it's been a doozy of a week with the giveaway goings on, and we're in nyc setting up the new apartment. it has come to my attention that I have many things to speak of with you, so let's talk thanksgiving in mexico, and judge my times according to my iphone pics.

before we get to Mexico - two quick notes about Venice, ca.  we had a wedding in Southern California before we headed south, and stopped in Venice for a couple of nights.  dinner at mtn was one of the very best meals I've had in a long time.  the charred Japanese sweet potato I decreed THE TASTE OF FALL 2018.  also, we stayed in a very cute airbnb that I'd recommend.  great location and so perfectly Californian.  little things, like the penny tile in the shower and the way the light hit the concrete floors inspired me for projects I'm currently working on.

ok - let's go to Mexico.  so tad and I have been to playa del carmen a few times now, particularly at thanksgiving, because his sister lives there.  while it's an odd little town because it's super-touristy (the cruise ships drop off there), there are some amazing gems, and plenty to do and see for a few days.  we have a few restaurants we love - the cuisine  in playa is surprisingly diverse, and more than a few of the restaurants are thoughtfully decorated and really well done.

I love wandering down the Main Street - la Quinta Avenida and taking in all the amazing colors.  the tourist trap souvenir shops are chock full of amazing tchotchkes in rainbow colors.  even the most ubiquitous items, like the woven fans, the velvet sombreros and the dia de los muertos skulls thrill me.  also, there's a beautiful, pristine peaceful Zara at the end of the playa and I go daily, taking the store in quadrants of discovery.  today, its back left, tomorrow, the bohemian section of tassels, and the next day, sparkly dresses in the corner.  (clearly I like to establish routines wherever I end up)

after a couple of days of eating, catching up on sleep, and wandering about for inspiration, we head to Tulum.  tad's sister drives us down - it's about 40 minutes south of playa del carmen.  this is the second time we've stayed at ahau, and we're happy there.  it's got a good little vibe, it's right in the middle of the jungle strip of happenings and doings, the food is good, and their are dogs abundant.  oh, and the people watching is EVERYTHING.   this is our little beach bungalow for the week.  what. a. view.

on the reg: right across the street from Tulum is casa jaguar.  hipper than hip, absolutely beautiful and chic, positioned right in the middle of the jungle, lit by candles and so very loud after midnight (it's the klerb to klerb at).  and right up the beach, a 10 minute walk on the sand, is the real coconut, the restaurant at 'eco-chic luxury resort's (i'm not saying that with a straight face) sanara Tulum.  we'd hit this up once a day in the afternoon for a smoothie and maybe a salad.  perfectly fresh and healthy, it was a feel-good way to catch up each day and find a little routine in the relaxation.  also, people watching.

if I'm not people watching, I'm a dog ambassador for the americas.

let's elaborate on the people watching.  it's not news to you there's a lot of 'influencing' going down in Tulum-town.  check out this chick on the right.  I watched her daily photoshoots go down and then would stalk her on IG to see the finished (filtered) results.  what a time she's having!  tad would force a few pictures on me, and this is really the best I can do.  so many blessings.  on my heart.  but I this is one of the bathing suits I ordered and felt happy about, and I wore these pants from h&m (and these) every day because they embodied jungle-chic meets amish-modesty (btw - these for vacation, and then for christmas parties, right?)

my everyday essential for the beach.  I discovered this bathing suit in playa, at the cutest boutique biuriful - it's Carolina k and has the cutest little sleeves (how cute is this one?).  the mirrored sunglasses are my fave from barton Perriera, but so damn distracting if you're  talking with anyone because they're literally a mirror.  the scent is vacation vibe - just the tiniest squirt though, it's strong!  the cover-up is a scarf I always pick up at caravan in playa for like $5, and the bag was a street score as well.  this book was SO good.  it was one of the highlights of my vacation, and it might just be one I read again, like this week.  earrings are new pepper train, and I just love the color palette in her new collection.

I also got this print in the Carolina k suit - love so much.  this is where I would wear it if I was an outdoor beach club namaste girl.  instead I ate French fries and worked on my laptop.  tomato tomatoe.

shopping in Tulum is good - but the road is a real bare.  it's the only thoroughfare through the jungle, to the hotels and restaurants and it's heavily trafficked by huge construction trucks, delivery vehicles and cabs.  the pot-holes are otherworldly in size, so everyone is sort of swerving their own path.  it's dangerous and not my best life, so more often than not, we stayed put at ahau, or would walk to beach to check out new spots.  notable finds - a new hotel (next to ahau) called delek, which had the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen in my life (outdoors, trees, concrete bath tub), and those great little wicker floor lamps.  the boutique at the spa at sanara is right on with some great easy breezy dresses and pants, and the gift shop at ahau is a little tea-spot plus a little of everything else, including a friendly cat and a very small dog that gives nose-licks freely.

this was thanksgiving lunch at delek.  legit.  good fish tacos and excellent Esquites

and a few more spots of note in Tulum - posada margarita for eating, shopping, living your very best life (it's amazing), and the upstairs bar at be Tulum - great view, so colorful, and really great pillows (seriously).

if you do venture out, and you should, there's definitely inspo to catch around every corner in Tulum.  take cabs, wear sunscreen, try to turn the inside of your head off, drink water out of coconuts, pet dogs, and read a book.  you'll be great.

