The Road to Ouarzazete

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So we decide it would be much more fun to take a road trip than to fly to Ouarzazate.

It’s just over the snowcapped High Atlas mountain range you see in the distance.

No biggie.

L1020852The journey takes the better part of 5 1/2 hours and turns out to be one of the highlights of our trip to Morocco.

890A7053We pass through the most amazingly diverse terrain

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890A7174Traffic is wild

890A7001With nary a dull moment

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While much of the drive is immersed in a patchwork of deep green grass and red earth, towards the mountain top things get positively lunar.

And wait…what’s this I see?

Shopping??

890A6983Yes. We found a store.

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Rock Shopping. Dig it.

Screen Shot 2013-03-14 at 10.10.22 PMHappiness!

890A6970The salesperson’s hands

L1020846Just in case you were wondering.

890A7066Coming down the other side of the mountains we detour to Telouet to stop for a delicious lunch

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890A7069and to tour the incredible ruins of Telouet Kasbah, where the likes of General Patton and Churchill were received back in the day.

890A7106Only the storks call it home now but restoration is slowly underway.

890A7087Our extremely knowledgable guide.

If you can believe it, this is how some of the rooms within the ruins are still appointed, despite the dilapidation inside and out.

890A7089Examples of two astonishing archways

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890A7094and a ceiling in one of the grand salons

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890A7115Up on the roof, storm clouds roll in upon lusty winds

890A7130and our “Talitha Getty” photo shoot is foiled (for now :-) )

It was so cold-don’t look at my Uggs.

890A7155Getting closer to our destination, the villages hugging the water’s edge become chameleons against the rocks.

DSC01016Only the satellite dishes give them away

(or their ‘white flowers’ as our driver called them )

890A7168One last ruined kasbah glows in the gorgeous setting sun

and it’s cocktail time for a couple of very dusty ladies.

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~

Postcard From Marrakech

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Dear Faithful Readers

I’m still here.

I’ve been neither felled by a travel bug or run amok in a souk.

Just soaking in all the sights, sounds & scents that Marrakech has to offer…

It’s everything you would imagine.

I’m only sorry I can’t share the sensory overload in more ways than one.

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We’ve eaten like this every morning.

Yes, that’s cheese at breakfast.

That’s how I spell H O L I D A Y

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Grilled asparagus with truffle creme fraiche

and here’s lunch on any given day

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We’ve shopped like this

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and this

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and this…

but not like this

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(Not winning the Souk Award for Best Merchandising)

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We’ve sipped mint tea in so many beautiful spots

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you can’t imagine…

But the hour grows late, internet access here is limited and an early cheese breakfast awaits me.

So I bid you adieu for now

and promise there will be much more to follow.

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xoxo from the Medina

~

All photos Slim Paley

In The Trenches

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Carolyn Murphy

So, I’m in London and it’s lovely to be back

but it’s cold. I mean rhilly, rhilly cold.

Like there’s no chance in hell of me trotting out my new “Joseph” trench coat COLD

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or asking my husband to take a photo of me for a blog post I’m writing about “cute trenches”

However…

with Spring around the corner, it was now or never for this baby.

234468724319519004_40Q19iQY_cphoto by Signe Vilstrup

 Besides, what city in the entire world is more famous for trench coats than London?!

And I just love a good T.C., don’t you?

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So does Lady Mary.

sniffle. I miss Downton already.

breakfast-at-tiffanys

Breakfast at Tiffany’s” double sniffle 

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Burberry Prorsum

Oh oh. lost credit.

Karlie Kloss in the trench I was really coveting this year.

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Oh lovely leather & khaki trench, spectral sylph of my rain-lashed dreams, where art thou?!

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I kind of really want these shoes too, but we won’t get off topic will we.

Super Styling the trench

Do you think her husband/boyfriend took the photo? Me too. 

Do you think she has those leopard flats in the pic above? Me too.


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Constance Jablonski

Studdy Trench

Kate. Trench. Done.

Model of the moment Cara Delevigne in Burberry

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Two Classics of Fashion & Film in one photo

The Not Trying But Really Trying Trench

Jean-Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2013

Rosie Huntington-Whatever, I mean Whiteley  in the gorgeous Burberry lace trench

Fierce Trench

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Frothy Trench

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Chicest Trench

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Bureaucratic Trench Warfare

(Prada)

Pop Goes the Trench

 Cheeky Trench

(Both Burberry)

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and the darling teeny weeny trench I bought for my adorable God-daughter at Phillip Lim.

(A little worried Suri ??)

Tinier still, there’s even one for your iPhone  by Moschino

I know. Shut The Door!

I think we’re all kind of hoping for just a little rain now, aren’t we??  

( Vancouverites don’t all answer at once :) )

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Just not in…

Humphrey Bogart

CASABLANCA

My next stop!

