New Year!

Hi Everyone! So sorry for the absence from blogging!!! It's been a super busy season here in Puerto Vallarta! The Jewelry business is very busy as well as Real Estate! Christmas went very well, I had my cousin Coltan, his wife Kelsey and her parents visiting from the US. Tomorrow my brother Gavin arrives for the New Years holiday and then on Tuesday the 4th my parents fly in for 2 weeks! Things are going to be very busy around my house hold! We are off now to buy supplies for tomorrow's celebration! Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!! I'll have updates soon!
Chantel

It's beginning to look like Christmas!

What a long wonderful weekend!! I had a smashingly successful weekend here at the farmers market selling my jewels



Keep your fingers crossed for me that is keeps up! I spent the rest of the weekend with my cutie. Today we had a super lazy but in the end productive day. We got the house decorated



a ton of errands done and managed so squeeze a bbq dinner into the mix! He surprised me today and gave me bolt cutters........what is sweeter than a man that surprises his jewlery making girlfriend with bolt cutters!


I am pretty excited! They are used, so he took the evening to clean them up, clean the rust off them and get them in fine working order, I was able to cut some spoons today! Pretty exciting if I do say so myself! Off to bed, long week ahead!!

Dragging ASS!

Don't know what's come over me but I am dragging ass bad today! Feel like somebody unplugged me when I was charging my battery and my low battery light has been blinking all day! I came home early from work, took a nap then woke up with a headache! Lovely I know!

I got work this afternoon that I will have a space this Saturday at the Farmers Market again!! Yipee, very excited about that as I had a very successful kick off to the season there!! Well as I said my battery is low and I am running out of juice! Until tomorrow!

Many thoughts Monday

Good evening........today was another Monday........but a Monday with lot of decisions and new directions! Let me start out by saying that my debut at the Puerto Vallarta Old Town Farmers Market this weekend was a SMASHING success! I am so very pleased that my creations were so well received! I met so many great new folks and had such a great time selling! I hope to get invited back next week!

This weekend also brought about a lot of thought. Thought about my future, what I want, what makes me happy, what brings me down and I have decided that things in my life need to change. I need to change, I need to make decisions, I need to walk away from some things. Was this decision easy........NO, but is it necessary...... Yes. I know this, my 30th year will be a year of much growth and with that will come some growing pains. So very soon starts the journey.

On a lighter note, I had a great dinner with my bestie English friend Sarah, we went and had yummy Indian food at Casa de Tandoor, so gald to see them back open on Olas Altas after a long summer absence! The chicken curry and naan was divine!!! Yummy, thanks boys can't wait to go back!!!!

That's all for today, I am off to scope out Ebay and get some more great product to continue to make my creations!!! Cheers to all my friends in blog land~!

Saludos

Chantel

In Mourning

Yes it's true, I managed to lose my Blackberry yesterday...........anyone who is the owner/addict of a Blackberry, Iphone, Smartphone, ect will well understand my sadness. I had my life in that thing. I am so busy at work and really don't have time for this~! The only good part about this is that I have it backed up on my computer...........so as my friend Lauren from Cancun says.........Off to TelHell to get a new phone.........GRRRR so not what I wanted to do today!

Wow~Life is stranger than fiction

Ok folks I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! So I go to bed at 3 last night after making 20 bracelets. I am exhausted, hit the pillow and I am out. I am startled awake, there is a shadow in my window saying my name..............My HEART WAS POUNDING! I came to, it was my ex-boyfriend from 2 years ago who, broke my hear, stole a lot of money from me and overall made my life a wreck that took me a year to get over. Here he is in all his drunken glory. I take a minute sit up in the dark and say, what the F*%$ are you doing here and how the F#%$ did you get in here (my place is double gated and fenced, pretty hard to get into) He tells me the gate is open, so he came up. Evidently the cops were stopping people crossing the state line and giving breathalysers so he needed a place to stay. Well it isn't here honey, I sat there for a minute the just simply said, I don't need or want to help you please leave and DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN~What in the world possessed him to come here I don't know, he sure is ballsy after all he did to me!

