Read about our news and latest updates.

Four years ago today on October 4th, I launched Allured By Design. Encouraged by a good friend of mine as well as my Husband, I embarked on a journey to build a platform and an audience with whom I'd share interior design and home decor styling tips with. Simply by using my own home as my portfolio from which I'd create and produce photo and video content.

Over the last few years, my creative brand has evolved beyond interiors and has transformed into an interior design, home decor AND a luxe lifestyle brand. I realize more and more that I absolutely love and appreciate beauty in its most creative and artistic form. I love to indulge in it. I love to learn from it. I love to observe it. Be mesmerized by it. Have my dreams be inspired by it. I love to be surrounded by beauty and I highly enjoy sharing it with all of you. 

So as I share with you all the release of my Fall Newsletter, I'm also celebrating the anniversary of my blog and brand...four years of inspiring and sharing beauty with you all. In some ways, it feels like I've been doing this much longer than just four years. Yet, simultaneously it also feels like I've been doing this for exactly four years. Strange right? Either way I'm very happy and excited to be releasing my latest newsletter on the actual anniversary of my brand. It makes it all the more special.

Fall Season has always been a very special time for me, as it's one of my favorite seasons of the year. Not only is it the season I began my brand, but it's also the season (in particular the month of October), that I started dating my Husband and a few years later married my Husband in the season and month where our courtship first began. So although the season of Fall began a few weeks ago in late September...For me it's all about all of the special moments and milestones I celebrate in the month of October. Yet, I must say this year feels quite different.

It's no secret that we're ALL living in very strange and uncertain times. And, as each new month ushers in...we have no idea what challenges, craziness or hardships we're getting ready to face. Yet, we're all working to stay sane, safe, healthy and ultimately survive this twilight zone of a year we're having. The year better known as 2020. 

Sooooo very much has happened in the world since the debut of my Summer newsletter, which was my very first one to you all.

If you missed it and would like to catch up on it, click here. 

But amidst all of the craziness, as I shared with you back then...It's my hope that my newsletters can serve to sprinkle a little cheer and positivity into your worlds. Of course offer beautiful colors and inspiration shot in stunning exterior locations. And, simultaneously share and lend my candid thoughts and truths both in and beyond the world of interior design.

In addition, to all of that...my newsletters also serve as my personal editorial love story to my hometown and most favorite city in the world Nouvelle-Orléans. Or, as we all know it as...

New Orleans. 

As many of you know, I'm not only a Designer and Blogger, but I'm also a professional Filmmaker having worked in the Film Industry for the last seventeen years of my life. I've coordinated various television and film projects many of which you all have seen. And, I've even produced a few as well. At the start of the pandemic earlier this year, the show I'm currently coordinating (Queen Of The South: Season 5), like most of Hollywood was shut down. I had several months off to enjoy time at home, eat everything in sight, catch up on several films, binge watch a variety of shows, focus more on my design brand, produce several creative projects for my brand and just get a lot of things in order, or as much as I possibly could within the time frame I had off. 

I've since gone back to work, roughly three weeks in to date. It feels good to be back to a daily structured work schedule. However, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed every single month, day, hour, minute and second spent at home over these last several months. Both my body and my mental were desperately in need of peace and quiet time, and just time to live, rest and be without any urgent deadlines attached. 

Juggling two creative careers, my filmmaking career and growing my design brand for the last four years is NOT at all an easy feat. I've been told by many that I make it look easy. But, I'll be the first to tell you...It's not!! It's actually quite exhausting, ever evolving and highly time consuming.

Yet, it's the sacrifice I make daily because I'm the ultimate creative at heart and I wake up each and every single day to fulfill what I believe is my purpose in life. Which is simply to be creative and share my creativity with the world. For me, the day I stop doing that is the day I cease to live or exist. It's really just that serious to me, so I continue to push forward because I realize with each passing day...this journey is all about perpetual evolution much more than it is about a final destination. 

Speaking of which, as the hot season of Summer has now finally evolved into Fall...Thankfully, even amidst what's become our new normal these days, I think most of us are working to feel and recognize the familiar feelings that come along with the season of Fall. Ya know the feeling of warmth and coziness while sipping a nice hot chai latte or hot cocoa. The smell of vanilla and pumpkin spice in the air. The beauty of fall leaves on the ground, as nice brisk air hits our face. And, for those of us in NOLA...Fall season is always about eating a delicious, piping hot fried beignet from our world famous French cafe,

Cafe Du Monde.

Because it really just doesn't get any better than that!!

Seriously, it doesn't!! 

Next time you're in NOLA, try one and you'll see for yourself. 😉

The colors that I'm most inspired by this Fall Season are of course blues, but also golds, ivories, creams, yellows, mustards, and greige. For those that may not know, Greige is the perfect combination or blend of grey & beige together. But in addition to all of those gorgeous hues, I'm really really feeling everything that's plum and burgundy right now and I LOVE how it pairs with deep tones of blue. 💙

Hence the reason for the colors of my wardrobe ensemble for this particular shoot. I imagine this color combo will make its way into my home decor this Fall Season as well. And, when it does...of course I'll share that with you all more than likely on my Instagram feed. So make sure you're following along. 

What We’re Up To

I mentioned earlier how so very much has happened since the debut of my last newsletter but I never got into specifics. Allow me to do that now. Obviously, we're still dealing with a pandemic and living life under what's being called the "new normal," social distancing, wearing masks daily, virtual schooling, virtual events, zoom meetings galore, ordering food curbside, being confined to our own country with no international travel in sight, and so forth.

With so many of us living slower paced lives these days while either being unemployed or working from home, both the daily and worldly news seems much more heightened than ever before. Yet, when the news broke at the end of August that artist, actor and creative, Chadwick Boseman died after silently suffering a four year battle with colon cancer...it sent the loudest shock wave and reverberation not only in Hollywood but all throughout the world that none of us could've prepared for or saw coming. 

The loss of Chadwick affected me so very deeply and greatly. Not only am I a HUGE Marvel fan, but I'm an even bigger Black Panther fanatic and just an all around lover and admirer of Chad's work and his artistry. I never had the pleasure or opportunity to work with him but quite of few of my film colleagues have, and every single person I know that came into his presence had nothing but great things to say about him. To lose a fellow creative and artist that meant so very much to so many people, including the millions of children he inspired...was such a tremendous lost.

Chadwick meant EVERYTHING to Black Hollywood and to Black people, in particular because of the defining roles he'd taken on portraying iconic black public figures, which included Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall. But his star power was catapulted to a global phenomenon being recognized in countless countries by all races and creeds with his role as King T'Challa aka Black Panther.

His untimely death was simply shattering and I grieved heavily the first couple of weeks. To be honest, even to date I still have my moments.

I was angry and just couldn't make sense of it. Why his life couldn't be spared or his disease cured? A young artist with so much still left to give to this world.

But that's just thing...none of us know the day, the time or the hour. For our age whether young, middle-aged or old does not dictate our life span or our expiration date. I'm not sure if any of us get to do every single thing in this life that we desire to do before we leave it. But I hope if nothing else this quiet time in this pandemic...for those of us that are living and breathing we truly work to maximize, take advantage of, and value every moment we have left here.

Yet, maximizing our time will not look the same for every single person and that's perfectly, ok. Your idea of maximizing each moment may mean spending more time with family and loved ones. While another person's idea of maximizing every moment could mean making more time strictly for themselves. 

The beauty is that we ALL get to choose how we want to spend what's most valuable in our lives, our time. Our time is the most costly, yet simultaneously the most fleeting thing we all possess. And, it's the one thing that can never be returned once it's gone and passed.

Last year, my Husband and I spent a small portion of our Summer in Greece, touring the Mediterranean. This year all of our travel plans were cancelled due to Covid-19, much like everyone else's. Hustling, grinding and work will always, always be there. This I know!! But traveling (in particular abroad) is something I dearly miss and am looking forward to maximizing more of me and my Husband's time to make sure we travel and visit the places that inspire us, as well as places we long to see, experience and indulge in it's culture and beauty.

Next year, we'll be celebrating our ten year wedding anniversary with hopes of returning for the 2nd time to Italy, touring the Mediterranean from the Italian coastline and also making a stop in Paris along the way. Of course right now our trip is tentative given the current international travel bans. I'm trying my hardest to think positive that all will be well and we'll be able to move forward with our 2021 travel plans. But if not, there's always 2022. What I do know is the idea of our trip alone gives me something to look forward to. Something to work towards and something to be happy about amidst all of the gloom in the world. 

And, if our trip has to be pushed a bit further out due to the pandemic...I'll just continue enjoying and maximizing my time in this little French city called New Orleans right here in America. My very own European, yet Americanized version of Paris right here in my city.

It's my hope that you all take the time to make every moment count this season, the next and beyond. Especially in the midst of so much uncertainty in our current times. One of the Netflix shows I had an opportunity to binge watch during my pandemic hiatus from work was Medici: The Magnificent, which tells the historical story of the Medici family and how they rose from humble beginnings to power and influence from their wealthy banking dynasty in 15th century Florence, Italy. The series has had such an impact on my perspective of life. Or, more so spoke volumes to philosophies I already believe in. In addition, the series has evoked an even more intense desire to visit Italy once again. Not only to reconnect with things I've seen during my 1st trip, but to also experience so much more for the first time as well. 

The Medici were the forefathers of the Italian Renaissance, which celebrated art, beauty and culture and ultimately influenced not only all of Europe, but the entire modern day western world. They believed every woman and man should have access to beauty and culture and that it shouldn't be reserved for just noble families or people of wealth. But every man regardless of race, status or financial class deserved to have an opportunity in life.

For three hundred years the Medici ruled Florence and spent their reign giving to the poor, cultivating the arts and making sure every Florentine citizen had access to beauty, for they believed using our gifts to create beauty was a way to honor God. Earlier in my newsletter, I mentioned how much I love and appreciate beauty in its most creative and artistic form. Most of us are all taught at very young ages, to appreciate the beauty of life, the beauty of this earth and all that God has put here for us to use and enjoy...everything from nature, to organic elements, down to the things we can create on our own with our God given talents.

As it's my hope for you all to make every moment count...I also hope that each of us can begin to fully appreciate the beauty all around us, even when life is grim. I, myself enjoy surrounding both my home and my life with beauty and I also love to travel to find more of it. But beauty begins first within ourselves, in our own hearts and minds, and how we treat one another. In the Medici Series, the most popular and notable of the Medici family, Lorenzo de Medici famous line was...

"To do good, we must be good!"

As I bring this newsletter to a close, I'd like to remind you all to make sure you're following me on my social media platforms both

Facebook and Instagram where I share daily and seasonal design inspiration. Also, if you missed the release of my Summer video content, which was super dope I must say - click here and here. Stay tuned for more and remember...

Do good. Be good. And, most importantly...Make sure you're maximizing every single moment you have in your own unique and special way.

For it is our time which is far more valuable than money or any material possessions could ever be.  

-------

Until next time...

⚜️Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler⚜️

Get in Touch