La Vita è Bella

Friday, at last. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, which will be probably too short (again) for my wish list of things I'd like to do: I wish for 10-hours sleep to make up for all these short nights during the week, a relaxing massage, discover some new cool music, read a book (at least a few pages), watch a Wong Kar-Wai's movie, go to the beach, take some nice photos (and arrange my photo-library) and try a recipe from my new Mexican cookbook ...

And, if I had a house like this, I would do all this from my terrace, with a view to the Pacific, jacuzzi on, firepit on, sipping chilled wine with my boyfriend... What more can you wish for?

On the photo is Villa Cantamar, at El Rincon del Pedregal, luxury real estate development, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Photo by Francisco.

Inspire Within, El Rincon del Pedregal

Before I write about Mexican wedding we attended last weekend, I would like to share with you the latest news: I just received a fresh copy of an invitation I made for our development in Pedregal de Cabo San Lucas, called El Rincon. El Rincon is a collection of 26 beautifully crafted luxury villas combining Mexican richness with contemporary amenities. The view is just amazing! You can see the whales and enjoy the breeze of the Pacific ocean.

Inside photos of the invitation are taken by me.

Weekend getaway to a Mexican wedding

Today we are changing Los Cabos's village surroundings with urban zones (full of traffic, smoke and dust) of Mexico City and beautiful city Cuernavaca. I might sound a bit too excited about this trip than I usually would be, but this is the first opportunity to travel somewhere outside Baja in half year time, and I'm eager to learn and experience more of Mexico. The reason for our weekend getaway is our friends' wedding in Cuernavaca, a beautiful city one hour outside Mexico City. Cuernavaca is a town with ethernal spring, and the wedding will take place in traditional Mexican Hacienda.

At this moment I am full of expectations and colorful images in my head filled with comments from my colleagues and friends about Mexican weddings. Nothing like weddings in Slovenia I suppose? I will keep you posted in following days.

Uroš Belantič for pret-a-porter

One of my favorite designers, actually, my favorite designer worldwide is Uroš Belantič. I met him 11 years ago, when i was in my student days working a part time job in a Chinese restaurant in old town centre of Ljubljana, Slovenia. I immediately fell in love with his sensibility and attention to details. At that time he was creating for a Slovenian brand Vodeb, and later he established his own brand Oktober and created a romantic revolution.

He cooperated with different companies, one of those is Gorenje, Slovenian - international top producer of home appliances, for whose Swarowski kitchen collection he created one of the most attractive aprons I've ever seen and tried on. This apron is a hit also in Russia, and among others Jade Jagger has it too. For Gorenje he created also a very cool T-shirt Hot & Cool – when sensing your body heat the ‘heaters’ on the T-shirt start glowing, and a luxurious shopping bag.

We have been able to see his creations on Hollywood stars as Carmen Electra for example. Uroš’s impressive work was spotted also by Faycal Amor, owner of French prêt-a-porter fashion brand Plein Sud, who invited Uroš to become a part of his creative team with the aim to refresh the brand image and give it some new ideas and freshness, which I’m positive Uroš will be able to achieve perfectly. Uroš, who is a design and brand consultant for Plein Sud, currently works on three collections, all in highest price range, compared to Armani, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana. He is working on the main collection and jeans collection, currently creating collection Plein Sud Spring/Summer 2009, which will be presented first time to business partners / buyers at the end of June, and we will be able to see to collection on prêt-a-porter fashion market at the end of September. I’m already looking forward to it!

Some of the designs from Oktober Fall/Winter 2008/09 collection that persuaded Faycal Amor Uros is the designer for his brand:

Girls love shoes, don’t they?

What is it in shoes that we like so much? As if with every and each pair we can change our identity, body figure, style… You just can’t get enough of them.

Marilyn Monroe once said “I don’t know who invented the high heel but all women owe him a lot”. She might be thinking of Christian Louboutin type of shoes. So fetish and sexy.

Better Middler’s saying was “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world”. Well, I’m not sure about that, I’d rather say “Give a girl true love and she can conquer the world.” Shoe-wise, this year Sigerson Morrison’s Gladiator Sandals are the ones rockin’ my world.

And, I wouldn’t bet on that women love shoes more than men. If I went counting shoes in my house, I’m afraid that this battle I would lose. That’s why I don’t count.

90 – 60 – 90. Deliciously curvy.

Sensual curves, perfect proportions, sexy lace, fantasies beyond imagination. We all dream about that, don’t we?

Maid Chair from Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc is today no longer a news, but I think it is still newsworthy. In fact, I believe it will be newsworthy in 20+ years too. So imaginative and stylish at the same time. It arouses imagination, doesn't it? Made from polycarbonate, available in three colors, hopefully this chair will be produced soon, so we can all use it as a precious piece of inspiration and imagination.

Nobody could describe it better than the author herself: "This chair is not about parts and materials. It is about flesh and desires. Its shapes are following sensual curves of ideal feminine body; its proportions are pushing fantasies to the surface. Maid is someone that brings joy in every day’s routine, order in chaos, a bit of fun in business. It is emotion squeezing device that conquers public and private place with the same unbreakable charm. It is pleasure altar in a bedroom. It is everybody’s darling in lounge bar. It is primadonna in house of high culture. It is "must see" in shopping avenues. Put it in the street, it will function as an HALT sign."

Maid chair was my inspiration today.

On the sunny side of the world

This week I'm celebrating my first 6 months of living at the end of the world, or more precisely, at Land's end. I changed my beautiful European country Slovenia for something spatially much bigger and larger - Mexico.

I get many questions about Slovenia, so let me explain in short who we are: no, we are not Eastern Europeans, we were not a part of Russia nor Checkoslovakia. We are proudly located in the Centre of Europe, connecting West Europe to the East and Balkans. We were part of Yugoslavia (some of you might remember Tito, and we are neighbours to Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Currently we are leading the presidency of EU. There are only 2 million people living in Slovenia, and you can cruise the country from sea-side Primorska to the very north-east part in Prekmurje in some cozy 3 hours drive. We have the sea, mountains, lakes, beautiful green plains, lots of forests, and so much more. The whole Europe in one country!

There are many things that Slovenia and Mexico have in common, except for those few Slovenians that live here. Our history started many years ago in times of Habsburg monarchy, when we shared the same emperor, emperor Maximilliano.

I now live in Cabo San Lucas. The weather is perfect, sunny all the time (in fact we have only about 15 rainy days). I live by the ocean, as I always wanted. The landscape around here is amazing, desert clasping into the ocean, or more exactly two oceans, Pacific and Sea of Cortes. You can see the dolphins and whales swimming by the shore...
But, I'm still tripping for all that urban & European vibes (design, fashion, music, architecture, photography ...), all the things that make your heart beat faster. On these pages I will share them with you.

Hasta la vista!

Enjoy,

Romana