Moody.

I am sorry to report that my insomnia has gotten really bad again lately and I am having quite a hard time. The lack of sleep interferes with my life way too much and it is so frustrating to me. It's one thing not to get good sleep every once in awhile, but after 4 years of this bullshit, I am at a complete loss. And nothing I take seems to help. Herbal remedies, melatonin, sleeping pills, calcium magnesium at bedtime and all the other various tips and tricks that seem to work for other folks. Nothing works for me.

The funny thing is that last week I had 3 nights that I actually slept through the night. Three nights! That hasn't happened in years. But hand in hand with that has come many more terrible nights.

Argh.

Sorry to complain, but after a week of restless nights, I am at an all time low this morning.

I hope to get some sleep soon and be back here more consistently with lots of happy things to share.

xo

Love.

The first blossoms on the apple tree and my first shot with The Impossible Project's new film, PX 680 (Beta Version).

I can't wait to shoot more of this film because I am in love with it!

Tulip.

The last of the tulip shots. And my favorite.

Happy Friday!

Down.

My interpretation of the latest Words To Shoot By. The little photo shoot I had with myself was a bit of a fiasco, but in the end, I am quite pleased with the results. My perfectionist self would have loved to correct the composition of the top and bottom photos, but being that I only have one more pack of The Impossible Project's PZ600 film, I didn't want to "waste" it on more shots of myself. And composition aside, I absolutely love the tones of this film. Finally it worked for me!

And for the record, I am quite happy at the moment. While March has been a difficult month for me, there have been some turning points and I am feeling good. This really was an actual photo shoot idea versus the reality of mood. (In case you were worried.)

I am hoping to once again have time for this little blog, but due to the various rough patches of March, I am feeling quite behind on my work and the garden. So I probably should spend less time online. (Says she who checks FB and Twitter obsessively.)

A happy week to you all. I hope to have some rock show Polas for you later in the week!

My new camel friend.

My parents-in-law recently returned from a trip to Israel and Jordan. This is one of the gifts that they sent to us. I love it!

Also, I am absolutely dying to try out this film.

One day I will write again.

I promise.

In the meantime...

Chupadero, New Mexico

A little sweetness.

I'm in a bit of "a mood" this morning so I thought a sweet pola of Rocky might turn things around. He always makes me smile.

Today I have lots of work to do, but later we are going out to dinner with friends. Looking forward to it. It's Restaurant Week in Santa Fe so there are some great deals out there. We're going to Dinner for Two, a little place in our neighborhood that we've never tried before. So it's going to be dinner for four at Dinner for Two!

Orchid.

Where did this week go? Hope to have time to catch up with you soon!

Have a wonderful weekend. xo

Tulips on Saturday.

I know I always overdo the flower photos, but I am really pleased with the way these tulip shots turned out. The light is just so perfect to me. I hope you enjoy them as well!

Happy Monday!

Odds and ends.

Procured Arcade Fire tickets without a hitch. They are still available if you are in the area and want to go. Only in Santa Fe is it possible for a venue that seats around 1800 to not sell out an Arcade Fire show. I am sure it will sell out eventually, but good grief it's no wonder that larger musical venues never last very long here. It's kind of depressing actually.

I ran 3 miles on Thursday and it felt so good to be out there again. It went well although I can tell that that Achilles tendon is still not totally normal. I had planned to start running every day again, but I decided I shouldn't push it so skipped the following day and found myself feeling a little pain again. Lovely. This morning I had no pain so I went on a 3 mile walk. That went well and I'd like to run tomorrow, but I am thinking I should take another walk and then try running on Monday.

Oh how I miss running!

I have discovered that I am not a very good walker. I like to walk places. I like to live in neighborhoods that I can easily get to all the necessities on foot. Sometimes I like to walk around and take photographs. But walking just to walk and get some exercise? It just doesn't do it for me. Today I had to give myself a purpose so I wrote a quick postcard to one of my postcard friends and then walked to the post office. I've also been listening to music which is something I never do when I run. (I know, I am probably weird because I don't run with music, but I like to hear what's going on around me.)

I feel like I haven't been getting much knitting/crocheting/felting done. I've been working, but I've had a lot of little errands to run every day and that kind of screws with my focus. Plus I've had a lot of paperwork to do and photographs to edit and I don't know, I need to find a routine that works a little more smoothly.

Yesterday I finally got my application sent out for the Girls Inc. Arts and Crafts Show that happens here in Santa Fe in August. I'm pretty happy with myself for getting it done. I won't find out until May if I am in or not, but nevertheless, because my work is so time consuming, I have to start working on stock now just in case. Because if I do get in, I need plenty of items to fill a booth for two whole days! Plus I need to keep up on stock for the local shop and my Etsy shop.

I had to take a photo of myself making my work for the application.



Not too exciting, I know, but this is the reality of what I do. It is my work space. And I couldn't figure out how to get a shot of myself doing the felting part since that mostly involves standing in front of the washing machine.

I had hoped to have a little more variety (and balance) in my life this year, but with all that I hope to make for the August show, I am going to have to spend most of my time working. Which also involves watching too much television because that's what I do while I work. Fortunately one of my friends just recommended a whole list of shows to me that are available on Netflix so I won't just be watching reruns of Law and Order.

Hope you all are having lovely weekends! xo

Arcade Fire.

Arcade Fire has been one of my all time favorite bands ever since the fall of 2004 when Funeralcame out. I can't even remember who or what prompted me to pick up that album, but I did, and I swear I listened to it for about a year straight.

I like Neon Bible too and The Suburbs is a stellar album, but that Funeral album, it gets me every time.

We lived Brooklyn back then and I was lucky enough to get to see them on that tour. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.



I was sick that day, but we went out anyway and I was absolutely mesmerized the entire night.

Since moving to Santa Fe, I can probably count the shows that I have seen on one hand. (Not counting the random music we see out when we're at Second Street or whatever.) My all time favorite bands never come through here. Most of them don't even hit Albuquerque.

Arcade Fire? They'd never come to Santa Fe.

So imagine my surprise when I made my usual morning visit to the local paper and found the lead article to be about Arcade Fire. Coming to Santa Fe. Little old Santa Fe. And within walking distance of our house.

I just about started crying I was so excited. And I'm tearing up again now just thinking about it.

Arcade Fire. In Santa Fe. I might actually get to see a band that I love!

So of course I spent the next hour fretting about whether or not I'll actually get tickets for the show. This is Santa Fe so it should be fine. Things don't sell out here in five minutes like they do in bigger cities. (And people like Lou Barlow play 4 blocks away from our house and NO ONE EVEN KNOWS.) But still, Arcade Fire just won a Grammy for christssake, I am sure there are plenty of people who would like to see them. And it was on the front page of the local paper.

Please cross your fingers for me that I get tickets in the morning. I cannot miss this show. Plus they are playing with The National, a band that I quite like.

Now I need PJ Harvey to play a show here. Then my life will be complete.

Pink tulips in the kitchen.

Raclette anyone?

Last Saturday evening we were invited to a raclette dinner. I have to admit that I had never heard of raclette before and had to look it up.

According to Wikipedia, is both a type of cheese and a Swiss dish based on the cheese.

It's kind of like fondue, but instead of having a pot of cheese, the cheese is melted on a special grill by each individual. So each person can set the pace of their own meal. The grill that our friend has looks something like this one.

I think it can be served with a variety of foods. Our hostess had it a certain way in France and so that's how she serves it. Basically there are steamed potatoes, gherkin pickles, pearl onions and ham served on the table. Each guest serves their own portions of potatoes, pickles and onions and chops them all together on the plate. The ham can be heated on top of the grill and all the while that this is going on, each guest has already put their hunk of cheese on a server thing and stuck it under the top grill to melt. When the cheese is melted, it is scraped on top of the other foods.

It's pretty fun and quite delicious. Everyone just keeps melting cheese and adding more potatoes or this or that and it just goes on as needed. The grill gets crazy hot and so we're told it is best done during the winter. Heats up the house too much during hotter times.

We were asked to bring wine so after some internet research, we showed up with a bottle of Savoie wine and a bottle of Beaujolais. Apparently Savoie is one of the more traditional wines to have with it and our hostess was absolutely thrilled that we brought some. It was good, but I actually preferred the red with the dish. Of course I prefer reds in general so that could be part of it.

And for dessert, strawberry sorbet. Raclette is pretty intense so it is typically not served with a heavy dessert.

All in all, a very fun evening and I'm always happy to experience a new food adventure.

(And yes, I should have photos to go with all this food, but I don't. Low lighting and well, sometimes I just want to eat!)

****

More love for tapas.

Last Friday evening we found ourselves at La Boca again. It's a splurge restaurant for us, and last Friday was not a special occasion other than that Will has been wanting to go there again since we ate there for our meeting anniversary last November.

All I can say is that we always end up spending all of our money on food!

