Disappearing Mist

New Years Quiz

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:57:00 +0000

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Went to Hawaii! And went on an actual trip with C!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Only nearly every woman in my small group!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More trips. Or weekend excursions.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Hawaii. Other than that, I can't think of anything too noteworthy..

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Raising my GPA! Learning photography!

9. What was your biggest failure?
I dunno.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got sick a ton :(

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my camera!!!!!!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I have no idea.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Kanye West :P

14. Where did most of your money go?
My money went to camera stuff. And an ipod

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My camera. Hawaii.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Love Story by Taylor Swift.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?

Same on all counts, I guess.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Hung out with friends

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Staying holed up inside

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With both families.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
With my camera!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.

24. What was the best book you read?
Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Probably Kim Walker.

26. What did you want and get?
A camera. An ipod. A kitchenaid mixer.

27. What did you want and not get?
A new lens. :P

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Hmm. Wolverine or Star Trek.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 21. Went bowling with friends and out for pizza!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More trips!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
whatever. There was none :P

32. What kept you sane?
photography.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
*shrugs*

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Healthcare.

35. Who did you miss?
Family and friends.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I got to "meet" Susan!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Life goes on.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
*shrugs*

Solstice

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Today is winter solstice. One of the best days of the year for Alaskans! At this point, the sunrises at 10:04AM and sets at 4:03PM. I have spent many days in the past month shooting the sunrise, coming home, and practically turning around again to shoot the sunset.

I love winter solstice. The fact that it is the shortest day of the year means one thing: Summer coming! There will not be much of a difference in daylight till the end of January or so. It's quite fun to talk to people around that time, because it inevitably comes up. I love it.

Here's to the coming of summer! 4 more months till the snow starts to leave!!!

Grades

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:04:00 +0000

I'm quite proud of myself for my grades this semester!

Computer Literacy - A - This one was a given. Brainless course.
Excel - B- - It ended up being hard towards the end!
Digital Photography - A - I'd be worried if I had anything else :)
History of Photography - A - Wasn't sure I'd pull off the A, but I did!

Income Tax - B- - I struggled all semester long with this class. I got D's on my exams, failed some quizzes (not hard to do when there are only 5 questions!) I calculated what my grade should have been and it appeared I could end up with a C-. I need a C- to keep the credit for my degree. I have no idea how I got bumped up to a B-...but I'm not questioning it! I was so excited!

Hopefully this will bump my GPA up again.

Another Quake

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:53:00 +0000

Just had a second earthquake from this week. It was shaking the house softly. I waited for it to be a bit more rough, but it wasn't. 77 miles from here and magnitude 5.16 at this point.

EDIT: 5.4

Earthquake

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:37:00 +0000

This morning I woke up to the bed shaking, figured it was an earthquake and went to sleep again. I was right. A 3.9 one 62 miles away! I haven't felt one in a while.

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Welcome everyone! This is my second year participating. This is the wreath I made extremely cheaply from Joann's about a month ago. I may add to it in the future.
My tiny corner. Stuffed animals from my childhood, the Nativity set and the small tree.

I love blue Christmas lights!Brand new star. Bought it on sale after Christmas last year.
One of my favorite ornaments!

Thanks for visiting us!

Done!

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:06:00 +0000

I love being done with the semester! It is the greatest feeling in the world. The weight on your back suddenly lifts and there is free time in abundance. Supposedly anyway!

I am done a week earlier than I expected to be, so that is a great blessing. I finished wrapping all the Christmas presents that I have yesterday. I still have a few more I need to buy, but it feels good to have a pile near my tree.

Last night before we fell asleep, C started telling me some stories about Luann (the comic strip). He reads the comics on his lunch break and had to update me on the latest with Luann, Garfield and Pickles. It was super funny. I kept laughing about how it was 1AM and he was getting in depth and describing the story lines of these cartoon characters and their personality traits. It was great. :)

Christmas is in 2 weeks! Hard to believe. We finally have real snow here, so it definitely feels like Christmas now.

For my photography class, we picked out the best images from the class and made a slideshow of them. I had probably 13 images picked for it, which was pretty cool. The slideshow will hopefully be showing at the movie theatre before they show movies. It's definitely a cool opportunity for me to get my name out there more. I'm excited about it.

I'm going to try to hang out with friends today. I haven't gotten to do much of that with school. Wish me luck!

I love this post

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:20:00 +0000

This post is just fantastic: He Reads.
Please check it out!

Scrapbooking!

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:28:00 +0000

Thursday afternoon, I spent 3 hours scrapbooking! I have not scrapbooked since February or March. I basically hit "scrapping block" mainly due to being fascinated with photography and not with scrapbooking the images. I did three pages there. Then last night, I did three more pages. I love the last one the best. Feel free to click on the images to see them!

