good to see you again, santa fe

my family and i went back to santa fe, nm and we saw another opera, don pasquale, and we went and visited the santa fe indian market. each year santa fe hosts an indian market where native americans can go showcase and sell their work. there were so many talented vendors that make jewelry, pottery, weaving, and painting. i was blown away by the craftmanship that each of the artists put into their work.  i bought a small black pot that has crosses etched into the sides and it was fired in a pine needles fire. we went back to the corn stand where i had two corn on the cobs! they are definitely my favorite.

 one of my favorite parts of this trip is that my oldest sister, irene, and her son, henry, got to join us! henry is almost six months and he is the sweetest little boy with the most infectious laugh. the opera we saw this time was a comedy and it was exactly what i have always imagined an opera would be like. the set design and costumes were outstanding with so much color and simplicity intertwined. i can't wait to go back next year and see another one! here are a few pictures from my time there.
^^^this artist's talent is in bead work, both of these are covered in tiny beads. so beautiful^^^ 
                                                ^^^claire eating some corn^^^
                          ^^^handmade hat and hand carved skull made out of stone^^^
^^^the sweetest twins were dressed as their ancestors and were going to perform in a show^^^
                                           ^^^having the best time with henry!^^^
                    ^^^i took this picture on our way to santa fe as he was falling asleep^^^
                             ^^^the clouds on our drive back to texas were unreal^^^

so many great memories were made on this trip! i can't wait for next year!

hey santa fe

  last weekend i went to santa fe, new mexico with my family to watch an opera at the crosby theatre. we watched the opera, fidelio, which is beethoven's only opera and it was so good!!  i have never seen an opera before and i was blown away by all the talent!  the crosby theatre is located just outside of santa fe resting up in the hills.  we went on a tour the morning before the opera and we learned of its history which was pretty dang fascinating if you ask me!! here are a few pictures from the trip to santa fe.
^^^a really cool hat shop that personally hand make all of their hats in the basement of their store^^^
^^^ate some amazing roasted corn and ice cream which are two of my favorite foods^^^
^^^this amazing art by a local artist named amado pena // my parent's bought some of his art in 1985 on their honeymoon and it was so cool to get to see him in person^^^
^^^the only picture i got of the opera house because we weren't allowed to take photos^^^  the best part of the trip by far was seeing my parent's talk about how much santa fe has grown since their honeymoon in 1985. they've always told us how boring their honeymoon was because there were hardly any people and the skiing was terrible because it was so icy. it was a fun trip!

emily + brandon engagement photos

my sister, emily, who is 18 months older than me got engaged in january of this year to her now-husband, brandon.  they took some beautiful engagement photos at the sandhills state park in monahans, texas and I wanted to share some of them! they are so gorgeous with the sunlight, sand, and the west texas desert as the backdrop.  They had the talented Julian Navarette photograph them and he did such a wonderful job of capturing their love and relationship.  i was so excited about these pictures I even gifted emily and brandon a photo album from Artifact Uprising for their wedding gift!

can't wait to see all the photos from their wedding! i just know they are going to be just as beautiful! 

P.S. emily's red dress is by for love and lemons and can be purchased through free people.

and so it begins...

hello, my name is louise and i have decided to share pieces of my life, my interests, and thoughts that i have through this blog.  let's see how this goes.  xo louise