Coffee Grounds - I'll take you there!

This was originally the Saturday video/post for my blog The Aspiring Expats but since I finished the editing early. YAY!! (for once) I thought I would post it here first

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Marcelo took us on a tour of the coffee farm that is behind our house (Casa de Coffey) and down a steep hill. To be honest, I always thought we were living on the edge of a cliff, and if we went out too far, we would go tumbling down the hillside, crashing through the trees and coffee plants and land in the river (which of course would contain wild animals and snakes). Truth! (smile) Really though, all I can see from our patio is coffee and trees for miles (and of course the rose garden).

I had no idea!

We were both pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it is out there. There are paths and trees and flowers and lots and lots of coffee! No wild animals only the neighbor's friendly Schnauzer.

I am so happy we had a chance to see it and Marcelo was so nice to answer the 1001 questions we had.

Come along with us and see for yourself.

Today's video is about 12 minutes long, so grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (depending on what time you are reading this)get comfy, sit back and enjoy. (Excuse the audio in portions it is a little low - just turn up the volume a little)

Coffee Grounds - Exploring the farm from Devon on Vimeo.

 email subscribers click the link above

(If any of you come to visit  us "I'll take you there" out behind our house and walk along the beautiful paths leading to the river)

Outrageous

Currently Wearing: Diana Vreeland - Outrageously Vibrant

Lots of people like perfume, but only a few people really LOVE it. Perfume lovers want to try all sorts of perfumes and love to talk about them. 

I finally got a chance to check out the new fragrance by Diana Vreeland. I bought the scent called Extravagance Russe but got it home and did not like it (which rarely happens to me).  I think this time it was due to my purchasing the fragrance at Needless markup Neiman Marcus from a very pushy sales man - on my lunch hour. Shopping at Neiman is not like shopping at good ole Nordstrom.  As a perfume lover always on the hunt - I must add that, Neiman Marcus had many interesting fragrances that I was not familiar with, so for that reason I plan to return)

On this day, however, I ended up leaving wtith a fragrance I had not tested on my own body (it was pre sprayed on one of those tester cards) and bought a size much bigger than I wanted at a price I was not prepared to pay. It was $271 (with tax) I have purchased only one other fragrance  that cost as much (a Tom Ford exclsuive for $350). Generally I try to keep my puchases under $150 - $185 max. Coming to my senses - several days later,  I returned to exchange my purchase for Outrageously Vibrant in a smaller size.  Still deciding how much I like the new fragrance but much happier (and $70 richer).

Ain't No Sunshine

Lighthouse Family

I like this version (though not a classic oldie) a remake of the Bill Wither's classic of the same name
always one of my all time favorite songs

Diana Vreeland photo source

Famed for her red lips, red nails and red chinoiserie salon, Diana Vreeland stood out even more for her talents as an editor.

Diana Dalziel, was born in Paris around the turn of the 20th century and died in New York in 1989. In between she lived an extraordinary life that, in classic American fashion, was a triumph of self-invention. 

The Perfumes

The collection of five fragrances available exclusively at Neiman Marcus is the work of Diana Vreeland’s grandson, Alexandar Vreeland, who recently published the book Diana Vreeland Memos. The collection includes fragrances available in colorful flacons, while the compositions are signed by prominent perfumers of the IFF company. The fragrances of the collection by Diana Vreeland (1903 - 1989), famous columnist and editor of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar were named Extravagance Russe, Perfectly Marvelous, Absolutely Vital, Simply Divine and Outrageously Vibrant.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you are interested, there is a  2012 documentary movie about Diana called
The Eye Has to Travel

Trailer is below

Whatever you have planned (or don't). Hope you enjoy your weekend! 

Let's call this one Marsala! My hats a wrap

It's a wrap!

It's finally Friday and I've exhausted all the decent hat photos we took last week. I'm pretty proud of myself though because in the beginning the plan was just to take a couple of pictures of myself wearing a few of my hats and it turned into something completely different.  

I changed direction!

I'm back

Today I end the "my hats" segment with pictures of the regular me, hair up and pulled back but remembering that there is still a young, and sexy side of me right underneath that hat!!

You can leave your hat on

Joe Cocker 1986

My classic oldie jam pick this week is

in memory of Joe Cocker who passed away on Dec 22

A great singer and musician with a voice like no other

He will be missed

This song was used frequently in one of our class routines when I was an instructor

for Art of Exotic Dancing for Everyday Women (short video)

(dancing in a man's oversized shirt - lots of fun!) 

But I digress..

Here's Miss Lily

I've mentioned before that my girls are always around when I do my photo shoots. 

They are also getting much more used to the camera and you will find them peeking around the corner or hanging out on the fringes just out of camera range

but 

sometimes....

 I'm able to catch one of them for a quick photo.

As for the color of my hat
Let's call this one "Marsala" 

(even if it isn't)

I have this hat in 5 colors. It's been my go to hat

The jacket is one I've had for a number of years - I bought it at Bryn Walker

Sporting a pair of my moto jogging pants from the Gap
I also bought another pair of Tom's. Black ones this time.
They aren't the longest lasting shoe, but I do like their "one for one" philosophy
And it was nice that they were on sale at Whole Foods over the holiday for $48
instead of the usual $60+

Well, as you can see, things don't always go as planned on my photo shoots!

Gottcha
Well almost!

Whatever you have planned (or don't).  Hope you enjoy your weekend!!

************
if you missed any of my other 4 posts this week featuring 
"my hats"
no problem -- to see them
 start here

An Ugly Sweater - My Gift to You

Another week has come and gone. Can you believe it? Christmas is less than one short week away.  

Christmas will be quiet at my house. With my daughter in London for the holidays and my son and grandchildren living in Colorado there is no around except me and the BF. 

I'll be working until noon on Xmas eve and then off till January 5th. So looking forward to it!!! 

But...what would the holidays be without the office Christmas party?

Let the parties begin!

My classic oldie jam pick this week is another one of my holiday favorites. 

My Gift to You

Alexander O'Neal 1988

This year our company hosted it's annual "ugly Sweater" contest but there wasn't much participation from our small group.

Notice - there are NO ugly sweaters

Realizing our dilemma our colleague Joe ran over to Walgreen's to buy us all Santa hats, but they were all picked over and all that were left were the pink ones!  For this photo Joe borrowed a red hat. Don't know why he didn't want to wear a pink one? :)

I actually kind of like the pink hat!

Happy Holidays!!

Whatever you have planned (or don't).  Hope you enjoy your weekend!!

Do you have the poo's?

The holidays are fast approaching! Only 3 more weeks to go.

Are you in the spirit yet?

Here's a little gift for you - you know I'm all about sharing information on how we can simplify our lives and live more naturally.

Today I have some hair detox tips for you.

I learned about this some time ago but recently decided to give it a try.

Oh and, while you read  -- click on the link to listen to my holiday oldie jam pick by one of my favorite artists, Gloria Estefan. And, this just happens to be one of my favorite holiday albums as well.  It's from 1993 and I play it a LOT every holiday.

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)

Gloria Estefan

NO POO

(cleaning your hair without the use of shampoo and conditioner)

FACTS: 

WHY:

Ingredients

Many people use the popular method of baking soda + apple cider vinegar

How:

Step 1- cleanse

Step 2 - Rinse

That's it

What to expect:

Expect that your hair may be a little dry at first but stay with it, it will get better.

I think we should let this information sink in before I confuse you with the 2 other options

But....Stay tuned for more information on co-wash and pre-poo  

Whatever you have planned, (or don't). Hope you enjoy your weekend!

All that glitters

 might just be a flashy pair of unworn shoes

Thriller

Michael Jackson (November 30, 1982)

I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking when I bought these colorful, sparkly, glittered, slip ons by Steve Madden. I've had them about 2 years now and have never worn them. I even took them on a cruise because the ship had several discos and we were going to be doing a fair amount of dancing. Strangley enough the cruise also organized a flash mob to Thriller (which happens to be my weekend oldie jam pick) by Michael Jackson. What could have been more perfect?

But, I didn't join in the flash mob and I didn't wear the shoes to dance in any of the clubs.

So now they sit in my closet...Unworn.

Buying these shoes was probably not one of my better buying decisions!

However

Not participating in the flash mob may have been a good decision.  It was pretty sad looking  hahaha

Check it out below (they also wore no shoes)

Whatever you have planned, (or don't). Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Clean the air with flowers - a holiday tip

I thought I would pass along this tip, in case you are planning to buy flowers for the holidays, a birthday, anniversary or just because....

Why not buy flowers that look beautiful and also will help to purify the air you breathe?

Here are a couple of my favorites.

but first....
It's raining outside this morning and I'm writing about flowers

 Do you remember these lyrics?
But I knew (I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew)
she had made me happy (happy, happy).
Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere
I love the flower girl

The Rain, The Park and Other Things

1967

The Cowsills

 My weekend oldie jam pick:
The Cowsills is an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island. They specialized in harmonies and the ability to sing and play music at an early age. The band was formed in the spring of 1965 by brothers Bill Cowsill, Bob Cowsill, and Barry Cowsill;

Whatever you have planned, (or don't)...Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Fall Back and Throw Back

It's fall back time again for those of us who observe daylight savings time. Personally I'm not too fond of this time of year when it's dark when I go to work and dark when I get home.  I'm one of those people who is effected by sunlight. I'm happy that Costa Rica does not have Daylight Savings time.  Sundown is about 5:30 pm and sunrise is about 5:30 am. No setting the clocks back in the car and the micro wave. 

My weekend oldie jam pick for this week is by Luis Miguel from his Romance Cd.  (Actually it is EVERY song on the entire Cd) which is from 1991. Does that qualify as old?  Well, if you are judging from my photos below - that was a VERY L O N G time ago! 

I first heard the Cd back in 1992 when my daughter, Farryn and I were on our Amtrak yearly cross country train trip. We used to love to travel the country by rail.  Each year we would choose a different destination and you could makes 3 stops on the cross country rail pass. That particular year we chose Denver, Miami and Vermont. 

