Decor

Theme 42: Pennsylvania. A weekend in Gettysburg

There has been an exciting change my life! I am now a proud owner of a beautiful white fluffy samoyed named Enzo (full name is Enzo Sir Lancelot of Pine, because let’s face it, I would never be satisfied with just one name!). We chose to get our samoyed from the breeder White Magic Samoyeds, and going to Pennsylvania to pick up our puppy was a main reason of my road trip adventure.

I have never been in Pennsylvania before, but there were quite a few places I was dying to explore. One of them was Fallingwater House designed by world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house named “best all-time work of American architecture” was a little bit far from our final PA destination, so we opted to focus on exploring the city of Gettysburg and the nearby areas. 

If you follow me on Instagram or regularly read my blog, you might know that I am a big history buff, and as Gettysburg town played a significant role during the American Civil War, it has a great deal of historical monuments, wartime relics and is soaked with hair-raising ghost tales. Gettysburg also has this wonderful small-town charm, beautiful old Victorian style houses and one of the oldest inns in the whole America - The Historic Fairfileld Inn.

The Fairfield Inn that was built in 1757 was originally the Mansion House of Squire Miller, an original founder of town. The Inn is irresistibly charming and preserves all the flavors and details of the Revolutionary and Civil War eras. The Inn offers a few beautiful elegant and cozy rooms, but unfortunately, the Fairfield Inn was bully booked for the weekend we visited. I do recommend you to stay at the Inn (and I will certainly go back to do so!) as it is a unique and very romantic experience, and so much more intriguing than some little basic hotel room at a generic giant hotel chain.

Even though, Ben and I couldn’t stay at the Inn, we still wanted to explore it. Luckily the Inn has excellent dining options. We were lucky, and on the day of our visit there was a limited period dinner theatre experience, and I was obviously excited about it! 

The Inn was even more wonderful and detail-rich than I imagined, and as we arrived early, we had some great conversation with the host of the dinner theatre, Professor Kerrigan, who performs Civil War era magic, tells dramatic ghost stories, and is frankly, hilarious and fascinating at the same time!

The show was lovely, and truly gave us a little feeling of being immersed in another time. Food was beyond excellent! Don’t expect expensive fancy gourmet dishes as the Inn offers authentic, filling, delicious meals, that give you a taste of home. It is the kind of food your grandmother lovingly prepares specially for you when you visit, or what you imagine people eating on Christmas or big weddings in the 19th century. I had one of the most tasty soups I EVER had - a traditional Ham & Bean soup from the original recipe that was used to feed the Confederate Army in 1863! Then we tried Ribs and famous Chicken & Biscuits, that is prepared using the old recipe  passed through generations of innkeepers for centuries. But the absolute highlight of the my period dining experience was a freshly baked berry pie that I am craving every day since.

It was such a pleasant and warm visit, and now I really want to go back during Christmas time as they put out a beautiful Christmas tree and all the fireplaces are inviting you to warm yourself next to the crackling fire. How wonderful does it sound?

Discovering and sharing precious and under-the-radar places in America really gives me pleasure, and I can’t wait to explore more charming towns, rich with history and hospitality of their habitants. 

If you are interested to learn more about the historic Gettysburg, I recommend this history bus tour with an excellent guide (click here to learn more).

 


Theme 35: Fall in New York. With Mer-Sea Luxe Collection

Ben and I are living in hotels again!  But you probably already know that if you follow my daily Instagram Stories and watched me try to fit my life into a hotel suite's limited space. The truth is the hotel hopping life is great, but I still need some special little details that help me transform a standard suite into our home.

I have recently discovered Mer-Sea & Co. brand and fell in love with their classy decor elements, lush bathroom products and travel accessories. Their new LUXE COLLECTION is rich and beautiful and is probably one of the most safest gorgeous gifts you can get your girlfriend, mother-in-law or just as a hostess gift to someone.

it became my ritual lighting up Amber Fumée candle every night and using a Mer-Sea Mystique roomspray that smells like a fresh field of grass, light flowers and lemon trees gardens after a rain. The candles and sprays really set up a dreamy mood, and look very chic as decor elements too, thanks to minimalistic luxury design.

Mer-Sea also carries a great range of travel accessories, and considering how often I fly all over the map, it is almost a necessity to have a set of quality functional items for the travels! First of all, I didn't even know how much one travel wrap can get used, but I love my black cotton cashmere wrap. It looks super stylish, it is comfy, it is soft and luxury (hello, it is cashmere!) and I wear it not only on the plane, but out, to a dinner over a dress, and, frankly, I often use it a blanket when I watch Netflix. It really gets much more use than I ever anticipated, so I recommend you to pick at least one travel wrap for yourself. Plus, it folds into a tiny pouch, which is always great as we all hate to stuff our carry-ons till the bursting point.

Second travel accessory I really like from Mer-Sea Luxe Collection is a Passport Clutch. It is also big enough to store couple of credit cards and my ID, and it is very pleasant and as always classy.

I wanted to show you my regular casual airport look, but I didn't want to force Ben or my photographer to shoot at the airport, so I thought I should take my readers to the Central Park, to the lake and to the trees touched by this magical fall. The beauty of classic Mer-Sea luxury items was really accentuated, in my opinion, by warm fall colors and I hope these pictures will give you a happy tingly feeling.

All the gorgeous photos taken by - Dennis  (if you are a blogger of just want killer shots, he is your person!)

Week 26: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. Winter Wonderland in Laduree.

Laduree in Soho, NYC has some of the coziest Christmas decorations in the city. I love going there wearing a warm sweater to drink Marie Antoinette tea and to read a book (I just started The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton).

Today's look is one of my favourite of the season, and I am so excited to share it with you. I am wearing a super warm, grey sweater from Shein that looks perfect with my arctic blue, fox fur vest bought in Baku, Azerbaijan in Снежная Королева. I also can't stop wearing white jeans as they make every outfit look so fresh. The cherry on top of my marshmallow babe look (that's what Ben calls it!) is my grey Louis Vuitton bag.

 

SHOP THE LOOK:

Fur Vest - similar here | Grey Sweater - Shein | Boots - Hush Puppies  | Jeans - Topshop | Bag - Louis Vuitton