Posted on August 30, 2012
Hi Everyone,
Although we’ve been winding up for one of my daughters’ wedding for the past six months, I’ve been very quiet about it. Maybe out of superstition, but it just seemed smarter not to talk a lot about it until it was over. But we’ve been slowly laying plans for it and organizing it, for these many months. The wedding took place last Saturday, in our San Francisco home. » read more »
Filed Under Family | 19 Comments
Posted on August 20, 2012
Hi Everyone,
Very exciting time right now!!! The kids are home, family and friends are arriving…wedding week is upon us! I’ll be back next week with a new blog. Until then…
Love, Danielle
Posted on August 13, 2012
Hi Everyone,
It feels like the 4th of July, which kicked off the summer, was only 5 minutes ago, and the summer has raced by. And I’ve been busy. As always, I feel like my supposed to be lazy summer was action packed.
Let’s see, what have I done? I came back to France in June, saw lots of friends, and spent two weeks with my children in July, a week of it in the South of France. For the first time in many, many years, we did not spend time on a boat, but relaxed at a hotel we have gone to every year since their childhood. And we had fun together. We’re incredibly lazy when we go on vacation together. We lay in the sun, ate too much, went out for dinner once, and the rest of the time, ate at the hotel. No one went fishing, they all swam every day. The weather was hot, which makes us all lazy. And we had lunch and dinner together every day. And for 5 days of it, there was a Mistral wind, which is a gale force wind, in spite of sunny weather. We laughed a lot, most of us went to bed early, and I lay in the sun in the daytime for many hours (despite my children’s warnings that if I keep doing that, I will one day look like a prune. But I always feel better with a tan). » read more »
Filed Under Family, Paris, Travel | 2 Comments
Posted on August 6, 2012
Hi,
I don’t know why but I was thinking today about a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago, about some of the romantic assumptions one makes in some relationships. And in just about every area of my life, I find that when I make assumptions (often based on too little information, and too few facts—and too much guesswork on my part), I am usually wrong. You really can’t project yourself into someone else’s head. Even if you think you know them well, their reasoning may be completely different from your own. The conversation I was referring to somehow came up on the subject of taking a trip with someone you’re in love with, at their invitation. The friend I was talking to and I had both made the same mistake in years past—when a man invited me on a vacation with him (and it hasn’t happened to me too often, but a couple of times), » read more »
Filed Under Relationships | 5 Comments
Posted on July 31, 2012
Hi Everyone…I was just on The View yesterday and had such a great time! If you’re interested, you can check out the full interview here:
http://abc.go.com/watch/the-view/SH559080/VD55223121/the-view-730
Love, Danielle
Filed Under Writing | 4 Comments
Posted on July 30, 2012
Hi Everyone,
I have a VERY fun new toy, and I’m very excited about it. I went to visit a friend recently, and he had had a huge movie screen and a projector installed in his home, so he and his family could watch movies at home. And although I’m not very into technology, I got excited the moment I saw it, and thought about how much fun we could have with it. He had had his installed by a friend, at a fairly reasonable price, and he gave me the friend’s number and I called him. We have an old playroom that my kids don’t use much anymore, with a Ping-Pong table in it, a good sized TV, 3 couches to lounge around on, and a round table where they still play games when they’re at home: Scrabble, Monopoly, and cards. » read more »
Filed Under Hobbies, Paris | 5 Comments
Posted on July 23, 2012
Hi Everyone,
To keep you abreast of Haute Couture fashion events in Paris, no report on the subject would be complete without telling you about Chanel, which is the leader of the pack in fashion. Designed by the remarkable and legendary Karl Lagerfeld, he is tireless in his energy, innovations, and extraordinary designing skill. (He designs at least four or five ready to wear collections a year for Chanel, two Haute Couture collections, and also designs for Fendi, and his own label, and a sideline and huge talent in photography too.) It makes the head spin to think of all he does, and to see him in all his strength and glory at 80. He is TRULY an icon, and deservedly so. » read more »
Filed Under Current Events, Fashion, Paris | 3 Comments
Posted on July 16, 2012
Hi everyone,
For a number of years now I only go to one Haute Couture show per season (they show the Haute Couture clothes twice a year, in January for the following summer, and in July for the following winter). After years and years of going to many shows, now that most of the big couture houses have closed, I only go to Chanel. Dior used to be one of my favorites, but although I immensely admire John Galliano’s talent, I’ve never been a big fan of his clothes, and as he’s been the designer for Dior for many years, I stopped going to their shows. Due to a series of unfortunate events, a year or two ago, Mr. Galliano » read more »
Filed Under Current Events, Fashion, Paris | 4 Comments
Posted on July 9, 2012
Hi Everyone,
I always give a small dinner party in Paris on July 4th, for close friends. It just seems fun to celebrate it, so the day doesn’t go unnoticed while I’m in France. Usually, I do it at home and serve hamburgers. This time, I did it at one of my favorite restaurants, where the food is very French. But I had red, white and blue flowers on the table, with little American flags in them. And being a child at heart, I LOVE party favors, and use any excuse to have them: Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day. I love silly light up things, things that sparkle, little teddy bears, wind up chicks on the table at Easter. For July 4th, » read more »
Filed Under Holidays, Paris, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
Posted on July 2, 2012
Hi Everyone,
It’s a sad day for us. I usually report our family news to you, and have told you about our dogs. Chiquita is the senior citizen in the group, and belongs to one of my daughters (Chiquita’s photo is in the section about dogs). She is an adorable black teacup Chihuahua, and has been in great shape at 16 years of age. Chihuahuas are usually very long lived, so we’ve been hoping, and believing she had some good years left in her. Some even live to be 20, much longer than a lot of other breeds. She was fine until two weeks ago, when she suddenly went blind from cataracts, and was scheduled for cataract surgery this week. She was checked out, and in such good health, they felt the surgery was not risky, even at her age. The day before the surgery, she began acting strangely, loss of appetite, losing her balance and seemed a little confused. The next day we took her to the vet, and she went steadily downhill all day (and of course, we cancelled the eye surgery, until she was back to seeming normal again). In 36 hours, she made a shocking decline from healthy dog to very sick one, as her condition worsened, and her kidneys became a problem. All her systems began shutting down the day after we took her to the hospital. We did everything we could to reverse it, but she just continued to get worse. She wasn’t suffering, and was peaceful, but she appeared to be fading away. And the day after we took her to the hospital, despite everything they did, she died peacefully, at 16. » read more »
Filed Under Dogs | 13 Comments