Resolutions Anyone?

Happy New Year! Did you make any resolutions? I did…

1- Let Go, Next: my new mantra…let go of the things that hold you back, look forward to what is next. I did a bit of that in 2013, but this year, I hope to put it into practice a bit more. (repeat after me, Let Go, (breath a space) Next)

OK – that was the deep, touchy, feely moment of this blog…my next resolution is:

2- Cook better. ummm…let’s just say that since becoming empty nesters, we have let the dinner plans go by the wayside. Thrilled as we are that we don’t have to back a pick-up to the grocery store anymore…it is time to cook like a grown-up! I told my husband, let’s be like those couple’s on the HGTV shows that are always chopping veggies in the kitchen. They always look like they are having so much fun!
– to start the new year off right, Bill looked up a delish sounding recipe to use the leftover pork tenderloin I made the other night. mmmmm

Speaking of my dearest…he turns a BIG birthday this coming February and I wanted to do something special for him! Man did I blow him away…practically everyone in town knew about it – I even got my parents in on the act!

He thought we would be driving to the airport the Sunday after Christmas to pick my folks up from the airport. The reality is….we were heading to sunny El Paso, TX for the Sun Bowl to watch our alma mater (VA Tech – Go Hokies – class of ’86) play.

I think I actually rendered him speechless & a little choked up when he opened the tickets on Christmas day. (Of course I disguised the package – several wrapped boxes weighted down with catalogs). Let me tell you, I didn’t care at all what Santa gave to me, I was so excited to give him this gift, I could barely stand it! Enjoy some of our pictures!

The view outside our seats on the 1st flight of the trip. (I learned something…sometimes they move your seats around after you book them…each one was different from what I booked – no real worries – we got there just the same!)

Even though Bill & I met while attending Va Tech & even lived in VA for awhile, we have been IA for the last 20 years – not many Hokie sitings out where we live – not a lot of maroon & orange either! This banner welcomed us as we got off the plane with a lot of fellow Hokies.

Day 1 – we took a taxi to downtown El Paso & just as we got there, the marching bands were serenading visitors as they headed into the Rotary lunch. As a former band Mom – I can’t resist stopping for a good marching band.

After lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant (with some killer salsa!) – we walked around the city a bit. The photo does nothing for this cool wall – it looked like a patchwork quilt with all of the old advertisements.

The architecture and detail on some of the buildings was incredible! I was standing in the middle of a number of shoppers that cross from Juarez, Mexico to do their shopping for the day.

We stopped inside one of the historic downtown hotels to glimpse “The Dome” restaurant. It was beautiful!

While waiting to go into the Fan Fannatic – we got some snaps with the Hokie bird – that was the number 1 question we got asked by UCLA fans & El Pasoans – “what is a Hokie?” (Hokie, Hokie, Hokie high! Tech, Tech VPI!)

Day 2

40 yard line, 10 row up – yeah buddy, I got us some good seats!

The Sun Bowl is a very cool stadium – carved right out of the mountainside! Here the cheerleaders are leading the team onto the field.

Day 3

The bad news: our team lost…I mean LOST! The good news: we had one more day to spend in sunny, warm El Paso (the avg temp back home was about 5 degrees while we were gone!)

We rented a car for the day & went up into the mountains. From this view – about 9,000 ft up, we could see all of El Paso, Juarez Mexico & into NM.

We drove backroads up to Old Masilla, NM. The missions and miles & miles of Pecan groves were amazing. I have never been in this part of the country & thoroughly enjoyed myself. (I was so caught up in looking at everything, I forgot to take pictures. I snapped this church as we left – it is supposedly haunted!)

This trip was such a great way to relax, wind down 2013 & kickstart 2014. We met many wonderful people from everywhere – UCLA fans from CA and Tech fans. El Paso was very welcoming & friendly. Happy Birthday, a little early, to my dearest.

I have a lot of plans for 2014 – the Year of Celebrations series I am working on with Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine continues – February & March are out in this issue on newsstands in a few weeks. I have designs already shipped off to Just Cross Stitch magazine for release throughout the year & I am heading back to market! I’ve been to market many times over the years – but this is the first as just me – Hands On Design – so look for many new releases in February.

Thank for sticking with this long post. I have found blogging to be a fun way to keep a diary – a way to look back over what I have accomplished through the year – so I blog for me, but I love to keep in touch with you!

I must close here & get back to work – those models aren’t going to stitch themselves you know!!

Happy 2014 to you,

Let Go, Next

Cathy