Shops in Seaside, FL

Stealing an afternoon away from the beach, kids and husbands, my friend Amy and I decided to go shopping in Seaside, Florida.  It's about 8 miles west of Rosemary Beach, where our families were spending a week of vacation.

We had already been to Seaside a couple of nights earlier where we ate at Great Southern Cafe, located right on the central square.  I had the Crab Cakes and Fried Green Tomatoes, and several at our table had the Grits à Ya Ya.  Now I confess, I don't much care for grits, but I have to admit these were good.  But then again, how can you go wrong with anything made with smoked Gouda cheese... yum.

Here's the whole gang.

This was the table across from us... I really like the composition of black and white photos.

Interestingly enough, one special little treat could be found in the restroom of Great Southern.  Sounds odd, I know, but they had this wonderful coconut scrub.  I didn't ask where I could get it, but I did end up finding something very similar at Pish Posh Patchouli's in Rosemary Beach.  This is an apothecary boutique filled with wonderful smelling products.  When I told the salesperson that I had been at a restaurant in Seaside that had something similar in the bathroom, she knew exactly which restaurant I was talking about.  I bought the Coconut Shea Butter Scrub which is locally made.  It leaves your hands feeling oh so soft and smelling delicious.  

So back to the shopping in Seaside.
There were some really cool stores in Ruskin Place filled with art, antiques, clothing & accessories, and of course, beachy paraphernalia.  I will share the ones that really stood out to me, but you will just have to go discover the rest for yourselves.  :)

The Art of Simple is a fun little shop filled with seashells and artifacts as well as original art made by local artists, including the owners.  I love the way they merchandised all of their products on big tables.  It made you want to start a collection of something.  I bought some really pretty starfish that I'm planning to display with the seashells I picked up on the beach.

Another place I really enjoyed perusing through was Fusion, an art glass gallery.  There were some very unique and gorgeous pieces of glass in there.  See.....

But what I ended up getting at Fusion was a little treat for myself.  I bought a Swarovski Crystal ring made by Kelly Colleen.  What I  love  about this particular ring and her whole collection really, is that the band is stretchy so one size fits all.  The designer came up with the design when she was pregnant and her fingers were swollen (oh yes, I remember those days).  The beauty of it is that you can buy it as a gift and not worry about sizing.  It's also great for the retailer because they don't have to stock a bunch of different sizes..... I am always thinking about the retailer's perspective!
Check out her website to see all the styles, but here is a picture of the one I got.

Mine is the Tanzanite, which is the slate bluish one on the upper left side.
Photo courtesy of kellycolleen.com

We stopped in Albert F's home, garden and gift store and found another little gem - this one being the artist type.  Her name is Brittany Fuson and she designs very fashionable paper products, like note cards, note pads, and prints.  The prints are all the store carried, but it definitely made me want to see more of her work, so I had to check out her website Brittany Fuson Paper.  Her fashion design background is the inspiration of her designs as all of her subjects have these gorgeously tall silhouettes with a signature single long eyelash.  All of her work is fun and whimsical and every girl needs a little bit of that in life, so check out her website and pick something out for yourself and a friend!  I just LOVE this!

courtesy of BrittnayFusion.com

The last little shop is Duckies Shop of Fun.  Both my friend Amy and I have girls so we stopped in just to see what they might have for them.  Well, I can't tell you how many times we stopped each other as we walked around to say, "oh, how cute, look at this" and "come over here, I want to show you something".  The hair accessories, dresses, and bags they carry use the cutest fabrics.  They also had nice whimsical art work to decorate a kids room, toys, games, t-shirts and hats.  Oh yeah, and they also had a big display of rubber duckies. :)  Very cute store, so glad our girls weren't with us when we went so they wouldn't distract us!

courtesy of shopduckies.blogspot.com

Rosemary Beach, FL

Three months ago I had never even heard of Rosemary Beach, Florida and now here I am, spending a week's vacation with my family.

My very good friend Amy had been determined to have a beach vacation for quite some time, and when Amy is on a mission, she will prevail.  So with a bit of research on VRBO, she found the perfect house to rent... big enough to accommodate two families.  So we were the lucky "other" family to go with them.  As it turns out, my husband has been really wanting a beach vacation too, and since I am the Official Vacation Planner for our family, I can tell you the beach was the last place I'd plan for a vacation.  I'm more of a city girl for vacations.  I know, I know, most people would think I'm crazy, but the thought of sun burns, and sand getting in everything, and squiggly squirmy things touching me in the water just doesn't appeal to me.
But I digress.

For all of you beach fans (who probably hate me right now), I will let you know that this story has a happy ending.  Yes, I can tell you now, after a full week at the beach, that I LOVED it!

Of course, I am now completely spoiled for what a beach vacation should entail.  The house we stayed in was located in a gated community with a private walkway about 100 yards from the beach (need I say more?).

