Andrea Reh

The Shoes | Jimmy Choo

2012-01-31T18:24:00.001+13:00

Jimmy Choo just does it better. As you may have noticed due to the lack of regular posting of late, I've been feeling a bit uninspired on the blog-front recently. Then I saw these. They are, quite simply, my perfect shoe - peep toe with a narrow wedge and gold, gold, gold. Perfection.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Hotels | Palihouse Holloway Hotel, Hollywood

2012-01-29T09:48:00.002+13:00

"Though the phrase 'extended stay' may summon images of dreary corporate apartments, the Palihouse Holloway proves that it’s a concept that can be done in high style."

The Palihouse Holloway Hotel is one of those hotels that appear as though they are somebody's extremely cool apartment, rather than a hotel. And in fact, that's almost what it is - a long-stay hotel where you wouldn't actually object to staying more than a week. The six-hundred square feet apartments (at minimum) boast plenty of creature comforts - flat-screen televisions and DVD players are standard, as are high-end Egyptian cotton linens and marble bathrooms equipped with rain showers and Damana bath products. I'm ready to move in - what about you?

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel Tote | Marc Jacobs

2012-01-25T08:29:00.000+13:00

I've been gravitating towards brightly coloured totes of late - sunshine yellow being my colour of choice. Although the weather isn't quite there yet, I've been spending my days envisioning blindingly sunny days spent lying on my stomach on the grass, flicking through the latest Vogue or working my way through a stack of library books (if I ever manage to pay my fines).

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Travel | Hong Kong, China

2012-01-23T19:31:00.000+13:00

"Hong Kong is a place to delight in."

In the next year or so, I'd like to take my acquaintance with Hong Kong further than its world-class airport. The island city has it all, from colonial-style afternoon tea "in the cool of a five-star hotel lobby or enjoying balmy open-air beers in the party zones," to city centre horseracing and dawn tai chi in the park. And then there's the food. Hong Kong has some 11, 000 restaurants - from fabulous Michelin starred eateries to steam-filled canteens and ancient teahouses serving dim sum. About time to step out of the airport, don't you think?

Images and information via Lonely Planet

Hotels | Le Gray, Beirut

2012-01-21T11:35:00.000+13:00

"There’s something almost celebratory about the whole Gray project, and it’s a mood that suits Beirut quite well."

Some hotels - like the - simply cannot be described as anything other than cool. Beirut's Le Gray is one of those hotels. Although Beirut's probably not the first place you think of when planning a trip overseas (or the second or the third), consider Campbell Gray's 87-room luxury hotel a "vote of confidence" for the Lebanese city. And with rooms boasting iPod docks and full HD LCD screen televisions as well as mosaic-tiled bathrooms, it is a significant investment in a city that, for a few years at least, has been mostly avoided by the jet set. At night, relax at Le Gray's rooftop bar with cocktails and Mediterranean cuisine from the open kitchen, while enjoying views over the city’s ancient orange-hued Ottoman rooftops.

Images and information via Le Gray and Tablet Hotels

The Shoes | Burberry

2012-01-18T08:00:00.005+13:00

Although the skies would have you thinking otherwise, it's still technically summer down here in New Zealand, making Burberry's amber espadrilles fair-game. What do you think?

Available at Net-a-Porter

Retreats | Ceylon Tea Trails, Sri Lanka

2012-01-17T08:00:00.003+13:00

"The island jewel of the Indian Ocean is the best place in the world from which to view the universe."

While watching Rick Stein's South East Asian odyssey the other night, I remembered why Sri Lanka's been at the top of my 'Countries to Visit' list for awhile now - it must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. This tear-shaped island is a land of sandy white beaches, lush jungle and - of course - fields upon fields of tea. The delightfully colonial Ceylon Tea Trails sits at the heart of Sri Lanka's tea country, and tours of the nearby tea fields can be arranged... Late morning, after you've been served tea and breakfast in bed, naturally.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels and Lonely Planet

Hotels | Torre di Moravola, Perugia

2012-01-15T13:17:00.000+13:00

"As Italian countryside getaways go, it’s hard to do much better."

Although I don't think my budget would have quite stretched that far - in fact, I know my budget would not have stretched that far - I kind of wish I'd known about the Torre di Moravola when I visited Perugia a few years back, if only to have dropped in and pretend I was staying there. A thousand-year-old hilltop watchtower converted into a boutique hotel set in the rolling Umbrian countryside, the Torre di Moravola is much more than a renovation - within the outer shell of the old watchtower, husband and wife team Christopher Chong and Seonaid Mackenzie have constructed an "entirely new inner structure, with seven strikingly modern suites arranged around a central stair". A criss-crossing of old and new, it’s "hard to do much better than the Torre di Moravola - and as a design pilgrimage it’s practically a religious experience".

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel Tote | See by Chloé

2012-01-14T10:37:00.000+13:00

This must surely be the perfect travel tote: modeled on the rucksacks of yesteryear, this peach leather drawstring bag by See by Chloé is virtually made for traveling - big enough to hold guidebooks and water-bottles, chic enough to go with every outfit and - better yet - perfect for casually tossing over your shoulder as you sprint for your flight after spending a little too long browsing in duty free...

Available at Net-a-Porter

Travel | Port Vila, Vanuatu

2012-01-13T12:14:00.000+13:00

"The best thing about Vanuatu, though, is that you feel safe and happy here."

My lovely readers - how I have missed you. I must apologise for my absence from the blogosphere over the last few days - I've been laid up in bed since the weekend with... Well, I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't good! It's only today that I've felt I can actually look at a computer screen for more than a couple of minutes, write a quick update, and catch up on all of your own lovely blogs (although, with almost 200 hundred posts waiting on my bloglovin', I'm thinking it might take more than a day!) At the moment, I'm blaming my illness on New Zealand's truly awful summer - and dreaming of a tropical escape to sunny Vanuatu - just a hop, skip and a jump from my country's own damp and dreary islands. I think a few days spent lazing about Port Vila's "faded French atmosphere, rambling streets and café scene" could be just what the doctor ordered, don't you?

Information via Lonely Planet / Image via Jason's

The Shoes | Giuseppe Zanotti

2012-01-09T19:47:00.000+13:00

I am in love with these shoes. In fact, I am not sure I have ever seen a pair of shoes that I immediately fell so completely and utterly in love with. If it wasn't for the fact of my tenuous financial situation (and that I am very shortly going to be kicked from the family coup), I would be buying these. Right now.

Available at Net-a-Porter

Hotels | Saint James Paris + A New Sponsor

2012-01-07T14:08:00.000+13:00

"A sensibility that’s eclectic and whimsical but never kitschy or unserious."

The City of Light's Saint James Paris is a "vanishingly rare" sort - an almost a country-style château in the middle of the city, surrounded by a wall and perfectly pretty garden. Much of the Saint James' whimsical design is the work of Bambi Sloan, an "iconoclastic, self-taught Parisian designer whose work shows no regard at all for the uptight geometries and constrained palettes of the stereotypical 'minimalist' boutique hotel". Speaking of whimsy, I am happy to introduce Andrea Reh's very first sponsor, Shabby Apple, who's Oh La La collection I would certainly be packing for a trip to the Saint James.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Retreats | Damai, Bali

2012-01-06T22:20:00.000+13:00

"Until you’ve been to Damai, your knowledge of Bali is partial at best."

South East Asia has been on my radar of late. Though I still harbour dreams of returning to Europe, more and more I find myself drawn to places which are utterly different to my homeland. Bali is one of those places - and Damai, around the north side of Bali, on a mountainside above the cliffs of Lovina Bay, is as far away from Bali's bustling main city of Denpasar as you can get - let alone Auckland, New Zealand. But after a long, hot day spent exploring tiny Balinese villages and lush green rice paddies, I can't imagine anything better than settling in for a night of recuperation at the Damai.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

For Rent | Temple Guiting Barn, The Cotswolds

2012-01-05T10:53:00.001+13:00

"If you’ve ever dreamed of falling asleep under English rose wallpaper, there’s no finer place to fulfil your fantasies."

