Christmas Tree Hunt!

Thanks to the Schuch family for inviting us to their annual Christmas tree hunt in Las Vegas, NM! Aaron, David, Michele, and I had a lovely, mix cd filled drive, a hearty breakfast at Spic-n-Span, and a brisk afternoon at the camp site. And I got me a Christmas tree!

We came in varying degrees of preparedness.

Could you be the one?

We don't know who David is waving at, but Aaron is tough, and that's one damn fine tree!

Conference at the University of Hawaii

Meghan and I celebrate 17 years of being dorks together. She was the best conference stowaway ever.

Balloon lands on runway in ABQ.

Trees in Hawaii are good for hiding (near Waikiki).

Pearl Harbor Memorial.

This is NOT Waikiki (Ala Moana).

Some good old fashioned hole-diggin' on Kailua Beach, our favorite.

Some kind of weekend

Between the balloon fiesta and Michele's party, I probably slept 6 hours that whole weekend. But it was SO worth it.

Zach rolls up in the Vanana.

Joe, Michele, David, Daniela, me, and Zach do the Balloon Fiesta.

The Copper Family Band celebrates Michele's 27th at Zinc.

My friends are super fun.

Santa Fe with the Boys

Our annual La Cueva High School Drumline Santa Fe trip to remember our old friend, Dean.

Aminal and Kevin

Brian and Joe

Craigen, me, and Brian

More facial hair, less head hair, but still friends after all these years.

La Luz Trail Hike

Can't believe this is the first time I've done this hike. Also I can't believe those crazies that race up it every year. This time we took the tram down...maybe some time I'll make the round-trip.

Start

What a view

So that's what this rock looks like from over here...

Finish. Nuthin' too impressive, but I'm proud :)

New Mexico Wine Festival, Bernalillo 2009

Our goal for next year: have a booth at the Wine Fest to sell Blessings. This year was lovely, and I truly love our tradition of taking the train to Bernalillo, dancing and drinking at the wine fest, and enjoying dinner at flying star. Wine Fest 2009= great success!

David, Aaron, and the lovely Sandias.

Clinky clinky!

David continues to peer pressure us into drinker faster by signaling discreetly that he has already finished his glass and is ready for more.

The more wine we had, the less things made sense.

David strikes a pose in front of our D.D.: the Rail Runner.

Full of wine and cake-in-hand, Aaron and I are ready to call it a day.

So-Cal Summer

Our quick father-daughter road trip to LA (my second trip there this summer). Just an attempt to cram in one more summer activity before school started. It was short but sweet. Drove by the apartment where my parents first shacked up and texted a photo of it to my mom, ate a French dip at Philippe's, strolled around Old Town Pasadena, and got to hang with the fam. And of course, a stop at the In-n-out in Kingman.

I'd actually never been to the Griffith Observatory before. It's always fun to geek out for a bit.

Oh good. No earthquakes.

I weigh 25 lbs. on Mercury.

The LA skyline. Can't you see it?

Blessings

Our new line of all-natural, aromatherapy soy candles. Coming soon to a farmer's market near you!

David measures the wax for our test batch...

and melts it...

while I prepare some herbs from my garden.

Loving the effect of the mint and rosemary in the wax!

This one turned out a little messy, but boy does my hallway smell awesome!

We have the best ideas! And just sometimes, we follow through with them. The test candles were a great success and now we can experiment with different essential oil blends. Time to really get creative!

Donald Pliner- Peace boots!

Check out the raddest boot EVER, designed by my friend Michele for Donald Pliner. The theme was to design a boot making use of the peace symbol. Her design was chosen, put into production in brown AND black (so hott), and is now available all over the place for a high fashion $595/pair. I tried them on in both colors at the release reception at Goler in SF yesterday. I gotta say, if I had a spare $600 laying around, I'd get the black ones. If I had a spare $1200, I'd get one of each. Big ups to Michele, makin' us proud!

My friend's work in the September issue of In Style magazine. Holla!

I upholster more things.

Had extra fabric and didn't learn my lesson the first time.

Before

After

I upholster things.

So this was an interesting learning experience. I disassembled my chair about a week ago but bailed on the project after burning the *ahem* out of my finger with the glue gun. I then sought out a staple gun, deciding that that was probably the better route to go. Turns out I have no idea how to use a staple gun. I soon got tired of sitting at my computer on my keyboard bench and braved the glue gun again...this time with a little more caution. Maybe a little too ambitious for me, but it turned out okay!

Before. Blah...

After! Pretty! And matches the room!

Jeans to skirt

An irreparable crotch-hole inspired this pair of jeans turned skirt. Normally I hate this look for jean skirts, but I'm super psyched about my results! I would never buy something like this, but I've worn it probably four times in the past week. Right now the hem is unfinished, which is nice and casual for summer. I may hem it to wear with tights when fall comes around.

*Shout-out to Jordan for giving me the idea to use the bottom part of the legs to fill in the gaps in the skirt. Most smartest!

Front

Back

Summer school...

Four weeks, six credits, lots of reading, four trips to the creamery, a few good hikes, two arts fests, and zero Joe Paterno sightings.

#1 thing about State College, PA: Fresh Ice cream from the Penn State cows. From the udder to the cone in an average of 4 days!

Katie poses on our lovely walk to school.

Day trip to Pittsburgh.

High-5ing the Pitt Panther.

In the University of Pittsburgh's "Nationality Rooms" imagining how weird it would be to teach in an India-themed classroom.

Football stadium before fireworks show.

State College 4th Fest: one of the top 5 fireworks shows in the nation. And the land lady gave us tickets to the box seating! Yeah free food!

Destination: Claremont...and some other places

Friends, music, food, booze, roller coasters, chicken, Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, mall bar, Doug Benson, beach picnic, Long Beach, DANGER walk, lots of movies, driving, walking... Man, what an awesome trip.

Photo highlights:

One night while I was sleeping, Meagan and Aaron composed and recorded this.

Knott's Berry Farm: Aaron's very first upside-down roller coaster! Boomerang!

Weeee!

I remember loving this bridge when I was like 5 years old.

Wine and snacks + Laguna Beach = Perfect. And happy seagulls.

Signal Hill