The "elusive Martzy" has been spotted

So, I'm sure my MANY blog fans out there have been wondering... "Where in the world is Martzy, INDEED?!" And I apologize for my extended absence. That last blog was from Summer Solstice and there is no possible way to fill you in on the activities, events and drama that has passed since then. I can tell you, however, that I've been BUSY! Very, very, very busy (Plus I have a substantial social life that I have to maintain). 

This summer has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, life lessons, psychology, patience, acceptance and climate. I speak of it in past tense because we are down to the last week of the season. When did it become September? I can't believe how fast (and yet dreadfully slow at the same time) this summer went by. I leave Copper Center next Thursday morning and it feels as if I just got here. 

Beluga whale back, Beluga Point, Alaska

View from the boulder I was on

I did get to cross a few things off my list of things I've wanted to see in Alaska, and the big one is the Beluga whales feeding at Turnagain arm, outside of Anchorage. My friend, Melissa, had come from Ohio to visit and I told her my goal of seeing them. As we were driving towards Girdwood from Anchorage, I spotted a white back in the water and freaked out. Melissa said she hadn't even stopped the car before I was out of the car, crossing a "no trespassing" sign, running over the train tracks and scaling an extremely large boulder to get a better view of the water. About 10 minutes later Melissa showed up around the other side of the rock and explained that there was, in fact, a much easier way to get up there. But then she turned to see what i was seeing...and there were literally dozens of Beluga's feeding in the water below. It was spectacular! The picture above doesn't show you much, but that was just one of MANY whale backs I got to see.

After the Beluga's, we headed to the Wildlife Conservation Center that I had originally wanted to work at last year when I was applying for jobs. It was a really remarkable place. They rehabilitate wildlife and release them back into the wild. They have a herd of Bison that will be released in 2012.
http://www.alaskawildlife.org check out the link.

I got to see Salmon spawning in a nearby river after that and then we headed down to Homer, Alaska, at the end of the Kenai peninsula, where we visited the famous Salty Dawg Saloon, hob nobbed with local artists, walked diagonal in hurricane size winds, and skipped out of a restaurant after seeing the $72 appetizer on the menu.

 

Me and Melissa at the Salty Dawg Saloon in Homer, Alaska

After sneaking out of the incredibly overpriced restaurant, we hurried back up to Cooper Landing to stay at the Kenai Princess Lodge there and get some food. I have now stayed in all 5 lodges that Princess has in Alaska and I have to say that I liked the rooms at the Kenai lodge the best. Our lobby and seating area is the best though.

Anyhoo-Melissa came up to Copper for about a week and just left Monday morning. We even showed her the Northern lights, so she was content heading out of Alaska.

Now on to my next adventure...Hawaii. Yup, that's right, Hawaii. My friend Lauren and I are headed to Hawaii from Portland, Oregon on September 30. Our boyfriends may meet us there shortly after that. We're going to do theWwoofing thing that I did overseas in Greece and Ireland in 2007. Wwoof stands for worldwide opportunities on Organic Farms. We work in exchange for room and board, and get the chance to immerse ourselves in local culture, not to mention work a hard, honest days work and eat spectacular organic fruits and veggies.  http://www.wwoof.org/ We can't wait!

I will hopefully have the chance to update this a little more often, but I can't promise that I won't rather be at the beach. And by the way, you may receive Alaska postcards after I leave here. I have a whole stack that I never had a chance to send out this summer. I will send those before i buy any from Hawaii.

Aloha everyone! Hope you had as great a summer as I did.

Don't give up on me!

So, I'm imagining that no one is actually even looking at this blog anymore seeing as I NEVER add posts...of course, not sure if anyone looked at it to begin with.

But here I am. Alive and kicking! I have been (for the most part) healthy for about a week now (knock on wood). I made it to a town with a health food store and got some supplements that seemed to do the trick (this time). But I don't feel that I'm fully out of the woods yet. I will keep you updated.

