Just a few more days....

Only a couple more days here with my family. I have so enjoyed the time with them. And am going to miss them when I leave. I miss Michael though so am excited to get home and see him.

Here are a few more pictures of the sculpture garden...

Fruit, Flowers and Art

Just a few pictures from the Sculpture Garden and then Farmer's Market....

Bliss

I am hoping I will have some pictures to share tomorrow. I took almost 200 pictures just need to pull them from my camera.

We went to the Farmer's Market that had of course fruit and vegetable stands but also good eats (brats, gigantic caramel pecan roll), flowers and plants, handmade goods (soaps, candles and quilts), flea market type finds (sunglasses, purses and beanie babies). My Mom bought a gorgeous bouquet that I haven't got a picture of but want to take it where she has it in her house as it look so pretty. And then my sister April got 2 bouquets towards the close of the Farmer's Market for $5 for 2 bouquets - a dozen roses and also a bunch of gerbera daisies. So so pretty. My sister Michelle bought me some homemade soap - coconut pear. So yummy smelling it makes me hungry just inhaling around it!

After the Farmer's Market, my sisters and I headed to the sculpture garden. I had never been there. I took a ton of photos there - between the sculpture and the flowers - just so many pretty shots. If you have never been to Minneapolis, you might still know where I have been by the just me mentioning the spoon with the cherry. It is a big spoon with a cherry sculpture that it is famous for.

From there we went to have ice cream and then go to a store called Patina. It is a store I could lose many hours in and did lose quite a bit of time. There are so many little wonderful treasures. It also had art by Papaya Art which I always enjoy. And had the image I used with this post. One of my favorite images.

We then headed back to my sister's house for a bit before she delivered me back to my parents. I spent quality time with Mom looking at cookbooks and visiting. You know that is where I get my love of cooking and also just browsing cookbooks - from my Mom. I think tomorrow we are going to to Penzeys Spices. I know she will love their spices just as much as I do.

I am missing Michael of course but talking to him a couple times a day so that is good.

Very tired from the busy day. But very happy to have had such a beautiful day with my family! I miss them so much living so far away so it is just fabulous to be able to spend this time with them.

Friday Gratitude with Pictures of Keystone

I am thankful...
1. for the beautiful condo we had at Keystone
2. for the beautiful state we live in - Colorado just takes my breath away almost daily
3. for being home where Michael can rest as his cold ended up getting worse while we were out of town
4. for New Earth giving me lots of food for thought
5. we were able to see Michael's parents while in Keystone. And for the gifts they gave us - wok, olive oils and chocolate - Thank you!

Some pictures of our condo in Keystone. We stayed at the River Run Condos.

One view from the deck of our condo


Another view from the deck of our condo - a night view of ski slope


Bedroom


View from kitchen and near door looking into living room


Fireplace in living room

Leaving for Keystone

We are leaving this morning for Keystone. Keystone is a beautiful mountain ski restort. We have work there so will be there until Friday. We both are getting over colds so although we are looking forward to getting away (even work-related) - I know it will probably set us back in our colds as we be so busy.

When we get back, I have several projects to work on. But hopefully I will get back into blogging more consistantly.

Face Plant on the Driveway

Always a great way to start the day by doing a face plant on the driveway. I was walking to the car and looking at the things in my hand to make sure I had everything and tripped. I landed half on the driveway and half into the snow next to the driveway. My face and all the stuff in my hands ended up in the snow. And my knee hit the driveway hard.

When I first came into the house, I couldn't put any weight on my left leg/knee. Now after icing it - it is weight bearing. Bruised and battered looking but movable (mostly). Thank goodness. We leave for Denver this afternoon. Hopefully I will be able to film tomorrow. I think filming is possible as I would just be able to sit and film. I don't think I will be able to help with set up though and that will almost kill me watching Michael do that all on his own.

2 More Trip Photos...

Unfortunately I have been hit a string of migraines. It started lightly on Sunday evening when we were out of town. And has gotten progressively worse. So today hasn't been very productive.

But here are a few more photos of our trip...


I love this shot that Michael got of the picnic table. I bet it would look lovely in black and white too.


This photo has an effect on it too - similar to the one in the last post. I have been wanting to play with those kind of things but often feel I shouldn't with Michael's photos. This one and the other one with the effect were shots I took while he was driving.

Escape to Ouray

Back from our overnighter. It was great! So beautiful! I packed sandwiches and such so we didn't have to spend money on food. And our night in the hotel was free too. So we just paid for gas. Oh we did stop and have breakfast on Monday in Montrose so that was the only meal we spent money on. So not too bad. And more importantly we had a lovely time.

So much snow that sparkled in the sun. It was so pretty. As I mentioned last time we had our overnight and went through there was no snow. And for some reason I just think of Ouray with snow. It looks good with snow.

When we got back in town we ran a few errands and then went to pick up a calendar. We got one with the art of Daniel Merriam. Surrealist that kind of reminds me of Michael Parkes in some ways but not at the same time.

A couple photos of our trip - and I will post more later...
(click on the photos to get a bigger view of them)
I did a texture on top of this photo to create lines in it.


This photo Michael took and it is beautiful hotel in Ouray.

Overnighter

We had an absolutately fantastic time. Relaxing and fun....just wonderful quality time. We saw some of the most amazing scenery. When Michael downloads pictures, I will upload some here. Very tired but so happy. More on it all later.

A link to the scenic byway we took today - San Juan Skyway. Only took a portion of it but it was so beautiful.

Escaping

Tomorrow we are going to escape....just for overnight. We have some free hotel nights to use up before the end of the year. And we just can't seem to get away for a whole weekend so thought why not just an overnighter. Our first choice was Ouray but they are booked. So another place I have always wanted to go is Durango. Michael went to college at Fort Lewis in Durango so I have always wanted to see it. We are both looking forward to unplugging and just enjoying our time.

We are doing it on the cheap - with the free night. And then today I baked a ham and also made a loaf of bread. So we can bring ham sandwiches with us so we don't have to spend money going out to eat.

It is just so nice to get away from it all - even over night.

Gone in 60 Seconds

I just haven't had time to write as my parents were here Friday to Monday. Then it was catching up on work Tuesday and Wednesday. And now today leaving for Denver. But will be back tomorrow night. So hopefully I can do a post this weekend about all the fun we had when my parents were here. It was great to see them!

So for now off to Denver.

Somersault

Monday we left to go to a meeting in the afternoon and forgot the keys so locked ourselves out of the house and car. So we had to break into our house. Be prepared to giggle as you read the rest. I scooched (more like ungracefully heaved) myself through a window that we got open. As I hit the floor in a full somersault my leg got caught into the curtains but I made it in. Thankfully no injuries occurred during this amazing acrobatic exercise. Oh and all this was done in a skirt. So now I am sportin some wicked bruises because of it. Just sayin that we need to train the cats to unlock the door for us.

Michael kept saying he wished he had a camera...I was thankful there wasn't one around. I hope our neighbor didn't watch!

We are leaving to go out of town so I didn't get to do a blog hopping today because been busy packing. And hopefully tomorrow I can take time to do my weekly gratitude list. Otherwise...we will be back on Sunday.

Time Lapse

A really good thing that happened this week....One of my very good friend Jessica has been wanting to take a trip so she called together a group of friends (A, C and I) and said lets all get together. So it looks like I am going to have a girls-weekend -- possibly the weekend of my birthday. Jessica is going to fly here and spend 1 or 2 days with Michael and I. And then her and I will drive to C's town since C can't get out of town - we will be having the weekend there. And then A will fly to C. After then Jessica and I will come back here and she will spend a couple days here before going home. So I am really excited about that. I could really use some girl time/friend time.

What else...

We have been up to the Colorado National Monument more lately then we probably went at all last year. Tuesday evening Michael wanted to film a sunset so we went up there to get that. And then Wednesday morning we got up at 4:15 so we could head up there again to film a sunrise. He is going use them as time lapse in a wedding video he is doing.

Tuesday evening before heading up to the Monument we stopped at the library so I could pick up a couple books on hold for me. One really just had me absorbed from the moment I picked it up -- Brave on the Rocks by Sabrina Ward Harrison. I haven't ever read/looked at her first book but of course now want it too. Brave on the Rocks really evoked my emotions, memories and imagination in positive ways. It is a book I would like to own as I am sure it would be a constant source of inspiration through her message and her art.

I finished Breaking Dawn in 2 nights. it is the forth book in the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyers. I have some issues with Breaking Dawn But I think I will just do a review on good reads since it might have some spoilers. Right now I am reading The Post-Birthday World and I really thought after reading 21 pages that it would be one that ended up on the "didn't finish" list. I then got to a dialog instead of the authors long detailed explanations of things that don't have anything to do with the plot. And helped me plug on. But now is confusing me as the author described one scenario 2 ways. Two different ways it happened, two different sets of feelings and reactions. And the plot seems to go back and forth between the those two scenarios so I am not sure what actually happened. Where I ended off last night seems to have moved past that scenario but the book is still hanging in that....wonder if it will end up on the "didn't finish" list because it is annoying me.

I have been battling with a migraine this week. It started Tuesday evening and still hasn't really let up. I hope to at least get some work done today as I don't feel I have gotten much done this week.

Denver Trip

We are back from Denver. Now it is catch up time for work. Being away for so long really makes things a little crazy when we get back.

But we also had a nice time in Denver. I saw my friend DM and her partner. It was great to see them! The time went to quickly for me though. I wish I could have spent more time with them. I felt like I wanted to talk about so much and time just kind of got away from me. But I am still thrilled that I was able to see them even for that short of time. Getting time with them both made my week!

Most of our week consisted of meetings. We got quite a bit accomplished while there. On Saturday morning Michael took a look at some pictures that were ruined. Michael's parents basement flooded and they had been sitting on the floor so they were ruined. Michael looked to see if he could think of a way to salvage them. One was a photo of a stain glass window that Michael's Gram was given for her good works with the youth of her church. That photo was ruined so with some pooled resources Michael and his Mom were able to track the window down. And Michael called to see if we could go take pictures of it. As it turned out the church was open so we went down to take pictures of it. It is a beautiful stain glass window in a very cute little church so I am glad Michael was able to get pictures. They turned out great. We then dropped one off at Wolf's Camera for 1 hour development and then ran to Michael's Arts and Crafts to get a frame for it. And then got another frame for the other photo which Frank took of Maroon Bells. So it was not only a productive day but a touching day seeing the stain glass in person. Michael's parents thanked us many times for helping them with the photos and frames.

Of course while in Denver we always seem to hit good places to eat! Michael's parents took us to Jim 'N Nick's BBQ for dinner. Yummy! I had never been there but everyone else had and Michael kept telling me how good it was and he was right. I didn't leave hungry. We also went to a really good vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Denver with my friends as they are vegan. The food there was beautiful. I had banana bread french toast with toasted walnuts and fruit. I had planned on getting a sandwich but then saw that on the menu and it was calling my name! We also got to have Beau-Jo's Pizza while over -- met family there. Michael's sister needed glutten-free and they had a whole page of menu devoted to glutten-free - even glutten free pizza. And she said it was pretty good for being glutten free --- and now knows when she is craving pizza where to go.

So we are back and busy working. I have several websites going and a logo to work on too. Michael has quite a few projects too so we are busy.

Hitting I-70

Leaving for Denver! Seeing my friend DM and her partner on tomorrow. I can't wait as we haven't seen each other for 7 years.

Santa Fe

I do 100 Things about me over on my other blog. And today I did a post on Santa Fe that I thought I would share over here because it was very inspiring too me.

I feel very connected to Santa Fe/Taos area.

For years before I visited Santa Fe I had these dreams where I would wake up and know I was dreaming of Santa Fe. I had never been. I really hadn't see many pictures of it. I just knew it was Santa Fe. So I shared the dream with Michael shortly after we were together. A year after living with him, he made my dream of visiting come true by taking me to Santa Fe.

