Madame Butterfly

We had a great time at dinner together! The food was delicious!

Just another drive to the opera house!

All of my Santa Fe opera goods. I love the shirt, it has the 2010 season on the back of it!

For my last day in Santa Fe, yet again, I was happy as a lark sitting by the pool while Joe was in rehearsal. I decided that at some point in my life, we need to live in a place that is sunny and where I can have a pool. It literally warms my soul and lifts my spirits to just soak up rays and relax. Joe had a particularly long day today, with rehearsal all morning and afternoon with a show later at night. After eating lunch together, I decided to go back and get ready for the evening. When Joe finished his rehearsal, I was there to pick him up. While we were riding back to his house, there was a great big thunderstorm coming over the mountains. It was so neat to see! When we got back to his house, we relaxed, played some Mario Kart, and got ready for the evening.

Since Joe and I don't get a lot of alone time together, we decided to have a very nice dinner and get dressed up for the evening. I needed to dress up in order to go to the opera anyways, and he was so sweet to dawn a suit and make it a special night. Even though we had a multitude of choices on where to go for dinner, we ended up going back to Tomisita's because it was that delicious. We ordered practically the same thing but didn't care. I wish I could take everyone to this restaurant, because it is awesome! Once we got to the opera, there were people everywhere. The theater was a buzz with opera lovers and first time attendee's alike. I was so excited as I pulled out my ticket and walked through the threshold into the theater.

I always love the feeling of going to a show. The special attire, the anticipation, the air of creativity: it all culminates to the first wave of the baton of the conductor and the first note to be sung by the cast. This feeling was particularly great because I was watching the man I love most be apart of something he loves to do. I felt such a sense of pride in watching Madame Butterfly. Knowing that Joe is pursuing his God-given talent and doing it so well made me the proudest person in the theater that night. Every single person in the cast was incredible. The actress portraying the title role, Madame Butterfly, was exquisite. I was so impressed with her musicianship and her grace on stage. I couldn't help but think the entire time that sometime in the near future, I will be watching my husband on stage playing title roles around the world. I can't wait to be there for it! Before leaving for the night, I grabbed a couple of things from the bookstore to support Joe's company and to remind me of what great accomplishment this was for him.

I had such a great week with Joe. I am more thankful for him everyday and can't imagine loving him more than I do (I know I will). I miss him terribly while he is gone, but couldn't be happier for him and this awesome opportunity. I love you all the world Joe Joe and thank you for spending the week with me! I can't wait to see you soon!

High Rollin'

Look at all the cash we won!!!!

Twins???

He looked so handsome for a night out at the casino!

What a massive buffalo.

I was trying to make the same face as the buffalo. I think I got pretty close (ha.)

Today was another gorgeous day in Santa Fe. I'm convinced that this area of the country doesn't have days that are particularly nasty or ugly. Even on a rainy day, it is absolutely beautiful how the clouds form and the lightening and thunder roll over the mountains. However, today was a day full of sunshine. The temperature is generally in the 80's, but the sun's ray are so much more intense here. I have made it a habit to lay by the pool in the morning when Joe is at rehearsal, and when he is done for lunch we meet up to eat together. I probably applied sunscreen 4 times today and still got burnt. I'm not going to complain, I love the sunshine.

Joe had about 6 hours of rehearsal today starting around 10am. We drove to the opera house together, and I laid by the pool working on wedding stuff while listening to the sounds of opera music all around me. We met up for lunch at the canteen and had a yummy meal together. After lunch, I decided to get dressed and ready before coming back to the opera complex to watch a little bit of his rehearsal. I always love watching his rehearsals, every company does it so differently. After a long day of work, we drove back to Joe's house to get ready for the evening.

For the past couple of days, we had been talking about a fun evening event to do. Since Las Vegas is fairly close, there are quite a few casinos and resorts around. I've never been to a casino, and Joe hasn't been to one since he went to Vegas in high school. We planned on going to Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino for dinner and a night full of fun. We both brought $50 to spend and had no expectations on winning anything. For the entire night, we parked ourselves at the craps table. I had never played craps before, but apparently, I'm really good at it. I put $20 on the table, and before I knew it, I was up to $85! I should have stopped right then and there, but it was early in the night, and I just wanted to have fun with Joe and the other people around us. By the end of the night, Joe and I had put $60 on the table and walked away with close to $200! I must say, it was a really fun time, and it didn't hurt that we won a little bit of cash.

