What you don't know....

 ....just gives you an excuse to learn more!

I've learned a lot about New Mexico while on our little trip. I thought I'd share some of the state's oddities (or at least what I found to be odd) with you on this cold Tuesday evening.

1. New Mexico has some pretty freaking awesome geography!

• There are mountains literally everywhere. They really frame out the landscape and make long drives across the state no so boring.
• There are "lava fields" in the middle of the southern part of the state. When you're driving you can see the ground is darker for miles and it's lava that has cooled (obviously) thousands of years ago but still remains in the area.

You can see the lava formation in this pic just to (you're) left of the pavilion.

The darkness in the image to the right is the black cooled lava.

• The white sands I mentioned in the last post. It's just crazy, I really need to figure out why and how they are there, it's just too crazy. Miles upon miles of clear white sand in the middle of the desert at the base of the mountains. It all just makes me only imagine what New Mexico's natural history must have been like.

2.  There are "trading posts" everywhere. These places are basically just hole-in-the-wall joints that sell various antique and new turquoise and sterling silver jewelry. Turquoise is big here. And I couldn't resist. I have to admit I did pick up a turquoise ring and a pair of earrings I'm proud of! I was told the earrings were Zuni (a local Native American tribe). I'm just going to go on and believe that I was told the truth about the jewelry! Honestly though, the jewelry is amazing, I just hope that I can integrate these pieces into my mid-east wardrobe.

 

This was a popular style I saw throughout the various shops.

 

The ring I bought was similar (and I say that VERY loosely) as it had a single large turquoise stone with some ridging around the edges. The ridging on mine isn't as pronounced. I loved the visual impact and the size of the stone.

3. There are random picnic tables on the side of the road, all over. These tables are hilarious and just pop out of the shoulder of the road all over. I don't know who would want to pull over in the middle of the desert for a picnic, but I guess if the moment strikes...it's there.

4. It gets cold! And I mean like, grab a coat, get a scarf, brrrr it's cold! Granted it's January but it's also the Southwest and when I think Southwest I think hot, adobe buildings and the burning sun and the desert. Not jackets and chilling winds. And so far, everyday we've been in Albuquerque (which is further north) there have been school closings for snow fall! I was floored!

Well, that's all I got right now. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our southwest adventures as much as we've had.

Eight Questions

So, I have to be honest, I've kind of lost my umph when it comes to blogging lately, but I still love reading them and tonight I found this game on Bluegrass Love and thought it seemed like fun and something easy to blog about.

Eight Question: you answer eight questions posed by a fellow blogger then ask 8 questions at the end and invite others to continue playing.

1. What DIY project are you most proud of? Share pictures.

This one I'm not sure about, while I love being creative with paper (scrapbooking anyone?) and I love yardsaling and craigslisting and making old things new again, I don't think I do enough to make it actually qualify as DIY. One this that does come to mind is a lamp base I bought for $3.00 at a neighborhood yardsale a couple weeks ago. I found it in this elderly couple's garage amidst a dozen more lamp bases and covered in dust and cobwebs. I thought the shape and the design was pretty cool and hey, for $3.00 how can you pass it up?

So I bought it, cleaned it up and topped it off with a modern white barrel shade. I'm still trying to decide if I want to repaint the base as I'm not convinced it works with the rest of the decor.

2. What are you most afraid of?

Bees, wasps, hornets, flyey stingy things...seriously anything that is tiny, can fly and have stingers scares the bajeezes out of me!

Oh! I'm also super afraid of scary movies, I just can't handle the stress. We saw Wolfman in theaters...BAD idea, I think I would've had a heart attack had the movie been any longer. Heck, I didn't even really watch the movie most of the time, I seriously paid (well Stephen paid) to watch the floor of the theater during the movie. My heart and my sanity just can't take it!

3. Why do you blog?

I was really just looking for a creative outlet and a way to let people know what was going on in my life especially since I had just gotten engaged when I began blogging. I also love reading other people's blogs and began to feel guilty about reading and not writing.

