Above: David Estrada. Photograph by Juan Lebreche.

Just for reference, it’s Friday. So you and your favorite sweatpants made it to the weekend. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up a tasty at-home cookie decorating kit, a hike that will take you back to simpler times, a cure for you sports withdrawal symptoms, and more.

MAKE COOKIES
Sure, your coworkers have heard the antsy kiddos on those video conference meetings and the home schooling hasn’t been easy. But you all deserve a treat this weekend, and Rude Boy Cookies in Albuquerque has just the recipe. Its cookie decorating kit comes with 12 sugar cookies, four colors of frosting, and sprinkles (because sprinkles are for winners!). “Cookies and community, it’s what we do,” says owner Mike Silva. “It’s who we are.” Feel free to indulge in some of Rude Boys’ non-kit cookies as well. Try classic flavors like peanut butter and chocolate chip, or unique “rude” flavors with names borrowed from the owner’s favorite genre of music, SKA, like Trombone, a sugar cookie covered in big, bright, rainbow sprinkles. Call ahead to order your cookie-kit (505-200-2235), and grab it on Wednesdays or Saturdays from the pick-up window.

PRACTICE YOUR FOOTWORK
When the gym is closed and your WFH setup is a tad too close to the snacks closet, you could turn to social media for a push-up challenge or you could get your kicks from our beloved local soccer team, New Mexico United. While the United Soccer League has suspended play at least through May 10, United players have taken to Instagram for some at-home drills and exercises to keep fans engaged. “Now more than ever, it’s important to let our fans know that we care about them and we want them to remain safe,” says United midfielder David Estrada. “New Mexicans are resilient, and I know we will get through this together.” Estrada shows off his footwork with a simple all-ages drill that doesn’t require much space but offers a nice challenge (as Estrada discovers). Follow along to improve your skills and shed some quarantine stress.

DEEPEN YOUR NEW MEXICO KNOWLEDGE
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs wants to help keep your mind engaged even if you can’t visit one of its museums or historic sites in person. We’ve enjoyed perusing the New Mexico Museum of Art’s searchable collection and its almost 4,000 items. Peruse one of the five curated collections such as New Deal Artwork, with works by the likes of Manville Chapman, who painted murals in Raton’s Shuler Theater, and Taos art colonist Gisella Lacher Loeffler (her ink-on-paper drawing Chicken is humble but graceful). Or sort the entire collection by date to create a visual timeline of works by renowned artists—including more than 25 by Ansel Adams—which, together, tell the story of New Mexico’s complex history.

TAKE A WALK BACK IN TIME
While the Pecos River within the boundaries of Pecos National Historical Park is closed, along with the Pecos National Historic Park’s visitor center and bookstore, the Ancestral Sites Trail and Glorieta Battlefield Trail remain open 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. daily. The 1.25-mile Ancestral Site Trail, which begins behind the visitor center, offers vistas of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Glorieta Mesa while taking you past the ruins of the mission church, which dates back to 1717. Its stunning architecture and hand-smoothed adobe walls may remind you how old we are, and how much we’ve survived before this.

LEARN ABOUT NATURE
The Pajarito Environmental Education Center in Los Alamos has a new virtual series titled “Take It Outside!” With natural themes that change weekly, like this week’s “Signs of Spring,” the team creates new theme-relevant challenges daily that make for fun, hands-on home-school lessons. Paired with an educational blog post on early pollinators such as the Southwestern orangetip butterfly, Thursday’s challenge included instructions for building both a bee hotel and a bee bath, with materials many of us have lying around the house. Check out today’s challenge.