In case you were wondering what an early morning conversation looks like with my cousin Emily here you are:

If you haven't already it's time to sign up (please)

I just busted Emily eating sand and it looked a lot like this

Rice and Beans

rice and beans for her - chile relleno burrito for me


Emily has a love for rice and beans so we picnicked at the old town square, caught some live music, did some dancing and then made a mess with an ice cream cone, lovely evening.

day two and a half

This morning started with a shriek at 6:00 a.m. - but no emergency, just the terror of waking up in her bed. This girl does not like to sleep, go to sleep, wake up from sleep, noth'n. But, the good news is she gets over it pretty quick.

I being the sucker I am I jump out of bed, get her up and turn on the cartoons, all the while thinking it was 8:00 a.m. for some reason. I thought it was so weird that I was still soooo tiered until it dawned on me that I was in fact a sucker.

Any who, on with the day - only 3 or so hours of prep (cartoons, breakfast, quick workout, shower, get dressed, pack food, pack diapers, pack extra clothes, start laundry, feed the dog) we headed north to Taos.

Thank you iphone for being a camera as well, because in my mess of getting down here I missed the camera.

In a random neighborhood where I was lost for a bit - I love chochkies.

You could see the straw in the mud that made up the walls of this church. Authentic.

We were wondering around this little square because for some reason I thought it was Taos (Rio Grande Taos is apparently not the same thing) until a friendly old man enlightened me. This is the neighborhood he was born and raised in and now has a gift shop in one of these mud houses.

Grave yard at a Pueblo Indian Reservation (tourist trap and we took the bait)

Emily walking the alley of the Res.

Yes, I put this outfit together. Poor thing, I am transforming her into a scrapper.

Rio Grand over look was super cool

Only scary part is that it was SUPER windy and Emily could not help but try and fit her head through the bars. She kept saying she wanted to "fly to the river and go for a swim". Scary.

Rainy drive home.

By no short miracle I finally made it! Cabin deadline - met. Pack for Santa Fe and make it to the airport on time - check. Be a complete mess while doing it - done and done.

Last week I worked 4 - 13 hour days (preceded by 2 - 8 hour days mind you). My days consisted of waking at 7, getting up and out by 7:30, to Home Depot by 7:45, to the job site by 8:30. Then run around with a pit of anxiety and stress until about 7:30 p.m. when I would give up and drag my exhausted self home to do it again the next day. I couldn't have done it without help (Amanda saved the day, so did my sister, I even dragged my mom up there to help) and by Saturday that job went from construction site to home. I didn't take the time to even take pictures of the process, but some finished product should show up here semi soon.

So now to the airport, which by the time I arrived I literally felt nauseous I was so tiered. The security guy made me empty all my toiletries because I failed to put tooth paste in my plastic baggie. He ran tests on my contact solution and empty water bottle and finally decided I wasn't a security threat so Zach and I made it through there, rushed to our gate (which was at the end of 3 long hallways) to find our flight to Albequerqie was actually through Las Vegas and was delayed an hour. All of this is pretty standard airport stuff, and I really don't think I would have even griped about it if after waiting half delirious to get on the flight, and finally boarding I felt the blood rush out of my face as I realized I hadn't recovered my lap top from the security fiasco. I dropped all of my stuff at Zach's feet and sprinted back down the 3 long hallways back to security. They had sent it to some upstairs office that I also sprinted to and was LOCKED. At this point my mental and physical exhaustion got the best of me and I fell apart. Yes, I'm an adult, I'm a mess, and I was bawling at the airport trying to explain what happened as they made the final boarding call for my flight. I paced in front of the security door as they went to find it and I swear I could feel a blood vessel in my brain almost burst as I waited. When they finally came back and I had signed all of the paper work I kicked off my shoes (flip flops that are too big) and ran as fast as I could muster all of the way back to the gate. Some how (which I don't entirely understand since our flight was late anyway and they had made a point to load the plane quickly I made it back just in time to load the plane, still crying with my brother humiliated, kind of pretending he didn't know me. AND if all of this wasn't enough Zach called me while I was at security to tell me they wanted to shut the doors when he heard my phone ring under the chairs we had been sitting in. Not just any phone, the one I am paying way more than I probably should be for, ya that one, the mini computer.

So if you're still here and ready for more I am now in Santa Fe and finally starting to relax a little bit and I am remembering how much I love it here. It smells lovely like the desert. It storms everyday and from this house you can see them roll in and watch the show. The colors are so nice and everything just feels authentic. Last night while Emily, Daisy (the dog) and I were on our evening walk on the winding dirt roads that make up their "neighborhood" we heard a mariachi band. After further investigation there was this beautiful party being held at the ranch that is a few hills over. So cool, I love it here and can't wait to do some more exploring.

Oh, and after playing lizards this morning at the pool Emily now calls me Cousin Lizard. Love it.

Shucks

The cabin is ALMOST finished! This weekend is the deadline and I couldn't be more excited or exhausted.

Between the painters, cabinet maker, electrician, job manager, the landscaper - I'm pretty sure everybody is so sick of seeing/hearing me. I get to the job site and I feel a hush come over everyone. Yes, I'm all up in everyone's business - "When will you be done with this?" "Can you commit to having this done by tomorrow?" "Did you notice this gap? or crack? or scratch?" I am so annoying and I know it, but I suppose that is my job.

Next I will be heading down to Santa Fe for a week to hang out with my munchkin cousin Emily so if anyone will be down south for any old reason you should come hang out in the coolest desert mountain town ever.

Oh Please Do Come . . .

Paaaalease come to our race for Brandon - http://race.brandonplewe.com/

As many of you may know our goooood friend Brandon has been diagnosed with a rare cancer (for his age) called Multiple Miloma. It's been a humbling experience to have someone that I have always depended on as being "the strong one" to now be so physically weakened, yet miraculously carrying on his amazing mental and spiritual strength. It's completely beyond me.

So in all of this one of THE hardest things about this whole experience has been my inability to do pretty much anything for him. Soooooo from that this little "Fun Run" idea came up. It's something we can do (kind of, it's taken months to even get it organized), but it's at least something. It's taken a lot of jumping through hoops and pretending to know how to do something I don't - but it's coming together. We have a date, the ok from the park, the thumbs up from Brandon and Katie. We're in business right? Well, we have this little problem - no one's signing up! Well some have, but very few. How tragic would it be to get this all together and hardly be able to cover the cost of reserving the park for an event.

Yes, I'm finally getting to it - please oh please come to our event! If nothing else you could alway get one of our fancy t-shirts. If you know anyone else who might be interested too please let them know. It will be a great time, I will make sure of it.

That is all, thank you for reading this whole plea.

back in action

5 days in the mountains (no phone, no computer, no stress)

5 days in nyc (hot, sweaty, fantastic, exhausting)

Good to be back