Alright, Marrakech, but so close. Who knows, we could end up in Casablanca-

“What in Heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?”

“My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.”

“The waters?? What waters? We’re in the desert!”

~

Ciao for now

xoxo

PS. Don’t forget to follow @Slimpaley on Instagram where I’ll hopefully be gramming daily from all the gin joints in Morocco

and a few gardens too :)

~

(uncredited photos via Pinterest or Tumblr)

Jean Genie

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I‘m packing again.

Hey, Life is short.

Last time I checked, I wasn’t getting any younger and there’s a great big world out there.

Given the disparate nature of my two destinations; London and Morocco, packing has been a week long Herculean task.

 First of all, London in late February… Dude, definitely not Santa Barbara weather. But with boots, coats, sweaters…Mon Dieu! How to save luggage space for all the souk spoils of Marrakesh?!

And then the wardrobe to indulge my Talitha Getty/Marisa Berenson  Moment?

STYLE_Inspiration_Morocco_PostPhoto of Marissa Berenson by Henry Clarke

tumblr_m2wu7jPHGu1qkzwano1_500Talitha Getty in Marrakesh circa 1960′s

I am NOT coming back from Morocco without sandals, spearmint tea & spices, black soap and my Riad rooftop photo. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, as I receive multiple last minute warnings from friends (I guess I should’ve enquired sooner) that Morocco gets COLD the moment the sun sets and rain is likely this time of year, I’ve repacked my bags more times than the guy in ‘Midnight Express’

And of course, the eternal question of JEANS

How many is too many?

890A0259Perhaps there are some I can take and leave there, thus freeing up room in my homeward-bound bags?

Uhh, NO.

 Because as you can see, I really like my jeans.

Call me crazy, but I actually become quite attached, despite the fact I now split them into the following categories:

“REEEELY ???”

“OK, No Wine for a Week”

“Who Cares? They’re So Comfy”

“@#^&  it. Pass the Wine”

“I Still Love You After all These Years”

“Sexier Than Sweatpants”

“Still Good From the Side”

“Was I Drinking When I Bought These?”

and, my newest category;

“Muffin Top Madness”

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890A1806Jean shopping Paris

la-modella-mafia-The-little-black-jacket-from-Chanel-Sophie-Hulme-x-STYLEBY-photographed-by-Oliver-Stalmans-styled-by-Colombine-Smille-11 2Photo Oliver Stalmans, Stylist Columbine Smille

In a Perfect World we’d just cut out the bits that don’t fit :)

 a few more fav’s

20120922-063239Jeans, heels & false eyelashes-Done!

22711Flare_0314WebAdd a Birkin? Even better

20130110-063919Adorable

25121710392599284_IfWgk6JH_cI have this jacket!  Alas, this isn’t me.

20121011-073047Elle McPherson

20120314-024330Daria Werbowy

If you could have just ONE constant in your wardrobe what would you choose??

It would be jeans for me, no question.

(& Uggs)

OK, so I better go finish packing. I might be pulling an All-Nighter.

Have a great weekend and let’s chat after the Oscars!

~

Heads Up

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Cameos are cool again.

Just thought I’d mention it, in case you hadn’t noticed.

262756959478882278_n29eMAmB_cThen…

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Amedeo

…and Now

150659550005429546_eW6SAjFL_cCameos & tats, who’da thunk it?!

890A4843Italian Vogue

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Victoria Hardstone via Fourtane

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muse-china-12-e1335986433479Arizona Muse via Vogue China

Old photo cameo

IMG_2071Amedeo  on Lexington Ave. in NYC is the place to buy cool cameos.

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.46.04 PMThey even customize.  A loved one, or perhaps a favourite pet, or just beautiful initials.

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.46.45 PMBoth images via Amedeo

Screen Shot 2013-02-17 at 9.42.34 PMThese are not your Grannie’s cameos

618_uktv_downton_abbey_s02e05_7BTW, shouldn’t the Dowager have a cameo on her collar?!

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890A1716A most beautiful head in the Palace of Versailles

marlon-brando-julius-caesarand the most beautiful head in movies.  No contest.

Marlon-marlon-brando-30617224-1259-1107right??

Heads are in-house too.

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383210-Stile_BKRugs by Stiles BK

the-libertine-magazine-campaign-january-2013-yatzer-patrick-gilles-and-dorothc3a9e-boissier-at-home-in-thier-flat-in-paris-3via The Libertine magazine

The trick is to keep a cool head.

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and don’t let it get all stuffy.

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Axel Vervoordt

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lanvin09Lanvin

Go big or go home.

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Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed….

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Just don’t lose your head  (Sorry)

L1080258and make sure to have fun with it.

~

Hey-How about that last episode tonight?

What the…  :(

Still, we must soldier on. We’re British after all (caught up in the show much??)

Try to have a good week all the same.

~

(Buttons top photo, my own. Green desk photo via Pinterest)