In my past life I trav­eled to some very exclu­sive and glam­orous loca­tions to shop.. Yes, you read it cor­rectly. Shop. Some one has to do it.

On one of my many surf­ing trips trough the inter­net I ran across a pic­ture of a hotel room in Cap D’Antibes in the South of France. I used to go through Juan les Pins on the way to St. Tropez which isn’t far from Cap D’Antibes (Yes– this is a true story). I’m telling you this to not brag, just as a point of reference.

Anyhoo…I stayed in some very nice hotels. And, although I didn’t stay in this one, I felt com­pelled to share with you a photo of a room in Hotel Belles Rives.

I love the pat­tern mix­ing and airy feel. The nod to a very for­mal past and period décor with a fresh play­ful feel of the au currant.

It just makes me happy.

I stay in a lot of hotels now that are “spa” like with a min­i­mal­ist feel. I like this too..but I fear that I’ve grown used to it as the norm. I long for my Euro days when hotel rooms like this were the norm. It’s not money, it’s taste.

Dec­o­rat­ing a room like this would make me feel more like I was at home — just a bet­ter version.

Okay– the view of the French Riv­iera might cost a bit more…C’est la vie.

I never even gave a thought to what fra­grance Kate would be wear­ing on her wed­ding day. Now that it’s been announced..I found it a sweet glimpse into her real per­son­al­ity. Maybe she gave it a lot of thought — or maybe none at all. Maybe she wears it all the time and it’s her sig­na­ture scent.

As I’ve said before, I find the art of fra­grance and per­fume fas­ci­nat­ing. When I find out a scent that some­one I admire or find inter­est­ing wears — I usu­ally remem­ber and try it out the next time a saunter past a per­fume counter. Fleuris­simo by Creed seems to be a favorite of the nobil­ity and of Madonna too. I’ve tried it a few times and didn’t get the charm…but I try it every time just the same…

A few favorites of the Roy­als are: Princess Diana-Lady Diana: Her­mes 24 Faubourg, Princess Grace of Monaco– Fleuris­simo by Creed and Queen Eliz­a­beth– Fleuris­simo by Creed and Joy by Jean Patou.

As I do not have any rug rats of my own, I’m always touched, sur­prised and happy when my fam­ily sends me a “Mother’s Day” card in cel­e­bra­tion of my furry kids.

I laughed out loud at the card I received this year from my sis­ter Lau­rie wish­ing me a Happy Kitty Momma Day.

Enjoy Mother’s Day..whether your kids are furry or human…hopefully they are not both.

I thought you’d like to know that we’ve enhanced our prod­uct and web­site with new pack­ag­ing and photography…I hope you love it!

In the mean time…Indulge in the at-home Spa Expe­ri­ence with­out the min­i­mal­ism! You deserve it, Sweet Diva!

Deli­cious and deca­dent, our bath and body col­lec­tion will drench your skin with the finest ingre­di­ents while intox­i­cat­ing your senses with our deli­cious Ital­ian inspired fragrances.

We are famous for our fab­u­lous girly gifts. The best part is they come with an empow­er­ing mes­sage for girls and women alike…Be true to your­self and your Diva Sisters!

Hav­ing lived and worked in New York, in the Gar­ment indus­try, I came across a few Jew­ish peo­ple in my time. The slang or Yid­dish words that were used in every­day con­ver­sa­tion are still with me today. I love them. They’re so onomonopia (look it up.) I thought you would enjoy a lit­tle cul­tural diver­si­fi­ca­tion in the Gar­mento World. The word “Gar­mento” is not a yid­dish word, but really, would you have clicked on “Yid­dish Glossary?”

Obvi­ously these are words that can be used out­side the gar­ment world– but they seem so much more at home in the rag trade.

By the way, Gar­mento, is defined as any­one active in the gar­ment industry…there are dif­fer­ent lev­els of descrip­tion which you can sur­mise from the tone and con­text in which it is used — but that’s another post.

Bup­kis: Noth­ing. ”All that work, all I get is bupkis.”

Chutz­pah: Nerve. “It took a lot of chutz­pah to stand up to the boss.”

Farschim­melt: Slang for con­fused or over­whelmed. “I can’t decide, I’m all farschimmelt.”

Farklempt: Too emo­tional to talk. “I’m too farklempt, talk amongst your­selves.” Also known as Varklempt.

Kib­be­t­izer: Inter­fer­ing per­son or some­times just shmoozer. “No, you we weren’t inter­rupt­ing, we were just kibbetizing.”

K’vetch: whine or com­plain. “Stop your kvetch­ing already!”

I had to cut these beau­ti­ful snow­balls from my gar­den before the rain comes this evening and pounds all their
lovely, vel­vety — soft petals to the ground.

Mother Nature is harsh.