Vieux San Juan

Puerto Rico was a fascinating territory to explore. I know several folks from Puerto Rico and have always been impressed with their sense of pride for their country. There is a ton of natural beauty in Puerto Rico- particularly as you move outside of San Juan. On the other hand, there is also a lot of poverty in the country.

One of my favorite parts was touring Old San Juan. While discovered in the mid 1400s, the city was first "settled" by the Spanish in the early 1500s. Old San Juan has maintained much of the colonial Spanish Architecture.

This is the city wall built around Old San Juan. Love the contrast of the wall and the newer bank building.

Can't show old San Juan and miss the San Jose church, which hopefully will be undergoing renovation. I LOVE the lines of this building... and see the quatrafoil!

More quatrafoil.. and fantastic arches.

And look at the beautiful mosaic and intricate detailing here.

Can a doorway get any better than this?

And this is the view through the doorway. I love the plaster walls, dark wood bannister, tiled stairwell. Gorgeous.

And THESE are shutters.

Love the varied bright colors and all the balconies.

My dream house includes a bedroom with a balcony like this-- love the idea of opening the doors and having sheer drapes billowing about.

And just beyond these beautiful buildings is the sea...

Hope you enjoyed the mini-tour. Have a great week!

Emmie

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All Modern Giveaway Winner and Puerto Rico

Thank you to those who entered the giveaway! I was thrilled to do it and hope to offer future ones. And a huge thanks to CSN stores for sponsoring this event. Check them out for any household needs from barstools to pillows to fruit bowls!


The winner is LindsB, the first commenter, who selected the gorgeous Blomus bowl.
It couldn't have gone to a sweeter gal!

I am uploading my hundreds of pictures from this week in Puerto Rico. Most are work-related and unless you're interested in my "corporate espionage" the photos aren't that exciting (believe me, it sounds MUCH more scintillating than it actually is). I did take a morning of downtime today, however, to walk Old San Juan.

I realize this is not a travel blog (but given my travel of late, perhaps it should be!) but I'll do a follow-up post tomorrow with musings from my trip. One last big one next week- this time to the Great White North.

Take care!

Emmie

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My First Giveaway- AllModern Home Unique Options for the Guest Bedroom

I'm thrilled to offer to you my first giveaway, courtesy of AllModern Home, part of CSN stores, who sells everything from barstools and bar accessories to modern bedding and bunk beds. Carrying on with my home decor theme, I thought it'd be fun to showcase several items designed originally for the kitchen, but equally (in my humble opinion) at home in the guest room.

One lovely guest suggested a tray for my collection of things. I've become a big fan of trays of late but never have found the right one. Here are a few options that I think would work well!

Alessi Ufficio Tecnico Alessi 11.81" Mercurio Round Tray

Another option (which also happens to microwave and oven safe!).

Working Class Studio Un Petit Tour de Lacoste Ceramic Platter, illustration by SCAD professor Allan Drummond

Perhaps a bowl to corrall some mints, candy, other bits and pieces? Love the green and white in this one.

Rosenthal Suomi Rangoon 22 oz. Multi-Functional Bowl (note: one bowl)

Or maybe this little number with some fresh fruit (or flowers) by the bed.

Blomus Ondea Round Bowl

And of course, we can't forget a carafe. All Modern has several great ones, but these stuck out to me.

Artecnica tranSglass® Lidded Carafe

Which item could you use in your guest bedroom (or master bed, or kitchen...). Please leave a comment and let me know which items you'd love to have. Deadline for entry is Thursday at 9:00AM Eastern Standard Time and I will announce the winner on Friday! Rules for entry: you must be a follower; if you do not have a blog with contact info, please leave me your email address!

I hope y'alls week is off to a great start! Again, thank you so much for your patience during my crazy travel schedule, failure to comment on your great blogs, and lack of consistent posting. I've left Florida and headed farther South to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I just switched hotels - after first one kept losing power. (PS, if anyone knows the brand manager for the Waldorf Astoria properties, I'd love to chat with them!).

-Emmie

READ MORE - My First Giveaway- AllModern Home Unique Options for the Guest Bedroom

A Look at my "Sea" room... and All Modern giveaway preview

Back when I was actually blogging ;-), I wrote my list of recommended items for hosting guests. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of my hostess preparations. I'm out of town AGAIN and have "Auntie DiDi" staying with our dogs. While our friend is doing a "service" for us, I certainly want her to feel welcome in our home so I employ the same strategies for her as when planning for guests (although I forgot the fresh flowers, so it's not quite perfect). Also, I dangled the carrot of a giveaway last week but did not give any details- I'm thrilled to offer a choice of several great items from All Modern- great pieces that can be used in the kitchen or in creating a perfect guest room space.

Without further adieu, here is one of our guest rooms, which I affectionately nicknamed the "Sea" room, aka the "C" room, or the first letter of our last name.

Here's an overview of the room.

WOW that ceiling fan light looks bright.

OK, there are some flowers- my faux orchids here (they're not too bad are they?) along with the bottle of water. I'm using a bottle of water as I haven't decided on the bedside carafes I'd like for the guest bedroom. Dresser is an antique, from one of my grandparent's guest rooms, that I'm considering painting white (again, much to Mr. Southern's dismay). Parasols, in the silver vase, are from our wedding.

