2007 Bloggies: Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog [view: normal]

My in-laws are visiting from America and so every night we've been having dinner in our pavilion dining room with china, tablecloths and candles. After dinner, we've been sitting by the fireplace, with a fire roaring, sipping herbal tea poured from silver Moroccan teapots. It's made week nights feel so special:-)

Here's hoping that your weekend is filled with special meals with special people...

Now I'm not certain how it's possible --- because I am quite sure she was a baby only last month -- but it seems that Skylar turned 8 this past weekend. Celebrations were in order!

It started out early with the blowing up of balloons...

until they were quite literally everywhere.

Then Peacock Pavilions got all dressed up for the party.

There was a Berber tent, pink paisley awnings and Morocca...

Here’s the thing: making your dreams come true isn't a speedy process. In fact, I’ve devised a mathematical equation to represent this accurately.

Estimated time necessary to make dream come true + time to deal with obstacles you never thought of + time to make the extra money that you didn’t realize you needed – bouts of good fortune that arrive out of nowhere – compromises you make alo...

Dear friends,

No one told me that this Marrakech dream of mine would take so long and would cost so much.
No, no one told me that I would spend my days hoping but my nights worrying.
That along the way that there would be casualties. That there would be feelings hurt, relationships ruined, workers let go, and bank accounts depleted.
That there would be moments of panic, sheer panic. The kind th...

I've been decorating.............like crazy. It's starting to look pretty and cozy and ethnic around here at Peacock Pavilions. Art, carpets and textiles abound. And there are even a few hints of fabulous (oh my!). Can't wait to show you.

But speaking of fabulous, check out what interior designer Kishani Perrera did with a black Moroccan wedding blanket that she purchased from me..............

It started out as a sad little bookcase. Rickety, made out of plywood. Alone, it had no friends.

It wrote in to the lady who ran the local home makeover show (umm...upstairs). Please, it said, Do something:-(

And this is the true tale of what happened....

It was flipped on it's side and a new base was made out of wood found lying around.

Oh! A coat of distressed turquoise paint!

Oh! A lit...

Oh, I know it's late. But it's taken me a few days to recover enough to tell the frightening tale...

The day had turned into night by the time we climbed in the car. We were traveling across Marrakech to the city's industrial zone. It was rumored that ghouls were gathering at the new showroom of Zid Zid Kids. The designer owners had seemed nice enough when we had gotten together in the past b...

There was something about the vintage Moroccan caftan. sheer and covered with gold embroidery......

that made me want to dress up for Halloween like a cross between Talitha Getty and Mata Hari. oh my.

Antique Yemeni headcarf, vintage collar necklace from Afghanistan.

Here's hoping your weekend is filled with....

young color

Simple pleasures

and scary pancakes

Find beauty everywhere you go.

Happy Halloween! ...

I had met her at a wedding in Kashmir. She was a guest. I was a stranger taking photographs.

I noticed her because she was a live wire --I could feel her electricity from across the room.

We sat together on the floor, eating from the same dish. She told me she was a student, studying marketing. Marketing! I exclaimed. How interesting. What do you plan to with that? I asked. She lo...

I piled them up. The family photos. And then I started hanging, with no plan...no plan at all. Along the way I added little things from the garden. And magic numbers here and there. And some treasures from my desk drawer. And some toys (because life is too short, really). And in the end it looked something like this.

My little family art gallery running up the stairc...

Psst, that last blog post was just a preview. You see my family and I were actually not in 1 French TV commercial promoting Marrakech, but 3 Each had 15 seconds that were the same and 10 seconds that were different.

Here's one promoting Nouvelles Frontieres Resort in Marrakech. Inexpensive but had cool Moroccan cooking classes for adults and fun Moroccan pottery classes for kids!

Oh my. Do you remember the French television commercial my family and I were in, shot just a few weeks ago to promote tourism to Marrakech? Well, it's out!

Voila..... the extracts (about 1/2 the commercial) sent to me by Sigma Productions.

Eeek! Be kind:-)

Pssst.........and come visit Marrakech. We're waiting....

After she had kiss kissed me on both cheeks, after she had exclaimed about my outfit, after she had asked about my haircut. That's when she got to the point:

So...are you ever going to finish that place of yours? she asked.

