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!

Filed under Family News, What's new? | Tags: biking, consulting, family, fun stuff, travel plans, vacations, work | Comment (0)

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.

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.

Filed under Becky, Sam, What's new? | Tags: family, fun stuff, mini-adventures, musical theater, pictures, travel plans, vacations | Comment (0)

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!

Filed under Becky, Family News, What's new? | Tags: cars, family, fun stuff, good news, travel plans, vacations | Comment (0)

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!

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NYC,Jersey & Greenwich SO FAR….

AHH, We’re still on vacation–and I don’t have time for stories–but I thought I’d upload some photos to see how the trip has been so far….I’ll write some stuff up later!! Love to everyone! Tomorrow we visit the Falls

B

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NYC, CT, Buffalo trip

Hi Everyone, Just in case you live in the area and don’t already know this, Sam and I are headed to NYC and Greenwich to visit folks and can’t wait to see everyone! Our schedule is sorta looking like this:

Oct. 2 we’ll arrive in NYC. We’ll stay overnight again on the 3rd.

Oct. 4 we’ll head to CT to visit and meet Granny and Grandfather and see Anne again (yay!). We’ll stay overnight the 4th and 5th.

Oct. 6 we’ll be back in the city. I think we’ll be there until at least the 8th. We’re going to see a Broadway show (West Side Story) thanks to me aunt, uncle and cousin–we can’t wait!

Sometime after that, we’ll be heading to Buffalo to visit where I was born and see the sights, visit the Falls and catch a Bills game.

We head home on the 12th, early.

We can’t wait to get some traveling in and see everyone!!!!!

It won’t be long, now!

B

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