Though I have no doubt that those of English-descent reading this would strongly disagree, there is just a whiff of Marie Anotinette about the Cotswold's Temple Guiting Barn, whose guilded mirrors and damask couches invite days spent lounging about in satin gowns, nibbling on delicate pastries and sipping champagne. And yet, by the same token, the Barn couldn't possibly be more English - its gardens were designed by Chelsea Garden Show winner Jinny Blom and it boasts the HRH Prince Charles Pinnacle Award for its immaculate restoration. Hear hear!

Images and information via A&K Villas

Travel Tote | Milly

2012-01-04T19:29:00.000+13:00

Finally - a grown up version of the little girl totes I've been lusting after in the kids' furniture store down the road. For months now, I've been cheekily looking in their shop windows, wondering whether I could get away with one of their candy-coloured confections for myself... And after seeing this floral tote by Milly, I think I might just - don't you?

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Hotels | Commune by the Great Wall, China

2012-01-02T21:49:00.000+13:00

"An exercise in cutting-edge modernism."

Having already seen the Great Pyramids in Egypt and India's utterly mesmerising Taj Mahal, it's about time I got to the Great Wall. Although just seeing the wall would be enough, staying at the Commune by the Great Wall would be incredible. Variously described as "an architectural museum, a design exhibition, an exercise in cutting-edge modernism — architourists travel from all over the world to walk its polished wood and stone halls and admire the work of two dozen of Asia’s leading architects". This is no overnight stopover - here, it is about "the Commune, the Wall, and the experience".

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

The Shoes | Yves Saint Laurent

2012-01-01T13:49:00.000+13:00

A New Year is the perfect excuse for new shoes. These 'Opyum' pumps by Yves Saint Laurent are the very essence of the label's signature scent - made for wearing with a long, black dress, a Le Smoking jacket draped over one shoulder, in a dark, smokey bar downtown.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Celebrations | A New Year

2011-12-31T09:30:00.000+13:00

And so we find ourselves at the beginning of another year - and another long list of goals and resolutions for the coming 366 days. I have already begun filling in the pages of a brand new diary with appointments, birthdays and weddings - even a few ideas listed for next year's Christmas celebrations. As always, my resolutions seem to repeat those from the year before - finish my novel, travel the world - and a few new ones - work hard at my new job, find my own place. But for now, I am content to look back on the year that was - a year in which, finally, I felt myself (even if it was only a little bit) grow up.

I would like to wish you all a joyous New Year, and to thank you for all your support over the one just gone.

Diary available at Kikki.K

Retreats | Uma Paro, Bhutan

2011-12-30T16:04:00.000+13:00

"Bhutan offers an opportunity to glimpse another way of living, an alternative vision of what is truly important in life."

When my best friend visited Bhutan last year, I had to admit I was a little confused. It was a country I'd rarely heard of, yet alone thought of visiting, but she had an uncle there, so off she went. Looking at these pictures of the Uma Paro hotel in the "transcendently beautiful location" of Paro, I am beginning to understand the appeal. The latest venture of Christina Ong, the Uma Paro takes advantage of "a strong indigenous Buddhist tradition in crafting a serene and possibly even spiritual hotel experience". High in the Himalayas, Uma Paro's main lodge building and its nine outlying villas are set into 38 acres of wooded hillsides, with "stunning views of the peaks above and the valleys below". At the retreat's Shambhala Spa, the emphasis is "less on beauty than on yoga, massage and Ayurvedic medicine, striving to offer wellness not just physical but spiritual as well". I'm feeling relaxed already.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels / Main quote via Lonely Planet

Travel | Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2011-12-29T10:30:00.000+13:00

"Phnom Penh is a crossroads of Asia’s past and present."

Until recently, Cambodia was not a country I had planned on visiting. Then, after more and more of my friends and family returned from this South East Asian nation in raptures, I decided to give it a second look. Phnom Penh - even "the name can’t help but conjure up an image of the exotic. The glimmering spires of the royal palace, the fluttering saffron of the monks’ robes, and the luscious location on the banks of the mighty Mekong". The city can be an assault on the senses - "motorbikes whiz through the backstreets without a thought for pedestrians; pungent scents float up from stalls and markets; and all the while the sound of life, of commerce, of survival, reverberates all around". Just make sure you take plenty of film.

Image and quotes via Lonely Planet

Travel Tote | Bottega Veneta

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000+13:00

There's just something about this sunny yellow tote by Bottega Veneta - not only is practically perfect for summer accessorizing, but it reminds me of the traditional kite you see all over New Zealand during the summer months, woven flax bags that Maori women have been creating for centuries.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

For Rent | Villa Sancha, Spain

2011-12-27T09:26:00.000+13:00

"A land of surprises and contradiction."

Since finishing university last month, I have spent my days - which, after the intensity of postgraduate studies, seem to stretch long and empty before me - dreaming of exotic escapes and adventures. I'd quite happily settle for a few weeks at the Villa Sancha in Spain's rolling Andalucia region, where I could think of nothing more relaxing than days filled with nothing but eating and laughing amongst friends, long, lingering lunches prepared in that exquisitely appointed country kitchen...

Images via A&K Villas / Quote from Lonely Planet

Hotels | The Serai, India

2011-12-26T11:16:00.000+13:00

"A golden city of dreams."

Suffering from post-Christmas withdrawal? A change of location may be just what the doctor ordered. The tented suites of The Serai, set just outside the city in the sandy wilderness of the Great Thar Desert, is the perfect base from which to explore this ancient kingdom of Jaisalmer. The sandcastle-like fort of the city is "a living monument to long-lost desert might, a Golden City of dreams that exceeds expectations of the most travel-sick tourist or hardened history buff. Rising high from Trikuta hill, 99 enormous bastions hide havelis of crumbling beauty, and former Raj retainers, who now raffishly run guesthouses or flog bedazzling mirrorwork and embroidery. Like a Hansel and Gretel wonderland, the enclosed palace is carved from the same near-edible golden sandstone."

Quotes via Lonely Planet / Images via Tablet Hotels

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T10:33:00.000+13:00

"To me, you are perfect."

- Love Actually

Although technically not a Kiwi Christmas tradition, given my family are New Zealanders, I figure I can sneak this one in. Every year, my family sits around a table laden with colourful crepe paper, boxes of ribbons, piles of chocolates and folded jokes to be stuffed inside our own homemade Christmas crackers. When finished, they are stacked in a cane basket and placed under our tree until - finally - they will be cracked open this evening, whilst snacking on mince pies and - another family tradition - watching Love Actually.

The Shoes | Jimmy Choo

2011-12-23T10:13:00.000+13:00

It is no exaggeration when I say I live for wedges. Okay, perhaps it is a slight exaggeration - but only a very little one. I've said before that wedges to me, are what sneakers are to others - the ultimate everyday shoe, something you can slip on at the door and run from place to place in. I'd gladly swap my black patent wedges for these yellow beauties...

Available at Net-a-Porter.

For Rent | Fenton Tower, Scotland

2011-12-22T09:40:00.000+13:00

"Scotland is permeated by romance and legend."

Scotland has never been a place I've particularly dreamed of visiting, but a single glimpse of Fenton Tower was enough to change my mind. Set in 400 acres of rolling green hills, Fenton Tower seems utterly secluded and yet, Edinburgh is mere minutes away. It is the sort of place I - rather romantically - imagine Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned before her untimely death, full of dark wood, spiral staircases and trimmed with thoroughly Scottish tartans...

