Yes, you heard that correctly…some small businesses are expanding during the pandemic. Aria Rose Boutique in Coral Gables is just one example. Owned and curated by Lauren Patao, this boutique started out in a bedroom, grew to a small store front and, in the middle of a pandemic, expanded to it’s beautiful new location. I […]

Quick Disclaimer:  I rarely eat doughnuts and when I do, it is usually only a jelly doughnut.  A long time ago, a very non-nutritious friend of mine told me that the jelly doughnut was the most perfectly balanced food because it contained all of the 5 basic food groups.  When I asked her how she […]

In case you hadn’t noticed, summer in South Florida is in full swing and the dog days of summer, the hottest time of year, starts today! The rich smells of mangoes, mixed with the briny smell of the ocean, flowering jasmine, and bug spray are held in the humid air that surrounds us.  School has […]

  Make it easy for consumers to find what they are looking for. In a recent blog Is Veganism Going Mainstream, I discussed how Marshalls was making it easier for vegan shoppers to identify purses that coincide with the shopper’s values.  In addition to Marshalls highlighting vegan purses, Whole Foods also makes it easy for […]

  A couple of days ago a wrote about what South Florida will look like in 2070 if we continue developing the way we are.  The state of Florida is growing by 1,000 people per day, making traffic unbearable and threatening our quality of life.  Luckily, there are many projects going on in South Florida […]

Some newspaper headlines and news stations have been asking if Miami is getting ready to experience another housing downturn, due largely to the rapid increase in prices and the return of building cranes to the Miami skyline.  While there has been an increase in inventory in the Brickell corridor, there are still many areas in […]

Coral Gables had a phenomenal 2014 for real estate sales.  There were 520 closed sales from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014 and 218 of those were cash sales.  The highest priced sale for the year was for a 21,000 square foot, waterfront home in Tahiti Beach, listed by One Sotheby’s Saddy Delgado and sold […]

  Looking for a new happy hour?  Last Thursday, thanks to an overcrowded bar at Tarpon Bend, some friends and I discovered the charming Uvaggio restaurant and wine bar.  Although they don’t have a full bar, they have a wonderful selection of wine and beer at very reasonable prices.  We had a cheese plate, which […]

In early January, I posted Interior Design Color Trends For 2014. This adorable bathroom in a 1928 Old Spanish in Coral Gables is purple with white accents. Other accents, such as a chandelier and Cuban tile, also contained the trendy purple color.

Today during our open house tour, I was pleasantly surprised with a series of new single family homes for sale in North Coral Gables. With the exception of 1220 Capri, which is beautifully updated, these are all Old Spanish homes that have been modernized without losing the character that buyers of Old Spanish homes look […]