So then I got up made sure all the doors were locked...........then I laid in bed for an hour not being able to sleep and jumping at every little noise. Finally I got to sleep, took a good 3 hour nap, now here I am again!

Off to Print my business cards, did a little tweeking since the last post, then off to Sayulita with my cutie

I am very excited to spend some time with him today. Hopefully he can behave himself and not be cranky becuase no cranky allowed today. After the week I had last week..........I will leave cranky people in Sayulita to catch the bus home!!!

Bad Blogger!

I apologize, I have sat down half a dozen times to blog and never finish before my ADD gets the best of me and I move on to another project! Today consisted of meeting clients all morning, running errands to Office Depot and Costco. Then home to clean the house, spray paint my "C" with chalk board paint

laundry, fixing a leaky pipe in the laundry room, answering emails. I am supposed to be out on the town right now with my girls but at the last minute things didn't work out for a number of reasons so I opted out. Instead I have decided to say home and get large number of bracelets done as I have to have inventory ready for Monday.

First Puerto Vallarta Art Walk of the season starts on Wednesday and I get to be in a gallery! I am very very excited and so thankful to my friends for supporting my work!

The end of this week ended up in the toilet, I am so freaking sick of dealing with crazy people. My client (the buyer) flew down from Canada on Thursday afternoon for a Friday closing, only to have the seller have a nervous breakdown and decide that day not to sell his house. He then proceed to lock himself in his house and not take phone calls. I am a little beside myself about the situation and not sure where to go from here. I feel horrible for my client but who could have predicted that Mr. Seller would have a nervous breakdown 24 hours before signing. For some reason this kind of stuff seems to always happen to me. On top of it all this means that after 4 months of work..........I don't get paid.......super shitty! One of the reasons I am home on a Saturday night working and not out on the town.

I didn't see much of my boyfriend this week as we have both been really busy, so I thouht maybe tonight we could have a quiet dinner and hang out, but he had other plans. he is at someones house party tonight, he assures he will be in tip top shape to go to Sayulita in the morning to spend the day at the beach. We shall see! I am up bright and early to print business cards.

Things are coming together slowly but coming together none the less!!! Thanks so all my new wonderful clients who purchased pieces from me last week! I hope you are throughly enjoying them!!!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Saludos
Chantel

Super Lazy Sunday!

The title of this blog sums it up completely! We rolled in this morning at 5 am (I am far too old to keep doing this, but we have so much fun! My feet were absolutely screaming at me when we got home, but my shoes sure were cute! I got these great Coach shoes at Nordstrom Rack when I was home

...they had been 175 I got them for 50, I know!!!! So I had to rock them at the white party and then dance in them all night, not a good thing to do if it is your maiden voyage in said shoes.

So needless to say today has been very lazy........I feel guilty that I have not left the house or really done anything except cat nap and watch movies! It's actually a good thing I didn't leave the house as today was the 2010 Puerto Vallarta PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships. So roads were closed and traffic was a nightmare! I can't imagine swimming, biking and running in this heat!! Yikes, congrats to all the finishers~

Here are a few pics from the last few days, the view from the condo that my friends are renting, sunset and a sneak peek at some Jewels..............







Happy Sunday from the land of the sunshine!!
Saludos
Chantel

I am back!

Well, that was fun wasn't it!? I am now back in my beloved PV after a month spent in the wonderful Pacific Northwest with my family and friend! We had such a great time! The weather was SPECTACULAR (despite a few cold and rainy days) I had such a great time and feel so fortunate to be able to have spent that time at home.

Now back to the daily grind in the tropics. My patients has only been tested a few times when I decided that I would get gas, or go to Home Depot, or drive my car..............I tell you, there are so many things I love about Mexico but so many things that push my patients to the absolute max/breaking point!

I have friends in town this week from Rosarito Beach, they rented this amazing 4 bed condo overlooking the bay, you walk out the slider and into the pool............it's pretty sweet........Photos up later!

