Hi all! 

 It's been a while since I've written but here we are! Tomorrow marks three months here in Kotzebue so I thought I'd pause and reflect on how things have been and how I've been feeling. 

   Homesickness and loneliness have kind of been the name of the game for the last few weeks. I've done an okay job of meeting people here and getting to know my coworkers and stuff but I still just miss my friends in STL. I'm actually tentatively planning a trip there in the spring. I just really want to see everyone. 

  I've taken a couple of trips to Anchorage over the last month. One of those was very fun and one was not so fun. The first trip was the not so fun one. My flight was cancelled and then once I got there I missed my train so all in all it was kind of a waste of money and a long weekend. I was pretty disappointed about it. The one good thing that came of it is that I finally have a fully functioning phone instead of two half functioning phones. That was and remains pretty exciting. I feel so much more connected to people being able to text throughout the day and send pictures and stuff. 

  My second trip to Anchorage was just last weekend and it was awesome. I decided to go for the Women's March on Oct 2 to protect abortion rights. I was texting with a friend about it and she offered to come up and meet me in Anchorage and spend the weekend together which was very, very thoughtful of her. So that's what we did, and we had a great time! Here are some pictures: 

   

  Anchorage is really, really beautiful. It's an awesome city to visit. My mom and I are planning a trip there for late February which I am super excited about. I've never been on a winter vacation before so it will be different but I am really excited. I mostly have the whole trip planned out and I found some really awesome stuff for us to do, I'll keep you guys posted on that as it gets closer. 

  Things with work continue to go well. All of the sudden I have a lot of kids on my caseload which is a little different for me. I like it though, they usually take really well to the art making and that's my favorite kind of work so no complaints from me. I do have a decent amount of adults so it all balances out nicely. I do miss the intensity of seeing people more than once per week, I'm still adjusting to this outpatient lifestyle. 

  Even though it feels like winter to me fall is definitely here. Temps are in the 30s which is not terrible but sometimes the "feels like" is as low as 14 which IS terrible. I know, I know I'm in for a rude awakening. In the actual winter it gets down to as low as -60. So yea, not looking forward to walking to work in that. Before it got cold I was feeling prepared for winter and now I'm not so sure. 

  Still no bear sightings but I have seen some seals as well as a couple of cute foxes. I am happy about not seeing any bears, it's actually become my biggest fear. The foxes are fun to watch, they are a very curious and playful. I had no idea. 

 Well friends that's about all I have for you. The next big thing I have coming up is going home to Atlanta for the holidays which I am really looking forward to. I miss everyone and everything so much more than I thought I would. I really wish there was time on that trip to stop in STL but I just don't know how realistic that is. 

 My birthday is at the end of this month. I plan to go to the hotel here (the only place you can have a sit down meal) and order a fancy dinner. My work gave me an amazon gift card for my bday so I'm also going to order myself a wood burner and all the associated tools. I've decided to make wood burning one of my winter hobbies. My other winter hobbies are reading, needle felting, book club, and reading tarot cards. :) 

  Hope you all are staying safe and doing well! I miss you! 

Veronica