albuquerque plaza and the quest for kokopelli - 6/18/06

"ok. I have bought all the stuff i am going to buy. that's it. no more for me. i'm done."

yeah. right.

so sayeth the ellen after her first shopping excursion out of walmart in about 90 years. i found myself on the Plaza in albuquerque where all the indian jewelry was being sold by its makers. i bought an ankle bracelet of turquoise and silver right off the bat. i also began the quest for t-shirts that day, and learned that i don't have enough jewelry and i MUST compensate for that lack by purchasing anything that attracts my attention...well, almost all. i couldn't compare to the purchases of pammie, who was on THE KOKOPELLI QUEST.

LESSON LEARNED: if you see it once, BUY IT. pam's mom had gotten a bracelet last year, one made of silver and gold together with little kokopelli's on it. apparently, an indian somewhere must have made only one of this bracelet, for it could not be found again despite the fact we did everything but look under rocks for it. pam also wanted a small kokopelli slide to match earrings she already had. it was sort of like shopping with goldilocks!...this one is too big, this one is too small...until we got one that was JUST RIGHT...and then she lost it...:) oh, it got found a couple of days later...in the bottom of the cooler. apparently it had gotten into the box of fudge that pam lovingly hauled from home for linda and chuck. the fudge was in the cooler and when i emptied it when we got to pagosa springs, there swam the cold kokopelli in the bottom. god only knows how it managed to make the cool transfer, but it got found. we never did find the exact kokopelli slide that she was looking for, but she liked the one she bought, so it was all good! :)

i am NOT a selective shopper. if something speaks to me, i do not spend much time thinking about it. the credit card is out, the thing is purchased, and it is a done deal. that likely comes from the fact that i have virtually NO jewelry, or rather, i didn't have any before i went to new mexico. i had nothing in mind, so when something screamed at me from a display case or an indian's rug, i answered the call! i have to admit, though, that i enjoyed being the advanceman for pam's jewelry quest. everytime we went somewhere i was scoping things out for pam, looking for the bracelet and slide.