#mexican tiles in lots

[mexican-tile-store]

Our Mexican mixed tiles are handcrafted, high-quality ceramic tiles that can be used to create stunning hacienda-style designs in your home. Treat your home to a Mexican fiesta with our stunning hacienda collection of Mexican tiles and finish off with equally stunning Mexican trim tiles. When it comes to Mexican pattern ceramic tiles, you should be referring to us. Our hacienda-style mixed tile designs will enliven any room and every project you do with them. With an array of 4x4 inch patterns and 100 tiles, there are no limits to the number of stylish projects you can create in your home. Our hacienda collection of Mexican-style tiles comes with one of the best paintings work you can find on the market. We guarantee our customers will be more than happy when they see these tiles in their homes. They come in bulk packages, so they are an excellent choice if you are planning some major tiling work. You will not only get the best quality painted ceramic tiles on the market but also save money doing it!

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This 1900 home is San Miguel, Mexico is a dream. 3bds, 5ba, 2,982 sq ft, $1.495m.

What a paradise. Look at this entrance.

Gorgeous main hall. Look at the arched brick ceiling.

Stunning living room and fireplace. Look at the rock wall. And, you can see another rock wall outside.

It looks like the architecture combines indoor with outdoor living.

Love the dining area, look at the curtain across the kitchen. You can see the garden thru the glass doors and window.

Sitting area off the dining room.

Love the Mexican tile and wood in the kitchen.

Tiled stairs. The stairs are well lit by natural light.

I love the guest half bath under the stairs!

Gorgeous primary bedroom suite. Look at the fireplace.

The en-suite bath is stunning.

Love the tile! And, look at the sink.

Super classy TV room. Watching TV in luxury.

Gorgeous bedroom with a terrace and beautiful fireplace. Look at the ceiling.

Cute little bedroom.

The tiles in this home are exquisite and so is the wood.

Look at the cute little office.

Isn't this lovely?

Beautiful outdoor kitchen. I don't know if I've ever seen one with an exhaust hood.

Tiled hot tub with a fountain. The lot size is 2,271 sq ft.

https://www.theagencyre.com/single-familynt/ta8472/4a-pilancon-san-miguel-de-allende-gt-37700

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Soundly (Simon “Ghost” Riley x Reader)

Summary: You’ve injured your arm, leaving you frustratingly helpless to complete everyday tasks, like cleaning yourself. Your boyfriend and colleague Simon understands your apprehension towards accepting help for such a task and tells you how he does.

AN: Working title was “Sprain” for those of you who voted in the poll. I’ll be posting the Soap fics shortly and posting another poll for my other upcoming fics afterwards! Meanwhile, let me know what you think in replies or inbox me, tell me your thoughts on fics - present or future. 

I just want Ghost to feel loved and to recover from all the shit he went through. I did a fic for that and sharing a bed, so I’m doing this one for the reader a.k.a. me. Plus I like the head canon that Ghost is actually kinda talkative, like in the Alone mission. I know he’s probably partly chatting to Johnny to because he’s trying to keep him focused, guiding him to regroup and survive. But he’s telling dumb jokes and joking about watching his torture video. He’s got banter and trauma!

Content warnings: Allusions to Ghost’s time being tortured by Roba and the Mexican Cartel - specifically his SA as well as the reader’s. Reader is GN, no use of Y/N

Masterlist // AO3

For “just a sprain”, your elbow hurt like a bastard. It was resting in the hammock of the sling your doctor ordered you to keep on. Almost smugly, it sent a few stings across the bone when you were also instructed to restrict your movements and get support to complete day-to-day tasks before you were signed off on a month’s medical leave – pending review at the end of it for being brought back to work.

It was half your fault. The sprain in the first place was caused by some asshole who would not go down quietly and attempted to dislocate your limb. Thankfully, your training automatically twisted you into a position preventing that but then you had to shoot that asshole and your gun was in the arm he’d injured. The bullet that you fired solidified the damage and you were forced to focus hard on aiming with your non-dominant hand whilst slugging it over to the Heli half a klick to the west for recon. You didn’t have to shoot the guy straight away. You’d kicked him down and he was too far from his own weapon to have made it before you could have swapped your gun to your other hand and ended his life the same miserable way. But nah, in the heat of gunfire, you’d decided to end the fight as quick as possible then ran like a bat out of hell back to safety where the rest of your crew was headed.

Simon had known you long enough – and dated you long enough – to not treat you like glass. He wouldn’t insult you like that. Therefore you were very grateful that he was the one to take you home, and that his driving was a lot steadier and smooth on the motorway.

Letting you open the front door, he carried both his and your bags inside, ready to start your medical leave this instant. He was heading out of the hall with his shoes dropped loudly onto the rack when he asked:

“You want anything specific for tea?”

“Nah, I’m good with whatever.”

Despite years of therapy, this injury had dealt a hefty blow to your pride; you didn’t want to be any more of a burden than you were going to be over the next few weeks. Thank God you’d been to his place enough times for it to be considered familiar.

From the airing cupboard, you collected the towel that Simon had bought you after your fifth stay here and smiled at the memory of shopping for it together. He’d asked for what colour you preferred then gathering other items into the trolley that were the same shade: toothbrush, wash cloth, cup to sit by the bathroom sink. He was nice like that.

The bathroom door locked behind you, the final ebbs of afternoon reaching in through frosted glass. You thanked the sun for enabling you to keep the lights off; the buzz that accompanied their stark spark on the silky tiles was always too much for you. However as warm as the daylight was, it failed to soothe your state. When you tried to retrieve the memory of how you’d gotten this t-shirt on in the first place, your mind offered you a blank slate and tears of frustration bubbling over, stinging worse than the injury as you tried to warp it against its will. But to no avail. Your bitten tongue surrendered so that the crying could commence with your t-shirt still stuck on your body.

Gentle rapping at the door didn’t halt anything. Surrendering felt like an admission of weakness, failure, and it poisoned you against yourself as you twisted the lock in the handle and slumped on the rim of the bath.