Slightly different angle, but you see the bedding.

And a close-up of one of the pillows I won on Completely Coastal's Giveaway from OBX Trading Group! I LOVE these and they are so perfect for this room.

Here is the other pillow from OBX Trading Group/Completely Coastal, resting on the chair in the corner of the room. Seriously, weren't these pillows MADE for this room?!

A look at the bedside table- an end table I bought and now repurposed. Shell lamp from my grandmother, magazines, a book, candle, and mini framed photo.

The bed again. I need to frame the artwork I bought from Jean and put above the bed to add some visual height.

I welcome any suggestions on the room- especially the painting of the dresser! My inspiration is from Traditional Home's First Nest article featuring designer Suzanne Grua McGrath and daughter Laren McGrath.

Hope y'all are having a great week!

Emmie

READ MORE - A Look at my "Sea" room... and All Modern giveaway preview

Living it up at South Beach

Just returned from Miami, Florida for the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. This is one of my favorite festivals of the year and I'm fortunate enough to be able to attend several of the great events. On Thursday, we went to Rachael Ray's Burger Bash. You can see Rachael (sort of) below as she she thanks the sponsors of the event. That haze you see is not from my poor photo skills- the tent gets really smoky. With the chilly weather in Miami this year though, I was thankful for any heat source I could find!

Last year I got to meet Bobby Flay... and this year... !

Here we are! It was a fantastic event- each of the 27 restaurants had their own kitchen/booth and served their take on the best "burger." The place was PACKED and it was difficult to navigate the tent- especially being part of a 10-person group. via YumSugar

Chefs in attendance (and cooking) included Spike Mendelsohn, Morimoto, Michael Symon, and Rocco DiSpirito. I think my favorite was David Burke's Primehouse- a 40 Day Dry Aged Burger - With Cheddar, Cripsy Shrimp, Pickle Chipotle Mayo, Maple Pepper Bacon and Pickled Watermelon Skewer... but I LOVED Spike's cotton candy milkshake. Blackberry Farm attended this year (with a fabulous Bacon-Beef Burger with Chow Chow, Pimento Cheese, Ramp Mayonnaise and Pickled Okra on Potato Onion Bread and a side of baked peanuts). Admittedly, I voted for their burger as I just got so excited for the Southern representation. Get more details here at Burger Beast (they must have avoided the Amstel Light and the Columbia Crest reserve wines and brought a notebook or something... their notes are impressive!) or at Mango and Lime.

We ended the evening here...

Rose Bar at the Delano via CoolJunkie

Friday was lunch at Emeril's place at the Lowe's Hotel. Isn't this view fantastic?

The service here has always been fabulous, and this year was no exception. The gumbo was awesome and perfect for restoring some semblance of normalcy to my poor body after the evening prior. No sighting of Emeril... until later in the day!

We attended the for-the-trade tasting that afternoon. The line for our glass and gift bag- which you must get before entering the tent- was crazy long (you can see the tent in the distance)...

but with views like this, it is hard to complain!


The line wrapped around to the street, so we took in the scenes from Ocean Drive...


The intent of the Trade Tasting is that folks in the industry get a chance to try some of the Reserve wines and spirits available in the market. Over time, this event has turned into a free-for-all with people getting smashed. While this may look like a grown-up drinkfest, it was great to speak with some of the winemakers and other experts about the different types of wine they produce. And see a few "familiar" faces...

That evening was the BubbleQ, this year sponsored by Perrier Jouet and hosted by Emeril Lagasse. photo via SOBE Food and Wine

Same tent as the Rachael Ray event- only this time, it's Champagne and BBQ. I was smarter this night and broke away from the group with two other guys to try to make it through as much of the tent as possible. Tim Love, from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Ft Worth had my favorite dish- lamb belly BLT.

Todd English was graciously taking photos (our group had grabbed a table in front of his booth)


but Emeril was a little harder to nab. But how cool to see him working!

Again, the evening was dominated by the who's who of FoodTV, but great to see some other familiar faces like Al Roker! Some of the Bravo Real Housewives of NYC were in town apparently- saw photos of Bethenny at the BubbleQ event, while Kelly attended the Best of the Best.photo via SOBE Food and Wine

Despite the $$ tickets (even more than the Burger Bash) the tent was packed with people overflowing outside both ends of the tent.

My hosts also got us VIP tickets to the Svedka event that evening so we went out like dancing queens...We had a fantastic wine educational seminar Saturday morning hosted by Wine Spectator at the Gansevoort South (yes, we began with sampling Pommery at 10 o'clock in the morning). Of all the events, this one is the most serious educational one and for any wine lover, just an unbelievable experience. (Sidenote, you MUST spit to get through the event with your senses in tact).

While I had an incredible time, by Saturday afternoon, I was missing Mr. Southern terribly and couldn't wait until Sunday evening to head home. After a tearful phone call, I booked a last-minute flight back to Atlanta and enjoyed Saturday evening on the couch with the fam. So much for being a rock star... that spot is where I'd much rather be!

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