Freedom

This past week was my first in a long while that was totally my own... to sleep when I want to, read, walk, shoot photos, cook or just sit on the couch with my mouth hanging open and breath whenever I feel like it. All day... every day. It took my almost the full week to ease into it. I still have had trouble sleeping at night. I had a few donut dreams which was icky. Lots of dreams that I was flying too high.... and was sure to fall. Long about Friday I started to get my groove on and feel right again. It takes awhile to decompress.... to let the problems you take on at a job wash away and let your mind come back around to being your own. I think about how many people live the majority of their lives without having their mind and heart cleared of other people's troubles or bearing a good portion of the weight of responsibility for other people's financial endeavors and it's pretty crappy really.... that we all slave away under the umbrella of another entity, for it's benefit more so than our own, and for pay that keeps you barely afloat. It's a way of living that stunts happiness, creativity and creates really bad energy over time (unless of course you are the rare example of a person who absolutely loves their job.) It's amazing that things evolved in this way. That exploitation of one anothers' time and energy is the standard. I have no idea how long we will be able to sustain our lifestyle with me not going in to a regular job, but I am so glad for this time I have right now to let my mind flourish with ideas and to let myself rest and replenish my well of sanity... because listen up yo, it was coming fairly close to running dry these past few months.

All that heavy stuff aside. We had a great weekend. We went to a two year old's birthday party... which I made the cake for. It was my first ever "cake in the shape of a thing." And the thing was a robot.

We were celebrating Wyatt Hogan Mickelson's 2nd trip around the sun and the kid is doin just fine so far..... he has grown from a wee pea pod of a little guy to a juice guzzling party animal in what seems like no time at all.

I'm not sure what this cake really meant to him in the moment. I think it was mostly a "I see candy on this big hunk of whatever in front of my face" situation. The gumdrops were the first thing to go....

The cake was pretty ridiculous. I made it while on copious amounts of allergy meds and after about three nights in a row of not sleeping. Does it show? The robot looks like he may be suffering the consequences of insomnia too.

Saturday morning I got up and baked bread which is something I have not felt like doing at home in a long time. I made a fig cardamom sweet bread from a William's Sonoma cookbook. I don't generally love their recipes, too plain jane, and this one proved to fall into that same category. If I made it again I would jazz it up with some orange zest and vanilla to give more complex flavor. It would make a great french toast as it had a texture similar to brioche inside. It's definitely a recipe to play around with and jazz up and make your own.

We spent the past few days cleaning and reorganizing our tiny little apartment here at El Zaguan and getting ready for the first artist's meeting to plan the coming 2012 season of shows at our gallery here. We hosted the meeting here at our place and had a really successful brainstorming session. We will have the same crew of artists this coming summer that were here last season so I think we all have a good bead on what we need to do better or differently this coming year to increase our visibility in the Santa Fe art market and have a better turn out for our shows.

I made a zucchini galette which I snagged the recipe for off Smitten Kitchen's site and I  highly recommend it. The recipe is simple and the results are fabulous.

The chocolate cake in the background was a hit too. I found it on the Divine Baking blog. Again, it's simple but delicious. It's flourless so is a great option if someone is gluten free or trying to go easy on the carbs and it packs a serious wallop of chocolate. Hook it up with some fresh fruit on the side and whipped cream and you may pass out from the joy it brings.

Our little living room gets maxed out even with just 5 people trying to hang out in it. It's cozy. We need more chairs. But where would we put them?

I spent some time out shooting pics around the property today. We got snow the past two nights and then the sun came out and it warmed up significantly this afternoon so there was a lot of melting ice and snow everywhere. It gets pretty messy and muddy in Santa Fe and in our yard in particular this time of the year. I can't wait for April when the plants start to wake up and the world is thinking of turning a bit green again. It is nice to hear the water running off the awnings and see moisture on the ground though. I have had enough of dust, dust and more dust.

This week I have a few social dates to look forward to with friends old and new which is another thing I have not had the chance to indulge in for a long time due to the wacky schedule I was on for work. What plans do you have heading in to spring? Anything exciting going on out there?