At night, it feels like fall. Tomorrow, the forecast in Phoenix is 84. That’s practically polar. To celebrate the cool nights and glorious days, I’m plotting major outdoor activity. Prime Living Magazine tasked me with creating an outdoor Moroccan idyll. My friend Heidi Lisherness kindly lent her exotic local abode for the photo shoot — along with a bunch of beautiful things she hauled home from the Moroccan souk.
After this photo shoot, I started looking up plane tickets to Morocco so I can have a jeweled tureen, too. Meanwhile, here are some ideas for celebrating gorgeous weather:
For an outdoor Moroccan picnic, drag your coffee table outside, place it on top of layered rugs (these are from Cost Plus World Market), and add a bunch of pillows. Instantly sexy.
Stylists’ food trick: add organic rose petals to hummus and chicken from Pita Jungle. (Yes, that is absolutely what I did.)
And I added more petals to Pita Jungle’s baklava, which is heaven. It’s on a pretty little dish from Cost Plus World Market that the Cost Plus people say is a soap dish and I say is a dessert plate.
Flowers: Billy Balls in Moroccan tea glasses. My friend Heidi brought these glasses home from Morocco, along with the insane tureen, but you can find similar things here.
I cut bougainvillea from our ‘hood to dress up the feast. The pillows are from Z Gallerie and the silver drum coffee table is from Cost Plus. (It’s a brilliant piece – the lid comes off and you can store throw blankets inside.)
I love mini bottles of champers for photo shoots.
This was a fun trick: use Forever 21 bracelets as napkin rings. The napkins are from Z Gallerie and Cost Plus.
Dishes: Versace, courtesy Heidi Lisherness, the lucky-ducky homeowner.
Tyson does not want to go to Morocco. So who wants to come?