I was also noticing yet another reason I don't want kids! 1 toddler and two infants were involved in this day and oh boy, their moms got hardly any pages done! I like being productive without interruptions ;)

Thanksgiving 2009

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:17:00 +0000

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We spent time at C's parents' place and my brother's house.

Lasagna

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:51:00 +0000

Please tell me, is making lasagna that hard/a big deal?

I found a fascinating recipe in Real Simple for Broccoli and 3 Cheese Lasagna the other day. C wasn't interested in it, so I made it myself. The hardest part was cooking the noodles and that was more of a pain than anything.

I rarely had lasagna growing up. I can't remember my mom ever making it. But I've had some good stuff in the past and I've been craving it.

Yesterday, I was talking to my mother and sister in law.
Me: I made lasagna yesterday.
MIL: Oh? Was it frozen?
Me: No. I made it from scratch.
SIL: Did C help you? [C is known for cooking. I don't think they've gotten the memo that I've been cooking more lately]
Me: NO, I did it all by myself.

The conversation then went into how frozen lasagna is actually pretty good. MIL won't make lasagna any more, since she likes the frozen stuff better.

Cut to today. C called from work, and mentioned how he brought some with him for his lunch today. He pulled it out of the fridge in the lunchroom and heats it up and sets it down. His coworkers there at the time gave him a hard time too.
Coworker: Looks good, is that frozen?
C: No, my wife made it.
Coworker: No she didn't! It's got to be frozen.
C: No...my wife made it!

Needless to say, he never convinced them that is was not frozen lasagna.

Does anyone understand this? Is lasagna a lost art or something? I thought mine turned out decently. It's not amazing or anything, but it's tasty. Thoughts?

Decorating!

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:17:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

C and I decorated the house for Christmas Tuesday night.

The star we got on sale after Christmas last year. Finally get to use it!

Should have put this one on our Christmas card!

I hope you all have marvelous Thanksgivings!

Thanksgiving Sale

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:12:00 +0000

Hello everyone! I am running a Thanksgiving weekend sale of my own!

I have added 5 new prints to the shop, and they are each 25% off!

I still have the Alaskan Flora 2010 Calendar for sale as well! It could make a great Christmas gift!

And, as always, I have all the rest of the prints for sale as well

Buy your Christmas presents now to ensure they get to you in time!

Chicken Cordon Bleu!

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:35:00 +0000

The extremely long awaited recipe! Unfortunately, my husband is not writing this, so it is not very humorous....

You will need:

Spinach
1-2 cups Chicken
1-2 cups Ham
1 package Phyllo Dough (Usually found in freezer section, near pies)
1 package Le Gruyere Cheese (Usually found in specialty cheeses)
Butter or margarine

Cut up the chicken and the ham into chunks. An inch cubed is fine for the chicken and an in inch for the ham is fine as well. We used sliced ham, but you can use chunked if you want. Mix those in equal proportions along with the cheese (grated) and spinach (all equal portions) in a bowl.
Make sure the Phyllo Dough has had a chance to thaw out in the fridge (it is generally frozen)

Carefully peel off a sheet and place it on the table (or counter)

Melt some butter in a bowl and you will definitely want a pastry brush for this. We used a large one this round, but a smaller one will do. Gently dip the brush in the butter and lightly coat the phyllo dough.
Scoop some of the filling mixture onto the edge of the dough. Put it on the long side of the dough.
The goal is for the butter on the dough to help the layers of dough stick together. Fold the edges over like shown and butter the new edge as well.
Carefully roll the filled in edge and again fold over the edge. Butter the new edges again. Basically you want the entire little bundle nicely folded into the dough, buttering it as you go.
Meanwhile, if you have help, have them start buttering another sheet of dough.
Because the Phyllo dough is so thin and floury, it doesn't like to stay together. As you fold the corners, you may want to put butter on the thick parts of the dough (as seen above). Remember, the goal is to have as little butter as possible, but still have it stick!

Once you get to the final folds, butter up the sides and the end and fold them over.

Take the completed, 1 layer stuffed dough and start the process again, carefully placing it on the newly buttered sheet (they tend to fall apart =O). This time, start the wrap on the shorter side, so you can get more dough in the middle of the wrap. You can do 2 or 3 sheets per stuffed one. We only did 2 sheets each, but if you have more phyllo dough, 3 is fine as well.
Once you have the 2nd or 3rd layer finished, butter it lightly at the end so it will be "sealed" and then place it in a 13x9 inch pan.
Continue the process until you have the pan full, or you run out of ingredients! Cook at 350F for 20 minutes. Take it out, flip the wraps and cook another 20 minutes.
When you take them out, dip (or drench) them in cheesy alfredo sauce and enjoy!

I hope this wasn't too confusing! Please ask questions if you are confused!

Ferrets?

