 I'm packing to leave for a long weekend ~ But just wanted to wish you a Happy Easter or Happy Weekend if you don't celebrate this holiday. We were headed out to go hiking and camp on the mountain, but its still raining so we will camp in hotel, lol. But it will still be a fun weekend.
I have a ton of road trip picture to upload -- hopefully by Friday or else I will just forget them and begin fresh. So stay tune for random travel love. Catch you later~  New Dresses, lol! Hi Travel Fam! April weather is perfect for shopping, lol Part of the fun of traveling is shopping for the trip. I found these new sundress the other day..next on the list is new sandals.  But aside from shopping, and planning the next adventure, I’m doing everything I can to be outside.  The flowers and trees are in full bloom now and spring is finally here!  And my next adventure is taking me some place even warmer~ I can't wait to explore.  And you know I don't mind the rain.  See you at the airport!
 It's Spring in New Mexico!  Remember the plum tree that was struck by lightening?  It is the same tree I caught my neighbor (from down the street) trying to pull up? Via a rope and his car?  Because he just knew it was dead? Yeah...that was a wild day. Anyway, this is THAT very same tree all decked out in spring blossoms!  They are just beginning to flower...the pictures do not do it justice.  Overflowing with pretty pink blossoms.   Aren't they pretty?   I have this in a vase, it's so perfect it doesn't look real.   Just a few more..   It's actually still far from warm here.  But I'm not wearing 5 layers - only two now. Happy Spring!  And the road goes ever on... Hi Travel Fam! I'm sad to report all my company has left me. It's been a GREAT two weeks of fun, laughter and food! We had an amazing time! This weekend I'm deep cleaning the casa and catching up on rest, but I promise to post new recipes, travel pictures and some of our random adventures soon.  And as I was all sad about them leaving, an old friend cheered me up with roses!  A bit of spring in the middle of winter is always nice! See you at the airport~
 Ever wonder why we celebrate Autumn with bright chrysanthemums?  Today's post is about art and flowers! Today I wanted to talk about two things I love...art and flowers. In Chinese Art chrysanthemums are part of what is known as "The Four Gentlemen" or "The Four Noble Ones". They are one of four plants used to mark the seasons. The other three are: Plum blossom, the orchid and the bamboo. You will find these plants in traditional ink and wash painting from the beautiful 'bird and flower' paining category of Chinese Art in most museums or collections.  Love this style!  These plants have been depicted since the time of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) because of their refined beauty, and were later adopted in other parts of East Asia by artists in Japan and Korea.  (Plum blossoms) These colorful plants represent the four different seasons (the plum blossom for winter, the orchid for spring, the bamboo for summer, and the chrysanthemum for autumn). The four are used to mark the seasons through the year in art and decorating.  Orchids for Spring. (I'm still not happy with the placement of this table.)  (Bamboo for summer.)  And chrysanthemums for autumn. Now you know the story of the "Four Gentlemen" and why we are drawn to these colorful flowers.
Do you have any art or arraignments featuring these refined plants? How's your weekend going? The weather is changing fast, winter is almost here. The winds have kicked up and the temps are dropping just in time for the yearly Balloon Fest. This year it will run from October 6-14, 2018. *Hit the link to read more about it.  The mass take-off in the morning is defo something to see. Guess what I did instead?  #TrueStory Turns out Balloon Fest here is a lot like Mardi Gras in NOLA, all the locals leave and let the tourist run wild! One of my native friends told me it's not safe to drive, as all the tourist are looking up watching the balloons and not paying attention to the traffic. She has gone to Vegas for the weekend to escape. #VegasIsAlwaysAGoodIdea I did manage to get out of bed today and go for a walk. Spotted this lovely morning glory, blooming like no ones business while I was out. The color was so intense and vibrant my silly iPhone did not catch it, but you get the idea. I always marvel at what thrives in the desert.  The wind is howling tonight.  It's a lot better than it sounds, trust me.  It could be time to unpack the winter clothes. Although I'm more excited about buying new clothes since I dropped more weight! Either way it is time to do some closet cleaning and make room for new leggings and fuzzy sweaters. I was looking around yesterday, in two years we have filled this house! It doesn't feel empty anymore. Funny how that happens, isn't it? You grab a few things and then a few more and before you know it, a 5 bedroom house is full! If you have been following me awhile you know I dislike clutter and too much stuff. I'm not a minimalist, but I also don't like the general disarray that too much stuff can cause. So I may spend this month editing both my summer and winter wardrobe and boxing up stuff to donate. Meanwhile I went outside to pick the last of the tomatoes and this happened....  The sunsets are always amazing here in central New Mexico! Hope you have an amazing week~
 Summers end in New Mexico is one of my favorite times of the year. There are so many flowers blooming I’m keeping myself busy taking photos of every single one I see, lol! This means I get into hilarious positions next to the side of the road or awkward situations taking pics. #GoodTimes lol (Have you seen me on the side of the road, upside down with camera in hand? Lol) But it is so worth it! I love all the amazing colors and textures. This years flower crop is really kicking it because of the monsoons.  So with all of the wildflowers blooming & the weather being just perfect, I do not want to stay inside at all! I'm so glad I took the week off. #HappyBirthday2Me Normally we would have gone on a cruise or made a trip to Europe, but with my friends recent passing, I wasn't in the mood for a grand adventure. Being in nature was just what I needed.  This turned into a week of camping & warm nights under the stars.  Monsoon clouds have continued to cool the evenings off. Everything has slowed down as summer comes to an end.  I have to go back to work soon, but can we just move my desk to the patio?  This weather is prefect for sunsets and dinning all'aperto. Camping pictures and other adventures posted up soon.