It was truly amazing experience.

Art - We could have spent all the days we were there seeing art and not covered it all. Michael and I both love art, so it was very nice to go in and out of galleries seeing art with him. There are over 300 galleries and museums. The Georgia O'Keefe Museum was closed but we went to 2 others and then many many galleries. The art is not just southwest art either - it has classical, modern, folk - paintings, sculptures and photographs. Just everything you desire in art is in Santa Fe. It was very inspiring looking at all the different types of art. We looked at art everyday and never got through even 1/3 of the art available there. One of the places I really enjoyed was The Awakening. It is a monumental work of art...very powerful The ceiling and walls are covered with 8000 sq. feet of carved and painted wood. The pictures on the website and in the brochures do not do it justice. They allowed you to touch the works, take all sorts of pictures, lay on the floor or benches to look at the ceiling and have paper and pencils in the space in case you are inspired. It was inspiring. I did not sketch, but Michael took lots of pictures. Jean Claude Gaugy is the artist that created The Awakening. His work with color and line expresses emotion and movement. I really enjoyed witnessing his works.

(clicking on the images will take you to a bigger view of the photo)

Two pictures from The Awakening....
























Two other pictures - one of a sculputre in front of a gallery and then the second were part of a garden. They had dessert type plants and flowers and then these scupltures with twirly pieces on them that turned in the wind.

Architecture

- Michael and I both like adobe style buildings so of course we saw plenty in Santa Fe. The main street in town leads to a cathedral....St. Francis Cathedral. It is really one of the few buildings that is not done in the adobe architecture. Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy built a Romanesque cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches - from the St. Francis Cathedral. To Loretto which was Gothic style and has a spiral staircase that has no visible support - no dowels or nails were used in building it. To the oldest church in the USA which is San Miguel Mission. Michael took several pictures of adobe style churches. They were just so beautiful with the beams, craved doors, stucco, and iron work.

San Miguel Mission














Loretto
















St. Francis



















St. Francis













The plaza area downtown is lined in galleries, museums, and then shops that sell everything from high quality fashions to trinkets in a five and dime general store. There is a building called the Palace of the Governors on the plaza. Outside the Palace under the portal Native American women offer all sorts of goods for sale. It is called the market. For about a block women are sitting with their goods on the ground. They have blankets spread out with their good on them - LOTS of jewelry. Others have dolls, pottery, organic foods and herbal remedies. What I thought was interesting is that it is 80 degrees maybe 78 and all the women have long sleeves plus some with coats and sweaters and others under blankets....like it is cold. Some that are in the sun have umbrellas. But most are under a covered porch area.

Palace of the Governors







So many other things I could highlight because something I could not get over is how Santa Fe has everything - scenery, architecture, food....just cultural, history and art pouring out of it.

Oh I didn't mention Taos - the reason is we only spent a little time there. We wished we had been able to spend more. It is more artsy and rustic then Santa Fe but we had a nice time there too.

And just 2 more pictures even though Michael took a ton of pictures and this is just a small handful....

Merry Christmas!

Michael and I just got home a few hours ago. We were going to come back tomorrow but well the weather decided to act up so we needed to take the clear window.

We had a really nice Christmas with Michael's family. It was definitely a WHITE Christmas! That was really neat....I always prefer Christmas with SNOW! I so wanted to go out and play in it. I did get a chance to throw one snowball at Michael! And of course he retaliated.

We will be celebrating our Christmas on Saturday. Opening gifts and having our traditional dinner -- well mostly because we have had a lot of ham the last few days so thinking of doing a pork tenderloin in the place of the meat. Although the ham Frank and JoAnne had was oh so very good! Really good flavor to it.

I was able to go shopping this morning and hit some good after Christmas sales. I love after Christmas shopping to get stock up decorations, home decor and paper goods. I got some little hand towels for the bathrooms, cards, tags, mailing labels, stickers, napkins....AND STOCKINGS! Michael and I have been needing new ones. They are a wool - one red one green with our initials on them...very simple but Michael and I like them!