I have spent the majority of today cleaning, doing laundry, and working on jewelry.............

speaking of having my patients tested. I got up, had some cereal then got down and dirty and started cleaning. I got the house clean, 1 load of laundry from last night off the line folded, another load washed and hung up (yes people it's true it's 2010 and I still don't have a dryer.........). So I am getting ready to start pounding away on silverware when I see a huge cloud of dust then see the cloud of dust coming in the living room windows. I went screeching out front and the construction workers up above on the 3rd floor were dumbing buckets of over the railing and it was all coming in my house and down my breeze way (where all my wet clean clothes were hanging....................So much for a clean house and clean clothes!

Tonight I am going out with the girls to a white party, then I am sure if history is an indicator..........we will end up out on the town all night! Antonio is still in Morelos working on stuff there. He will be back on Monday, it's been a long 6 weeks just getting to see each other for 72 hours total~

That's about all for now, I can't wait to get some pics up of my projects and share with you all my great news and plans for the winter! Hope everyone is having a splendid weekend!!!

Saludos from the land of the sunshine!!!!

Chantel

Good Morning From The Northwest!

Well it's 50 degrees and raining this fine Sunday morning! I am back in the Northwest for a few weeks visiting friends and family. Had a wonderful bbq last night with my aunt and uncle (on my moms side) and Marc, Gavin and Keslie and her folks. It was so good to see everyone and have a few laughs, my stomach hurts this morning from laughing!!!

Auntie M and Uncle Eve are packing up to head back to Walla Walla, it was so nice of them to drive all the way up here to see me for a few days. I am going to spend the morning working on jewelry, then we are going to the city in the afternoon to test drive a new truck my dad found.

So much for a lazy Sunday!! Hope everyone is well!!!!

Saludos

Chantel

RAIN

Yes, I would like to report that is is once again POURING rain in Vallarta. It rained all night lastnight and it's pouring again. Normally I love the rain, but this year everything is sooooooo humid which equals mold. I am trying to pack for my trip north but with all this rain it looks like I WILL BE TAKING WET CLOTHES. Antonio washed some clothes at my house and hung them to dry last week.........it took 3 days for them to dry......then he said he wore them to the gym, as soon as he started working out the sour humid smell came out........YUCK! I am tired of the rain for that reason, everyting stinks. Speaking of Rain, we have had so much rain that this happened on Monday

Click here for the story

Yeah that would be our only bridget to get to Nayarit where I have 3 deals going on right now.........So at this point and time things are moving slow!!!

Going to hit the showers and head to the movies with Anotnio, eat some junk and zone out for a few hours! Good Saturday night!!!

Saludos!

Chantel

A little bit about the most amazing man I know!

Tonight I write from my heart in honor of a birthday that will be celebrated tomorrow August 31, the birthday of someone I am blessed enough to have shared my life with for the last 30 years.........

MY DAD RON

My dad is 1 of 9 children, growing up in a large family and having grown up with a lot of responsibility and engrained work ethic, which he has passed on to all of his children including me. I am the first born of 3 in my family and I have 2 younger brothers, so as you can imagine when I was young I got to be daddy's little boy/girl, that was before the boys came along. I remember fondly many evenings, him coming home from work, heating up corn dogs for an on the go dinner, packing up the fishing gear and dad and I going out to Lewis Bridge to go fishing after work........yep just him and I such awesome memories! From a young age I suffered severe migraine headaches, I would get them so severe that my dad would come to school pick me up, take me home and stay with me comforting me, rubbing my head until I fell asleep and the pain passes.........we went through lots of year of head rubs didn't we Dad? Then there was his long stint in coaching my basketball team...........we had a lot of fun, learned a lot about life and as a result my dad lot a lot of hair, but he was such a good sport about!!

He is an amazing cook as well, one thing I can not live with out are his home made biscuts and gravy...........can you say heaven!!!!!

Besides being a great cook he can also build or fix anything, yes I mean anything. I was the kid in school who always had the BEST projects, not because my dad did them for me but becuase he had all the great ideas and tools in his shop to help us create wonderful battle scenes from the civil war or the most realistic looking volcanos for science class.

Dad hard at work on one of his many amazing creations!

