Stunning Capella Ixtapa Resort Spa in Mexico

Remember when I said to watch this space for more 'South America' posts? So here you go...For this weekend, we are heading to Capella Ixtapa in Mexico! :-) 

Capella Ixtapa is a five star hotel located in Ixtapa. The resort has the view of the beach and is full of the Mexican style that you will definitely enjoy. It is definitively a romantic retreat that will give you maximum relaxation!

The view of the beach is amazing, and you can enjoy sitting on the comfortable chaise lounges to enjoy the amazing view and the warm breeze. Hmmm...Lovely!

The whole hotel and its suites are made of wood, and you can see food and thatch everywhere which is really amazing and complements the natural style. Suites are luxurious and are furnished with the best designs. Thatch covers all ceiling, and all pieces of furniture are made of wood which reflects a cozy ambiance. 

Each suite has its private pool, and LCD. You will also find dining sets that overlook the beach, so that you can enjoy a nice dinner in this amazing atmosphere!

Plants and gardens are also widely spread in the hotel, even in the suites to give a nice decorative touch. One of the amazing decorative touches is the presence of coloured flowers that give a splendid nice touch to the place.

Images from here: 

Mexico has always been one of the best places that everyone wish to visit. It has its own spirit that is totally different from many other places.

If you are heading to Mexico in the near future and you are wondering about the best places to stay in there, then Capella Ixtapa resort & spa is one of the best hotels that you can stay in! 

Have a breezy weekend,

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The Perfect Beach Apartment

My today Interior Design post is about this East Coast Bachelor Pad. 

This gorgeous modern apartment is located on the East Coast of the United States, South Carolina in Myrtle Beach. I absolutely LOVE the concept, the tangerine color and the chosen decoration with a welcome touch of vintage for this pad! Great design! 

 Delightful Dining

The dining room used deceptively easy ways to boost the style. White floating shelves disappear into the white wall, making their contents and the large abstract artwork above them the stars of the show. What a beautiful artwork!

 The Entrance

Sandy feet are no match for the flooring in this entryway. Tile was the perfect choice here. I love the idea of keeping here the seasonal necessities, such as towels, goggles, and sunscreen, at the ready for beach-bound family and friends.

 Orange Decor

Aiming for a masculine color palette, a brown and white base with pops of bright tangerine was chosen. Love the fact flippers become stylish decor. Quite inexpensive beach decor to make ourselves, don't you think? 

 The Functional Kitchen

Look at the chandelier!! So beautiful! And I think the simple concrete floors make cleanup a cinch in this kitchen. 

Simple Storage

They use industrial-style metal shelving for additional storage space in the kitchen. The aluminum trash bin was powder-coated in orange to make it a little more fun. Great effect!

 Colorful Living Room

Decorative screens powder-coated orange create bold geometric wall art. Stunning patterned pillows and a retro-feel lampshade in the same color reinforces the theme. Love this room!

Sparkling Factor

Love the circle-theme wall art and the reflective end table. They bounce sunshine around and brighten the room.

Beachside Bedroom

Images: http://www.bhg.com/

The beach bedroom mixes grey, white, black, and tangerine for a masculine master bedroom. The black frame and white canopy create a modern yet relaxing vibe. 

I hope you enjoyed this beach apartment tour as much as I did.

Have a breezy day,

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Let's go to Slovania with a view from Smarjetna Gora

Image from here

My picture of the Day was taken by Mihael Grmek on top of Šmarjetna Gora. It is a solitary low mountain rising above Kranj on the right bank of the Sava River. The mountain is approximately 646 meters high (2,119 ft).

From this vantage point, we overlook Škofja Loka, a beautiful small town in Slovenia of about 12,000 inhabitants. Today it stands as one of the best preserved medieval urban centers in all of Slovenia and was proclaimed a cultural monument in 1987.

Have a breezy day,

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Chinese Gongbi Paintings by Zou Chuan An

My Art post of today is about Zou's Gongbi Paintings which are highly appreciated by many people in the world.

Gongbi Paintings, literally "detailed strokes", are paintings characterized by fine brushwork. Gongbi is a technique in Chinese painting.

Zou Chuan An is a well known Chinese painter and his works are marked by virtuosity and elegance with powerful vitality. He has captured the charm of expressionistic brushwork and meticulous details. 

He is the prominent representative of the Gong-bi style in flower-and-bird.

Bird-and-flower painting is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting. According to Chinese tradition, bird-and-flower painting covers flowers, birds, fish, and insects. 

It can thus deal with a wide range of natural topics, including flowers (plants), fish, insects, birds, pets (dogs, cats) etc. My kind of topics!

Source paintings: wanfung.com

and: deshow.net

I think you can guess why I am a big fan of his work :-) Enjoy!

Have a breezy day,

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Most Beautiful Botanical Gardens in the World

Spending your weekend with family or friends to the most beautiful gardens in the world would be a fun activity to do, don't you think? Going back to nature to feel the fresh atmosphere along the journey to these green spaces...

Here some of my favourite ones:

Château de Versailles, France

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   www.chateauversailles.fr
2. Versailles is the most famous garden in the world. Yet ‘garden’ is scarcely a fitting designation. The scale is monumental and there is little sense of enclosure.

   
   

   The famous French landscape designer André Le Nôtre laid out these gardens southwest of Paris in the 17th century at the behest of Louis XIV. The Sun King wanted them to magnify the glory of his palace at Versailles, which was itself a monument to his absolute rule. 
   
   

   The 250 acres (101 hectares) are riddled with paths that lead to flower beds, quiet corners decorated with classical statuary, ornamental lakes, and a 1.8 km cruciform canal that King Louis used for gondola rides.