Images and information via A&K Villas
Quote via the NY Times

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Cranberry Cooler

2011-12-21T17:19:00.000+13:00

"In our lives there is a simple colour, as on an artists palatte, which provides the meaning of life and art. it is the colour of love."

- Marc Chagall

In New Zealand, the perfect Christmas Day is blindingly sunny and blistering hot - as such, we Kiwis tend to veer away from hot and heavy drinks like mulled wine and eggnog in favour of cold beers, wines and juices, piled into an ice-filled bucket. For something just a little bit different, this year I hope to serve a big bowl of Cranberry Cooler alongside the many bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay that will no doubt line our Christmas table.

Images via NZ House & Garden and Taste Magazine

Retreats | Riad Fes, Morocco

2011-12-20T17:45:00.000+13:00

"People need stories more than bread itself. They teach us how to live, and why."

- Arabian Nights

I'm having a serious love affair with Morocco - and by extension, Moroccan hotels. If you want to see the ancient side of Morocco - which I most certainly do - you want to see Fez. And "if you’re staying in Fez, you want to stay in a riad — and this one, Riad Fès, is among the best of them". A traditional Moroccan riad - those ancient homes and palaces built around tiled courtyards and lush gardens - the Riad Fes has been restored to its former glory by its Moroccan owner-architect. With its Arabian Nights decor, the Riad Fes gives guests "the opportunity to travel back in time and enjoy the splendour and authenticity of the lifestyle of Fassi nobility".

Images and information via Tablet Hotels and Relais & Chateau

Travel | Melbourne in Colour

2011-12-19T08:05:00.000+13:00

“Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.”

- Banksy

My sisters and I are slightly obsessed with street art, so we may have gone slightly crazy in Melbourne, a city renown for its vibrant street art scene. Though none of this is art, per se - that will come soon - I love the colour in the scrawls (tagging, as we call it in New Zealand) and bright bold lettering in these pictures - and the rows and rows of old cassette tapes, stuck to the wall and then spray-painted over.

Images by Andrea for Andrea Reh

Travel Tote | Jimmy Choo

2011-12-17T15:32:00.000+13:00

It seems that the summer spirit hit me around the same time as the Christmas spirit did. Jimmy Choo's straw tote is the perfect beach-side accessory, ready to be filled with fresh fruit from the market to be eaten at long, lingering picnics in the park...

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Cricket

2011-12-16T08:42:00.001+13:00

"I tell the boys in summertime to play at cricket and play well, that those who are the best cricketers most likely will be the best readers and writers."

- E.G. Wakefield

It seems no Kiwi Christmas can be complete without a casual game of cricket on the back lawn (or road or beach). Cricket came to New Zealand from Britian in the early nineteenth century, and has remained our quintessential summer sport ever since. Many New Zealanders - myself included - "can relate to a game of backyard cricket and hitting a ball through a window or over the fence for 'six and out'". And, in the midst of a long hot summer, driftwood stumps can often be seen sticking out of the sand at the end of an impromptu game on the beach".

How to Play Cricket: an excellent introduction to the Commonwealth's favourite game.

Image via Flickr, information via NZ History

The Shoes | Christian Louboutin

2011-12-15T10:03:00.000+13:00

These Christian Louboutin heels are surely the absolute epitome of chic. Luscious patent black leather, glamorous gold panels and Louboutin's signature red-soles. Utter perfection.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Hotels | Craft Hotel, Buenos Aires

2011-12-14T11:27:00.000+13:00

"Fresh, contemporary, and warm — this doesn’t feel like another cookie-cutter boutique."

How cute is this hotel? I think it's worth the extravagant cost of a flight to Buenos Aires (and believe me, flights to South America from New Zealand are not cheap), just to spend a few weeks pretending I live here. Craft Hotel "sits on the edge of a lovely green park, literally just steps away from many of the city’s coolest eateries and bars. As an extra perk, the hotel provides complimentary bicycles to guests during their stay". The hotel is dotted with artwork by Fabiana Barreda, a local artist whose video installations and romantic photography are well-known in Buenos Aires. Up in the treetops, the Craft's rooftop terrace "boasts a petite but chic reflecting pool and a row of cushy chaise lounges that are protected from the sun by billowing white canopies on hot summer days".

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Trifle

2011-12-13T11:32:00.000+13:00

"A charming confusion of cream and cake and almonds and jam and jelly and wine and cinnamon and froth."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Coming as I do from a family with an unnatural fondness for cream, our Christmas table has always been about the desserts. The desserts vary, but three of them are non-negotiable - Christmas Cake, pavlova, and trifle. A dessert layered with cream, berries, custard and sponge, there are as many recipes for trifle as there are families in New Zealand - my mother uses a recipe passed down from her own mother (and her mother before that).

Image and recipe at Foodlovers

Travel | Tales From Melbourne

2011-12-12T20:31:00.001+13:00

"With trams rattling through the streets, elegant tree-lined boulevards and a raging cafe culture, Victoria's capital has a distinctly European feel. "

You'll have to forgive me for my absence over the past few days - I've been gallivanting about Melbourne, Australia, eating my way through endless plates of pasta and delicate Italian pastries, shopping at the city's glamorous department stores and wandering through its exquisite galleries. I had scheduled some posts to keep you entertained while I was away, but - alas - they have mysteriously disappeared. In any case, I am back, and look forward to sharing more stories and pictures with you over the coming days and weeks.

Photos by Andrea for Andrea Reh

Quote via the NY Times

For Rent | Seabreeze, Hawke's Bay

2011-12-07T08:17:00.000+13:00

"But thy eternal summer shall not fade."

- William Shakespeare

I truly can't imagine anywhere more lovely to while away the summer months than Seabreeze Cottage. Located in New Zealand's beautiful Hawke's Bay - a land of vineyards and beaches, gardens and aquamarine seas - Seabreeze has everything you could possibly need for a relaxing escape from the city - even an outdoor pizza oven. What more could you want?

Images via Homebase Collections

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Pohutukawa

2011-12-06T09:05:00.000+13:00

"The iconic Kiwi Christmas tree has become an important symbol for New Zealanders at home and abroad."

Over the years, the pohutukawa has become known as New Zealand's Christmas tree. Although inside most Kiwi houses, you'll still find the more traditional fir tree (artificial, in my family's case), the pohutukawa's red blossoms decorate wreathes and tables, Christmas cards and mantles. Nineteenth-century travelers described the pohutukawa tree as the ‘Settlers Christmas tree’ and ‘Antipodean holly’. Today many school children - including, once upon a time, myself - sing about how ‘the native Christmas tree of Aotearoa’ (New Zealand) fills their hearts ‘with aroha’ (love).

Information and quote via NZ History

Travel | Bangkok, Thailand

2011-12-05T09:58:00.000+13:00

"Bangkok is excess in all of its unrestrained glory."

Lately, I have found myself yearning to visit places utterly different to my homeland. Though I will always dream of villas in Tuscany and the South of France or a chic apartment in Paris or New York, there is something to be said for destinations that take you entirely out of your comfort zone. I have a feeling that Bangkok would be one of those places - a city that is insatiable, "a monster that feeds on concrete, shopping malls and diesel exhaust," a place which "demands that you be in the present and in the moment, not necessarily for a religious epiphany, but because the city is self-absorbed and superficial, blissfully free of wrinkle-inducing self-reflection".

Image and quotes via Lonely Planet

The Shoes | Stella McCartney

2011-12-03T11:41:00.000+13:00

Excluding my predilection for wedges, I tend to favour more streamlined, delicate heels to their chunky counterparts. These pumps by Stella McCartney strike a ladylike balance between the two - in faux patent-leather with a subtle flash of gold, the chunky heel will add a bit of edge to your office outfit.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

Retreats | Hotel Dar Rhizlane, Morocco

2011-12-02T11:31:00.000+13:00

"A diamond in the rough."

- Aladdin

I so badly want to go to Morocco. And I want to stay at the Hotel Dar Rhizlane even more. I can't imagine anything more exquisite than drinking mint tea beside that softly lit pool on balmy Moroccan nights. Located in Marrakech's Hivernage quarter, an upscale residential district just outside the winding alleys of the old town, Dar Rhizlane is pure fantasy - a veritable Aladdin's Cave of treasures. Where better to play at princess for a few weeks?

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: Pavlova

2011-12-01T09:48:00.000+13:00

"You must realize that your daintiness and fragility are your greatest assets."

- Anna Pavlova

No Kiwi Christmas is complete without the obligatory pavlova. Though Aussies and Kiwis both claim to be the originators of this light-as-air dessert, the historians are firmly on New Zealand's side. The dessert is said to have been created by a hotel chef in Wellington who created the dish when ballerina Anna Pavlova visited New Zealand in 1926 on her world tour. Since then, Pavlova has taken its place of honour at Christmas tables up and down the country, served in thick slices and covered in cream and fresh strawberries.

Image via the BBC

Travel Tote | Marc by Marc Jacobs

2011-11-30T08:50:00.000+13:00

We're heading into summer here downunder, and I can't help thinking that this Marc by Marc Jacobs' tote is the perfect bag to sling over your shoulder on those hot, sunny days pounding the pavement in shorts and sandals... or holding a stockpile of magazines, sunscreen and icy water for long, lazy days at the beach.

Available at Net-a-Porter.

For Rent | Sweeton Manor, England

2011-11-29T09:24:00.000+13:00

"Everything was romantic in my imagination. The woods were peopled by the mysterious good folk."

- Beatrix Potter

Like something from a fairytale, Sweeton Manor is the sort of home you can imagine once belonged to Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs, or perhaps Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit. Set amidst the lush fields of Devon's Dartmoor National Park, the library at this historic cottage holds over two thousand books, while the quaint country kitchen is kept warm in the cool winter months by a wood burning stove.

Images and information via A&K Villas

Christmas | The Kiwi Christmas: A Complete Guide

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000+13:00

"Christmas in New Zealand is less about snow and sleigh bells and more about sun, sand and barbecues in the backyard."

To mark the countdown to Christmas here on Andrea Reh this year, I have decided to do something just a little bit different. Here in New Zealand, Christmas is thoroughly different holiday to the snow, the mistletoe and the mulled wine of the Northern Hemisphere - for one thing, it's summer. As such, the Kiwi Christmas is a very relaxed affair - barbeques on the beach, buffets of cold meats and salads eaten on sunny verandas, mountains of ice cream and pavlova eaten for dessert. Late afternoon swims, games of cricket on back lawns and strolls around the park are the norm - dressed, naturally, in shorts and sandals or a light cotton dress. So, over the coming days and weeks, I hope to offer an Antipodean take on the festive season - the recipes, the decorations and the spirit that makes a Kiwi Christmas so unique.

Images via NZ House & Garden and Home Beautiful

Retreats | Fazenda Sao Francisco do Corumbau, Brazil

2011-11-26T08:56:00.000+13:00

"A hotel so wisely designed and seductively outfitted, that it’s not completely outshined by the white sands and clear waters of southern Bahia’s spectacular landscape."

I really want to go to Brazil. Like, really want to go. Unfortunately, flights to South America are some of the most expensive from New Zealand. But a stay the (lengthily-named) Fazenda Sao Francisco do Corumbau could just about make the exhorbitant ticket price worth it. The "forested coconut farm perched on an unspoiled (and practically deserted) stretch of sand" was orignially conceived of as a beach retreat for friends and family. The relaxed resort lends itself to "the pleasures of doing nothing. Inviting chaise lounges surround the laguna-style salt-water swimming pool, and hotel staff are more than happy to deliver your cocktail of choice to any hammock or terrace on the property." I'm sold - are you?

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Jaisalmer, India

2011-11-24T11:21:00.000+13:00

"A living monument to long-lost desert might."

Jaisalmer is surely the most beautiful town in India - a historic city emerging from the golden sands of the Thar Desert, where - for a few days, at least - you can play at being Aladdin's Princess Jasmine. Rising high from Trikuta hill, the 99 enormous bastions of the city fort "hide havelis of crumbling beauty, and former Raj retainers, who now raffishly run guesthouses or flog bedazzling mirrorwork and embroidery. Like a Hansel and Gretel wonderland, the enclosed palace is carved from the same near-edible golden sandstone". It is a city where I spent three long lingering days and one I hope to return to soon - again and again and again.

Image and quotes via Lonely Planet

Hotels | Hotel Palacio de Villapanes, Spain

2011-11-23T12:11:00.002+13:00

"A classic exemplar of the Mudéjar style."

I love the inherently medieval look to the rooms at the Hotel Palacio de Villapanes in Spain's Seville, dark woods and heavy fabrics so utterly in contrast with the bright blue skies just visible through shuttered windows. An eighteenth-century palace, the building is "a classic exemplar of the Mudéjar style, a Moorish interpretation of the influences of the day" that, whenever possible, has been left intact. It's hard not to imagine a dozen attendants awaiting you when you step from the bath, ready to swathe you in thick, fluffy towels...

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

The Shoes | Jimmy Choo

2011-11-22T19:03:00.001+13:00

I don't know why I haven't posted on shoes recently - but I think it might have something to do with my current financial situation (and the shoes - okay, pairs of shoes) that finally tipped me over the edge. And then, I saw these, and I remembered just how happy shoes can make me - whether I purchase them or not. Sometimes, just a glimpse of a completely crazy pair of shoes - and fuschia snakeskin is crazy - is enough to make me smile.

Available at Net-a-Porter

For Rent | Mas Mateu, Spain

2011-11-21T09:45:00.000+13:00

"Classic and contemporary Catalan style."

Now this is the sort of holiday home I could get used to escaping to after a frantic week in Barcelona or Madrid. Set amongst the undulating Spain's Gavarran Mountains with the Pyrenees marking the horizon, the expansive seventeenth century estate of Mas Mateau combines classic and contemporary Catalan culture in its ceramic floors and vaulted ceilings. Yet, there is something thoroughly understated about this home that lends itself to long days spent with friends and family by the pool, padding barefoot and dripping back to bed for a late afternoon siesta...

Images and information via A&K Villas

Travel Tote | Marni

2011-11-19T12:39:00.000+13:00

Now this is laidback ladylike chic at its best - with a hint of Chloé and Celine's hipster vibe. Though I'm not sure just how much it would hold, I think it would be worth the lack of space - besides, what do you else would you need on a luxury escape except your credit card?

Image via Net-a-Porter

Retreats | Be Tulum, Mexico

2011-11-17T20:29:00.000+13:00

Ever since I got back from Rarotonga, I've been drawn to resorts all over the world. I think that's partly because I want to return to how I felt there - that feeling of utter relaxation, total escape from the outside world. Although it's thousands of kilometres away, these images of Be Tulum take me right back. Located in Tulum, a small town at the southern end of the Mayan Riviera, on the shores of the Caribbean near Cancún, Be Tulum is "as heavenly as you'd expect it to be". Warm, dark wood wraps around gemstone-coloured swimming pools, while palm trees sway gently in the breeze above you.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Tokyo, Japan

2011-11-16T10:27:00.000+13:00

"Tokyo’s unique vitality springs from an intertwining of the new with the time-honoured old."