No me platiques mas

from the Cd Romance

Luis Miguel 1991

Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born April 19, 1970), known professionally as Luis Miguel, is a Puerto-Rican-born Mexican singer. An icon in Latin America, he is often referred to as El Sol de México, and he's one of the most successful artists in Latin American history, having successfully performed in a wide range of musical styles, including pop, ballads, boleros and mariachi. To date, Luis Miguel has sold over 100 million records worldwide.

This is a photo of me in 1992 at age 42. And just goes to show you how the media can mess with your perception of what you should look like.  I look at this photo now and shake my head. I obviously had a problem with body image distortion because I actually thought I was fat!

On our Miami stop we visited my long time friend, Wendy. It was my first time there and we headed out for the popular South Beach. We stopped in at the News Cafe and Luis Miguel was playing. After swooning over the sexy voice of Luis (a couple of margaritas) and Spanish words I still do not fully understand, I bought the Cd. Obviously it was not just the drinks because I have loved this Cd through the years. Brought it back out again now so I can start brushing up on my Spanish for the move to Costa Rica!!

Interesting enough almost 10 years later I made another cross country Amtrak trip. This time my daughter and I were joined by my boyfriend (we had been together about 3 years at that time).
Our stops this trip were Denver, New York and Boston. We took side trips from Boston to Portsmouth New Hampshire (where I lived for a few yrs) and then to Martha's Vineyard - Nantucket.

While in NY we saw Cats on Broadway. After the show it was late and we were hungry. We found the most exquisite restaurant still open. It was Le Cirque. We stopped in after a short wait were seated at a table. We had a delicious meal there -- and guess what Cd was playing? Yep you guessed it. It was Luis Miguel!

Le Cirque  - Where food, art and fashion converge. Opened in 1974 Le Cirque is a French restaurant located at One Beacon Court, 151 East 58th Street (between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. 

Our stop in Nantucket in 2000

A stopover in NJ to visit my friend Wendy (who had moved from Miami)

Me and the man (age 50). This was before all his hair went gray
and I had just chopped my hair off to start my locs.

Might as well say it now....
Whatever you have planned (or don't)....Hope you enjoy your weekend!

This is how we do it! On the street in Costa Rica

Tonight I am doing the happy dance.

This is how we do it

Montell Jordan (1995)

Today I decided I would share some photos of my relocation destination in Costa Rica. This is a re post from my 10/15 travel/retirement blog I'm Just Sayin!

I've been chatting with my new friend Ashlea for several months now. We met on Facebook due to our mutual interest in relocating to Costa Rica (particularly the Puerto Viejo area located on the Southern Caribbean coast).

Ashlea and I had many really long, drawn out IM conversations on Saturday mornings. Each of us confessing our true desires (like possibly finding a boutique or some place to shop and how to open up a business) and our fears (like too many insects, wild animals and lousy internet).

Ashlea, her mom and their friend Tommy made plans to visit Costa Rica several months earlier than our planned spring time trip. So, she promised to report back to me and give me the 411 on the area.

Well, she arrived on Wednesday and she is following through on her promise.

Looks like the only glitch so far has been the flight over (Spirit Air).  I have been very hesitant about taking advantage of one of the advertised "cheap" flights. They keep popping up on my fare alert. I think Ashlea took one of those flights and it was delayed in Miami.  The delay pushed them back a day. My plan is to fly Jet Blue to Ft Lauderdale and then on to Costa Rica.  Not the cheapest fare but reasonable if we wait for the right time to buy our tickets.

When they finally arrived in Costa Rica they made the 4 hour bus trip to Puerto Viejo. She reports that the trip seemed a bit long but explains it was due to their earlier flight delay.  A thumbs up to the bus and the beautiful scenery along the way.

The initial report was that the place is packed full of culture and pretty cool place despite the fact that it is also very hot and VERY humid. However, we both knew this going in.

They stayed at the  his cute little place called the Coco Loco Lodge. A very nice, quiet little place a bit off the beaten path with no AC and mosquito nets--a plus.  On their 1st night they endured a power outage but were assured that although it happens from time to time (generally when it had rained a lot) It is not the norm.  In spite of this they were very happy with their lodging choice.  They did miss the earthquake that rocked Costa Rica the day before.

Our plan is to stay at Le Caméléon Boutique Hotel in Cochles, located on a beautiful beach a few miles from Puerto Viejo.

They had a chance to check out Bread and Chocolate, a bakery and bistro in Puerto Viejo.  It's also on our list of places when we eat. The breakfasts look scrumptious.

Because we both have pets, Ashlea and I discussed the stray dog situation which I've read a lot about. The rumors appear to be true although she says the dogs seem friendly.

The people are very helpful and they are getting loads of info.

Now they are off to dinner and some music at The Lazy Mon. Can't wait for the review!!

Pura Vida!

Ashlea, and Wanda with new friend Levi in Puerto Viejo

Thank you Ashlea, Wanda and Tommy

Visit I'm Just Sayin for more about the journey
"This is how we do it"

Whatever you have planned (or don't)...Hope you enjoy your weekend.