I was always so proud in Highschool that my dad was the one to sew all the letter on my Lettermans jacket! I dont know anyone else who's dad was talented enough or cared enough to do that! Oh I forgot to mention to those of you who don't know he is a extremely talented upholsterer...........for those of you who are scratching your head........that means he sews for a living. He can take a old raggy piece of well built furniture and turn it into something wonderful!!!!!!! Just ask Stacey, he did this chair for her last year and I am insanely jealous it's just perfect!!!! He is truly talented!!!

When I decided that I wanted to have horses and take up horse back riding and rodeoing, my dad was right there, he became Old McDonald and my biggest fan. He then decided it would be a good idea to get pigs and cows, well of course, because Old McDonald had them. Until the fateful day the pigs escaped, it was not funny at the time but to this day the memory of my dad diving for the loose pig and the pig biting him on the hand.........Or the day the cows broke through the fence and ate the corn dad had been meticulously tending to all summer long.........So the cows and pigs went down the road but the horses stayed. Dad would get up every morning to either let the horses out to pasture or to feed them during those cold winter days. Dad took over at home so my mom and I could spend the weekends in the summer out on road rodeoing! Such wonderful memories.

When I decided that after 2 years of college and a year in Mexico studying I didn't want to go back to college.........my dad and I had a very long talk. He opened my eyes to all the opportunities that I in front of me, he made me promise that I would finish college. He told me that if I finished college he would support me in whatever I wanted to do after........Hmm Dad, how did that one work out? 8 years later and I am still in Mexico! At least you get to come during the coldest part of winter and we get to hang on the beach!!! These are memories that I look forward to making every year and that I will cherish for all of my life!!!


My dad loves my mom with all his heart. They will celebrate 34 years of marriage this fall!! Pretty incredible in this day and age. They seem to be eachothers ying and yang and have navigated through 34 years of ups and downs, raising a family, careers, deaths, births celebrations, holidays, birthdays, good times and bad........here's to 34 more!

Who can forget the most important men in my life after my dad, my brothers Marcus and Gavin....................They have surely given him a run for his money and coudl also have been the cause for a little of that hair loss. With that said, they have turned out to be outstanding men like my dad!

So to put it in a few words my dad is the hardest worker I know, unselfish provider for our family

Full of unconditional love, support, encouragement, and my biggest fan, he believes in me no matter how corny my idea or how big my dream, he is always behind me ready to cheer me on or pick up the pieces.

It's rare and it's something that not everyone in this life is fortunate enough to have. I can say that I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life. You've set the bar very high, thank you dad, happy birthday, I love you to the moon and back!!

Love Me

Thoughts about today

I really want to write a long post and complain about how shitty of a day today was. About how my clients with who I have been working for months on end decided today not to buy after we were just to enter into contract. About how working with inept agents makes my job so much harder..................blah blah blah..............

But instead I will choose to look at my day and write about all the wonderful things that happened! For starters I get to get up and go to work with an amazing group of people every single day. We have moved our amazing office to a great part of town and everyone is so great and friendly, popping in to say hi and welcome us. I spent my morning on the south shore with my awesome partner Johnny!!

showing our awesome beach front listing!! 379,000US and it's yours!!!

I had a VERY interesting lunch meeting at a very nice restaurant that was picked up by the folks inviting us for lunch. We had an AMAZING rain storm here that cooled things off and flooded everything in site!!

I love summer in the tropics! The hurricane has headed out to sea, so we are safe!! Yipee! There was lots of eye candy at the said meeting which made for a fun afternoon. I got to Skype with my mom and dad which always makes the day good. I then after long said day was invited to have a glass of wine at our corner bar after work. All in all, it was a great day with a few minor speed bumps. I get to sit in my living room blog to you all and look out at this~! Life is good!

Carmen's Birthday

So Saturday night was my dear friend Carmens Birthday. I met Sarah and Orlanda first at Kensao............Yummo Sushi, had some great food and a few drinks then headed next door to Barra Bar, oh yeah, 70's 80's and 90's at their best. The night went a little like this:

Becuase it's not a good birthday without fire at the table

Then at 5:30 am my bed kindly welcomed to to sleep!!!

