"ribbit ribbit," went the blog, "this is what's been going on"

so here's a short recap of the awesome simple pleasures of the past week(ish).

1. seeing rose's new casa in the east mountains, loving her animals, roaming around the woods, eating pizza at the lazy lizard grill.

boris, the sneaky russian

2. we bought our plane tickets to nicaragua and head out october 1st. ya vamos! so i expect all you beautiful people to make a visit down. or at least be really good pen/cyber pals.

3. taking yoga class at unm has been extremely rewarding. the teacher's amazing. check out her inspiring website, if you're into that kind of thing.

http://livingyouryoga.org/inspiration

4. making a bomb-ass salad & quinoa with my dad & playing 500 rummy!

5. watching toy story 3 in 3 d. great movie!!!

6. matt and i had a yard sale on the rainiest day yet this summer. we didn't make out like Band-Aids, but we did draw in a good 66 bucks each. better yet, we got to practice spanish with the few families that came and with matt's parents who set up chairs and chillaxed with us for an hour or so.

7. central ave. albuquerque summerfest. got to walk with john & julie down central from our house and check out some live free music (baracutanga & son como son), kiddie jumpers, sumo wrestler suits that hot chicanas put on and fumbled around it, beer tents in the street, arts & crafts, face painting, etc etc etc. man it was a happening place!

picture by john of matt and i dancing

8. TEAM breakfast at dillon's house with the group, minus a few out-a-towners. made the most fantastic banana pancakes topped with blueberries and a side of scrambled eggs and HOT hatch green chile!

9. playing volleyball in the rain at bataan park with the sanchez's & co. drinking PBR simultaneously.

10. riding bikes with my mamacita on the big ditch that runs parallel to 1-40. awesome city views and never been there before!

11. and the most simplest of pleasures: running, petting & grooming snooks & bo-geer-a!

ah, life is good!

standing on our soapblog, ranting about avocados

not only do they have 14 grams of fiber and plenty omega fatty acids for your health, but they go good with everything! i'm sure everyone's cut open an avocado and dashed some salt on it and said "yum" while consuming it. well, how about trying it with one of these toppings:

• soy sauce
• nutmeg
• red chile

ok, and we all know avocados go great in a salad. well, ever thought of:

• underneath or on top of a rice dish
• cut up and put into your pasta
• in a bean and cheese or bean and quinoa burrito
• in a sandwich
• on your omelette
• spread plain on a tortilla or slice o' bread

basically, take any dish and put avocado with it and it becomes THAT much better!

there's a hidden avocado between the rice and the veggies! Mmm.

the woods are filled with blogs

any time i get to spend with my lady friends is always a good time. and adding a wedding to the mix, made for one splendid weekend package.

this saturday matt and i drove up to santa fe to meet nicole at the luxury inn. it wasn't exactly luxurious, but it was just what we ordered: outdoor pool and a room with no complaints.

after swimming and catching up with nicole about ghosts, wierdos, and beautiful scenery in penasco NM, we showered and then carpooled with bekaw & levi to hyde park for andi's sister, marie britton's, wedding!

backed by a hillside of pine and aspen trees and the golden NM sun shining down, it was lovely.

some highlights include:

* sweet and simple service

* all female mariachi band & la marcha

* andi's updo hairstyle

* whole hog cafe bbq, kegs, & wine

* small succulent plants on each table as decorations that you get to take home

* the most beautiful cake with real flowers trailing down the front like a water fall. (every other layer was banana cream or chocolate rasperry. so good even i ate some!)

* andi's maid of honor speech

* bill's dad speech

* nicole & bekah's hippy dance

* bekah's booty shaking to "i like big butts"

* salsa dancing with boo

* seeing beautiful people with smiles on their faces

congratulations marie & troy

as a grand finale to the weekend, last night the albuquerque skies lit up pink, orange & grey with rain clouds streaking down towards the ground. in the middle of the clouds, lightning flashed intermittently. a strong breeze blew, and a few drops of rain touched down. wowsome!

trading the city blog for some fresh mountain air

abba decided the doctor ordered some oxygenated air, green scenery, and a cool mountain side. so we left town yesterday in search for just that. what better place than the sangre de cristos just outside of santa fe, new mexico.

we hiked in on the windsor 254 trail for a good almost 2 hours, headed towards nambe lake. we stopped at a decent sized boulder in the middle of an aspen-pine forest and climbed up to have our picnic feast. abba had brought some delicious leftovers of rice, jalapeno, celery, onions seasoned with curry, black pepper, paprika, almond butter, and cinnamon! YUM!

after eating abba busted out the guitar and we had a raging rock concert in the woods! The trees began clapping their hands in applause.... I think my dad must have put some mescaline in my food. No but, he did began to strum the most lovely melody (which among the aspens' shimmering leaves and the sunlight streams, the cool breeze, and occasional chirping birds was the most beautiful sound one can imagine).

then as if he had serenaded the heavens, it started to sprinkle in the forest. and continued to thunder as we headed out, which was majestic so long as it didn't decide to dump buckets on our heads. (well dad woulda loved that too!).

who let the blogs out?

so, as some of you might have caught on. my titles are all supposed to be "blog puns" with closely sounding words. and they don't exactly have much to do with my blog topics. however, i think i'll stick to them until i run out of my so-called clever ideas. :)

for those of you who didn't get it. don't feel bad, i might just be really bad at puns. or you might just be really bad at getting puns. haha. here's a recap of what words blog was inserted for.

1. trying on a new pair of shoes: clogs

2. matt likes to wake up and go for a jog around the neighborhood

3. my favorite irish band is flogging molly

4. who let the dogs out?

anywho, the real topic for today's bloggin' is: DON'T CRY OVER SPILT WINE

last night matt and i went to the caribbean popstar rihanna's concert at the journal pavilion. in the parking lot we shared a bottle of sauvignon blanc while we tried to avoid the "trashtastic" ke$ha who was the opening act. unfortunately she was still trying to sing when we walked in. however, the sunset was fabulous and we ran into some friends so things were definitely on the up.

that was until the unthinkable happened. our friend offered to buy us one more glass of wine. she came up to us with the offering as rihanna was just coming on, after waiting in line, spending her cash, and trying her best to not spill any as she tiptoed gracefully in the dark. and as she handed me the cup she said "i really tried not spill any" and i gratefully but not gracefully took a sip and immediately poured the rest down the front of my outfit and onto the grass. i was stunned, and pouted for a good 20 minutes because i felt so awful for all of her wasted efforts.

the moral of this story: i probably did not need another glass of wine anyways. point in case.

~ on rihanna: she was hottt, changed ridiculously awesome outfits like 5 times, and has a killer voice. her backdrop slide show however, i was not a big fan of.

my favorite irish band: blogging molly

well it is molly's crepe-tastic escape after all. day 2 at the festival was more yumminess & sore feet.

however, there is 1 big reason for this post: LA COPA MUNDIAL. or in english: THE WORLD CUP.

yes today was the final game. and i was pretty anxious as i was not going to be able to watch it, and my team somehow made it to the end. who woulda thunk? espana (my team) v. the netherlands. both newbies for a championship.

so i had a big, elaborate plan about how i was going to avoid any and all mention of the world cup today, so that i could have the game recorded for me and catch it "live navi time" tomorrow and be surprised by the outcome. this was going to be possible by boycotting the internet & other media sources, and by telling any of my friends interested in the game to please not relay information my way.

well it just so happens that i make it almost through the entire afternoon of international-folk-art types (you know the types that would probably know a thing or two about an international sport event) and just when i least expect it, i hear some random festival partaker chanting "ole ole ole, ole, ole." and that was it. i just knew, spain had won! then i hear the same stranger mention something about a score of 1-0.

great. just great. no earmuffs or la la la singing was going to prevent me from not hearing that.

so needless to say, i'm 99% sure spain won, and i will be watching a replay version tomorrow. can we say, "VIVA ESPANA?!!!"

matt likes to wake up and go for a blog around the neighborhood

he went for one today before coming up to the santa fe international folk art festival to watch me sweat and toil under the hot sun while serving heaps and heaps of crepes to crepe-loving fanatics! you want bananas and strawberries in your crepes? how bout raspberry or blueberry preserve? not a fan? we've got nutella or chocolate. cinnamon or lemon butter. for the more ferocious eaters, try an eden (spinach, mushroom, feta), new mexican (ham, cheddar, green chile), or mediterranean (pesto, chicken, mozzarella, tomato). "we've got crepes for all walks of life at the crepe escape, like the great escape, but only with crepes." ok enough about that.

i think i sold like 1 million crepes today.

no seriously. it's so out of control, my gramma's doing shrooms in the kitchen. (sauteing them for tomorrow's crepes, you silly).

trying on a new pair of shoes: blogs

"well..." i said to myself, "what the hell, i'd better start a blog."

do you readers mind if i don't use capitals? i think they're

overrated. however i'm willing to hear any arguments otherwise, and if you

so desperately feel it's easier to read with capitals, i just might be so inclined to grant your wish.

i guess this blog will be with the intention of keeping my loved ones up to date and in the loop as i begin the next big adventure in my life: volunteering in nicaragua con mateo. but until then i suppose i'll use it as a way to share random abundances of joy and intrigue as i continue living the first real summer vacation since the heavens only know when.

• teacher status: on hiatus.

• book reader, swim goer, odd jobs partaker, photographer, sun lover, simplifier, santa fe frequenter, friend and family time maker, blogger: on now.

picture: lil' dude at the saturday farmer's market in downtown cuerque. reminded me of my elbow, aka lindsay mound.