The Barbie Wars

  My sister Karen loved to play with Barbies.
She adored everything about them and the make believe world she put them in.

  I, on the other hand, enjoyed organizing Barbie and her disorderly clothes and fickle love life with Ken.
Each week my sister would spend 20 minutes begging me to play with her. I would finally give in and the "setting up" would begin.

 First- I got the Barbie of my choice. I am the oldest!

Then the division of clothing. Piles of gowns, mini-skirts, boots, purses etc had to be fairly shared and traded back and forth. Once we were both satisfied the lesser dolls became the maids or little sisters.

Now on to arranging their cases into homes fit for the Queens that they were. The maids scurried to make the kleenex covered bed and help them dress for their big night out on the town with who else but KEN. Skipper always answered the door when he pulled up in the red convertible even though we still hadnt decided who would get the "date" with him.

Of course this was settled in true girl fashion when it comes to men- Cat Fight.
Yes our Barbies would battle toe to toe or really head to head. The winner of date night with Ken was the one who survived with her head still on her body!

By now it had been close to an hour of "setting up" and I would let out a heavy sigh, stand up saying "Im bored" leaving my little sister in disappointed tears and the Barbie mess to clean up.

My sister loved Barbies and this scenario was repeated dozens of times in our childhood.
She never understood that the only part I enjoyed was getting Barbie organized and dressed, her house decorated and a date for the night-
         Then she was on her own!

The Land of Enchantment

Its so easy to lose the wonder of life as we grow older.

Enchanted moments don't come as often as in childhood or youth.

So when they come I try to embrace them.

My trip last week was one of them.

I packed up backpack, camera backpack and smallish suitcase for a Photography Workshop hosted by a talented woman named Jessica Wesolek of cre8it.com.

I blew into Santa Fe on a very small plane holding 50 passengers who were holding on tightly as we landed! I was then handed the keys to a bright GOLD ford focus and began the trip to the Inn Of the Governors in the downtown historic district of the city. Once checked in I could walk to galleries,shops and food in less than a minute so

after my afternoon tea and sherry in the lobby I began my exploration until well after dark.

Friday- Sunday led me to my class outside the city and the journey into the beautiful areas Jessica chose for our adventure. We spent 8-10 hours each day together as a 4 student class taking photos,editing and listening to critique. 

It was hard to leave on Monday but of course Mike was coming home the next day as well as my daughter graduating from Nursing School. Off I flew again getting home in time to drag my bags inside while the tornado sirens wailed.