The place is tiny and we didn't have reservations, but we got lucky and found two seats at the bar when we arrived. (Two seats out of a total five bar seats. Lucky!) We ordered some wine (a low end Tempranillo, nothing too remarkable) and the tapa de la casa: catalon olives, marcona almonds and manchego cheese. Simple yet delicious. I would be happy with a glass of wine and just that tapa. We weren't in a big hurry so we took our time deciding what else to get. They had a special Valentine's Day menu plus the usual dinner menu.

There was a couple to our right and an older man to our left. The older man seemed to be a regular at the place and after awhile, I asked him about it. Because that's what I do when we sit at the bar. I talk to people. Which is weird because I am not a big talker, but sit me at a bar and I have this uncontrollable urge to start talking to whoever is closest to us. (Especially when you are practically sitting on top of them.) And for the record, after my first question to him, I did ask if I was bothering him and he said no.

Of course it turns out that he used to be an audio engineer. I swear, this always happens to us. When we took the train back from Milwaukee a couple years ago, everyone we met had some sort of audio engineering connection. And one of the friends we made in Palm Springs was a drummer in a band. So single man at the bar and Will started chatting it up about gear and what not. Also turns out that he lives in Chupadero, right down the road from the studio that Will works at from time to time. Small world.

Anyway, we eventually ordered some more tapas, starting with the arugula salad with drunken goat cheese, avocado, lemon, olive oil and roasted peppers. (Delicious again.) The fried oyster tapa that we shared isn't on the regular menu and I don't remember the details. Fried oysters with some sort of spicy red sauce. Good, but more Will's speed than mine. Next up, the duck. Also on the special menu and hello, how could I resist?! I can never resist duck. It was served with some sort of pomegranate sauce and pureed carrots. It took forever to come since they were so busy (the table patrons get more attentive service) and it was a bit on the rare side (even for duck) but still pretty tasty. Our new friend bought us a glass of wine to have with it because he had the same pairing and quite enjoyed it. And wow, what a difference it made. It was a Malbec and absolutely brought out the flavors of the dish.

After the duck, we decided we had to have the grilled hanger steak with smoked sea salt caramel again. Kind of hard not to when it is so fabulous. The dessert we had was amazing as well. It's not on the regular menu, but it was some sort of chocolate lemon torte with a HUGE dollop of fresh cream on the side. We had the recommended dessert wine with it, a port, I think and it was perfect with the torte. Which was amazing. So amazing that Will actually popped the last bite into his mouth when the last bite was MINE! He's so cute. He did it and then said, "I can't believe I just did that without asking you if you wanted it." Always the gentleman.

It was an excellent meal and a fun time. We like having leisurely dinners when we're out and it was fun to meet someone new. (Dudeman was leaving to Panama the following week, but he wants to check out the recording studio when he gets back so we'll probably meet up again sometime.) And despite the crowded space, it is a nice atmosphere. Lucky for us, we have some friends who have a bit of a hook up there so we are going back again in a few weeks! Sweet!

Okay, I was going to write all my food adventures in one post, but this is already too long. So next up, raclette and dinner with the folks.

A happy weekend to you!

Good things.

It's been a rough week for me due to the Achilles injury that I mentioned before. Not being able to run really makes me crazy and I had a total meltdown on Tuesday. And then actually felt better because I got the meltdown out of me.

But in general my focus has been off and I haven't been particularly inspired to do much of anything. Running is the precursor to my day, the time I take to think about what I am going to do or come up with new ideas or just let my thoughts drift. I've been stretching, but my body feels weird because it's not getting the activity that it is used to and needs. The injury is on the mend though and today I went for a walk. I had to force myself to walk much slower than usual, but it was nice to be out and moving and it didn't seem to bring on any pain so that's good. I'd love to try to run, but I am going to proceed with caution here and give it a little bit more time so I don't have to start all over again with the rest. I've always said that running keeps me sane, and well, it is definitely not an exaggeration.

That said, there have been good things to the week as well:

PJ Harvey's new album, Let England Shake - I've been a fan since the early 1990's and pretty much love everything she has ever done.

Getting mentioned in this awesome blog post about the joys of buying handmade. So thrilled that Jenny mentioned one of my cabled handbags!

Coming across the kitty teepee on Poppytalk. Unbelievably cute.

A fabulous dinner at Santacafe with my parents to celebrate my dad's 71st birthday. The food was delicious and it was nice to spend my time with mom and dad. They were both in such good moods, it was fun to see them so happy.

Deciding that I probably should apply for the Girls Inc. Arts and Craft Show. It scares me a bit, but I think I should do it.

