the family business

No, I wasn't in Alaska this week, which you probably know if you've been following my recent activities via twitter or instagram.  These photos are leftover from when we were up there for Christmas!  I totally forgot about this outfit shoot, which is fortunate because I haven't taken outfit photos in over a week!  I could've, but it just would've been a boring outfit with dirty jeans covered in sawdust, six layers of long sleeve shirts and fleeces, a raincoat, and work boots.  I've been wearing the same thing every day, just sleepily slipping into it every morning, pouring coffee and heading out to work on siding for 8 hours.  I did get to clean up a bit to go out to dinner with my Dad, Uncle, and Dan a couple times this week, which actually felt really great.  Work clothes are nice for functionality, but it's good to shed that skin and put on something that feels more "me." 
Working with my dad and uncle on this project has been giving me flashbacks to when I used to commercial fish in Bristol Bay on my uncle's boat.  The weather and temperature is just about the same (probably a bit better, actually), and even though the work and hours are much easier, I haven't worked alongside my uncle like this since I fished with him.  I remember grabbing sleep whenever/wherever possible, usually only a couple hours here & there, and then waking up to the sound of the huge twin diesel engines starting up and the anchor being raised.  I'd drag my half asleep body out of my bunk, slip on my Xtra Tuffs and rain gear, and head out on deck to set our nets.  I'd find fish scales glued to my face after fishing periods, and I'm pretty sure I wore the same braid the whole time, as we only got to shower a few times, either on a tender or on a rare trip to shore.  Detangling my hair at the end of the season was a lengthy ordeal, but worth not having to deal with my hair while fishing.  I just tucked it up into a baseball cap and there it stayed.  I posted some videos and photos from my fishing adventures a few years ago, here.  
dress/dear creatures courtesy of modcloth :: jacket/coldwater creek :: tights/target (thrifted) belt & cardigan/thrifted :: shoes/courtesy of blowfish  I think blogging is somewhat odd, because you see someone daily via their blog, but stories about their lives are often missed because really it's probably impossible to share an entire life via a blog.  And if your blog isn't focused on your life, like if it's a style blog, DIY blog, etc, then you miss even more of who that person is, simply because they've chosen to focus on a small aspect of their life, even though they probably enjoy a wide variety of things!  I think hanging out with family reminds me of all those things that really make me who I am.  All the little fun things that happened, but get forgotten, all the things that you don't think about anymore, but rush back when you're talking to someone who has known you your whole life.  There were so many family stories shared this week, it was fun remembering old stories and hearing new ones.   Doing such a big project with my dad and uncle gave me such a sense of family, which I don't get to experience as much being so far away from them.  My dad and uncle both worked for their dad doing construction work, when they weren't commercial fishing.  I felt this interesting sense of connection with my family, doing work that they had done alongside their father and now I was doing with them.  We totally forgot to get a photo when everyone was here working (dad, uncle, both my brothers, and my cousin), but I would've loved to have recreated the hats from my grampa's old construction company and get a photo of all of us in front of the house wearing them.  I might still do that and send them to everyone as a thanks for all their hard work.  I love nostalgic little things like that.