Art :: Gray Malin's 'La Dolce Vita'

Hooray for Friday!  I am so happy to be in Raleigh, North Carolina for the weekend visiting my bestie and am absolutely loving the mid-sixty degree weather {a welcome change from the months and months of cold we have had in the Midwest}.  Digging through my pictures from the Amalfi Coast for Tuesday's post reminded me of Gray Malin's beautiful 'La Dolce Vita' series, and I thought I would share with you today.  The photographer explains, "Documenting many of Italy’s most famous beaches on a 2,000 mile road trip, this series was inspired by the glamorous Italian Riviera lifestyle that mesmerized the world during the 1950s and ’60s. Focusing on the retro-vintage beach umbrellas that seem to have stood still in time, this series is meant to evoke the classic nostalgic opulence of what the Italian Riviera once represented."  You can buy Gray's work and live La Dolce Vita here.  Ciao!

Images via Maison Gray

Travel :: Portofino, Italy

Is it possible to take too many pictures?  If it is, I might have done so on our trip to Italy.  Because it seems I almost completely missed the photos from our day in the jewel of the Italian Rivera - Portofino.  On our last day in the Cinque Terre we took the train to Portofino to spend the day exploring with some old family friends.  We grabbed a quick lunch and some gelato in town then walked to a church high above the harbor for an absolutely gorgeous view of the lush coast littered with out of this world villas.  The Rolex Sailing Race was the next day so the harbor was littered with gorgeous sailboats including one stunning boat over 200 feet long {you can see it in the photo, it literally looks like it is almost as big as the entire harbor}.   

From there we decided to head to the infamous Hotel Splendido for the afternoon {see my blog post about the hotel here}.  And I'm pleased to say it was everything I expected, and more.  We grabbed drinks at the outdoor bar high above the harbor.  I had their famous Bellini {a whopping 28 Euros!} which I will have to admit was most certainly the best I have tasted.  After enjoying some drinks we wandered around their gorgeous grounds {I can only imagine how magical the gardens would be at twilight} and admired the hotel's deco design {in LOVE with that wallpaper}.  In the evening we took the train back to Sestri Levante for dinner with our friends.  Ryan ate the famous Steak Florentine {luckily he had Joe there to share it with, as with me being a non-meat eater he was out of luck for the rest of the trip}.  It was an absolutely wonderful day and I would love to go back to Portofino sometime and spend a few more days there.

More photos from our Italian adventures: Genoa, Lucca, The Cinque Terre, Manarola, Riomaggiore, Hiking the Cinque Terre, The Cinque Terre at Night, Agriturismo La Sovana, Villa Cicolina.  Follow Dreams in HD on bloglovin' here.