Friday Fun: Weddings current and past

 My amazing friends Meghan and Joel had the most beautiful wedding weekend before last and I got the lucky job of photographing the day. I posted some of my favortite shots on my professional site: www.kernthisstudio.com.

This has been a very sentimental week for me between immersing myself in editing the photos I shot recently and thinking back to my wedding this time last year. All week we were saying, "this time last year ..."

ON MONDAY: We reminisced about pizza with our first visitors at Moose's Tooth.
ON TUESDAY: A king crab feast at the house after a day of wedding DIY details. Including those darn pocket squared that were hidden in my apartment two hours away on the big day.
ON WEDNESDAY: The Portage Glacier Cruise with our bridal parties, meeting Beardsley McGlacierface (name changed to procect the innocent) and my wonderful night out with my girls. The arrival of "Katherine."
THURSDAY: The hottest day since I moved to Alaska, a two-cart Costco adventure, a dinner party at the Hamiltons', and Josh hi-jacking his own bachelor party for a poker night at home, while I packed bags and printed beautiful schedules at 1 a.m. that never made it to the wedding.
FRIDAY: Frantically trying to figure out how to fit a little more in all the parents' and friends' cars before trekking up to Cooper Landing for the happiest weekend ever.

Everything that comes after is pretty spectacular too. This weekend we're packing our backs for weekend getaway to celebrate a wonderful first year and toast years to come.

Highlights from Seattle

I took a mini-trip to Seattle last week on my way to a friend's wedding and had a wonderful time. The rain stayed away for a couple days and I got to run around with my mom and a couple of my close friends, and enjoy the city. We walked, shopped, ate out and drank wine. I got to see my delightful grandparents and tour my mom's office.

Plus I had a fantastic night out with some very wonderful journalist friends. I miss them in Alaska and was happy to see no one had changed too much, and everyone seemed better with age. I got to meet one friend's new husband, another's new girlfriend and hear the plans and anxious hopes of a soon-to-be father. Thank you friends, especially those who traveled or took other pains to see me. I truly appreciate you.

Here's a short pictorial from my trip. I also have 2,713 photos from Whidbey and Camano islands to sort through from my friends' wedding, but I need a little more time sorting through those ...

Friday Fun: One happy 11-year-old

Davin turned 11 this week and we were so excited to give him his birthday gift tonight: The Peavey electric guitar he's been eying for months. Needless to say he LOVED it. Tomorrow we're having a backyard barbecue party and I've been cooking up some DIY decor and party favors. He picked orange and brown for party colors. I had forgotten how fun and easy paper chains are to make. Happy Birthday Davs!

Friday Fun: Revival of the lemonade stand

May Day was also Lemonade Day in Anchorage last weekend.

We went on an epic bike ride on a lesser-known (read: hilly and muddy) trail last weekend that dropped us off at Westchester Lagoon. After lapping the water we were began plotting where to find a little refreshment when we came around the corner and found a real, live lemonade stand.

Adorable kids were standing on the edge of the trail hollering like newsies and more adorable little people were serving up four varieties of lemonade. I ordered the stands namesake drink, the Lemon Twist, a mix of sparkling water and lemonade for just $1. It was perfect.

Lemonade Day is a city event to encourage kids to learn about entrepreneurship. Participants get packets to help them start their lemonade stands. The website explains it:

"It is a FUN, FREE, city-wide event where KIDS get to MAKE and KEEP THE MONEY that they earn. Kids of all ages learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, and give back to their community."

After our cool drinks we continued to the downtown New Sagaya Market for lunch and found a less adventurous (read: difficult) route home.

Barbecuing weather, another sign of spring

We busted out the barbecue on Saturday for the first time this spring. A a couple friends came over to help us drink wine and enjoy the first barbecue of spring at our house. Davin even cracked open the sidewalk chalk from his Easter basket.

I can't believe it's May already. It hit me the other night when I looked at the clock and was shocked to see it was 10 p.m. already and still broad daylight out. Thank goodness for the blackout shades in the bedrooms at the new place. I love this time of year!

Media Monday: bin Laden front pages

I love taking a moment to peruse Newseum on a big day in news like today. It's always interesting to see what kind of choices editors and designers made on deadline. Last night I was picturing headlines as I watched the cable new networks try to fill the minutes at 1 a.m. EST. I prefer headlines that focus on reaction and project the story forward, instead of just stating the fact that he's dead. But those were far and few between today. And really we probably didn't have the stories written to support a headline like that. Tomorrow with tell more.

Any that used "justice" were nice as that seems to be the catchword of the day after the President used it in his speech:

Some fronts were simply shocking: