Art Basel Miami Beach - 2010

This year I was finally able to take in some of the Art Basel festivities swirling about Miami.  The air is filled with an almost tangible creative electricity and the whole world comes to plug  in.  Here are a few of my favorite pieces...

My kinda party!

Somewhere over the rainbow

On a recent bareboat sailing trip in the BVIs I woke up one morning to this beautiful sight.  I could sure use the pot o'gold at the end of it!

WoW

Recently I had the good fortune of being invited to the W Retreat & Spa - Vieques Island for a long weekend getaway.  One of only a few in the world, it was a little piece of heaven in the Caribbean.  One need not travel to Bora Bora to get that South Pacific experience.  My  mornings consisted of waking up with yoga on the beach, followed by a scrumptious brunch at miX, by Alain Ducasse.  Afternoons were spent lounging by the pool with a crowd plucked from the pages of wallpaper*, or floating my worries away in the crystal clear Caribbean.  Dinner at El Quenepo was a definite highlight....creative, exotic, tantalizing fusion cuisine.  Unfortunately, at the time I was there the spa was not fully functional.  I know have a good excuse to return.  This was my first experience with the wonderful world of the W, but it won't be the  last.  

Look what the Postman delivered

Check out this cool iPhone app called POSTMAN. It allows you to create and send virtual postcards, post them to Facebook, etc. Here are a few from trips this past year.

Leap of Faith

OK...so I thought I was going to start blogging again....oops! I've been a little busy traveling this past year. I'm currently laid up for a few weeks, recovering from a recent surgery, so I have plenty of time on my hands. Let's give it another try...

My most recent adventure took me to South Africa. The two motivating factors prompting me to subject myself to a 16 1/2 hour non-stop flight were doing the world's tallest bridge bungee jump and sand-boarding in Betty's Bay...mission accomplished!

I'm back!

I've taken a very long and unintentional hiatus from my blog but...I'm back. I realized that this is a great way for me to exercise my brain cells a bit with some (hopefully) creative writing and picture-posting. This year is quickly coming to a close and I've been lucky to have done quite a bit of traveling so sit back, relax, grab a cocktail and enjoy the new posts.

Barcelona Nights!

Desperately in need of a long-weekend getaway my partner and I decided to go to Barcelona, one of my favorite cities in the world.  It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it didn't take me long to put together a fantastic 3-day itinerary.  Having been to Barcelona several times before, we wanted to scope out the city that may be our  home away from home in the future.  I booked a room at the B Hotel .  It was totally my style... hi-tech & minimalist but warm, with an awesome roof-top infinity pool and lounge that overlooked Placa d'Espanya.  As soon as we arrived at the hotel we dropped our stuff and headed off to Aire de Barcelona for a few hours of uninterrupted sybaritic bliss.  It was a brand new Arab-style bath / spa that I had read about online and wanted to check out.  Whenever I travel medium to long haul, I like to go right from the airport to a spa, or get a massage.  For me it really helps to de-stress and diminish the effects of jet lag.   I also found a new online resource for restaurants, bars, clubs, shopping, etc. from the Easyjet website.   We went to two of the restaurants that were recommended, Balthazar and Bar Ra,  and were pleasantly surprised.  The small description the website gave for both was very accurate.   I will definitely be using this resource again in the future.  

Fortunately the US $ has gained some on the Euro so I did a bit of  shopping.  One place I had read about in wallpaper* and wanted to check out was Xocoa.  I loaded up on their funky chocolate flavors like white chocolate with lemon, chocolate with green tea, and various dark chocolate bars with rose petals, wasabi, or chili.   I plan to have a little wine and chocolate party soon!  

It was a fantastic break from our crazy lives back in Miami.  Barcelona is a city I could easily see myself living in a few years from now.   It is a city full of energy and incredible architecture; a place I like to describe as funky, hip, quirky, sophisticated, and on the cutting-edge.   If things keep going the way they are back here in the Unites Slaves of America, I may find myself living there sooner rather than later.