Takin' it Easy...

Hello, All!  We took a short break from blogging last week because, well, we didn't really have anything to talk about!  We have been taking it kind of easy the past couple weeks.  To catch you up on what has been going on, I'll just start at where I stopped last.  The weekend of the 14-15th - the weather was really nasty and cold here.  We really didn't want to do anything!  We didn't want to waste our time either, so we decided to visit the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.  We have several museums we are saving for nasty days just like that weekend!  We had a lot of fun!  We spent the day walking around and exploring.  We saw lots of dinosaurs and rocks and minerals from the area.  We also took a walk through time.  Very interesting!

Here are some photos of our adventure...

This is an example of how tall a brachiosorous's leg is (compared to Neal)!!

This past week has been a bit more interesting..  I began volunteering at the base's thrift shop!  Please, try to hold your excitement!  But, I am very excited to finally have something to do during the week - and people to talk to when Neal is at school.  Not only will it help me stay occupied but it's nice to do something for the community too!

On a less positive note, I have run into some bad health lately.  I have decided that this "high desert" climate is not fit for human life.  I'll explain...when we first arrived here, we were told that allergies were so bad here.  I had to keep from laughing at that (my fellow Missourians are the ones who can talk about bad allergies!)  After all, there aren't any trees or grass or flowers here!  Well, this past week I was sadly mistaken.  The allergies started getting to me and this dry weather just made it worse.  Mix that with an anti-histimine and I got a really BAD nosebleed!  Since then, I have had 2 more nosebleeds!  Of the 3, the second was the absolute worst and we were having trouble controlling it.  I even starting feeling pretty lightheaded and woozy.  Yikes!  Definitely keeping an eye on that!

Since then, allergies have cleared up, and so has the bleeding (I hope!).  This made for another low key weekend.  We did manage to make it to the Founder's Day Festival in Old Town!  Founder's Day is the birthday celebration for Albuquerque every year.  This year, Albuquerque turned 306!  The festival had entertainment all day featuring the different influences of the culture here in Albuquerque.  There was everything from a Mariachi band and Flamenco dancers, country western Do-Si-Do dancers, real Native American tribes, western shoot outs, and even Irish folk dancers.  Irish?  Yep!  I was as confused as you are!  Apparently the Irish have a pretty big influence here.  From what I have found, the Irish - along with the rest of America at the time - began moving West in search of a better life.  The Irish in particular enjoyed New Mexico because of the large Catholic influence - mainly because of the Spanish.  Anyway, we had a great day and took it pretty easy the rest of the weekend!

The Mexican dancers and Mariachi band...

Weird big statues representing the different cultures...

The Irish!

The gunslinger shoot out...

A strange monk that was wandering around...

The Parade..

These banners represent the family crests of the city's founders...

And this guy thought he needed to be in the parade as well.... 

As for us right now, I am feeling much better!  Neal is getting ready to start flying in just a few weeks!  He may have a long weekend this weekend so we may do something SUPER fun!  Be sure to check back! :)

My Birthday Weekend!!

This past weekend was a very special weekend!  My birthday was Sunday, and of course it was Easter as well, which made it extra special!  Thanks to my amazing family and friends for wishing me a Happy Birthday, and of course Neal for making it so special!  We had a wonderful weekend!

Neal surprised me Friday by telling me that we were going to take a trip to Santa Fe, NM the next morning.  He had bought us tickets to take a food tour in downtown Santa Fe.  It was an awesome experience!  Santa Fe is about an hour north of ABQ so we left pretty early (for me anyway) to get there about 10:30.  We met our group at the square - the heart of historic Santa Fe.  The beautiful park was surrounded by historic buildings filled with shops and restaurants.  One of the buildings was the Governer's Palace.  It is the oldest building in the country, since 1610.  We started our tour around the square and tried several dishes that were all so delicious!  They included a chicken salad, Posole (a New Mexican classic soup made with hominy), a fried green chile, pizza, an olive oil tasting (i did not enjoy this part, i didn't like the idea of drinking oil - but the rest of the group loved it!), and we ended at a candy shop.  The tour ended in the early afternoon, so we continued to explore by ourselves.  We did some sightseeing, visited some shops, and tried an Avocado Margarita - which is surprisingly pretty good!

The Palace of the Governer's - The oldest building in the US.

The Square...

Enjoying my birthday surprise at the Japanese restaurant!

The oldest church in the US...

Apparently this alleyway contained an atomic bomb under it at one time... or so they say....

                                     

                                

And some shopping...

                                     

          

One of my favorite things we saw all day was the Loretto Chapel.  This church is not in operation anymore but is significant because of it's "Miraculous Staircase".  The story goes that when the church was built in 1878 there was not put in place a way to access the choir loft, overlooking the chapel, other than a ladder.  This was not suitable for nuns to use.  Carpenters were brought in to fix the problem but there just was not enough room to build stairs.  The sisters prayed a novena to St. Joseph to help with the problem and on the 9th day, a man appeared at the church, saying he could help.  Months later, he finished this spiral staircase and then vanished.  No one saw him again.  Some believed it was St. Joseph himself.  The other miracle was that, to this day, it is unexplained how this staircase is standing.  There are no screws, bolts, nails, etc. - only wooden pegs.  The wood used is completely foreign to the area and it is unknown how it could have been used here, at that time.  It also makes two complete 360 degree turns with no supports.  Other than that..it is absolutely beautiful!

