Bonnet House Museum & Gardens

We discovered the most magical place this weekend that we had never heard of before in our six years of living in Miami. Just a 45 minute drive north to Ft Lauderdale led us to Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, a stunning Caribbean style plantation built in the 1920s and the beautiful grounds on which it resides. Bonnet house was built in the 20s and 30s by the artist Frederic Bartlett, and not a detail was spared in the design and decoration of this house. An hour tour of the house costs $20 including grounds admission, and it was such a treat to hear all the history about this house. The artist studio, which is still chalk full of Bartlett's artwork takes you right back to the 1930s. There's even a mystical seashell museum room and bamboo tiki bar. Once you finish the home tour, it's time to explore the vast grounds and gardens, including an orchid room, a pond with swans and turtles, and a desert garden. There are even three resident squirrel monkeys living freely on the grounds! We were lucky to spot one rustling in the palm tree just as we were leaving, much to my toddler's excitement! The Bonnet House was a wonderful way to escape for the day and get truly inspired. I will absolutely be returning soon!

Lasarte Restaurant Barcelona

If you ever find yourself in Barcelona looking for a very special restaurant or wanting a night you'll never forget, look no further than Lasarte. This two star Michelin restaurant customizes a tasting menu based on your preferences, and provides your own printed menu to take home and remember your evening forever. While the tasting menu comes with a hefty price tag of €165 a person, it is well worth it for an incredible culinary experience. Believe me, I still salivate thinking of our ten course meal, and it's been over a year since that magical night. From foie gras to truffles and seafood, each delicate plate comes out looking like a work of art, and bursts with unimaginably fantastic flavors! 

Pardon the iPhone photos, but I had to share some of the most beautiful plates from the evening.

Prettiest salad I've ever eaten

Foie gras

Prawn

Home yolk with truffle

French toast with coffee creme

JetSet Coco at Wynwood Life

This Friday through Sunday JetSet Coco will be participating in the Wynwood Life festival! Come say hi and check out all our vintage clothing and accessories, and see our latest handbag designs. For all you local Miami fashionistas looking for a great time, come to Wynwood Life and surround yourself with local vendors, fashion, art, food, and live music! This weekend only!

April Fools Sale

Weekend in Washington D.C.

Washington Monument

Of all the places I've traveled and lived around the world, it's hard to believe that it took me until last weekend to visit our country's capital. Yes, I'm ashamed of that fact... but at least I finally went! And I loved it. After a late night flight, we went to the historic restaurant Old Ebbitt Grill for some delicious seafood and drinks. The next morning, we took a nice long stroll from our quirky boutique hotel Helix to see the monuments and The White House. It was amazing to see such iconic monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument at the National Mall.

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln

Korean War Memorial

We worked up an appetite walking downtown, so we headed to the adorable neighborhood of Georgetown to eat brunch at the very popular Viennese restaurant Kafé Leopold. Since we were traveling with a friend from Vienna, she was beyond excited to eat here because it's the sister to the original Kafe Leopold in Austria. The food was delicious- I had moules frites, and as we sat al fresco in the sun, I almost believed I was back in Europe! There was a long wait to be seated, so we had the chance to walk through the enchanting streets of historical Georgetown, and pop into some of the great fashion and home decor shops. I wish I could have spent all weekend in Georgetown, I just love it there!

Streets of Georgetown

After brunch and brews, we headed to the artsy town of Alexandria to check out the Torpedo Factory Art Center, a massive three level art space and gallery shops. Alexandria is such a cute waterfront town, with a nice grassy park, a steamboat, and harbor to check out. King Street, the main street off of the Torpedo Factory is full of fashion and home decor shops, as well as some restaurants. It made for a great afternoon shopping, strolling, and looking at a variety of types of art. 

steamboat in Alexandria

King Street Alexandria

Next, we headed to the eclectic neighborhood Adams Morgan, where the hipsters play, and you can find about any ethnic restaurant under the sun. We checked out a few rooftop bars for an afternoon beverage. There's a chill atmosphere in this part of town, with artistic graffiti all over the walls, and endless restaurants in brownstone buildings. This was another of my favorite areas to spend some time in D.C. For dinner, we went to the trendy and popular Greek and Turkish meze restaurant Zaytinya, which is backed by the fabulous restauranteur José Andrés. It's one of those places to see and be seen, for a late night dinner.