A pair of plain-socked feet appeared at the top of your line of sight, lingering on the cobalt carpet side of the door frame.

“Can I borrow your scissors please?” You asked, toying with a stray string dangling from the hem.

“You gonna stab me?” Simon inquired semi-sarcastically.

“Yes.” It was a pathetic little reply. But Simon pushed off the bath, belongings tinkling against one another as he rooted around then retrieved a small pair of scissors from the top shelf.

He sat down beside you on the rim, holding out the scissors by the blade, “It’s a nice shirt.”

You wiped your nose on the hem before taking the scissors, “It’s just Primark.”

“I can help you out of it, if it is Primark’s finest.”

“Was just cut it off.”

But of course your dominant hand was tied up in the sling, and you only just realised now.

“I could help you take it off.”

You’d never been undressed around Simon. The closest you’d gotten were jogging bottoms you’d cut into knee-length shorts and the sleeves of your t-shirt pushed onto your shoulders whilst you both worked out at opposite ends of the gym. Towards the end of your set, you mopped at your brow with the hem of your shirt once and the sliver of skin nearly sent Simon into anaphylactic shock.

He knew why you grappled with the notion of undressing. But he didn’t ever linger on you going elsewhere to change. Across your relationship, and even before it started, he’d shown you love in so many other ways that you would forget about what had happened to you.

Today was the first time he addressed it: “I understand why you wouldn’t want me to help.”

Without moving your head, your watchful stare latched onto his adjusting to the nuisance of sitting on a thin perch of porcelain. He withdrew his skull balaclava from its suffocating in his pocket and began kneading at it until the eyehole faced the ceiling you’d stared at many times, wishing you could be more intimate with the man you loved more than life.

 “Your reasons aren’t so different from mine.” And he held out the mask to you.

The olive branch was accepted and you thumbed over the skull plate as best you could with the scissors still in your grip. Only when your thumbnail caught against the paint depicting a cheekbone did it dawn on you what your boyfriend was referring to.

“Simon-”

“None of that,” He interrupted you, gently, firmly, “I get it. I don’t wanna bother you if you don’t want me here.”

He rubbed along your shoulder as you matched your deep breaths to his, resting your eyes to bask in his comfort and crushing the mask in your loose fist. You’d always equated it to anonymity. Never had you thought of linking it to another form of comfort.

“You can bathe with your clothes on,” Simon suggested after a minute’s silence.

“Do you know how hard it is to remove wet denim?” You muttered with a crooked smile.

“I do,” and he pressed a kiss to your forehead – his preferred place to do so. “Let’s give this a go.”

You handed back his balaclava and took in his bare face, the medical mask – the one he’d been wearing whilst you were in the hospital and all the way home - gone, his expression carefully crafted to be neutral so that you didn’t have to be.

He eased your sling off you after the taps were thundering steaming water into the tub. Then he vanished to his room, returning with a pair of baggy sports shorts. Cradling them like a baby, your nose welcomed their softness and the steam whilst Simon knelt onto the fluffy bathmat, nodding after splashing the bathwater and twisting the taps into silence.

“I’m gonna stink if I don’t wash properly,” You whispered.

After opening his palms to you, Simon took your shorts and arranged them on the floor, “I’ll get you some wet wipes to use while we wait for your arm to heal up.”

You held onto his shoulders whilst he undid your jeans and eased them down your legs, his hands careful to stay hidden in the fabric whilst you stepped out of them and into the shorts. Simon to pulled them up to your hips.

“Why did the magician take a bath?” He asked you as you lowered yourself into the water.

“I dunno, why?”

“To clean up his act.”

Your chest quivered, struggling to hold in your groans and giggles whilst Simon pumped some blueberry body wash into his palm, “That’s good.”

Tenderly he circled the soap across your forearm, “Fancy another?”

“Go on.” You were nothing if not his little enabler, indulging in his humour even after the rest of 141 had lightly roasted him for it.

“Knock, knock.”

Your free hand fiddled with the sodden hem of your t-shirt, “Who’s there?”

“Dwayne.”

“Dwayne who?”

Soaking the flannel and wringing it out over your arm, Simon began to wash the suds away, “Dwayne the bathtub before I dwown.”

Your smile was not dampened by the tears that rolled down your cheeks and dripped onto the shallow waterline. Instead, you focused your blurry vision on Simon’s hoodie sleeves that were pushed up to his elbows, those broad forearms sprinkled with droplets and soapsuds.

When Simon was lathering up some more body wash, you offered your own joke: “What did the man say after he swallowed a clock and went to the toilet?”

“What?”

“Watch out.”

Simon snorted loudly whilst carefully manipulating your injured arm amidst the blueberry bubbles.

You wiped a new tear away on your shoulder: “I’ve already told Kyle but you can tell it to Johnny.”

“Much obliged.”

With permission and a slow touch, he started soaping up your shins. His contact always lingered for hours on your skin. This felt like a polish, not a scratch or a dent, which is why you felt so overwhelmed now, just as you did that first time he gave you a proper bear hug. You didn’t mind the blueberry, something else to focus on instead of letting yourself meander towards conjuring disturbing imaginations of what you’d just learnt about Simon’s capture in Mexico.

He let you take over for washing your thighs, sitting on the toilet still talking to you with a smile that cracked up his face like the scar, from lip to brow. His eyes never strayed from your face, though it never felt like you were a target down his scope, more like feeling the sun first thing in the morning with a delicate breeze that danced around your being. Such a gaze wasn’t alien to Simon, even if he rarely showed it to you, and never to anyone else. You were just grateful that he was able to be like this, and that he still chose to.

That same stare, he held it whilst draping a towel around your shoulders, patting over your arms before he gathered it at the front for you to hold in your healthy hand. Then he collected a pile of clean clothes from the bedroom, placing them onto the closed toilet lid, you noted the crisply ironed button up folded on top. You settled for nestling your head against his chest since you were unable to hug him.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll make dinner.”

The door was locked after Simon disappeared behind it. You did end up cutting yourself out of the shirt, rest in peace. Fogged-up, the mirror wasn’t so bad to stare at whilst you moisturised with your good hand. You could still feel where Simon’s calloused hands had brushed over your skin, tingling in each follicle, and it was protected by the button-up you were able to slide on – one of the few Simon owned. His bulk was once again your gain; the shirt was loose enough to give you some wiggle room whilst dressing.

Clattering from the kitchen caught Simon in the act of putting away the ironing board. He was taking loud and rehearsed deep breaths that hissed through the fabric of his freshly-donned balaclava, the board under his arm before he tossed it into its assigned slot. His hand shook as it released the cupboard door handle, searching for something to distract himself with until he latched his stare onto you bunching your shirt in the front.

“I can’t do my buttons up,” You said quietly.

Your stomach impulsively sucked in on itself when his hands reached for the buttons before it, joining them with the fabric. Nevertheless, your gaze found solace in the thatch of fine chest hair growing in the lowest peak of his V-neck.

Simon started from the bottom button and made his way up. With each wince, his fingers stalled. But you knew he’d never hurt you, never on purpose and never like that. He made steady progress until complete and even helped you replace your sling. But then he sniffed and brushed his nose briefly, stepping away and back to the kitchen. For five minutes he alternated between sifting through the cupboards and staring helplessly into the fridge, his face washed out by the stagnant light inside. You took the time to help him in one of the ways you knew how.

“I’ll order us a takeaway.”

Immediately he slammed shut the fridge door, “You’re a fucking star.”

You were not put off by his pacing back and forth, nor were you by his hovering over you like a gargoyle whilst you tapped at the screen – which you held in a way for him to see clearly in case he wanted to add something. A wide berth allowed you to approach him on the couch with the takeaway when it arrived half an hour later (always reliable, hence why it was your go-to takeaway place). Simon also accepted the drink you brought him, but only because he’d already gotten you one plus two pain meds he made sure you took after getting some food into your stomach first.

The cushioned lap trays you’d invested in were already paying for themselves.

Dinner inhaled and rendering you quite soporific, you mirrored Simon’s earlier actions and tentatively shuffled closer to him, “Is this ok?”

“Yeah.” His arm dropped to around your waist, and you tugged on his wrist to keep it there. Only then did you tentatively wrap yourself around his full belly.

“Fuckin’ softie,” He said under his breath. That didn’t stop him from giving you a little squeeze – his hand no longer trembling - and sinking himself lower so that there was no pressure on your sprain. He turned the volume down a little, which sparked inspiration in your mind.

Half hiding in his t-shirt, you projected loud enough for him to hear you: “The local TV controller museum shut down due to no visitors. Turns out people aren’t remotely interested.”

“Have you been researching these instead of doing your paperwork?”

“What makes you think I haven’t been doing my paperwork?”

Simon looked down at you, those expressive eyes communicating both the “are you fucking for real?” and the “you’re lucky you’re cute” in equal parts. But from the way his balaclava was balanced on his face, you could tell he was smiling at you. So you smiled back at him then snuggled back against him with a contented sigh and the existence of your new joke book still a secret (for now).

The next time you opened your eyes, it was much darker in the living room. A blanket was tucked around your legs. The glow of “Are you still watching Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang?” from the flat-screen, despite that not being what you were watching when you first drifted off, bathed you in enough low light to allow you a comfortable adjustment period. You squinted up at your boyfriend. Head back in the pillows, his chest was rising and falling with each breath he drew and released through his nose. You adjusted the blanket around to cover his legs too and, tucking yourself back into your bundle, both you and Simon slept soundly.

[mirrorbuns]

Aprendimos mucho de los diseños en azulejos, pero estos son muy específicos, se les llama talaveras y son muy icónicos en la cultura mexicana fuu!

We learned a lot about some mexican designs in tiles, but these are specific ones, they're called "talaveras" and they are very iconic in mexican culture fuu!

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

hello everyone, as your resident annoying spaniard currently playing pokemon scarlet and violet i wanted to make posts talking about references to my culture within the games!! i don't know how many of these i'll make but yeah, i'm just very excited about all of this, i've been playing pokemon since emerald and i've always wanted a region set in my country :)

i'll post all spoilers under the cut but i have yet to make a tag y'all can block (suggestions are welcome!)

the first obvious reference is of course the players house! even though from the outside it feels more latinamerican than iberian to me (gamefreak has fucked up in some extense regarding that, i'll talk about it don't worry), the inside is clearly spanish

everything from the paintings resembling a flamenco dancer and manchego windmills to the mounted plates (my grandma has some very similar ones, they're always white and blue or white and red) to the tiling in the kitchen screams spanish. you can even feel the popcorn walls (funnily enough the walls in my house are also painted in red and white/beige).

the next references can be found in nemona's mansion in the form of paintings:

the first painting mimics joaquín sorolla's style, while the second one does the same with joan miró. also, and i'm gonna say this a lot but i can't get over it... the floor tiling. it's literally that. i've seen that exact tiling irl.

this is a very obvious thing... but bocadillos / sandwiches lol

specifically this scene, of your mum giving you a bocadillo to have as a snack, is something repeated every day in the country; school and high school kids normally pack a bocadillo (or other snack) to have in the playground at break.

the worker trainer class looks exactly as workers in spain do, same outfit!

now we go with more obvious ones, food!!

first pic: paella (not with the traditional ingredients but it's something i guess); the 'juice with fruit' thing is most likely just sangría; escalivada is a vegetable dish from eastern iberia; tortilla de patatas (my personal favourite spanish dish); and finally the last food probably references gambas al ajillo, prawn with garlic and paprika basically.

second pic: patatas bravas can be found everywhere in spain, mostly as tapas or appetizers, and they're incredible. alfajores are usually associated with latin america, but it's true that they're also prepared in southern spain, usually around christmas time. coffee is a must in any spanish bar, it is a coffee country and café con leche is loved throughout spain. about quesadillas... those are mexican. pokemon slipped up with that one.

third pic: coming from the city that's most associated with churros in the country (one of the inspirations for mesagoza lol) i'm so happy they are in the game!!!! i love them and can't wait to get them in december dipped with hot chocolate, as it's traditional (i believe what we call hot chocolate is hot cocoa in other places?) i'm sad that there's no porras tho, that would've been a cool addition.

i imagine there'll be more dishes in other parts of the region, and i can't wait to find them all!!!

this one's very neat, the mailboxes are exactly the same as in spain :)

the academy classes look pretty similar to public high school classes, the distinct green desks and chairs are particularly noticeable

i'm not sure how this will be adressed in the english version so maybe this only makes sense in the spanish one, but it seems that the academy students are divided into sciences and humanities/social sciences/arts, just like irl spanish high schools

once again... floor tiles. the floor game in scarlet and violet is off the charts, the one in your character's room is one of the most common tile design in spain

that's all for my first day playing the game!

here's next post btw !!

[novapark]

So I have some small thoughts about the "not Mexican enough" discourse. I know I shouldn't be surprised by my fellow Americans making assumptions about Mexican culture but like guys we have the internet. You can google image search Mexico City.

I mean look at this city. Straight up gorgeous.

As I've mentioned I grew up in the Southwest so maybe I'm just closer to the culture being from the borderlands but I always thought Mexico City had a similar vibe to a lot of Southwest towns heavily influenced by Spanish and Native culture. Like that last picture you could probably trick people into thinking it was Phoenix if they didn't know better.

Look at this? Isn't it brilliant? Touch of their past in that modern shape. The mural is done in tiny glass tiles. Just magnificent.

Or this here, it's called Calakmul, after the Mayan city but I read some locals call it the "washing machine."

Or this spectacular Art Nuevo building: The Palace of the Arts.

Like it doesn't take more than a couple minutes to do some minor research ya know? I do it even for American builds and I'm from here. I've traveled throughout my country extensively but I still wanna make sure I get things right and don't trust my assumptions. Cause sometimes my assumptions are fucking wrong. Or worse harmful.

Like I was homeschooled by religious fanatics and never went to college so I kinda don't feel like there's an excuse to be lazy about this? If you have sims, you got a computer that can google search.

[cunninghamchrissie]

eddie did think it was weird that chrissy never ate in front of him, even after smoking together and seeing him unabashedly demolish an entire pizza by himself. but he just figured she was being shy, or maybe on a diet, or something.

once chrissy opens up about why she doesn’t eat a lot, eddie makes two mental notes to himself: 1) he does not hit women, even if the likes of laura cunningham deserve it and 2) he’s gonna keep chrissy fed.

as they’re passing a joint back and forth in the trailer one night, eddie’s stomach grumbles loudly and he whines that he’d give anything for a burrito. he starts listing what he’d put in it: both beef and chicken, a mountain of beans, guacamole, cheese and enough jalapeño to burn off his tongue. he doesn’t miss the way chrissy’s eyes tinkle with every new ingredient he brings up.

“i’ve never had mexican food.”

eddie immediately sits up from where he was lying on the living room floor, and his brain takes a few seconds to catch up to the movement.

“get your coat.”

“what?”

“get your coat, cunningham, i’m taking you to the best mexican place in town.”

“eddie, no, you don’t have to, i was just saying-“

he’s by the van before she can even finish her sentence.

in truth, the restaurant is only a step above a taco bell, but the owner was a client of eddie’s, and always included extra chips for free.

chrissy sits primly across from eddie in their booth, leafing through the menu.

“i don’t even know what to order,” she whispers worriedly, like she’s gonna get in trouble for it, and eddie’s chest tightens just a little bit.

he can tell that she’s nervous, can feel the vibration of her foot tapping on the linoleum tiles under the table.

“if i’m popping your mexican food cherry,” eddie starts, and delights in the way her face gets caught between a surprised gasp and a laugh, just like the first time at the picnic table when he called her a freak, “then i gotta recommend you go with the classic. carne asada tacos, can’t go wrong with ‘em.”

chrissy nods, happy for the suggestion, and eddie orders the tacos, his burrito monstrosity, an agua fresca each, and three types of dips for good measure.

chrissy finishes one whole taco (which is more than eddie’s ever seen her eat, and he eats her other one in three bites before she can feel self-conscious about leaving food on her plate) and half the chips with salsa, guacamole and sour cream, and eddie swears her face has more color to it and her eyes a little less of the sadness she always carries around.

[thenatashapulleyuniverse]

🍄🪲🥤

🍄- share a headcanon for one of your favorite ships or pairings

Jan/River - January is constantly stealing River's clothes, and the two of them will try to complement/match outfits whenever possible. But I think I talked about this headcanon before

Merrick/Raphael - Merrick's a lousy cook (he's learning and he's trying!!! But he's English!!!) but Raphael will eat his meals up regardless (think: HuaLian)

Okay and I know I'm on the Pulleyverse blog but since it's specifically you asking this I need to add and discuss this. JunKeema from The Spear Cuts Through Water: Post-canon, when these two duel, even if they can't read each other's minds, they can still read each other's moves. I like to think its a bit of residual godhood, but also that's just love babyyy. The fights always end with somebody's lips getting smooched, that's just how it is I don't make the rules.

🪲- add 50 words to your current wips and share the paragraph here

okay so not 50 words but whatever charles/sing crack fic snippet

🥤- recommend an author or fanfic you love

I'm going to keep this as brief as possible. Read Work of All Saints by kaikamahine. Who knew a 200k word Disney fanfic could irrevocably change my entire being and what I live for as a person. I read it at least once a year (usually around November). I've borrowed a lot of the phrasing in this fic for my own writing because it's just that good. If I could wish for a certain writing style, it would be this exactly. I wish there were more fics and novels written like this.

“This” is Santa Cecilia. And it is, in Imelda’s opinion, the kind of town that only cowboys and God would care about. It has a single cobblestoned street leading through the center of town to the cathedral of the same name — smaller, newer than the cathedral in San Juan Albán, with arched doorways and red Spanish tile and a single rose window behind the altar. A statue of the patron saint herself stands under an arbor in the middle of the plaza, her eyes downcast and a lyre held against her ribs like she’s carrying tablets from Sinai. Whoever sculpted her clearly had no idea what the real Cecilia looked like — Imelda doesn’t think she could have been Mexican, but that’s how they’ve made her look: braided crown, hoops in her ears, steel-toed shoes for goring snakes peeking out under the hem of her skirts. At her feet, a collection of mariachi men drowse, hats pulled low to shade their faces, for all appearances part of the same statue.

I love this author so much. Honorable mentions from them are Probability Engine (Watchmaker), Grenadier (Arcane), and μήτηρ, in the Greek (Hades)

[nicosraf]

Fun question for you! What architecture inspired your take on heaven? I was getting hints of ancient Rome with how the bath houses and fountains are described. However, I'm really curious and I've gotta know!

I sorta referenced this a while back but I can be specific about the architecture now !

ABM Heaven is, actually, mostly inspired by colonial Latin America, particularly south-central Mexico — the painted tiles and the sunny colors of the houses (all so smushed together that they resemble one) and hidden gardens and balconies. Rosier's house, for ex, is a house I stayed at for a little while in Mexico. This is what I mean (!):

I was envisioning a typical Mexican town plaza at the center of Heaven, actually. Why? Because it's funny, and also basing Heaven's architecture on a colonial force is definitely saying something I think sksk

Though I focus on the above, Heaven is a mix of a lot of architectural style though! One time I visited Spain (which, as you might realize, relates to my interest in colonial architecture) and I found the clash of architecture on the older streets really interesting (because of Spain being Roman, then under Muslim rule, then Christian (etc)). On the note of mixing Rome, Islam, and Christianity:

The observatory was inspired by Islamic architecture.

The cathedral was pure gothic Christian.

The colosseum was, obviously, Roman.

Oh, and I was actually inspired by Turkish baths for the bathhouse, though Turkish baths come from Roman baths (allegedly) so the connection makes sense!

Michael's house is literally a typical Latin American house with a flat roof and a bunch of random stuff on top.

The architecture question for Heaven was really interesting when I was drafting. I wanted it to be a mix of stuff -- almost nonsensical -- to make it feel familiar but still strange. So yeah it's a little Roman, but it's a little bit of everything.

Very much any architecture that the humans will invent, the angels have already done it, I think.

[adobe-outdesign]

Could you review Skeledirge? I love how many references are in that design.

Crocalor basically keeps the same good things Fuecoco has going on—same doofy expression, white face, and round body. It also clearly still only has two braincells, keeping with the personality of Fuecoco as well.

Visually, it does a pretty decent job of connecting to Skeledirge. The additional markings on the body lead into Skeledrige's various colorful markings, the body shape is starting to become a little more quadrupedal, and the sombrero (which is more Mexican than Spanish, but it did originate in Spain so I guess I'll give them a pass) leads into the bird, what with it looking like an egg with a nest around it. This also serves to give it something of its own to build an identity around, so it doesn't just serve as a transition with nothing unique around it.

However, there are just a few visual things that bug me. The way the head connects to the back is really uncomfortable. I guess it's meant to mimic how quadrupeds' heads connect to their back, but most quadrupeds Have Necks, which is more than I can say for Crocalor here.

I also feel like the way the red arm comes out of a white area on the underbelly to look extremely awkward; it would've been much better to either not have the white stripe, or have the arm be white.

Also, that weird lump at the end of the tail is distracting, and the way it has a yellow stripe down its back but then some pointless squares coming off of that (instead of, say, no squares, or a white stripe with yellow squares) is also uncomfortable. It's got the right idea, there's just a bunch of visual oddities and tension points in there that bug me.

Skeledirge is the first animalistic quadrupedal starter evo we've had in a long time, and it is nice to have another starter in that category. I don't mind the more humanoid starters, but variety is the spice of life, and having every single starter become humanoid does get predictable after a while.

In addition to being an animalistic crocodile it also has a lot going on with in conceptually... probably a bit too much, in fact. It's got some face markings evocative of Día de Muertos (which once again is more Mexican than Spanish but whatever) and some mosaic statues in Spain. Then it also references the Egyptian plover and its mutualistic relationship to crocodiles with the bird on the snout. AND it's also a singer with the bird playing a keyboard of sorts with the snout and the flames coming out of its mouth but it also resembles a pepper a bit and it's... A Lot. I'm all for Pokemon that have a lot of inspirations, but cramming this much into one design feels like overkill. I think the mosiac-y stuff and the bird were plenty on their own.

I also think it's a bit too busy for its own good. Like, what's with all the random white markings all of the body? The underbelly makes sense and the tail tip is harmless, but then you have seemingly random white bands and stripes all over the legs and it just serves to clutter the design. I did a quick and sloppy edit job just to show what it looks like without them (edited on right; you could maybe put some white points on the bottom of the legs if you really wanted something there):

Then you also have the constant flames coming from the mouth, which just feels unnecessary and doesn't really look that great in-game (due to GameFreak being allergic to using particle textures in their models). The chest is also bizarrely square for some reason, looking like a low-poly Gamecube render.

For the record, here's my full hitlist of things that could've been refined/removed:

Get rid of the extra white markings on the legs

Get rid of the black lines on the head and chest

Make the chest smooth instead of angular

Give it a single stripe down the back instead of the tiled look

Get rid of the flames from the mouth

Make the chest markings end in a round circle and get rid of the thin lines

Considering making the claws purple to pull that color through more

And I know all that sounds really negative, but I do like this design still, and it's my favorite of the three final evos. I think the face and head look really striking and unique, the little fire bird is charming and a fun nature reference, and like I said, it's just nice to get an animal-like starter evo for the first time in a while. It's just a too much of a good thing kind of deal.

Overall: Crocalor is visually unique from its evos while transitioning between them well, even if it has a bit of visual awkwardness. Skeledirge is bogged down a bit by way too many details and general over-complication of the design that makes it busier than it needs to be, but it's also not too humanoid and unique in both appearance and concept. A solid starter line that could've been near perfect if just cleaned up a bit.

[mexican-tile-store]

Don’t forget that it is not only about tile, but our company also offers as well incredible  Mexican ceramic sinks and toilets. Enjoy the amazing deal you can get by purchasing the Mexican tile mix in different decorative themes and then focus your attention on choosing some of our stunning treasures, especially among bidimensional Mexican high-relief tiles whose execution is just fantastic. The high-relief tiles can embellish backsplashes, counters, stair risers, and many other areas that need a show-stopper effect.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Oh, I love her! Too cute, tiny 1930 hacienda in Spokane, WA has 1bd, 1ba, 486 sq ft, $270K. I would move right in, if WA wasn't clear across the country from me.

Surrounded by a wall and fence, it's like your own private little fortress.

Isn't this sweet? A little sitting area in front of the wood stove. They have a table for 4 made out of an antique sewing machine base, for dining, in front of the kitchen, and there's room for 2 larger chairs on the side.

Look at the details, like the little niche in the wall.

Cute little kitchen and I like the stairs going up to the sleep loft. I would probably reconfigure the kitchen- at least get an island with a counter and some storage.

The kitchen could use a nice Mexican tile backsplash and a small exhaust hood over the stove.

Under the sleep loft there's a bath and some shelving.

Is that a washer/dryer?

Very nice shower.

View of the sleep loft.

I don't think that I would use the loft- Where the armoire is, I think that I would put a Murphy bed and move the love seat over.

Then, I would remove that built-in bench and put an armoire next to the window, b/c there are no closets. Maybe, I would even remove the shelving and make a closet there, too. I would reconfigure it all.

A nice outbuilding. Was this a chicken coop?

Inside it's a great storage shed.

The yard is pretty.

So, when I saw all of this firewood, I went back to see if the wood stove is the only heating source, but it's not. There's a gas furnace.

Look at the nice covered patio.

There is quite a large front yard that has potential.

The corner lot measures 6,098 sq ft.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4128-N-Monroe-St-Spokane-WA-99205/89446486_zpid/

[chronicallycosy]

The Sims 4; Lovestruck

Oh hi? I bet you didn’t hear this from me first, but the new sims 4 expansion is out, Lovestruck! I am no reviewer, I just like writing up little informal blogs by having a thought dump about my feelings on CAS, build&buy, the world and gameplay. Also, I bought this pack with my own money, and even if I was lucky enough to be gifted from EA, no one could ever take away my honesty. 

Lets start with CAS. I love it. I’m just going to attach a screenshot showing all the new items that I love! If you want to see all items, you can check out all the new items in game by clicking on packs on the main menu and clicking on lovestruck. As shown below, you can scroll through all the CAS and build mode items added! 

Anyway…here are the items that I love and will see myself using! 

If I were to make a tier list, both the earrings, sunflower shirt, ombre oversized shirt and the ombre oversized jumper would be in the S tier. The earrings are my favourite and I love the colour range they come in. I think CAS overall is very solid and the tattoo of the crossing out of names is hilarious. There are no CAS items for kids/younger aside from some of the hairs crossing over. It is a little disappointing as a cute love heart printed jumper for kids for example would be fun. It makes sense they got nothing though given this pack is about adult relationships. 

Alright, onto build mode, again, I’m going to add a series of screenshots of the items I like then talk about my thoughts!

Build mode…build mode…build mode… where do I begin? First of all, the plant selection is chefs kiss, but once again, they have added in a plant where it is two plants joined into one item, WHY? Just let them be placed as individuals!!! I am still mad over the growing together plants too cause that set of four plants is so cute but placing it is a nightmare. Why do the Sims team hate us so much! Also, I am SO glad they added jacaranda trees cause they are one of my favorite trees! They are so pretty.

The new backsplash tile is very pretty but lacks swatches imo. I hope they add more backsplashes in the future. The new animal statues/plushies are so adorable. I love plushies and animal statues in my game so I will be using these a lot. I also love the curtain beads!! They are very hip and cute. The new artwork is chefs kiss and I love that we have new LED wall decals cause I loved the ones from the High school pack! Speaking of High school years, the style of this pack pairs well with Lovestruck! 

However, I am critical of the build mode selection. I wish the giant mirror was placeable on the small wall height. Considering they added no new doors and windows for medium or tall wall height, then we get some giant mirror that can’t even be placed on the lowest wall height kinda ticked me off. I also just wish we had…more. We got a lot of romantic-styled furniture, which makes sense, it is a love pack. However, we got this beautiful new world called Ciudad Enamorada, inspired by Mexico! It feels like we have barely any items in build & buy that represent the culture and style. Build & buy had so much potential here and it flopped. You can also absolutely say the same for create a sim, the clothes lacked representation of Mexican culture. I feel like if the sims are introducing a new world that clearly represents a location, the build & buy and create a sim should be following those representations. 

I think for the reasons above alone, I will die on the hill that this pack should have been a game pack similar to parenthood. The romance systems, the app along with romantic style build & buy and create a sim would have made for a great game pack. I had the same conclusion when growing together came out. I think the world of Ciudad Enamorada hasn’t been done justice and it would have been better suited to a different style of expansion. I think it would have been fine if we had more representation of Mexican culture, there is some, just not enough honestly. 

Whilst I am on the talk about the world. I think Ciudad Enamorada is gorgeous. There are a lot of pretty romantic spots to put down a blanket and get some cute moments. I love that you can travel via the bus stops, I waste so much time with sims running around trying to get home. Overall, there isn’t much to do in the world. I get why it is like this, and it is a common theme among all the words, I just wish worlds were more engaging. As for the separate areas in Ciudad Enamorada, Plaza Mariposa is by far the most gorgeous area. Vista Hermosa is pretty too but it feels like it is missing something. Nuevo Corazon, whilst it is nice to have more penthouses (even though I low-key hate them because taking screenshots on those lots is an awful experience,) that area has like…nothing in it, meh. 

