Day Two: Additional Photo Ops!

This is my nighttime visitor!!! Crabby -- isn't he!

To the right -- British Bob from Wales -- our featured song leader!





More pics of the cocktail hour!

Day Two: Doing It All

Today was the first full day of activities at Coco Beach. The morning started off bright and early with a stretching class lead by Renee -- who is one of our two resident triathletes! Did I attend -- no, but there's always tomorrow! Exercise class was followed by beach time --which included a major 3 mile shoreline walk. I choose to go out for a swim beyond the rafts with Renee as my protector (against age and cramps)! We swam the entire length of the resort and were on the lookout for little shelfs of reef holding starfish and other pretty fish! Haven't swam that much in a long time! Ended up at the beach equipment shack and got some fins for my feet to help me get back a lot faster.

This was followed by lunch -- french onion soup (love my cheese) and a ceasar salad with grilled shrimp and soft shell crab. It was delicious! The afternoon brought bridge lessons -- there were 4 beginner tables and two advanced tables. Got bumped up from beginner to advanced where I sorta held my own for four games -- I must have learned something from Irene. But I'll probably go back to the beginner tables once they catch up with me!For those not inclined towards bridge, there are art lessons from Anne Harris -- our muralist from New York and a good fiend of Joann's. I promised myself I'd do art on Tuesday!
as 5-6, followed by cocktails on the beach. Following dinner, we had a good old fashioned sin along -- led by Bob, one of the three lone mails stuck here with all of us.


Nighttime sleep was interrupted -- 3:30 or so, by this noise outside my screen door. After 45 mins of not being able to go back to sleep, I finally got up and turned the lights on to go look outside. Couldn't see anything, but heard a noise that was "up". Low and behold, a large crab had crawled up my screen door and gotten stuck in the frame. I opened and shut the screen and he came crashing down. After turning him over with the umbrella, he started to crawl away, got hung up in my Tory Burch thong and started to drag it off! Had to rescue my thong! Alas, I'm not sure he survived the fall, as he seemed to be nestled in the sand out side my room this morning. Will turn him over to Ann, who will make the cook clean him and will use him for art class!

This morning we were suppose to play tennis, but its pouring down rain. Hope it clears in time for snorkeling at 10:00.

Day One: Welcome To Coco Point

The first group arrived at 12:45 and over the next three hours, all of the 36 guests arrived. Late lunch was served, the girls got checked in and then everyone headed to the beach. I already have enough color for the entire trip! The water is absolutely crystal blue -- the sand is white. As you swim along, you see the little fishes swimming below you. Just beyond the floating rafts is a long layer of sunfish attached to the bottom of the ocean. Glad I brought my goggles!

A few of us ran off for a quick round of hitting the tennis ball before cocktails were served at 6:00. Dinner followed and the Mahi-mahi was to die for! Dessert wasn't bad either (a cinnamon/sugar fried Barbuda banana ala mode)! And then the Bridge die hards began a late night bridge game while the rest of us had a nightcap!

The weather is gorgeous -- with an occasional downpour of rain. Woke to rain this morning and its still slightly overcast. The schedule for Monday is Yoga stretching 8-10, tennis, lunch, Bridge 2-5, more stretching or Art class, cocktails and another great meal!

Day Zero: Coco Beach Lodge

Joann and I arrived one day early to get everything ready for the arrival of the 36 women at Coco Beach Point Lodge in Barbuda. The trip down was uneventful and riding in the small prop plane to cross from Antigua to Barbuda was interesting -- the plane seemed to fly in slow motion for the 15 minute journey.

Coco Point is absolutely lovely! Day zero was spent emptying the ten or so suitcases that had made their way down to Barbuda over the last two months -- anyone from New York that was going was coerced into bringing along extra luggage chocked full of the things that are necessary to make this a great week. Goody bags were stuffed and assigned rooms -- with only a couple of snafus. The bridge pamphlets, books, et al were unpacked and taken to the lodge. The exercise equipment for morning yoga and the afternoon stretch were assembled. The art supplies for our late afternoon art class were gathered and taken to the right lodge. And then we got in an early evening dip in the sea and had a great dinner.After dinner we tested out the Bose speaker system in the lounge area -- thanks to Joann's daughter Katie who downloaded her play list and her mom's favorites so we can have great music all week! We enjoyed conversations with the few other guests -- two of which are leaving this morning. And of course, he grew up in Omaha, went to Central and spent 15 years in Charlottesville -- home of Yves DeLorme! More about the englishman and his two teen daughters later.

