Summer Travels

This summer has been the hottest that I remember since moving to Santa Fe five years ago.  We've had a number of days over 90 degrees, which is somewhat unusual for this area.  Kua is pretty lackadaisical on her afternoon walks and my garden is seriously struggling.  I'm thankful that we don't have much humidity here, and also thankful that we had enough sense to install central AC last summer!  From what I've read, though, we are not the only region with extreme heat: residents of Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and even Colorado Springs are seeing record high temps over 100 degrees.

 I just returned from two back-to-back vacations in some hot and sticky cities!  My mom and I spent a week at her timeshare in Virginia Beach, VA, where we spent our days lounging at the beach, riding bikes, walking in the sand, stand-up paddle boarding, reading beach books, and enjoying fresh seafood.  It was so wonderful to have a few days of relaxation without an itinerary.  Looking out over the ocean every day brings a unique sense of calm and peacefulness that we don't experience in the mountains.
After a few days at the beach I flew to Nashville for my future-sister-in-law's bachelorette ("Nashlorette") party.  Believe me when I say that Nashville is the new Vegas!  There were squads of matching girls celebrating Brides to Be everywhere we looked, and what a perfect place to celebrate "the last ride before she's a bride."  We rented a guest house in East Nashville and the weekend was filled with bar crawls, a pedal pub, games, live music, and showing off our cowboy boots in coordinated outfits.  I can't wait to welcome this Bride to Be into our family in just a few short weeks.






Next weekend we are headed north to Aspen, where Jaycob is competing in the Aspen Valley XTERRA triathlon, one of five XTERRA events that he's doing this year.  We're bringing Kua with us, and I look forward to a fun weekend get-away!  The month of August will be jam-packed with visitors and I can't wait to entertain guests in our home and show our friends and family what the Land of Enchantment has to offer.
In other news, I'm halfway done with my "temperature afghan!"  (Lots of reds and pinks this month as temps are in the high-80s and 90s!)  

Halfway through my temperature afghan, starting at the bottom (purples for January) and ending at the top (reds for June/July)

 Stay tuned next week for a new yummy dessert recipe! :-)

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