Santa Fe

I’m writing this at 1:00 am, on the plane from Albuquerque to NYC. We were supposed to fly this red eye last night but after an hour on the plane, our flight was cancelled and we were put up at a hotel. It was a strange day today, feeling stuck in limbo, caught between the fun of this trip and the stress of work awaiting us at home, but what could we do? So we made the best of it by catching up on sleep and even got some pool time in. And now, on the quiet of the plane I can take a moment to write about this past week.

We got to Albuquerque late last Wednesday and drove a rental car to Santa Fe. I found this great little adobe rental on VRBO. It was the perfect little studio with a full kitchen and bathroom and little living room area, even a fireplace. It was 10 minutes from downtown. We got there around 1:00am and were ready for bed by 2:00 (4:00am our time!). We woke up to the blazing sunshine and checked out our surroundings, the owners lived in the big house next door and their super sweet cat greeted me.

 We headed downtown and enjoyed brunch at Café Pasquals. The food was excellent and the place was really fun. 

 I especially liked the sink and tiles in the bathroom.

Everything looks different here, all adobe and earth tones, all low buildings, such rustic charm. The elevation is high (7000 feet above sea level) and the air is so dry. 

I found this amazing carved pottery that I wish I could’ve brought home, I will have to find the artist online and order. 

We were in town for a wedding but I don’t travel now without finding a shop to get my jewelry into. I wrote a few places ahead of time by researching Santa Fe boutiques on the web and I had an appointment that afternoon at Maya.

This shop is committed to finding unique, fair trade, environmentally conscious, US and artist made gifts. They’ve been in business for nearly 30 years and are known as one of the best boutiques in town. They sell clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry, kitchen goods and unique items. I met with one of the buyers, Stephanie and she purchased a dozen pairs of earrings for the shop. I’m thrilled to have my work there, it really seemed like a good fit.

There is no shortage of jewelry in Santa Fe. There are jewelry shops everywhere and every shop sells jewelry and then there are artist markets under tents and people selling it off of blankets on the sidewalks. This realization made me all the more proud and happy to eek my work into a shop there. 

I had so much fun exploring the downtown area. I stopped into the Patina Gallery, one of the top art jewelry galleries in the country and had my mind blown. I also checked out Jett Gallery, more amazing art jewelry. I went to many fabulous gem/bead/fossil shops. We strolled around and appreciated all of the city's charming details, like this stone work by the fountain…

We had killer food at Rooftop pizza and then ice cream as we walked around the park. After awhile we got HOT so we swung by Trader Joe's for some groceries and headed back to the Casita. Hummingbirds flew by on their way to a feeder and I was so excited to use my camera to capture them when they were still.

 

Friday morning I decided to try to get my work into another shop. I still had necklaces and Chakra Wraps. The day before we had walked by the Santa Fe Oxygen Bar, which seemed like a good fit for the wraps so I wrote them about meeting on Monday and set up an appointment with the owner. I checked out a few other boutiques around town and was happy to find that Maya still seemed like the best choice.

Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market, so strange to be attending one instead of at the Artist Market in Burlington. It was huge and full of wonderful sights and smells. 

Then we got ready for the wedding...

The ceremony was beautiful and the celebration was fun. It did downpour at one point but everyone was safely tucked into the tents. Sunday we drove out to Bandelier National Monument. It was great to get out of the city and see the crazy terrain. Such a different landscape, it really felt like another planet.

These ancient structures and petroglyphs were so inspiring. We imagined what it would be like in these simpler times. Scary to read that the ancient Pueblo people lived to age 35.

The drive back to Santa Fe was stunning with the sun setting and the light deepening the color of the landscape. We ate dinner at the Blue Corn Café and watched lightning in the distance.

On Monday I met with Kadima and her son Noah at the Santa Fe Oxygen Bar. This place is so beautiful and the atmosphere is so soothing. She purchased a set of 12 Chakra wraps for her shop, she was excited at the prospect of working directly with the wraps on her clients and energizing them.

We decided to try a half an hour session of oxygen since we were depleted from travel. Afterward we felt rejuvenated and refreshed. 

We headed to Albuquerque and checked out Old Town. Every shop there sells Breaking Bad t-shirts and apparently the candy shop there is home of the infamous blue meth candy used in the show. It was really hot in Albuquerque, pushing 95º at nearly 7:00 at night. We had so much time on our hands that we decided to see a movie. We saw Chef which was just lovely, so uplifting. I loved the characters but also the sense of adventure and entrepreneurialism and the modern touches of the power of twitter and social media. 
I’m now sitting at JFK in the wee hours of the morning, totally deprived of a night’s sleep. I can’t remember the last time I just didn’t sleep for a night and I hope I can get a long nap in this afternoon before the weight of my workload bears down on me. One more flight and we’ll be home in luscious, green Vermont. Special thanks to my friend/customer Lisa for all of her great NM recommendations, we did get to do a lot of things on her list! All in all it was a great trip to a place I’ve never been and I'm happy to have left my mark behind.