Fifi does horses!! Beautifully, I might add...

Oh...what a bountiful day...

Fifi of Fifi flowers fame, painted a beautiful picture

of Our

Daughter Olivia riding Sammie of red ribbon on her tail fame at her last show.

We won her giveaway, and she is sending

us 10 notecards of the painting.

I LOVE Fifi's work...so whimsical and charged with color.

A fun and gorgeous style all her own...

So FiFi!

I mean, come on...is this not edibly beautiful?!

YOU can own a Fifi original too! She will do commissions...stunning...

She has delightful, original Christmas cards

and...she will continue her giveaway till the end of the year...so do enter a favorite picture here,

it could be your lucky day too!

Thanks FiFi...Love it, can't wait to get the cards!!!

We are off to the Palm Beach Steeplechase event...A

great fundraiser on a beautiful day...

Cheers...

...A beautiful peaceful day to each and every one of YOU

as the Thanksgiving weekend

slowly melts away...

Photo: Flickr

Simply...

::Thankful::

The best to you

and yours...

this glorious

Thanksgiving day!

Shaken...not stirred

Ready for a little escape... to a historic villa

nestled among

tropical forests , verdant gardens...maybe

perched on a seaside bluff overlooking the Caribbean?

Go ahead...put a little distance between yourself and the rest of the world.

you've earned it.

The lifestyle is pure Jamaican...

Relaxed...

a bohemian rhythm and tempo.

Jamaican easy...

Jamaican Breezy...

The Goldeneye resort is a historic venue ...built as a secluded retreat in the 1940's.

Adding to the allure and cachet...

It is the home where Ian Fleming wrote all of his James Bond novels.

and where... more recently,

Sting wrote 'Every Breath You Take'.

It offers a window to a different world...
surrounded by dense tropical vegetation

a private world...all of it's own.

Crisp ironed white linens...open windows and doors

with intoxicating white sanded views...

Outdoor showers and baths....bathing in the lush

tropical foliage... come on...you can do it!

Just the place 007 would head for a little R&R....

The Goldeneye...

Shaken, not stirred.

For the love of Grapefruit!

We live in grapefruit country.

Not unusual to see a huge 16 wheel semi carrying a whole

passel of shiny golden-yellow fruit from grove to packing house...to shipping point.

Fresh cut grapefruit is an intoxicating smell.

awakening, refreshing...even tingling. Not sweet or subdued...but rife with the pungent panic of life... NOW! Live now! Awake now!

I was tickled pink to win The Inspired Room's recent give away of

an Urban Botanic Scent fest. Oh!

It arrived yesterday. A simple and gorgeous white electric scent pot, with three vials

of essentail oils. Grapefruit, Mandarin and Pomegranite

Just three drops of the Grapefruit essence surrounded my entire kitchen with a very natural and lifting fragrence of FRESH CUT GRAPEFRUIT! No imitation or cloying smell...just the reality of zest. Fresh and clean.

Beautiful.

The mandarin vial was just as natural smelling, the pomegranite had a tad more kick.

What fun we had layering them. a drop of this...two of that..a whisper of this.

I LOVE this idea.

Thank you, thank you Inspired Home for gifting me...and Urban Botanics for inspiring me.

...now I want to buy some as gifts......but how to choose from the bevy of scents!

Love it!

A simple chair story

It was at a yard sale...all alone.

$5.00.

I brought it home in its golden ratan color. Old florida...

well, mid-florida.Think Golden Girls

Last weekend I gave it a fresh coat of black/brown depth.

plopped some pillows that were leftover from another couch...

they fit... somewhat.

...and gave it a new home in the ever-changing

Living room.

I thought...not bad for $5 bucks...

You know...re-use, re-purpose....

Then.....

He found it.

'Nuff said.

Bali High.....

....And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery....

~Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

...The poetic beauty of Bali~

Island of the Gods.

photos:PT.Wijaya

Ghost of a dress...

