Bahston baby.

 cheesball bff photo seshs. subway trips. JFK fancy pants tours. glorious people watching. twin bed sleeping. ice cream eating. green apple licorice inhaling. ship yard walks. sassy senior photoshoots. leaf peeping. THE CANNOLIS. oh, the cannolis. whatta weekend.

Don't mind me.

I'm a sucker for photo series. Below is one of my own and I don't even care if it's something as cliche as a footstagram. I went to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago and couldn't pass up on an opportunity to visit City Museum. (even if it meant ditching out on a conference session.) It's heaven on earth for a lover of details, craftiness, mosaics, creativity, imagination, slides, and fun. If I had to write a list of my favorite places in the US, this place would be in my top ten. It is thaaaaaat cool. :)

Dumb. Stupid. Crazy.

 My Grandpa and Pops came to visit me in the glorious desert oasis of Aztec, New Mexico. We ate at every restaurant within a 20 mile radius. Bill tried Thai food for the first time. I tried to get him to try my tofu and he promptly responded that he'd rather go to Subway. We bought 20 dollars worth of cookies at my favorite bakery.  My grandpa made me laugh so hard and so often that I started writing the hilarious things he said down. My favorite one perfectly describes him and my dad perfectly. After days of spending 24/7 together, he made this observation about my dad. "Dumb. Stupid. Crazy. He can't say those words without adding ass at the end." Soooooooooooo ridiculously true. We saw mountains and deserts and couldn't decide which was more beautiful. We hit casinos at least twice a day and at every opportunity. I won $14 on my grandpa's favorite "Sex and The City" penny machine. I caught up with my dad and we discussed life. They humored me and my self-timered-family-photos. It was glorious.

Craz

typical.

My weekend: Driving three hours, camping in the middle of nowhere in a thunderstorm, and then making it all better by some spicy and authentic new mexican food and some phototaking for dessert. 

The Wild.

My favorite thing about living in the west happens when you're driving deep in the thick of things, out in the desert, up in the mountains, mostly miles away from places where things are thought to be "happening." You're enjoying the solitude and fresh air and you see a car leaving the direction you're going and it happens. They lift a finger or hand off the steering wheel, or sometimes nod, a quick acknowledgment in passing of being in the same place at the same time, enjoying the same thing, recognizing a true lover of the wild. My heart swells every time it happens and I can't help but feel connected. to everything important.

On a quick side note, my grandpa does this quite regularly when he's driving in town and other drivers upset him, or cut him off, ride a motorcycle, or just catch his eye. It's hilariously endearing, and I love it.

I also really like the mountains, green chili, trees, cowboys, turquoise, cactus, lizards, and natural arches. But hey, I'd be a weirdo if I insisted on a nine-way tie.

Second home.

"The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness." John Muir.

Ruby Lovin.

Miles and miles in the deserts and mountains in New Mexico, miles and miles north through canyons and deserts to see family, miles and miles to new cities just to buy sourdough bread, miles and miles with cassette tapes blasting, miles and miles on drives chasing sunsets and tracing oil truck roads. 50,000 miles in three and a half years is enough bonding time to pull at my heart strings. I can't even count how many times I felt like I was driving in a clown car, stuffed full to the brim with friends and family (the record is four people). Or how many times I just had to laugh because driving her was often ridiculous. No power steering? NBD. It built muscle! It's definitely bittersweet giving her up, but at least she's staying in the family. aka: Chandler, don't rip up the streets of Logan. At least not every night. 

I survived!!!

August marks my one year mark in New Mexico which is exciting, exhausting, fulfilling, and also anti-climatic all at the same time. Oh, dear. 

Untitled from kaykaybee555 on Vimeo.

Guess who hasn't killed her garden....

...yet. :)

Ruby roadtrip number seventy four.

After a whole 36 hours in Texas which consisted of gardening, searching for ticks (ew.), and drive-ins, I have concluded the following two things about the state:

Texans love food. 

And Texans love Jesus. 

 

Lately:

Love is love.

 So happy for all those that get to finally celebrate their love. 

"That's the story of America: of ordinary citizens organizing, agitating and advocating for change; of hope stronger than hate; of love more powerful than any insult or injury; of Americans fighting to build for themselves and their families a nation in which no one is a second-class citizen, in which no one is denied their basic rights, in which all of us are free to live and love as we see fit. It's about our common humanity and our willingness to walk in someone else's shoes."  

A little bit of everything.

I think a good trip anywhere involves a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it's the combination of a million things that make seeing something new so wonderful. Eating delicious foods, skirting disaster, joining makeshift communities on subway cars, dancing to reggae music on the street, getting lost in Brooklyn, getting lost in Manhattan, and doing it all with my brother created a trip that I already want to repeat.