Signing off -- Kathy & Joann

2010 Yves DeLorme Collection is Fabulous!

I previewed the 2010 collection from Yves DeLorme in early February when I was in New York -- It's fabulous and has something for everyone's decorating tastes! Cyclamen, shown on the left, is much prettier in person and is the first pattern we've sold on our website. A pure white on white swirl pattern is adorned with fuschia cyclamens on multi colored green stems. It reverse to a smaller pattern. And, it coordinates with two other Yves DeLorme patterns so you can mix and match. Myriade, shown on the right, had beautiful pink cyclamen flowers embroidered on top of embroidered white swirls -- matching the base Cyclamen pattern. The shams are embroidered only in the corners to allow you to sleep comfortably on them. And the third coordinate, Courbe (not shown) is a white on white jacquard weave of swirls that goes with both patterns. I predict we will sell more of this ten any other pattern this year.
Another favorite, Vence is typical Yves DeLorme blue & white but with a gray twist! The medallions in shades of blue are enhanced with a gray diamond -- all printed on white. The reverse is a smaller predominantly blue medallion with touches of gray. A client of ours yesterday said that Vence is a beautiful little village in southern France, as is Moustier, one of the coordinating patterns.

Then there is Ultra, a dramatic stripe on stripe that reverses to alternating blocks of gray. Pair it with any bright color and it will make a great statement in a contemporary or traditional home. This year Yves DLormeis doing fabulous silk quilts to coordinate with a number of their patterns. The Ultra silk coverlet has the stripes with a border of the checks sewn in for effect. Vence, shown above, has the embroidered medallion on it. Twelve new patterns in all, they have a broad appeal and undoubtedly be our premier collection in 2010! Also, the new pattern introduction sale is underway through March 21st. It is the best sale of the year (outside the discontinued sale). Buy one of the new duvet covers and get a pair of shams for free or buy a flat and fitted and get the shams for free -- a savings of anywhere from 20 -35% !!! To see the collection, click here: Yves DeLorme 2010

What's New From Market

I attended market in New York a week ago and left feeling full of energy! There are lots of new and exciting things happening out there. First, we loved Yves DeLorme's new collection! Not to mention the partnership they've created with Mis en Demeure for furniture and accessories. I'll write a separate post on this collection later. New t the market place -- bed scarfs! Since they began showing up in even the most modest hotels a year ago, we get asked for them. Now Peacock Alley has introduced a whole collection of them with matching pillows -- a great way to dress up a neutral bed. I'll post an article on these and how to use them later. Color -- Sferra has added a new collection which is really tropical in feel and will be beach house oriented -- think Florida, Caribbean and Cabo! SDH has added luxurious new items in the Purists collection and in their ever popular Legna. Scandia Down is going to add a line of upholstered Headboards -- which are absolutely fabulous and very competitive in pricing.

Other than that, my focus was on adding to our bathroom accessories collections and we were successful! We are adding a new ivory and gold capiz collection to replace our old discontinued collection and it is even more beautiful than the old. We bought more of our two favorite collections -- R Pulvemacher who does decoupage waste and tissue boxes and Robert Weiss -- who paints on the reverse side of the glass -- again wastebaskets and tissue boxes. And we've added Gail DeLoach for a more modern look!

And then I focused on fragrances -- we have a new diffuser line coming in, new soaps that are packaged to die for and finally -- the newest candle from the NEST collection -- we'll keep that as a springtime secret and let you know when we get it!

Yves DeLorme's Best at 40% Off

This year's annual Yves DeLorme sale promises to be one of the best yet. Number one, they have more neutral patterns to select from than any of the past three years put together. Two, the best of last year's fashion patterns are on there way out. And three, there are even some brand new patterns (Persane, Jungle and Brousse) that are now 40% off. This seems to be the sale that everyone waits for every year. Here are some of our personal favorites:

Hortesie (Shown above) and Calliopee -- beautiful white pattern with large open peonies in shades of pink -- finished with a large taped scallop all around. Same peonies are done on an aqua background in Calliopee -- don't shy away -- interchange sheets and/or duvet covers from two patterns to make a refreshingly spring/summer bed.

Arles -- named after the city in Provence, this pattern is done on an ivory background and has a great raspberry red on it. Reverse to a more neutral sand pattern with ivory and red flowers on background. Has a wonderful traditional Boutis quilt in one size only -- scalloped. Notice how we interjected red into this in our store and it really pops! Shown on the upper right.

Vulcain -- a wonderful trellis like pattern adorns the duvet cover and edges the sheets and shams. Great neutral in shades of ecru and beige -- conservative yet interesting!

Sale starts today and ends January 31st! To Yves DeLorme Sale