One more thing I want to add, which may be a hot take; I hate the emphasis this pack puts on exercise and health = love. You don’t have to be ripped and the epitome of health to be loveable. 

Okay, I have waffled ALOT. Onto a random thought dump with some screenies…

Yeah…. Justice for the loners, please? I wanna just sit and watch the sky. Alone. 

Summary; Axolotls carry this pack. 

Romantic satisfaction is bleh, this could have been done so much better! Cupids corner is okay but where are all these gallery sims we were promised? All I have seen are the regular townies and the random generated townies. The dates suck, having to go through all the menus just to get to a specific interaction is boring. Especially when you need to complete so many just to get gold, it feels like the gameplay consists of just spamming out socials and doing nothing interesting.

Positives? Axolotls, cuddling is cute, some nice items, the new gift menu is useful, and a lot of the new animations are cute. 

I think I have constructed most of my thoughts? It isn’t a pack you can solely play alone, it is more of a nice background add-on to the game. So if you are looking for an expansion pack that really gives oomf to your game, this pack isn’t it. If you are looking for an expansion pack that adds more to relationships, I would recommend it, but I would actually recommend growing together instead if you are more interested in family gameplay! 

Okay, I think this sums up my messy brain dump! 

Chronically Cosy, aka Georgia :)

[thislovintime]

(Photo 3 by Henry Diltz/Corbis/Getty Images).

Content warning: mentions of alcoholism/addiction.

“‘I don't mean to paint such a bleak picture of [the 1960s],’ Tork said. ‘I still felt I was in the vanguard, along with a bunch of other people. I was pretty happy. I had a circle of friends, and it was a lot of fun. God knows, I went through a lot of scenes and found out what I needed to find out, which is, for instance, that orgies are nice, but they're only temporary and they're not fulfilling.’ Tork's infamous orgies were held at the Hollywood house he bought in 1968, previously the property of comedian Wally Cox. At the height of his fame, Tork could have paid for it in cash, but was advised against it. So he took out a huge loan and spent his money redecorating. In the master bedroom Tork's bed was eight feet by eight feet with a foam mattress six inches thick. He had a four-place bathtub put into the bathroom, along with a sauna. He had Mexican tiles laid. He carved his initials into the shower stall. There was red plush carpeting throughout the house, a wet bar in the foyer, six-by-nine-foot picture window in the living room overlooking the San Fernando Valley. The film room was a splendiferous workshop of sandblasted natural wood that housed Tork's resident filmmaker manqué. The screen covered the entire wall, offering a ten-by-twelve-foot platform for the flower of psychedelia's exploding visuals – viewed by exploding heads of all chemical persuasions, days on end. Just down the hall and across a bridge was another wing of the house. Downstairs was a cabana, leading to a fifty-foot pool. There were no houses behind his, so many people preferred to dive into the pool nude – straight out of his bathroom window. ‘I'd rather have nude swimming,’ reflected Tork; ‘it's much easier. There's a certain charge to bodies if they're covered up, and if you remove that, it takes a lot of that extra energy out of things.’ Originally, Tork brought a girl friend to live with him at the house. Then his filmmaker friend moved in. He was followed by a young woman and her son. Later a friend of his girl friend stayed there. When Tork quit the Monkees toward the end of 1968, his new group, Peter Tork and/or Release, moved in. Often, wandering downstairs of an early afternoon. Tork would come upon two or three strange bodies asleep in the walk-in fireplace. But that was all right. At the same time, it wasn't all right. ‘If you're fixed on the notion that an orgy is going to fulfill you, and one doesn't do it, you're going to try a hundred. If orgies don't do it, maybe drugs will. Like the fixated person I was then, I went from one thing to another. I had to try everything: flower power, dope, orgies, fast cars.’ His sternest nemesis was alcohol. ‘In the beginning drinking was a lot of fun,’ said Tork. ‘I have some memories of things that I did drunk that I never would have done sober, that I guess I always sort of wanted to do. But drinking isn't selective. It doesn't let you do exactly what you want to do and keep you from doing the things you don't want to do. Furthermore, at a certain point, and I think with certain personality types, it's addictive. You find you cannot drink moderately any longer. It finally reached a point with me where it was obvious that I was going to die if I kept up with it. I was never hospitalized, but I could see the path. I realized I was out of control.’”- When The Music Mattered (1984)

“During his comeback Tork discovered ‘too much chemistry' (drugs, not the high school course) was beginning to blur the faculties and waste the resources, financially, physically, spiritually, morally and emotionally. ‘Then a miracle happened. I found, “The Difference.” ‘I can’t name “The Difference” for a dozen reasons,’ Tork added, ‘one of which is that no name sounds the same to everybody. If I said, “God,” a lot of people — a previous self of mine included — would say, “Oh, spare me your sanctimonious bull.” If I say, “the cosmic patterning,” then it would be “Oh, spare me your hippie-dippy bull.”’ Okay. Call it ‘The Difference’ and be done with it. What difference did it make? ‘I was crazy,‘ Tork said. ‘I was behaving crazily. It wasn’t like I was a moral leper. I was just addictive and feeding my habit. Then one day I looked at the chemicals in my hand — in that case a bottle of beer — and I saw that I was not in charge. When I finally realized that, that’s when I began to recover. Since then I have been able to avoid the use and abuse of all chemicals, primarily and including alcohol.’” - The Cincinnati Enquirer, October 20, 1983

“I was very fortunate because I found myself to be an alcoholic and there is a community that is out to help and who will love you just because you’re an alcoholic who wants to get better. That was the beginning of my retrieval as a human being. Otherwise I’d be a bubbling pile of protoplasm in the gutter someplace.” - Peter Tork, Toxic Fame (1996)

“‘I have to say, I did anticipate it [what the interviewer called ‘Beatle-esque global mania’],’ shrugs Tork. ‘But what I never thought I’d see was us still being around 45 years later. ‘I didn’t even think I’d live to see 45.’” - Wales Online, May 13, 2011

