The wait is over…day 293

Today was the day thousands of women in Mexico City had been waiting for—the grand opening of the first Sephora store in the country, and luckily for me it is 2 minutes away from our place at Antara Fashion Hall.

Goose picked me up towards the end of the day at the office and we headed over to Antara to do a little shopping at Sephora. I have to say that the architecture of the store is perfect and totally sets the mood by increasing the excitement. As you walk in through the main entrance, you are welcomes by a spiral staircase with an ambiance light tower in the center and the already famous Sephora patter on the walls and stairs. 

As we reached the bottom of the stairs we were welcomes by several of the Sephora local and US employees who were in town to help with the “festivities” and to finish setting up. The store was packed, but the sales team made sure everyone had received the best service possible.

Goose and I decided to split up so we could shop around with no hurry. I purchased just a few items since I had recently bought a bunch of Dior makeup at Palacio and only needed a few basics that included:

  • Naked eyeshadow set by Urban Decay
  • Powder and blush by Bare Essentuals
  • Lemon-Sage Body cream by Bliss
  • Make-up sponges by Sephora

There were a few things that I want to try out such as the Bobbi Brown concealers and the Yves Saint Laurent Parisian perfume, so I will definitely be visiting them quite often. Congratulations to everyone involved and who made this “playground” possible.

Shoe shopping! …day 288

I knew this would be a great weekend!

This morning I decided I needed a few extra hours of sleep and woke up around 11:30. While having coffee with Goose, we figured it’d be a good idea to go to the movies early so he could study in the afternoon. We headed to Cinepolis to see Dream House, and I loved it!

I had already seen the extended trailer so already had an idea of how the story would go. Either way, I always enjoy a good suspense film and this reminded me a lot of Jim Carey’s 23 (the ONLY Carey movie I like).

After the movie we walked around the mall looking for an ATM and instead ran into the Nine West store. I went in looking for black boots, and walked out with four pairs of shoes instead. I was counting on Goose being the voice of reason and helping me choose ONE pair, and instead he tells me I should get them all—so I did hehe

While we were heading home, I mentioned to Goose that Toto’s had really good grilled burgers so we went to Antara for late lunch. He had a burger and I had two empanadas (I’m so in love with their food!).

For dessert, we chose Bailey’s panna cotta at 50 Friends, and on the way there I saw heaven…also known as Sephora. I am so, so glad Sephora will be opening their first store in Mexico in Antara, just a few minutes away from our place. The store was built right in the middle of a mirror fountain on the bottom level and will be opening on the 21st of this month. I have a feeling a few of us might have meetings on friday just so we can go check out the store.

Fashion’s Night Out…day 250

The day finally arrived and I couldn’t have been any happier to live in this great city. Tonight Vogue México hosted the first Fashion’s Night Out at the most important shopping centers in the Mexican capital and luxury boutiques on Masaryk—our version of Rodeo Drive.

Jay and I headed to Antara Fashion Hall at 8 and enjoyed a few glasses of champagne at Zara while we waited for Goose to arrive. We then headed to Brooks Brothers where they were offering barber services using Kiehl’s products along with complimentary Chivas scotch.

Afterwards, we headed to Kiehl’s for Jay to purchase a few shaving products, but couldn’t help stopping by Merry Cupcakes to try their chocolate cupcakes and fondant covered vanilla cupcakes. We stopped by one of my favorite, Tous. This one has become one of my musts since I discovered their beautiful jewelry about a year ago, but this time the one who fell in love with a ring/band was Goose, who beat me to the purchase line and ordered one his size. I really liked one of their newest shoulder bags and will hopefully e going back to purchase it in a few days. After enjoying some more champagne and laughs compliments of the wonderful folks at Tous, we checked out Purificacion Garcia where I fell in love with yet another handbag. This one was more along the lines of a medium Louis speedy, but made of brown/gray canvas with dark brown leather accents and handles, and a long strap to top it off—Beautiful!

By now we were done with the first level and headed over to Steve Madden on the second floor. For about two months I’ve been trying to buy their black Tsunami boots bit have had no luck getting them, not even online or in the US…and tonight was different. After SM, we decided to check out one more store, Pink, where Goose purchased a beautiful checkered lavender and white long sleeve shirt.

By the time we left Pink, we realized the party at Antara was about to die out—probably because the party bus had picked up everyone and taken them to Masaryk where Tiffany & Co. along with other boutiques were still hosting parties. We decided to call it a night And head home to our pups.

Gracias a Vogue México por una noche de moda y diversión. Que se repita!

Doggy shopping…day 225

Usually whenever Goose leaves town, I have the bad habit of doing some online shopping. Except today, it was more of sending a wish list to my mom back in Texas and her going to the stores to get everything.

Unfortunately my 2 yr. old chihuahua Valentino has been having some health problems, so we all decided it was best for him to come live with me and have the proper treatment. So since they’re sending him via plane in a few days, we figured why not get a few things for him and Lina.

My mom did me the huge favor of buying two Animal Planet dog houses, on-the-go bowls, a nail grinder, a leash for Valentino and sweaters for the both of them. I am counting the days till I get my monster.

Wet Paint…day 135

Why can’t I tan?!?

It’s as if the tanning gods were playing with my emotions. This morning I got up and ready to tan by the pool. While I was soaking in the sun with my feet in the tub, the concierge lets me know that the deck had been varnished yesterday and might still be wet. So once again, I went back up to the apartment and waited for Goose to come back from City Market. 

Later on in the afternoon we headed to downtown to look for the rock for my engagement ring. Unfortunately we had no luck due to the color and size we want. But…we did have a good time checking all the shops out. Goose will contact one of the jewelers on monday and hopefully will at least get a lead.

More Pillows…day 148

Sergio has been studying a lot over the past couple of days, and can’t believe he still has over a month of studying left until he’s out for the summer. Today, he decided it was time for a break and we went shopping for pillows for our room.

We spent the afternoon in Antara (mostly at Casa Palacio) looking for shams and decorative pillows. It feels really great to see our home coming together, and that we’re doing it all together. There are still a bunch of things we need—furniture mostly, but know that once we’re done, this place will be incredible…it will be OUR home.

Markets make me happy…day 106

I did not want to get up this morning…but, it was about time Jay and I went to pick up our new IDs. I still haven’t seen Jay’s, but I know mine came out like it was mugshot…grrrrr

No it was time to go pick up my BCBG red pumps and Nine West boots from the shoe hospital where I had left them two weeks ago…and go buy my new Reebok EasyTone shoes. One tiny problem: the price here is $1,799 MXN, while back in the US they cost $79 US—HUGE difference. After discussing with Goose, we figured it’d be easier for him to buy them on his upcoming trip to Dallas, along with a few things I need from Sephora, Lush, and others.

Since it was still early in the day, Goose proposed checking out a market over at Condesa and I thought it was a fantastic idea. The market had about 70 vendors who sold everything you can imagine, doggy clothes, people clothes, accessories, useless stuff, watched, sunglasses, etc. But the one vendor that stole my heart was a lady who sold soaps. Not just any kind of soap, artisan soaps with natural ingredients. I bought a tomato bar for healthier hair, rosemary bar to stimulate hair growth and help with dry skin, and my favorite—ground coffee bar for a wonderful exfoliation and to stimulate blood circulation. On the way out I bought a pack of Worry Dolls, also known as Muñecas Quitapenas.

The indigenous people from the HIghlands of Guatemala created the Worry Dolls many generations ago as a remedy for what else, worrying. According to the Mayan legend, when worrying keeps a person awake, he or she tells a worry to as many dolls as necessary. Then the worries places the dolls under his or her pillow. The dolls take over the worrying for the person who then sleeps peacefully through the night. When morning comes, the person awakens without the worries that dolls took away during the night. I figured having a few of these around couldn’t hurt :)

Before we left, we made one last stop at Palacio de Hierro where I bought more sweets hehehe…along with a bottle of vodka and one of tequila for the jamaica/hibiscus margaritas I plan on making pretty soon. I bought a box of french macarons from Canelés de Bordeaux to see which ones I liked most for our dessert table at the wedding. Their red fruits one is my favorite right now.

As soon as we left Palacio, it began raining pretty hard, and even hailed in some parts of town. It was great to finally be home after such a long day. We opened up the windows, watched a movie and discussed color options for the wedding. Tomorrow it looks like we’re staying home and getting some rest.

A day on Prado…day 100

As some of you may know by now, one of my favorite things to do is go to the market, and today I decided to take Lina with me, and Goose decided to join me…and let me drive!

