Heart of the Home

I remember a Christmas staycation years ago: north wind howling, a stack of Kitchen magazines, endless cups of tea and bright sunlight shining through a south facing window. For someone who loves to cook and design, this felt like a little piece of heaven.

Kitchens come in many shapes, sizes, colors, finishes, first story, second story, inside, outside, open to a great room or compartmentalized. Regardless of any variation, enticing smells or hunger, a promise of sustenence, nourishment, thirst quenching drinks and more, all lure family and friends to gather in small groups and large, filling kitchens and making each one: the Heart of the Home.

On Epiphany Day, January 6, 2017, gracious homeowners for whom we have had the privilege of creating unique beautiful livable kitchens, will open their homes for folks to view. Save the date and a few afternoon hours, 12pm to 3pm. Invite friends and family to walk through four inspired hearts of their own homes. All photos shown here are black in white. The real and living kitchens on this tour are full of color and surprise.

Rosca de Reyes (Epiphany Cake)

CASA WILLS

Earlier this year the homeowners asked us to remodel their kitchen. Previously the space included dyed concrete perimeter counters and an oval shaped table with chairs in the center. The kitchen was functional with space and potential to offer more for family and friends. A pantry was needed. Also, a kitchen space cozy and comfortable for two yet ample and welcoming for more. Photo here shows built in concrete table and bar stools - a great find! - from Artesanos. Arched entry ahead leads to walk in pantry. Concrete sink is finished with broken tile mosaic pieces and sparkles of marble here and there. Tiled surfaces cover newly built perimeter counters. Built in concrete shelves above and below provide storage for colorful dishes and glasses. The stove was locally purchased and sits nicely into the wall left of this photo, framed in an arched tile design above the stove and more fun tile mosaics with marbles below.

Kitchen - Casa Wills built in eating area, stove to the left,
sink to the right, arched entrance to pantry ahead

CASA MUSICA

This one of kind kitchen sits on top of guest bedrooms and east of the newly built Master Suite, inspiring a jaw dropping view of the white sandy beach line, palm trees, colorful houses and Flat top nestled amongst its surrounding purple mountain range. This upstairs kitchen includes amenities such as: BBQ, undercounter fridge, ice maker, sink, two burner stove, built in drawers, free standing draws and table for two to four. The view offers an endless horizon, stars visible around the overhang after dark, cool summer breezes and an intimate connection with the vast outdoors over coffee, cocktails or a sit down dinner.

View of Flat Top  from Casa Musica's outdoor Kitchen,
artisans at finishing stage of project.
Kitchen not shown here is located to the left side of photos edge. 

CASA DEL MAR 

How do you create a kitchen with the feel of colonial Mexico and maintain the functional simplicity and endurance of modern day smooth granite? Combine materials. Granite counter tops provide a durable surface adorned with Mexican tile backsplash, arched and tiled niche above the stove with soft lights and even more tile around the base of the island - a kick plate of color and beauty. Unobstructed views of the Sea of Cortez are framed with concrete arches above veranda beyond and clay tile arched banister below. This kitchen is part of the Great Room, housing an oversized comfy sectional couch for the homeowners, family and friends to gather. Mesquite table and old world hutch fit perfectly between the kitchen and outdoor living area with pool and palapa to the west.

Casa del Mar - a corner piece Kitchen tile used in the design

SONRISA

Gem of a home sits on the hill and inspires a smile everytime its owners arrive. The kitchen itself a jewel box of functional beauty and charm. Custom made built in tiled gas burning stove cooks slowly, medium or quickly. Decorative hood above custom range lights up the meals cooking below - or the buffet of food served over unlit flames. A concrete arch frames the entry and transtion between kitchen and family room adajecent and north. Pass window next to stove connects wind protected outdoors and indoors. Cozy for two or gathering of more. Walk hrough French doors on the east and step into a sunken outdoor kitchen, built in BBQ chimney with counter surrounds and surprising backsplash, casting light on morning surfaces outdoors.

Sonrisa - Kitchen with cutom built in tiled range ahead and concrete Farm Style sink to the left

These four unique beautiful livable kitchens share a connection to Flat Top mountain, whether it be from the room itself or from outside. When venturing on to see these beauties, enjoy a peek of this mountain as you enjoy these spaces or while you are making your way to them and in between.

Flat Top Mountain

Please save the date, January 6, 2017...there will be Refreshments, Raffle Prizes and Rosca de Reyes (Epiphay cake for Epiphany Day). 12pm to 3pm. Stay tuned for more details: 

• Maps will be distributed: location and time TBA
• Raffle - must be present to win: location and time TBA

See you on this Heart of the Home Kitchen Tour!

Thank you,

Tehroma 

romalask03@gmail.com

All Levels Yoga with Tehroma

Summer of 2014 offered an opportunity to practice teach with close friends and family. The following winter included Yoga Teacher Training on the other side of the peninsula. I began officially teaching yoga on my 40th birthday, with a clear intention: share an embodied practice that has supported me, one that may serve and support others. Notice my students, learn from how they move and breathe, listen intently as we share each session. Offer readings that I feel deeply connected to and have either come across recently or come back to time and time again. Trust that a simple grounding practice offers a strong foundation to build from continuously. One day at a time. 

Half moon supported with a block in our back yard.

A constant to settle in at the beginning of each session has has been a three part deep breathing exercise: focusing on the lower belly, lower rib cage and upper chest. Gut, lungs and heart. Places of instinct. Places we feel when we breathe deeply. Awakening instincts and connection to the vital energy of life and its internal messages. Silence in breathing. A chance to listen within in a world that can be so noisy without.

My offerings to date are based on simplicity, grounding and slowing down. We live in a time of internet rapidness. Miliseconds of waiting for a person to reply sometimes inspires a question repeated. Or a walk away. I have been on both sides of this scenario. Impatient for a reply. Feeling pressured when a reply is not quickly available to offer. People are not machines. Machines even get overwhelmed. They freeze when we push too many of their buttons at once. A time of immediacy. Urgency. For what? Everything we rush to finish ends. How often do we pause between ending and beginning? How often do we sprint from one door closing before the handle closes. Grabbing the next door handle and running through. How often do we pause while walking through a threshold.

Traveling to Ireland required opening and closing many doors. Going through customs. Leaving as Mexicans. Entering the States as visitors and citizens. Two separate lines. One family. Entering England just to transit through. Entering Ireland to land, ground, walk, eat. Feel at ease. Quench the soul and ignite the spirit. The return home was more gentle as we stayed together as visitors at every threshold except for residents landing at home in Mexico.

Kinsale, Ireland - morning view from the B&B

In south east Ireland, toward the end of our stay, I noticed the depth and fluidity of my natural breathing. A moment to notice and remember the numerous times I have heard myself say in a yoga class: notice your breathing. And then with a smile, notice you are breathing. 

Recently I saw a photo of several lovely ladies after a yoga class. A time slot I stepped away from at this time for a summer breather from teaching. A time to reflect. I felt a pang through the heart when I remembered I was not sharing a practice I love to share. I mentioned this to my husband and recounted a few reasons why:

As I wrote above, my intention has been to share a practice to date embodied and lived. Heart, body, mind and soul. My practice and offerings have grown slowly in line with the offerings and shared practice within the studio. Shared learning, solo learning. Asanas and readings have reflected both my own continuous personal journey, as well as, my students. Inspired by their comments, requests as much as through my observations of those who attend. Individually or as a whole. Themes materialize organically. The showing up, giving and receiving has felt fluid and fun. A sense of ease felt within and throughout the studio.

After leading the Tuesday and Friday morning classes, I would tidy up the space for whoever came in after. Load up my landcruiser with books, class notes and music. Next stop only a few minutes drive to our office. Letting myself through the back door. Change hats and start the other work day with my husband who has been my business partner for almost twenty years. 

On more than one occasion during last high season, I noticed sharp and biting words come out of my mouth, directed toward the kind hearted, hard working and ever present man I fell in love with after working side by side for five years. I saw pain in his face. The reason for biting words aside, I remembered how I felt in class offering a practice that has supported me for nearly ten years. I noticed: Who and how I was in the studio was not consistent with who and I was outside. That didn't feel balanced or fair. Even if he said it was okay, I knew it wasn't.

Kinsale, Ireland - walking into town 

As a yoga teacher, I feel open with clear boundaries, grounded and gentle yet strong. How I am as a yoga teacher is how I want to be in the other roles I carry through life. As wife, mother, daughter, friend, architect, boss, acqaintance, member of our community. As traveler! That one feels natural.

All Levels Yoga with Tehroma will start again November 1st. Bi-lingual offering will be from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. One hour, once a week. I understand that how we are in different roles may be as different as those roles are in themselves. But the core of how I operate in each one needs to aline. I am not intending on perfection as I've done that before and this intention feels different. Simply the same level of human kindness offered at each door I open, be it our home, office, a client or friend or family member's home, or any other old or new door I walk through over time.

How can I continuously offer students the reminder to slow down, unless I slow down to the degree that I know is needed for my own wellbeing. Kindness towards self equals kindness towards others. Deep natural breathing keeps gut instinct in check, expands the lungs and fills the heart. Soothes the soul. 

Fill the individual heart. Nurture the family heart. Allow the circle to organically grow, slowly and sustainably from home....

In Celtic Spirituality, first you bless yourself and fill your own inner well. From that well, you then have a place to draw from when offering blessing or any offering to another. Much like the concept of placing an oxygen mask on yourself before assisting another. 

One World

May you leave this place with the wisdom you hold clear.

May you remember your expression and sharing of love in this world,
May you have the courage to stay true to the work that inspires that kind of creation,
trusting the undulating nature of the work places you have chosen.

May you save grace for your own darker moments as well as lighter moments 
and all of those that breathe in between.

May you remember your gift, shelted near and dear within your own heart, 
yet sharing graciously because it feeds your soul and purpose to offer and share.

May you remember always the man who shows up for you everyday, 
who would do anything for you, travel to the other side of the world with you.
May you honor, remember and hold space with grace, love and gratitude 
for a love that kind to have blessed your life.

May you remember the jewel of land that you love and call home,
and how you are now as much a part of the land as the land is a part of you.

May you remember the ease that is always near and dear, 
nestled safely within the boundless contours of your own heart.

Live in Baja, Love the Outdoors

Live in Baja, Love the Outdoors

(article printed in the Eastcapers Magazine Dec/Jan 2015)

by Tehroma Lask

Outdoor Living in Baja is available year round in the East Cape. Before making Los Barriles, Baja California Sur my permanent home in 1994, I lived in Eastern Oregon. Winters included short days, long dark nights, sometimes snow or ice and temperatures nearing zero. Sunlight was limited as was time outdoors. After spending hours, days and months indoors, by February I felt like I was clawing the walls, desperate for time outside, warmth, fresh air, vitamin D, less clothing, open doors and windows, freedom to move in and out, without the layering required to keep a body warm. On the bright side, I did have my share of snow ball fights, ice pranks down the back of my shirt shock in junior high, some of the usual cold weather outdoor activities and once, I got to ski – seventeen and fearless, I flew down the slopes, fell on my front, sides and behind many times and was lucky to walk away uninjured. On that day, I had the most fun ever until my early thirties when I started kiteboarding, taking advantage of the abundant north wind, as well as, friendly, patient, knowledgeable and professional lessons at Exotikite Kiteboarding.

