Escape to Jamaica: The Golden Eye Resort.

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Over the weekend, I was reading the December issue of InStyle magazine and saw a feature of Joy Bryant showing her being photographed at the famous Goldeneye Hotel and Resort in Oracabessa, Jamaica. I immediately went off into dreamland where I mentally whisked myself away from the icebox that was NC and propped myself at this tropically divine location(and in my native country too!) The Goldeneye Hotel &Resort, former home of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, recently  reopened in Jamaica.

 The founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, has owned the home and 15 surrounding acres since 1976, and recently reopened the resort after a two year long renovation. The Resort now features a 52-acre resort with 22 units, each with an outdoor shower and touch-screen sound system loaded with Island Records-produced music. Two new restaurants serve local cuisine, including ackee and saltfish for breakfast.  Over-lagoon suites start at $536. One of its new features is the FieldSpa, set on a lagoon(as shown above), where guests can enjoy therapeutic treatments.

Joy is obviously having a great time soaking up the sun at this dreamy locale.

My last vacation to Jamaica was about three years ago. We stayed at the Grand Lido(now known as Breezes Grand Resort and Spa) in Negril which is another superb hotel with outstanding amenities. However of late, I’ve been itching to take a vacation and escape to island bliss in Jamaica. Also, it’s not cold there!  I think Baby Z would love to visit Mommy and Daddy’s native country too. Thanks to Jude of Food and Life for spreading some island cheer in her tropical post yesterday! Two more days to go until Christmas! Yeah baby! Have a lovely Thursday everyone. XX

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Capturing Memories + Bellflowers Giveaway!

We do not remember days; we remember moments.
~ Cesare Pavese





These are pictures of a photo wall that I had created when we celebrated baby Z’s first birthday back in March of this year. There were at least eighty pictures that showed him from birth up until the point of his birthday. My camera is always with me to capture our lifestyle and essentially our memories. Daddy wasn’t around for the first birthday, but he was definitely on the photo wall and capturing the celebration with these pictures enabled him to still enjoy the details and feel apart of that special day!


And with that said, let me introduce to the lovely ladies of BellflowerBooks.com! They are experts in capturing your memories beautifully! Their site, BellflowerBooks.com helps people to easily create meaningful gifts to celebrate special occasions like weddings, significant birthdays, new babies, anniversaries and retirements. So fun!


Their website allows a group of people to work together to create a collaborative memory book full of letters and photographs. Their books are also perfect for documenting group/family vacations, childhood memories and for providing encouragement to people who are battling illness. The entire book is created online and professionally printed and bound. The end result is a beautiful 12 x12 hardcover book printed on 100 pound archival quality paper.


A few more things about www.BellflowerBooks.com :

• The company was started by two childhood friends.
• The Co-Founder and the  graphic designer are both stay-at-home moms.
• They are committed to donating books to people battling illnesses who are truly in need of some good wishes. They have partnered withwww.pinkribbongirls.org to raise awareness about their organization and to donate books to women in the organization currently undergoing treatment, reaching significant milestones (like 5 years of being cancer free) and to amazing volunteers.
• Their books are printed and bound in the U.S.A.
• They use 50% post-consumer materials to keep our product eco-friendly.

So, without further ado, I am thrilled to tell you that the winner of this giveaway will receive a $75 gift certificate to use on their site! In addition, these lovely ladies are giving all of you an additional discount of $20. Just enter BELLFLOWER20 at check out. Therefore, everyone is a winner! How awesome is that?  Just comment below and voila, you’ve been entered!

For additional entries:

• Follow Design Addict Mom
• Follow Bellflower’s blog
• Become a fan of their page on facebook

Giveaway ends Dec 21st! Good luck everyone!XX

I heart tufted.

As you can imagine, to say that i ‘m busy is putting it mildly-lots going on en mi vida ahora(in my life now).  I hope everyone had a great weekend(a bit late for that, I know). I’ve always admired tufted pieces, though I am yet to own a tufted piece of furniture. I do have tufted pillows though.  How about you? Are you sitting pretty on a tufted piece? Happy Tuesday everyone and a big warm welcome to my new followers! XX

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Painting Dilemna.