The vegetarian grilling meat for the solstice celebration

We had our big Summer Solstice celebration that I planned, and I would say it was 75% successful. I had an entire day of events planned, and let's just say that I celebrated a night early, so I was moving rather slow the morning of the solstice. People weren't all that interested in the kickball game and hoola hoop contests. But roll out the free food, and the BBQ went great! There were, however, about 3 MILLION uninvited guests who would NOT go away! We had citronella tiki torches, citronella incense, bug spray and I have my own citronella essential oil...let's just say that we didn't actually think any of that was working until we blew it all out. I think I actually got air lifted for a few minutes by an army of mosquitoes.

Last night I went on a hike with a friend and neither one of us had put any kind of mosquito deterrent on. About a mile in, we started getting attacked. By two miles, I gave the warning that I was about to break into a slow jog (and anyone who knows me, I hate moving fast). A few minutes later, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Sean and I looked like some kind of Three Stooges episode because we just kept smacking each other and making weird noises. By the time we got back, I think we were both in tears. I know I was whining to say the least. I had flashbacks to when i was a kid and my mom would put Calamine lotion on me. I would have KILLED for a bottle of that last night. I probably would have just bathed in it.

As, I'm sure you've gathered, the mosquitoes are pretty bad this year. Last year it was rainy most of the summer and I don't remember them at all. This year, yikes! I had to create a bulletin board about Alaska wildlife for the employees and I made an entire section about the Alaskan Mosquito (aka, the state bird). Don't worry about the Grizzlies and Moose, it's those damn mosquitoes that will get ya!


Hope everyone's summer is breezy and mosquito free. I'm taking one for the team up here!

 

Sorry for the delay...

The only picture of me here so far. In front of Liberty Falls

Wow! Has it been over a month already since I've been here? It feels like a year, but at the same time, feels like it's gone by so fast. So sorry it has taken me so long to get on here and update you on my life.

My job as Employee Housing Supervisor has been an absolute whirlwind. It has been 100 miles an hour from the moment I got on property. The first week was training, the second week was planning the week of employee training activities and going to Anchorage to pick up the employees. Third week was to run the training activities, while becoming ill and losing my voice for 10 days...fun! Then the lodge opened and it's all been a complete blur.

Last week I took a group of employees to Anchorage for a getaway (mind you, Anchorage is 4.5 hours away), and I contracted a stomach flu to beat all stomach flus. It was two days of absolute misery (I won't go into gory details) and then another 4 days of not being able to eat. I had my first real meal on Tuesday morning (a solid week after getting sick). I'm on the fast track weight loss plan...yum!

I'm off work today and I'm pretty much hiding in my little apartment. It's rainy and dreary so I don't actually feel bad about it either. (Although, those of you that truly know me, know that I never really feel bad about spending all day in bed) I've been in bed, knitting and watching "Bones" on Netflix. It's fantastic! Tomorrow morning I get up and start getting things together for Summer Solstice, and I can't wait! It's going to be a huge bash with kickball, frisbee & softball games. Three legged races, BBQ, costume contest and a drum circle...I cannot wait! And I also can't believe it's already Summer Solstice (by the way, summer solstice is a big thing up here in AK...24 hours of daylight!).

So, I will try and get this blog updated a little more often. I don't have any real regular schedule so free time is few and far between, but I will definitely try. All in all, it is wonderful being back in Alaska.

I hope everyone's summer is warm and beautiful so far. I miss you all. -Reebs

Matanuska Glacier in the Chugach Mountain Range

Alaska...part deux

Well, I'm back. 21 hours of traveling, 11 hours of sleeping at an airport and 7 months later, I am back in Alaska, preparing for my second season with Princess Tours in Copper Center.

This time I am the Employee Housing Supervisor, which gives me more freedom, more money and my own space. My job will be to make sure the employees lives are running smoothly when they're not working. And the best part of the job will be planning the day trips and parties throughout the summer. I think it's going to be a fun and exciting summer.

