 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~
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 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-  This post is about plants, another of my obsessions. Sometime back, (I think it was September??) I went on a plant buying tangent. I love plants, but being I travel so much it's tough to keep them alive. I do have a crew of nice people that help me take care of my house/yard and animals, but.... I love many different types of plants from Orchids to Succulents so it can be a challenge for people to tend each one on it's own schedule. That's why I stopped buying plants and cleared out my greenhouse in Texas. I have had plants on my balcony in Paris, (remember shopping for plants there? Where did I put that post?) And we had way too many plants in England, all of which I left when I moved. So I have held off on buying plants here, but I gave in and started collecting again, lol. #ItsAnIllness I always gravitate towards pretty plants when I'm out shopping, as you can see from my IG posts.  Just say, "no!"  They are so hard to resit! I think it was early September. I bought a set of these plants for my bedroom, but they ended up sticking out from the wall too far and blocking my entrance into the vanity area. So one ended up in the living room. The first thing I do when I add a new plant to my collection is repot it.  I bought pots on sale at Lowe's. They are okay for now.  So anyway remember when I bought these lovely Parlor Palms?  The plants as of today.  Both plants are growing and looking pretty good.  (Spot both plants in this picture?) They take low light well, but cannot tolerate a dry soil. With almost no humidity, (Remember I now live in the desert) and also running the heating, it is very dry inside. I have to mist them daily, to keep them healthy and full. When they do dry out they tend get yellow or brown tips on the leave fronds. So they require a bit of maintenance, but they lend so much color to the house! I'm so glad I was able to get them and keep them alive. I still have minimal furniture in the house so the plants really make it more homey and warm. Meanwhile my veggie crop... I didn't grow all that much this last year. I was so disappointed that the raised beds were doused in Round Up and therefore unusable. The previous tenants didn't plant or want weeds so poison was their answer. Because of this my veggies had to go into pots on the patio.  I also ended up with one more crop of bell peppers this fall.  But when the potatoes were gone, they were gone. They were outside and we had a freak hail storm and they didn't make it.  Big Potato harvest! lol I really didn't raise the potatoes for a "crop" lol. I had a potato sprouting and thought I would just throw it in a flower pot. I chopped it up and planted the pieces. It made a lovely thick plant for my patio.  The other plants including the herbs and baby succulents are wintering well inside.  I grew this Oregano from a seed. This is the Oregano I grew from seed last spring. It needs to be separated and it will probably make enough to share with the neighbors, lol. I love having fresh herbs all year long.  The Avocado is also doing well.  (Today)  I also added more succulents to my collection this past summer.  And these joined the collection in October. #HelpMe  Some didn't make it, but most are thriving. With so many babies I started to get creative. (I also ran out of pots, lol) I planted a small fairy garden with the tiny succulents I rescued from the "dead shelf" of Lowe's. I'm not kidding when I said I was on a buying binge. #Obsession  (Last summer)  (Today) I bought the tiny mushroom houses on Ebay for less than .50 for both, lol. Because the fairy's need houses right? I think it made it look so cute and the plants do seem to be happy. I actually have plants in every room of the house now. But I have slowed down on buying since it is winter. I plan on planting more veggies next spring after I return from Canada. In the meantime I intend to enjoy the plants here.  Catch you later~
 Seems like May was over in a flash! Was it like that for you too? I didn't really blog that much in May. Work + Life = Me mostly not having it to give. #TrueStory But I did make an attempt, at least and you came back and read it again and again. I know because my numbers went up! Lol Below are the top, most clicked on posts for the month - if you missed any of them. *Warning* food heavy posts ahead, lol 1. What Are you Reading? (March Edition) - Hmm, Well I'm not sure I blogged any of what I was reading in April or May. But seeing this post was so well read, (pun intended) I will endeavor to catch you up with my reading list, lol So be on the look out... 2. Mini Vegan Food Diary (April/May) This was posted on May 24th and is mostly pictures - 30 in total, including 2 of me. It was mostly random food I made during April and May + me looking like death from working too much. #GoodTimes 3. Another Sunny Sunday This was posted on May 14, 2017 and features a hot air balloon almost crashing in my back garden! (One of my favorite posts for May) #MoreGoodTimes  4. May Vegan Snacks
