Get the Look Vol.13

As soon as something is under a dome it becomes instantly better in my humble opinion. We bought a cute little dome in Florida which I used for this little project below. There is a special sea urchin in it which we found quite a while ago, the dome is the perfect display for it. The dome is plastic and has a hole on top so I was able to pin the sea urchin so that it can not move/break. On top I added starfishes to highlight the star pattern of the sea urchin. Available at StarHomeStudio.

I love the idea of a wall full of old mirrors, more light, and the illusion of more space.
Our mirrors are beautiful antiques with frames made of behind glass painted glass. There are two of them in case you are all for symmetry.

We don't have such large driftwood sticks in the shop, but I'm planning to add some as they are so beautiful, although I might actually use them to make driftwood furniture as it is not easy to find large ones. We do have an interesting farm tool, no idea what it was used for but it is a beautiful decorative piece.

I might have shared my love for maps and globes a few dozen times :) Maps give such character, and ours is actually a 1970's sea map so a combination of map and sea love.

I love vintage gadgets that are not used anymore, I actually remember a big abacus in my first-grade class in the 1980's but we did not use it. This was clearly a pocket edition, a cute little one, and how cute are a bunch together?

For more Get the Look post check here.

Newly Listed: Sweet Sea Flowers

Sweet Sea Flowers, Seashell Flowers, Windowsill Decor, Bookshelf accent, Copper Leaves by StarHomeStudio
Nature photography, Swallows, Autumn trees, Fall, Birds, Nature, Wall Decor by Fizzstudio
Jellyfish, Wall Art Prints, Nature Photography, Sea Creature Photograph, beach decor, ocean by TraceyCapone
California Photography, Palm Tree Art, Ombre, Summer Nights, Sunset by ColorPopPhotoShop

Miami

My final post of our vacation! I hope I did not bore you but in 5 weeks we did so much and I wanted to share the highlights at least.
Our final 3 days we spent in Miami, and what is Miami without fancy flashy red sports cars, Palmtrees and beaches :)?

When we first arrived in Miami from Turkey we were too jetlagged to really check out the city.

Miami is huuuuge, very flat and endlessly big. Actually, various towns got glued to Miami, like Miami Beach which is a separate town. It is however pretty green for a city which does make it pleasant. It is also a vibrant, hard working and well organized city, where the main language is Spanish!

We took a hop on hop off bus to enjoy the city without having to drive. Driving here was intense, especially on the toll roads the roads are like roller coasters with locals driving like maniacs and roads splitting and coming together all the time, you can be in a two-lane road one second and all of a sudden it turns in to an 8 lane road and you are on the right side but you have to exit on the left in a few seconds and don't forget that in the US drivers can pass you from both the left as the right, unlike most places in the world. So not for the faint-hearted, or if you really must drive here, take the long ways and avoid the toll roads.

There are many different kinds of neighborhoods, from tiny houses in adorable streets to huge villas right at the water or chic apartments overseeing the ocean, whatever your budget, Miami is not cheap, not as expensive as San Fransisco but not far from it.

While most buildings are low and stretched out there was a bunch of skyscrapers Downtown.

Little Havana, you are better off speaking Spanish than English around here, and this is in a lot of Miami as  Hispanic or Latino makes up 70% of Miami's population. In most shops people started speaking Spanish to me, luckily my Spanish Mum came in handy. I was surprised that many actually did not speak a word English, I guess they did not really need to.

If you want to live around here, you might want to brush up your Spanish, a lot of jobs require you to be bilingual.

Those little train rails are for the so-called Metromower, which are little metro's driving without a driver. A clear attempt to bring relief to the traffic downtown as they are completely free of charge.

Due to various hurricanes, there were not many old buildings left, here is one among the skyscrapers.

This building was still being made, designed by Zaha Hadid, the pre fab concrete parts couldn't be made in the USA so had to be shipped in from Dubai, crazy!!

Lots of chic yachts, if you are really lucky you have a villa right near the water with your yacht parked in front :D

The Art Deco district was built up during the redevelopment “boom” that followed the 1926 Miami hurricane “bust.”

With simpler architecture that the more detailed buildings before that and the smaller windows to keep the heat down. Amazingly, these buildings were almost destroyed by developers in the early 1970s. Their survival is due to a handful of activists who, in 1976, founded the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL). With their help, a number of the best Miami hotels, and even some South Beach clubs have maintained their beautiful façades and historical designation.

So many balconies and not a single person enjoying it :/

There is also a Graffiti district, normally this area would be boring gray buildings but now it is colorful and full of hipsters.

This is a cement factory, they painted these as spray cans to match the surrounding.

I saw some awesome ones that I was not able to photograph from the bus, but we wanted to have a lazy day so we actually did not hop off from the bus.

Our last day, Tuesday the 8th we stayed in the hotel and I puzzled all our luggage. 8 suitcases of 23 kg each (50 lbs) and two carry all of 10 kg each, and our handbags with laptop and such, yes like last year we went crazy with thrifting :). The 2 planes got us home at 11 pm the 9th, and we are now finally over our jetlag  :D We had such a great time and would do it in a heartbeat all over again!