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As my last day of spring break, I taught a crochet class, had lunch with my parents for my birthday, and finished a baby blanket for my friend's baby.
My parents took us to Fuego for our annual Mexican birthday lunch, which was awesome as usual. Mom put together an amazing bag of birthday goodies, including Reese's candy, movies from my wish list, and a book on tapas cooking. I will start with the delicious marinated olives and continue through the book until we are sufficiently satiated.
Driving around town, we also got to see the wonderful snow that fell over the night - although Dave wouldn't say it was so wonderful.
Later in the evening we watched some library movies, including Honeymoon in Vegas and Run Fatboy Run. The former was actually a pretty bad movie, even though I've understood it to be something of a cult classic. The latter was a really sweet movie, and definitely motivated me to be better about exercise.
While we watched those movies, I finally finished a baby blanket I've been working on for a few months. I used my Leapfrog Shell pattern to create a cloud-like baby blanket that looks and feels oh-so-soft.
The pattern is easy to work and you don't have to change colors - you just hop one color over the other without ever cutting your yarn. The result is a very coloful set of interlocking colors:
I have been working on this and two other blankets, and two of them are already spoken for by expectant friends. It felt good to finish a blanket today - I have so many projects around the house that I'm sure Dave will be very happy for me to get some of the yarn out of here.
Now for some grilled scallops for dinner!
Today some friends took me out for laser tag and hot wings for my birthday, and it was a real blast. (Blast, get it?!)
Dave and I thought of the idea, and I had a mix of high school, college, and law friends. We got two rounds of lasermania at Laser Quest in Arlington Heights, and I have to say, I was feeling pretty rusty. I haven't been laser tagging since just after high school, when we had teams but Jen Jen ended up shooting everyone, including her teammates. (Awesome.)
So the first round, I have to say, was pretty terrifying. I was so frightened that I would get zapped that I ran all the way through the maze and directly up into the second floor of the room, then proceeded to hide and hope I didn't get hit. I joked later that it was like I was in 'Nam and hiding from Charlie!
Then I realized, what the heck, just go for it. So I came out from hiding and proceeded to get immediately hit by Dave. Grr. For a while, it was a free for all, then we realized that we needed to zap the kids in the room. Yeahhhh. That's when it got really fun, at least until I ran smack into an eight-year-old with my laser gun. Oh well. He must not have been that hurt; he zapped me, too.
All in all, I didn't do too shabby! The first round, Dave and I were third and fourth respectively (out of about eleven or so people). The second round, which the GRS won, Dave and I were seventh and sixth respectively (out of about twenty-three people).
The Laser Quest arena was also pretty cool. It was set up like a maze, with various holes and mirrors to confuse you. There are also grates where you can shoot through the floor up to the second floor (or shoot down from the second floor - you get the idea). GRS and Ed are planning on doing it again for their birthdays in June, so we'll get more laser tagging fun then.
"Zappy birthday" to me! (That was Laser Quest's pun, not mine.)
For our last full day in New Mexico, we spent the day in downtown Albuquerque, which we had strangely not visited until that point.
First we saw the petroglyph carvings at the Petroglyph National Monument, which is actually shockingly close to where Chad and Mark live. This involved walking up a somewhat steep little mesa to view some rock carvings.
I was excited to see this because ever since we visited the southwest when I was in high school, my dad has been really into the Native American carvings, especially the Kokopelli deity. While there were no Kokopelli carvings there, we did see quite a few carvings.
After getting a little much-needed exercise at the petroglyph park, we headed to lovely downtown Albuquerque for lunch and shopping.
The downtown area was much more affordable than Santa Fe, so we checked out some Native American jewelry and southwestern tasty food. Dave got me a pretty stone ring for my upcoming birthday, and he also got something for himself: a nice, big pack of whole bean Piñon coffee. (It's a type of coffee grown in New Mexico, and Dave loved tasting it at Chad and Laura's house.)
I also had my first real New Mexican food for lunch at the Church Street Cafe, where I got a big plate of cheese enchiladas and pinto beans. (I ordered them "Christmas" style!) I loved the setting of this restaurant. It was situated in a very old house in Albuquerque, and we ate in the back courtyard. Eating delicious, hot enchiladas in that sunny courtyard was another highlight of the trip for me. On day three, we also visited the awesome American International Rattlesnake Museum. 
They give you a "certificate of bravery" when you go to this museum, because it really is full of creepy crawlies. To me, the snakes aren't as worrisome as the other things, such as tarantulas. (Shudder.)
We saw some really cute snakes, actually, like this little ringed guy.
Dave got a little too close to the glass for my comfort right here.
For dinner we ate at Sadie's of New Mexico, which is one of the more famous New Mexican restaurants in the area. Dave and I split carne adovada enchiladas, which are basically pulled pork enchiladas in chili sauce. I absolutely loved this dish, but the restaurant did not impress me as much as the Church Street Cafe or Casa de Benavidez. Nonetheless, you really can't go wrong with New Mexican cuisine.
It was a good last day in New Mexico with our friends. I was sad to leave, but I was just glad that I was able to spent time with these friends, not to mention my happiness to spend a few days in a relatively warm, sunny climate. (I even came back with a sort of tan!)