Drywall is going up in the new house, so I am at the stage where i need to pick my interior colours. However, the builder uses Sherwin Williams and while I have used Sherwin Williams and like their paints,  I wanted to use only Benjamin Moore paints. While i know Sherwin brand of paint colours are great, I've painted with both and prefer Benjamin Moore paint as I prefer the durability...I also  am partial to their Aura line. Do you think i'm  making a big deal? My painting allowance limits me to just two shades of paint. If i want to use more than two colours, then that is at an additional cost! I consider myself a professional painter, so it's painful for me to pay someone else a ton of money to paint. On the other hand, i would love to have the house painted in the colours i want before i move in. What do you all think? Should i just wait until i move in to paint the colours i want or suck it up and pay the extra to get it done now?
Click here to view the tour of this home that has the fun office featured in the pic above. BTW, all the wall colours in this tour are Benjamin Moore paint colours:-). Happy Thursday my lovelies! xx

Never Enough “Bling”

Noun: bling - flashy, ostentatious jewelry; "the rapper was loaded with bling" Of course,  although rappers may have made the term famous, one doesn’t have to be a rapper to adorn oneself in bling:-).

Aptly titled, Never Enough,  this editorial features Alessandra Ambrosio, photographed by Giampaolo Sgura and styled by Anna Della Russo for Vogue Nippon October 2010.

She certainly has swagger, doesn’t she? I salute you too chica!

Thank you all for the encouraging words regarding my move during the Holiday Season. I am definitely looking on the brighter side of things.  Back to the bling-I love to adorn or finish my look with at least one statement piece or bling. Depending on my outfit, I may go all out with the “bling  or never enough approach.  So, do you “bling” or not? XX

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Wishing but Have to Move Instead...

I have been wishing that this is the type of space that I would wake up to at this time of year or something very close to it.

However, unfortunately, this is my reality; boxes everywhere and chaos! We received an offer on our house just before our Connecticut trip. Since we returned home from the trip, we’ve been rounding up boxes from wherever we can find them for free(boxes are actually expensive!). We’ve been packing like crazy since we have a tentative closing date of January 6th. If I have been MIA on your blog, this is why! Also, did I mention that I’m also busy choosing items for the other house as well(the one being built) too.  I will show you the progress of that one soon. Now, we have to find an apartment to live for two to three months until the other house gets completed.

Instead of decorating my home for Christmas, I am stripping it of its contents. I fear there will be no Christmas tree for me this year-maybe a small table top one. Thankfully, we have tons of Christmas music on the iPod and the hubby’s computer to at least fill the air with some Christmas cheer!

How is your Christmas decorating coming along? I’m sure it’s not as dismal looking as mine. Happy Tuesday everyone! XX

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Décor Inspiration from Photographer, Patric Johansson.

I hope you all had a fun weekend with your loved ones. Did anyone spend almost the entire time bundled up indoors because of the blustery cold weather. I have to admit that if we didn’t have to head outside to run some errands, I would've spent the entire weekend wandering the house in my warmest pajamas, fuzzy hat and very warm and colourful socks. Not my best look, but the ensemble keeps me nice and warm!  Also, the cold and windy weather has continued into Monday. So, while I contemplate whether or not I should stay indoors(outfitted in one of my not so good looking but warm ensembles) or actually go out to keep the appointments that I have today, please enjoy some magnificent décor inspiration brought to you by the talented photographer, Patric Johansson.

Welcome to Monday my friends. I hope it's off to a great start! XX

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Oh the weather outside is frightful...

But the fire is so delightful…Yes, I am sure you know that song, Let it Snow, don’t you? I just thought it so appropriate for this breathtakingly picturesque photo! Or how about this one?:

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos…
I just love Christmas time, don’t you? Have a lovely weekend my friends and stay warm. XX

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