I almost forgot how much I missed the mountains and the fresh air here. There's just something about this land that gives me peace and ease. I have been fortunate enough to have 3 days to myself in Anchorage before heading up north and starting work on Monday morning.


These pictures are of 1: my ridiculous amount of luggage. I think this is the most I've ever packed to go anywhere. But after last year, I knew what I would be missing and decided that I couldn't go without those things for another 5 months. It's interesting what I consider the "bear necessities" of life, but I figure as long as I'm the one willing to carry them around, and until I start REALLY regretting it, it's worth it. 

And 2: is a picture of 6th Ave in Anchorage from the skywalk of the 5th Ave mall. But I was really taking a picture of were the mountains...LOVE THEM!!!!

My luggage came in handy as a queen-sized bed in the airport for 11 hours

 

View of Downtown Anchorage from 5th Ave mall sky walk...look at those mountains!

Where, oh where, indeed!

I got back to Ohio after a Summer in Alaska, and as much as I wanted to stay and help Gram out through the Winter, the depression quickly set in. The area she lives in is just soooo depressing! It encourages unhealthy eating, thinking and living. My Gram doesn't quite know this because she has lived there for 92 years and her lifestyle is very limited. (She also tells herself that the more butter, the healthier it is...).

So I had to leave. I was unemployed and not only aren't there any decent jobs in that area, but I didn't want anything to keep me there any longer than I had to. My memory of the past two Winters of dreary darkness, motivated me to get out of dodge before the perpetual gloom set in. (you think I may be exaggerating, but that is actually putting it lightly. At least from my perspective). It was hard to say goodbye to Gram, but I packed my things and headed East.

My plan was to stay with my Mom and Sister through the holidays while looking for a job and place to live, and then start my new life in the new year. Well, the universe has different plans for me. The holidays came and went and here I am. I even opened up my search to the entire country (except for maybe most of the Southern region...ick). But nothing. I won't even get into the miseries of the full-time work of job searching and the conundrum of not being able to find an apartment without a job, and not being able to find a job without being there. And then the bouncing between my families homes has also created an obstacle of taking care of business. Honestly, it's been unbelievably exhausting. Some of my friends tell me that they envy my freedom, and sometimes I can see why. But I think there comes a time when too many options becomes very suffocating. I'm the kind of person who likes the restaurants with very small menus. If they have pages and pages of options, I generally go with the servers favorite dish.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life. Every day is an adventure! Good AND bad. I have faith that there is a plan for me and this is part of that plan. I left Gram's with the knowledge that I had no definite place to go. I even sold my truck because I want to move to a place with public transportation. So here I am with no job, no home and no car...all by choice (well, the job thing, not really). It's a very interesting place to be.

Yesterday was a really strange day. I had one friend ask me for information about Yoga Teacher Training and the school that I attended. I had another asking about my Volunteer work overseas and for the links to places I'd worked over there. I had a third friend ask me about meditation and if I could assist her in beginning a practice. Another called to thank me for recommending a great book to her. Another asking me for relationship advice (which I find the most ironic thing ever) and then I had one of my managers from Alaska call me to tell me about a position that I'd be good for next summer. I basically relived the last 5 years of my life through links and phone conversations yesterday. It was kind of funny creating e-mail's with links to my past...funny in an eyes glazed over, am I dreaming, WAS I dreaming kind of way. But it actually made me feel good. I've always felt that I could teach people to learn from my mistakes. But yesterday was a day that showed me that I can actually guide people through my positive experiences. I often wonder what the outside world sees of me. Sometimes, I feel like the fish so far out of water that I'm in space. But oddly comfortable there. I often think that according to Society standards I may be somewhat of a disappointment. But when people want to have experiences that I have had, I feel I may not be all that disappointing after all.