I grew up in Texas and should have left a decade before I did but that's a long story. When I did move I was a struggling artist living in Tribeca and working for Hamilton Gallery on 57th street. When the gallery closed I went to work for John Saladino where I met a lot of young designers in the D&D building who come in and out of my life over the next 30 years. I went to Europe on vacation and didn't come back. I lived in Paris from 1985 to 1995. While painting for decorators I was 'discovered' by Tomas Maier for Vogue Hommes and I threw away my brushes and started modeling. I left modeling to work with my boyfriend Herve Van Der Straeten who was an already well known jewelry designer. On a whim designed a group of buttons that I later sold to houses like Hermes and Christian Lacroix. A blizzard in New York changed the course of my life again.
One Christmas holiday in New York I went with my best friend to Mexico after a blizzard canceled my plane back to France. Tulum was a little dusty truck stop between Cancun and Belize with 4 tiny hotels on the beach and a few huts with hammocks one could rent for $5 usd. I came to Merida to see the ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itza and I didn't really pay much attention to the town. I moved back to New York that year to attend film school and ended up opening a design/antique store in Soho called Naturemorte. In 1997 I met Josh Ramos and we started traveling to Paris to shop for antiques and to Mexico to shop for crafts and real estate.
Josh and I traveled around Mexico for three years in an old Jeep we bought on ebay. We've pretty much had a flat tire or bust radiator in every state of Mexico. We fantasized about buying a hacienda or a hut by the beach and in 2001 we spent a week in the Yucatan and bought two houses. Our life in New York is a distant memory. Josh continues to design furniture and houses. His masterpiece is El Portico de la Candelaria. We share duties at Urbano Rentals which is thankfully a seasonal occupation which allows us both to travel in the Spring and Summer.
Our friends from New York come to visit us or come to their houses in Merida. Most
summers I go to Europe and visit my friends in Paris and then travel around with them when they go on vacation in July and August.
This blog is for our friends and guests to help them sort out what they would like to do while visiting the Yucatan. It's in no way meant to be comprehensive or inclusive. It's opinionated, like me.
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