Picnic on a Cloudy Day

Have I ever mentioned that my boyfriend is the best? The other day when Ben picked me up from school, he whisked me away to the Sandia mountains for a surprise picnic! I think it has to be the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me!

It was a rainy, gloomy day, but instead of postpone it for another time, we improvised and enjoyed the feast he had prepared in the car parked over an amazing view of the east side of the mountain. The valley below us was shrouded in a thick mist that slowly broke apart as we ate.

You guys should have seen the spread Ben prepared for us. Below is my little tasting plate that included a slice of sourdough with herbed butter, potatoe and pasta salad, raspberries, and a salad of sliced grapes, feta, and honey which he made himself! That was definitely the star of the show.

Dessert was quite something too! Ben made these fancy kebabs of strawberries and angel food cake drizzled with chocolate sauce!

And to top it all off, part way through the meal Ben busted out a bottle of champagne! He forgot glasses, but drinking out of the bottle added to the fun ;]

Just as we finished eating the clouds parted and the sun came out. Yuki could not have been more happy when we all hopped out of the car to hike and explore. She loves the mountains, and let me tell you, she was not a happy camper hanging out in the car while we picnicked. Just look at her reveling in the wide open spaces!

Me in a tree!

We ended up hiking along the trail at Sandia Crest, which looks over the west side of the  mountain and all of Albuquerque down below.

 

The trail ended at this cute albeit random little stone house.

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Aaaand, this is Yuki about to be sacrificed to the cliff gods! We had to thank them for the sunshine after all

 

It was a truly wonderful day. Nothing makes me happier than being out in nature, especially if it’s with my pup and my boy.

Mr. Simon

Mr. Simon, a dog, the best dog.

A dog on his birthday.

A dog and his bone.

A dog sniffin’ the park.

A dog and his boy.

A dog and his bacon.

A doggie in heaven.

Last week, on April 15th 2013, we had a great loss in our family. Our beloved Mr. Simon Dog left this world for a better place. He was truly the greatest, most wonderful companion. I am so honored to have spent these last three years with him, and Ben was even luckier to have enjoyed the last twelve years with Simon as a loyal and loving best friend. There is nothing more difficult than to see a loved one grow old and complete their time on this earth. Simon lived a wonderful and exciting long life full of joy, and he will be dearly missed until we meet again.

Succulents

The other day me and Ben went to the nursery up the street to do some plant shopping. We actually intended to buy a larger plant to fill the empty space behind our TV, but we ended up bringing home three little succulent plants. It was really fun walking around the green house and looking at all the little plants.

We ended up putting them in the little cat thing Ben’s mom gave me. She said it was for herbs but I never could find any that were small enough. These fit perfectly!

P.S. I do realize I haven’t posted in months and that this is incredibly random. But I’ve finally got a laptop all of my own so I can actually start posting regularly! I figured I’d just jump right into it.

Magic Potions

I know it’s been a while since I popped in here, and that’s because I’ve been crazy busy. October is my favorite month of the year and I absolutlely love trying to cram in as much Halloweeny stuff as I can. However, school has been seriously kicking my butt and has not left me with much time to enjoy the season. I have managed to fit in a few fun projects though. 

Like making magic potions!

 

This, my friends, is candy corn vodka. 

It’s pretty simple really. you only need 2 ingredients:

 

I mixed them 1 parts candy corn: 2 parts vodka. Seal in a jar, hide in the cabinet, and be patient. After a week, strain through a cheese cloth and voila!

Wait…where the heck do you get a cheese cloth? I have no idea. I still have a few more days to figure that out, but I’ll be sure to let you know!

In the meantime, sip some apple cider instead. Stay tuned to see how this potion turned out. I’m predicting it will work wonders on all my recent school related stress

zombie face

The other night Ben and I went on a zombie bar crawl with some of our friends. It was pretty much the funnest thing ever. We walked down Central Ave. with a big group of zombies screaming “brains!” and stopped at a few different bars for drinks along the way. I told my mom about this event and she just cracked up laughing…anyways! They had makeup artists at each bar offering to turn people into the living dead for a small donation, but what is the fun in that?? I wanted to do it myself because come on, face paint is so. much. fun. So here is how I became a zombie:

 

1. Start with a pale white face.

2. Add bruising/shadow around the eyes. I used red and purple for this. Blend well.

3. Add contour to the cheek bones. Again, make sure you blend.

4. Add red for wounds and dripping blood.

5. Add black smudges under eyes and over the red to create darker shades.

6. Tease hair.

And voila! Ready to feast on the living!

 

Weekend loot

Ben and I spent a day shopping this weekend and came away with some beautiful things! Mostly we looked around Earthbound Trading Company, a rad new store in our mall. But on the way home we stopped by the park where a witch festival was going on, so we shopped around there too.

 

My birthday present from Ben! It’s huge and hangs in our kitchen.

We’ve got the art it recently and have bought a few pieces for around the house.

 

 

Our new Zen garden.

 

My new dream catcher. I’ve been needing one to hang by my bed to protect my dreams. If I’m anything, I’m a dreamer.

 

Some soy candles from the witch festival. There were a million things I wanted to buy from the festival; the most beautiful witch hats, masks, wands, and crystals and amulets….everything was beautiful. And expensive…

 

Birthday at Horseshoe Lake

The other day I turned 22! I threw a huge party for my 21st, so this year I wanted to do something a little more intimate. So I planned a backpacking trip to Horseshoe Lake in the Pecos Wilderness in Northern New Mexico.  Accompanying me was my boyfriend Ben, my best friend Rachel, her boyfriend Cole, and our adventurous pups Yuki and Elsie. It was a first backpacking trip for both dogs!

Yuki looked especially official in her backpack.

We set on out on what would be a 5 hour hike to Horseshoe lake. We decided to take the long way there to climb a big ridge, just for the views. And they were so worth it. While here in the city it still feels like summer, up in the mountains the colors are changing to fall. It was breathtaking.

(not Horseshoe lake)

That last pic is from the very top. When we finally started to descend the sun was setting, and it was full on nighttime before we reached the lake. Once we finally made it, we made camp and lit a little fire. Nothing felt so good as to sit down, pack off, and enjoy the bright warm flames. When we finally put it out we snuggled up in the tent and looked up at the stars. Before sliding into sleep we saw the brightest, most amazing shooting star! It was a good birthday omen, I just know it.

The next morning we awoke to Horseshoe Lake! Rachel, Cole, and Elsie trekked off after breakfast while Ben, Yuki, and I stayed behind to explore the lake.

Eventually we started our hike back. I thought this would be fairly easy, given that we weren’t going to take the detour up the ridge a second time. I was so wrong. What should have been a short, mostly downhill hike back to the car turned into a 5 hour trek across fallen trees, streams, rocky outcropping, and marshland. Thank God for the GPS, and thank God for Yuki! She was the one who found the on and off again trails. The occasional dead-end trail was such a treat in the midst of all that bushwhacking!  Needless to say, we took quite a few well deserved breaks.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when we made it to the car. We made it! After pretending not to think we were lost most of the way, it felt great! Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. Out in the beautiful world with the ones I love, that’s what I live for.