Mexican Garlic.

Last week I was lucky to go on a lovely Valentine's trip (ok, slash, visa run trip) to Mexico. We went to San Cristobal de las Casas and loved it. The market there was, of course, incredible. I brought back that braided bunch of garlic..smelled great all the way home! I can't wait to cook with it since the cloves are bigger and easier to use than the ones here in Guatemala. I have a sneaky little feeling that they'll be tastier too!
I also got a beautiful little stack of Haas type avocados. They were the tastiest avocados I've had in ages and you can bet your bottom dollar that all four of those little seeds are in jars (hopefully sprouting) on a window sill in my house right now. Yay! I <3 C.A. markets!

stumbled upon...

...a new trick! Well, not really a trick per se but, a handy discovery that I will put to good use. The other day it just so happened that we didn't have any fresh towels so, I grabbed one of my vintage linen tablecloths that I am so fond of. Turns out this table cloth functions way better than any towel I've ever used. It absorbs the water swift and gentle. It's miles softer and thinner making it easier to maneuver than a towel and it's so big I was fully wrapped. And on top of all of that it dried about ten times, if not more, faster than a dang towel! Oh, there is one more great thing about this: it rolls up even smaller than a towel making it the perfect on the go 'towel'. I have to just add one more thing, even though I have all vintage towels that I think are so pretty, I think the vintage linen tablecloth is just gorgeous. Mine aren't just tablecloths any more! I got this one here in Xela at the pacas in Minerva...love the pacas here! <3.

aguas amargas

 We decided to finally go and check out Aguas Amargas. A little hot springs destination not too far away from Xela. So we hop on a bus and head in that direction, getting off the bus in a small pueblo that we have to walk through. Mind you we had to tell the bus where we were going and we had to ask a few people which direction to walk and they all happily told us which way to go to get to Aguas Amargas. What they did not tell us, is that it was completely destroyed in a hot mudslide last year! Classic. It was a fantastic day even though we didn't get to soak in the hot thermal waters there.

What is left of the entrance.

 It's so destroyed and overgrown it's hard to see what's going on. If you see the little waterfalls towards the top right-ish part of the photo....those little waterfalls are going over what was the road.

This was one of the cabana rooms with a tub that thermal water flowed into. Egads, now it's a mudroom!

 

                                        This the road going there. Totally washed out. It was fun walking down through the little river.



moon over miami

I just had the pleasure of spending a long weekend in Miami with a decade-long bestie. It was balm for the soul. We went to the Russian Bath House on Miami Beach; a wonderful, wonderful experience.
Miami is such a beautiful city. I am happy that I had the pleasure of living there for 4 years and would live there again for sure! Last weekend I admired the gorgeous Miami sunsets and even found myself staring in awe at the moon over the city every night I was there. It's one of those affairs one has with cities/places and this city has its tethers in me. I just love so very many of the houses and structures there...riding around the Gables is so easy on the eyes and just sends me into endless daydreams....I think Miami is just dreamy.

Helsinki Please

I've been giving some good thought to visiting Helsinki, Finland.

Home of some damn good design!

my very own little pila from guate.

I just plain fell head over heels in love with the pilas in Guatemala! We found this little clay pila in Santiago on Lake Atilian and it's the only time we saw them at all. I am so happy I acquired it! I use it by my kitchen sink to hold my rings while washing dishes. Super cute!!!

the amazing pila of guatemala

This is a large pila for a big household, typically found in the old colonial houses. There are 3 stations to wash and 2 separate basins for holding the clean water for use.

This pila was in the Don Quixote Hotel we stayed in. I alwasy woke up to the sound of the the basins being filled.

This is the typical pila you see in homes. Actually they are outside of the home. So a typical Guatemala kitchen does not have a sink in it. It's rather amazing at the ingenuity of this country and its people. Things are functional, purposeful and extremely practical. I was impressed, awed and just smitten!

Another classic example of the outdoor pila. The are most often seen in shades of blue and aquamarine. You'll see the occasional yellow or red one. These pilas are set up to hold water in the middle section with two side sections for different purposes. The left section generally has grooves cut into the floor of it for washing clothes and the right section is used more for washing/drying dishes.

Once again, an outdoor pila. This is the most handsome colour if you ask me, the red ones (though I didn't get a picture of one) are rather dapper too! I aspire to one day have a pila of my own. I think they are just the most functional thing ever, super economical and they just make sense to me! Seeing Guatemala households and how the function really get me thnking differently.

I had the pleasure of traveling to Guatemala in December 2009. What an amazing trip. I've always been fascinated with seeing how other cultures live. I was just pleased and amazed with how genius Guatemalans truly are. They use everything around them. Every where you look you see something created out of nothing that is most functional! Seeing inside the households and how they are run interested me to no end. I fell completely in love with their 'pila' that I've featured in this post. I am playing with the idea of putting together a book on the pila!!

Road Trip-Seattle or Bust #1

We are finally all prepped and ready to head out on our adventure across our great big country!

We made it out of the Carolinas!

Our first spotting of ice! Yikes.

We stopped in Nashville for the night. Super cool town! Found some good eats!

Erin was feeling a wee bit camera shy after being on the road all day.

On the road w/out a bottle opener!

Here we are! Erin & Alison stuck in a hotel room in Rapid City, South Dakota with beer & no bottle opener! We figured it out and thought we'd share it with the world! Check it!


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Santiago Bay!

This is one of those pictures that just took my breath away! 

AND...I can't stop thinking about it. 

It's officially on the list of places I need to visit.

An Adventure:

I am flying up to Charlotte, North Carolina to Erin's.

Lucky Duck Erin got a new job in Seattle! 

We will be packing up all of her big stuffs and having it moved. (Thank goodness!)

Then we will pack ourselves in her cute little car and drive to Seattle!

I am just so looking forward to spending a big ol' chunk of time hanging out with Erin!

Trés hookery awesomeness!

Pretty much going from one corner to the other and back. 

I can't help but, to think of all the killer thrift stores along the way. Hmmm...

cool hotel rooms

The White Hotel-Brussels

Floroom, Florence

Brussels

The Hotel Royalton-NYC

White Tiger Forest Lodge-Bandhav, India

Hotel Zorzis-Perissa

Cap Juluca-Anguilla

Armada Hotel-Istanbul

HAWAII.

and big surprise!! i wanted to move there. i had my sights set on maui. outside of the city. acquire some land in this old dairy farming area at the bottom of a huge mountain (14,000 feet) that is mostly a huge state park. ....yeah, acquire land. ...enough to qualify for ag. this area is in a tradewind...constant wind...lots of rain and tons of sunshine. it's so lush!!! and the wind energy, sun energy and amount of fresh rain dumped would make it so easy to self-sustain! a total dream!!
here are some pictures of the area: