What a weekend!

Hi!

We had quite the eventful weekend, starting on Friday. As I mentioned, we went to the local craft/art market, and started our Christmas shopping. We got a few things, and enjoyed walking around deciding who would like what! I always enjoy walking around this market, called La Ciudadela; there is just so much to look at! After about an hour and a half, we were leaving and Corey mentioned something about "Hope my car is still there", an offhand joke I paid no attention to, but as we walked closer...we realized the car was NOT there. A few moments of panic, then we found out from a couple that was making out on a bench (this is common here...apparently since it's common for multiple generations to live together here, people don't get much privacy, so they consider a park bench to be private...you can get quite a show sometimes in the parks!) that they had seen our car get towed. We had the car for not even 3 days and it had already been towed. We had no idea where the tow lots were, how you find out which one your car was taken to, how to release the car, etc. We ended up getting home by waving down a taxi, and then later in the afternoon Corey went with some people from the company he leased his car from to release the car. It was a scary few hours for him/us! Luckily, it all turned out fine.

While Corey was getting the car, we had no power at the apartment. From about 4pm until 6:45pm we had no power, which means no lights, no internet, no nothing. It got pitch black around 6pm, and I think Avery thought it was time for bed, she was a little confused! It's one of the joys of living in Mexico (or more specifically, in our building, since they are constantly doing construction on at least two apartments!) that every now and then your power will just shut off, and you have no idea when it will be back on. 

On Saturday, we visited Corey's building again (ALMOST done!) and then we went and visited this very upscale mall in Polanco called Antara. We were told we just HAD to check out this place, so we decided to spend a few hours just browsing. I have to say, this was the most upscale mall I have ever seen! Everything was very high class, beautiful. It was an open air mall, with stone/wood floors, all decorated for Christmas with garlands lining the levels and a hugh Christmas tree in the center! Very nice! Unfortunately, there weren't a TON of stores, and the stores that were there were stores like Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Hugo Boss, Armani, DKNY, Tumi, among others. In other words, we won't be doing our shopping there, maybe just window shopping! They also have a very high end home store that is probably the largest home store I've ever seen, called Casa Palacio. It was a fantastic store for walking around! 

After this, we got home and did a bit of heavy cleaning at the apartment. 

Sunday we headed out to Home Depot and to find this store called Petland. It's a chain they have in the US, and they have one branch here in DF (Distrito Federal, another name for Mexico City). I was just curious to see what it was like, if it was like the other pet stores here (very small with limited selection) or if it would be like PetSmart/Petco. We drove for quite awhile, found ourselves just outside the city in the mountains, and in another area we didn't care to find ourselves, and we ended up not finding the store, after about 2 hours of driving around! Later found out it's in a different city than our GPS thought it was! Oh well...maybe another day :). Then we got home and hung up our pictures and cleaned some more. Very eventful/productive weekend!

This week Corey's building should be done (they said Tuesday, but I'm doubting that!) so that will be fun! Also, I will be going to tour a Christmas ornament factory outside of town with some ladies from the local Newcomer's Club. It's the 5th largest ornament factory in the world, so I'm excited to see it and get some ornaments! Should be a fun week!

On a final note, Corey and I just had our 7 year anniversary yesterday! It's crazy to think we've been together that long! We have enjoyed every second of it, and can't wait for the next 70 years!

More later!

Happy Turkey Day!

Good Morning All!


I guess Corey's been too busy to do a guest blog, so I'm sorry that I've left you without updates over the last few weeks! 


The reason Corey is so busy is that his team is kicking it in sales and his building is on the CUSP of being done...within days! The date keeps getting pushed back, which is to be expected, but currently we're hearing that construction will be done on Tuesday, and his furniture will be delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. Super excited to post pictures once it's all done! 


Another positive note: we finally got our car!! After living here for over 4 months, we are finally done with rental cars. Corey is a happy camper, although it's a little nerve-wracking to drive a brand new car in the midst of Mexico City driving (see previous posts :). It's one of the final touches that really makes us feel settled. 


We celebrated Turkey Day yesterday by visiting a supermarket chain that we hadn't been to before (we tend to stick to the local markets that I can walk to called Superama...it's a small grocery chain that is owned by Walmart. It's supposedly one of the more expensive grocery stores, but it's accessible!) We LOVED this new place though, it's like a SuperWalmart but higher-end/nicer, and a much better selection! No more Walmart for THESE Target fans...yay! We even found a turkey for Thanksgiving. 


Speaking of which, I spent from 2pm yesterday until 7:30pm cooking yesterday. We did a whole turkey (we'll be eating turkey every meal for the next 3 weeks!) and some really good mashed potatoes with gruyere cheese and a horseradish cream sauce topping, and some green beans with bacon and onion. We couldn't find sweet potatoes, but we made do! It was a very pleasant evening, and even Avery enjoyed some turkey!


Today we'll be heading to the local craft market to get some Christmas shopping underway! I'm very excited! I also did a fair amount of online shopping early this morning (who says you have to be in the country to get deals on Black Friday!)


This is all for now, I'll post again this weekend with some pictures. 


Love to all! Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

What's been going on

Hello all! 

So last Saturday we went and explored a different artesian market called Bazar el Sabado (the Saturday Bazaar). We found it to be a more upscale market with things that were more expensive and a smaller selection, but it was a wonderful way to pass an afternoon once we found out how to get there! (Ask Corey about my "co-piloto" skills :) ) There were also many artists sitting in a garden area outside with many different types of paintings for sale. This was really fun to see because the other market that we like so much has maybe two painters with stalls. There was music playing, nice cafes all around the market, and beautiful old buildings. This was in an older part of Mexico City (our neighborhood, Condesa, was torn apart by an earthquake in the 80's I think it was, and many of the buildings have been refurbished since then, making it look more modern, with a few historic buildings thrown in) and the buildings and houses were gorgeous! Below is a picture of a stall full of "Dia de la Muerta" or Day of the Dead items. 

It's a holiday here that kind of resembles some parts of Halloween in the United States. Basically it is celebrated over two days, the first day is to celebrate those that are no longer with us that were under 18 or not married, and the next day is spent remembering those that were over 18 and/or married when they passed. I think it is believed that on these days the people that aren't with us come to spend time with their families again. Many of the smaller shops and some restaurants were closed on Tuesday, the main day of the festivities. 

That's about the most exciting thing we've done together lately, otherwise it's been pretty routine! Corey's busy getting things set up at the office, it should be done in 2 weeks! Very exciting! This afternoon we'll be going furniture shopping for the desks, chairs, tables, etc. He's been working half days at the office so he is there to make final decisions on things and keep an eye on how things are coming together. 

I've decided to teach myself how to crochet and knit (crochet first...I heard it was easier!) and so far it's going pretty well! I got a "Learn to Crochet in 1 Day" kit for a pink scarf so I'm working on that, but a certain four legged daughter of ours decided that having the yarn in a nice rolled up chain for me to work from was simply too easy. When I left her alone in the area of the yarn for I swear...30 seconds, I came back to the biggest knot of yarn I've ever seen! Since then I've spent several hours unwinding the knot as I crochet, so it's a little slower than normal :)  I'll post pictures once I'm done! It definitely looks like a beginners project, but I'm just learning the stitches and everything. We decided it will be Avery's scarf when I'm done, since she'll need something warm when she lands in Minnesota for Christmas! The coldest weather she has seen has been down here, where it's been about 65 lately. There is definitely a chill in the air in the mornings! I'm not complaining, in fact it's kind of refreshing! But Avery will definitely be in for a shock when she learns what snow is and how cold Minnesota gets! She'll have a new appreciation for being a "Mexican" dog I think! 

Lastly, I don't know how many blogs I'll be doing before Christmas...I mentioned that when I was in Minnesota I had a flare up of my uveitis. For those of you that might not know what that is, it's inflammation that occurs in your iris/eye, it is kind of painful, and for me it's caused by a type of autoimmune problem. Normally steroid drops will treat the inflammation. I have a tendency to get a severe case every year and a half to two years, and I was due for one. I got one injection in my eye when I was in Minnesota, and I've been doing drops since that trip to try to help keep the swelling down. I went to an eye doctor last night because I thought my left eye was starting to act up (I usually only get it in my right eye). Sure enough, my left eye is inflamed, and my right eye is still inflamed despite all the drops and the previous injection. I got another injection near my right eye for the swelling in that eye last night (believe me, NOT fun!) by the doctor (who was in his 60's and shaky as hell...I thought it wouldn't be a stretch if he had Parkinson's based on how much he was shaking...). I am also taking a drug similar to Prednisone tablets for 5 days, dilating both eyes three times a day and putting steroid drops in both eyes every half hour to hour until I see the doc again on Tuesday. When my eyes are dilated, the computer is pretty much impossible (think about when you are at an eye appointment and they dilate your eyes so they can examine you, and you drive home not REALLY being able to read the speedometer, same thing). So...Corey may be guest posting a few times in the next 6 weeks! To those of you who know all about my uveitis, sorry to bore you!

I think this is all that is new with us! We can't wait for the holidays and too see all our family and friends! We'll also be doing lots of wedding preparations like dress shopping, finding a florist, checking out our venue (Corey and I haven't seen it in person yet but his mom took some FANTASTIC pictures of the place...thanks Sue!), securing a photographer and DJ/music, etc. Busy few weeks! 

Until next time!