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!

Staying in Albuquerque

Well folks, we’ve decided to stay in Albuquerque for a few more years.  We’ve moved out of the apartment, which has improved my impression of the Land of Enchantment quite a bit. It was no secret that I hated the apartment and it was extremely hot, and there was no yard for the dogs.  Our new house has a yard, and A/C, and we’re quite comfortable here.  I’m starting my own photography business and hope to be busy with that very soon.  You can check out my website at http://hotchkissphoto.com/.  Let me know what you think, I’d love some feedback!  Anyways, below are some pics of the new house.  If you need our new address, email us!

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!

Balloon ride & Santa Fe

Thanks to Livingsocial.com and Groupon.com, we were able to get a great deal on a hot air balloon ride and a night in Santa Fe.  We had a blast, check out the pics below.  Everyone should enjoy a balloon ride at least once in their life.

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.

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!

2010 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

This was quite easily one of the most beautiful and amazing events I’ve ever attended in my entire lifetime. Completely worth getting up before 5 am to see. Balloonists come from all around the globe to participate in this event. Enjoy the pictures! If you want to learn more about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, click here!

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!

An Admission.

So… Becky and I bought each other a PlayStation 3 for Valentines day, and I have been, well, distressed (to say the least) to discover that my wife is better at video games than I am!

Good going, Beck!

Our wedding photos

It’s only been some 5+ months since the wedding, but we’ve got our hands on our wedding photos now and are very happy to start printing and posting them. Here are a few, just for now. We’ll upload a link with everything, so you guys can download and print what you like. We bought the copyright from the photographer, so you don’t have to worry about that.