Currently living/working: January has been a mix of work, winter dormancy & play. I actually clocked 35 hours at the library (let me be clear—for the whole month, which prob seems like a joke according to traditional workers lol). Justin has had lots of things come up for his tourism job in the last week keeping him very busy, such as a completely frozen building that could have been avoided and now he has to deal with those repercussions. The month has felt very full!
Currently living/working: We returned from travels 12/3 right in time for what became the coldest December on record since 1989! Temps around our area are erratic, and we live on a hill, which puts us in a banana belt of Healy. So our lowest was -35.5, but that same day, we went over to a friend’s cabin 3 miles away and their analog thermometer was recording -60!
Currently living/working: How many times and ways can I explain that Alaskans operate on full throttle through the summer? Some kind of mosquito-powered adrenaline compels us to pursue a no-sleep summer, which mostly equals a no-work winter. While the summer days fly by at a breakneck pace, we are still doing well finding balance between…
This might be a tiny bit boring to y’all, but I like to record our annual home improvement projects for posterity, and the blog is a good place for that to live. And I realized I never recapped summer 2023 projects, so better late than never as we are halfway through summer 2024! As a…
This blog post is selfish. It is more of a document for us to remind ourselves of all the cabin & yurt improvement projects we squeezed in during the summer of 2022! The yurt certainly took priority this year in terms of where we focused our attention, between putting in the outhouse at the 11th…
Alaska leads the nation in homes without plumbing, which shouldn’t be a shock as the harsh weather conditions make traditional plumbing and septics very, very cranky. Alaskans know that running water = headaches, and this has been especially true this winter! I thought this would be a good time to explain our unique plumbing situation!…
Currently living/working: Most of you know we haven’t had “traditional” 9-5 jobs in years. Actually, a decade. We always make the claim that we sling a lot of mud at the wall to see what sticks. So even though we had no idea what our summer would entail, it turns out there’s a lot of…
Currently living/working: We’ve been consistently full with contract work all of March. And actually, we’re trying to stay ahead—or at least on top of it—since we know we’ll be traveling most of April. With that being said, we’ve also been getting out to play during our longer and snowy days. So win-win for work-life balance…
I blogged about the aurora borealis (northern lights) last winter, but I have a follow up! Because this year, they’ve stepped it up a few notches. Here’s the scientific recap of what the auroras are: the sun sends electrons & protons zooming into space creating “solar wind.” The solar wind’s magnetic field is lined up…
Currently living/working: It was a quieter month, but I appreciated the balance of it. We have several projects underway, but we had zero deadlines all of January, which made it more relaxed (but it also means I tend to procrastinate more). And shouldn’t be surprising, we are still at our cabin in Healy; in fact,…
Currently living/working: The grind of our multiple income streams continued in December with intense deadlines and edits back and forth for both Backpacker and The Voice (the trade magazine for SNEWS). These quieted down and wrapped up right before Christmas, and we were determined to recharge our batteries for a solid reset, which included 2…
Let me tell you something you probably didn’t know. Publishing does not equal a feeling of relief, nor is it a “get rich quick” scheme. Publishing actually equals insomnia & eczema. Being a writer might involve the hard work of writing. But being an author is a different beast altogether. I’ve written Between Each Step,…
Currently living/working in: We are happily in Alaska, where winter is in full swing. Work is busy! And by work, I mean the multiple projects/jobs we are juggling. In fact, I feel like this deserves a list-type snapshot with some of the bigger, more pressing deadlines (actually helps me see the big picture too!) Backpacker…
Here’s one of the many truths about Alaska living: the standards for fresh fruits and veggies are quite low, availability can ebb and flow, and “in-season” produce doesn’t really exist in Alaska. #alaskaproblems Often, the shelves of store-bought produce are empty, and I guess I kind of expected that. When we do come upon stocked…
Currently living/working in: We’re two months into our Leave No Trace contract—still from Alaska. It’s been a surprisingly full schedule even though we are not traveling around like we normally would be! We weren’t sure what kind of in-person programming we could do, but since Denali National Park is open, we’ve been filling in lots…
As we mentioned, the previous owners left us a perfectly functional cabin, but as with anything, you tend to want to make it your own. It’s also worth noting, we forgot what it’s like to own property again. We figured purchasing a cabin without running water would simplify the to do list, especially compared with…
Being back on a specific work schedule sure does eat up a lot of time! I’m afraid this blog is feeling the brunt of it … so to help me feel less guilty, I’m inundating you with less words, more pictures. In all the places we’ve lived, we always wanted a wildlife camera. Who doesn’t…
Currently living/working in: We started Leave No Trace work 6/29! It’s all based from Alaska and online for now, but it takes some adjusting to be back on a specific schedule. Knowing this was coming, we spent most of June tying up quite a few freelance content projects, including a secret project that hopefully I…
I’ve always stated spring is my least favorite season, if I had to rank them. With that being said, I absolutely enjoy the growth and change spring presents, particularly the bursts of wildflowers popping up. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, our wildflowers included dandelions. We also had lilacs and touch-me-nots (I think that’s the…
Currently living/working in: We are still at our cabin in Healy, juggling multiple writing projects and hustling to gain more. It’s been a pretty full plate of freelance work lately, all things considered. Thankfully, the long summer days mean we can still get ‘er done and have time to play! We also have a tiny…