Our friends, the Turners, from the East Coast, came to New Mexico with their grandkids. In preparation, they got the Santa Fe and New Mexico Bucket List books. They had all kinds of insights and suggestions. The books helped make their trip fun and memorable.

We ended their trip at County Line in Albuquerque, with great food and the usual, great, New Mexico sunset.

— Barbe Awalt

We are thrilled to announce that the newest Bucket List Book, Kicking The Bucket List, has arrived and author Gail Rubin saw it for the first time yesterday.

Gail has many speaking and TV appearances lined up! After Toastmasters today; she has the New Mexico Coalition on Aging on August 24, at Isleta Casino south of Albuquerque. She will knock them dead?!?!?!?!

Make sure to take advance of our Deal to buy Kicking The Bucket List book until August 31- SIGNED for $12@ plus shipping. Get your holiday shopping done early and relax OR use the time to start doing some of the things in Kicking The Bucket List!

— Barbe Awalt

To commemorate the arrival of Gail Rubin’s book, Kicking The Bucket List, we have a deal for you! Get a signed copy of the brand, new book at $12@ plus shipping. Shop now for the holidays! This deal is good from now until August 31, 2016. The book arrives tonight!

We have had great success packaging the Bucket List Books in gift packs for shows. We have each of the signed books in a pack that reflects what the book is about: chile, necklace, charms, a cowboy scarf and badge, Star Wars cards, and much more. The whole idea is to put together a little something to make the Bucket List Books special. Good for gifts!

But, you can do it too! Start with a bucket, of all sizes, at a place like Hobby Lobby. I know they have buckets because I buy my buckets there to display at stores. You can put the Bucket List Book in the bucket with candy, seeds, cowboy stuff, postcards, a gift from Santa Fe or New Mexico, Balloon Fiesta stuff, all kinds of space things, or New Mexican incense – piñon of course!

For the new books, you can be as creative. Make a bucket of Day-of-the Dead things for Kicking The Bucket List. For the Christmas Bucket List you can go crazy. Ornaments for the tree, earrings for the holidays, foods, candies, tinsel, and even coal – ho ho ho! Put everything in a stocking to be festive.

It shows with a simple book you can put together an elegant gift. A gift to please and surprise anyone. And you can do this with any book – not just with Bucket List Books! Have fun!


— Barbe Awalt

Everyone wants to do a Bucket List Book with us. But we are trying to be careful and do books that haven’t been done to death. These are a few that are powering ahead that we are excited about.

The Ultimate Fly-Fishing Bucket List book by Slim Randles is a love of Slim’s. He wrote our Cowboy Bucket List book and the Fly-Fishing is scheduled to come out in the spring.

Slim knows fishing. Slim fishes. And the Bucket List book is a glimpse into all 50 states and what they have to offer the world of fly-fishing. In true Slim style it is facts about fishing but his signature stories.
A great book for Father’s Day.

The Ultimate Chile Bucket List book by Ana Baca gives her personal insight into the world of chile. Granted this will probably be a best selling book on travel into the South American country of Chile – no lie. But this book is about all the things that have made chile (our New Mexico spelling – not C_H_I_L_I!) as popular and big business.

Ana comes from the Baca family of Bueno Foods. They know chile! Ana has been around chile all her life and has seen chile from all over the world. This is just not New Mexico chile! This Bucket List book will be ready, hopefully, by the Fiery Foods Show in March.

The Ultimate Crab Bucket List book celebrates crabs all over the world. In New Mexico people may say – What? – Crabs? But in Maryland they are a big deal. It is fun to eat what you write about!

See these Bucket List Books next year.


— Barbe Awalt

I make no bones about it – I love Christmas. I look forward to the Christmas songs on Magic FM radio. They come on in November! Maybe it is because I am a cold weather person – I hate heat.

I love the foods, traditions, smells, sights, and lights, of Christmas. The holidays are not just for shopping. In fact, I am finished shopping for gifts in October. I do confess though, I shop for fun, holiday-themed things and just bask in the feeling of Christmas.

I have Christmas sweaters, Christmas vests, Christmas jewelry, and I discovered last Christmas, the best Christmas hat — ever! Are there Christmas shoes?

People are nicer during the season. The products offered by stores can be more interesting. Staring with Thanksgiving, the time goes quickly. It IS the most wonderful time of the year.

The Ultimate Christmas Bucket List book is a way for you and your family to revisit the things about Christmas you may have forgotten and write down your traditions. There are foods and activities from all over the world.

Everything about Christmas isn’t listed but most is. It does make you remember about all the things that are REALLY important. I just can’t WAIT! The Christmas Bucket List book will be out momentarily. Give it to someone you love and remember.

— Barbe Awalt

Let’s face it. We are all going to die at some point. We hope you live a very full and long life but you are going to die. Are you ready?

Have you downsized all the stuff you have accumulated? Have you written your obit so you have said what you want to get out to the public? Have you made arrangements for the things you want to go to family and friends? If your pets survive you, have you made arrangements for them? Have you had appraised all the art, property, jewelry, and other stuff you have? Have you made arrangements for your memorial service or funeral? Have you gotten your affairs in order?

Gail Rubin has written a new, Kicking The Bucket List book and she makes all the points in a funny and matter–of-fact way. Gail is the Doyenne of Death but it is a good thing. She is an expert on dying the way you want. She promotes everything in its place and ready.

You know the old saying – you can’t avoid taxes and dying? We hate taxes but we aren’t afraid of them. We just study, get our receipts ready, and file. The same goes for dying. You just have to be ready and not fear dying. And like Frank Sinatra said, Do It My Way!

You can read this Bucket List yourself and also give it as a gift. Give it with a journal so someone can make notes of what they have to and want to do. The Kicking The Bucket List will be out the first part of September and it is a good thing! It got me thinking and acting!

