Here’s what’s new with us…

Hey everyone, it’s been awhile since my last post, but we’ve been busy–which is a good thing.

Here’s what’s new with us:

• Sam and I rode in the 2011 bike MS: Pedal Los Pueblos charity ride.  It was exciting and lots of fun.  Thank you to everyone who donated and helped us help the fundraiser surpass it’s $125,ooo goal (last I checked, they were close to collecting $150,000!)
• I started my own photography business and have shot a few homes in the Albuquerque area and one in Durango–you can see some of my latest work here.
• I started a new job, working very part-time as a transaction manager for a local real estate agent
• Sam spoke in this years’ Albuquerque Wordcamp conference as a panelist and did an excellent job. It was a great opportunity to meet other web people in our area and I think he made some great contacts. He had so much fun that he is thinking about speaking at other conferences nationally and possibly internationally
• I got accepted to UNM, and am finally going to finish my degree. Go Lobos!
• There is talk of my brother and his wife moving to Albuquerque at some point in the near future–this would be wonderful and we are very much looking forward to them being closer

That’s about it for now.  We are heading into Fall and are looking forward to the weather being cooler for awhile. We enjoyed spending this Summer with our niece and nephews and miss them now that they are back in school!

We are planning a trip to Rockford in November for Thanksgiving, and we’re really excited about seeing everyone there. We will be in town for about 5 days, so let me know if anyone wants to get together!

Grandfather’s Memorial

I’m a little late on posting about this, but better late then never.  Last November, Sam’s grandfather, Joseph Hotchkiss, passed away peacefully at his home in Greenwich, CT.  The memorial was held at the beginning of May.  A beautiful time of year in Greenwich.  Grandfather’s family and friends gathered to say their goodbyes and reminisce.  While his passing is a sad occasion, it was an honor to gather with the wonderful family that Grandfather created. Rest in peace, grandfather, and thank you for blessing this world with your creation.

Southern Charm

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Savannah, GA to meet my brother’s new wife, Melissa. We had a great time and Melissa is more than I could have ever hoped for in a partner for my brother and as an added member to our family.  A bit shy, very soft-spoken and probably overwhelmed by the invasion of me, Sam and my mom.  It says a lot that she can handle my brother, though!  I can’t wait to get to know her more over the years.  So, welcome to the clan, Melissa! I was happy that we were able to belatedly celebrate Melissa’s birthday while we were in town.  I sure hope she liked us.

We spent most of our time in Savannah, with short trips to Hilton Head, SC and Charleston.  That part of the country is just beautiful and we hope to spend a lot more time there in the future.  While in Charleston we visited with Suki, had lunch and a tour.  It was so nice to see her again.  Every time I see her, I wish we lived closer so I could just talk with her for hours about anything.  Charleston is gorgeous and even though I was utterly exhausted and felt like I was about a 1/4 present I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.  The history in both Savannah and Charleston is of particular interest to me, and like I said before, I really hope we can visit the areas again over and over!

Pictures!

What we’ve been up to

This past weekend, my mom came to visit, and we had a great time shopping and hanging around on Saturday while Sam went and played laser tag with Jason, Rachel, Austin and the kids for David’s birthday. Laser tag sounded like a lot of fun, for sure. I think we’re going to try and go next weekend with Silas and Theo. I’ll take pics and let you know how it goes! Since today is Valentine’s Day, this past weekend there was also a free balloon rally, which my mom, Sam and I attended. It was pretty cold that early in the morning, but it was well worth it to see my mom see 100 hot air balloons take off into the bluebird sky.

Last week, Sam took me to see the musical ‘Wicked’. I read the book years ago (I looooved the book, it’s one of my all time favorites) and have been waiting to see the musical since about 2004, so it was a dream to finally get to see it. It was a touring production playing at Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico. It was an amazing night, we had so much fun. The musical is quite a bit different than the book, but as its own entity, the musical was perfect. Sam enjoyed it as well, which made it a fun night for both of us.

We’re getting geared up to take a trip to Savannah to see my brother and meet his wife, Melissa, and I can’t wait! March 16-21 we’ll be traveling and busy visiting with them, and we’ll hopefully get to see Suki in Charleston while we are there, too.

Sam and I have been on a diet as some of you know. We’re using a website to track our calories and exercise, and it’s actually been working–I’ve lost almost 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks, and Sam’s lost weight too! We’ve been pretty dedicated to living healthier lives and I’m proud of us for sticking with it for as long as we have.

St. Valentine's Day

We’re also planning a mini-vacation to Santa Fe on March 3rd, where we will shop and dine and visit art galleries and just relax.  Prior to heading to Santa Fe, we’ll be taking a hot air balloon ride in Albuquerque–pictures to come!

Also, we had a great night tonight for Valentine’s Day–dinner at Garduno’s and relaxing at home.

I don’t know that anyone reads this blog other than my mom, but I would love to hear what everyone else has been up to.

Jingle Wedding Bells!

It’s about a week until Christmas and I just had to post some very exciting news— my brother, David, got married yesterday! I’m so extremely happy for him and Melissa. I haven’t met her yet, but I can’t wait to get to know her. Congratulations you guys, we love you! We wish you the very best!

Our Christmas Tree this year!

We’re just about set for Christmas this year. We picked out our Christmas jammies this evening, and my mom will be joining us on Christmas Eve. It will be a quiet Christmas at our little apartment here, and then we’ll spend some time with Rachel and her family as well later in the day on Christmas. We’ll be sending out our annual holiday letter soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Getting to be that time of year….

I usually love the holidays, and this year will be no exception. On top of spending a nice, quiet Thanksgiving with Sam, my mom and her dog Buddy (Buddy had knee surgery, so he couldn’t play, poor guy), we were given some pretty exciting news as well. David, my brother, is getting married and having a baby! David lives in Port Wentworth, GA (near Hilton Head) and I’ve not yet had the chance to meet Melissa Lee, his fiance, but I can’t wait! I’m going to have another sister-in-law, and another niece or nephew! I’m trying to figure out how to make a trip to Savannah to see them soon, to have a chance to get to know Melissa. If David loves her, I’m sure she’s wonderful.

Christmas this year is going to be a quiet one. We decided to spend it at home in Albuquerque, just the four of us (me, Sam,  Barkley & Izzy). We selected a tree last night at Mike’s Tree Farm on Paseo Del Norte, brought her home and gussied her all up. She looks magnificent! There’s just something about having a tree with lights, covered in childhood memories (ornaments, etc). I have really been enjoying our fireplace, and now even more so with the tree there.

WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU DOING FOR CHRISTMAS????

Check out this funny video that I made starring me, Sam & my brother. It’s a hoot!! Tee Hee~!

Sam’s grandfather, Joseph Hotchkiss, passed away on Nov. 27. He passed at home in Connecticut with his loving family around him, comfortable and hopefully at peace. He was a good man that I know Sam admired greatly. He will be missed, to be certain. We are sending all of our love to Granny & Anne, Polly, Jody & Hannah, and family. There will be a memorial service in the Spring, and we will be there.

Anyways, not much else new on this front…. Hope everyone is doing great!

Home from the trip…

So we’ve made it back from our first official road trip, and it was a blast. We had such a great time seeing some of the country while avoiding the inevitable cramped spaces on the plane accompanied by the 80% chance of walking away with a cold (sorry, Mom!) Some of the trip’s highlights included:

• A really big cross in Groom, TX, advertised along the highway as the world’s largest cross in the southern hemisphere, but I tend not to trust claims like these unless they can be absolutely verified through the interwebs (which it cannot.)

• The Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We didn’t have time to stop unfortunately, but I would have really enjoyed being able to spend some time there to learn more about it. We did have the opportunity to make a lightening fast stop to pick up some gooey butter cake that is a tradition in Sam’s family, just outside of St. Louis, but otherwise, the city just flew by. I took this picture while we were in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway. It was SO cool to see it and definitely makes me want to make an effort

We also enjoyed seeing all of the leaves changing color—I miss that SO much living out West. I will post more pictures below of all of our adventures.

We had fun with my grandparents, we went to their anniversary party with my mom who flew in for the weekend, and my Uncle Kev, Aunt Laurie, and cousin Da’Monique. We went to an interesting restaurant that used to be a place called ‘Cheddars’ and it still looked a great deal like Cheddars, with a few stone eagle statues towering over the diners. We were also lucky to see my grandparents on a couple of other occasions, although of course it still didn’t feel like enough time to me. We had lunch at the Olympic Tavern and then headed over the Mrs. Fisher’s potato chip factory where Sam bought a 4lb bucket of chips–yum!

We took a drive into downtown Chicago for Sam’s meeting, and while he was with his colleagues, I met up with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Laurie and D, who all had the day off for Columbus Day–what perfect timing! I’m so glad that I got to spend a little extra time with them, as well. I miss everyone so much. We had a nice lunch at Navy Pier at a place that overlooked the Pier and the Chicago skyline. It was so cool, I want to go back there sometime in the evening and see all of the lights reflecting off of the water. Sam and I also went to Macy’s downtown where I had an impromptu and not altogether welcomed makeover by a particularly pushy saleswoman who preyed on my insecurities (“Oh! With those circles under your eyes, I would use this product, along with this for your skin, this for your wrinkles, this for your weak eyebrows, and this for your overall uneven skin tone…”) Holy moly! Despite this sales act, I did purchase a few things I had intended to get anyways, since it was Clinique Bonus Days. Oh how I miss Macy’s (Marshall Fields even more so!). After walking around downtown seeing the sights, we both realized that we were exhausted, so we headed back to Rockford.

My friend Melissa had a dinner party where we met up with some old friends that we hadn’t seen in a few years and it was so nice to see them. We had a great time with everyone and were both sad to leave when our trip was over. My friend, Elaine and her husband Andy, had a beautiful baby boy in February and he is absolutely precious. New life is such a wonder to me, especially when friends  I have known for years start having babies. It’s all very exciting and scary!

We visited Edward’s Apple Orchard where we bought a 1/2 peck of tasty apples and of course picked up some of their famous hot and fresh apple donuts–SO good. I also made sure to make a stop at Fannie May to pick up a few trinidads for Sam to try, since he had never tried Fannie May before.

During dinner at my Dad’s Sam ended up challenging my dad to a racquetball showdown, and that was SO much fun. I miss my dad a lot and wish that he could be in my life more, and to have a visit where we see him more than once for a few hours meant a lot to me. And I think Sam had fun playing with a more skilled player than I for once!

I had the chance to see Shaneice, an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in years and years. We met and had dinner at Maria’s with her 10 year-old daughter, Sabrina who was just unbelievably gorgeous and just positively glowed from the inside out. A very happy & busy little girl. It was great to see her, and I am hoping we can stay in touch from now on.

We had drinks with Eliott & Emily Porter, Eliott being an old friend back from my days of labwork at Lundgren’s Camera & Photo. Eliott & Emily married just this year and it was nice to finally get to spend some time with Emily and get to know her a bit better. I like her a lot, and am so very happy for Eliott.

The trip was almost a big blur, were it not for the pictures I might question whether or not we actually went! I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again very soon. I think after this trip, we may very seriously add Rockford, IL to the list of places we will consider moving. See the picture gallery below!

Going on a roadtrip…

Next week, we’ll be packing up the car and heading out onto the open road. We’re driving from Albuquerque to Rockford, IL to visit with family (it’s my grandparent’s wedding anniversary in November, and since some people can’t make the trip in November, we’re all going in October instead) and also to have a face-to-face with a client in Chicago. We’re both really excited for the road trip. Every time we get on 40 to drive to work, Sam says something along the lines of “I’d really like to go on a road trip”, so…now….on Oct. 7, when we get on 40, we’re going to keep going! I’m excited because we’ll be driving through two states I’ve never been to (Texas & Oklahoma), and since I really have no desire to actually visit either of those states, it will be fun to “see” them as we pass through. Our friend Adam recommends a stop at the Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo–where you can spray paint onto cadillacs that have been half buried in the ground. We’ll see… Sam didn’t sound too excited about it. It won’t be a great time to stop, since we want to get where we are going as fast as possible, but maybe I can negotiate at least one stupid tourist trap…we’ll see.

Let’s see–what else has been going on around here…..

we’re finally getting a break from the seemingly relentless heat. Work is busy as usual. We’re planning to go see the Balloon Fiesta this coming week, which should make for some great photos. I haven’t been too inspired to take any photos as of late, and I’m really hoping that the fiesta combined with our road trip will revive my love of photography. I’ve dusted off my camera that I haven’t used since shooting a friend’s wedding in May in Durango.

Last week, we had some nice rains. The only problem with the rain is that it was over too quickly. We came home one evening from the gym to find Izzy standing in the pouring rain, barking at our downstairs neighbor. As most of you know, we live on the second story of our apartment building. So yeah, she jumped. Out the window. Of our second story apartment. And she’s fine. She’s such a handful– we adopted her from the shelter, where we learned that she used to be owned by a homeless person, so I’m sure she’s learned a lot of survival skills. And apparently, one of them is jumping from tall heights and surviving. Geez. It was a bit confusing at first, but really we’re just glad that she’s ok.

