So far...not so successful but there is improvement. As we all know, I am waking up before the sun (which really isn't true since it seems to never actually go fully away here...) so some days I am only able to crawl out of bed, throw on a shirt and get down to the dining room. On these particular days, I don my glasses. I have managed to lose track of how many times I have been called "Sarah Palin" and every body just thinks it is absolutely hilarious because we are in Alaska. This last group of guests had a bunch of men from Texas and they referred to me as "Gov'na" the entire time. The chefs call me "Governor" or "Moscow" and I just claim that I can see Russia from my bunk house.

Well, I better go check on my laundry and take a nap...typlical break time. Hope all is well for everybody. I am missing you all like crazy and can't wait to get home. xoxo

Alaska...I have arrived

Well. Ugh. I never thought I would actually hear myself say this but I AM READY TO WORK!! I am having so much fun on vacation...for real. But I have accomplished zero in the sense of well...accomplishment, therefore, it is time I get off my hind end and work. I left Jessica on Thursday and arrived in Ketchikan that afternoon...immediately I missed the ferry across to the main island. However, after a thirty minute wait (spent text messaging like a crazy woman) I finally jumped on the ferry and crawled across the water and met up with my cousin Tony. Today I played with Melissa (check out www.thosealaskangirls.blogspot.com) and she taught me how to make hammered jewelry (not sure if that is the correct technical term but that is what I call it) and then we explored the "city" by foot with her two boys. I just loved them! I know if Kenzie was there she would have offered them a cute pen in attempts to have them sit on her lap. They were just ADORABLE! Saw my old babysitter (who hasn't aged a day since she was 20...42 years ago). Tomorrow Melissa and I are doing a photo shoot and I get to model some of their products for them! I am so excited for many many reasons. I just love their stuff so it will be fun to wear it! Plus the pics will be a great souvenier from my time spent in AK. I am so happy to be here. Oh and I wore my bright yellow rainboots today. As soon as my cousin found out he was embarrassed because one of his friends/coworkers mentioned "this girl with bright yellow rainboots" walking around town today. So now he gets to go to work on Monday and explain that "that girl" was actually his cousin. I don't see a problem here :)

Well I am off to bed. Big day ahead of me tomorrow...I love and miss everybody sooo much! xoxo

Will somebody please feed Daisy?

Daisy is the mule I was fortunate enough to ride yesterday. I just loved her. Turns out riding a mule is pretty much the exact experience as riding a horse. Who knew? Not sure what I was expecting but half way through the seven mile excursion through the luscious forests of Washington, it just hit me that really Daisy was just like a horse with EXTREMELY long ears. Ha! I am sore. Daisy just wanted to eat the entire ride so basically this is what happened for just about 2 1/2 hours: Daisy would grab a branch with her mouth and pull it along with her until it would snap back and come flying at my face full force so then I would squeal and duck which would excite Daisy and she would jump forward to get away from the racket I was making on top of her. Once I would find my balance she would be back at it with another branch. It was fun though! And I have to say it was nice to spend some time with Mary and do some bonding. After the ride, I was clearly exhausted so once we got back to the house I took a 2 hour nap. I must be getting old. Although, Denny and Mary were quick to point out that they DID NOT need a nap. LOL.

Upon my awakening, Denny told me we were going for another ride and "Uh no." just vomited out of my mouth. I just didn't have it in me to do another mule ride. Mary informed me he was talking about the Mustang. My dad has a '66 Mustang which I la la la love!! I have always had a soft spot in my heart this vintage beauty and he let me drive it!! Oh I just felt like a movie star and loved every minute of it.

Finally got my running shoes from UPS yesterday so after all my excitement I was able to go for a run. I'm sure the neighborhood is thinking "finally she is done wearing those bright yellow boots!" Its just not as fun when I can't jump in puddles though.

Not sure what is on the plate for today. Hope everybody is doing great! Love and miss you all! xoxo

I obviously miss everybody!

At first I was certain that three weeks of vacation was exactly what I needed. And then, 11 days later, I have realized that is quite the contrary. I miss all my family and friends in Montana so much! Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to be spending time with everybody on my vacation but I have realized that I'm just not set up to be away from my usual life for this long. Right now I am visiting my biological father and his wife. I am definitely blessed to be here for sure. Denny and I had a nice conversation and bonding road trip yesterday to Olympia and it was consensual that we both appreciated the fact that we were back in each other's life. I almost feel like we never really missed a beat. I know that there is a lot we don't know about each other and I really hope we have many opportunities to fill whatever gaps there may be. Yesterday I met their mules, Marco and Daisy, and was also introduced to the miniature donkeys, Jack and Jenny. What cute little munchkins! I could just hug those sweet little mammals. I don't have any sneakers with me right now (hurry up UPS) and so yesterday when I went on my walk I wore my bright yellow rain boots! They are actually very comfortable...so this morning, I went on another three mile walk in them. I am sure the people driving past me are like "what is that girl doing?!?" but oh well. Sounds like today we are going to ride the mules :) I am super excited! I have certainly never done that before.

Hope everbody is well. I love and miss you all like crazy!

Leaving the East Coast...and my love :(

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This innocent looking carry on nearly weighs as much as me. Wheels would have been nice. Also, isn't it ironic that the final destination is Alaska?