   
   There are magnificent features: huge parterres, great basins, an orangery, a vast collection of outdoor sculpture and some of the grandest fountains which have ever been made.
   
   Botanic Gardens, Singapore
   
   
   
   
   www.sbg.org.sg
   Established in 1859, the Singapore Botanic Garden is known as one of the prettiest botanic gardens in the world. 
   
   
   Its 128 acres (52 hectares) are divided into three "cores." Bukit Timah Core is geared for educational and recreational use. In Tanglin Core, visitors can find a bandstand and many statues sprinkled among favourite native plants and trees. 
   
   
   The most popular core for tourists is Centre. The National Orchid Garden is in this section, atop the park's highest point, where more than 60,000 colourful orchids bloom.
   
   
   Descanso Gardens, La Canada Flintridge
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   A mere 20-minute drive outside of Los Angeles (situated in La Canada Flintridge) you'll find a bucolic paradise with more than 100,000 plants and one of the world's largest collections of camellias. 
   
   
   The gardens and woods of Descanso ("rest" or "repose" in Spanish) unfold over 160 acres (65 hectares) of the San Rafael Hills. 
   
   
   Don't miss the Japanese garden and the International Rosarium that is home to thousands of roses!
   
   
   Butchart Gardens, Vancouver
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   www.butchartgardens.com
   
   
   You will enjoy seeing the Butchart Garden in Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This garden spans in the 22 hectare. You may see the fascinating and beautiful plants up to 700 species. 
   
   
   If you want to see their blooming, you may come there from March to October.
   
   
   Villa d'Este, Tivoli
   
   
   
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   A Renaissance cardinal decided to make life in Tivoli (Italy) bearable by turning a dilapidated Benedictine monastery into a lovely villa, the Villa d'Este. 
   
   
   This was embellished by one of the most fascinating garden and fountain complexes in the world, recently listed by UNESCO as one of Italy's 31 major historical/artistic sites.
   
   
   Among the most bewitching of the mossy fountains are the Fontana del Bicchierone (water pours out from a large shell-shaped basin); the Rometta fountain, which is a miniature Rom complete with a wolf-suckling Romulus and Remus; and the Avenue of the Hundred Fountains, where animal heads, lilies, a small boat, basins, and so on all spurt water.
   
   
   Dumbarton Oaks, Washington
   
   
   

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   www.doaks.org
   
   

   You might feel as though you've stepped into a Merchant-Ivory set in any of the gardens that make up this estate at the north end of Georgetown, one of Washington's poshest neighborhoods. Vines tumble down stone walls enclosing the Fountain Terrace.
   
   Lovers' Lane meanders past a Roman-style amphitheater built around a small deep-blue pool. And what used to be a simple cow path leading away from the pool is now called Melisande's Allée, perhaps as a nod to the haunting opera Pelleas et Melisande.
   
   You have to step your feet there!

   
   Château de Villandry, Villandry, France 
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   The Château de Villandry is a castle-palace located in Villandry, in the département of Indre-et-Loire, France.
   
   The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as Colombier until the 17th century.
   
   The Château is just extraordinary to visit!
   
   Gardens of the Villa Éphrussi de Rothschild, St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat
3. 
   www.villa-ephrussi.com

   
   

   In the early 1900s in St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Béatrice Éphrussi, a Rothschild baroness, built a pink-confection, Venice-style villa surrounded by breathtaking gardens, with the sparkling sea beyond.
   Pathways meander through the seven themed gardens, the focal point being the French gardens, with a lily-pad-dotted pool, dancing fountains, and a Temple of Love replicating the Trianon at Versailles. 
   
   

   There are also a Provençal garden, filled with olive trees and lavender; a lapidary garden, with sculptures too large to be displayed in the villa; and Spanish, Japanese, Florentine, and exotic gardens.

   
   

   Stourhead in Warminster, England
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   www.nationaltrust.org.uk
   
   
   Stourhead is a grand example of genteel fascination with the past. 
   If you come to this garden, you will perceive the classic ambiance of the 18th century era. Henry Hoare II punctuated the gardens of his Wilshire estate with re-created ruins and classical buildings such as the Pantheon and Temple of Apollo.
   
   
   Stourhead is now home to many trees and shrubs from all over the world.
   
   
   The Master-of-Nets Garden, Suzhou
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   www.suzhou.gov.cn/English/Travel/7.shtml
6. This residential garden in southeast China, called Wangshiyuan in Chinese, was designed during the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1270). 
   
   
   The arrangement of pavilions, halls, music rooms, winsome bamboo groves, and waterside perches is an exercise in natural harmony. The central section is a small world within itself; piles of yellow stones form "mountains" complete with caverns, and a tiny arched bridge called the "leading to quietude" crosses a pond to a small pavilion in the center.
   
   
   Visiting this garden, you will love to see the music room, bamboo trees as well as some enticing pavilions.
   
   
   Sans Souci Potsdam, Germany
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   www.spsg.de
   
   
   Frederick the Great of Prussia built the splendid rococo palace as his summer place, where he could live without a care, sans souci. 
   Some of the important features may include busts of Roman emperors, decorative statues, and a Chinese teahouse dot the lavish grounds.
   
   
   If you love nature and like traveling, the world’s top gardens can be a feast to the senses. You can literally forget cities with hustle-bustle, traffic, noise and pollution when spending time there. 
   Each garden is so outstanding and special in its own way. It establishes a connect of mankind with the nature with a sense of serenity...
   
   Have a breezy day,

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