Having a lovely dinner at home with my sweet husband on Valentine's Day. He is the best. He even bought me an orchid plant! (That said, any tips on keeping orchids alive? I am good with houseplants but don't know much about orchids.)

Oh and we got a new bed last Saturday! It hasn't magically allowed me to sleep 8 hours a night, but it does move a lot less than the old one which is good. And Will has hardly even been moving at night which a drastic change from his usual tossing and turning.

The warmer weather has been nice too although sadly I have missed most of the warmest days due to the resting of the Achilles injury. But that's okay, I'll be back out there soon enough!

Hope to have more for you soon...I have a post all about recent food adventures in my head, but I just haven't been able to get it out yet. Now that I am feeling better, I am hoping to get back into the swing of things here.

Take care my lovelies. xo

Happy Valentine's Day!

xo

Happy Birthday to Rocky!

Yesterday was Rocky's 12th birthday. I can't believe that my sweet boy is already 12! He spent most of the day outside enjoying the sunshine and rolling in the dirt. And wishing that I would get all my cameras out of his face. It's funny, he used to be quite the model and Simon was the one who hated the camera. Now it's Simon who poses for me and Rocky who moves the minute he sees me with a camera.

Rocky is truly one of the sweetest parts of my life. Not so much when he's waking me up at five in the morning, but the rest of the time, he brings us so much joy and entertainment.



He's always loved to get in bags. And boxes. And purses. And shoes. Although now he doesn't really fit in purses and shoes so instead he just lays on top of them.



And he's always had a thing for tubs.





And flower pots.





He loves to be outside.



To nap in the garden.



Play in the snow.



Roll in the dirt.



And sometimes get into fights which lead to trips to the vet and not very fun things.



He likes to hang out with Will at breakfast time.



And like any cat, he loves to lounge around. Whether it's on his cardboard scratcher after some catnip,



or in his bed.



Sometimes he heads out on adventures,



but he always comes back home to take another nap,



and maybe watch some television.



He and Simon really don't like each other,



but every once in awhile they trade some licks.



Of course Rocky's absolute favorite thing to do is eat.



But he's still managed to lose weight over the years and looks pretty slim and trim these days.



Happy Birthday Rocky!

It was still fun and the food was good.

So we didn't win. And no, losing wasn't fun, but we had a good group of friends over and that was a lot of fun. Plus I rather enjoy the build up to the game as well as the food preparation and setting it all out. (I have to admit that I always put my favorite snacks closest to my seat.)

One funny thing, the morning of the game, I suddenly realized that I was running on east coast time. I had told everyone that the game started at 6:30. And it did start at 6:30 EST, but that's not our time. I felt like such an idiot, but it all worked out in the end. The food was ready in time and most of our friends made it in time.



I had great success with the two baked dips. My favorite remains the Tex Mex Pimento Cheese, but the Sausage, Bean and Spinach dip seemed to win everyone else over. (Just for the record, I did put less mayonnaise in the pimento cheese and I added green chile. The green chile added a really nice subtle spice to it.)

The Sausage, Bean and Spinach dip is another recipe from the Southern Living magazine that my mother-in-law sent home with us.

1 sweet onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 (1-lb.) package hot ground pork sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 (6-oz.) package fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1 (15-oz.) can pinto bean, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°. Cook diced onion, red bell pepper and sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, until meat crumbles and is not longer pink. Drain. Stir in garlic and thyme; cook 1 minute. Stir in wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid has almost completely evaporated.

Add cream cheese, and cook, stirring constantly until cream cheese is melted. Stir in spinach and salt, stirring constantly until spinach is wilted. Gently stir in beans. Pour mixture into a 2-qt. baking dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I used pork chorizo sausage which was really tasty. I'll definitely be pulling this recipe out again next season.

I think all the Superbowl preparations, the stress of the game and the disappointment of losing really wore me out as I have been really tired the past few days even though I have been sleeping well (for me). I am also dealing with some sort of injury to my Achilles which is a bit of a bummer. I believe that I hurt it last Thursday when I walked downtown in my hiking boots. No idea why really, but it was after that walk that I first noticed the soreness. I didn't make much of it and took my usual morning run the next three days in a row. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized I should probably do something about it. So I have been icing it a few times a day and I am taking a few days off of running.

The not running really bothers me especially since I can't even take walks as a substitute. I am really trying to stay put and give my Achilles time to heal. But considering it is going to be 0° over night, it's probably a good week to be taking a break! So I've just been knitting a lot and watching movies.

I am looking forward to tomorrow because my lovely friend Clare is coming over for lunch. We are going to have BLTs and wine. And chocolate pie for dessert.