Downsizing

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.*

Today, I live with my kids and cats. Circumstances have placed me in a little apartment with wooden beams, a small garden and a terrace with pergolas. The boys are in college now, and they've added Oscar Fernandez's reed paper panels to their surfer bedroom.

Small is good, as Novica tempts me every day with their amazing selection in home décor; I want almost everything I see on my work list.

What items are absolutely essential these days? That's easy. A hammock and a hummingbird feeder . From Novica, naturally.

*Phil 4:12-13, New International Version Bible

Minimalism

Old houses are expensive to keep up, and we left the inner city when the boys started kindergarten.   We built a starkly modern home in a gated community on the edge of town.   I love the architecture of Luis Barragan, and we modeled our style after his.   Glass doors, floor to ceiling, opened onto a walled garden filled with bougainvillea in every possible color.   A fat pinto guinea pig and three bunnies roamed freely there – my sons' unpaid but much-loved gardeners.

White walls and woodwork, and white marble floors became a gallery for artwork and   handicrafts.   Bright colors came to life there, and I began to opt for pieces like the Seguso family's amazing art glass.   Ruby Youllouz' sculptural vases.   Stone washbasins by David Solano.   Sisal rugs, Brazilian cotton and soft woolen throws.   Our home became a proud expression of personal identity.

An aging mansion

In Mexico, we eventually settled in a home built at the end of the 19th century.   Carved quarry stone covered a sober façade pierced by tall windows with wrought iron grillwork; the heavy wood door was tall enough for a person to enter on horseback.   The adobe walls were half a meter thick, muffling the noise of downtown traffic, and ceilings were five meters high.   The rooms opened off a central patio where my little boys scooted in walkers around white columns and terracotta flower pots.


Talavera ceramic tiles covered the tiny kitchen;   it opened onto a utility patio with a cement laundry tub and scrub board.   Stairs there led to the service rooms where I set up looms and easels.   We grew organic tomatoes, lettuce and herbs in planters on the roof.

That gracious old mansion cried out for refined home décor – etched glass stemware, gleaming Mexican pewter and Victorian style rugs such as these hand-tied beauties by Ishtyaq.   Colonial paintings by Alberto Torres.   Crochet art by Simona More Silva.   Silver candelabra....   Alicia Lostaunau's bed valances would have been wonderful for my babies.

Alas, we were newlyweds, just getting started. It was a period of terrifying hyper-inflation.   We had far more romance than money.

A Spanish style bungalow

My grandparents first came to Charlotte Harbor in the 1930s.   The town is a quiet bit of the Old South;   my family rests in the cemetery there beneath live oaks draped with Spanish moss.

For many years, an old California style bungalow sat vacant on the bayfront.   It intrigued me, and we inquired about the price just so we could explore inside.   I dreamed for years about that house, imagining it was mine.   I still do.

Zorro could have felt at home there.   Abel Rios' and Oscar Pastor's hand-carved furniture would have been perfect in that setting, crowned with candleholders by Rafael Rocha.   I'd have added handmade table linens and colorful china

The cottage isn't there anymore except in my imagination.   I see it in my mind each time I browse through Novica's home décor section.

My first apartment

My first apartment was above a garage next to the flower shop where I worked during my first years in college. Looking back, it was a challenging layout – Pullman kitchen, long, narrow living-dining space and a vintage bath off the bedroom.

How to imprint a personal style on an architectural afterthought filled with castoffs? We were ingenious, working on a nonexistent budget. We covered a wall with burlap and painted the stucco a pale ochre. An Aztec calendar took pride of place, perhaps predicting the path I'd take one day.

It was tiny, eclectic and inviting, each piece related through color and texture. I remember those days with nostalgia.

Even at school

I've been on the mommy track for more than 20 years. It's a lifetime position. Our sons studied in the Pierre Faure educational system in a Spanish language school and we were always very involved. Over the years, I met and interacted with almost all the other parents.

One of their friends, Bobby French, was also bilingual from birth and always spoke English with me. I knew his mother as Bobby's Mom.

What a wonderful surprise when she joined Novica! I had no idea Michele French is such an amazing designer. She combines Mexican silver and precious stones in jewelry that is at once modern and ancestral, and signs each hand-crafted piece. To me, there's a Jungian aspect to her images that resonates on many levels. It's absolutely beautiful.

Take a peek!

Shiny things

When I lived in Florida, I spent as much time as possible on Sanibel Island. In fact, I did my first archeology there. After a long day excavating shell middens, we'd rinse off in the ocean. Crows in the Australian pines watched and cackled while we splashed in the shallows.

Crows love things that are shiny. At Christmas we'd hang silver tinsel on the sea grapes and, next time we were there, we'd find that tinsel in the treetops, woven into nests.

I'm a lot like those crows. When I see shiny things, I want to take them home. My taste runs toward the handmade jewelry from Novica – ethnic pieces to wear with natural jute and muslin, or with silk in jewel colors.

I'm in love with jewelry by Brazilian designer Claudio Bravo. He weaves buriti palm fiber into wonderful necklaces and bracelets, adding details in gold. Some include gemstones, selected for their natural energy.

Putu Sutarka is a young designer from Bali. He crafts his jewelry from brass with beautiful handmade textures. Clusters of shining hoops suggest a bold, modern lace, and the ethereal geometry of his bracelets, necklaces and earrings makes me feel forever young.

After all these years, Mexico is home to me, as much my home as Florida. Martha Vargas' jewelry is modern, but rooted in the traditions of Michoacan's indigenous peoples. Inlays of natural rosewood, crystal or bone contrast with silver. Some pieces incorporate religious icons and milagros, often given to the image of Christ or a saint in gratitude for miracles performed.

These are a few of the shiny things I like.

Choices and changes

Blog? Why would anyone read my blog? Besides, I'm a blog virgin.

But I've always taken the road less traveled. My choices have always been different ones. And so this Florida native who grew up barefoot and blissful on the warm Gulf shores is living in the Mexican sierra. And loving it.

Some people who are very dear to me asked me to share a bit of myself online, so here I am.

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher and parents decided I was destined to be an artist. All my life I had paints and charcoal, canvases and clay, even looms and a potter's wheel to explore my creativity. But in college, I was drawn to anthropology as I spent more and more time in the Yucatan. I linked both passions in my senior thesis – an iconographic analysis of classic Maya art with field drawings done in Palenque.

Today I have a dream job… I write. And I use that experience in art and anthropology every day in my work. Novica is probably the most meaningful job I've ever had. I've personally witnessed how artisans are empowered and their extraordinary work is appreciated all over the world.

I invite you to take a look.