“I didn’t know I’d ever be 50 years old.” - Peter Tork, ITN, September 2, 2015

“‘[Alcohol] that’s the one that nabbed me,’ Tork said. ‘Booze was my friend. The worries of the world sloughed off.’ 
One day Tork decided to start keeping a record of his drinking and soon found himself drinking in excess of 12 beers a day. 
 ‘But I wasn’t an alcoholic. Because when I was in jail, I couldn’t drink it and I was alright. When I was in the hospital, I couldn’t have it, and it didn’t bother me,’ Tork said. 
 The realization came one day while in New York when he found himself with a beer in his hand and suddenly realizing he had a problem. He talked to his wife and admitted to her that he had a problem and needed help. Tork praised the Drug Court system and other drug-recovery organizations. 
‘I could have died in agony or distress,’ Tork said. ‘But this, this is humbling. This stuff — Drug Court — this moment, standing in front of you — this is the other side.’” - visaliatimesdelta.com, October 29, 2010 

“He's been sober for almost 30 years, and recently took time to address graduates of a drug court in California as part of his theory that recovery from any addiction is incomplete without service to others. 
‘I have been given a huge treasure: to not have to drink, which was my experience,’ he says. ‘It was obliged, it was mandatory. To be relieved of that imperative is an enormous gift, a jewel beyond price. There is no amount of money to make me give it up. What would I do with the money? ... And to keep this gift is to deny it to others.’” - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 4, 2010

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb: In this gripping literary horror, Case’s best friend Drea goes missing, forcing her into a bizarre, cultlike—and possibly murderous world—perfect for fans of The Honeys and Mexican Gothic.Something bad happened here.

When Case arrives at a run-down, ivy-covered house tucked deep in the West Texas woods, an ashy haze lingers in the air and the sky is tissue-paper pink. Her best friend Drea has been living here with a few classmates Case has never met, and Drea asked her to visit in a letter dated two weeks ago.

But now Drea is nowhere to be found.

Drea’s roommates can’t—or won’t—answer questions, leaving Case to search alone. She finds bits of Drea’s journal hidden in the tiles of the bathroom wall, in a beat-up cooler by the muddy river, wedged into the frame of her closet door. As Case pieces together Drea’s life in this strange house, the roommates’ behavior puts her increasingly on edge—and she’s not the only one. The animals nearby are lashing out, attacking each other, threatening the humans.

Something bad happened in this house. Something that must be connected to Drea’s disappearance. And if she gets too close to the truth, Case just might be next.

Review:

A girl gets a letter from her best friend asking her to visit... only when she arrives at the house it's filled with hostile classmates that she's never met and her best friend is nowhere to be seen. Case is best friends with Drea, they write letters to each other all the time. Case receives a letter from Drea asking her to come visit and two weeks later Case is at the run down house that Drea lives in... but Drea is nowhere to be found and Drea's classmates who live there aren't saying a thing about where she is. Case is stuck in a place with zero cell reception and with people who refuse to tell her what has happened to Drea. Case has to figure out what happened to her best friend and why everyone is so secretive. This was advertised as a "gripping literary horror" and it felt more like a very very boring mystery. There was no horror in this, the only real horror was how bored I was trying to get to the end of this book (and its a short read so that definitely says a lot that I was struggling to stay present in the book). It really boils down to a simple mystery with characters who don't really have any personality and a mystery that is lacking any depth or interest. Unfortunately this one was a big miss for me and despite it's beautiful cover, I would say if you like super short simple mystery reads then give this one a go, it might be more to your liking than it was for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[canis-or-cannotis-lycaon]

Left on Gael’s stoop is a cat tree. It is about as tall as he is, and is made of a hollowed out log that has been fitted with various platforms and even a little cat hammock that dangles from some branches. Faux leaves have been attached to give it a more lively look, and among the ample greenery sits a small treehouse. The wood on its face has been lovingly carved with images of Mexican folk art, not unlike 2D alebrijes, and the roof has even been hand-tiled. 

Sticking out of the treehouse door is an envelope, which contains a letter that reads, in Spanish: 

Happy birthday, my dear friend.

I realize that this is not a gift for you, exactly, but I figured you would enjoy it all the same. I do have something for you, though–another kitten, if you were still open to it! Also there is something else tucked father back in the house that is for you. It’s a favorite of mine. All we need to enjoy it properly is a couple of oranges and some fried grasshopper salt!

The ‘something else’ is a bottle of smokey mezcal. 

[It was evening now by the time Gael had noticed the stunning, hand-made cat tower that was left for him or rather, left for Mirabel. He took in every detail as he heaved it into the living room, running a calloused hand over the carvings gently. It smelled like labor, effort, care... these were metaphorical. And placebo, if the faint scent of Monty wasn’t lingering on pieces of the beautiful creation. 

As Mirabel became slowly acquainted with the tower, Gael re-read the note, sitting on the floor next to it as he wondered what had happened with the extra kitten. Nora was a no-go. Didn’t Mack want one? Maybe he could take the extra and offer it to Mack when she was feeling better? She’d gotten him a telescope, the least he could do was give it to someone more suited than him?

That’s how he felt about a lot of things nowadays, every once in a while, when that small demon of thought visited. Monty had worked hard on this treehouse cat tower. Was he worth the effort? Was he worth the time, all these gifts from people he hadn’t known longer than a few months? What had he done to warrant a brand new telescope, a day at the spa, beautiful creations from people, a stone hand-picked for him or even a titanium cross from Emilio? All he did was snipe and nose into people’s businesses, not able to back off and mind his own.

He hadn’t earned any of this. All he could do was be thankful as he sat among his treasures from the people he was lucky enough to have in his life nowadays. Gael sat there, next to the lovingly-carved tower, holding the note in one hand and the unopened bottle of alcohol in the other, seeing the line of cards he’d received, the trinkets and precious things he had on his bedside table.

Gael would message Monty tomorrow, offering to take the spare kitten. It was the least he could do; he already owed the cowboy so much. He’d never be able to properly express his gratitude to anyone who was so kind to him today but he could try.]