So many pictures from the last week in Mexico with Kahlúa… first the adventures in the rainforest with coffee plants… then a look into the factory with the giant roasting and grinding machines… and this last part was just too amusing to me not to share. You know i love peeking into the labs and scientific parts of these places… sample liquids in plastic water bottles, glass beakers, and all that fun stuff… oh, and getting to taste the 192 proof sugarcane based rum that is blended with the coffee, sugar cane syrup, and more to make Kahlúa. Anyhow, go take a peek inside the lab on the next page!

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A continuation of Kahlúa Bean to Bottle Part I, where you saw how coffee comes from the plants in the field to be dried in their green state… next stop was Mexico City where we visited the Pernod Ricard factory where all Kahlúa for the world begins. This time it was insane to see how you make huge VATS of coffee from all those beans! From the huge bags of Green Coffee that has been aged a few months, to being roasted perfectly en masses, then ground, then cold pressed into enormous vats of espresso! Ready to see some of the large machinery up close? On to the next page!

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Happy Friday! Here is your weekly dose of escapism courtesy of NotVentures. To find out about these great destinations, click on their individual images and check out NotVentures for more travel inspiration.

Exploring La Roma, stumbled upon Guru ~ a gallery and shop filled with low brow/surrealist/playful art, it was filled with so many NOTCOT favorites (both artists and products!) So, as i hunted to learn more about similar mexican artists, i discovered them putting up some beautiful black vinyl sticker silhouettes for an opening tonight by a Mexican creative collective, Cría Cuervos, in the back room. Being only two blocks away, i couldn’t resist popping by tonight to check it out ~ and it was beautiful! And packed! There was even a cop on the corner across the way watching/waiting… as people overflowed into the street. But about the show… Amor des Amor is an exposition of tshirts ~ each of the 11 artists (Ángeles Barajas, Cristina Medrano, Alejandra Aguirre, Ernesto Alcántara, Luis Flores, Jonathan López, Allan G. Ramírez, Miguel A. Cárdenas, Alejandro Gómez, Erick Knobl and Abraham Solís) designed a tshirt, which is hung in a gilded frame over the black vinyl stickers on the white walls… with the love/valentine’s day theme, it was the perfect shopping opportunity and people were snapping up the shirts quickly! Take a peek at the scene and designs on the next page!

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The sun set on us as we wandered into Plaza Rio de Janeiro in the La Roma area of Mexico City… and as we looked away from the grandiose replica of David in the park, suddenly these stunning nearly life sized oil paintings of horses were staring at us through the glow of Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo. Turns out it is the work of Mexican painter Omar Rodriguez-Graham - most breathtaking in the solo show “Variaciones Sobre un Tema” which opened yesterday, are these two HUGE oil on cotton canvas pieces he did in 2009. They measure 300cm x 250cm (10’x8’). The woman in the gallery was telling us about how his work used to be far more grotesque and somber, and in 2009 he started these horse paintings… you can see more in his portfolio. Most fascinating really is how real they look from afar, and how abstract they seem close up… see my favorites on the next page!

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While here in Mexico City for 2 nights with Kahlua, staying in La Roma at Hotel Brick… with snippets of free time, we’ve wandered and eaten our way through La Roma, Polanco, and La Condessa, and today i took a little walk hunting for cute design/art to check out… pardon the cell phone pics, but i thought i was just taking a little stroll!

Irresistible yet eerie, here is a peek at Carlos Bonil’s Restos that i came across at Galeria OMR’s el 52. They are skulls and skeletons made from plastic… in medical looking plastic containers… they are made of things like plastic forks! Totally mesmerizingly odd, see the pics on the next page to see what i mean!

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Armed with her camera, Justine checked out the Kinetica Art Fair for us, and found some inspiring and fun art pieces i’m loving! Here’s what she had to say about it…

The highlight of the 2011 Kinetica Art Fair for me was Alex Posada’s ‘The Particle’, which had me mesmerized. A spectacle of light and sound, a seemingly simple wire frame studded with lights came to life. Posada writes of his piece “Experimenting with colour, sound and movement, the continuous rotation, speed and light create visual effects that define the spatial structure of the object.” The exhibit has a further layer of complexity, the regulatory mechanism of the design is based on the haphazard decision-making manner, forming new models. This means that the structures cannot be anticipated, but instead evolve through continual iterations involving the viewer. You simply must check out more pics and videos on the next page!

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Armed with her camera, Justine checked out the Kinetica Art Fair for us, and found some inspiring and fun art pieces i’m loving! Here’s what she had to say about it…

I discovered the work of Dianne Harris at the 2011 Kinetica Art Fair, where her Neon works Caduceus, E=MConsciousness2 and Eternally Yours were featured. Dianne’s work “aims to heighten and advance human potentiality and question the self-imposed limitations that serve to confine the very nature of our ideas, thoughts and being” and perfectly captured Kinetica Art Fair’s theme of Body, Brain and Consciousness. See more pictures on the next page!

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Enjoy a bit of midweek indulgence with this sumptuous roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious. To find out more about each delectable post, click on its individual image.

I must admit that i was rather lacking in knowledge about how coffee comes to be. I love a nice cup of espresso, and Kahlúa Especial has always been a coffee-licious favorite to have around the house… but before today, i couldn’t have told you what a coffee tree looked like… and definitely couldn’t have identified the cherry like fruits! So when Kahlúa invited me down to Mexico to learn about the 7 year Bean to Bottle process, i couldn’t resist a Mexican adventure into the rainforest to catch up! It’s been an absolutely surreal day wandering the rainforest, learning about the coffee making process, and even learning to make tortillas during lunch up in the coffee sanctuary while looking down on coffee plants and sugar cane fields on a perfectly sunny day. SO many pictures taken, but before i crash (and early flight to mexico city in the morning!) here’s a peek at where coffee comes from… starting at the plant to the roasting… check out all the pics on the next page!

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Another gorgeous week has flown by and here are a few of the highlights from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its image.

Adventures with Kahlua begin today, car came to fetch me for the airport when it was still dark… hopped on a plane to Mexico City, and the change in scenery happened so quickly… from Mexico City (awesomely mesmerizing circles at the airport) after a few delays… hopped a tiny plane to Veracruz (which had some crazy windiness, trouble landing, and ended up circling out in the Gulf of Mexico… check out the insane white caps in the pics!)… then hopped in a suburban for another 2 hours out to Coatapec near Xalapa… where we quickly joined the rest of the group who had been hanging out at the 150 year old Cantina for a good chunk of the afternoon. So before i pass out from quite the surreal travel day… take a peek at the latest Operation Window Seat! Still inspires and fascinates me to no end to see the world fly by far below, and all the patterns and textures and colors that emerge…

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The new Lladró Lithophane lights that launched in Paris at Maison et Objet are stunning. Something so fun about the way the cluster of porcelain lights glow from afar, and as you get closer you see the wintry scenes with deer… or the parrots playfully adorning them. These new lights of Lladró porcelain can be displayed in so many ways, i love the modular potential, from more traditional chandelier like hanging, to twisted in clusters, they can change the mood of any room. Take a peek at some closeups of the two on the next page…

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Beat the midwinter blues with some gorgeous travel inspiration from NotVentures. Where will your next adventure take you?

I first wrote about Manymals by Marcus Diebel and the incredible packaging just over a year ago when i procured the amazing Bat that is still one of my favorite necklaces. The weight feels incredible, and they are so sleek and beautiful! Well mid last year he also introduced a Koala to join the bat, sloth, bulldog, and gorilla… and now there is a Manymals Boa! Sleek, slithering boa coiled do elegantly on a chain… take a peek at more pics on the next page!

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