Even though each day we had quite a bit of beach paraphernalia to carry, the walk was close enough that it wasn't a big deal.  The beach itself was very clean and was covered with soft, white sand.  The mornings were my favorite time because it was so quiet and empty.

The character of the neighborhood was darling, each house having a unique combination of colors.  Our bedroom was on the third floor which I loved because of the view of the rooftops.

Although I did spend everyday at the beach with the family, I had to take one afternoon for myself to go venture around the town of Rosemary Beach.  It was about a five minute walk on Hwy 30A to the shops.

Town Hall

My goal was not to shop, but just to walk around quietly and enjoy the architecture and design of the town.

However, there was one beautiful design shop that I found called Tracery.  I loved the way they created various vignettes throughout the store.  It was not a large space, but each area felt like a room of its own.  It had an eclectic feel, mixing new furniture with vintage pieces and natural artifacts, like seashells and driftwood.  They also had quite a bit of mercury glass bottles and votive holders, which I have become quite fond of in recent years.

The color scheme included variations of purples, grays, and neutrals, along with it's complimentary yellow.  There were other colors mixed in too, as you can see, but these are the colors that set the mood.

As it turns out, this is one of two stores, the other is in Alabama.  But beyond this, Tracery is an interior design firm.  Check out their website Tracery to see their portfolio.


As I continued on my walk, I also found a couple of restaurants that I wanted to come back to with my husband.

The bonus of going on a family vacation with another family is that you have built-in, trustworthy babysitters for a date night.  So the next evening for our date, Lance and I walked to the shops area to check out the restaurants I had found earlier.  The first was La Crema.... a tapas restaurant.  Since we spent our honeymoon in Spain, we celebrate every wedding anniversary by eating at a tapas restaurant.  La Crema has an outside patio area and the smell that was waffling through the air was amazing.

But since our anniversary is in May and this was August, and we were at the beach, we decided to eat at a seafood restaurant called Paradis.   It was dark and romantic - perfect for a date night.

Excuse the graininess of the following camera-phone photos.  It was a date after all, so I didn't have my Nikon with me. :)

They used a lot of mercury glass throughout the space.

Mercury glass candle votive.

The hammered flatware was a nice touch of texture that coordinated with the decor.

For the appetizer we shared the Diver Scallops:

Scallops seared and served with wild mushrooms, sweet pea risotto and a carrot beurre blanc.

As an entree, I had the Stuffed Shrimp Paradis:

Grilled jumbo wild shrimp, crabmeat stuffed and pancetta wrapped.  Served with smoked cheddar corn souffle and red curry sauce.

Lance had the Paradis Grouper:

Grilled grouper over sauteed lobster orzo and fennel, roasted squash and a beurre blanc.

It was all delicious, but we felt as stuffed as the shrimp, so we decided not to have dessert.  We walked around the shopping area, found a little coffee shop and sat at the sidewalk tables.  Very relaxing evening... and a very relaxing vacation.

This may end up as this year's Christmas photo

So the moral of this story is to try new things and not be so set in your ways because you just might discover something new about the world around you or even yourself.

Until next time,

Shops in Taos, NM

I go to Taos, New Mexico once a year, and my favorite place to go when I'm there is the John Dunn Shops and Galleries.  The setting is a beautiful pedestrian walkway that's surrounded by some cool and very unique shops.  Here are a few of my favorites.

A must go-to spot, whether you have kids or not, is a toy store called Twirl.  They have some fun toys, games, and gifts for kids of all ages, but the best part of all is the playspace behind the store.  My kids always want to go there.  It's full of fun things to explore and interact with and it's completely free to use.   On top of that, I would bet that the outside space which doesn't sell anything except for snow cones, takes up more square footage than the inside retail space.  In retail every square inch counts, so this really makes an impression on me.   I highly recommend going just to check it out.

Really cool hand-painted murals on the play equipment.

These chimes are made from pipes, wrenches and oversize bolts. 

Another favorite store of mine is a fabric store called Common Thread.  They have some beautiful textiles from around the world.  They carry both new and antique fabrics which adds to the charm of the store.  You can buy some lovely fabrics and ribbons by the yard.  I really love the way they color coordinate their display tables - such eye candy for me is irresistable.

At the Taos farmers market, aside from the many different fruits and vegetables, flowers and soaps, you can find these beautiful handmade baskets from Ghana.  There was a small selection here, but I did find one that I had to have.  Last year when I was at the Santa Fe Flea Market there was a huge selection and I could not resist getting one there too.  I wish I took a picture of the selection because it was huge, but below are two that I have.  As you can tell, I just love the navy blue color, but there are other colors to choose from.  The best part about buying these baskets is that a certain amount of the proceeds go back to the women in Ghana who make them. 

Found this one at the Santa Fe flea market for $30.

Got this one at the Taos farmer's market for $25.

Didn't get this one in Eagle Nest for $50, but I just loved the unique shape of it.