Wordless Wednesday {Concert #3: Poison and Cheap Trick!}

Last Wednesday the 23rd:

School's Out for Summer!

Gwen's last day of school was Friday, and thus starts the summer!

First Day of School...

Last Day of School!

I cannot believe how this year flew by. It was a great one. We loved her teacher, continue to love her school, and were impressed with the new things she learned. She continues to excel in math, reading, and art; and loved being able to be part of GT (gifted and talented). 

 We've already hit up the pool multiple times and have so much fun stuff planned for the next few months. I can't wait to share it all with you.

Wordless Wednesday {Yes, She's Double Jointed}

Fun Times with Friends

 I have been so lucky to spend some really wonderful night with friends lately.

One out with some yogi friends at one of their houses...

 And one at home, with a gaggle of friends coming by to eat amazing food cooked by my friend JD.

 

 

I am truly lucky to have built up the group of friends that I have here in Colorado.

Mother's Day and Return of the Farmer's Market

The Sunday of Mother's Day also happened to be the first Sunday of the Farmer's Market for the year. The Parker Farmer's Market is one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday morning, so I was super excited to celebrate there. I got to sleep in a little, have some breakfast in bed, then take a shower before heading out here:

It was busy and gorgeous! Gwen was excited too... she'd literally been asking for weeks when it would get here! Most of our favorite vendors were back, which was really nice, and it made for a great picnic lunch afterwards.

Also, in case you were wondering about a Mother's Day gift... oh, there was definitely a surprise there!

::gulp::

What a day!!

Wordless Wednesday {New Ink}

Failing and Flying

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

It’s the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.

– Jack Gilbert

Family Travel

Months and months ago we realize that Gwen had a random 3-day weekend at the beginning of May, so we decided to either make that our first camping trip of the season (Rocky Mountain State Park) or to head down to Santa Fe to check out Meow Wolf. It ended up snowing just a week or so before our trip, so we decided on New Mexico. We camp in all kinds of weather, but we just weren't feeling having to shovel our a campsite before we set up!!

It was a wonderful trip. It was nice for me to ease back into real life after Mexico, and Santa Fe is a beautiful city. We headed down on Friday morning, and in a quick 5 hours, we were checking into our hotel. We decided to go out an explore a bit that afternoon, and found a fun park.

Then we hit up a great diner that was recommended to us, and did not disappoint. Hit up The Pantry if you're in Santa Fe for sure!

We headed back to the hotel and went for a swim, and then headed to bed early to get ready for Saturday. We headed to a local comic book store first for free comic book day. 

And then walked right down the street to check out a great little farmer's market! We love a good farmer's market. 

After eating some yummy things, and buying a few items, we headed to the main reason for our visit: Meow Wolf!! 

This place was everything we hoped it would be! It was fun, super interactive, and more then a little crazy. 

There are secret passages, a million different rooms, and I think a mystery to solve (though we skipped that part as Gwen didn't slow down long enough!). 

I highly recommend this place to everyone! Kid or adult, you'll have fun. The only thing I would do differently? Go on a weekday if you can, because it was definitely way crowded. 
 

After that we had some time left in the day, so we headed over to Canyon Road to check out all the amazing art galleries, sculpture gardens, and little shops. 

Then it was time for a quick dinner and back to the hotel. We headed out after breakfast on Sunday, since I had to teach that night, and had an easy trip home. It was a really great weekend away!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday {Before and After}

Mexico faded my color a lot! Thankfully I had a hair appt for the day after I got back... 

I love doing my hair in all different colors, but man do I feel most me when I'm in blue.

Mexico with My Soul Sister! {2018 Trip #1}

You might recall me talking about my soul sister, Marissa, moving to Mexico back in January. I missed her so much and we talked a lot about me coming to visit her. Trav surprised me with a trip down as a Valentine's Day present, and two weeks ago the time had finally come!

It was so crazy flying out of the country by myself, but was an easy experience (Thank you TSA PreCheck/GOES!!). Before I knew it I was in Bucerias!!

We started off with a little walk around the town and some amazing food.

The whole town is adorable, and it was the start of slow season, so it was calm and peaceful.

We took siestas most days (well, she siesta'ed, I relaxed), and swam every day.

House Gecko!

We watched the sunset from the balcony some nights and from the beach others. And I got some pretty, fruity drinks.

Most mornings we started with tea on the balcony, and yoga, either with her mom down by the pool, or with the people she teaches.

Savasana view... does not suck.

I have always found Mexico to be beautiful, but I enjoyed this trip most of all.

It was relaxing, fun, colorful, and it was all just in my friend's stomping ground... no resorts, no pretending, just real life.

We ate out some, cooked some, spent a lot of time talking.

This girl knows me so well, it was amazing to spend 6 days with someone who just gets me.

We visited two neighboring towns, Sayulita and La Cruz, enjoying the Farmer's Market in the latter.

I got a tan, got refreshed, used my very minimal and broken Spanish.

I got to meet soul sisters friends, and make new friends myself.

Trav and Gwen did fine without me, and the time flew.

Before I knew it, it was my last night there. We caught one more sunset together.

Then Tuesday morning it was time to go. I snuggled her puppy Raloo one last time, squeezed the hell out of my soul sister, then it was into a cab and off to the airport.

It was such an amazing trip. I'm so grateful that I got to go, and I'm already dreaming of going back. Thankfully soul sister will be in town at the end of this month for a visit! In the meantime, there will be lots of Mexico dreaming!!