After that we hit a few more places plus had breakfast at on of our favorite places over there. We also got a chance to go to World Market. They had 75% off all their Christmas items so I got a few ornaments that were really inexpensive.

So it has been a long day with shopping and then 4 hours of traveling. I am exhausted and we have to get up early tomorrow to run errands and get ready to celebrate our Christmas on Saturday.

I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas....filled with happiness and love!

Out of Town...

This will probably be quick post as I am out of town and not really a lot of free time.

We had a good day although very long. We are just ready to go to sleep for a few days. We went to bed at 12:30pm and got up at 5:30am. Then it has been a day of celebrating with family. Although very good.....very long.

We had a TON of food. Really I think I am going to suggest a change for next year -- that we all bring less. As really the food could feed all 13 of us for weeks I am sure. But it was all great!

I mentioned on Friday we went out looking at lights and that is one of my favorite holiday traditions with Michael. Really Christmas Eve traditionally is my favorite time/tradition. We have a really nice dinner, wine, at times dance and then go out and look at lights. We come home and just enjoy the time with each other....knowing how blessed we are to be together enjoying this journey. So although we aren't going to be home tomorrow....I know I will look at him throughout the day tomorrow and still reflect, remember, and remind myself how truly blessed I am.

Good Birthday!

We are home (again)!

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful, touching, beautiful cards, emails and gifts. I am so very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Thank you all so much!

I had a wonderful birthday. We didn't celebrate it with cake and singing of Happy Birthday - which was my wish that we wouldn't. But we celebrated with just doing lots of fun things and seeing my parents. It was a wonderful wonderful weekend! I am very grateful to Michael for the words, the gifts, the time he created for my birthday. I am truly a lucky woman!

I hope my sister, April is having a VERY Happy Birthday!

Randomness

This is going to be post of randomness thus the bullet points as nothing connects. That kind of day you know.

• We had dinner with friends last night. Michael made a retirement video for one of the friends and we weren't able to be a the party when the showed it as we were in Shreveport so got together last night. We watched the video last night with them and the friend got all teary watching it again. And he has watched it several times already but still affected by it. I know it makes Michael feel good that his work touches people. It is hard not to be touched by his videos. I know I feel the same way about my parents video.
  
  We all watched the Rockies win so that was fun and had great food. We had really good wine. One wine though I really liked even though I only had a sip as migraines still lingering but it had a grapefruit undertone that was very nice. Of course though I had to do something to make myself blush a million shades of red....I broke a spoon.



• At Frank and JoAnne's last week we watched the first disk from Planet Earth. And that was so amazing! I loved it. But really what was the cutest is when the birds came on to their big screen high definition tv and Caesar immediately jumped from his slumber to go get them. He was reaching up touching the screen with his paw. He finally jumped up on the speaker next to the tv and sat on it reaching over to the tv to try to get the birds. We didn't get a picture because as soon as we would have moved he would have stopped. But it was SO cute!



• Going to get my hair cut this morning. I will be having probably about 4 to 5 inches taken off - it is a length Michael really likes. Then tomorrow I will dye it black cherry. I have been trying to hold out in getting it cut because I wanted to donate to locks of love again. But I am just really getting frustrated with it - the tangles and it is just so dry. So I need to get some taken off. I want it couple inches past my shoulders.



• Talked to my parents yesterday to get plans more firm for what we are doing and staying. We are going to the art museum Thursday. Friday we will probably take a little day trip. And then the rest of the time will be for shopping. I want new shoes - new mary janes to be exact. And there are DSW's in Denver so probably hit one of those.



• Made Chili and cornbread on Saturday. And then yesterday I made a pie to bring to our friends - chocolate buttermilk. (links are to recipes over on my cooking blog)
  

We have a film shoot this afternoon. I am feeling really out of today though so I hope I can snap out of it before then.

Need to find my sister's birthday card to give to my parents....her birthday is on the 20th.