I have long wanted to visit Tokyo, which has always seemed to me to be the world's City of the Future - a place where "fashions begin to fade almost as soon as they are plucked from clothes hangers, and keitai (mobile phones) are traded up for each latest technological advancement". Conversely, it is also a city which clings tight to tradition - where "at a Shintō shrine across town, a young man purchases a fortune and, after reading it, ties it to a strung frame whose many paper fortunes rustle like leaves in a breeze. In a neighbourhood sentō (public bath) in Asakusa, an old woman bathes with her tiny granddaughter, much as she once did with her own grandmother".

Image and quotes via Lonely Planet

Hotels | The Montpellier Chapter, England

2011-11-14T14:30:00.000+13:00

The words 'Montpellier Chapter' evoke the same sort of feelings for me as the words 'Sunday Afternoon' once did for Henry James. There is something about it that just sort of rolls off the tongue, don't you think? The Montpellier Chapter (sigh) is located not in the south of France but in a century-and-a-half old Regency building in the spa town of Cheltenham, England. Although the "historic bones of the place are still present, and lend an air of architectural distinction" the décor throughout the Montpellier is "thoroughly contemporary, in its crisp, tightly controlled way". The result? Completely delightful.

Images & quotes via Tablet Hotels

Interiors | Scandinavian Style

2011-11-13T20:00:00.000+13:00

"White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black." 

- GK Chesterton

Scandinavians just do it better. Nothing equals the utter simplicity of their interiors which are traditional and yet, thoroughly modern at the same time. Although I featured an all white home just days ago, the differences between this Norwegian holiday home and that luxurious London townhouse are endless - while one was dripping in extravagance, this is the ultimate in pared-back, simple living.

Images via Design*Sponge

Hotels | Hotel de Larache, Chile

2011-11-11T11:31:00.000+13:00

Chile's Hotel de Larache is located on a remote plain "known as the Ayllu de Larache, once inhabited by an ancient Atacameño community". Taking inspiration from the land, "the texture of the stone pavings surrounding the buildings evokes the color and roughness of the area's salt flats". But my favourite feature of the Hotel de Larache is surely its observatory; opened in 2008, the observatory offers "the unforgettable experience of exploring the Atacama night sky, one of the clearest on Earth". Magical.

Images and quotes via Explora

Travel | Mont St-Michel, France

2011-11-09T15:26:00.000+13:00

I don't think I'll ever be done with France. After my friend posted pictures from his trip to Mont St-Michel, I've been longing to visit this magical site in northern France. Like a fairytale, the abbey's slender towers and sky-scraping turrets rise from flat white sands, "atop a small island encircled by stout ramparts and battlements, connected to the mainland by an old causeway". According to the area's ancient lore, "the abbey was founded in the 8th century, when Aubert, the bishop of Avranches, was visited by the Archangel Michael in a dream; to this day the abbey is still crowned by a gilded copper statue of Michael slaying a dragon, symbolising the triumph of good over evil". The bay surrounding Mt St-Michel is famed for its extraordinary tides, where the "waters sweep in at an astonishing rate; at low tide the Mont can be surrounded by bare sand for miles around, but at high tide, barely six hours later, the whole bay is often entirely submerged by the sea".

Quotes via Lonely Planet, image from Flickr

Retreats | Hotel Oceana, Santa Monica

2011-11-08T09:56:00.002+13:00

"If it’s chilled-out Southern California relaxation you’re looking for, you need look no further."

Summer is steadily approaching here in New Zealand and, after getting into super-skinny jeans last week for the first time in years, I'm actually feeling pretty excited. It may be in the wrong hemisphere, but with rooms that put your in mind of the old family beach house, Santa Monica's Hotel Oceana is exactly the kind of place I'd like to pass long summer days. With a pool in the courtyard, and a beach just across the road, this "oasis of mellowness" quite simply is summer.

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Travel Tote | Gucci

2011-11-07T14:26:00.000+13:00

Like Mulberry and Reed Krakoff, Gucci does travel totes exceptionally well - hence why I come back to the label time and time again here on Andrea Reh. This "Italian-made duffle bag is an investment in the brand's design heritage. The optional shoulder strap makes it perfect for long days in the city," or lazy weekends away in the country.

Image and information via Net-a-Porter

Hotels | Number Sixteen, London

2011-11-04T19:15:00.000+13:00

"Number Sixteen is either the coziest boutique hotel in London, or the most luxurious bed and breakfast."

It's hard to believe Number Sixteen, with its quaint gardens and courtyards, is smack-bang in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. That said, there is something distinctly Old World about Number Sixteen, where most of the socialising takes place in the hotel’s library and drawing room, "where travelers huddle round the fireplace or the honor bar, according to taste". Number Sixteen's location is equally genteel - and discreet - "down a sleepy side street in South Kensington, is fairly well hidden; just a row of nineteenth-century Victorian townhouses without so much as a sign to show the way".

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

For Rent | Torretta, Umbria

2011-11-02T11:55:00.000+13:00

"Every inch of Umbria is ancient. The landscape of rolling hills and meandering country roads has been perfected over three millennia."

Set in the "green heart of Italy, a land of rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves and woods of oak and chestnut, where little has changed since St Francis of Assisi preached here in the Middle Ages," Torretta is a place of quiet corners and simple pleasures, a place where you’ll see "grandmothers in aprons making pasta by hand and front doors that haven’t been locked in a century. In spring the countryside is splashed with red, pink, yellow, purple and blue wildflowers. In summer it explodes with the vibrant yellow of the sunflowers harvested to make cooking oil".

Images and quotes via A&K Villas and Lonely Planet

Dreams | A Novel Aspiration

2011-11-01T21:26:00.002+13:00

"How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream."

- Gaston Bachelard 

National Novel Writing Month began today - though in fact, it is a thoroughly international affair. Some of you might remember that I participated in this crazy challenge last year - to write a 50, 000 word manuscript in just thirty days and thirty nights - and didn't quite make it, but I'm feeling pretty confident this is my year. I have wanted to be a novelist for as long as I can remember - though in the meantime, I'm happy to work for a newspaper or magazine, in my heart of hearts I know I won't be happy until I am a published author. I would like nothing more than to sit in a Parisian cafe, and spend my days scribbling away à la Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris. Wish me luck.

Interiors | White House

2011-11-01T09:12:00.004+13:00

"There is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty."

- Joseph Addison 

As much as I try, I don't think I will ever be done with white. I just can't go past a crisp, clean interior, accented with dark green foliage peeping through the abundant windows providing endless, evocative light. Though, in grey-skied London, I'm not so sure this Chelsea mansion would always be as light and bright as it is in these pictures - but I can imagine a similar look would go down a treat in a certain city down under...

Images via NZ House & Garden

Retreats | Pimalai Resort & Spa, Thailand

2011-10-30T21:04:00.000+13:00

No one does resorts like Thailand. Indeed, "the main calculation in traveling to Thailand is where exactly on the continuum between civilization and seclusion you want to end up". The Pimalai Resort and Spa is on the more tranquil end of the scale, a place where the natural beauty of this South East Asian island takes centre stage. You could splash out for a villa with a private pool, but why would you when the sea - glimmering with an abudance of tropical fish - is just a few sandy steps away?

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Melbourne, Australia

2011-10-28T22:01:00.000+13:00

"Sophisticated and slick, edgy and rough."

It's a mere month since I got back from Rarotonga, but in a few weeks I will be heading back overseas for a family trip to Melbourne, Australia. I've been to Melbourne once before - about ten years ago - but as my parents visit the city regularly, my sisters and I will be left to our own devices. With just a few days in Australia's cultural capital, I've already begun the meticulous planning of my itinerary. Melbourne produces some of the best art, music, cuisine, fashion, performance, design and ideas in the world, "ever-ravenous for a bite of global culture". A little bit of Europe down under, "ornate Victorian-era architecture and leafy, established boulevards reflect the city’s history, and cutting-edge developments such as Federation Sq exemplify its enigmatic contemporary style".