I did a fairly quick stint in aspen last week - things are busy in raleigh, with the kondo and the work, but it was overwhelming lovely to get away for a few days. the leaves on the aspens trees are bright marigold, the air is crisp enough at night to wear a big sweater and there's a spark in town as everyone transitions from the languid summer into a bustling fall season.  hur, lemme show you.

I typically take the 6am flight out of raleigh and can land in aspen by 10:15 - we head straight to basalt, for breakfast at two rivers, and we'd time this Saturday am just right so that the downtown basalt farmer's market was in full swing.  we ambled  after eating down the street, checking out the vendors, the pups in their weekend hats (literally, dogs wear hats), a lady who makes fresh pastries and cookies that live in a paper bag on your counter for a week of nibbles, the little 3 piece band that sets up by a collective of permanent adirondack chairs tabbed "geezer's corner".  I spotted Susan Carrolan's hats when we rounded a corner and let out an audible ohhhhh, which tad picked up every part of what I was putting down.  I was so engrossed with her good-looking hats that I failed to notice how hot we came in (can we go to your studio!?!), so we slowed our roll, chatted with her a bit, learned how she was an assistant to one of the foremost theatrical milliners in the theatre world today in New York for over 10 years, and finally decided to become a Milner, and take her craft to aspen - so she could ski and live life at that covetable alpine pace so many people seem to crave.  point being here: her hats are rad.  i got one.  I love it.  I want to make hats happen in raleigh.  let's get the aspen hat lady here.

clearly I'm just tickled to be here.  one of our fave pre-dinner spots - the Jerome hotel lobby.  their bar snack game is on par with the umstead's.  grab a quick cocktail and voila - spicy nut and cheese straw bits appear and you are fancy, and snacky, all at once.

right across the street to sushi at matsuhisa.  this is our Jam (with capital, bolded increased font J).  we sit at the bar, let the chefs freestyle a couple of handrolls and a little bit of sashimi, I have one green gardener, two if I'm living my absolute best life.

back at that amazing habitat for humanity store. I picked up dusty mauve because her body was appealing to me, and I think she can live in the new kondo bedroom.  schnuazies prefer to sleep on leather - well, I think this is true.  it's cooler, and I can wipe the schnuaziness off of it, rather than cloth upholstery that rowdy just rubs his beard all over and then we're done.  she's a little pinker in person, so I'm looking forward to bringing her into the fold.

just another bit I think you should see - this glass topped dining table.  look at that scalloped glass, resting on two marble lions.  what a time.

I also brainstormed a little value-engineering with these vct tiles I found in the back of the thrift store.  piles and piles of them, like $0 each.

see what I'm saying?  I dunno, just ideas.  they were super cheap.

we also found a butcher block island for the kitchen.  we looked it up, and it retails for like $2000 and we got it for the price of 234 vct tiles.

on to Walmart where we always find the finds.

find found.

there's a very talented silversmith we found in glenwood springs, Jessica bates - tad had a keychain made for me last year, an aspen leaf that I just love, so we went back to visit her.  I got a lovely pair of small little dangly aspen leaf earrings, and tad picked up some cuff links

and one of my very favorite new spots - my friend Audrey introduced me to over the summer: true nature healing arts in carbondale.  their website says it best, so I'm going to quote them: 'is an intentional sanctuary providing an inspirational setting for connection and transformation.  Our facilities include elegant spaces for daily classes in yoga, movement, and meditation, a luxury spa for nourishing treatments, a socially conscious gift boutique and an organic café, providing sustenance for the community to gather around. Sitting at the spiritual center of the one-acre Peace Garden is the Kiva, a state-of-the-art events center for up to 100 guests. Every facet of True Nature has been created with great attention to detail and the intention of supporting each guest’s journey toward inspiration, connection, and self-discovery.'  it's amazing - if you have an opportunity, you gotta go.  just for a tea and some curry, pick up a pink crystal, an evil eye notebook, get some good vibes, just go.

one of our favorite spots down valley, in basalt, for dinner is Tempranillo.  serving Spanish-style tapas, they have the most lovely front yard for dining, and if it's cold, fireplaces burning inside and a really thoughtful, well-executed vibe that's totally on point with the menu.  the owners are always milling about, eager to say hi and recommend what's fresh from the kitchen.  if you make it there, don't miss the perfectly-pink bathroom.

my latest raid of tad's mom's closets.  she was a damn size 24 so the pickings, however amazing, are very slim.  I am going to try and have those wool pants let it so I could at least take every other breathe.  they're so good, high-waisted and cropped.  the blouses are for my friend bryan Costello who loves a floral blouse moment, the sweater is just fine, and the pink shams are gigantic euros I'm bringing home to try and make work in kondo bedroom.

I'd also like to try and make this work for a wedding I'm going to in Orange County in November.

this could work really well in a multitude of ways - don't you think?  a raccoon bench.  totally practical

but not as practical as this bear chair.  for $10K it feels right, don't you think?

I wanted these bear stools to be right, but no one is backing me on that either.  from the thrift store.

and are you kidding me with this weather?  fall in aspen is really something to behold.

and I'll leave you with my new favorite breakfast situation.  from breakfast in America, a little diner in el jebel, with the very best fried rice with an egg on top + homemade strawberry jam and toast.

we'll just ease into nyc part 2.

I worked some at the marlin, because they provide the internetz, the latte, and the people watching.  I can hammer out a good two, three hours of work on my laptop given a good hotel lobby situation.  also, this wallpaper in the bathroom initiated a few feels.  I'm feeling v. much pop-arty of late.

momacha opened up recently on bowery - it's got a cool vibe, and an interesting concept.  founded by nev Schulman, from catfish, remember! - it's a matcha bar and art exhibition space. it has all the cbd edibles and adaptogens, plus Donald Robertson was the artist au courant so there was plenty of eye candy as well.

I stopped by the office's of extra-cool pr agency nylon, just down from momacha, and had a real moment with this screen - it's available from the inside, Christiane Lemieux' new venture.  remember when I spoke on the panel with her in Utah?  og glady boss - she was a force.  she was kind enough to grab a dinner with me after the panel and share her mega-loads of wisdom on e-commerce.  what stuck with me is what she said about data - that online, it's all about the numbers.  cashflow, is king and live and die by the data.  I wasn't quite ready to wrap my head around that then, but it's stuck, and now, more than ever, going into my 10th year of business, I remember what she told me, and admire her immensely for what she's done with dwell, wayfaire, and now the inside.

in furb news i ordered these glasses for the store - really pretty right?  a little Rita Konig moment to make america great again.

and some rull cute holiday stuff from coral & tusk.  I feel like this Christmas is going to be a festive one, you think?  I'm ready for fall, the switch has flipped.  I put on a sweatshirt dress today and said temperature be damned.  there's no going back - I'm ready for fall, and winter and the holidays and Christmas Best Buy commercials on prime time tv in the background and velvet blazers and Chex mix and oysters and all the good things that happen at the end of the year.

speaking of original og to-the-max lady bosses -- Jordan freaking ferney.  she debuted her latest project - the nyc color factory last week and I was so proud to attend the opening.  she was lit.ter.ally the very first blog I read, from cover to cover, more than once.  sitting at my desk at ad spice, I was 24 years old, and she opened up a whole new world of possibility to me.  I will always be grateful for how brave she was to share her life, and her goals and her struggles with her readers.  I'm super-stoked to travel with her - we're headed to india together next spring.  what a wild wonderful world, huh?

another little snapshot of the new apartment.  this is our entry - so cute right?  will people think I have totally lost my mind if I were to put some flowers there one week?  that's ridiculous right?  I have so much to learn.

I did get myself to brooklyn (I walked over the bridge!) to check out collyer's mansion, a cute little home store that had been popping up on my ig feed.  it didn't disappoint.  all the goodness packed into a pint size boutique.  my jam.

and right around the corner - grand army.  so attractive.  I did some window-oogling and then had to just walk in and see for myself.  such great artwork, lighting and a really happy vibe.  I didn't have time to grab a bite, but it was immediately added to the list in my phone of things to try asap.

let's not forget that we discovered that muji will customize anything you buy there with the best little Japanese embroidered goodness.  $3 and 24 hours later, you can have a totally one-of-a-kind item.  yas for sure

digging through the collection of African textiles I love to shop when I'm in nyc.  I brought back some pretty ones.  also this dress - I got it here.  I know everyone pimped the life out of it during the nordstrom sale, but it is actually really good. super flattering. brings all the boys to the yard.  if you're into that?

my fave thing of the week was calling on an old friend of tad's, Danny minnick, at his studio on bowery.  Danny is a pro-skateboarder, turned artist, and we caught up with him painting in preparation for a show in Germany in a few weeks.  he's having a moment, for sure.

I was overwhelmed with inspiration as soon as we we walked in, like could've taken a knee Friday nights lights style.  I really wasn't expecting to dig the art as much as I did - I had no idea what to expect.  the colors were so vibrant, the pinks and oranges with murky olive greens, flashing yellow and soft purple.  it felt electric.

Danny's thing is his skeleton - he painted this mural on Elizabeth street, right behind his loft.

when he asked to paint my bag, I didn't hesitate.  I'm not one to keep things too precious, and I'm still a clemmons girl with a penchant for crushing on skeletons and skateboarders.  oh New York - I'm picking up what you're putting down.