Wednesday, May 30

Bye bye May!

I can't believe that tomorrow is already the last day of May. I don't know where the time goes, seriously. No matter what's going on, it just flies by. So cliche, I know, but so true!

May was mostly filled with good things around here. The weather has been super nice and so early in the month, I started working on the garden a lot.


I used to garden rather recklessly, just buying whatever caught my fancy. But these days, I usually have a plan. It's so dry here and we have don't have the best soil so now it's all about finding things that work well in such conditions and planting a lot of perennials that hopefully will return each year. Last year was one of my worst gardening years ever, but so far things are looking good this year. Today I planted a billion seeds and except for some starter zinnia plants and dahlias for some of my pots, I am done planting. Fingers crossed that everything takes and does well!

The first weekend in May, Will played a few rock shows with some friends. Both nights were fun, although the second night was more enjoyable for me because the show started much earlier. So I actually got a little gussied up.


It was fun and the music sounded great at the venue. (Although apparently the venue didn't like it so much as they were told they would not be invited back. Go figure.)


That same weekend, I did a little photo shoot for Words To Shoot By.


The word was "chair" and I was quite pleased with the results. It was a lot of fun shooting double exposures as well! [All images were shot with a Polaroid Automatic 250 camera and expired Polaroid 690 film.]

The Impossible Project
does this really great interview series called "8 Exposures." I was invited to participate in the series and man, I can't even tell you how excited and honored I am to have been included in it. It really made my day. For a lot of days in a row!

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I am not super confident about putting myself out there so of course I agonized over each and every answer. I wanted to be true to myself without sounding like a total dork. And I had numerous friends proofread it for me. In the end, I felt good about it. It doesn't sound sophisticated and arty, but I guess that's not really who I am. I think it mostly sounds like me. I love instant film and I get excited about all the new films and cats and flowers and oceans and birds. And road trips.

Anyway, the interview came out on May 7th and you can find it here.

May also brings our anniversary, this year was our 8th! Eight years! Crazy. We both had to work all day and the weather was windy and cold so our original dinner plans didn't work out. Instead we had giant burgers at Rio Chama.


One anniversary tradition is getting dressed up and taking photos before we go out. This year, we just couldn't do it. Will didn't get home until 7:00 and by then, all we wanted to do was go out and get some food. So no dressing up and no photo shoot. When we got home, I did manage to take one shot of us.


We were both exhausted so it's not the best photo, but hey, we're happy! [Taken with a Polaroid Spectra camera + Polaroid Softtone film.] We still hope to get dressed up and go out at some point this summer.

And then...Meesh moved to Brooklyn! With his mama, of course. His mama was one of our tenants, and one of the best tenants we've had. And Meesh, well, I fell in love with Meesh. There were occasional skirmishes with our cats, but for the most part, they all got along. Meesh is so furry and sweet and he loved to watch us through our big front window. (Okay, so that was creepy sometimes.) I am happy for the adventures ahead for his mama, but very sad to see Meesh go. I still miss him.


But hey, we got a new table!


It's bigger than our other one (which now lives in the laundry room) so we could actually have a dinner party and seat 8 people comfortably. Now if only we had 6 friends to invite over for dinner, haha!

Will + Rocky

Will celebrated his 36th birthday on May 12th. We had a few folks over for a cook out and had a blast. I love this shot of Will and Rocky. Rocky LOVES to hang out when Will grills so it's a familiar sight. [Photo taken with a Polaroid SLR 680 SE + PX680 Gold Frame film from The Impossible Project.]

All the while, I kept gardening, running, running A LOT actually, knitting and working at the gallery some.


So of course I had to take a picture of my feet on some of the pretty rugs there.

And then came my sister's wedding and my youngest niece's high school graduation. Will and I went up to Albuquerque for the weekend and it was so much fun. All three of my nieces were home which was quite a treat. We don't get to see all of them at once that often anymore. And it's probably even going to be less as time goes on and they can't make it home as often. They are just the most wonderful girls ever. I love them so much.

Nieces.

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My sister's wedding took place about 10 minutes before my niece's graduation party! My dad walked her up the pathway in the backyard, they exchanged their vows in front of the judge and that was that! I think it was actually a few minutes longer than our wedding at City Hall in Manhattan!

We're really happy for her and her husband, Mike. They seem to be just perfect for each other.

The next day we went to my niece's graduation ceremony. Only something like 6 more graduations to go! Good grief are those ceremonies long and boring. Sorry, but it's true. I spent most of the time giggling with my other nieces and playing Scramble with Friends. Yeah, I know, I should act like an adult. Haha!

Somehow I managed to lose my sunglasses at the ceremony. Perhaps my punishment for not paying attention to all the speeches. I don't know, but I rarely lose anything and it drives me crazy when I do. We went back to our seats and searched for them, but nothing. And I called the next day and nothing. I am actually more bummed about losing my sunglasses case than the glasses themselves. It's one that I got when I was in Spain in 2001 and it had a lot of sentimental value. Oh well. At least I didn't lose my phone. Or my wallet.


And now I have new sunglasses.

This past week has been more running, gardening, knitting, and playing around with this fun app, InstaCRT.



Oh, and Ben shaved his head!


I'm sure there are a million more things that I could share, but I think that's enough, yes? Yes! I still hope to get back to regular blogging because I do miss it. It's just so easy to get caught up in daily life...and while it does include being on the computer, it doesn't always include taking the time to blog.

All in all, things are good. There are things that could be better, but there always are, right? And I am working on some of them and crossing my fingers on others. And we're always dreaming of places that we'd rather be, but we're here and we're going to make the most of it.

Here's to a happy June!!

Wednesday, May 9

What's been going on.



Live music, listening to the very old school radio that I nicked from my dad's giveaway pile, sleepy kitties, fresh cut flowers, spring poppies, bicycle rides, gardening, new cactus for my indoor collection, fruity cocktails in the backyard, margaritas at Maria's, working at the gallery and, of course, some dinners at Second Street Brewery.

Friday, May 4

Mailboxes.

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I love the bright yellow of the forsythia that blooms here in early spring. I especially love it when it's next to the bright blues that you can find throughout Santa Fe. It's such a lovely combination of color.

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It's the small things, you know?

Wednesday, May 2

A list.

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I've been missing this little space of mine. I want to find my way back to blogging regularly, but I don't even know where to begin. I never intended to take a break; it just sort of happened. And while there is plenty going on in my head, I feel like I don't actually have much to say.

So, here's a random list. Just because.

- Shopping at Trader Joe's makes me crazy, but I've started going there about once a week to buy fresh cut flowers, Munster cheese and tomatoes. I love having flowers in the kitchen and they are so much cheaper at TJ's than at Whole Foods.

- The fresh cut flowers have led to a lot of flower photos. A LOT. Not that this is anything new, but there for awhile I was able to resist the urge. But then the ranunculus arrived and the Gerber daisies and I went a little crazy.

- Too crazy, maybe. I have now cut myself off from flower pictures on instant film until I have flowers in the outside garden. I love flowers on instant film, but sometimes I end up feeling like I am "wasting film" or that I am just damn boring by always photographing the same thing. Really I should probably just give myself a break and shoot whatever the hell I want.

- I've been beating myself up a lot lately. It's not helpful at all, but I seem to have forgotten how to be compassionate with myself.

- I love taking instant photos, and doing so typically cheers me up. But I worry that my photographs don't mean anything. Like they're just empty and that's why they don't pull people in. They don't evoke anything in other people. And let's face it, the flower photos are pretty, but beyond that, I am not even sure what they mean to me. I guess it's just something I do and oftentimes they are an experiment in light and color, especially with the new films from The Impossible Project.

- Sometimes I worry that I am just empty.

- I can't believe it is already May. This month brings our 8th wedding anniversary, Will's birthday, my youngest niece's high school graduation, and probably some things that I don't know about yet.

- I don't think there is going to be any traveling this summer which makes me rather sad, but we just don't have the funds. Hoping to at least take a few little day trips.

- Gardening season is full on now. In fact, that's what I am doing today. I hope to get the front bed planted and finish the small beds in the back. Next week I'll get the vegetables planted. And my zinnia seeds.

- Really focused on running right now. I've always been addicted to it, but now I'm in super addiction mode. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do need to be careful that I don't injure myself. I take one day of rest and one day of cross training (biking or walking).

- Just trying to get through each day. Take care of the little things, work on the bigger things...but I really don't know where my life is headed right now and it's a bit terrifying.

- I keep telling myself that things will work out, one way or another.