— Barbe Awalt

There is no doubt about it, green chile cheeseburgers are good eats. New Mexico is blessed with many good green chile cheeseburgers. In fact, every eatery around has a green chile cheeseburger. They can be beef, pork, lamb, or even turkey and chicken. The type of roll is endless as is the slice of cheese. Green chile has to be from Hatch or somewhere else in New Mexico – no out-of-state stuff, please!

The Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List book came out the end of June. It is a tasty treat especially for a gift. Combine it with some salsa, can of chopped green chiles from Hatch, and even some chile seasoning and you are set.

One nasty little secret is that the book is listed on Amazon as a Chile – the country, travel book. You see the robots that work on Amazon, think chile is a country and not a food. That has happened with our How Chile Came to New Mexico and Chile Trivia books. Sad! We in New Mexico, constantly have to remind folks that it is C-H-I-L-E not chili.

I am eating right now: The Jersey Mike’s Chipotle Cheese Steak, The Range Green Chile Cheeseburger, Burger Bite’s Green Chile Cheeseburger, and of course Blake’s, but there are so many more.

Think about the Green Chile Cheeseburger Bucket List book when you go around and smell roasting chile in the air.

— Barbe Awalt

Pat Hodapp, the author of the Santa Fe Bucket List book, is the Director of the Santa Fe Library. She knows stuff. She knows stuff about Santa Fe. AND she knows stuff about books. She is also a newbie at book publishing but you would never know that by the way she tackles book promotion and her sales. She is a pro!

We say constantly, to promote a book you have to do radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, and the internet. Pat has done all of it. She has had booksignings. She knows everyone! The other thing that helps us track the Santa Fe Bucket List book’s success is sales on Amazon. It is the perfect book for tourists or residents who will have a visitor.

The reason so many people love the Santa Fe Bucket List book is because it is Pat’s personal loves of Santa Fe. There are stories, personal pictures, tips, and places that you want to go see.

The Ultimate Santa Fe Bucket List book came out in June and already it is one of the books that has made a name for itself. When you stop in the Main Santa Fe Library, downtown, ask if Pat is there and say hi!

— Barbe Awalt

Loretta Hall is our space expert. Her first two books with us – Out of This World and Space Pioneers – won Best of Show at the NM & AZ Book Awards and they went on to win other awards. Two months ago, she competed and won 4th place as Space Ambassador for the National Space Society in Puerto Rico. This was no small competition! She is also the President for the New Mexico Press Women. And probably most important, Loretta helps the NM & AZ Book Awards Banquet as one of the “Vannas,” passing out awards in November.

So, it was natural that Loretta write a Bucket Book for lover’s of all things space. There are 100 items: movies, books, Tang, jewelry, history, and the people who made space exploration fun. A perfect gift for the older kid or adult with a fascination for space.

Loretta is a go-getter and speaks all over the world. He latest gig in August 11, 2016, in Alamogordo, New Mexico, for Lunch & Learn at 11:30AM. If you are in the area, rainee.mackewich@fnb4u.com.

Loretta can also be seen at Treasure House in Old Town, Albuquerque on August 14, 1-3pm and Bubonicon for a talk on August 28, at 12:30 – 1:30pm, at the Albuquerque Marriott on Louisiana & I 40.

Loretta and her daughter are set to have a new book for kids on the New Mexico Spaceport come out soon. Loretta also is writing many articles for magazines on space. Like I said, a real go-getter!

— Barbe Awalt

What can you say about Slim Randles? He competed in the Iditarod, shoots, hunts, fishes, was a journalist in Alaska, California, and New Mexico, and now an author here. He is one of our shining lights and always makes us laugh. Slim has also won a lot of awards for his books – we like that.

After he wrote three adult books for us, I said he had to write a kid’s book. Slim was kicking and screaming but he did it. It was good. And it won awards too! Ol’ Jimmy Dollar is a fun gift for kids. And who can resist those dogs?

So, I asked Slim to write a Cowboy Bucket List book. When I got the manuscript, some of the items were longer than a page – our standard for the series. I said I can edit them with no problem. After I read them I didn’t want to touch them. Slim’s stories ran a little long and who cares? They still are good.

Slim in now working on a Fly Fishing Bucket List book for the spring. He fits that writing in with his syndicated newspaper column and syndicated radio show.

— Barbe Awalt

We thought having a Hot Air Balloon Bucket List book, especially for Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque would be a no brainer. A friend began to write it and tears later, the forces of evil prevented her from doing it. There is a lot more to the story but who cares?

So I said, I have been on a balloon crew for 20+ years, and I know a lot of pilots, so why not? I began to write it. The book features ballooning not just in Albuquerque but all over the world. NOTE: With the recent accident in Texas, you have to understand the hot air balloon is a sport and can be dangerous. It is a beautiful sport but it can kill you.

The Bucket List book was a HUGE success for Balloon Fiesta in 2015. I had seven book signings in nine days. The best was the Gondola Club. Who can find fault with lobster and overlooking the Balloon Field? I took a lot of pictures. The book was also carried in local Costco’s. It was fun to talk with newbies. They still think you can steer a balloon.

Already, I have signings for Balloon Fiesta for this year. I hope to get another signing at the Gondola Club!

The reason I like ballooning so much is the friendship from our pilots, Frank Bacon and Bill Douglas. But the crew is pretty special too: Shannon, Josh, Ana, Dianna, Tim, Kalynn, Twyla, Barbara, Cindy, Paul, and all the others including the kids. We even have the Baltimore girls flying in to Albuquerque each year. Each year we lend the crew our trailer to keep the balloon free from the elements. Truly a family affair.

— Barbe Awalt