Land of Enchantment

I absolutely LOVE New Mexico.  My bf and I recently took a weekend trip to the southern part of the state, which I'd never visited before.  Last year my brother moved to Santa Fe to work at an art gallery there, so I advantageously visited him four times.  The food, the art, the breathtaking scenery, the afternoon storms that roll in...  It was heaven to me, but for my brother who was 24 at the time, it was boring, as the average age of a Santa Fe resident is 70.  He had some incredible opportunities to work with local artists such as Forrest Moses.  It's no wonder Santa Fe is  home to so many creatives.  The surroundings are inspiring and I believe there is something otherworldly that draws people to the Land of Enchantment.  Here are somethings I adore about Santa Fe.  Let's starting with the Great Outdoors.  On one visit, my mom, brother, and I hiked the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument...

Exploring OKC

This weekend I made the drive to Oklahoma City to hang out with family and attend my ten hear high school reunion.  (The bf got a pass since he was in conveniently in Denver for a bro weekend.) My high school career was... interesting.  Let's just say I enjoy grown-up life much more.  The reunion was a trip.  I'm in favor for calling it what it is: "Popular kids meet at the bar." 

I met a friend across the street at this dive for a pre-reunion drink.

The night started out just like my first day of high school, with my mom dropping me off and quickly taking a pic of me before anyone driving by could realize what a huge dork I am!

Even though I did not hang with the cool kids in high school, I had a surprisingly good time at the reunion.  Everyone was really nice and this time around I felt confident enough to talk to anyone.  I just asked them about their kids and then they did all the talking.  In my real life, most of my friends are not married and only two friends have kids.  These people have wasted no time making babies!  I was part of the 5% in attendance who were unmarried.  Which explains why a couple of the jocks were hitting on me towards the end of the night.  They were drawn to my unadorned wedding ring finger like moths to a flame.  I didn't take any pictures at the reunion because it's going to be another decade before I see these kids again and if I really need to look at any them there's always Facebook stalking.

Faux Comfort Food

To state the obvious, fall is here!  This is how I know:  #PSL.

via

I've never been a coffee drinker.  The taste of burnt dirt was never appealing to me in the past, but since I work from home I like to spend some time out of the house around other humans, and that inevitably brings me to coffee shops.  Recently I've started to acquire a taste for plain, black coffee.  It still takes willpower to not order a cafe mocha when I approach the counter, but I've been clean for months.  Today I visited a new (to me) coffee shop in my new-ish hood.  I saw "pumpkin chai" written on their chalkboard under "Specials" and I ordered it.  Not because of the pumpkin, but because of the chai- I was expecting some decaf earthy tasting tea (like the chai tea I have in my cupboard at home).  I realized my mistake when I took my first sip of the sweet, creamy concoction.  It was a pumpkin spice chai latte!  I accidentally ordered a PSL!  Ugh.  Now I have to tell you all the reasons I love fall...  Just kidding.  :)  Once the drink was in my hand, there was no turning back. I drank the whole thing.  All 354,782 calories.  And. it. was. so. good.