May 19th post. Yet, another food post. Are you people obsessed with food or what? No wait, I seem to be blogging about food a lot don't I? This was the monthly Vegancuts snack box review. There was lots of sweet, vegan goodness inside. 5. Rendezvous With Rumi This popular post is from April - It features some of my favorite Rumi quotes. If you want more Rumi click here #LoveHim 6. Speaking of the Weekend May 15, 2017, - This post features cactus and me whining about wanting to stay home and read. I also went and had tea with a friend and whined to her! Another mate made me go for a hike and I ended up cooking brunch for a group people. Warning -More random food pictures! 7. More Flowers This post is from April 26, 2017, and it features wildflowers, roses and more cactus. 8. Top 25 Travel Quotes This is from the Blog home page....Some of my favorite quotes about travel. 9. Vegan Beauty Box May 2nd post and also from the home page. This was a Vegancuts Beauty Box I ordered. 9 pictures and extra points because I set the box (and some of the products) on a few of the books I'm currently reading! But sadly no food in this one, I'm sure had it featured food it would have scored higher, lol. Thank you for reading my silly little blog and all the random randomness that is my life! See you at the airport! And Other Adventures Last snow of the season. 3....2....1....WEEKEND! And suddenly it's over! Kinda feels that way, doesn't it? This weekend was no exception. I wrote about the balloon and such here - and then realized I hadn't finished this post from the 8th. I could actually do a whole tag on "Weekend Adventures I Never Finish" lol - I didn't work that weekend either and rather than go out of state (or country) I stayed around here. Saturday was still busy and over too quickly. I ran errands and went to visit a friend and marvel over their garden. We had snow just a few days ago and the weather was quickly shifting to Spring. #Yeah! You saw most of my weekend on SC, but if you missed it I shall surmise it below.  Including... It was a day full of surprises! I could/should do a whole post on that..perhaps some other day. For now lets just enjoy the roses.  Love, Love, LOVE! These massive roses!  (Yes, this is still in New Mexico.)  (Yes, cactus grows here, but that's not all.)  Century Plant (Agave family) is also one of my fav plants, but so much more grows here.  Friends house and front garden.  She has several peach trees and they are loaded with fruit!  Everyone is planting flowers and celebrating Spring. We had a lovely visit! Her back yard has raised beds, trails and waterlily pond! (But they are a work in progress and she would kill me if I posted pictures though - so just take my word for it.) It was lovely to be outside and catch up. #Bestway2spendSaturday Sunday I was hoping to start that new book and lay in bed all day. #Goals That of course didn't happen.  Although I think this book is gonna piss me off. But in a "Let's change society" kinda way...  I will let you know if I ever have a chance to read it, lol!  Sunday Goals....Stay in bed and read! But that of course, didn't happen. I was hoping to sleep in and read until noon, but my friends had other ideas.  Instead I ended up going hiking... I love all the hiking trails and open spaces here. But I admit I rarely take the time to enjoy them.  The weather cooperated and we had a lovely day! It was another awesome day to be outside with good people. We were only gone a few hours, but we should have packed a picnic. I was famished! Fresh air and all the climbing made me uber hungry - so I volunteered to cook. So from there it was a quick trip to the market and then back to my house for brunch. I made pancakes and egg less "scrambled egg"s + of course I always have fruit.  Healthy pancake mix.  Tofu scrambled "eggs" with potatoes, chilis and spices. #Yum  Organic Strawberries! For it to be a low key weekend, it was really nice. One of my goals this year was to work less, and make more time for simple things.
So far, so good :D Catch you later- |
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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