Summer over? Nooooooooo!

The weather here has taken a turn for the normal. We got pretty warm there the first couple of weeks in July. Now it's on-again-off-again rain. The nice thing is that it isn't cold rain. It's rather warm. The pain is that you can't tell when it's going to happen. We go entire days with heavy, threatening clouds and not a drop hits the ground. Today it was sunny for about one hour in the middle. Then it started pouring.

At least we accomplished something in the downpour. Since Uffda, our Newfie puppy, was already soaked, we just rubbed some doggy shampoo into her fur and rinsed her off with the hose. Dog bath done in record time.

Uffda is huge! She's only five months old and she's Bruno's size. This is great because now she can take him on. She doesn't do a whole lot of fighting back, but she's equal to him in weight, so it's harder for him to bowl her over. Now if I could just teach her not to wrap her lead around everything.

Speaking of Uffda, we decided we just couldn't deal with the gigantic responsibility of puppies. Sure, I'd love to see what kind of puppies a pure Newf and a pure Golden Retriever would have (dang, they'd be cute!), but we don't have the time or energy that they would require. And we don't want the hassle of selling them, either. Besides, knowing me, I'd get attached to them all and we'd end up with a dog farm. So she's getting broken this week.

My practice for Group Centergy is going well. I'm still not ready to have it recorded, but I need to get over that soon because I have until near the end of September to get a video of me teaching the class done and sent in so I can be certified. I love how this class makes me feel at the end: taller, standing straighter, strong in my core. I'm loving all this exercise I'm getting. And Logan doesn't seem to mind it either. >wink, wink, nudge, nudge<

I can't wait until my trip back to California. I know many Californians are tired of their hot weather day in and day out, but I hope it's still hot when I get there. I miss really hot weather. And don't roll your eyes at me, Myndi-bunny!

I hope it's not the end of summer here. I know August is the beginning of the end. By September it'll start getting cold again. But I think Alaska still owes us from the misery of last summer's weather. But, of course, Alaska is not the type of state to uphold deals with anyone, at least not weather-wise.

Visiting California!

So I just made my reservations for my second trip back to California this year. It's the last "free" trip I'll get for a while, using up the last of the miles I've accrued on my card. I even had to "borrow" some miles from Logan in order to make it as free as possible. Of course, the airlines charge for that transfer, but that is just a small percentage compared to what I would be charged for a full price trip. Even through all those travel websites that boast lower prices. Yeah, lower prices, but lousy bookings.

This is the first time I checked out some of those websites and I wasn't too impressed. Yeah, I would have saved about $300, which is nothing to sneeze at, but the long layovers and the weird destinations for flight changes steered me away. Why the heck do I need to fly to Denver and change planes to get to Portland and then to Sacramento? Ridiculous.

The bookings for my award flights were only slightly better; the layovers are much shorter and the destinations are more reasonable, Anchorage to Seattle to Sacramento and back. But they're late-at-night flights. I'll be leaving at 1 am from Anchorage, and when I return, I'll be arriving around the same time. Not very convenient when hubby and I have to get up early to go to work after my return. But that's what I get for being a cheapskate, right?

It's all worth it, though. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss some of the old haunts. I only get to see them twice a year at the most.

Gotta remember to bring presents for all the birthdays that will be coming up or that just passed. Goody, I get to shop!

The insanity parade marches on ...

I spent the last weekend in June in Anchorage training for certification in Group Centergy through Body Training Systems. They fly a person out to us and we spend 8 hours each of three days having discussions, going through the routine at least twice each day, and performing our homework assignments (learning an assigned song out of the routine and leading the class in it.) By the end of the weekend, my head was stuffed and my body exhausted to a point I hadn't encountered since I nearly passed out in my karate class during my undergraduate Kinesiology program at Sac State. (I was taking a couple of dance classes, several activity analysis classes, and my karate classes in the evening. I was overdoing it a bit at that time.)

I loved every second of it and it was one of the best things I could have done for myself. I can't wait to start teaching this new program in the fall. It's a fusion of mostly yoga and Pilates with a little Tai Chi thrown in here and there. I never realized what a good workout yoga can be!

I'm still teaching Group Active and I'm learning the summer season release right now. That'll start at the end of July. In addition, I'll be starting a martial arts class at the club. (I can hear several voices out there saying, "It's about time!" I agree!) This may mean I'll have to quit my current retail job. Though it's been a decent enough job, as the part timer my hours are getting cut so I'm only there when the full-timer in my department is not. Teaching extra classes may mean I'm not available when they need me to be, so I may no longer be worth hanging onto. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it, hyuck.

I hope this means I'll be able to audition for "Babes in Toyland" at the theatre here in town this fall. It still bothers me that I had to drop out of "Carousel" because of this job I may no longer have by September.

Even better news: I'll be flying out to visit family and friends in California in August. I want to do it before all my new teaching stuff starts, but I want to make sure I don't miss the Alaska State Fair. I hope the weather is better this time!

And now for something completely different:

Can someone tell me a good way to make up for missing the birthday of a very dear theatre brat friend?! >Hangs head in shame<