I also was reminded that there is light at the end of the law school tunnel. Seeing Chad and Mark coming out on the other side of graduation and taking the bar exam made me feel better about doing it myself. Even more so, seeing them start their business and take a chance made me feel that I will be OK in this economy, even if I'm terrified of my job search now.
Thanks for the great visit, Mark and Chad, and here's to many more!
The title of this post is a bit of a misnomer, because we spent most of the day out of Albuquerque in Santa Fe and the roads around the countryside.
We started out the day seeing some hot air balloons flying around Albuquerque. We set out in a caravan to visit Santa Fe first, where we saw the downtown plaza, did some shopping, and visited an art gallery where a friend's mom's art was on display. We also caught the strange-but-famous donkey sculpture:
The donkey is just outside the Cafe Paris, where we had a tasty breakfast. Wes almost got a pastry there, which apparently cost $8.10 per piece. Yikes! But my chorizo omelette was tasty.
In Santa Fe, we also saw the "miraculous staircase," which was allegedly built by the resurrected Jesus. If they say so... But it was pretty neat just the same. (Note that it has no center support!)
After leaving Santa Fe, we drove through Los Alamos (past the laboratories!) to our next destination, Jemez Springs. Dave said the drive was his favorite part of our trip thus far, and with the views of the deserts and mountains, you can see why:
We had a lot of fun philosophizing in the car with Wes and Chad, our stowaways. We were basically in agreement that children today are very ill-behaved, which I don't think is a difficult agreement to arrive at.
Next was Giggling Springs in Jemez Springs in the mountains. Mark, Chad, and Laura had visited this spot before, and they had the foresight to realize that we would absolutely love it. (And, being mostly stressed out law students on spring break, we needed it!)
Look at the awesome pool, and the mountains in the background! This is the whole group. (See me and Dave in the front right.)
The weather was beautiful, as you can see. I think it might have been one of my favorite things that we did during the trip; it was certainly one of the most unique.
We spent about two hours in the water, which was hot and full of minerals. Apparently the water, which came from a New Mexican volcano, had quite a bit of iron and other minerals.
After a good soak there, we were relaxed and very happy. Plus, I got to wear the hat that I made on the plane ride over.
We finished out the day with pizza at Mark's house, accompanied by playing with his two very fun dogs, Spencer and Finnegan. These two Standard poodles may not have the crazy puppy cute factor that Hoss has, but they are so intelligent and regal. It was really fun to play fetch with them for a while.
Another awesome day.
This weekend Dave and I were in Albuquerque, New Mexico, visiting some law school friends of mine. Chad and Mark graduated early and headed down there to start their own firm.
They definitely planned a ton to keep us occupied. On the first day, we met up at Chad and Laura's house, where we met their puppy, Hoss. Hoss is a St. Bernard, and he's 45 pounds at 11 weeks. He's also the cutest thing I've ever seen!
Look at this thing.
I seriously can't take it. I want one so bad, but of course they reach about 200 pounds, and we simply don't have the money to feed one at this point. OK, let's have one more puppy shot:
We ate an amazing barbecue meal at The County Line in Albuquerque. Basically the restaurant served copious amounts of meat to our willing stomachs. I got the platter with ribs, sausage, and brisket; Dave got the risket platter. I also bought a loaf of day-old wheat bread for $1 - you can't beat that for breakfast in the hotel!
Afterward, we headed up to the Sandia Peak Tramway, which brings you up the mountain that overshadows Albuquerque. The trip up the tramway provided amazing views of Sandia Peak and the surrounding mountains and desert.
The mountaintop provided some really breathtaking views. (See Dave at right!) It was windy up there, and certainly colder than the desert below, but it was worth the views.
Chad and Laura said that they planned on climbing the peak at some point, which sounds very impressive. I wonder if they will take Hoss... Seems unlikely.
One neat thing is that the tram cars sometimes play host to workers who ride on the roof. (See the tiny guy atop this tram car.)
Call me crazy, but that is simply terrifying.
That night we ate a delicious New Mexican meal at Casa de Benavidez, a local favorite. Dave and I got nachos, which isn't the most authentic New Mexican food, but they certainly were delicious.
It was neat to learn about New Mexican food, which uses a ton of green and red peppers with typical Mexican dishes, like enchiladas or tacos. And, as Laura told me, if you want both, you say you want it "Christmas." (Get it? Red and green?) Benavidez was certainly a delicious introduction to delicious New Mexican cuisine.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my first New Mexican-style sopaipilla. They are delicious little fried dough puffs that you smother in honey and devour excitedly. Obviously they are very messy, but they are intensely delicious.
This year, the crop of movies at the Oscars seemed to be a cut above average. It was for that reason that I was disappointed that I hadn't seen more of them before the awards show - only "Milk" and "Wall-E."
Last weekend, Dave and I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with Rob and Diane, and today we saw "The Reader" with Jackie. Both movies were intensely sad in different ways, and both really made us think. In fact, we spent the car ride after each movie debating about different plot points.
Whenever I see some good movies, it gives me the urge to watch more movies. The movies I have seen recently have been wonderful: not only the ones I just mentioned, but also the BBC mini-series of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Romancing the Stone," which I rented from the library.
Every time I think that humans must be running out of stories to tell, someone proves me wrong. Now I have a huge list of movies to rent from the library, and I intend to watch them over the next few weeks. I'm sure some will be hits and others misses, but I love exploring new ones. (Something has to distract me from the upcoming Illinois bar, right?)
