And now....April!

We're 4 months into 2015!  I'm sitting here, drinking wine and strawberries after another successful pole fitness class.  We're working on handstands now, and it is tough work! March was an incredible month.  Besides going by in the blink of an eye, we put an offer in on a house in town, and it was accepted!  The house is actually a foreclosure, and we still have to go through the property inspection and appraisal.  I really hope it passes the FHA appraisal.  It's all I have been thinking about!  It is a beautiful house on an extremely nice lot, and it is in Anchorage!  It is wonderful, and seems perfect.  Although I am excited about the idea of moving into a big place with a big yard for the pups to run around in, I love my condo and I will miss it.  It is tiny but cozy and also perfect, although no yard.  The plan is to keep the condo and rent it out.  I love the part of town we are in now and the size of the condo was perfect for starting.  We have so many memories here!

Another thing I have been thinking about a lot is the people, (possibly family?) that lived in the house we are trying to buy, before it was a foreclosure.  I don't know where they are now, but I hope they are doing okay.  It seemed like they had a lot of plans and dreams for the house.  I look at the house and the yard, and I have a lot of plans and dreams for it, and it isn't even my house!

In February, we finished the remodel of our condo's kitchen.  It looks absolutely amazing now compared to how it used to look.  It is so beautiful and bright now, and the new white cabinets really made it feel more open and bigger.  We also got a new fridge (our old fridge was breaking), and I love it!  I almost want to take it with us if we get this new house, and replace it with a cheap one!  I love this new fridge.

I hope next week we hear back from the bank so we can sign the Purchase Agreement on this property.  I want to get the property inspection and appraisal out of the way so I can sleep more soundly at night.  And I suppose if the house ends up failing the FHA appraisal...maybe I will just splurge on the our Christmas vacation early.  I am praying that it passes the appraisal though, I am so worried.

Next week I also have an interview with our local Apple store, for a part time job.  Another exciting thing happening!  I LOVE Apple products (sorry not sorry), and I have since I was about 2 years old and I used to sit next to my dad while he worked on our old old old Apple II.  We have always had Apple computers while I was growing up, and now my house is full of Apple products.  I would love to work PT at the Apple store and learn more about their upcoming products and whatnot.  I am pretty nervous for the interview....I am terrible with interviews, and I hope it goes okay. :-/

I have been thinking a lot about traveling lately (as well as thinking about a million other things.  Why is my brain always wandering!)  I would love to go home again.   I always hope and pray that one day I can go again.  I would love to take Dash someone tropical.  Hawaii, the Caribbean, even Florida again....somewhere warm.  Dash wants to go to Greece and see Santorini.  That would be another wonderful place to go.  Traveling would be amazing.

Once again, nothing on my New Year's resolution list was accomplished.  Oh well!

Already into March!

Well, I have a confession to make about February.  I didn't accomplish ANYTHING on my Resolution List.  No reading.  No writing.  Barely any exercise.  And you know what? I am okay with it.  I am okay with it because something exciting may or may not be happening in the near future, and even if the exciting thing doesn't happen, I will still be okay with it.  I spent all of my spare time in February helping my husband fix up our condo.  We have the kitchen almost complete!  In just two weekends, our kitchen went from looking run down with 1970's cabinets and subflooring instead of real flooring, to looking light, bright and beautiful! We still need to paint the walls and the pantry and add one more strip of flooring (that we had to special order, boo!) but other than that we are done.  And next we will start on the bathrooms! :)  And I have discovered that I really like working on home stuff. 

I may even be working really hard on fixing up my condo for most of March.  Either way, it needs to get done, and we are determined to have it all done ASAP.

Today, I actually did do something cosplay related.  I had a photoshoot in my Fallout costume at Kincaid park.  It was really fun, although very cold, and it was perfect because there were not a lot of people wandering around near the bunker we were shooting at. 

Yesterday, February 28, was Alaska Gaming Convention 2015.  It has definitely grown since 2013, although I'm not sure I saw too many more cosplayers than the previous year.  I had a photobooth set up and everything, but I only managed to get a few people over to take pictures at it.  Most everyone else was out wandering around the convention having too much fun :)  Maybe next year I will cosplay also and try to do my small part to help promote the Alaskan Cosplay community :)  I'll post another blog update for Alaska Gaming Convention soon! 

1 Month Down!

Wow, January screamed by and we are already into February.  That is crazy! I finished my book for January a few weeks ago: The Toy Collector, by James Gunn.  It was a very good book.  Very well written and interesting, and not at all what I was expecting.  It is about a man who works as a pharmacist, and begins selling pharmaceuticals to fuel his toy collecting hobby.  The book is not what I would have normally picked to read.  I'm trying to branch out from my normal "zombie books" that I read constantly! My book for February is "I'll Scream Later", by Marlee Matlin.  I better get started! :)

I didn't write my chapter for this month. :(  Looks like I'll have to write 2 chapters this month!  It used to be so easy....what happened to all of my inspiration??  I haven't decided which story to write more of yet.

I have been doing very well on the keto diet for January!  Today I'm having some chicken wings, chili, and wine....so today is my cheat day.  I also had a cheat day 2 weeks ago for a girl's dinner night of lasagna and tiramisu.  I did not do so well on the 30 day workout challenge though.  I did a combination of Melissa Bender or pole fitness only 17 days last month.  I have to try to be better this month!  Pole Fitness is getting easier!  I can finally do the pole sit to bow, and the skin on my legs doesn't hurt anymore.  I am pretty excited about that.  I may have to skip tomorrow's pole fitness class, but it is worth it to hang out with a good friend I hardly ever see anymore. 

I'm looking forward to what February brings.  I have a cosplay photoshoot for my Fallout costume scheduled for some time this month.  Possibly the 16th, but I need to check with the photographer.  I plan on buckling down at some point to actually write the 2 chapters, I hope to learn more pole and do a little more running to get back in shape for running season.

And now, I'm off to register for the Big Wild Life Half Marathon!

Happy Feb 1st, everyone. :)

New Year, Same Old Stuff

Happy 2015 everyone! I can't believe it's 2015.  2014 flew by so fast, I don't think I even made any posts on this blog last year.  Resolutions for this year are the same old stuff.  I'm doing 3 30 day challenges by Melissa Bender, she has amazing workouts! They are similar to the Boot Camp class I went to in 2012, mostly body weight workouts with some dumbbell exercises thrown in.  I'm back on my keto diet, and it's only been a week but I am already feeling so much better! Funny how that works.  I hope to run another half marathon at some point this year, so I've started jogging again.  I have found a new form of exercise that I absolutely love, pole fitness, and I go every chance I get. It is so hard, but also so rewarding once I finally get to the point that I am able to do a new spin or climb the pole with more ease.  I hope to learn an inversion move soon, but it's been a few weeks since I have gone due to the holidays, so we will see. I also added a few new resolutions to my list this year...to read at least 1 book per month and write 1 chapter per month.  That's probably going to be the hardest to find time to do, but so far I'm almost done with January's book.  I chose "The Toy Collector", by James Gunn, and it is very good so far.

Dragon Con is coming up in about 265 days.  I'm in a predicament now where I need to find another host hotel room, which sucks because all the host hotels are sold out.  So I suppose I am going to try to find a room transfer.  I was excited about Dragon Con this year, but now with the added stress of trying to find a new room, I am not as excited.  I feel sad about feeling this way this year.  Since 2003 Dragon Con weekend has been my favorite weekend of the year, but this year it's just starting to feel like a hassle.  However my friend who is flying down with me from Anchorage is over-the-moon excited to go to Dragon Con again.  It's all she talks about and she has a lot of costume plans she wants to make :) I will help her as much as I can!

Rocket Raccoon and
Baby Groot at Senshicon 2014

Juliet Starling at Dragon Con 2014

 I have several new cosplay plans for 2015, but we will see how well I am able to finish these projects.  First on my list is adding a chainsaw prop to my Juliet costume, and a gun for my Rocket Raccoon costume.  Those will be the most challenging.  I am also in progress with making a Bulma Briefs (Dragon Ball Z) costume.  I haven't seen Dragon Ball in such a long time, but I used to love it! I've been thinking of watching it over again.  I also have a lot of new plans for upgrading my Fallout jumpsuit, including a new belt, AK license plate armor for the shoulder and forearm, and hopefully some kind of gun from the Fallout Universe, plasma rifle or something like that.  I also LOVE this "Hello Kitty Fallout Outfit" mod.  I don't remember where I've seen it, but I so want to make it!  It makes no sense, but I love it anyway. 

Bulma Briefs - pink dress

 outfit

Fallout Alaska at Senshicon 2014

 

Hello Kitty Fallout outfit

Nothing else is going on in this little town.  I hope 2015 is the year I am finally able to buy a nice single family home, but we will see.  We have been living in our tiny condo for 10 years, and we would like to keep it as an investment property but we will sell it if need be.  I know my dogs would love to have a yard to run and play in!