tulum souvenirs!

I forgot to show off the stuff we bought in Tulum! There are tons of shops up and down the main street with stuff for tourists to buy. I didn't want to totally avoid those, but I'd read about two shops that focused on more traditional, Mexican-made crafts. They looked more unique, so Matt & I popped in when we were on our shopping expedition. The first one was full of nice stuff but we weren't ready to spend any money - but at the second one, it was hard not to spend our whole budget! There were so many cool things. In the end, here's what we got!





I love these! There was a whole stack of them in a basket and we decided to get a small one and a medium one. They're made out of yarn glued to a wooden base and each one has a description written on the back. When we got home, we looked them up and learned that they're called "nieli'ka" and are traditionally made by the Huichol people of central Mexico. Most of the images reference their religion, and the eagle and the deer (our two images) are important parts of their belief system. Now we just need to get frames so they don't get dusty!



This is our rug!! The shop had a million beautiful rugs of all sizes but in the end we decided on this pattern, in a medium size. It's wool and it's perfect! I wish we'd had infinite money (and apartment floor space) because there was a small orange one that was amazing. We have a bit of a textile problem, though, and already have too many rugs...but we couldn't pass this up.



...Speaking of textile problems, we got a cotton blanket! Our apartment in Tulum had one just like it and we thought it would be nice to brighten up our apartment in Brooklyn. And it actually goes really well with our sofa! And it provides a layer of protection for when...well, let's just say that one of our cats has tummy problems from time to time. We got this blanket from one of the touristy shops closer to our place and I think it was $15, which I'd say is money well spent.



This little blue guy is from the shop where we got the blanket. There are tons of these figurines in pretty much every store up and down the main road, including the two more "special" shops we went in. Each one has a signed artist's name on it, and some of them are super intricate. I didn't want to worry about breaking our purchase on the way home, so we got one of the more simple pieces. Once again, when we got home, we looked it up and found out that they're called "alebrijes" and originated in the 1930s in Mexico City and were originally papier-mâché. In the Oaxaca region, where woodcarving is a traditional craft, craftspeople adapted the alebrije paper sculptures into wooden ones - and thus came about our little figurine!



Another textile! It's a thin blanket/shawl/tablecloth/whatever you want it to be, from the same shop - our bed in Tulum had one of these on it and we thought it was so nice and cheerful!



Last but not least, our metal skeleton ornament! We haven't had a Christmas tree in three years (and maybe never will again, it's been so nice) but we couldn't not get this guy, from the shop where we got our rug. We came back with lots of amazing goodies...and we didn't spend more than our budgeted amount, even though there was so much more that caught our eye. Someday we'll go back!

our (sort of) complete living room!

So here's how our living room looks now! (Click to see it bigger)

Still in love with our sofa, even though it's not completely new anymore. I really like having lots of houseplants, too. I think we've finally (hopefully) found some that we won't kill after a month or two. Succulents are great! Although I'm staying away from anything with spines for now after getting poked by a cactus a few years ago. The big plant by the TV was marketed as a "plant of steel" and it pretty much has been. It doesn't really need any water, and I've since read that it can actually grow in a closet. So...we might have to get a few more of them!

We're still searching for a good coffee table - I would like two small tables that can look like one if they're next to each other, so if we have people over we can easily move them out of the way. Someday!

Farewell, Apartment!

A goodbye post to our cute apartment! For the first year and a half we lived here, it was more than a bit of a mess - our gigantic type cabinet took up more than half of the living room, we had a really ugly couch from the thrift store (and not even cool-ugly). Then, we got a much smaller type cabinet! And a nice love seat from Ikea! And rearranged the entire place. And everything has been much nicer since then. 

So before we started packing up our life (again!?), I took some pictures to remember it as it was.

We moved all of our printing equipment and supplies to the little nook off of our living room and the porch - so when you enter the door, it's not quite as obvious as before that we live and work here! 

I still feel really lucky that we got such a nice apartment before we even got to this city - and it was nice enough to stay in for three years! It's big and full of light and even has a linen closet and a pantry...all things that our future New York apartment probably won't have. But, of course, it isn't in New York and all the linen closets in the world can't fix that! 

A New Cabinet!

Well, a like-new cabinet, anyway.

Back when we still lived on the other side of the country, Matt's dad was kind enough to make us a super nice type cabinet/press table. All we had to do was finish it with a bit of stain. Not surprisingly, in the process of moving 2,000+ miles and starting a business, a few things that we meant to do never got done. One of them was staining the cabinet. We even bought stain for it over a year ago. Still, stain is complicated - where would we be able to do it with proper ventilation? How do you make it perfectly even? How long until it dries?

Paint is a lot easier. We already had paint! Without thinking too much about it (the best way to do things you've been putting off), I just started painting it the other day. And now it looks as good as it should! Here's how it went:

One coat of primer, two coats of semi-matte black paint later, and it was finished! 

I left the top unpainted, since it's nice to be able to see remnants of all the work we've done in the ink smears and fingerprints - it would just look too nice if it were all perfectly painted! Did I mention we've completely rearranged our apartment? It's not completely done yet (will it ever be?) but we'll post a photo tour once we have some photos to show. Spoiler: we sold the huge type cabinet that was taking up our entire living room and now we have an apartment with a small studio inside, instead of the other way around.