Conscious Shopping Wednesday: My new local loves...

I love to shop locally as most of you know so today when I went out for a walk I went to good old Ben Franklin and bought a couple of things for a postcard exchange I am going to participate in. The host is the Wonderful World of Postcards group on facebook. I bought some really great embellishments and a mat stack that will be the perfect size. For some inspiration I got some magazines and am super happy to get started!

I've been shopping here and made a few purchases at our local grocery store and have stayed pretty local of late. Made some cookies yesterday as well! More to come later...

Monday Musings: New things happening...

I finally have a moment to write to you all once again! I have missed blogging and was craving the right moment to do so. I have much news to share with you all! First, I just had my 29th birthday last week on August 12th which was really fun! I am really excited about this last year of my second decade on earth, beginning the third decade seems like a really exciting time for me! Here is a collage with some of my favorite photos from the actual day of my birthday:

I really enjoyed the day! It was very fun and full of love! Beyond having a new year added onto my life I also got a new look! The day before my birthday I was treated to a day at the beauty salon by my friend Mireya. Here are the results:

So, the other news is that in a week and a half I will be boarding a plane once again headed to Spokane, WA this time. Lord, it only took me about a half a year to get there which had been my original plan but I am glad it is finally coming to fruition and that I got to spend time here in Venezuela. Anyway, thought I would share with you just a bit of what's been going on in my life these days. Tomorrow I will write again!

Cheers!

PS: If you want to know more about my move and all that jazz visit the Notes section of the blog's page on facebook!

Saturday Special: It's Been A While

It's been a great long while so I thought I would share some thoughts of what I've been up to lately. In a word: MUSIC. Whether it has been taking the girls to their classes, attending their concerts or attending other concerts and the like, everything has had to do with music lately. I really enjoy such events and being around musicians, there is something so passionate about instruments and those who play them. Taking the girls to their music lessons is something that for me is precious as well and I love to encourage them in this area.

I've had the great opportunity of meeting many different people during this time and I love it! It is fun to hang out with the girls and take them here and there. Now that summer vacation has officially begun for them it should be interesting to see what things we end up doing. I've had the pleasure of continuing to work on my photography as well and have been working a lot on photographing the events I attend. I am still nowhere near being a pro but I do enjoy it very much! I had the great fortune of being able to get some really great snapshots in on one occasion while I was waiting for Andrea to get out of music class one day. In the building complex where she has her classes there are many works of contemporary art around and I love photographing those sculptures. There was one in particular called PANDORA which really appealed to me and I took several snapshots of her. Here is one for you to enjoy:

I absolutely loved photographing this sculpture and there are so many sculptures all around Caracas that are worth photographing...I have yet to discover it all!

I love spending time with the girls because they make an adventure out of any little thing! In the above photo we were at the mall looking for some new clothes for Maria Alejandra's end of the school year party and Andrea and I seized the opportunity to take a cute photo while waiting.

Tomorrow I will attend Andrea's end of the year choir concert and also La Traviata in the evening which I am really excited about! What exciting things will you do at the close of this weekend?

Cheers!

Monday Musings: I took the week off...

Last week was pretty crazy so I took the week off from blogging and how I have missed you all! I've done all sorts of fun things and cried with the Italy fans when we were eliminated from the World Cup Tournament but we will RISE AGAIN!!! Beyond that, I've been hanging out with my little girls and having a blast!

I have the fun task of taking them to music classes and bringing them home, helping them out with their homework and such things...last week we had a long weekend and I spent it watching movies with them, playing, going to concerts and participating in their grandmother's birthday party!

We watched Nanny McPhee (I confess I had not seen it and think it is very cute), 17 Again and several episodes of Phineas and Ferb on youtube! So, needless to say, I am LOVING my life in Caracas! It's absolutely wonderful! This afternoon I get to meet with Maestro Yevgeny Bushkov from Russia before he goes into rehearsals for this Wednesday's presentation of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela), it is their 80th Anniversary celebration this year and there have been scores of wonderful concerts and presentations! On June 20th I went to the ballet with the girls, they presented Carmen which was just awesome and gorgeous! Here is my fave photo which I snapped from the event:

Please visit my Perez Liscano Photography page on facebook to view more photos of the spectacular event! It's such a joy to be able to share such things with you! Anyway, I must get going, got some more things to do but wanted to share these things with you!

