Friday, August 29, 2008

TRAVELING THE SANTA FE TRAIL

Visiting Santa Fe quickly makes one know why they call New Mexico, "The Land of Enchantment."


We boarded a plane to begin our flight to the oldest capital city in America. Santa Fe, is rich in history, beauty, the arts and architectural heritage. New Mexico, with her bold mountain views and serene havens of tranquility is the 47th State added to the Union in 1912. The city of Santa Fe is a true vacation spot as well as home to very friendly and gracious local folks. Did I mention the great shopping yet? Unique shops line the old town Santa Fe with all sorts of boutiques, stylish markets and truly a shoppers paradise for every taste and shoppers experience. Jewelry, artwork, leather goods, fabrics, pottery and more can be found in great abundance.

Restaurants with just about every type cuisine, positioned between adobe buildings and most with outdoor dining, were all truly excellent. We even had our anniversary dinner on the rooftop of a Latin restaurant called Amavi ~ meaning, Love of Life. The food was incredible and the atmosphere divine.

Art museums that highlight the treasured talents from the area give way to culture on every corner. My favorite museum and highlight of our trip, was to visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. It was a joy to view the wonderful works of this great American Artist, specializing in modern abstract. The collection was the largest and foremost exploration of her work, life and vision. We later had lunch in the outdoor museum cafe.

Another joy during our week was to visit the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi. We attended church there and it was a beautiful service and spirit filled hour. The local residents welcomed us to the area and wished us a wonderful stay.

The weather was picture perfect the entire week. Temperatures in the 80's with low humidity made walking around town all day a pleasant experience. The town square had daily concerts that we enjoyed with outdoor food stands for grabing a snack or even lunch. The time in Santa Fe went all to quickly as vacations always do, but looking back at our pictures, we already know, we will be going back again for a third time to enjoy the warmth and beauty, the arts, the history and the relaxation that beautiful Santa Fe has to offer. I hope you enjoy some of my pictures. I could not possibly show them all here, but I do have a few to share from along the Santa Fe Trail.

From the landing in Albuquerque we drove to Santa Fe and my picture taking began.



The Beautiful Cathedral, St. Francis of Assisi.

Concerts on the square, ethnic food stands and town adobe buildings.




The historic Route 66 runs right through Santa Fe.

Beautiful city buildings and the crowd gathers for the concert.


The great shopping included this darling dress shop called, The Pinkoyote, I had to take a picture of the pink fireplace inside, for all of us pink girls.


Just a few of the detailed and ornate sculptures that grace the city. The one with the bears is called, Two Pooped Bears. It is fabulous!




Resturants included, rooftop dining, garden dining, paris style outdoor cafe between the buildings and the O'Keeffe outdoor cafe.




Our adventure also took us for a day drive up into the mountains. It was beauty at it's finest work in God's creation. Along the way we ran into a few animal friends and this beautiful mountain art work in lifesize sculpting of a covered wagon and it's horse team. Gorgeous horses grazing in the desert mountains and a few sweet cows wondering who we were and if they should let us pass.





Lastly, I took a few pictures of Santa Fe's beautiful blooms.







Thank you for stopping by to view some of my pictures and for staying to the end of this long post. It was a great trip and one I highly recommend.
Till next time, I will be back in the studio, painting and working on a few new additions in the toile studio to share next post. Have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend and Blessings always, Celestina

Continue Reading
31 comments
Share:

Saturday, August 23, 2008

WHERE BLOGGERS CREATE

Greetings and Welcome to the Where Bloggers Create Tour, Click HERE to visit my space and remember to also click on the link to visit other blogging friends and their creative spaces. Have Fun, Celestina

Continue Reading
19 comments
Share:

Friday, August 22, 2008

THANK YOU FOR THE AWARDS!

With good intentions to feature my Santa Fe trip, I decided to catch up and say thank you for some recent awards this week and save the trip for next week.

First, I was so honored to receive from Sherry at Edie Marie's Attic
the ~TREE OF HAPPINESS AWARD~

This award reads as follows~~
You have just received the tree of happiness. It is scarcely
a small plant, which depends on you to grow firmly and strongly.
Plant it on your heart, water it with your smiles and kindness,
feel the aroma of it's flowers, savour the sweetness of it's fruits
and protection under it's shade with whom you love.

Now the idea is to share 6 things that make you happy.
So here are my 6 happiness things to share.

1. It really makes me happy to live in a country that enjoys the ability to worship our faith in God.

2. My DH and DS make me very happy, to be blessed having them as my family. They both are wonderful and I am grateful! But, I can't forget my sweet Beazy. She can make anyone feel happy.

3. I am really happy on a rainy day when I can be closed up and cozy in my art studio, painting and enjoying creativity.

4. Finding the perfect pair of great fitting jeans! ~oh that is happiness!!

5. My dozens of books make me happy. How could I live without them?

6. Talking with a dear friend on the phone, makes me happy. Sharing all the girly girl things from A to Z. Sheer happiness.

I really could add much more. I guess that basically I am really a very happy person and so many things make me happy that it is hard to narrow it down to just six. But these are the rules and I will try and follow. LOL!!

Next, we are to pass this on to others in blogland. I decided to pass this on to anyone who stops by, as I feel you all are deserving of the Tree of Happiness award.
So feel free to copy the graphic and apply this to your site, share with others and enjoy the meaning.

Sherry, thank you for very much for passing this on to me. You are a real doll and I enjoy visiting you and learn so much whenever I do.


Next, I must also thank Fitty from Fitty's Pinky Rose Cottage for the Blogging Friends Forever Award.

The rules to pass on this award are to nominate 5 other people, four of which are dedicated followers of your blog and one that is new from another country. Post the Twinks Bank Icon and lastly link the giving blog friend who gave you this award.

So I nominate~~
Stephanie from Angelic Accents
Amy of Bunny Rose Cottage
Diane from Diane's Musings
Joan from Joan's Journey's

Lastly, the 5th nominee from another country is Nelia from Magio do Crochet
Thank you Fitty for this blogging friends forever award. So sweet of you to think of me and I am so glad to pass it on. As always, I have a very hard time picking just these few, so anyone else who stops by is very welcome to add this to your blog from me with always the best wishes.

Now I am feeling a bit more caught up. I know I have missed something or a tag or two along the way. To those I have missed a tag with, I am so sorry. The last few weeks have been so very busy, but I hope to be back very soon and share some pretty pics from New Mexico and our fun trip.
Here are a few from Santa Fe till I see you again next week.





On Sunday Brenda from The Brenda Blog is hosting an event called Where Bloggers Create. Make sure you stop by Brenda's on Sunday, August 24th for the links to a fun adventure in Blogland.
If you would like to join in on the fun, just go to Brenda's Blog and send her an e-mail.


Thank you for stopping by and till next time, Have a great weekend and Blessings always~~~ Celestina Marie

Continue Reading
15 comments
Share:

Monday, August 18, 2008

AND~~~~~THE WINNER IS!!!!!

LAURIE FROM CHARMING DESIGNS Congratulations Laurie!! and thank you to everyone for stopping by and leaving such kind comments and best wishes. I will be stopping by to visit you all this week.




As you can see, into the pink cowgirl hat with crown (I found this in Santa Fe) all the entry names were placed. DH drew the winner. Laurie, I will be contacting you for info to send your gifts.


We had a great time on our trip to Santa Fe. The weather was beautiful, the food was deeeeeeeelish! and the sites and shopping~ SO fun. I will be sharing pictures in a few days. Till then, many thanks again for all who entered the giveaway. I was over joyed to see you and can't wait for another giveaway when I reach my 100th post, which is not long away.
Have a great day~~~~~~~~~~Celestina

Continue Reading
28 comments
Share: