5 things for friday: the cdmx edition

how do i afford to travel so much? plus: a mexico city photo diary, my favorite fast and fresh salad, the perfect travel bag pairing and more

happy friday, friends!

before we dive in: this issue is too long for email, so you might want to click out to read in browser or in the substack app, if you have it!

hola from mexico! la ciudad, to be exact. i’m here for 2 weeks, and it’s come to my attention that inquiring minds want to know: what, exactly, am i doing here? why do i visit mexico city so often? how am i making it work? i’ve gotten a couple versions of this question in my instagram DMs over the past few weeks. some have been phrased in loving, kind ways. others…not so much. and look, i get it! i see influencers jetting off to exotic locales and i’m like god, is influencing really that lucrative?! where do i sign?!

(no, i am not a full time influencer. i am not even an influencer who gets paid to share stuff—i haven’t had a paid brand collab in over a year).

so! i figured i would use this forum—my long form space—to answer the questions above. hopefully, this gives the curious folks a little bit of peace. (if i were a smiley face emoji girl, this is where i’d add a winking emoji). or at the very least, offers a bit of clarity into the how and why of my recent travels.

why am i here so often? the short answer is perhaps the most obvious one: because i love it here. i’ve written extensively about the time i’ve spent here in mexico city (you can find a bit of my cdmx content linked below!), so i won’t wax poetic about this beautiful place—but suffice it to say, i feel at home here. before you ask, no, i don’t intend to move here full time (it’s more lucrative for landlords to create airbnbs than offer long-term rentals to locals, which has forever shifted the makeup and economy of the city, and the neighborhoods expats flock to). i do, however, like to visit as often as i can. which brings me to the next question.

how on earth do i afford to be here so often (and travel so often, period)? a few years ago, one of my kind instagram followers reached out to tell me about behomm, a house swapping site for design and creative professionals. she told me folks were always looking to come to nyc, and she thought my apartment would be a good fit for aesthetically-oriented travelers. she offered to refer me, i applied, and was accepted! since joining the site, i’ve swapped with folks in barcelona, amsterdam, italy (my recent trip was a swap!), san miguel de allende, and—you guessed it!—mexico city. behommers can swap simultaneously—you stay in my home while i stay in yours—or non-simultaneously (for example, 2 brothers from barcelona stayed in my place while i was in italy; i have an IOU to go there). membership to the site costs a few hundred dollars a year, and the founders carefully vet all participants. the result is a thriving creative community full of folks with beautiful homes who love to travel.

unlike airbnb, where you pay to stay (and a company takes a cut), behomm is a) free outside of the membership cost and b) comprised of real people and real homes. it’s a magical thing, and i feel lucky to have been accepted! i take my hosting duties seriously, and have a set of linens/towels/etc. for my guests. i always leave them homemade, seasonally appropriate baked goods (this time, it was the molasses cookies i shared last week!), and i have a 10 page PDF chock full of neighborhood recommendations. not everyone goes this far (i am type A in all areas of my life, it turns out), but i genuinely love my home and my hood and do my best to make sure my visitors do, too.

also worth noting: i’m a big believer in credit card points + airline loyalty. i fly delta whenever i can* and earlier this year, opened a delta skymiles amex to help me keep my silver medallion status (or even get to gold!). this means that i was able to book my mexico city flight—in a delta comfort seat!—entirely with miles. so: housing = free because i’m swapping, flight = free-ish because miles. so the only money i’m spending here is eating/living/seeing, which i’d be doing in new york anyway!

*unless it’s substantially more expensive; in the case of italy, we flew ITA because the delta flights were wildly pricey—though i regret it, ha, and wish we’d flown delta!

but what about working? don’t you have to work? yes, i must work! but i’m working differently these days. as those who’ve been reading for a while know, i left my job in february. at the time, i expected i’d take a month or two off, and get a new full-time role right away. that didn’t happen—the market shifted, the roles available to me didn’t feel right—but freelance did. not right away, but eventually. i started freelancing mid-summer, and have been doing so relatively steadily ever since. freelance means that i can work hard for a few weeks, save up some dough, and then take a few weeks off. i ended a gig the day i flew to italy, and am currently living off the money i saved from my work in august and september. in the meantime, i’m hard at work putting together another round of freelance work for when i return in november, and hope to work/save for the remainder of 2024. obviously, there’s nuance there—but that’s the gist of it!

freelance is inherently unpredictable, and so i don’t know that it’ll be a long-term solve for me. but it feels really good right now, and i’m rolling with it.

also: i intend to write more about this next week, when i’ve better organized my thoughts, but i feel i should say: i invited my parents to spend this first week in mexico city with me. they’re in their 70s, and aren’t as mobile and fit as they once were. we’re figuring it out, and making the best of it, but it’s reinforced for me just how much i want to travel and take risks while i can. it sounds cheesy, but really: nothing is promised! not our financial security. not our health. hell, not the state of our country or the state of our world. right now, i am lucky to have privilege, relative security, and a (mostly) healthy, able body. i don’t want to turn 70 and wish i’d walked all over creation when i still could, you know? there’s a sign posted in the route i walk/run 3x a week here in condesa that reads: la vida es ahora. every time i jog past it, i stop, and contemplate taking a photo, then think to myself, no, sarah. the sign is literally asking you to be present. so BE PRESENT. put down the phone.

but i always stop, because i like being reminded: life is now. it’s not the past, not the moments we regret or the things we wish we’d said differently. it’s not the future, the laundry list of what if’s and worries. it’s now. and right now, i have money in my bank account. not a wild amount of money, but enough. right now, i have a beautiful home in a beloved city that i can share with fellow creatives who appreciate the little things. right now, i have two (mostly) working legs, and two pairs of sneakers, and open eyes. and i want to make the most of those things. now.

speaking of open eyes…

here’s a little photo diary of my time here so far. looking after my mamas = i haven’t taken as many photos as usual. but i’ll be on my own next week, so rest assured, there will be many more to come!

{left to right}

the colors here this time of year are particularly pretty, with golden leaves on the ground and brilliantly bright flowers still blooming.

the tuesday morning market is one of my favorite spots in the city, chock full of fresh fruits and veggies. i stocked up on multiple melons, a bevy of cherry tomatoes, and some veg.

panaderia rosetta has become increasingly internet famous and therefore, increasingly busy in the years since i started coming to cdmx—but it’s worth the wait every time. i took my mamas here on wednesday morning, and we loved seeing all the decorations the panaderia had up for dia de los muertos.

before we headed to rosetta, my mom and i walked the avenida amsterdam loop, then stopped for hot coffees at quentin cafe. how chic is this man?!

{left to right}

i’m always so taken with the coco sellers that perch at the edge of the parques. there’s something so perfectly picturesque about their cart, don’t you think?

funny story: on tuesday morning, i somehow found myself not at the tuesday mercado i knew, but an entirely different and smaller one. that’s what i get for walking aimlessly whilst listening to a podcast! as fate would have it, i found myself far from the mercado i wanted, but right outside farmacia internacional, which has excellent chilaquiles. so of course, i sat down and had myself a bowl of eggy goodness.

i’m always taken with parque mexico, but it’s especially magical this time of year, what with the autumn leaves. i! mean! look at those golden beauties!

one of my favorite shops in condesa happens to be right next to one of my favorite taco shops. yesterday, i took my mamas to both (shopping first, tacos second). they nearly bought out the store; i bought 2 more of my favorite wavy bowls.

{left to right}

i’m constantly on the hunt for new spots to add to my massive list of sarah’s cdmx favorites (available to paid subscribers, linked in all of my mexico city guides!), and found a great new cafe earlier today. i sat in the sunshine and ate yogurt grieco and worked on this newsletter and for a handful of minutes, all was right with the world.

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: the light here is something else. especially on ivy-covered buildings.

my mamas aren’t really ones for fancy food, but i felt that regardless, i had to take them to maximo. it’s pricey, but it’s the most beautiful space i’ve ever seen, and the food is truly special. the menu changes, but if you happen to be coming to the city soon, don’t miss the kampachi crudo and the heritage corn soup.

something about this color story pleased me. jugo verde forever!

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and now for this week’s recs.

i’ve been following makeup artist katie jane hughes on instagram for years, and was thrilled to see her pop up on second life, one of my favorite badass women doing badass things podcasts. if you’re not following katie on IG, you’re missing out. her makeup looks are truly next level, yet feel entirely attainable for the average person. i’m particularly obsessed with her glittery eyes, because, well, i love glitter, and want to wear it on my person whenever possible.

katiejanehughes

A post shared by @katiejanehughes

YES PLEASE.

katie’s early life and career journey are really interesting—she grew up thinking she’d be a professional singer!—and i particularly loved hearing about how she transitioned from being an in-house creative at nail brand butter london to going off to do her own thing (and proving to herself she could). i was also floored to hear she was the creative brains behind glossier’s play line. if you’re into makeup at all, or even if you’re not, this one is a fun listen.

other podcast eps i enjoyed this week: this wirecutter episode, entitled life is too loud, really spoke to me. i also enjoyed this taste episode with broma bakery’s sarah fennel, and this one with nyt cooking’s ali slage and emily weinstein.

i’m about 20% into this eerie, at times unsettling novel, and i can’t decide if i hate it, or am obsessed with it. there’s something about the writing that makes me feel slightly uncomfy—but i get the sense that perhaps that’s the point? i’ve not had a ton of reading time this week (see: mamas in mexico city with me!), but i imagine i’ll finish it by next week’s newsletter. in the meantime, here’s a brief synopsis:

it’s early 2020 in brooklyn, and theo harper and his pregnant wife, darla, decide to head upstate to wait out the lockdown. en route to their summer cottage, they stop for a hike, where theo divulges a long-kept secret. the couple argues, and soon after, darla disappears, leaving theo—her husband, and the last/only person to have seen her—the prime suspect.

add to that the fact that they’re in an open marriage, but theo appears to be the only one sleeping around (a lot, with all sorts of folks), and you’ve got yourself a slow-burn thriller.

get it on bookshop | get it on amazon

ps: if you’re a big reader, follow me on goodreads! i try and rank/save every book i read (and i read upwards of 60 books a year!)