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:09:00 +0000

Sunday, I heard that my in laws ended up with 2 ferrets. Long story short, they will not be staying, most likely, but they are quite cute and silly.

I love this one :)

My parents in law don't want them, so we had this conversation,
Shell: we could have ferrets for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow!
Mother in law: Not enough meat.

Haha! I tried ;)

Almost the End

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:56:00 +0000

C and I are almost to the end of Star Trek Voyager. We have 2 more episodes left.

Last night was "Homestead." I have never cried at a TV show before. But my goodness, I cried last night. It was Neelix's farewell episode. I had no idea I was so attached to him. But he finally got happiness :)

Ahh, I will probably cry at the last episode as well. It's been an awesome ride, though!

Randoms

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Winter has finally truly arrived. It was slow in coming, that's for sure! We have snow, and cold, cold temperatures. The lowest I have seen so far is 3 degrees. Today, it is back up to 18, so it's more warm! It is finally feeling like winter now. I usually am into the Christmas spirit by Halloween. Not so, this year. I'm only now beginning to realize how close Thanksgiving is. I have been pestering C about putting up Christmas stuff, but so far it has not happened.

I have gotten back into the swing of things after being sick, so that's been good.

The eagles are officially on their way back for the winter! I saw 4 on Monday evening when I took some photos of the sunset.

Tonight, for youth group, we are doing Underground Church - where the kids run around town trying to reach a final destination without getting caught. This year, I am helping to provide a clue.

C had inventory at his work yesterday. Last year, he came home around 4. Yesterday, I was quite pleased to have him home by 1:30!

I only have 3 weeks left of 2 classes and then 4 left of the other 3. It's time to get busy on my final projects! It's hard for me to believe that this semester is almost done. It has really flown by!

That's what's happening right now!

Better

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Well, I caught the swine flu by Saturday. I was miserable until Monday and then started to feel better. It definitely is not as traumatic as the media is making it sound.

Winter is officially here. We've had several snowfalls now, but most have not stayed. It feels really strange to be halfway through the month with barely any snow.

I have a month left of classes! That seems so hard to believe. I guess it's time to settle down and get cracking on those projects!

Hubby Feeling Icky

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:42:00 +0000

The husband is ill.

Yesterday, he didn't get a very good night's sleep and woke up being sore. That's nothing new for him, so he thought nothing of it. We went to a friend's house and he started to get a headache, but he said nothing about it till we got home.

He walked in the door and immediately started shivering uncontrollably. He ended up laying on the couch for nearly 3 hours after that. And he had a fever.

He called in sick today. He is now coughing quite a bit. The Dr's office wasn't much help. He's to stay home from work until his fever has been gone 24 hours. They have been prescribing Tamiflu, but apparently there is none in town right now! Many people have H1N1 right now, so I'm sure that has depleted the supply.

C's feeling pretty good right now. I hope this does not get worse. And I don't want to get it either!

Apartment Changes

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Here's the latest in our kitchen. All my original work now. I will continually be adding to it as I take more...unique shots, but I like the ..symmetry.. of it as it is right now.
We got this bookcase from my in laws last month or so. I have, of course, taken it over. It's barely more filled up since then. It's a great feeling to have a not full bookcase!
Bought an empty wreath last week. Filled in the empty spots with little fake things that were on sale. It's not done yet, as I'd like to get some more doodads, but I couldn't resist putting it out on our door! It's not like that many people see our door anyway!
This guy is a plastic bag holder. I got him from my work this summer and finally put him up today!
We got this painting from a local artist as a wedding gift. I have badgered C about putting it up for the past year and a half and I finally just did it myself!

I adore the colors in it so much!

Random painting I did my senior year of high school as an art project. No, we don't have a dog, but I needed something there! I'm not quite the painter as Sabrina is, but it was still fun. I finally attached a hook to it tonight and hung it on our bedroom wall.
Our lovely Kitchenaid mixer! Haven't used it yet, actually! I know, I know, what am I thinking?

Gradually, the walls are getting less and less bare here!

Winter

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Winter is truly on its way. I've been trying to avoid it, but it's coming.

Woke up this morning to 23 degrees.

I started to notice a change towards the end of September. The streets were much less congested in town. So was the grocery store. The tourists were on their way back to their homes, finally!

Now our daylight is rapidly decreasing. Sunset was at 6pm last night. It's dark in the mornings when C goes to work. The leaves are completely gone from the trees.

Last year, we had such a terrible summer weatherwise, that winter just seemed like torture. It really felt like winter never left last year. However, this year has been glorious. An early summer from melting snow due to Redoubt's ash. A beautiful summer with lots of blue skies and warmth. A long October with much sunshine. I think I have myself tricked into thinking that the winter may not be so bad.

And maybe it won't be. Maybe we will have a mild winter. Less bitter cold, lots of sunshine (though that usually means it is cold). My ideal winter would mean less snow...