Living life backwards

Some times I miss the old me..........The new me or the current me, well is a little unmotivated and confused. I have spent the last year in a confused state. You know what they say............if you don't know what you want, just stand still until it comes to you..............well I've pretty much been standing here for a year. Still waiting..........hello, anyone out there, universe............hello...........yes I am here, show me a sign, what is my next move.

Do I stay here or move somewhere else, I like it here, it's warm, I have a great group of friends

I like (don't love) my job, mostly because it does not provide me with the financial stability I need and want. Oh yeah and the craziness that I deal with most days...........I feel so torn between 2 worlds, the country girl that I was back home and the Guera that I am known as here, speaking 2 languages fluently and living here as the "Guera" (for those of you who don't speak Spanish, Guera means light skinned girl.


It's so strange, I have made packing lists half a dozen times, even went as far as to call my brother and sister in law a few months ago to see if they would take my cat and let him live on the farm with them back home. I know crazy right.



But here I sit, in my palace (not really but I love my little Mexican place and the view is super chido!) on the hill 5 blocks from the lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean, in such a beautiful paradise........why would I leave.

I had the thought the other day, hey I figured it out, "I am living my life backwards." Most people work all their lives skimp and save to buy a house here and live out their final years.......Nope not me, I moved here at 23 and here I sit at 30.

Fun Weekend!

Such a busy fun weekend!!! I am taking a few minutes to say hi to everyone and update you on the hip happenings here in Vallarta. It's been hot and wet, I was complaining to my friend today that all my clothes have a damp smell.........this time of year without a clothes dryer it is almost impossible to completely dry out your clothes. We have moved our Real Estate business into the "Village" as we call it. We have moved down into the old part of town 1 block from the beach and are expecting a ton of walk in business so we are super stoked about that. All furniture is moved and basically in place, now to just wait for phone, internet and the network to be set up! Lots of celebrations, birthdays, vacations, and more birthdays August is a fun Month! Only 18 days until I leave for the States, so much to get done, although I have to say I have made my list and tackle a few of the shopping projects and gotten some of the supplies~ Yipee, it's always so fun to go and see my family and be back on the farm again. Being home really makes my heart smile, although living in Puerto Vallarta and looking at the Ocean from my living room, kitchen, bedroom and terrace all make my heart smile too. Tonight I am headed out with the girls to celebrate Carmens birthday. Carmen is a dear friend I met 8 years ago my second day living in Vallarta. Many of you know how it feels to move to a new place and know no one, well Carmen was at the same party I was and was so kind and sweet to invite me into her group. We have been friends ever since and subsequently she is also in Real Estate now too! I tell ya Vallarta is a very small town! Well I better finish my house work and start getting ready, sushi dinner with a few ladies before the party tonight! YUM!!!

For your viewing pleasure a few sunset photos from last night, it was quite spectacular ~ Taken from my bedroom window!



Saludos from Puerto Vallarta!

Another Week~

I just realized a few days ago that I leave for a visit back to the US in 20 days,,,,,acckkkkkkkkkk shit, I promised myself that I would get my butt in gear and not wait until the last minute to get stuff done like my last few trips. I got a lot of errands done yesterday and today, I am working on finding some cool stones for my jewelry project. Dad and I are excited to work for 3 weeks on my little project and moreover I am so excited to make some $$$. This last year has been a long dry road, a lot of anxiety over what to do..............go...........stay..............change careers? So many questions..........I stuck it out and it looks like things are getting better. Well of course they are, the day I booked my ticket to go home I got 3 sales.....isn't that how it always goes!

I am so thankful the abundance of work right now! Now back to the other reason for my trip home...........My lovely folks have bought me tickets to see Sylvia Browne Live! She is on one of her last tours and I am so very excited to get a chance to see her! See you September 9th Sylvia!

A GREAT WEEKEND

Phew, busy weekend! Friday and Satruday were spent celebrating my friend Sarah's 30th birthday. Friday 9 of us embarked on a day long boat tour of the bay! Followed by Saturday nights beach front taco feast and awesome DJ! I am worn out and headed to bed to rest up for tomorrow, enjoy the pics below of the festivities!!


THE BIRTHDAY GIRL VERY HAPPY!


THE GIRLS AND RIGO IN LAS ANIMAS

LAS ANIMAS BEACH