Adams Morgan

Adams Morgan

Adams Morgan

The following morning, we ate at the very popular brunch joint Founding Farmers. Well worth the hour plus wait. We frittered the last few hours in D.C. at the Smithsonian. You could spend days popping in and out of all the museums, but since we only had less than two hours to spare, we checked out the most iconic museum, the American History Museum. The exhibit that most caught my eye was The First Ladies. What an exquisite display of fashion from the 18th century to today, including many of the First Ladies' Inaugural Ball gowns. I could have spent a whole afternoon here soaking up inspiration and drooling over the amazing vintage dresses and accessories. Find photos and descriptions of the whole collection here. See some of my favorite dresses below.

Grace Coolidge's dresses 1920's

Nancy Reagan 1981

Betty Ford 1975 & Rosalynn Carter 1977

Pat Nixon 1969

Grace Coolidge flapper style 1920s

Smithsonian

Happy First Day of Spring!

To celebrate the first day of spring, I am throwing a 20% off sale at Vintage JetSet now through March 25th with coupon code SPRINGSPRUNG20!

Click here to view our fabulous colorful spring vintage dresses, skirts, and accessories!

Winter Weekend in Palm Springs

Ace Hotel Mountain View

I'm a little late on this post, but I had the great joy of visiting Palm Springs over my Christmas holiday. I used to go there for weekends as a kid just a couple hour drive from San Diego. Flying into Palm Spring's airport was a totally new experience, and I have to say that the entirely outdoor mid century modern airport is my new favorite, and I hope to fly there again soon!

We checked into our suite at the fabulous Riviera Hotel, just a short walk to the main drag of Palm Springs, Palm Canyon Drive. Everything at this hotel from the perfectly decorated rooms, to the bars, pool and lobby are absolutely fabulous! I mean... even their outdoor hallway wall is covered with fauna, and the pool table bedazzled with millions of crystals. Just an amazingly designed hotel.

 

After checking in, we took the convenient Riviera red trolly to the main stretch of Palm Canyon Drive only to do the most touristy thing, photograph the larger than life Marilyn Monroe. Then, we shopped til we dropped, and refueled with drinks and lunch at the ever popular Lulu bistro, the perfect place to people watch al fresco. Then, we hit up some phenomenal mid century modern home furnishings and clothing stores such as No.6 and Retrospect, both with unique inventory and wonderful owners to chat with and get the insider scope of the town. 

 

While wandering around all day, we scouted the most amazing restaurant called Workshop Kitchen + Bar, and they were just able to squeeze us in for a dinner reservation. The food and concrete modern decor were amazing, but best yet was the bar with specialty speakeasy style cocktails, and an even more amazing bar manager who was passionate about every ingredient and origin of the libations. Good thing the bar kicked ass, because we waited there for about two hours, even with a reservation...

Workshop Kitchen + Bar

The next day we woke up bright and early to embark on a self guided mid century modern architecture tour! I'm not one to awkwardly sit on a tour bus with white haired strangers listening to a guide on a microphone, so we found an awesome online map and guide of all the sites to hit in town,  and hopped in the rental car, coffee in hand. First stop was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes you in a cable car to the top of the mountain for incredible views of the desert.

 

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

 

 

Next, we drove around the incredible streets at the foot of the mountain, where all the most posh mid century modern houses reside near Las Palmas, including Elvis' Honeymoon Hideaway and the Kaufmann House. Then we finished the tour with the Wexler Steel Houses.

Elvis' Honeymoon Hideaway

  

 

 

 

Kaufmann House

With all the drooling over the incredible mid century modern houses, we worked up an appetite and parked it at the most popular breakfast spot in town, Cheeky's. The food was pretty good, and it came out right away, which was great so we could hang out for cocktails at the awesome joint next door Birba. The courtyard and mountain views at this place are so inviting, I could have stayed all day sipping on delicious drinks, but we had more shopping to attend to. No visit to any town for me is complete without a little thrifting, and I found some great vintage at Angel View. Of course, there are high end vintage options like Deja Vu Vintage, but who wants to pay that high of prices when you could hunt for treasures at the thrift store instead?

Birba

We wound down that Mid Century Modern packed day pool side under heat lamps at the Riviera SideBar with live music, flowing cocktails, and delicious snacks.

Final destination in Palm Springs- breakfast at King's Highway at the ever fabulous Ace Hotel for a hearty portion of biscuits and gravy before the drive to Orange County. That hotel just never disappoints. Ever. Perfect way to end a fabulous weekend getaway in Palm Springs.

 

King's Highway