I can dream! The current forecast says Monday is the day for snow. We shall see!

Creative Digital Camera

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Way back in April I signed up for a 1 credit art class on learning digital photography. I have been debating whether I should take it or not, since I have been teaching myself how to do this and the class looked fairly basic. At the least, I figured I could get networked with the instructor, who is apparently quite a big name, Taz Tally.

Went to class today, and didn't know anyone there. Class was just about to get started when in walks my favorite professor! He sat next to me and kept making comments the whole time. It was really strange taking a class with him. (He's a 60 year old genius)

The class looks promising. I am learning a bit, but nothing major, of course. Just little things - a really cool tripod, some Photoshop shortcuts, etc. Some of it is so basic though. One lady doesn't know anything about taking photos or computers in general. The basic requirement for the class is to have a camera that can shoot in the "creative modes." One lady's simple point and shoot didn't have any of those settings.

The whole class is on a mission now to get flashdrives and card readers! But there are a couple of people in there who have quite a bit of experience. I'd like to get to know them a bit.

And, of course, I am by far the youngest student in the class.

It has promise. Next week we might end up at the beach to shoot!

Niece #4

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:28:00 +0000

My brother in law has two little girls. His ex wife has custody of them, but my sister in law brings them to church regularly. This morning, in the middle of worship, I head my name in a very high pitched squeal. At the same moment, arms wrapped around my leg.

It was the younger girl, who's 4 1/2 with her bright blue eyes and soft blonde hair. She beamed up at me and then started excitedly chattering away. She ended up sitting on my lap for a while, as I sort of cuddled with her.

I'm not very affectionate with little kids, but this niece of mine has me wrapped around her finger! It's almost enough to make me want a kid of my own...but not quite!

Work Happenings

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Stuff that happened at work throughout this summer..

A group of 5 or so teenage girls came in. They were all very made up, fashionable, etc. The last one who came in had the strangest look to her. She had really long hair, past her shoulders, but one half of her head was completely shaved. It was obviously a statement...
Someone is looking at candy in the case and I ask: "Can I get you some candy?" "Oh, to try?" "Well...sure.." I was thinking for you to buy...
Regular customer comes in, "What's that new smell?!" "Um..." My sense of smell is nonexistant at work..
A customer wearing a tshirt that shows a family of bears eating tourists. The caption reads: "The family that preys together, stays together."
In July, "These aren't this year's berries?!" Berries don't start coming in until August and it takes about a month (Septemberish) for the berries to get made into jelly/jam. Poor tourists have to wait until next summer to get this year's berries.
"Do you have chocolate covered mushrooms?"
As a customer walks in, he eyes the chocolate and announces, "Hello, sellers of evil!"
Getting asked by children, "Do you know where the bathroom is?" gets old. Of course I know where it is, I work here.
We sell jewelry with mother of pearl in it. It has a commercial, novelty name in Alaska. I got asked one day, "Does glacier pearl come from glaciers?"
"Which is better - a lemon truffle or a key lime?" I can't stand either, so you'll probably like both!
A porcupine was living in our yard. Many customers throughout the summer were ecstatic about it, exclaiming over it and slamming the door, cameras in hand.
Playing with a ring sizer, "Do people really have this small fingers?"
A 3 year old boy looking at our rocky road candy "That has rocks in it?!"

Those were some recent stories...

2009 Goals Continued

disappearing_mist@hotmail.com (Michelle Simpson Photos) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:52:00 +0000

I stumbled across my post I wrote on January 1st of 2009 goals. Let's see how I'm doing since the year is almost done!

Money
Retirement: Haven't done much here. C did get enrolled for his company 401(k) in January after he turned 21. I upped the contributions to get the full benefit of the employer match. We'll have a little to retire on! :P

Savings: Savings are going good. We did go on a vacation like I was hoping. I'd love to go on another, of course, but I don't see it happening yet (scheduling, C being reluctant) Otherwise, our savings are coming along nicely.

Career and School
Career: As I said in yesterday's post, I am changing my emphasis. I will still probably look for an accounting job once I am done, though.

School: Going well. I still think I have 4 more semesters!

Life

We did go on a trip!
Didn't really take many more fun trips, went across the Bay once. That was the extent of it. I'd love to do more of that in 2010 for sure.
Friends? Haha. That one didn't really work. I probably hung out with friends about the same amount of time as in 2008. Kind of a bummer, but it wasn't completely my fault!
I have been working less, like I wanted. I'm only doing about 6 days a month. But now I have a "business" so I am "working" for that I suppose.]
Enjoying the winter? I think that might be sort of possible! I have a vehicle that will start! And I am excited to be taking photos of all the winter-y goodness I can find! Though it will still be much too long!

I'll probably do another list at the start of the list. I figured that this post could be for how much I have/have not accomplished for this year!