Ghost of a dress....a gorgeous piece of original art

could be yours...could be mine. Yes, I like the sound of that.

Diane at Inspiration By Design

is offering up her most favorite work as a giveaway...simply go to her blog and post a comment....you will find the details here....Don't walk...run! This is a beautiful, original work of art...I already have a place for it in my abode...you should too!

Beautiful, wistful, ethereal

I am feeling overly lucky lately.

Pinch me. Buy a lottery ticket. Do both!

I recently won the gorgeous Barefoot in Paris book from What's for dinner...and just found out that , also, just won a great Scented oil gift set from Urban Botanical via the Inspired Room.

See!! If I can,You can win too. really, really you can, Dorothy.

Try.

you have nothing to lose.

What a bountiful place this imaginary world of blogging truly is.

Garden lighting...

Not Christmas lights. Soon, but not yet...

But different wall lights for a more tropical look

I'm in love with some of these...

Designed by Made Wijaya, Uber talented Landscape Architect and author

Any you simply cannot live without??

photos: Made Wijaya

Paris...with Pj's on...

So...this morning I went to Paris...Barefoot and in PJ's.

Yesterday's mail brought a delicious surprise from Deanne

at What's for Dinner? blog

What a treat...this morning I read it cover to cover

...Not sure I have EVER done that with a cookbook before!

My third year in college, I went to Paris to study abroad.

It filled my senses...It was all so intoxicating

This book brought it all back.

Poilane...The most luscious Boullangerie in France!

The good news...They will fedEx their famous four pound loaf to your door for only

$35 http://www.poilane.com/

Can't visit the city without sampling the grape...

La Derniere Goutte...a jewel of a wine store in the center of Paris


Oh! French Cookware...Made to last!


Copper pans, Le crueset pots, tart pans...everything for the french cook.

Dehillerin...the top restaurant supply store for all Parisian chefs!



A fellow student was taking a cooking class at the cordon bleu at the time..

I remember accompanying her to this fantastic store.

I've never looked at a restraunt supply place the same!

A little side trip to a funky little place...In the West of France

Look at the size of that timepiece....fills his garden!

So, what does this have to do with the Barefoot Contessa, you may ask?

Nothing...reading it brought me to my fave french shelter mag

Cote Maison...

Which brought me to this great bohemian atelier of

Frédéric Tabary,

décorateur spécialiste du style métal et patines (what he said)


What an inspiring place to create, eh?

This kitchen is full of personality and flavor.

An antique shower pan is his sink. Really? Yes.

Atelier photos: Guillaume DeLaubier

So...Deanne...How does Steak a poivre sound for dinner tonight?

Thank you!

A new entrance...

We are working on a new garden entrance.

Inspiration

and a reminder of fall in the tropics...

GREEN.

...and sunny.

Ode to a Key Lime Tree...

One mothers day about 4 years ago

I was gifted with a beautiful and prolific key Lime Tree.

It was big and bountiful...and was carefully planted in the back yard.

It supplied us with juicy, gorgeous yellow/green key limes

just about all year round.

Lime-Ginger soda: 1 lime and a couple of pieces of fresh ginger...add club soda

Heaven in a glass...and good for ya too! Try it...I'll wait.

Anyway, This trusty green friend had the fury of one too many hurricanes unleashed upon it...

It started to produce less and less fruit.

This spring it had a resurgence and gave us about 4 or 5 tiny

delectable limes...I thought It was coming back.

But it didn't

That was it's last valiant effort. It died soon after.

Thinking of something I could do with the kitchen chandelier...

that would last through the holidays, I brought the lime branches inside...

and started adding them to the light.

I present to you....

Our new Key Lime Brancholier

decked out in some autumn splendor.

will probably hold Christmas ornaments later

Yep...certainly prefered it the other way....

....But, thats the way the Lime Tree falls.

Poor little guy.