I've been working much more than I used to. I get to work sometime after 7:00am and usually don't leave until after 7:00pm. It might sound awful but I'm definitely not the only one that keeps those hours right now, so I have good company. Every other Wednesday we have tax department busy season lunches and we all eat yummy food together that has been delivered to our specifications. We also have a busy season friendly competition that an ex-KPMGer (she just left to start a family) came up with for us. Basically every day we have little challenges to accomplish (and no, they are not all tax-related!) We mark our points down on a giant board and are on teams. It's been a nice way to keep things fun and upbeat. We're on mandatory 50 chargeable hours right now but it hasn't been too difficult. When I first started the job, it was next to impossible for me to get 40 chargeable hours. I worked 40 hour weeks but a lot of that time was spent doing trainings or other administrative stuff around the office. Now, I get to work and can charge my time to a project for the entire day. My days go by really quickly because of that but I don't mind. It's nice to know I'm getting things crossed off my to-do list and I feel accomplished when I wrap up a week of work.
I bring my laptop home with me every weekend but I haven't had to work too much on Saturday or Sunday yet. Today I worked an hour only because I knew it'd help me to do it today instead of tomorrow. I truly feel like I made an awesome choice to work at the Anchorage office because, from what I've heard, it's unlike any other KPMG office. It's as if I work at a local accounting firm because I know everyone's name, I feel important and that the work I do actually matters, the office is small and comfortable, and my coworkers are also my friends. I also get the prestige of working for a Big 4 firm, though, so it's a great combination. Busy season will last until 4/15 so I'm sure things will continue to pick up for me until then, but it's only a little under a month away. I'm fairly sure I can handle it!
Garrett has been working a few jobs in Anchorage so our schedules still match up well. He gets home around 4:00 and since it's been so warm, he and Remy get a good chunk of time outside. I'm looking forward to getting back to a work schedule that allows me to come home in time to do a run! Although, it's already staying light so late that I could probably go on one at 8:30 or 9:00 right now if I wanted to.
We've been trying to be more social lately because it hit us not too long ago that summer is our favorite time of year, but that this summer is going to be different than what we've been used to. We had our core group of friends back in Bozeman that we could count on to do hikes, go camping, get our dogs together, have dinner and drinks, or just hang out and watch movies with. We don't really have that here yet and we'd like to change that. My office has Happy Hours every Friday at differing bars so we've been making an appearance at those whenever possible. We've already successfully been invited to a huge 4th of July camping/hiking trip with some folks! We're also thinking about joining a co-ed softball league for the summer. Having to find new friends has definitely been the hardest part about this move. I thought it would be adjusting to my job but that has been a breeze. I also thought it would be leaving my family, but I talk to them so much and I had already been away from home for years that it hasn't been too different. I mean, this is the longest I've gone without physically seeing my parents and sister, but family is forever and I'm sure we'll see each other plenty in the future. It's different with friends, though, because we're all going separate ways. Either school, work, or family is causing our group to migrate all over the country and it makes it hard to connect like we used to. Phone calls are nice but even those get fewer and far between due to schedules and time differences. It's weird to think that the old Bozeman days are technically over and that even if we were to teleport back there it would not be at all the same. Change is good, though, so no complaints, just observations.
Some fun things we've been up to consist of driving down to Seward last weekend with our friend Bri to see what it was all about. Unfortunately it was a freakishly cold and windy day despite the abundance of sunshine so we mainly did a driving tour of the cute little town and the inlet. We had lunch at a taco shop and pretended like we were in Mexico then drove out on a little dirt road along the water to see the breathtaking sights. We unexpectedly spotted a few otters floating on their backs, riding the wind-driven waves and bathing themselves! They were the cutest things EVER! We also saw a seal hanging out by the rocks just playing in the water and diving under the waves. I was so excited! It reminded me that we really do live in an oceanic place and I think that's so cool. I never thought I'd live someplace where I'd see wild seals and possibly whales! Pretty neat.
Last night, we were invited to join one of my coworkers on a Northern Lights hunt to Talkeetna. The lights have been really active in the Anchorage area lately and the farther north you go, the better they become (hint the name!). We left at about 7:00pm and began the trek up the Parks highway before veering off to Palmer for dinner. We got back on the road via the Palmer-Wasilla highway when it got dark and continued north for an hour and a half or so. It was a loooong drive! We became a little discouraged when we saw a giant, dark, thick cloud cover move in and erase any light whatsoever. We didn't want to give up too early so we pressed on and arrived in Talkeetna at 11:00pm-ish. We thought the sleepy tourist town would be quiet but we were definitely wrong. Apparently there was a massive cross-country ski race held there this weekend and all of the tired racers were sticking around town to have a few drinks. Every place was packed! There was live music and people dancing around in the streets despite the near freezing temperatures. It was trying to snow but the stars were beginning to peek out from the cloud quilt we cursed earlier. We decided to stop into one of the holes-in-the-wall and wait a bit until giving up on the lights altogether. We saw Mayor Stubs, the mayor of Talkeetna...that is a cat. I'm not kidding. We also laughed at the peculiarity of being in a bar at midnight in Alaska with multiple children running around as their parents sat nursing locally brewed beers and mysterious mugs. When it became apparent that sleep was nearing us, we headed toward the car and scanned the sky for any sign of the dancing lights. I saw nothing until my eyes adjusted and then...there they were! Faint but visible, misty and green. It stretched like old cobwebs across the sky, weaving in between the spattering of stars. The more our eyes adjusted, the more we were able to see. We spun in slow circles and tried to find its beginnings and ends. They weren't the magical wavy ones or the multicolored strings, but they were definitely out and we definitely saw them. As we drove back to Anchorage at 1:00am, I thoroughly enjoyed observing them from the rear window until they disintegrated into the glossy sky. Supposedly we'll be able to see them from Anchorage tonight, too!
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