Thursday, October 16, 2008

Joe Pug and Albuquerque

Hello Friends.

The last few weeks have been busy here at Chez MonkeyPosh. First off, I did a very fun radio gig with my friend Em. She has a radio show and real live musical artists come in and play live music on the radio. LIVE MUSIC like right there in the studio...like a private concert where the artist is literally one foot away from you--SKREEEE. I know this happens ALL THE TIME on the radio, but it is so different when you get to be right there.
This is Em and me with the amazing Joe Pug, who was her musical guest the night I got to guest host with her. I was in the room with Joe when he played LIVE ON THE RADIO and his music was so awesome and his lyrics so powerful. All that, along with his Greg Brady meets Mac Davis looks, his Wrangler jeans and his beautiful guitar playing made me swoon and flush and go all giddy. My husband was listening to the show, so I had to somewhat act rational, but daaannnng Joe is talented. You can check out his music on myspace or on http://www.joepugmusic.com/home.html . His new album, Nation of Heat, is wonderful and Joe has been compared to the likes of Bob Dylan. Check him out. I would like to thank Em for including me and thank my friends Misto and Curtis for calling into the show and making a very fun time even better. I have great friends.
Next up was my trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to the International Balloon Fiesta. I know--I know--but I went with my cousin Jessica and ANYWHERE is a treat with Cousin Jess....even the New Mexican desert. Here are some shots of the balloon fiesta.



This was a Swiss Cathedral-one of my favorites. I think about 1/3 of the balloons and their pilots came from other countries, which was very cool. We met people from all over the world while we were standing around. Big balloons bring out the friendliness in folks.
The Darth Vader balloon had quite a following. When people started noticing it was being blown up, they started running towards it cheering--strange. When it finally got all the way blown up, the Vader fans whooped and hollered then I bet they went home to watch the Star Wars Trilogy followed by Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. The Vader balloon was very cool.



This is how I felt most of the time at the balloon fiesta. You have to get up at 4am to be at the fiesta grounds by 5:30am to see the balloons all take off. While it is still dark they have a "Flicker" which is pretty, but fighting crowds in the cold in the wee hours of the morning is not my idea of fun. When I say fighting the crowds, I mean for real. I went to the balloon fiesta about 10 years ago, and I do not remember the crowds being so bad. It was SO CROWDED and everyone is taking photos and looking off into the horizon at the pretty balloons so no one is watching where they are going and you are lucky not to get trampled by Bob and Edith, the retirees who drove their RV down from Toledo. They come every year because the balloon fiesta is the best thing on earth. Edith in her sweater decked out with balloons,does not understand why some people want to go to France, or Italy (pronounced Itlee) when they can just come here to the balloon fiesta and see the most beautiful sight in the world. Make no mistake. Folks are serious about the fiesta.

The bumble bees were my favorite. So cute. The female has a breast cancer awareness ribbon which I thought was precious. After a while the pilots separated their hands then made them kiss. I do not think I got a photo of them kissing becasue Edith from Toledo was telling me about her recent trip to Biloxi (not that she gambles) with the Red Hat "girls" in the RV and I think my ears were bleeding.


Shout out to Walgreens, (diet) Pepsi, and beer--quite easily 3 of my favorite things ever.


Besides the crowds and the horrid lines to everything (we waited an hour to use the port-a-potty. I loathe port-a-potties worse than almost anything, but waiting in line an hour to use one puts a whole new spin on my loathing), the balloon fiesta was a good time. Jess and I enjoyed ourselves and we got some lovely photos.
Oh and one little nugget of information I bet you did not know is that Neil Patrick Harris AKA Doogie Howser, M.D. is from Albuquerque. Well, when Cousin Jess and I found out that his parents owned a restaurant there...we were all over it. The restaurant is called Perennials and it is cute and quaint and has variety of interesting things on the menu. There were no Doog sightings, but we are pretty sure Doog's dad was working the morning we were there. He looked A LOT like Doog. I had French toast dipped in crushed corn flakes and it was very good.
Perennials is located at 6001 San Mateo Blvd right across the street from The Cliffs Amusement Park. We ate at some other good restaurants with traditional New Mexican cuisine, but I will probably just post those on YELP and not bore you with them here.

After we left Albuquerque we headed to Santa Fe, which we both loved. I will post on that later.
Until then, have a wonderful day!

(all photos owned and licensed by MonkeyPosh LLC)

Thursday, October 02, 2008

AND THE WINNER IS......

Happy October everyone! I am feeling a chill in the air in my neck of the woods, and I am sure cold weather is on the way. I hope everyone is enjoying Fall.
Blah Blah Blah about the weather...now back to important stuff like the MonkeyPosh give away!

Ok---so I had 25 comments and 13 email entries for this give-away.
As per usual, I put all the entries in a hat, mixed them all up, and drew a name....
And the winner is (drumroll please).......

FREE GOODS!!!!!

AKA my friend Jeffrey. How ironic that about 7 years ago I started calling him Free Goods and now he has won my free goods in this contest. I also find it ironic that he is the only male to enter. Hooray for men who read my blog!
Free recently got married, so I really hope his new wife enjoys these gifts!

Congrats Free!!!! I would be happy to mail this to you, or we can meet for drinks/dinner some night for the hand over.

I would like to thank everyone who entered, and everyone who has kept checking in on me during my delinquent, nay almost non existent blogging summer.

Tomorrow I leave for New Mexico with my cousin to go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We are also traveling to other parts of the state to see what kind of trouble one can get into in New Mexico. It should be um...fun.

Have a great weekend!

(photo property of http://balloonfiesta.com/main.php )