Spare Some Change?

I was dropping coins into my phone booth piggy bank (I'm old fashioned that way) the other day and I thought to myself, I love the sound of change. 

Not just literally, but figuratively as well. And one area of my life that has been in dire need of a little TLC has been my blog. 

In case you haven't noticed already, I've changed things up a bit since we talked last! New site, new design, same old gal writing her thoughts and inserting as many puns as possible into her posts. 

It was quite the process too.  

It all started with the simple idea of updating my blog. As I'm not the most tech savvy individual, I enlisted the help from a few different professionals who were familiar with all that HTML coding technology stuff.  

What I quickly found out though, was that it cost a lot of money.  

I went back and forth, up and down, and in the end, I took my family's advice and began looking into doing it on my own.  

To be honest, it took a lot of time and a lot of work. I spent hours reading help articles, uploading pictures, playing with my webpage design, but in the end, I succeeded and I did it all on my own.  

I cannot tell you how rewarding it feels to finally have it up and running with all my previous posts transferred, all the work I put into it out there for the world (or a few of y'all) to view. 

Guys, it's possible to do things on your own! Not only do you save money, but you put your problem solving skills to the test and end up a better person for it.  

I instigated change and it feels so darn good, I can't help but jump for joy. And as a result, I got to put a couple more coins in my piggy bank...

Here Comes The Sun.

I write to you from my bedroom.

The hour is just past 9:30pm and outside, the sun remains high in the sky.

Birds chirp through my open window, and temperatures still sit comfortably content at sixty-six degrees.

The thought of sleep is far, far away.

Summer in Alaska has arrived.

One of the most glorious times of the year is summer here in Alaska.

Although our bodies sometimes struggle to adjust to the mere five hour window of “darkness” (which is more like dusk anyway), and we dine later in the day (usually around 9pm), we look forward to this time of year and the opportunities it brings.

Gardening, fishing, hunting, hiking, and biking are just a few of the activities that keep most Alaskans happy and what draw tourists from all over the world to this wild and remote land.

My favorite part of summer?

The sunshine.

After months and months (and months) of darkness and cold, we are blessed with this incredible amount of sunshine that lingers on the horizon until near midnight and then barely dips down before popping up again at four in the morning.

Its warmth is contagious. There’s something about sunlight, and especially after so many months without it, that cure all winter blues (or any current blues). I instantly feel happier, prone to little acts of kindness (like buying a stranger a cup of coffee-iced, of course), and my mood is lifted as high as the sky. My shorts and tanks come out of their winter hibernation, and I often spend hours outside reading aloud to whomever will listen. Likely my cat or the birds.

Like the Beatles sing it best:

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s alright…