Sun and Santa Fe Fun

As long as I can sit in the sun and lay by a pool, I am a happy girl.

It was delicious.

Joe loved his tacos.

By far, one of my favorite restaurants I have ever been to.

Joe's landlord has quite an array of animals at her home. These are just a few!

Her precious labs, Diego and Frieda. They are so sweet!

I truly felt like I was on vacation today for the first time in a long time. Whenever I have taken vacation time earlier this year, it's always to get something done...wedding planning, cleaning, and running errands that I don't have time to do otherwise. My idea of a vacation is relaxing in the sun all day, and then going out to dinner and other activities at night. Today was that such day. At the opera house, the grounds have a very nice pool by the cantina for the use of apprentice artists and their families to swim. It makes it very nice because while Joe is rehearsing, I can be only 100 feet away soaking up sun, listening to music, or reading my favorite book all day. I doused sunscreen on in the morning and stayed at the pool all morning, listening to the sounds of beautiful opera music all around me. How awesome is that!?

For lunch, Joe and I went to grab a quick bite at Panda Express (one of his new favorites) and go to a couple of stores around the area. Before we knew it, he was back to rehearsal, and I was back to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. We decided to keep it low key tonight since I was still adjusting to the difference in time zones. Joe picked where we would go for dinner and my job was to pick the movie. Joe picked an excellent restaurant, Tomisita's to go to for dinner. It was an authentic Mexico restaurant located downtown and easily one of the local's favorites. I must say, I have never eaten better mexican food in my life. We ordered homemade guacamole and salsa with blue corn tortilla chips for an appetizer, and it was phenomenal. For the main course, Joe ordered tacos, and I had an open faced quesadilla with guacamole, salsa, and green chile peppers (a staple of NM cooking). I took about half of the meal home with me not because I was full, but because I wanted to savor the meal a little bit longer and enjoy it later that evening. It was that good! We are definitely going back before I leave. After dinner, we went to the movie theater to see Grown Ups. As good as dinner was, I don't think the movie could have been worse. Joe and I almost both fell asleep because of what a terrible flick it was. We did laugh, mainly because we couldn't believe how silly and ridiculous the movie was. Even though the movie was terrible, we still enjoyed spending quality time together.

Sante Fe Opera

What a fabulous end to a great day.

They even had my favorite firework, just like in the Wishes show at Magic Kingdom.

The fireworks were awesome!

Another apprentice artist, James, and his wife Lindsey were so sweet to make brownies and join us for the show.

Santa Fe High School with the fireworks display. Bands played all night, it was a fun time!

Having a great time!

Watch out folks! We have another Indiana Jones on our hands.

Old Santa Fe downtown church. This is where they filmed a scene in Rent!

The view the audience gets behind the stage. Breathtaking!

It looks like a football stadium! Each seat has a prompter in front of it to give translations for each show.

Joe in front of his theater. What can I say? I'm marrying a rockstar.

The Old Santa Fe Opera in the 1930s and 40s.

The cantina, where food and beverages are served and wifi is accessible!

Yet again, another rehearsal hall. Get the idea that they practice alot?

Another rehearsal hall

The newest rehearsal hall. It is outdoors, built to be the same size as the main stage.

There are such beautiful gardens everywhere!

The Grand Entrance

Most of you know that my fiancee is an opera performer. Many times over, whenever I tell anyone what career he has I get the expression, "Are you serious? No way. I don't believe it. That's awesome!" I have to say, I think it's pretty great too. It certainly has its ups and downs. As you can imagine, the only major down is not being able to see each other that often. However, I believe the positives outweigh the negatives by quite a bit. I must say, there have been many places I have had the privilege of seeing for the first time because of where Joe's career takes him. This summer, Joe has been one of the very few chosen to be apart of the prestigious Santa Fe Opera Company. He is a young artist, one of 40 chosen amongst thousands that applied. I knew this was a huge opportunity for him and really couldn't wait for him to go. Deep down, I knew this was a big deal, but couldn't help be a little sad that there was a huge possibility that I wouldn't see him for about 3 months. When he told me the beginning of June that he believed we could see each a little sooner than three months, we both jumped at the opportunity and quickly figured out the best time for me to visit. It just so happened to work out perfectly that I had the Fourth of July off of work and only had to take two vacation days so that I could come visit for about a week. So, I booked my flight for July 4th and started waiting anxiously to visit.

