Invitations usually rotate so we were not expecting to go a third year. Although, Andrew was promoted, so maybe that's why we got another invitation.
This year, we avoided the Eldorado. Although it is a very nice hotel, the valet service is a pain and we wanted to try somewhere new. We had stayed at the Old Santa Fe Inn for one night last year and found it to be a great little place. The rooms are cozy, with fireplaces and lots of space. There are freshly baked cookies in the reception area every day at 4, and they serve Earl Grey anytime of day. We really enjoyed this place and recommend it over the bigger, flashier hotels such as La Fonda, where the rooms are tiny and the closets are too short to hang anything longer than a jacket.
Most of the NMOGA trip is spent socializing, eating, and shopping, and after the 4th day I am always ready to leave. On the last night, another spouse and I left the event early to go and sit in the hot chocolate shop across the road, where we agreed we were ready to head home and put on our sweat pants.
In Santa Fe, there are some neat shops with unique merchandise, and the street market sells some nice pottery and jewelry. However, most stores are very overpriced due to location.
During one evening's drawing, I was ecstatic to win a $500 gift card for Overland, one of our favorite Santa Fe stores! I found a lovely leather jacket. I also found some nice boots and had to supplement my gift card with a debit card.
Rare photo of us both
On Monday morning, several of us signed up for a class at the Southwest Cooking School of Santa Fe. The chef was very knowledgeable and I learned a lot about peppers and how to cook them. We learned how to make several recipes, including the best caramel flan I have ever tasted. I tried making the tortilla soup when I got home and it was a huge hit.
You could purchase this special pepper grill at the school.
I found that a baking cooling rack works just as well.
Once the peppers are blackened, you throw them into a zip lock bag and close it up. After 10 minutes or so of sweating, remove the peppers and the blackened skin just falls off, leaving perfectly cooked peppers!
While we were away, Mary had fun staying with Ms. Nora, her babysitter/adopted grandma.
We visited Wagner Noel to see a couple of shows. The first was Weird Al Yankovic.
This was one of those "gotta be raised here to appreciate it" events. Because it was live, I couldn't hear or understand many of the lyrics, so the humor was a little lost on me. I think if I had grown up watching Weird Al then I would know the songs and it would have been a lot more fun. I did hear most of Amish Paradise, and that was funny. Here is a link to the Amish Paradise video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo74Dn7W_pA
Andrew and I went back to Wagner Noel to see Seinfeld, and he was hilarious. We are still throwing Seinfeld lines at each other a month after the show.
Halloween was fun this year, although finding the right Dragon Defender costume for Mary was a challenge.
Hannah was a super cute trick-or-treater
"Nailed it"
In other October news...
Andrew took Mary on a weekend camping trip with the Indian Princesses; a father-daughter social/camping group. Mary had a blast and can't wait to go on the next trip. Andrew returned feeling discouraged that our truck and pop-up camper don't quite compare to the other dads' equipment. For instance, our pop-up does not have a flat-screen TV, 3 bedrooms, nor an outside movie projector.
That same weekend, back at the homestead, we had pretty heavy rains and the roads turned into rivers.
Mary became Andrew's coach. She started with Yoga and has since had him running up and down the street and working out on the elliptical. She is quite brutal.
Andrew spent an agonizing few weeks (months) deciding whether to take a new job offer from BVX, or stay with Concho. I was always an advocate for BVX. After weighing all the pros and cons, and thoroughly discussing all the options, we decided to try the pull-a-company-from-the-hat strategy.
It worked! Andrew left Concho and went to BVX.
Mary decided she wanted to run another lemonade stand, which I have learned is about the equivalent amount of work as moving house, especially when you throw in seasonal decor. She sold lemonade, hot chocolate, and homemade cookies.
She did take a few breaks but the stand ran for about 6 hours total. As dusk approached, Mary refused to pack away as she still had some stock to budge.
As nightfall came on, we were saved by a friend, David, who stopped by and bought up the remaining stock of cookies. Finally, Mary called it a day.
Our very kind friends from Houston (Geraldine and Brian) saw my Facebook post and decided they would match Mary's donation. We shortly received another $20 in the mail for the shelter! Mary was delighted.
We spent a cozy night at the drive in movies. I have pretty much perfected the fall drive-in movie night. I wrap up in my sleeping bag in my reclining camping chair, Mary makes herself a little nest in the trunk, and we enjoy the movie with a flask of hot chocolate.
Andrew won a gift card at the Gem and Mineral show and bought me a pretty necklace. We also saw this display - every food item is a rock. Cool.
Mary spent all of her money at the spin-the-wheel in the children's area, where she came away with these "gems":
Mary and I went to see the MHS performance of The Little Shop of Horrors. We had to leave at intermission because it was "too scary". Mary has since also determined that E.T. is "too scary". I've stopped trying to convince her to watch Gremlins with me, I'm pretty sure it would traumatize her.
How can The Hunger Games be a PG-13?!
Toby let me take his picture
