It's official!!!

I am a New Mexico resident! I have the driver's license and car registration to prove it! Gone are the 'Show-Me-State' plates; Welcome to 'The land of Enchantment'! I am sprouting official roots!



Although I am still in transition and 'in between' work-wise, life has definitely changed! Doug has gone from having plenty-of-flexible-time to having very limited non-study-time. Walks to the 'San Francisco street bar and grill', the 'Zia diner', 'Guadelupe Cafe' and 'Clafoutis' are being replaced by more at-home-meals, walks to 'Whole foods' and the occasional lunch at the 'Taj Mahal' buffet (VERY VERY delicious!!!). Outdoor time is dictated by the Albuquerque temperatures, typically at least 10 degrees hotter than Santa Fe (I am going to LOVE the winters here!!!). I am missing the SF Plaza but loving Altura Park.....

The transition phase will go on for a few more weeks / months to come; My sister and her family will be visiting from Belgium YIPEEE!!!!!) and I'm just taking a temporary ABQ job after that....

It's still hard to imagine what life will look like more long term........

The real reason for buying THAT house...

is the location!!!

Obviously, it's very close to the university but also only a block away from Altura Park, a shady heaven in the summer heat with beautiful mountain views! We had our first little pick-nick out there last night ;-)!!

Are we done yet?

It feels like we're getting there.

We are living in the ABQ house!!!!! It's painted and cleaned and we have a functional kitchen and bathrooms! The SF house isn't quite empty yet but hopefully will be by the end of the weekend...
Doug started school and apart from a flat bike tire on the first day that made him late for class, he is very enthused about the full school experience.

This is where we'll be living, at least for the coming few years:

Guarding the house at the front door...


A little more color (green, obviously!) than on the before pictures....



This is where you'll stay... the guest bedroom...

I can't believe I did it!!!

The PODS container came and was bigger and fuller than I had let myself remember.... So on Saturday in 100 degree weather outside, I went through the full container, the content of 10 years of Missouri life, in 24 hours.... Decisions about what to keep, what to sell/donate were made in just a few seconds....
I never in my life thought I would have a moving sale, but I did. I advertised in the paper and on Craigslist and people started arriving well before 7.30 am. About 2 hours later most of my "sellable" stuff was gone. I hope the Salvation Army picked up the rest today...
To say I was exhausted would be an understatement, I don't think I've been this tired since I climbed Kilimanjaro.... Not quite the same level of achievement but still, it does feel like a big accomplishment. Doug was awesome (as always ;-)...). The things you can get done as a team are amazing...;-)!!!



Also, a 100 degrees outside probably meant close to 115 inside the POD!!

Another day, another paint bucket...

I did close on the house in Albuquerque!!!! And we are moving!!!! Whilst Doug is finishing up the house in Santa Fe, I'm making the house in ABQ move-in-ready!!! Frequent trips to home depot and Lowes, painting, dealing with contractors for some minor repairs, waiting (not so) patiently for the cable guy, shopping and ordering shades for all the windows,... The list still seems endless....
My pod storage container will be delivered tomorrow am: lots to sell, give away and recycle....

Some pictures from before the painting...

Maine

The first stop of our New England trip was Scarborough, Maine. We stayed with wonderful friends of Doug very close to the beach. We enjoyed some great walks through the sand and over the rocks with beautiful views of endless ocean horizons and graceful seagulls at take off and landing.








I had my first real Lobster dinner. And yes, getting to the delicious lobster meat was definitely worth the effort!!!

Before...


After...

New Hampshire

We were only in New Hampshire for a day, and I felt like I had to at least visit the LLBean outlet mall. So not too much time but we did get 2 short hikes in with nice views of Mount Washington, the highest peak in New England.

Boston

Doug lived in Boston full time for 15 years and worked in Boston every 6 weeks for another 8 years. This not only explains why he drives his car like he's dodging traffic in Boston (really ;-)!!!), but also gave me the benefit of having a great 'tour-guide' especially where good seafood restaurants were concerned!! I got to meet several close friends and 2 of his sisters and their families. All that was the basis for a very wonderful vacation... Although I did have my camera on me most times, I didn't take many pictures, just enjoyed meeting and talking with everybody!!

Boston is a very 'walkable' city and we were very fortunate to stay in the middle of Cambridge with a good friend. Thanks to the -mostly cooperative- weather, we walked everywhere. Highlights included a visit to 'the-good-news-garage', home of Click and Klack from NPR car talk, Cheers cafe, walking the length of the Emerald Necklace (Franklin Park, the Arboretum, Jamaica Pond, Fenway Park, along Commonwealth Avenue to Boston Common) and too many great seafood lunches and dinners to count (including 3 visits to various 'Legal Seafood' locations ;-)!!.

Albuquerque home !!

After some initial bumps-in-the-road (The sellers signed my counter offer and stated afterwards "We don't know why we signed it or why we faxed it".... and these are people owning commercial real estate in Albuquerque!!!! Seriously .....), things seem to move along fairly smoothly... Some pictures from the outside, the inside ones will follow.... I'm getting excited, slowly but surely... ;-)!!!!

Therapy friends!!!!

Deb, Carol and Cathy made it out here -from St. Louis- for a visit!! The weather didn't cooperate that well (what else to do but have some Margaritas on a cold and wet spring day?) but we had fun regardless... I love to show off Santa Fe to visitors and friends!!!