Holiday Travels

I'm off on a holiday adventure to Lisbon, Portugal, Marrakech, Morocco and Madrid, Spain! Be back January 5th for lots of travel photos and updates!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

xoxo

Colleen

Manatee Spotting!

View from my balcony

I am so thrilled that I just saw a baby manatee from my balcony! It was amazing to see one of those friendly giants in the water right in front of my home. I ran down to the beach to follow it and get some more shots. What an amazing Florida experience!

Coming up for air

Dining in Marrakech

I discovered this incredible website called Best Restaurants Maroc that is basically like the Open Table of Morocco. It shows all restaurants in Marrakech, displays photos and menus of each restaurant, the contact information, and allows you to make reservations right online. This is the perfect tool I need to find a great restaurant for my family and I to eat at on New years Eve. There are so many incredible looking restaurants I'm going to have a tough time choosing just one! Luckily we'll be there for a week and will surely select more restaurants from this helpful website. I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the couscous, tagines, and Moroccan tea we will have!

Marrakech: Designer's Paradise

YSL exhibit at the Jardin Majorelle

Today I am doing some research on what to see in Marrakech, Morocco to prep for my week long stay there over New Years. It occurred to me that Marrakech has been an inspirational playground of some of the top couturiers and fashion designers of the past and present. I'm anxious to unlock the magic of Morocco that has inspired fashion collections for years. As I was looking up restaurants in this majestic city, I found that one restaurant, Dar Moha, has occupied French couturier Pierre Balmain's old vacation home. I am dying to dine in the courtyard by the pool, stroll through the mansion and marvel the designs Balmain used to create here. Coco Chanel frequented Marrakech for extended periods of time each year. Designer Yves Saint Laurent also found a design haven in Marrakech and had many vivaciously colorful collections in the 60's and 70's that reflect the "saharienne" Moroccan style. Currently, the Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco exhibit at the Jardin Majorelle is displaying 44 gorgeous designs from his ornately embellished Moroccan inspired collections. Yves Saint Laurent spent so much time at the Jardin Majorelle so much when he resided in Marrakech that he fixed it up in 1980 when it needed funding. Upon Laurent's death in 2008, a memorial was made in his honor in the stunning Jardin Majorelle. I'll have to pay my respects to this incredible designer and spend some time in his favorite garden. I look forward to being inspired by the same sights, colors, and Moroccan traditions as these late designers.

Yves Saint Laurent's memorial

Dar Moha, Balmain's old home

Now This is How A Closet Should Look

It's a girl's dream to have a big closet to display all her clothing and shoe treasures... and mine has finally come true! After years of hiding my belongings in tiny NYC hole in the wall closets, I finally have my own walk-in to display all my favorite fashions! This is the first time I can actually see every pair of shoes and boots I own without having to dig through an endless pit to complete a pair. My closet it just how it should be.. bright and embarrassingly pink, organized by color and silhouette, and full of style!

The Silver Chair Arrives!

We have been waiting for a month, what seems like forever, for this silver leather chair from Modani, and it finally arrived yesterday. It is such a ridiculous and extravagant piece of furniture that we couldn't resist adding it to our home decor. Very Hollywood glam!

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally feeling like our apartment is decorated and furnished enough to share some photos. It's taken a month of scouring basically every home furnishing store, flea market, and craigslist in Miami, but I'm really happy with the results so far. We're still waiting on the delivery of an amazing silver leather chair from Modani and bee hive storage from CB2, but it's basically complete. I scored all the artwork on the walls yesterday and went to town nailing today to get them all hung. I just got a white Yamaha piano today and couldn't be more excited to pick up my old hobby that city life made impossible! Hope you like the apartment as much as I do!!

The bedroom is finally almost complete!

My new piano... and my quick upholstery to cover the heinous bench underneath!

Bedroom

Oil painting done by my mom... the talented Diane O'Connell

Living Room

Martini table from West Elm and rug from Urban Outfitters

I love the new cheery bird series of paintings

I'm obsessed with our chandelier lamp from Modani!

Of course I had to bust out my favorite zebra again from NYC...

But he got a face-lift with new knobs

Jonathan Adler dishtowels? Why not!

Urban does it again! Cutest kitchen mat ever!

Kitchen counter tops are huge... so I got to play!

Entryway art... such a pain to hang!

Key Biscayne

As if Miami isn't tropical enough, we discovered a hidden little piece of paradise this weekend while aimlessly driving around in search of adventure. South of Miami Beach, the beautiful Key Biscayne is accessible via a long and scenic drive over the bridge of the Rickenbacker Causeway. Upon entrance to Key Biscayne, you immediately feel like you've been whisked away to somewhere tropical. A harbor with shacks boasting fresh caught fish snagged our attention and we decided to pull over to see what it was all about. We began talking to nice gentlemen of L & H Sportfishing, who charter boats for fishing trips daily. They shared sashimi of their fresh caught kingfish with us, a delicious white fish that I was delighted to try for the first time. Although we were tempted to buy some of their tasty catches of the day to cook for dinner, they convinced us to continue driving south to the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. We drove on and entered the state park, not knowing what to expect but hoping it was worth the trek. It certainly was! The entrance to the beach was only accessible by long wood covered bridges with giant fluffy cattails and wildflowers overrunning the sand. I expect these sort of picturesque beaches to exist in Cape Cod and the Hamptons, not in South Florida, so I was pleasantly surprised! As we strolled along the beach and saw sunbathers and kayaks for rent, the vague silhouette of a lighthouse could be seen in the distance. We worked up an appetite walking to the lighthouse, and decided to detour to the Boater's Grill restaurant, which offers delicious seafood with a Cuban flair right on the waterfront. Everyone was ordering the whole fried red snapper, the only thing to order there apparently because it is so amazing! We ended our fun adventuresome day enjoying a sangria and watching the sunset reflect on the water of No Name Harbor in front of the restaurant. It was the perfect closure to a fun day!

Harbor

Fresh catches of the day

This was too funny I couldn't resist...

Cute raccoon we spotted on the way to the beach

Beaches of Cape Florida

The lighthouse

Boater's Grill with amazing seafood and waterfront views