I hope so, I said, with a laugh that wasn't really a laugh.

It's taking you an awfully long time with the building, she said. It's been years, hasn't it? Is there some kind o...

It was in Kashmir. Yes, again Kashmir. That place that haunts my dreams by day.

He was quiet. The glint of his silver needle darting in and out and in and out.

He had been embroidering the shawl, the one shawl, for months. For months. Just. This. One.

It would take him one year to complete it. Every day, six days a week, his silver needle in and out and in and out. Now pink threads. Now ...

One American mother living in Marrakech

enchanted by light of all kinds

especially when it emanates from her daughter.

Images by French photographer Francois de Chatenet. Shot on location in Marrakech for French and Kuwaiti clients. Francois is currently accepting assignments in Paris, Morocco, and everywhere. See more of his beautiful portfolio right HERE. ...

Sometimes people are surprised when I tell them that Morocco is in Africa.

But it is.

A tiny homage to the world's most mysterious continent in my dining room. (Complete with herd of antelope.)

PS Psst, beautiful new stock of vintage Moroccan Beni Ourain carpets for sale. Take a peek right HERE.

I met her last Fall in Marrakech, Delphine Warin. I had been searching for someone to teach me something about photography, and all roads in the Red City pointed to her. During our first lesson together, she opened her old Nikon and explained in lilting French about aperture and shutter speed. She then took my camera and put it in manual mode, saying simply, From now on, you will only be working...

It was in Kashmir that I had met them. In Kashmir.

There they were before their spinning wheels, the sun streaming in through the windows. A day, perhaps, like all the days that had come before. And, perhaps, like all the days that lay ahead.

Whirrrrr. The wheel spun round and round in a blur. And then....their hands danced. Danced, as they spun that softest of all soft threads.....pashmi...

Oh, you can say otherwise, but I think we all wish to be beautiful. We know better of course. As people of substance, we know that it's the beauty on the inside that counts. That external beauty is fleeting. That it's the kind heart, the generous nature, the grace under pressure -- those are the real traits to aspire to.

But nonetheless, the vain part of us longs, if secretly, to be, well, ...

Vintage Moroccan wedding blankets. Perhaps the world's most beautiful blankets. Really.

For the foot of the bed, for the back of a couch, as a hanging on a wall, as a glamorous rug.

Thought to bring baraka, or Moroccan good luck/blessings. (A feng shui expert told me that hers helped turn her from a single girl to a married one. Ahem, I'm just saying....)

Vintage. Hand picked by me. Perfect organic glamour.

Perhaps you might like to make one yours? See all the dreamy new stock right here (click back a page or two to see everything). Drop me a note to inquire about pricing at maryam[at}mtds.com.

Pictures shot at Peacock Pavilions. Well, of course.

I found it in Yemen, I found it in San'aa -- that place of unparalleled mystery, teeming with beautiful women in floating black.

There I was in in the old Yemen souks in a tiny shop crowded with oddities . It wasn't my first time there -- I had already left with old inscribed bowls, with antique lacy lanterns, with a large silver and coral ring. And so I was bold. I leaned over the glass counte...

Ingredients (specialty food store or purchase online):

1 French director, 1 French camera man, 1 French creative director +

2 Moroccan production directors+

1 German sound guy +

1 Moroccan clothes stylist, 1 French accessories stylist+

1 Moroccan makeup artist + NO hairstylist (whoops!) +

20+ crew members and clients (grips, handlers, fixers, other-people-who-do-important-stuff ) +

2 huge trucks ...

Sometimes life takes the strangest turns. Especially for middle aged American girls living in olive groves in Marrakech.

And perhaps that's why a stylist is here, a director is here, a casting agent is here, and quite a few other people wielding large equipment are here . And perhaps that is also why an ad agency has been calling me to talk contracts.

The stylist has been shopping and tomorro...

I want one.

I want one so badly that for a moment..... I actually think I have one. Then I blink and shake myself out of it.

Because the fact is...that I don't have one. Sadly, sadly, no.

But I can't forget.

That look when you come home.

That sweet baby smell.

Those dark glossy eyes.

That softest baby belly.

Oh! Nestled in, sleeping quietly beside you.

I see one.

And I want to scoop it up a...