Since it was a sunny day and I figured we’d walk around Prado a bit, I dressed as comfy as I could, wrapped a scarf around as a sling, put Lina in the scarf and headed out. When we got to the market, Goose wanted to check out the entire place before buying anything at the usual stand in case he found something he liked more. Unfortunately, most of the stands were closed, so we opted for the regular. As he was ordering the fruit and veggies—which they hand pick for you according to when you plan on eating it—I went over to talk to one of the florist to ask about seasons for specific flowers, care of gardenias, and work numbers for our wedding budget. We put our purchases in the car, and as I figured, we decided to walk down Prado Norte—I figured Goose would like it. And I was right! Specially when we reached the gourmet shop, La Castellana, where he finally found the spaghettini he had been looking for. I showed him around the different restaurants, cafes, art shops, and cute shops that are all over Prado Norte. We checked Mobica furniture store and fell in love with half of their inventory. Found some coasters we really liked, dining table set, lamps, place mats, bedroom set, etc. Everything was really nice. Memo to self: spend money wisely

We stopped by Starbucks to get some coffee and take a brief break. I thought it was really funny when someone asked if I was carrying a monkey. I always call Lina my little monkey, but never thought she looked anything like one—ODD. The baristas at Starbucks fell in love with and she let them pet her. After cooling down a bit, Sergio asked where Cafe O was, and went to check it out. We got in the car and headed over to Prado Sur…the fancier part of Prado, if that’s even possible LOL.

Everything was closed, except Cafe O, another little restaurant and the bakery I had been wanting to show to Goose…which now that I think about it, we didn’t check out :( We did see something that made us extremely happy—they’re building a City Market five minutes from our place!!!!!!!!

After checking out Prado Sur, we made one last stop before heading home: Gandhi book store and MixUp music and movie store. I ended up buying a cocktail book that I really liked, while Sergio checked out different cooking books. 

It was a great Sunday, the three of us out enjoying the neighborhood…it painted quite a pretty picture of what our future can be like :)

Do we really have to leave? … day 85

Not going to lie, as much as I opposed to spending the night at the W, I have to admit it was an excellent idea. This morning there was no dog barking, no lousy kids in the pool, and no desire to go anywhere…and I think Sergio would agree with me, except for one little thing—he scheduled for the maid to clean our apartment at 9am. He got up around 8:45am and could tell he was dreading having to leave our suite and insisted that I stayed and enjoyed it for the two of us. I told him no worries and that we could return as soon as the maid was settled in. So I jumped in the incredible shower and enjoyed the Blis products provided by the W. 

Sergio dropped me off at home and went to buy “normal” cleaning supplies…I guess Swifer is a little weird to some people here hahaha. Once the lady knew what to do and where everything was, we packed a small bag and headed back to the W. 

Brunch on the terrace was really good. Sergio had green chilaquiles, green juice and coffee. I had eggs benedict, fresh orange juice and cappuccino. The weather was just perfect for brunch and we truly enjoyed how peaceful the city sounded. 

After brunch, I fell to sleep on the hammock as I was enjoying the view. Talk about a great nap! Sergio said I snored, but I think he was just pulling my chain. When the time came, we had a hard time leaving. As short as our stay was, we enjoyed it to the max. On the way out we stopped by their boutique and Sergio bought a mega cute Hello Kitty Mimobot (USB).

Since it was still early, we decided to head to Santa Fe to go grocery shopping. As we were driving up, I realized City Market was actually in InterLomas…which is even further away. We got off track for a bit, but found our way back. When we finally found the place, I fell in love!

City Market Interlomas is located inside Magnocentro shopping center. The store was bigger than the one we usually go to, and seem to carry more products. After grocery shopping, we checked out the rest of the mall and later went to Home & More.

Home & More is owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond… and for the two hours we were there, we both felt like we were back in the US. The floor layout was identical to BB&B…it even smelled the same!!!

We found so many things we want to buy, so I’m sure we’ll be going back soon :)

Will try again tomorrow…day 78

I got up somewhat early this morning. Sergio had a big day at the baseball league and left around 9am. So I decided to get an early start, get my things ready, and squeeze a little shopping at Antara before leaving town.