    

    

 

                                    
There was a tree outside of the church that people had started hanging rosaries on.  It is said to have healing powers.  We bought a light blue one in the gift shop and hung it on a branch.  The tree was covered and was beautiful!

 

                                       
That night, after returning home from our trip to Santa Fe, we wanted to continue the celebration of my turning 24 (I can't believe it myself).  So, we went to the casino!  Right outside of ABQ, on the West side of town, is a huge casino/hotel - Route 66 Casino.  We had a blast!  I even won $30!

                                    


The next morning, my actual birthday (and Easter!), I was woken up by Neal delivering a single plastic egg to me.  Inside was a clue.  I was going on an Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt!  What better way to wake up on an Easter Birthday!

Bailey even got in on the action!  (He was the best clue - The clue was to "Call the beast...." and I yelled "Bailey!" right away.  I had no idea he would run in to the room with an egg on his back!)

                   

And then I got my REAL present!  REAL cowgirl boots!  (I may have already knew I was getting these!)

                                                   

And then I found the treasure!  While I was sleeping, Neal snuck out and got me doughnuts (my favorite!) and pink tulips!  He's the best!  They were hidden in the oven...

Afterwards, we went to church, and then had brunch at our favorite little wine bar!  It was super good!  We finished off the day by being lazy and watching movies at home!  Perfect end to a perfect weekend!

So, thank you everyone in my life for making it the best 24 years I could ever ask for!  Thank you to my wonderful parents for having me and raising me to be the woman I am today!  Thank you to my friends for all the good times!  And thank you to my wonderful husband for being my everything now and in the future.  Oh yeah, and for an amazing birthday!  I love you forever!  

One Month Down!

Somehow...we have been here for a whole MONTH already!! Where has the time gone?!  Only 3 months left here in ABQ and if the time goes as fast as it has so far we have so much to see and definitely not enough time to see it all in!  To recap; in one month we have traveled across 4 states, approx. 900 miles, been to the top of a mountain, been in the completely isolated desert, been to the emergency room (more on that in a bit!), said goodbye to our very best friends, and made new best friends.  This has been a very interesting month and a lot has happened!  Speaking of a lot happening, a lot has happened this past week!

Just about everything that has happened this week happened just this weekend.  Neal had a pretty full work week and I was just trying to keep busy.  We went to a Young Adult Stations of the Cross at a local Catholic Church Friday evening and made some new friends there.  Saturday, we visited Old Town.  This part of Albuquerque is the heart of town.  This is where ABQ started in 1706.  This part of town is like a little Spanish village right in the middle of town.  There is a central plaza that is anchored by the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, which is still functioning today and is beautiful.  The central plaza is then surrounded by shops and restaurants all connected by little alleyways and paths.  We ventured through here for a couple hours and we know we still didn't find everything!

  

We found some pretty cool stuff!

 

Even Bailey and our friend -Ben's dog, Annie, got in on the fun!

  

Sunday, we went shooting in the middle of desert!  If you would just keep going right outside of Albuquerque, it takes you completely into the desert and there is nothing...anywhere.  A couple of our friends and us drove about 15 min. out of the city and found a dirt road which led to a kind of crevasse in the middle of nowhere.  Over the years, people had been throwing junk in here and obviously been shooting it up.  We shot at a few things out here and also brought some skeet as well.  It was a good time!

 

So, towards the end of the day Sunday, we began to see a huge sandstorm coming! That was our que to leave!  So we headed home and Neal started making dinner while I jumped in the shower.  It wasn't just a few minutes later when Neal came in to the bathroom to ask me where the band-aids are. I automatically asked "What did you do??" He replied with a.."nothhiiinngg..."  I knew something was up so I got out of the shower, and sure enough, he had nearly cut the tip of his finger off.  I finished making dinner while he kept his finger wrapped up.  I took a look at it after dinner - it was still bleeding pretty heavily after about 40 minutes.  I called my mom for advice and I decided he should at least have it looked at.  So we spent Sunday evening in the VA hospital emergency room.  After being treated very rude and being laughed at for bringing him in by the staff, they finally, somewhat, glued his fingertip back together.  This was one of my first experiences with a military hospital and I am VERY disappointed!! Neal is on the mend and his finger should be just fine...although it's pretty ugly!  

Remember that photo shoot last week?  Well the photos are in and they are amazing!  Thanks to the photographer Matt Timmons for an amazing experience and all the tips!! 

I am so happy to be able to add these to my portfolio!  It is definitely a different look than I have ever done and I think it turned out great!

And by the way everybody, SOMEBODY'S BIRTHDAY just happens to be THIS SUNDAY!! Just a friendly reminder!! I'll give you a hint...it's mine (Kori) :) Yep!  It's on Easter this year...I'm pretty sure it's going to be a good one!