One of the main reasons I chose to put down roots and make LB my home was to live in a place where I could live indoor-outdoor twelve months out of the year.  With smart design, considering wind, sun, shade, seasons, natural climate and weather patterns, it is not only possible to enjoy indoor-outdoor living year round, but pleasant. In over twenty years of living here, I have to say the only time it is impossible to enjoy outdoor living is during a hurricane. Even on the coldest day of winter, an outdoor area that is protected from the wind and exposed to the warm rays of sunshine can be cozy and inviting. Without sunshine, it can still be nice, as long as there is wind protection! Add an outdoor chimenea and voila! Even better. On the warmest day of summer, feel the occasional early morning breeze and gentle south wind during its visit, add some ceiling or floor fans and it can be enjoyable to be outside. Frequent swims, cool showers and iced drinks to stay hydrated, slow movement  – not  being in too much of a hurry and the quiet of summer – sans hurricanes – feel like a blessed reprieve. For those who love to hike the ever changing local hillside trails, summer hiking is possible, again – slow movement, much hydration, less distance, early ascent and watch for rattle snakes when you walk. Stop and smell the cactus flower, be home and under shade before the sun blazes down.

Our bedrooms and office are air-conditioned, making sleeping comfortable, as well as, concentrating on work possible. We did air-condition our entire home for several years, but soon realized – aside from the high power bills – that air-conditioning our home, closing doors and windows, I felt as confined and limited to staying indoors as I had in Eastern Oregon during winter up there. We decided to donate the great room’s A/C to the local high school where our son is now a senior, open our windows and doors, adapt to the daily temperature, cook  outdoors, move slower – during summer in LB, doing less is not only possible, but necessary! Last summer was our first offering yoga classes at Healing Winds Holistic Center and after several piped in with the opinion we would need A/C to stay cool and keep classes going all summer, I decided to experiment with adapting the practice to the season – again, slow gentle movement, less is more, cooling, restorative poses and we did it! We stayed relatively cool, the classes lasted all summer and as we now transition into cooler months, I notice more energy is available and onward we go.

UBL Designs, originally known as VOS en Construction, has been designing and building custom homes since 1991. We have witnessed and been part of the boom, worked through and downsized during the recession. Over the last five years, we have collaborated with clients who over the years have become our friends, mainly focusing on additions, remodels and the creation of Outdoor Living. To share with our community some unique, beautiful and livable outdoor areas we have created, on January 6, 2016, we plan to host a Winter Garden and Outdoor Living Area Tour. Eight patios will be open to the public to walk through, meander, pause, inspire, sit down, and breathe in the fresh Baja air. Enjoy the warm, sunlit and wind protected areas. Walk through the shaded, cool and well ventilated areas comfortable for warmer months. Each outdoor area, a style of its own, and reflection of the homeowners themselves - styles range from Old Baja with contemporary flair, Santa Fe, Whimsical, Mainland Mexico Colonial and Hacienda, Desert style, with creative and eclectic combinations in each place. Materials include bricks, rocks, pebbles, plaster and a variety of textures and colors, bright shiny tiles, glass bottles, mosaics, wood, concrete and more. Gardens range from desert plants, dirt and space between to lush, green, blooming and organic. Seven out of eight gardens benefit from immediate re-use of gray water, reutilizing water from showers, bathroom sinks and washing machines to irrigate plantings throughout. In the desert, water is scarce and shade is king.

Join us! We look forward to seeing you at our Winter Garden and Outdoor Living Area Tour, January 6, 2016. Since the tour falls on Three Kings Day, enjoy a traditional Rosca and refreshments, with fun surprises and prizes for a lucky few. Mark your calendars, save the date, bring your partner, spouse, a friend, family member, the more the merrier! Details will be posted on the BPE, our website and blog www.ubldesigns.com No matter the size of your house, adding a Garden and Outdoor Living Area will increase the unique, beautiful, livable and lovable nature of your Baja Home!