Two Posts in One Day?!

So, I made it up to Albuquerque, the 75 mph speed limit really takes the tedium out of the drive. It's very brown out here in Albuquerque, though I did see patches of green. I took pictures, which is probably not the smartest thing to do while driving, but there weren't many cars in the areas I did it. So if something happened, it'd be between me and scrub brush. Here are some pictures:































Oh, and I saw cows, free roaming cows. I am no longer disheartened that the whole of Albuquerque cow agriculture consists of feedlots. These were probably destined to be someones steak dinner. They are the little black dots in front of the grey hills...




There was one adventure coming out of Las Cruces, I went through a Boarder Patrol check point. I'm not really sure what he was looking for. I rolled my window down and he just said "Have a good day." I totally wanted to take a picture of him, but I don't think that would've gone over well. Definitely not something you see in the Northeast. I also saw a HUGE train and the Rio Grande! Though the pics of the Rio Grande were of trees so, sorry you can't see that.

Did you know there is a town called Truth or Consequences? My uncle mentioned it during a conversation, but I thought he was using it as a euphemism or something for being careful not to stop somewhere unpopulated. I made one stop (I do regret it wasn't at Truth or Consequences) at a rest area, I figured I couldn't get in too much trouble there.

The hotel is ok, I prefer the Springhill Suites from Las Cruces. The front desk girl actually called the room about 15 min. after check-in to see if everything was ok. She also gave some good restaurant suggestions. But there was an interesting sunset view.




Speaking of food, I have a new favorite soup, Green Chili Stew! This stuff is awesome, it's slow cooked pork, potatoes, onions and green chilies. So good, I need to find me a good recipe, would probably be very awesome in my handy pressure cooker. So those living near me will be subject to Green Chili Stew experimentation (because we all know the husband is a no-go for spicy). I also discovered I have a clear preference for Green Chiles over Red, which apparently a local university student did a study on.

Hmmm, I think I need to work on the size of these images....

Mirrors

Is it just me or do my mirrors at home lie to me? The mirrors in my house definitely don't make me feel as bad as the ones in my hotel room. I think that will hold true for the hotel I'll be in up in Albuquerque. Maybe at home I'm just pretty good at ignoring the flaws.. I guess maybe if this motivates me some how to be depressed about myself every time I travel....

Anywho, so I'm currently in Las Cruces, NM. I came down here for a recruiting trip. The flight down was great, I had no one in my row from BWI to Atlanta and only one other person in the row from Atlanta to El Paso. The only snafu was the fact that we almost missed our connecting flight. We were almost to the gate at 10:40 and the leaving flight was supposed to leave at 10:50. By some grace of the travel gods, both flights had been changed from their original terminals to the SAME terminal. We only had to walk a few yards to make it. Anything else, we probably would've missed the flight.

The drive from El Paso to Las Cruces (only about 45 min.) is rather interesting. I looked to my left and there was Mexico. It's a little weird to see a different country and realize that it looks a lot different (the housing mostly). I wonder what the people who live in the houses along the border think about our side. The mountains here are very interesting looking, I'm not used to mountains without trees. When the sun hits them, sometimes they turn pink. I didn't get pictures yet, but I'm going to try on my way out of town. Unfortunately, everything is pretty brown, no green. Oh! I actually saw a cow lot. I've read about them in certain books that talk about these massive areas with tons of cows in them. We actually passed quite a few on the drive to Las Cruces. Very intriguing, and definitely not what I think of as agriculture. Growing up in PA the cows had lots of green and space (though the cows always stayed pretty close to eachother).

Today, I drive up to Albuquerque, which according to Mapquest is just over 3 hrs. I'll be lunching with my cousin and then trying to figure out what to do when she goes to class. Apparently my uncle won't be home until 9:30 pm and I'm not sure how comfy I am just hanging out with his wife and kids. I think I might go to the Botanic Garden or perhaps the Sandia Peak Arial Tram. The tram would let me view the ski place at the top. Unfortunately, I was dumb and forgot my snowpants, or else I'd be going snowboarding!

Maybe I'll do both? Of course I have no idea how far apart everything is, so....maybe not. Anywho, it's getting late and I need to pack to I can go pick up the car and start driving.

I'll put up pics when I get some! Oh and absolutely no knitting, I was too obsessed with finishing the last book of the Twilight Series (Breaking Dawn). Perhaps I'll talk about that sometime...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all those celebrating the day!

I love my husband....just thought you should know.

Mama's Got a Brand New Bagg...

This Baggalini to be exact! It is appropriately named the "Only Bagg."



It's got a nice amount of space. Three pockets, two with magnetic closures and one zippered. The zipper pocket has a bunch of small pockets and can fit two knitting projects easily (currently the Central Park Hoodie and my Monkey socks). The other pockets both have a water bottle holder (which seem to be small for bottles, but handy for sunglasses). The straps are longer than my previous bag, so it fits nice and comfy even over a heavy jacket.

See!


On the same trip when I purchased the bagg (which happened to be Black Friday) I stopped at a cute yarn shop in Milford, PA. They were kind enough to allow me to use their restroom which no other place would. The store was called JillDeal Inc. If you are up in Milford, stop by, they look to be willing to help out if you have questions. I bought some Noro Taiyo. It was originally going to be for a scarf, but I think it'll make a rocking tank top.



Which brings me back to the fact that I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Ours was good and filling. I had a bit of sickness/pain business, which seems to have gone away.

Next time.... The knitting dry spell is broken!

It's Been Awhile

So, I'm home sick today. I feel all around gross and my back hurts. I thought it might be a good day to catch up.

There hasn't been a whole lot going on in my life. There has, however, been a serious lack of knitting. I haven't knit a stitch in probably 2+ months! It seems like forever, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. I'm not the most prolific knitter to begin with, it's almost to the point of ridiculous at this point.

What have I been doing instead? Nothing. Terrible. Though, on November 8 I did go hiking. Surprisingly I felt better that day than I have in MONTHS. That was the only day I felt that good, but the days have had a general betterness to them.

This was the next installment of our (my friend Dan and I with the dogs) quest to become members of the Appalachian Trail 2000 mile club. The previous hike was a 2-day, and my legs hurt so much the second day, I didn't do the second day. At some point I'll have to make that up.

We did 4.5 miles from car to car. It was mostly flat, there was a decent uphill at the start and the walk to the car was a Steep downhill with LOTS of rocks. I almost fell on my ass a number of times. That was my least favorite spot....I cursed....a lot.

Today's plan is to update Ravelry. Put up pictures of knitting I had previously taken of my progress. Working with knitting pictures is almost like knitting right?

Some hiking eye candy:

So when do you decide that outside help is really going to help? When does "down in the dumps" become more?