Quotes via Lonely Planet, Image via the Cherry Blossom Girl

Travel Tote | Yves Saint Laurent

2011-10-27T20:34:00.000+13:00

For a tailored travel tote that wouldn't look out of place hanging from a Chanel-suited arm, you can't go past Yves Saint Laurent's Cabas Muse textured-leather tote. Perfectly ladylike, this roomy tote still has room for all the necessities when traveling long-haul - and a few little extras, as well.

Image via Net-a-Porter

Hotels | Sir F.K. Savigny Hotel, Berlin

2011-10-25T21:57:00.000+13:00

"Sir F.K. Savigny may be an aristocrat, but he’s an aristocrat of the urban sophisticate variety."

Although the name is a bit of a mouthful, the Sir F.K. Savigny Hotel in Berlin's Charlottenburg is so chic, it gets away with it. The hotel "maintains an air of understatement, more pied à terre than gathering place. It’s a prime location for such a thing, to be sure, given the dining and nightlife around Charlottenburg". The Savigny’s white-walled bar "keeps guests watered and fed, with drinks, tapas and sandwiches into the night".

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

For Rent | Sto Estevao, Tavira

2011-10-24T12:29:00.000+13:00

"Tavira is ideal for strolling: its warren of cobblestone streets hide shady plazas and patisseries."

Quietly cosy and unassuming, Sto Estevao is the sort of place where you can imagine long, lingering dinners with friends and family that last well into the night, lazy days and cool evenings beside the pool, and contemplative walks in the surrounding countryside or down to nearby Tavira, "a charming town that makes good use of its pretty river setting. The ruins of a hilltop castle, an old Roman bridge and a smattering of Gothic and Renaissance churches are among the attractions, and its enticing assortment of restaurants and guesthouses can make it difficult to leave".

Images and information via A&K Villas and Lonely Planet

Travel Tote | H by Harris

2011-10-22T20:51:00.000+13:00

Channeling Chanel's quilted ski-wear of last season, H by Harris' super chic leather tote is perfect for the business traveller. Cleverly designed with an internal laptop compartment and a detachable shoulder strap, this two-tone piece will take you from first-class seat to that business meeting in Aspen in style.

Retreats | Desa Seni, Bali

2011-10-20T14:17:00.000+13:00

I really, really need to get to Bali. I think perhaps - once I get a real job - I might escape winter next year for this tropical paradise. And if I save up enough, I might just treat myself to a little bit of the Eat Pray Love treatment at the Desa Seni, a resort that "looks for all the world like a traditional Balinese village, a sprawling assortment of antique-style Indonesian houses, peaked roofs, stone walkways and all". Desa Seni offers the lucky guest a taste of rural Balinese life - the rice fields that surround the thatched rooms aren’t just ornamental. Best of all, at Desa Seni "traditional stylings go hand in hand with ecological concerns, which means while you’re looking after yourself and the local culture, you’re leaving a small footprint on the environment as well".

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Nice, France

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000+13:00

"It might be a cliché to say Nice has something for everyone, but the Côte d’Azur’s cosmopolitan capital pretty much does."

Nicknamed 'Nice la Belle' - Nice the beautiful - this ancient city is where "sun seekers sip cocktails on parasoled lounges lining its polished pebbled shores, and kids splash in the azure sea, while bladers cruise the curved Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) against a backdrop of fairy-lit palm trees flanking the promenade des Anglais". The cosmopolitan capital of the Cote d'Azur was "first popularized by English aristocrats in the eighteenth century". The city reached its zenith in the belle époque of the late nineteenth century, an era that left Nice with several extraordinary architectural flights of fancy, including the sumptuous Palais Lascaris where the coat of arms, engraved on the ceiling of the entrance hall, bears the motto 'not even lightning strikes us'.

Information and quotes via Lonely Planet and Rough Guides

Hotels | Le Royal Monceau, Paris

2011-10-17T11:10:00.000+13:00

"The grand hotels are all about sensory overload, about dazzling the spectator with rich materials and bold effects."

Redesigned from top to bottom by none other than Phillipe Stark, Le Royal Monceau is a destination in itself. Raffles have let Starck's imagination run wild at the almost century-old hotel - "hallucinogenic stripes create op-art effects in the halls, and there’s glass and crystal everywhere, from the staircase with its million tiny chandeliers to the hall-of-mirrors bathrooms. The hotel’s got its own Art District, an in-house gallery, and installation pieces line the common spaces". I'm ready to book my room - how about you?

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Gardens | A Return to Nature

2011-10-16T15:50:00.000+13:00

I haven't really featured gardens here on Andrea Reh before - as I child, I used to hate being dragged around various gardens by my green-fingered mother - but as I get older, I am learning to appreciate the art of a beautifully manicured garden. New Zealand has no shortage of these - New Zealand House & Garden and the New Zealand Gardener are two of our biggest selling magazines. My mother has been a subscriber to the latter for as long as I can remember - and my Nana well before that. This is my type of garden - a mix of traditional and natural, and lots and lots of green. Even better - the swimming pool that resembles a little lake.

Images via NZ House & Garden

Retreats | Huka Lodge, New Zealand

2011-10-14T11:35:00.000+13:00

"Enter through the gates of Huka Lodge and immediately begin to leave the real world behind."

For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of staying at the Huka Lodge. As a child on a family road trip, I stood on the banks of the Waikato River and attempted to catch a glimpse of the luxurious lodge on the other side. My parents spoke in awe of the New Zealand establishment which, once upon a time, played host to the Queen herself. Years later, it is the Lodge's light-filled Owner's Cottage which has captured my imagination...

Images and quote via the Huka Lodge

Interiors | Collected Treasures

2011-10-13T09:00:00.000+13:00

I don't normally go in for those houses where collections seem to cover every available surface - my personal style would better be described as "eclectic minimalism". There is something endearing about this very Kiwi house, however - it reminds me a lot of my great grandmother's house which I used to visit as a child, a veritable treasure trove of antiques, biscuit tins and tiny succulents in delicate pink vases...

Images via NZ House & Garden

Travel Tote | Gucci

2011-10-12T09:33:00.000+13:00

The Italian house can do no wrong. I've been lusting after this dress since I saw it in the window of Auckland's flagship store a few weeks back, and now, this. Though not a travel tote, per se, I coudn't resist sharing this "highly detailed, stirrup-embellished tan leather tote which epitomizes the exquisite craftsmanship of the label".

Image and information via Net-a-Porter.

Travel | Barbados, Carribean Islands

2011-10-10T10:55:00.000+13:00

Now this would be the perfect birthday present. I'm always featuring beautiful hotels and resorts from the Carribean on Andrea Reh, so I decided it was high-time to put a travel guide on here. Barbados has always appealed to me - not least because it is Rihanna's homeland - fascinating remnants of the island's colonial past are set amidst a rolling terrain of limestone hills and lush, green scenery, where, "away from the glitz, it’s still a place of classic calypso rhythms, an island-time vibe and world-famous rums". Any one else ready for a party?

Image and information via Lonely Planet

Hotels | Hotel de Russie, Rome

2011-10-09T14:07:00.000+13:00

"Once upon a time, on a sunny day at the Hotel de Russie, you might have spotted Pablo Picasso or Jean Cocteau peeling and eating the oranges that they picked in the hotel garden."