Cheers!

Fantastic Friday: Just another day in Caracas...

Oh the joys of a Friday! It's nice when you've been paid and have some money to spend and most of my money went to much needed things like: shampoo, conditioner, baño de crema (which is a deep conditioner), lotions, soap and other such things. For next week I'll stock up on other things and some more soap but in the meantime I think what I bought today was sufficient.

I took Andrea to music class today as well and afterward treated her to some ice cream at Mc Donald's! She really enjoyed that and I am glad she did. She's such a cute kid! My one treat for myself today was a really beautiful fan I bought which called my eye when I was taking Andrea to music class, I bought it from an informal street vendor (there are plenty to be had here in Caracas) and I love it! It's black with gorgeous fuscia sequins and embroidery.

What's next on my list of things to do you ask? Tonight: watch "Because I Said So", tomorrow: clean my room and possibly go to the National Art Gallery or go catch a play at the old Ateneo Theatre, Sunday: it's Father's Day and I hope to talk to my father a bit but will be attending Maria Alejandra's choir concert and later that afternoon taking the girls to see the ballet production of "Carmen". That is my weekend in a nutshell! Hope you have a fantabulous weekend too!

Cheers!

Conscious Shopping Wednesday: Local Artisans

Living in Caracas has opened my eyes to wonderful new possibilities as well as wonderful new markets! I love to shop! It is part of who I am and it is inevitably engrained in me but I am not a "mall shopper" or even much of a "department store" shopper (although I love the very chic Beco here). I am most definitely a boutique and artisan craft shopper. I LOVE boutiques and things made by hand and in Caracas there is no shortage of boutiques of all kinds.
On Sunday, May 3rd I had the great priviledge of attending a market/bazaar I had discovered a couple of years ago in one of my previous extended stays here in Caracas. The bazaar is called El Tarantín and is a great place to get to know local artisans from all over Caracas and Venezuela. Artisans and vendors showcase their goods and one can shop under the open air market of the Municipal Market of Chacao (one of Caracas' many municipal sectors, sort of like a burrough) for all sorts of great things.

There were so many wonderful things and I just have to share a few of the photos with you all:

The atmosphere was fantastic, everyone was having a great time browsing and shopping and I believe that for the next event I will definitely be taking some more cash to get some other goodies! I made one purchase, a set of flower barrettes for my niece Alyssa:

The event was a huge success and I was able to meet Liliana Saenz, one of the organizers, who had given me permission to photograph the event for this blog. I cannot wait to bring you the future events that are hosted! Liliana was most helpful and all the vendors were really nice about being photographed. There are tons more photos you can check out on my photography page on facebook, Perez Liscano Photography in the Arts and Culture Caracas album. Anyway, I will be trying to write more and more about these cultural events and all that jazz!

I love life here!

Cheers!

Tuesday Tutorials: Make it your own!

I can't believe it is already June! Yikes! Where has time gone? For me it has been a whirlwind ride of teaching and going to cultural events lately! I've been so busy that when I get home I am too tired or too spent to even think about writing a post but here I am back again from the woodwork!
I've been working on making this room here my own (not an easy task since there are so many useless things lying around here that I am trying to figure out what to do with) and have commenced by decorating one side of the shelf for me to enjoy and look at!

If you read my post in April about collage making, then you will recognize the first piece on my shelf-side collage. I used that collage as a starting point for this particular decoration piece:

What else did I use, you ask? Well, I have an ever growing collection of postcards and trinkets people send me so I started to use them as the basis for my collage. Among the ones pictured are a postcard from Socks for Happy People, a postcard my parents brought me from Lima, Peru, and a few little cards from Paris my friend Martina sent me! I am a very visual person and having a bland room is not my idea of fun!

In order to not harm the shelf nor harm the pieces I am using I decided to use mounting tape to get them up there. It peels off fairly easily when I want to change something around and is less annoying than regular scotch tape.

Thank God for creativity and ingenuity! It's the little things in life that inspire me most! Have a bright and cheerful day! What decorating plans do you have for this summer? I'd love to know!

Cheers!