4. What color lipstick do you wear?

I don't, I'm a chapstick kind of girl. I've never worn lipstick but I have experimented with glosses but just can't find something that works for me.

5. What's your favorite go-to recipe?

I'm definetly not the chef in the relationship so I don't really have any recipes, but Stephen makes a mean home-made mac and cheese with vermont white cheddar cheese. It's delicious and in a bind I always suggest Stephen whip out the grater and the mac/cheese pot. YUM!

6. What's your favorite place to go (or thing to do) for a cheap date?

A walk in the park until it gets dark, an hour or so at half-price books then finishing up the evening with a birthday cake remix at Coldstone Creamery. Yes please!

7. How many children do you want? Do you have a gender preference or names picked?

Oh goodness, is it bad that I know the answer to this question and I'm not even married yet?! In my little world, I'm thinking 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. We've picked out Emma Kate, Ava ___ and William Bradley for the names thus far. Who knows, only time will tell I suppose, it is an exciting prospect though!

8. What is your favorite fashion trend/look for the fall?

I've never gotten on the boot bandwagon and as I've seen them out in stores I'm secretly getting a little excited. I don't know if I'll have the gumption to actually buy and wear a pair, but it's definetly what I'm thinking about this fall.

I'm torn because there are so many different styles of boots for so many different occasions. As you can see I'm all over the place with the styles that I like. Who knows, maybe I'll bite the bullet and get a pair eventually!

Now it's your turn, answer these eight questions on your blog!

1. What/where is your safe-place, your sanctuary, where you go to "get away from it all"?

2. If someone gave you a plane ticket good for anywhere in the world, where would you go?

3. How do you express your creativity?

4. Do you prefer wine or beer?

5. What does your ideal family look like? Kids? Pets? Names?

6. Where do you want to retire? (I know it's a long way away, but a girl can dream right?)

7. What do you always have stocked in the fridge?

8. Favorite TV shows? Why?

Looking forward to reading some of your answers!

Back to School Shopping

Well, this year at this back to school time, it feels weird that my "back to school" lists don't contain the essentials I've needed to survive graduate school for the past 2 years including: 3 inch binders, highlighters, post-its, pens, pencils, etc...

Instead, my back to school list included the following:

• New scrubs for rehab and acute care internships
• Unattractive but comfortable shoes also for above internships and potentially the job I get next year
• New lunch box

I'm liking theis from Target

Also...TGIF!!!!!

Impossible!

"Impossible...for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage!"

For some reason for the past several weeks I've had these lyrics to my favorite song from Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella featuring Brandy, Whitney Houston and Whoopi. I've been singing it so much that Stephen will sometimes randomly shout out, "Impossible!" and I finish with the rest of the line. I must say it's become quite amusing and it's even funnier when Stephen says, "Hey babe, what's 'impossible'?" and I don't get the reference and pause for a bit until it hits me, then of course I finish the lyrics.

So anyway Stephen netflixed it a we got a copy. I was super-pumped to watch it and have Stephen finally see it. Well, lets just say it wasn't what I remember and I have to say that's become a common thing recently. You know, where you have a favorite childhood movie that you have all these great memories from and you somehow manage to get your hands on them again and after watching it, realize, that um, yeah, there's a reason why they're "children's" movies.

I've had this let down with several films including:

The Adventures of Scamper

The Care Bears Movie

Scooby Doo and the Boo Brothers

So I think I may hold off on watching them until I have children and then hopefully I can share the wonder of the movies with the preferred audience! Anybody have the same experience?

-All images courtesy of Google Images searched under the title of the movie; view the original sources by clicking on the link of the title of the movie-

Word to the Wise...

Make sure you look at the amounts of an ingredient you need BEFORE you go shopping, or at least take the recipe with you.
 

Since Stephen got his new apartment we've been doing some baking and more than once I've found myself buying the larger size of an ingredient at the store because I had no idea how much the recipe called for. No telling how much money I've wasted.

Just thought I would pass that along, it's some good advice.