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well folks, it’s official: mickey haller might just be my dream man. the lincoln lawyer returned for season 3 on netflix earlier this month, and i binged nearly all the episodes in the span of a week. for the past two seasons, mickey has been on and off with his ex wife, played by neve campbell, but this season, we’ve got a new love interest in yaya dacosta’s (who i loved on chicago med, and who is of early america’s next top model fame!) andrea freeman, a ruthless prosecutor with whom he starts up a semi-secret romance.

mickey’s motley crew has grown at the office, too. cisco and lorna are still there (and married), but izzy has moved from driver to paralegal (ish)/investigator, and eddie, a childhood friend of mickey’s daughter, has joined the cast as mickey’s new driver. apparently it’s his first real acting role, and he does bright-eyed and bushy-tailed very well.

i’m a sucker for a legal drama, and the lincoln lawyer checks all the boxes for me. it’s engaging and at times intense, while also managing to be heartwarming and humorous. it’s not as dark as the dick wolf shows i watch, but it does manage to keep me engaged throughout—which is high praise in this day and age.

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psst! if you like this post, it would mean the world to me if you’d hit the little heart icon, as well as consider sharing it on IG stories or substack notes—so that big feelings can be seen by more people ❤️

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i am, at heart, a creature of habit. which means that if i find something i like to eat, there’s a good chance i’ll eat it on repeat. such has been the case with this israeli salad*, which i’ve been making at least once, if not three times a week. it’s incredibly fresh, shockingly filling, pairs well with a multiple of grains/proteins/etc., and it comes together in under five minutes. there’s barely a recipe, but this is how i make it. i like to eat mine with hummus and pita (next up: learning to make my own pita at home!), or with a couple of hard-boiled eggs and some sharp cheddar (random, i know).

what you’ll need:

(this recipe is incredibly flexible - make more if you have more than one person to serve, make less if it’s just you!)

2-4 baby cucumers, chopped (you want tiny pieces, smaller than bite size!)

1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, chopped (i like the colorful medley box from tj’s!)

1 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp (ish) of olive oil

1 tsp (ish) of flaky sea salt

2-4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (i like flatleaf italian parsley)

what you’ll do:

do your chopping, then toss together. start with 1/2 tsp of salt, then taste, and add the other 1/2 tsp if you want/need it. you can swap the herbs (chives or mint would also be nice here!), or even add some crumbled goat cheese or feta.

et voila! fresh, delish, and oh so easy.

*note: i contemplated whether it was okay to call this israeli salad. that is how i’ve always known it, but i also know that many folks would call it by other names. i hope my calling it so doesn’t cause a shitstorm, and feel sad that i even had to include this disclaimer.

why did i wait so long to splurge on this bag?! after eyeing it for months, i finally pulled the trigger on this fancy fanny pack from clare v. i bought it less than 24 hours before i boarded the plane to mexico city, biking over to the nolita shop en route to a friend’s housewarming party in brooklyn. lucky for me, they had plenty in stock, and i was able to try on a handful of styles. i settled on this woven one, which features softer leather. the salesperson told me that over time, it’ll mold to my body, and i’m thrilled to report it’s already doing so! it’s somehow incredibly practical (it fits my sunglasses, my phone, my passport, my airpods, lip stuff…yesterday, i even squeezed a disposable camera in there!), and incredibly polished. i still love my calpak one, but was looking for a more multi-purpose option that would work both in the airport and look stylish out in the world, and this one fits the bill. if you, too, have been contemplating it, i’m here to say: do it!

ps: i also traveled with this woven tote in chocolate brown, which fit under my seat and fit a shocking amount (bose headphones, laptop, kindle, snacks, water bottles, pouches, etc.). i liked the woven on woven play, and think it’ll wear well (esp for being under $200). not that i go into an office anymore, but i think it would make an excellent work bag for someone who did!

just for fun, a few things i enjoyed on the internet:

this piece from olivia on being “in the woods”

this recipe for apple cider snickerdoodles, which i intend to make when i return home

these gold sneakers from zara, which i definitely don’t need, but feel so fun for fall

heidi callier is one of my favorite designers to follow for inspo. this brooklyn apartment is a dream!

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❤️ and that, friends, is where i leave you. if you like this post, it would mean the world to me if you’d hit the little heart icon, as well as consider sharing it on stories—so that big feelings can be seen by more people ❤️

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ICYMI, here a few newsletter issues you might like.

5 things for friday

the grand guides: a perfect weekend in cdmx

the grand guides: mexico city | dine + drink