Albuquerque Aloft

Just as a quick reminder to our family and friends, OCTOBER is coming up in a month and a half! That means the International Balloon Festival is rapidly approaching. Here's a little preview as to what we've been waking up to every morning. It was launched at the park right next to our house:

I have also convienently placed links to Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Expedia, CheapTickets, and Hotwire here so that you can book your flights as soon as possible. Remember, you'll be flying into the Albquerque Airport during October 4-12.

Eli and I have toyed with the idea of being balloon chasers sometime during the week of the fiesta. We've heard it's the best way to get free rides in the balloons. Let us know if you want to come visit. Our place is perfect for the two of us, but we do have an extra guest room with a nice full bed, as well as room for the two air mattresses that we own. It'll be great fun!

Let us know when your flight is booked so we can put it on our calendars! We don't want to forget to pick you up (unless you've rented a car!).

Date Day

Eli and I have a pretty interesting schedule right now. I'm working at Barnes & Noble right now and Eli is working part-time as a lead at Sam's Club and working to get the business up and running here. What this all means is that Eli pretty much works all day and I usually work evening until midnight. We don't get to see one another very much except for Sundays.

We have decided that when Eli and I have time off together other than Sunday, we get to have our date night. We think it's pretty stinking important to spend time together; you know, happy marriage and all.

Usually for date day we go out to eat and watch a movie. Today was a little different. We went out to breakfast at a place here in New Mexico called Weck's. It's amazing! It's a ton of good food for a decent price and it's delicous! I had lunch and Eli had breakfast (his favorite). I had the chicken fried steak lunch special w/ homemade chips and potato wedges and a salad. Eli had Biscuits n' Gravy, another favorite. If ever you pass through New Mexico or come to visit, a stop at Weck's is necessary!

We contemplated going to a movie, but then remembered hearing about a ceramic store nearby called the Painting Corral. It's one of those places where you go in and pick a ceramic piece to glaze. You can use pieces that have already been fired or glaze a piece that hasn't been fired yet.

It was a tough decision for us to pick something, but we finally settled on some pirate pieces. I told Eli that I know we don't have any kids yet, but when we have a boy I'd like to decorate his room in a pirate theme. I love pirates! So we made our choices and got to work.

Eli worked pretty hard. His focus totally paid off because his pirate skull came out amazing! All you do is paint the project with an acrylic glaze. Once you're done painting you blow dry the project with a blow dryer. After that you apply a thin layer of glossy glaze and blow dry again. It was fascinating to see Eli work. We've both taken ceramic classes and were pretty anal about our projects

Here's Eli applying a barnyard red color to his pirates do-rag. And here are our finished projects:

This was one of the best dates Eli and I have been on in awhile. It's amazing to think that we have one another and have so much fun together! If you don't make the time now to do it, you really should have a weekly date night with your spouse. It does wonders!

It's Like the Birthday Butterflies

I was talking to a coworker of mine today. He commented on my Kool-aid Jammers purse and asked if I made him. I assured him that I was not nearly creative enough and got it from etsy.com. He then told me about all the interesting websites he's found. One of them sounded extremely interesting so I checked it out. Here's the description from the website itself:

"SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping in the US) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it. What will yours be?"

Then I asked myself the question, "What kinds of things do people get randomly for ten bucks?" My question was quickly answered as I read on:

"Your Something May Be Anything. It may be something you need, something you want or something you desire. Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or ...Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique."

And then I thought to myself, "I really like the excitement I feel when Eli tells me he has a surprise for me. I like the feeling at birthdays and Christmas. I wonder if that's what it would feel like if I ordered from this store." I decided that I might have to try it sometime soon. Maybe you should too!

Step It Up and DANCE!

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to dance. My love for dance started at a very young age. I took ballet for a few months when I was 3 or 4. I'm not gonna lie. I've always liked to shake my groove thing. I was exposed to breaking in 5th grade when a girl at school by the name of Jai danced for a talent show. It was amazing! I never got around to getting back into dance clubs or anything like that, but you better believe my kids will have better moves than me!

It's been awhile since I've been able to get out and cut a rug, so I've been meeting my dancing needs in other ways. I recently rented Step Up 2: The Streets. I got hooked again. I love watching people dance! I started searching YouTube for dancing. The director of Step Up 2, Jon Chu, has a pretty big dance crew. They've challenged Miley Cyrus to the biggest online dance battle. It's crazy what people can do. I've posted Chu's challenge video and Miley's response. Eli and I are big fans of Miley's video. EH!

The ACDC

The M & M Cru

You'll seriously have to check out their other videos. You can find Jon Chu's crew HERE and the M & M Cru HERE. Have fun!

Us in Photos

I enjoy browsing blogs. I found this on Jen's site. It looked like fun, so Eli and I each created one. There are some amazing pictures on Flickr. You should give it a shot. Here are the directions.

Eli in Photos

Mandy in Photos

Here are the questions we answered( left to right, top row to bottom): 1) What is your first name, 2) What is your favorite food, 3) What high school did you go to, 4) What is your favorite color, 5) Who is your celebrity crush, 6) favorite drink, 7) dream vacation, 8) favorite dessert, 9) what do you want to be when you grow up, 10) what do you love most in life, 11) one word to describe yourself, and 12) your flickr name.

Sleeveface+freetime=loads of fun

Sleeveface: one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion.

This is my favorite. Forgive me. It makes me laugh.You can find more at sleeveface.com or on flickr. Enjoy!