Guadalupe

Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is a symbol of the Mexican nation and of all Catholic Mexicans. A combination of the Virgin Mary and an indigenous goddess Tonantzin, she appeared before an old Aztec Indian in 1531 making it easier for the native people of the new world to accept a pagan version of Christianity.

I went in search of a small image like the one on the left and ended up instead with a small copper box with an indentation of the Guadalupe de Extramadura as seen on the right. For more information about the history of Guadalupe, go here.

Carnaval in Ajijic

The carnaval parade consisted of macho men dressed in drag, women riding as beauty queens on butterfly floats, horses dancing with music, and children throwing confetti and flour at each other and the crowd. Very basic, but a lot of fun.

Zaragoza Street

The street outside the Casa de las Flores Bread & Breakfast in Ajijic, Mexico. We woke to the sound of roosters crowing, walked down to the lake in search of coffee, bought cheese and bread instead, and then spent the day riding horses and drinking Corona.

And just behind these walls are lovely suites, a sunken swimming pool, interior gardens, and intense family life. Mexico is exactly what you would be expect it to be, only better.

Guadalajara

A 1939 travel poster. If the airports are open and flights are on schedule, this is the plan for the next week.

Art of a Different Kind

Fashematics' take on the spring 2010 collections from Alexander McQueen (ready to wear, left) and Givenchy (couture, right). Special recognition if you can identify the top images.

(Posted one day before Alexander McQueen took his life ... a tragedy in the fashion world without a doubt.)

Early Morning Coffee

Continuing with the February "things I like" theme .... my favorite time of day is early in the morning when it's still dark outside. Eric and I sit side by side drinking home-made coffee, working on our computers. It's a quiet world at 5am; I'm not sure when I became such an early riser but it's habit now.

When I was a "single" girl and lived above the Adams Morgan Starbucks, I would roll out of bed, put on something appropriate for outdoors, and go downstairs for my cup of coffee. At that time, my preference was a grande black. I would hand over $2, grab my coffee, and go back upstairs to prepare for my long commute out of the city. An easy routine but not quite as nice as the one I have today.

When I was in Egypt last, I picked up the latte habit. My sister would make a small pot of coffee in the morning, but I was used to the mega caffeine intake and started walking around the corner to Green Mill for my early morning cup. Not familiar with the proper way to order a grande black in Egypt, I went with the latte option and found them pseudo healthy with all that calcium, protein, and milk.

I make my coffee at home now and splurge occasionally on a Starbucks latte but in the big picture I'm settling down. The image above is from an illustration blog I found online ... probably when I was surfing the Web early in the morning.

Apple Computer

My shiny little computer. I've been an Apple fan for years. In the beginning, I had a second-hand Macintosh II and used it throughout most of my college life, writing all of my English literature papers at 1.5 leading instead of double space because I didn't understand the single, double, and triple bars as they were meant to represent lines. Yes, a lot of extra work on my part.

And more recently, I had a problem where my MacBook started to slow down and the processing wheel was spinning at a painful rate. It was nearly impossible to play Pet Society in secret because it took so long to exit the screen when anyone came near. The problem was solved, though, after a quick visit to my local Genius Bar. It seems one of my two cats had made my key pad a sleeping spot and the finder window continued to open, one on top of itself, a new window opening and not closing every single day. Good customer service at no additional cost and I only felt moderately stupid for not having figured it out myself.

In Apple's case, brand loyalty is easy. It begins the moment the purchase is made and continues every time I use my laptop. Other companies I pledge my support to are USAA, Bose, and Nordstrom. Starbucks? Well, I'm just addicted to coffee.

Mehndi Designs

Since it's cold outside and we are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow (and this weekend), I am going to bring a little warmth into my world by blogging about some of the things I like this month. These are henna designs. Following is a description of how they are used:

"For centuries, mehndi - the art of henna painting on the body - has been practiced in India, Africa, and the Middle East, where the henna plant is believed to bring love and good fortune, and to protect against evil. Mehndi is traditionally practiced for wedding ceremonies, during important rites of passage, and in times of joyous celebration. A paste made from the crushed leaves of the henna plant is applied to the skin, and when removed several hours later, leaves beautiful markings on the skin that fade naturally over 1 to 3 weeks." (quoted material from here)