TRAVEL TRIP: Albuquerque, travel day tres

If you are just tuning in, I like taking travel trips by myself. No, scratch that, I LOVE taking travel trips by myself. However, I am stuck at home while the boyfriend is out of town and damn it, I am going to do something about it. I will take a "travel trip" in my own current city. No, I am not doing mushrooms ... I am visiting Albuquerque with new eyes!

Wednesday February 24, 2010

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head ...

What is this, a magazine or an advertising almanac? Uhhhg, that joke sounded better in my head. There's just an unbelievable amount of ads in that thing, PLUS, it costs $6?! Hmmm. Well, if there were no overpriced Albuquerque Magazines then what would the mega rich lady read at my dentist's office? You know she's not gonna pick up a Time.

O.K.! TRAVEL TRIP: HOMETOWN EDITION ... Take Two!

Please click below to read more!

Traveling or not, dressing in fun, pretty clothes can make the day completely wonderful AND, I had the home court advantage of not living out of my suitcase. (Actually, I may as well have been living out of a suitcase. I may as well have been living out of a sewing thimble. My laundry pile is monstrously large and this was literally the last of my clean clothes. Looks like I'm washing underwear in the sink tonight. Maybe I should take a shower with my clothes on and scrub them clean from on my body. Somehow, that last sentence reminded me of the scary movie quote "The call is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!" Ok, sorry, I'm veering crazily into stream of consciousness rambling. Let's get back to the task at hand.)

So as to not ruin my travel trip by playing sims and microwaving peas all night, I had to make a to do list. I had to make plans of grandeur. I had to ...

go thrifting.

And my caveat for shopping was to buy southwestern items. Anything that felt New Mexico-y. Painting of an orange sunset? Cowboy boots? Meth lab glassware? I was ready to go! The one thing that I really regret and should have done was ride the bus around town. I felt completely crummy about not taking the bus. That's how I get around in other cities! Public transportation and walking are really one of the free joys of visiting a foreign place, but I just have very little patience for Albuquerque's bus systems, especially as I ventured into the Heights, i.e. Boringsville, i.e. One-bus-stop-per-fifteen-blocks-ville. Ew, wouldn't you hate to live in that place just based on writing all those hyphens? I guess I'm just not a fan of typing hyphens. I can never remember where the button is on a keyboard and then once I find it I can't remember if I have to press shift to get the dash or if shift gets the underdash thing. Good thing I don't live in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer!

ANYWAY!

Here are my finds and, BONUS, I didn't go over $25:

Rancher's shirt for $4.

A SOMBRERO FOR 8 BUCKS!? The best part was when the lady cashier with gold teeth told me "See, now you have to have a party with this sombrero!" Hahaha, yes I will.

A real fur wrap for ... get ready ...

One dollar and 35 cents! There was no tag on it (no, I did not rip it off, it was just like that) and the cashier must have thought it was from the scarf section because he only charged me $1.35!! You should have seen my walk out of Goodwill like there was fire behind me. Although, I felt kind of guilty about getting an incredible deal at the expense of the Goodwill store. I promise to donate at least $30 worth of clothes to Goodwill the next time I go out. Pinky promise!

Plus, it was made in this fine city! That's southwest enough, ri?

I'm going to sew a red zia symbol on this guy and wear it with pride, Esé. Chu wanna sharpie yur eyebrows with me, chica? Chu bring the hairspray y I bring the 40. Pour some out for the homies. Aye! Soy emocionado ahora.

PREPARE YOUR EYEBALLS FOR THE BEST FIND EVER:

A SPARKLY PINK COYOTE BOLO TIE! omg, I'm fainting. The official tie of New Mexico! But, there's gotta be a better way to display this. Hmmm ... if only I knew how?

Oh drat, I'll figure it out one day :P Until then, here are the rest of my southwestern finds. By the way, that sideways smiley looks strange in this font, like, he's had a stroke and the side of his face is lopsided.

My dad would be proud of this find. It's beautifully framed and matted photos of mesas in New Mexico. Framed by a Santa Fe company, too!

Yes! New Mexico is notorious for its ghosts towns and ghost stories. I'll read the story of La Llorona next to the Indian School ditch and have a seance! Want to join me?

Not too shabby!

After I shopped 'til I dropped, I was in need of replenishment. How about a burger at some local joint? The place was called, like, "O'Schneils," I think? Veggie burger with a hoppy beer in an Irish pub in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Interesting.

I ran into a friend from high school whom I haven't seen in 7 or 8 years. She asked me if I still played flute! I never played flute! Haha, but I went along with it out of surprise. Strangely, I had pumped myself up for "visiting" the southwest that I really felt like a tourist in Albuquerque so when Serena came up and said hi, I was like "wow, we're visiting the same city?" before I caught myself and became regular shy G la fille. Drat! I was really having fun acting like a new person in Albuquerque ...

Back home I realized that I was running late for the French film at the Guild Cinema. I could either be a few minutes late and miss out on the beginning of the movie or I could ...

chill at home with the boys, set up my living room like a movie theater and watch something from Netflix online. Yeah!

Awwww, your paws awe so teeny tiny, wittle baby! Uh, whoops, will somebody buy me a modesty screen for my embarrassing cat lady talk?

So, every good movie needs a good snack! And every good southwestern household has no fewer than three salsa at hand. And every good ... ok, enough with that phrase. I had my choice of Sadie's salsa, Garcia's salsa, or Pedro's jalepeno salsa in case I wanted to burn a hole through my tongue.

I'm really not a big snack-person so, I didn't have anything else to eat. It's ok though, I had some gummy vitamins left and hadn't taken them for the last few days, so that should afford me a handful of gummy snacks. AND WINE!

I hate cotton candy, but I couldn't pass up buying cotton candy in a hermetically sealed bucket. It's so weird. This is why I have 2 cents in my bank account.

Moshe! You are camouflaged by the floor!

This is my comfy movie seat.

CHOMPERS! GET OFF THE TABLE. Awww, you're so cute when you're not listening.

And then the cats got a tuna treat.

Eventually, I sat down and decided to watch the first two episodes of Dr. Who. Worst. Show. Ever. How was it not canceled after the first 5 minutes? Between the jarring sound effect dance music and poor script and boring cliche jokes, I realized I wasn't watching the show as much as looking at the wall behind the monitor. Oh well, it was a crummy ending to what turned out to be the best day of my travel trip so far.

Tomorrow: Walking tour of West Park neighborhood. See you then!