See you at the airport~  How can March almost be over? This month has flown by! So how has your month been? March has been wonderful for me. Work is going great, lots of good things are in the works (more about them soon!) And I even found time to read a bit. #WIN  Currently reading..  I am behind in my book reviews...  I hope to post the reviews later this week.  But then the trees started blooming and I don't want to stay inside on the computer...  OMG!   Spring is here!   I have also been cooking less and snacking more this month...  The March Vegan Cuts box was excellent!  Love this new tea.  Really nice and organic. More book and product reviews soon.
Plus more travel tales and more all around randomness! Catch you Later~  127 Blog Posts! This is my 8th blog post of 2018. Last year I blogged 127 times, that makes 10.58 blog posts per month, almost 2 blog posts per week. HEY THAT’S NOT BAD. Considering that it is a luxury to actually have time to sleep. I even made the effort to update the look of the website and added video headers, plus some new pages. I have also opted to add a few affiliate links. I’m actually not sure if I want to continue them, we shall see. I also tried to refrain from bitching about work and being constantly exhausted all the time. My 2018 new year resolution is blog at least 3 posts per week. I have never really cared if anybody reads this silly little blog, it has been more about documenting some of the places I’ve been and the insights I’ve had. So I am always surprised that people do follow. I want to say a BIG THANK YOU! 🙂 for your continued support. Okay back to reviewing 2017...  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...  No, actually it was a good year. I spent most of it in New Mexico.  Which is a state in the USA, not the country of Mexico. Confusing, right?  We are still in the same house. Which we love very much.. This is somewhat surprising. We are still here, on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. I post mostly landscapes and of course food picture from here or random selfies, lol. Honestly I am so in love with the mountains and the blue sky here and of course the house. We have a nice garden and mostly this feels like heaven. So I try to keep the house tidy and minimal even though it's big 2 story with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a huge bonus room I use for an office, but I don't actually talk much about the house. The kitchen is nice, much better than what we had in the UK, but not as well thought out as the kitchen in France. But it works for us, as you may have noticed I am sharing more food picts and recipes. More Vegan Food I have posted more and more vegan recipes and cooking stuff in general this past year. Mostly because I have been home more and have the ability to cook more. I still want to remind you I am NOT a food blogger.  #MsOneCooks  (Avocado pudding.)  (Mango & Chili Nice Cream) 2017 hair I think I have taken more selfies in 2017 than all the past years combined. Remember when you wondered what I looked like? Yeah, those days are long gone. But back to my hair, it is still blonde - And yes, I’m bored with it. I considered cutting it off this year, but I think I will wait another year. It grows pretty fast though and if I do not flat iron it you can see it is really thick. Using the flat iron may make the style look better - but I hate how thin and flat it looks. :(  See? It's everywhere.  Vs Flat Ironed and styled. Travel in 2017 Travel this past year was sparse. Well, compared to other years when I'm running back and forth to NOLA, Florida or France. But I did mange a few adventures...  Another day, another hotel room... Janurary here in central New Mexico started out snowing... I am still impressed with snow. It was fun for a few days and then it was over. #Goodtimes  Snow around my yard. Jan - left the odd snow storm and headed to New York City. It was dark, cold and snowing there too. But New York is always amazing no matter what the weather is like. This trip was part busines/part fun.  In February we left the dark and flew to Iceland. This was a destination that's been on my son's bucket list for years, but I was not that excited. But guess what? I LOVED IT!  It is so friggen' awesome! And totally not what I expected. It did snow while we were there, but we still managed a night trip to see the Northern Lights. We stayed 7 days and it was not long enough. I'm sure we will return soon.  There was much more Vegan food than I expected and while the shopping is costly you can still find inexpensive gifts too. March was a short Vegas get away and April was me at home planting a garden and experimenting in the kitchen. May I had company and showed them around the area here. You can read about it here. I also started a mini food diary to share what I eat (people still ask) and what I typically purchase at the market.  This is the Isleta Resort and Casino - which my guest always want to visit.  Where I seem to spend 99% of my time..  August I began "What Are You Reading?" A quick review of my recent reads and such. Work was still very busy, but I made my mind up I was going to make time to read and relax more.  I'm an eclectic reader, so people seem interested in what I've read and my reviews. It has been nice comparing notes with fellow readers.  I'm still doing book reviews here and there. September another review and of course the hurricane hitting my home in Texas. I actually didn't talk much about it. Maybe this year I will be able to share more, it's just completely overwhelming. STILL. October was Halloween and I was supposed to go to NOLA for a right old party, but I came down with a bug and spent it in bed. #FML (But look out this year!) November I blogged about American Myths and more book reviews. We debated on going somewhere exotic for Christmas, but decided against it. After spending the holidays in Europe and other amazing places it was nice to just stay in and chill for a change. We did explore around the area, here some. Check out this short video if you want to see an ancient Native American site we hiked. I also posted more about my not so secret love of flowers and house plants this past year.  The bright side of being home more is I am able to garden. So I posted more about gardens and houseplants than ever before. It's not quite an obsession, but almost.  Rescued succulents from the "dead" tray at Home Depot. So all in all it was a great year. We didn't travel as much as usual, but that's okay too. I'm so thankful we are able to live in a nice place, with lots of natural beauty and good people.
I'm also thankful for you, taking the time to read my silly little blog. I appreciate it and the encouraging emails I get from ya'll. Thank you for your friendship and support! Do you have big plans for this year? I can't wait to see what adventures 2018 will bring! See you at the airport- |
Author Welcome to my travel blog, my healthy Vegan lifestyle blog and my life! It's a lot, but it's my passions and I just love to write about it. Here I share tips, stories and photos from my adventures and life. This is the place where people can find daily inspiration to travel and motivation to live healthier lives and laugh a bit too! 
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