I cleaned the apartment a bit, washed clothes, got ready and headed out to Antara around noon, which I believe is the time they open. It was a great afternoon to be there, sunny, not too hot, and not that many people. I was originally going for an Açai moisturizer from Kiehl’s and slippers from Oysho. The first I purchased, the second…well…they have a Hello Kitty area so I got distracted and bought a top instead. Before leaving, I stopped by Concierge to pick up my invitation to the movie premier/red carpet event for “La Otra Familia” - The Other Family. And since I hadn’t had any breakfast, I got taro yogurt at Moyo. 

Now it was time for to wait for Tamara, and hit the road. She got here around 2pm, and as Sergio predicted, we were stuck in traffic for two hours, and about one more on the exit. Right when we cleared it, Tamara’s car died and left us stranded in between towns. As bad as things were, we couldn’t help but laugh and make the best of it…and enjoy the view. The car died around 5pm, and by the time the tow truck and Sergio, my knight in shinning armor showed up, we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset and chilli weather. 

After returning home to change, we headed out to La Capital for dinner and drinks with Tamara, Tere, their Sergio, Efren & Violeta. All we could talk about was our adventure earlier in the day, and about how exciting baseball can be.

Tomorrow, Sergio and I will be taking off to Puebla around noon to enjoy a few days at La Purificadora :)

Stay home? Yeah right! day 57

I love it when Sergio tells me we’re not going anywhere over the weekend…and we end up doing the complete opposite. Today we ended up going over to Plaza Coyoacan to I could buy cotton pads at The Body Shop. Which then turned into me shopping for Benefits makeup at Palacio de Hierro while Sergio got a haircut. While at Palacio, we found a coffee table we fell in love with. It is part of an “exhibit” they have at the moment featuring Mexican designers. Some of the stuff was truly incredible (vases made of recycled materials, and eco friendly furniture). 

But back to the makeup, I ended up buying the Dior Extase mascara (I got a sample of it at Sephora, and it is one of the few mascaras that doesn’t make my eyes itchy) which I have been using along with their serum at night. From benefits, I purchased their Lemon Aide (wonderful for dark circles), Erase Paste (dark circles as well), and Girl Meets Pearl, which was recently featured as one of Sephora’s top picks for face glow. All these together made such a huge difference, and a fantastic job at covering the dark circles I have due to severe sinus problems. I am officially a fan of Benefits :D

Love fridays…day 56

I always look forward to Fridays, specially since it officially became “girls day” which means I have lunch with my girlfriends from the office. Today, it was with Tamara and we had lunch at Antara’s Odeon. The food was great, but our mission was to do some serious shopping, and our first stop was none other than Armani. Yes, I was determined to make that top mine. Luckily, it was still there, the last one—lonely waiting for me to take it home. And that’s precisely what I did. We then went to Aldo, Mango, and Steve Madden. Shopping is definitely a way of making the work day go faster and gets you in a much better mood. 

You can’t really appreciate the top in the photo, so I will pst another one when I finally decide what to wear it with :D

Shoe sale!!! Day 47

Earlier today while I was at the office, I received an email from my favorite fashion hall, Antara letting me know about a big shoe sale at Steve Madden. The ENTIRE store had a 50% discount, so as soon as I left the office, I headed there in search of new boots. Unfortunately, since I got there a bit after 9pm, most of the boots I liked weren’t available in my size. I did manage to find a brown pair that I fell in love with.

Sergio joined me after he got out of school for a late dinner at 50 Friends…and of course, a Bailey’s panna cotta and cappuccino. As we were heading down the escalator, I saw the first national campaign I worked on and it made everything that happened over the last few months totally worth it. It’s a huge vinyl wall wrap for our February promotion.

More V-day love…day 44

Since we didn’t have anything to do early this morning, I slept in till around 10 and felt as if I had been hit by a bus. Last night as we waited for our car at the valet station, I guess the wind must have been a tad too chilly and I felt the pain this morning. Regardless, Sergio and I headed over to the Marriott on Camps Eliseos to enjoy a great brunch…with mimosas of course!

After eating like there was no tomorrow, we headed over to Costco to pick up our V-day gift, a slim 37” LED Samsung TV for our bedroom. We also went to IDEA to look for a table to put it on until it gets mounted, but had no luck. But I did find a new flower vase and a full body mirror for the bathroom. Before coming home, we made one last stop at the Home Depot for an extension and a new faucet for the kitchen.

Our apartment is coming together and is definitely feeling like a home. 

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