Summer Solstice



Happy summer!  This is such a beautiful time of year in Santa Fe!  It's officially outdoor music season, festival season, drinks-on-a-patio season, estate sale season, and working-on-my-tan season!  With the extremely warm afternoons we've been having lately, it's hard to believe that it wasn't officially summer until last week.  We've had an eventful few weeks in our household.  A few updates...

1) Gardening:  With warmer mornings and no risk of frost, I finally moved my little garden outside!  The tomatoes and rhubarb are looking questionable (the hottest week of the year was probably the wrong time to subject them to a new environment...), but I'm hopeful about my peppers and I planted a few more flowers from seeds.
Shishito Peppers


Peppers and cherry tomatoes

My new rose bush

Kua is a big help in the garden...


2)  Summer Fun in Santa Fe:  There are so many fun summer events in Santa Fe!  On Wednesdays there's free live music ("Music on the Hill") at St. John's College, the Saturday Farmer's Market is in full swing, there are outdoor movies at the Railyard on Fridays, and a number of fantastic art festivals coming up.  This past weekend we had fun at the Rodeo!


Cheering on Jaycob in his Tuesday night softball games
Music on the Hill

Big crowd at this summer's first Music on the Hill

 3)  Summer Fitness:  I'm trying to stay fit through the warm months and the middle of my pregnancy!  I ran the Cherry Garcia 5K last weekend with my running buddy.  Unfortunately I don't have any other races planned for the next couple months, but I'm enjoying long walks with the pooch, Friday TRX suspension training classes, and a new barre class on Mondays that my good friend introduced me to!  I hope to do some more mountain biking in the next few weeks, and I look forward to swimming indoors more this summer when the afternoons are hot.  I'm also trying some prenatal yoga classes a couple different yoga studios.

 4)  Concert Season:  Tonight we're heading to Colorado, where I will see my first concert at Red Rocks, Ben Harper!  Later this summer we'll see Ziggy Marley at the Santa Fe brewing company (on my birthday!) and Michael Franti at the opera house.  In the fall we have tickets to see a Minneapolis band, Atmosphere, here in Santa Fe, followed by Mumford and Sons in Albuquerque!
5)  Finally, a few summer recipes...
Blue Moon Cupcakes with Orange Frosting:  Cupcake recipe
I made these for a coworker's bridal shower recently!

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli:  Fagioli recipe


This is Jaycob's favorite soup at Olive Garden, and such an easy meal when we're running around and don't have time to cook!

 No Bake Honey Almond Cereal Bars
From What To Eat When You're Pregnant

 1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3 cups Cheerios (I used Honey Nut) 

 Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.  Combine honey, almond butter, and chocolate in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted.  Pour the mixture over the Cheerios in a bowl.  Press into the pan, refrigerate for 2 hours, cut into squares and enjoy! 



These are so easy to make and have less sugar than store-brand bars.






   

Happy summer from my crazy family to yours!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pacific Northwest Bachelorette Party

Image
I just returned home from a memorable weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, celebrating my sister, Katie, who is getting married in just a few short weeks.  Four years ago she, as my Maid of Honor, planned the most unforgettable and fun-filled bachelorette weekend for me:  San Francisco and Sonoma Bachelorette , and now it was my turn to do the same for her!  We gathered together a group of twelve women from Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Manchester, Santa Fe, Denver, and Seattle to celebrate the Bride to Be.  I wanted to have some organized, pre-planned group activities, but also plenty of down time for games, lounging, and drinking wine.  While we wanted most of the weekend to be spent at a cozy cabin overlooking the serene water of Puget Sound, we wanted one exciting night out on the town, and I think we achieved that balance.  Here's the breakdown of our weekend events: 1)  Night Out in Capitol Hill We arrived...
Read more

High Altitude Baking: Coffee Cake

Image
Happy January!  I have two weeks left of my maternity leave and I'm trying to make the most of it by spending lots of quality time with Baby Ady before she starts daycare.  It's going by so fast!  While I'm home I've been using my crock pot a lot, working on some yarn projects, taking long walks with Ady and Kua, reading, and doing some baking.  I have struggled with high altitude baking since moving to Santa Fe 5 1/2 years ago.  Cookies turn out okay, but I usually have to make some adjustments with cakes, and my breads are often mushy in the middle and crispy on the ends.  I can get by okay with a few of my favorite recipes that I have practiced multiple times, but it's often hit or miss.  For Christmas, my secret santa got me this amazing cook book, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, that explains the chemistry behind high altitude baking and gives suggestions for adjustments to make at various altitudes.  Ingenious!  ...
Read more

My Bachelorette Party: San Francisco and Sonoma

Image
I have the best Maid of Honor in the world!   Between grad school, work, and preparing to move into a new apartment, she miraculously found time to plan THE BEST bachelorette party ever (and 3 time zones away, I might add).  I had such a fabulous time being surrounded by (and loved and adored by!) all my best friends for four days. The weekend started at 4:30 a.m. Thursday when my Santa Fe friends and I drove to Albuquerque (a 50 mile trip made possible by Panera breakfast) to catch our early flight to the Bay Area.  After a 2 1/2 trip (complete with Bloody Maries, Tequilla Sunrises, Coffees with Baileys, gossip and a few bridal magazines) we landed in Oakland!  One of my dear bridesmaids from Chicago who had arrived a few days earlier picked us up and we headed into San Francisco.  We met up with the other gals, checked in early to our hotel (Parc 55 Wyndahm in Union Square) and set out to explore the city by foot.  Som...
Read more