Last month, I took a trip to East Hampton to visit my bff Anne and her family. Read my previous post about Anne’s home here. Anne and her husband John recently redid their entire backyard and turned it into a stunning outdoor living space. It was designed with relaxing and entertaining in mind. I wish I could’ve stayed longer! Early one morning, I snapped some amazing photos of their oasis.

I am officially picking my favorite season of the year: Fall. I just love this weather!

The idea that we are getting closer to the end of the year and cooler days are creeping up always makes me so happy and energized. For me, fall is usually full of excitement and activities like seeing friends and family, and its the time of year I most look forward to.

Summertime means outdoor dinners out on my patio!

I recently decided last minute (per usual) to cook Sunday night dinner for my family making my famous summer grilled chicken with a lime cilantro garlic marinade. I invited two people and then naturally that number grew to five after giving everyone a heads up only three hours beforehand.

As it goes… I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, but my first step was to set up a simple summer table! I couldn’t wait to put my new AERIN Ardsley collection (by Aerin Lauder) from Williams Sonoma to use.

Decisions, decisions! As you know, we have been hard at work on the COCOCOZY Design House. Today, it’s all about two main exterior hardscape surfaces — the front walkway and back balcony.

Curb appeal is everything when designing a house… especially one that is going on sale! Sometimes a book is judged by its cover. Lucky for me, the facade of this house is already so amazing — my main goal is not to mess it up!  The Cement Tile Shop has come on as a partner to help me in that effort.

The photo (above) is what I’m using as my main inspiration for this part of the project. Now, before I go any further, I just want to note that this house is a work in progress. Please read using your imagination for what the space will look like. And don’t worry, I will show you all the final result as soon as I can!

Who said garage doors have to be boring?

I recently spotted a stunning black garage on bettershelter’s Instagram page (pictured above), and was immediately inspired by how much character a simple remodel can add to a home.

Take a look through 24 more unique and distinctive designs (below)!

Things are coming together over here in Beverly Hills!

Many of you may remember my old patio from my tiny cottage in Hollywood Hills — and now I’m taking elements of that space and incorporating it into my new oasis!

Welcome to my personal sweet spot… the upstairs patio of my home that is nestled in the hills and surrounded by beautiful palm tree views. An instant calm!

This is where I live now.  A charming Spanish style home nestled in a Beverly Hills canyon.  I couldn’t be happier to finally settle somewhere.  Long story on how I ended up here…that will be for another day.  Today, before work, having a cup of tea and enjoying the lovely courtyard view.  If you follow me on Instagram and watch my instatories, you know that at the beginning of the month, I moved in.  I have totally stressed myself out trying to get everything looking good immediately.  One of my friends at work, KS, told me to calm it down and enjoy the process of decorating.  I couldn’t…I spent the last few weeks obsessing over details and changing things around…and now I am partially satisfied…but the tweaking will continue.

Today I wanted to give you a glimpse of one of the outdoor living spaces at the house (Case de COCOCOZY I am calling it).  The white Spanish style exterior with blue trim is sooooo charming.  I have brought in all of my plants, outdoor furniture, lights, umbrellas (not shown here) and even COCOCOZY Tower Court outdoor rug!  Here’s a tour of how it looked yesterday on the day of the solar eclipse!

I was just at best of friend AM’s lovely East Hampton home this past weekend with our whole group of friends.  If you follow me on Instagram and watched my story, you got a full view of EVERYTHING that went on over the weekend.  It was so much fun.  Bestie AM and her hubby JE purchased their home a few years back and did a whole remodel on it…including the garden.  Now she has a lush garden with beautiful flowers and trees, play areas for kids and lounging areas for adults.  It is perfect.  At night, she has lovely outdoor string lights over the patio and that drape across the yard.

Today’s shopping post is inspired by best of friend AM’s Hamptons yard…follow me @cococozy on Instagram to see her patio… Read on here to see more pretty outdoor string lights ideas.