Part 4 Mexico-At the Wedding

Wedding day approached quickly and was absolutely beautiful.  Late afternoon clouds rolled in and set a dramatic stage.  My niece, Matea, was one of the flower girls and played the part well.  I enjoyed wearing my long silk tie dye beach dress sans shoes.  And everyone enjoyed the chasing beach balls up and down the beach during reception hour.  After dinner, a professional salsa lesson ensued.  I danced the night away and then I drifted to sleep to the sound of crashing waves.

Part 3 Mexico-Colors of Tulum

Part 2 Mexico-On the Beach

Tulum, hands down, is home to the best beach I have ever visited.  Beautiful Playa Azul, where we stayed emanates the name so perfectly-"Blue Beach"  When in Tulum, you are on beach time.  Dinner is leisurely, nights are late, mornings are early and there is plenty of time during the day to lounge in a hammock or frolic in the delightfully temperate waters of the Caribbean. 

Crafts for the Holidays

This year; I think, is the first year I am actually on top of my holiday gifting.  Only one more project left.  Anyway, after a spendy Frye boot purchase and one too many episodes of Hoarders I decided to sell my stock of hand wovens at Finch's Holiday Boutique.  Can't wait to check it out this weekend!

Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  In addition to Finch's Holiday Boutique, I will also be checking out the annual holiday preview party tonight at Fired Up for some local clay wares and perusing the goods at No Coast Craft Fair.  Somewhere in there we will hit up the Buffalo Occasional sales too.

Part 1 Mexico-Puerto Morelos

Arriving amidst an endless downpour and flooded roads, aftermath from the previous week's tropical storm, was disappointing.  However, luckily, by the next day the weather was only slightly overcast and seemed to improve each day.  Our first stop was Puerto Morelos; a sleepy fishing village about 20km south of Cancun.  If you are an avid snorkeler or scuba diver it is a great town to call base.  Less touristy, the central plaza overlooks the beach.  Fishing boats still dock along the shore and birds swarm for scraps as the daily catch comes in.  It is here that my mom and I spotted Monarch butterflies, tasted the best queso fresco, and dug into fresh seafood.  

The highlight, however, was an authentic cooking course at  Little Mexican Cooking School.  Together we learned how to make a variety of delicious salsas, homemade tortillas and work with many different types of peppers. What was so wonderful about the class, was not just the cooking, but the history behind traditional Mexican ingredients, culture and drink. the beginning of class was spent sampling a slew of spices, both Pre-columbian and modern.  And every hour or so our gracious host served a typical drink or aperitif to sample, explaining the history behind the process.  I highly recommend this to anyone interested in authentic cooking.  It was a lovely way to pass the day.  

Back and gone again

The warm weather was welcome.  The wedding unbelievably magical.  And the best part? Shoes were not part of the dress code!!  I'm off to New York and then Chicago but more to come of my sunshine adventures!

Off to Sunshine

It's gonna be a few weeks til I'm back.  I'm off to Mexico for my brother Ben's wedding.  Although I love the winter, I am looking forward to sand between my toes.  I spent a lot of time thinking about my nails, since they will be getting a lot of outdoor action.  Last week I painted every finger a different style.  On Sunday, I finally settled on the leopard print with glitter sparkles for my fingers, (inspired by Ashley) and a hot pink glitter sparkle for my toes.  Can't wait to show them off.  So until the 13th, I will be out of commission, but no complaints here.