In other news, about 3 weeks ago, Sam accidentally hit me very hard with his racquetball racket during a particularly  competitive game. Long story short, after 2 ER visits, 2 black eyes, 1 cat scan that revealed a concussion, countless radiating headaches and pains–I’m just starting to get back to normal activities, with some minor concentration & focus issues, and some remaining pain in my forehead where impact occurred. We’re getting back to playing the game again, but I’m still a little skittish. It was a scare, for sure. The moral of this story is: take every safety precaution available to you when partaking in potentially hazardous activities!

We’re planning a move sometime in the coming year. We’ll keep our office open here in Albuquerque, but this isn’t really the place we want to land for too long. And we’re anxious to buy a house, a fixer-upper maybe, and become part of a community. The places currently in the running are (in this order):

Wilson Harbor, NY (on Lake Ontario)
Chicago, IL
Bay Area, CA
Boston, MA

We really like the idea of Wilson because it’s a small town near Buffalo, on a beautiful lake, with SCREAMING real estate deals right now on houses ON the lake. So we could buy a project, fix it up, and be pretty content I believe. The Buffalo area offers minor league baseball, boating, and the Bills–all things that we really consider pretty important. All of the places we’re considering have pros and cons, so it will probably essentially boil down to fate, I’m sure.

I’ll post some balloon photos once I take them!

Oh yeah, also be sure to check out my new photography website–it’s still under construction, but will be coming soon!

Settling In

It’s been two weeks since we opened our office and things are looking good. We are able to draw a clearly defined line between work and home, which is a new thing. It’s a great thing. So far, we’ve taken our two weekends off to catch up on sleep, since we’ve been so busy working on getting set up. I think it will only get easier as time goes on. Sadly, we don’t visit the pool as often as we had been, but now it’s a treat to be able to go on the weekends. But I’ll trade pool time for the chance to stop the phones from ringing and to unchain Sam from his computer anytime. Our clients are adjusting (some are proving to be less adaptable, shall we say?), and I am confident that after another couple of weeks, they will realize that this is our schedule now. So, no, we will not be answering your calls at 11pm on a Sunday. Clearly. Actually, we fired the one client who did this on a regular basis and are now working with all pretty darn good people. We will be redoing the consulting website, as Sam designed a new logo for our business cards. I’m looking forward to building a brand that will become recognizable with our name.

In other news, Sam turned 26 this past Saturday. We had a great day of relaxing, good food and a great baseball game with Rachel, Austin & the kids. The Isotopes played a great game which was followed up by a spectacular fireworks show.  Oh, and I made a carrot cake for Sam–and while it’s true the frosting did sort of melt off in the heat, it still tasted pretty good. There are no pictures of that cake to post on purpose. It was nice to spend some time with family. I think it’s too easy to get wrapped up in our own little lives and we forget to make time for things like that.

We are busy trying to flesh out our trip to Rockford in the Fall. My friend, Elaine, had her first baby and I can’t wait to meet him, and see her too, of course. I’ll see my Dad & Stepmom, my grandparents and various friends, and I’m excited. We will be driving, as we learned recently that driving will only cost us roughly $150 in gas (in our Pruis) as opposed to several hundred dollars in airfare and renting a car. And don’t worry–for Sam’s birthday, I bought him extender rails for his seat in the Prius, so he can drive comfortably.

That’s all from us right now. Hope everyone who reads this is enjoying life!

Boston, Greenwich, NYC

We recently went on a business trip to Boston, MA, where Sam made some good contacts for Call2Test (check

Our hotel in Boston, Newbury Guesthouse

out their website: call2test.com) and I got to see some of the Boston area. It’s a great city, although it was pretty humid! Coming from the dry, arid climate of Albuquerque, and Durango before that, this midwestern girl had forgotten just what humidity is. Stepping out of Logan Airport was an immediate crash course in humidity. We learned later that it was a particularly humid week, most everyone was commenting on how extreme the humidity was. We stayed at a quaint guesthouse in the Back Bay on Newbury Street. It had a French Bistro in the bottom level where we would eat our breakfasts. There are an abundance of eclectic shops lining the street, which was bustling with businessmen & women, students and tourists. Every sidewalk cafe was packed each day of the week, save Sunday, when I assume the life of Newbury Street is cozily tucked away at home until late afternoon.

Part of the Prudential Center, on Boyleston

Sam’s conference was at the Prudential Center, which was a short 2.5 blocks away, a quick, enjoyable walk from our hotel. The Prudential Center is a huge conference building that also has 2 hotels connected, stores, restaurants, it covers what looked like to me to be a whole city block. It even had walkways to connect buildings over the busy streets. Sam was attending the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, where he and his partn

Creepy (although tasty!) lobster

er were mingling with and meeting prospective clients. I don’t want to say too much, but all went well, and all in all I would call it a very productive and worthwhile trip.

On some of Sam’s downtime, we had dinner at Legal Seafood, where I ordered my first lobster. To be clear, I’ve eaten lobster before, but have never ordered it for myself. It turns out that while I really like the taste of lobster, I don’t have the stomach for preparing it to eat, all the cracking and ripping, all the while the lobster’s beady little eyes are fixed on me in a stony gaze. It was a tasty dinner, but I will admit that Sam had to do most of the dirty work for me. A little too much eyes and antennae for me! See the picture for yourselves, you’ll see what I’m talking about!

Molly, our trusty transportation.

We also had time to take a Duck tour, which was cool because we got to hit a lot of the highlights of the city, with a guided tour, and I’ll have to say, our “conDUCKtor” was classy with a capital C! Our steed, in all her shiny brown glory was named ‘Molly Molasses’. Molly took us through the

Our tour guide, Disco Dave---favorite quote "Good times!"

Back Bay, to Boston Common, past the Boston Public Library and Bunker Hill Monument. We passed Copley Square and Faneuil Hall also known as “The Cradle of Liberty”. We saw TD Garden, where the Celtics play (Go Celts!) and then we rolled right into Charles River to view the city from the waterway. It was an informative and interesting tour. We even got to see where our forefathers first read the Constitution. We saw the apartment that President Kennedy grew up in, and even saw a 250 gallon steaming teapot. Needless to say, Boston is a city rich with history and I really enjoyed learning more about it. I’d like to go back soon and spend more time walking around the city, and taking the T, the public transportation system that is surprisingly easy to understand. Almost as easy as the London Tube.

Me, Sam & Aunt Anne at Centro in Greenwich

After our time in Boston was over, we took the train to Greenwich, CT, to visit Granny, Grandfather,  Aunt Anne & we even had the pleasant surprise of briefly seeing Aunt Polly, too. We stayed at the Stanton House again, and had a lovely room overlooking the patio and pool. Again, we laughed at the silly rules in the ‘Stanton House Handbook’ , one of which is “Red wine is unforgiving, and so are we.” I can understand why they have such strict rules, though, because the rooms are in very good condition, and I enjoy the cleanliness and quality of it, and want to keep it that way for future visits. I imagine, though, that they keep a file on every person who

Our room at the Stanton House in Greenwich

boards there, something similar to a report card and you have to keep your grade above a B+ in order to stay there again. Or maybe they use the 3 strikes system. Whatever it may be, it had me double checking the room before checkout to ensure our ability to stay there again! It’s quiet and lovely and to spend a week in Greenwich with family would be heaven. I hope we’ll be able to make a longer trip there someday very soon, I always feel like the short times we spend there just blast past in a blur. We were also able to take a trip to Darien to see Jody, Kris, Leah, Graham and I had the chance to meet Sophie for the first time, which was a pleasure. Thank you to everyone who invited us over and made us feel so welcome. It’s always so nice to see everyone, it really makes me wish we lived closer to them. Before we left town, we had lunch at Centro with Anne, Grandfather’s favorite restaurant. It was rather tasty and had a great atmosphere. I finally know what Centro is all about!

Me & Sam at Back Bay Station on the way to Greenwich

The last leg of our trip was a less than 24 hour jaunt in NYC. By the time we got there, we were exhausted. We had dinner in our hotel room, went to bed early and got some much needed rest. Our flight was in the afternoon, so we took a walk around Times Square, then headed to La Guardia to come home.

We’re happy to be home now, getting back to normal life, dogs, work, etc. Our next trip will be to Rockford, IL to visit my side of the family. We don’t have exact dates yet, but it will be in the Fall, and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone. We’ll be spending a week in one place and that will be a treat as well.

Lots of love to everyone!!!