And speaking of Italy... This hotel is so quintessentially Rome. The Italian capital is known "as a lively, sometimes frantic place — bumper to bumper traffic and hot, salty scents. But though the Russie is in the city center—across the street from the Spanish Steps and overlooking the Piazza del Popolo—the hotel itself is tranquil. The screeches of mopeds are curiously absent. Service is discreet. Even the furniture is quiet — modern, but unpretentious. Order your wine from room service and sip it slowly from a gigantic glass the size of a fish bowl, or book a treatment at the spa — the only luxury spa in all of Italy. Of course, the best time to stay at the Russie is when the weather is at its nicest — from late spring to early fall. Then, you can breakfast on cornettos and milky espresso on the patio. And in the evenings, drink Prosecco on your terrace (providing you're flush enough to score one) while listening to music drift up from the Piazza below".

Beautiful, evocative description and images via Tablet Hotels

Food Escapes | Una Festa Italiana

2011-10-08T10:42:00.000+13:00

It is my birthday on Monday, but I celebrated last night with my family over a grand festa Italiana. To start, a long platter of antipasto - thick slices of salami, the freshest, creamiest feta, peppers stuffed with cheese - followed by bacon, rosemary and tomato pasta and a bottle of Da Vinci pinot grigio on the side. For dessert, a cheat's version of lemony panna cotta, studded with dark boysenberries and to finish, espresso and biscotti. La dolce vita, indeed.

Images via Design*Sponge

Spotlight | Little Dutch Girl

2011-10-07T12:10:00.000+13:00

"A devastating combination of postmodern Brigitte Bardot and quintessential little Dutch girl."

Is there anybody out there not obsessed with Lara Stone? I, for one, am in awe of her gap-toothed smile, her supernaturally big eyes and those curves. It is also nice to see a model so refreshingly real - someone you could laugh with over a big plate of mayonnaise slathered fries. In the words of the immortal Lara herself, "it's nice to see someone who won‘t break in half when you touch them". A true role model.

Images and quote via the New York Times.

Retreats | Soneva Kiri by Six Senses, Thailand

2011-10-07T08:16:00.000+13:00

"An effortless and organic type of luxury that seems to just grow up out of the ground."

I just re-read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love at the moment (for what must have been the tenth or twelfth time), and ever since, I've been imagining long, languid days cycling around a tropical paradise, retreating for lazy afternoons meditating (okay, maybe reading) beside the pool. Although Gilbert's escape was Bali's Ubud, I'm thinking Thailand could be mine - more specifically, Soneva Kiri by Six Senses. The resort is located on an island "so secret many Thais haven’t even heard of it. There are no roads there. You’re flown in the resort’s private plane from Bangkok’s international airport to its private airstrip, from which point you are taken to the resort via speedboat, and then driven to your bungalow in an eco-buggy". Once you've arrived, pale timber salas, personal infinity pools, open air bathrooms await you - not to mention the dining pods which "perch in the trees above the mangroves like nests, giving diners a bird’s-eye view of white sands and sunsets".

Images and quotes via Tablet Hotels

Interiors | A Spanish Daydream

2011-10-06T12:53:00.000+13:00

When I pulled back the covers of New Zealand House & Garden's latest issue last night (a magazine which also happens to be my dream employer), I fell hard and fast for this Moroccan-inspired, Spanish mission style home in my homeland's South Island - which happens to be the complete opposite to the Mediterranean landscapes in which you would normally find this sort of house. Owners Brett and Lisa both make things - "amazing things. Lisa’s creations are pretty and ethereal-looking: tiny birds’ nests, hand-painted lettering, tin butterflies and decorative “frocks”. Brett’s aesthetic is more art nouveau meets 1930s steam punk: trailing wrought-iron vines, chandeliers made out of old glass insulators, children’s riveted pedal cars like Flash Gordon rocket ships".

Images via NZ House & Garden

Stylish Shops | Paper & Type

2011-10-05T09:53:00.000+13:00

Occasionally I come across a shop so beautiful I simply must feature it on Andrea Reh, even if it is a slight deviation from my usual fare of hotels and homes. I just discovered Paper & Type and, needless to say, I am slightly obsessed. Gorgeous notecards and exquisite invitations designed by Victoria, a "papergirl particular about printed matter and good manners". Victoria blames her affinity for paperie on her father who opened a print shop, and taught her all the typesetting skills she needed to know by the time she was 11. Victoria says "she's been persnickety about paper and typefaces" ever since. Victoria creates "simple and lovely goods to perpetuate the charming art of correspondence and thoughtfulness".

Images via Paper & Type

Travel Tote | Reed Krakoff

2011-10-04T08:34:00.000+13:00

So, I may have become a little obsessed with Reed Krakoff. In "sumptuous leopard-print calf hair and cream snakeskin detailing", this update to Krakoff's cult Editor bag practically screams first-class.

Image and quote via Net-a-Porter.

For Rent | Villa Iris, Tuscany

2011-10-03T10:57:00.000+13:00

"This is a land of lush rumpled hills, distant smoky mountains and ancient hill-top villages."

I have just begun re-reading Frances Mayes' evokative Under the Tuscan Sun, and, as always, I find myself longing for my own spot in Italy's cypress-studded countryside, spending lovely, lazy hours picking at plates of antipasto on green terraces, gazing at medieval towns on the horizon. A traditional villa with a modern touch, Iris has ample room for friends and family passing through on their own explorations of the southern Tuscan countryside, with lawns that extend into forever.

Images and information via A&K Villas
Additional information from Lonely Planet

Hotels | In Fashion Hotel Boutique, Mexico

2011-10-02T11:39:00.000+13:00

For a little bit of Vegas - and a lot of colour - pop by the In Fashion Hotel Boutique next time you're in Mexico's Playa del Carmen. And it's hard not to describe the hotel as anything but fashionable, its forty-two suites "eclectically decorated, in bold graphic schemes, with the occasional thoughtful luxury touch". The hotel's public spaces are more gallery spaces, "packed with all manner of contemporary artworks (including the occasional fashion exhibit, sensibly enough)". Very fashionable, indeed.

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Kerala, India

2011-09-30T11:58:00.000+13:00

"Kerala is where India slips down into second gear, stops to smell the roses and always talks to strangers."

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I went to India. When I first got home, I swore I would never go back, so overwhelmed had I been by the colour and the culture, the smells and the spices - but, a year later, I would quite happily jump on the next plane. You may or may not realise that India is a truly huge country (like New Zealand, its rather large neighbours make it look much smaller than it actually is). So, despite travelling huge distances in my three weeks there, I covered just one state in the north. Kerala is way down in India's tropical south, "a strip of land between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, its perfect climate flirts unabashedly with the fertile soil, and everything glows". A state where "spindly networks of rivers, canals and lagoons nourish a seemingly infinite number of rice paddies and coconut groves, while sleek houseboats cruise the water highways from one bucolic village to another". Add to that some of the best food in India, and you'll never want to leave.

Image and quotes via Lonely Planet

Travel Tote | Chloé

2011-09-29T08:22:00.000+13:00

Heading for a weekend in the countryside? How about packing your weekend wardrobe in a retro-inspired carryall like Chloé's toffee leather duffel bag? (Though if you're anything like me, you may just need another bag for some extra space).

Image and information via Net-a-Porter.

Interiors | Sweet Dreams

2011-09-27T22:22:00.001+13:00

Looking back over my hotel and home posts from the past week or so, I noticed that they had one thing in common: they are all exteriors - generally, sleek modern exteriors sitting in lush, green grounds. So I decided it was time for a little breather. Yes, this interior is still white (what can I say, it makes for such beautiful buildings - inside and out), but it is punctuated by warm, earthy shades - a dark wood chair, a faded-red rug, and an Indian-inspired bedspread woven with gold that so perfectly captures the dessert sunset.

