Tag Archives: travel and helpful people

BOUTIQUE HOTEL GETS IT RIGHT

Boutique hotels are popping up everywhere carved from unusual spaces. One such I stayed in recently is the City Loft Hotel in Beaufort, SC. The owner took a tired motel and transformed each room into a stylish micro-loft. There is a fitness center and a cafe in the building. The hotel staff welcomes you with a voucher for 2 free coffee or tea drinks from the cafe (that also has gourmet goodies and sandwiches). The decor is modern. Art, colors, fabrics, and comfort details have all been carefully chosen and have a wonderful feng shui feeling.

Directly outside your door is an umbrella’ed table and chairs to enjoy the balmy Beaufort weather while sipping your beverage. But the best part of all is the spa like bathroom where you can relax in a soaking tub while watching TV. The City Loft Hotel is pet friendly, too. While you’re in Beaufort, be sure to check out Hunting Island State Park.

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Filed under Architecture, ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Interior Design, Pets, Travel, Uncategorized

A HAUNTING STATE PARK

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Feng Shui By Fishgirl is focusing this month on the Travel & Helpful People section of the bagua. I have been to Hunting Island State Park outside of Beaufort, SC twice and its unusual beauty still haunts me. The beach has trees strewn about it like so many pick-up sticks, left there by a hurricane several years ago. The branches and trunks and roots of trees poke up out of the sand of this broad beach. The feeling is eerie and surreal. Walking among these sculptural forms with the waves crashing nearby is a meditative and inspiring experience. The park also offers a beautiful lighthouse, boardwalk trails that take you out into the grassy lowlands marshes, and lots of wildlife. They even have a pond that is sometimes inhabited by an alligator. If you decide to go, stay at the City Loft Hotel–a boutique hotel in historic Beaufort. (tip: they are pet friendly!)

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Filed under ART, Feng Shui, Green/Sustainable, Pets, Plants & Outdoors, Travel, Uncategorized

DESKTOP TRAVELING: Top Travel Blogs to Discover

You may have the wanderlust without the time or money to travel. Don’t despair! A great way to getaway–if only in your mind–is to take a few moments to explore the world through other people’s eyes without ever leaving your desk. You’ll be surprised how a change of scenery on your computer screen can refresh your spirits. Over at Huffington Post, we’re grateful that Michael Hodson has listed his picks for Top 10 Travel Blogs:

Michael Hodson: Top Travel Blogs to Discover. <<< Click the link to start travelin’ now!

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Filed under Dreaming, Feng Shui, Fun, Healing Energy, Reading, Travel, Uncategorized

IDEAS TRAVEL, TOO: Locking Up Love vs Setting it Free

I took these pics in Florence, Italy last year while traveling with my true love. We saw these locks along the Ponte Vecchio and didn’t have a clue what they were about. Until today when I came across a Travel & Helpful People. Er, Helpful Person. Anita Mac does a great job of describing these “Love Locks” on her travel blog: TravelDestinationBucketList (and she has even more super pics of them, too). Apparently a generation of romantic youth from China to Praque to Italy and beyond like the idea of padlocking their names together in a gesture of eternal love.  From a feng shui standpoint, I believe a better representation of love is to set it free and if it’s yours it comes back to you. Does anyone else see a connection between chastity belts and love locks, or is it just me?

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Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Feng Shui, Fun, Love & Relationship, Travel

A RESTAURANT DECOR THAT IS SOOOO MONEY!

March is Travel & Helpful People month at Feng Shui By Fishgirl. One of the fun things about traveling for me is putting my feng shui eyes to good use to find unusual places to report about here. Tucked away on a back road off a back road in the already remote Big Pine Key, Florida is one such place. The No Name Pub is famous for being hard to find. Yet once you do, you’ll most certainly find it crowded with other people as this is a most popular destination about 30 miles from Key West. The food is really good pizza, local seafood, and pub fare. We recommend the Royal Pizza. However it’s the decor that caught my attention. Every square inch of ceiling and wall surface and columns has dollar bills stapled to it.

As you can see here, people write their names or other messages on the bills. Can you take a guess at how much money is attached to the No Name Pub’s interior? (By the way, there is an upstairs, too, but they only have half the space there covered with bills so far).

Hearts seem to be a big theme when deciding what message to draw on your dollar. That’s also sending a great feng shui message to the universe: Love and/or I Love Wealth.

Traditionally you will often find one dollar bill framed in restaurants to indicate the first dollar received by customers. Sometimes you’ll see a Ben Franklin framed. Even if they’ve never heard of feng shui, restaurant owners tend to have a sixth sense that honoring the first dollar is good for their luck. It is a symbolic ritual that enhances the ch’i energy—money attracts money—and that’s good feng shui.

We asked the waitress how much money there was stapled all about. She said that the last time someone counted it there was roughly $130,000 in dollar bills fluttering down from the ceiling and walls. There is often a 20 minute wait time for indoor seating which proves that the decor is attracting a lot of business to the No Name Pub. This is one instance where “clutter” is great feng shui!

By the way, one of the most fun things about Big Pine Key is that it is home to an endangered species of miniature Key Deer. They roam freely all over the place. You’re not allowed to feed them. But they are amazing to see because of their petite size.

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Filed under Architecture, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Fun, Travel

EXPLORE YOUR CREATIVITY @ SQUAM

Photo of paints by merr merr

Feng Shui By Fishgirl just found out about Squam Art Workshops on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. Why didn’t they have camps like this when I was growing up in NH? Oh well, they do now and that’s all that counts! “Creativity as a way of life” is Squam’s motto. According to their website, “Each day has a variety of classes to choose from such as: painting, mixed media, drawing, writing, photography, cooking, food styling, yoga, knitting, embroidery, sewing, sculpture, jewelry making, journaling, and screenprinting. There are always optional evening events and each retreat has its own unique extras. For instance, both the Spring and Fall sessions have a marvelous Art Fair on the last night, squam by the sea has bonfires on the beach and SquamItalia! will have excursions to olive groves, open-air markets and wild dinner parties under the stars.”

Photo by Emily Proudfoot

Almost sounds like Etsy on steroids (which to some of us is a good thing)! And all of the classes take place on one of NH’s most pristine lakes, only about 40 minutes drive from where I was born. Some of the classes are already filling up and there is an “early bird special” for those that register before January 31st. You’ll not only be taking art classes and enjoying nature, you’ll also be supporting 1% for the planet. Where do I sign up? Click here for Spring 2012 registration.

Photo by Christine Chitnis

 

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Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Fashion, Feng Shui, Fun, gifts, Self Help, Travel, Wisdom & Knowledge