Marrakech & Peacock Pavilions guesthouse: a tale of Moroccan patterns & a little more about me

You know I love pattern.  I mean I really love pattern.  And I love patterns on patterns.  Plain?  Why that's fine for some but patterns....that's ever better. (More Moroccan patterns? Why yes, please.)  

Christiana from Ferm Living and  Hygge West came and hung out with us in Marrakech at Peacock Pavilions and noticed (surprise!) all the patterns. Check out this fantastic post she did on Moroccan patterns at Peacock Pavilions for mydeco.com.  You can see it all here.

Here's a little preview:

Also sweet Valerie Tonner of the blog, Health Coach interviewed me on healthy living and my lifestyle here in Morocco in the Peacock Pavilions olive grove.  Check it out here -- my interview starts about half way down the post. (You'll know you're there when you've scrolled down to the peacock!)

Images of Peacock Pavilions by the Alkaline Sisters

PS I have new stock of gorgeous Moroccan Beni Ourain Berber carpets & glamorous Moroccan sequined wedding blankets.  Come look!  So chic & they go with everything!  Maybe a fabulous Christmas present for yourself?  See right here.

Marakech, Morocco: and a tale of auto-focus

Dear friends,

I can’t remember when I had so many balls up in the air. Really…I can’t remember when. I realize that it’s a situation of my own making. I’m a risk-taker; I am bad at saying no and good at saying yes.  And that goes for all sorts of things, including those that I’ve never tried but that I rationalize are possible with a little thought/a little effort. 

But then I find myself confronted with the promises I’ve made, with the things that I must deliver.  It’s a heady place propelled by adrenaline but also quite precarious. And the danger is that my life becomes disparate, becomes diffused.  That I wake up in a fog, where I am pulled in so many directions that everything is out of focus.  That I’m out of focus.  Do you know what I mean?

So my challenge is now to focus.  I am trying hard to do just that. Despite demands, despite new opportunities, despite wishes to do otherwise.

Discipline is an art - I'm on a steep learning curve.

What challenges are you facing?  Please share.

With love,
Maryam in Marrakech

 

Sakkara, Egypt: and a tale of Egyptian interior design & goodness

Well, it was all beautiful, of course:

the house tucked away in Sakkara Egypt....

the house's owner....

the furnishings....

the fixtures....

the art....

and the Egyptian garden?  Well, it was the stuff of dreams....

But the beauty that struck me the most was that of the house's owner, Rawah.  Because, you see, it was the beauty of the real kind - the inside kind.  She was currently embarked on an ambitious illustrated 5 book project on Egypt's secret lovely places, the first book on Egypt's Siwa oasis.  All for charity.  Funded by this generous Egyptian company, SODIC.  

I love meeting goodness, don't you?

Cairo, Egypt: and a tale of the unforgettable girl at the Garden City Club

Who is she? I asked the waiter.

I don't know, he replied.

Is she famous? I whispered.

I really don't know, he said, looking flustered.

Well, surely someone here must know, I said, persistent.

But the waiter just looked at me mutely.

I felt sorry for him then. But I couldn't help my questions.

You see, there was something about her eyes.  They were so, well.... mesmerizing.

Her mouth.

She was unforgettable really.

I wished (well, it was almost obscene)

that she were mine.

Garden City Club, Cairo, Egypt