Image via Nuevo Estilo

For Rent | Villa Indigo, Mustique

2011-09-27T08:23:00.001+13:00

After barely a week back home in the city, I am seriously considering what it would mean to live in the tropics - lazy days of reading and writing, cooking with the freshest ingredients sourced from all around you for friends and family who've come to stay. A masterpiece of simplicity, Villa Indigo on the Carribean island of Mustique epitomises elegant island living, with an emphasis on the lush, rolling surrounds and the sparkling sea beyond... I don't think I'd ever leave.

Images via A&K Villas

Hotels | Hotel Les 5 Djellabas, Morocco

2011-09-26T08:53:00.000+13:00

I need to get myself to Morocco, stat. Les 5 Djellabas is set in Marrakech's Palmeraïe, an exotic palm grove on the outskirts of the old city, a welcome relaxtion after the crowded, narrow streets of the old medina, with its "winding streets, its market stalls and traditional riad houses". The ten African villas of this boutique resort are set "amid palms and gardens, with the snow-capped peaks of the Atlas mountains for an archetypal Palmeraïe backdrop". The villas are an exercise in clean-lined contemporary design, combining traditional Moroccan craftsmanship with a bit of sub-Saharan influence. "Spacious and exceedingly comfortable, but never wasteful — though the setting isn’t exactly wild, the philosophy is one of “eco-luxury,” with an emphasis on natural materials." At Les 5 Djellabas "you’re close enough to the city center to partake in its charms on a daily basis, yet remote enough to fully disconnect at day’s end".

Images and information via Tablet Hotels

Travel | Siena, Italy

2011-09-25T11:40:00.000+13:00

I feel like I need to give Siena a second chance: when I first visited the ancient Italian city I didn't really like it, but I was also incredibly sick with food-poisoning. So it's fair to say, I probably wasn't in my best sight-seeing mood. It's a shame, because Siena is widely-regarded as one of Italy's most enchanting cities, with a medieval centre that "bristles with majestic buildings". Siena's "profusion of churches and small museums harbour a wealth of artwork, though equally your day can be effectively filled by simply wandering the snarled lanes of the historic centre".

Image and information via Lonely Planet

Photography | Via dell'Amore, Italy

2011-09-23T14:02:00.000+12:00

I visited Italy at the wrong time of year. I know this now. When I was there, however, I suffered dreadfully from the conflict between the Italy of my imagination (for which I wholeheartedly blame Under the Tuscan Sun - both book and film) and the Italy that I was presented with. Needless to say, the Italy I was presented with wasn't great. In the grip of one of the worst winters on record (until now, that is) the Tuscan countryside was a far cry from the cypress-dotted hills I'd envisioned, the Riviera damp and cold. It is no wonder then, that I reveled in the bright and brash, but still thoroughly romantic, graffiti that decorated much of the Cinque Terre's famed Via dell'Amore.

Photos by Andrea for Andrea Reh

Hotels | Sezz Saint-Tropez, France

2011-09-22T10:01:00.000+12:00

"In Pillet’s hands the minimalist aesthetic and monochrome color palette feel fresh again."

After the over-the-top colour of the fabulous Marmara Antalya Hotel, I found myself somewhat inevitably drawn to the pure white palate of the Sezz Saint-Tropez in the south of France. The second collaboration between owner Shahé Kalaidjian and designer Christophe Pillet has given birth to a new take on a classic locale, where "in Pillet’s hands the minimalist aesthetic and monochrome color palette feel fresh again". At the Sezz Saint-Tropez "there’s a special emphasis on creature comforts, this being St. Tropez after all — every room and suite is serviced by a personal assistant, so there’s no question at all of going without".

Images & Quotes via Tablet Hotels

Fashion | Seafolly + Some Changes

2011-09-21T10:36:00.000+12:00

In precisely one hour, I have my first ever gym consultation - and I'm incredibly nervous. After getting back from Rarotonga, where I'd felt oh so self-conscious and short summery dresses and my bathing suit, I decided it was time to make some changes - and prepare myself for a fabulous summer involving one tiny Seafolly bikini after another... Wish me luck!

Sarah Stephens for Seafolly via FGR

Travel Tote | Nancy Gonzalez

2011-09-20T07:57:00.000+12:00

Though I don't think the New Zealand border patrol would let this baby into the country, I am loving Nancy Gonzalez' crocodile totes at the moment. The chocolate and bronze tote channels Gonzalez' "unassumingly elegant aesthetic" will take you from day to night - and with all that space, from destination to destination.

Image and quote via Net-a-Porter

Hotels | Full Moon Resort & Spa, The Maldives

2011-09-18T18:14:00.000+12:00

And I'm back. After three days of sun, sand and many, many cocktails, I arrived home two hours ago to cold Auckland - and though it's nice to be back for the Rugby World Cup (I even managed to catch a couple of games while I was away - though, unfortunately Sonny Bill Williams' shirt stayed on for the duration of the All Blacks' game), I am about ready to head off on another tropical holiday. The Maldives seems like the ideal location. Nestled on its own private island, Sheraton's Full Moon Resort & Spa is a truly luxurious escape. If you want to really indulge, book yourself into your very own Ocean Villa - "your own chic, contemporary Maldivian-themed beach house tucked in the eastern end of the island for ultimate privacy".

Images and information via SPG Resorts

Interiors | Moroccan Style

2011-09-16T08:00:00.003+12:00

Moroccan-style seems to be on everyone's minds of late - and I'm no exception. I can just imagine myself coming home after a long, hot day and splashing my face in this bathroom, before padding about cool, tiled interiors in terracotta-coloured harem pants, a refreshing mint drink in hand...

Image via Madeline Stuart

Travel | Rarotonga, The Cook Islands

2011-09-14T08:45:00.000+12:00

"A castaway's dream come true."

Guess where I'm going today? That's right - the lovely island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Although I'm a bit put out to be leaving New Zealand in the midst of its biggest party ever, I am excited at the prospect of an island escape - I haven't been to the Islands (as we Kiwis refer to our neighbours in the Pacific) for almost 10 years, when I spent a month in Tahiti as an exchange trip. And I can tell you, my return trip to this tropical paradise is long overdue. I plan to spend the next three days (my trip, unfortunately, is a short one) swimming, sunbathing, and gorging myself on fresh fruit. Jealous much?

Image and quote via Lonely Planet

Fashion | Havaianas

2011-09-13T14:04:00.001+12:00

I can't find my jandals. Normally, this wouldn't be too much of a problem but given that I am going to the Islands tomorrow, it is something of a concern. My favourite jandals - like most of the world's - are my Havaianas. Everyone in my family has a pair (if not two or three) - Dad's are bright turquoise, my sister's are chocolate brown and mine are a (now slightly faded) white. I'd been hoping to put them in a big bucket of bleach to get them gleaming again before I head off tomorrow, but, having searched high and low, I can't find them. At this rate, I think I'll be making an emergency Havaianas purchase at the airport tomorrow.

Image via High Heels & Cupcakes

In Memorandum | September 11, 2001

2011-09-11T22:05:00.000+12:00

In New Zealand, today, it is September 12th - but for me, September 12th is the anniversary of 9/11. Ten years ago it was on this day, barely a teenager, that I made my way, bleary eyed to the kitchen to fix myself breakfast for school. Walking into the kitchen that morning, I noticed something wasn't quite right - it took me a second before I realised that on the radio, normally tuned to sports, they weren't talking about sport. Confused, I made my way down to my parents bedroom to find out what was going on. And ten years ago, first on my parents' bed, and then on the scratchy carpet of my school, I watched the world fall apart.

My thoughts today travel to those in a country I have never seen. To everyone who was lost, or who lost someone, on that horrible day. And to New York City - a city that, ten years on, and despite everything, I still dream of every day.

And, if you have a moment, I implore you to read this - because no writer, no matter how great, will ever capture that day as these voices will.

+ Witness to Apocalypse: The New York Times