I flew into Albuquerque, NM at 11am MT and the flights couldn't have been better. Joe picked me up from the airport and we headed to the lunch at the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings. Immediately, I was taken aback by the beautiful landscape around us. There were deserts everywhere and glorious mountains that framed the backdrop of this scenic area. It is a completely different landscape than the east coast, and even from the summer program Joe did last year in the Adirondack Mountains in Schroon Lake, NY. After a quick lunch, we headed back to Santa Fe where he is living this summer.

We decided to explore Old Santa Fe downtown for the afternoon to see what kind of activities were there for the Fourth of July. On the way, he decided to stop by the opera house to show me around. It is BREATHTAKING. I can't wait to see a performance while I am here. What a great opportunity he has! After we went to the opera house, we travelled downtown. There were so many wonderful and unique shops in downtown displaying art from the Southwest (which most of them were closed). I can't wait to go back and shop! I already found a couple great pieces of pottery and dishes that would look great in our kitchen next year. After walking around downtown and scoping out the best shops, we picked up a tip from a local that the high school was open and was having a fireworks display later that night. Now I love fireworks and had been asking Joe for the past week on where we should go to watch them. We camped out in the bleachers at the stadium and waited a few hours for them to begin. It was a great event, they even had bands playing to entertain the crowd before it got dark enough for the fireworks show to begin. The show was great, and Joe and I were thoroughly impressed with the display. It was such a great day to spend with each other, and I can't wait to explore this new area of the country for the next few days!

New Camera, New Computer, New Adventure

Here are some cool pictures of my dad's garden this year with my new camera!

This is my favorite rose in his rose garden. It's name is double delight. Isn't it beautiful?!

So for all of you that have been checking my blog frequently since December only to see that I have dropped off the face of the earth, I have good news. Within the past month, I have been so fortunate to get a brand new computer (I've been saving up since I got my full time job) and receive a great Nikon digital SLR camera for a graduation gift from my parents! I am so thrilled with the new toys I have, simply because my old computer and old camera were not allowing me to access anything on the internet, much less take pictures and post them on the blog! I am so excited to use these two gadgets because within the next year I will have so many exciting and wonderful things to write about. So...since it has been a while...here is a brief update with what is going on in my life...

In January 2011, I started my new full-time position at Verizon Wireless Corp. Needless to say, I have had many ups and downs with this position, but it has been a complete challenge for me. I am so thankful that God has provided an opportunity for me to learn hard work, perserverance, and patience. Not to say that this job hasn't been rewarding and that I am not thankful, because I am deeply grateful that the Lord one again has provided for me when I had completely thrown in the towel. I have finished all the necessary training, am settled into my desk, and within the next few months am looking forward to the possibility of a promotion.

My family has been incredible through this entire process. My parents have been so gracious to allow me to live at home during this short period of time between college and married life. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them more, spending time with them, and deepening my relationship with them.

Wedding planning has also been going extremely well. I can't believe that we are almost 11 months away from the date. This engagement has flown by! Most everything has been booked, my dress has been ordered, and from now on, it's really working on the details and staying on top of responsibilities. I have been so humbled by the special people that have agreed to be apart of our wedding day. Beyond their involvement, I have had such support and help from my family as well as Joe's family to make sure that this is the most special day of our lives. On top of everything else, I am just head-over-heals in love and overjoyed with the thought of spending the rest of my life with my best friend. Every time I see him and spend time with him, I feel like the luckiest girl alive. I can't wait for all of the adventures that lie ahead!

So that is a brief summary of the past 6 months. Thank you for your prayers, your phone calls, and support during this crazy but very exciting time. I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and family that I never want to take for granted! I hope the Fourth of July was a great time for celebrating the our nation's freedom with friends, family, and loved ones!