Monday Pick Me Up-Dangerous Beauty

I was telling our son Owen that for many people, Easter marks the beginning of Spring.  That where we come from, the trees are turning green and the flowers are starting to grow.  Some tire of the endless Summer of Caracas, but seeing the tropical flora of our neighborhood gives me the same rush some of you are getting back home on these first warm days of Spring.

What I love about these dainty little rose colored flowers (whose names I tried to find and failed miserably) is that they grow on thorny stems sharp as barbed wire.  I love painting cacti because they are so beautiful and so fierce, like South America.  I wish I could have taken a better photo with our Canon T1i, but when I am out and about I carry a small, unassuming camera.  Because unlike these dangerous beauties, I am unarmed.

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Monday Pick Me Up-Retail Therapy

I often find myself looking for a pick me up in in Caracas, and not just Monday mornings. When a cup of coffee or a chunk of Miss Poema’s dark chocolate just won’t cut it, I turn to my newest vice. Online shopping. If, like many people, you think of South America as cheap, let me be the first to burst your bubble. Caracas is actually more expensive than NYC! And so, what was once a godsend for diapers and detergent has become my personal pick me up. Allow me to share with you what arrived last week, and introduce to you a talented young jewelery designer who surely won’t be this affordable much longer!

This is me in our garden sporting the Gold Hamsa Toggle-Clasp Bracelet by Alexandra Beth Designs. These come in several different colors and are available at http://www.alexandrabeth.com/. What impresses me about her jewelery is that it has a vintage appeal, while being new and refreshing at the same time. I love her bracelets with zippers, and her leaf earrings. Check her out!

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We did manage to get out of the apartment a bit this weekend. The men and I went out for lunch to Rey David, a very cute restaurant at Plaza’s. It seems to be Kosher, Italian, or some sort of mixture of the two. Either way, its delicious, and we had a great time. Rey David is actually a restaurant and a store, with the restaurant on the outside patio, and the store inside. If you are ever in Caracas, it is one of the more charming places to visit.

Here comes my Retail Therapy story Part Two. On each of the tables, there was a large glass Evian bottle, with a swirly, colorful pattern designed by Paul Smith, and I decided that I simply had to have one. I thought it would make the sweetest stem vase. Back in college, I would decorate my first apartment with a stolen flower or two, plucked from a near by park in the middle of the night. We’d use old water and wine bottles in place of vases. Now, all these years later, after bridal registries and showers, and collecting things in our travels, we have more than enough vases, and I love to fill the apartment with flowers. But I still love decorating in resourceful and unexpected ways. I may be a mama, but I’m a mamita bandida!

P.S.-Check in tomorrow for a new post, “What I’m working on now”!

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Monday Pick Me Up-Orange, Brown, and Blue

Here it is, your Monday Morning Pick me up.  A rich color scheme of orange, brown, and blue, that pervaded the photographs taken of our Sunday morning spent in the Embassy playground with our friends and their dogs.

Though these images were taken here, in Caracas, Venezuela, the colors make me think of the American South West….

Caracas is a difficult post, but getting together with other members of the Embassy community helps a lot.  Especially those with dogs and/or babies!  Look how happy they are! Although Charlie was MIA the moment the photo was taken, rest assured he was off being traviesito somewhere close by.

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…And so, our outdoor photo shoot (so to speak) in the morning inspired an indoor photo shoot of the same color scheme in the afternoon.  Here I am cleaning off our young model after a pre photo shoot oreo.

Orange tee-shirt by Penguin.  Rug by Dwell Studio for Target Kids….or something like that.  Adorable blue knit teddy bear by Baby Gap.  Modeled by Kate and Owen Laufert, of Vida Viva

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This Country is on Fire

And so, the story of my never ending painting continues.  This was my state of progress yesterday morning.  I vowed to finish it that same day, once and for all.  And my little men vowed to do all they could to help/distract me.   One of the little men was particularly distracting (one clue, the little man with less fur) as his first molar is making it’s first appearance.  Mi hombre comelon didn’t even want to eat!

The evening ended very strangely indeed, with a highly anticipated aguacero, and Owen insisting on being sent to bed without supper.

Yet more curious than all of this, was the smell.  At first I thought I must be imagining it.  But my husband assured me it was quite real.  “This country is on fire” he said, “that’s the smell of the rain putting it out”.

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I was woken up AGAIN at 5:00 this morning, but to a seemingly more happy Owen, who eventually ate his breakfast.

…And possibly, we have come to the end of The Never Ending Painting.  At least, I think so.  I’ll probably touch it up here and there over the weekend.  But it’s looking pretty done to me.  What do you think?

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