Archive for the ‘Kids’ Category

I’m Late….I’m Late!!!….

Posted on May 17, 2013

Hi Everyone,

I owe you an apology for not posting my blog on Monday, and being late this week. That hasn’t happened very often, but I have been so swamped with work and projects that for once I just couldn’t catch up!!! I really am sorry!!!

Last weekend, I spent time with my children in two cities for Mother’s Day, and this week I had so much work to do that it was like a giant snowball gathering momentum, the mountain on my desk just kept growing. We’re in the last stages of getting the music album I did ready to go online, I’m working on an art show I’m curating in August, I wrote an article for a magazine, a speech for a benefit, I’m starting a big re-write on a book tomorrow, and I’m thinking about an idea for a new children’s book, and working on an art project “for fun”. It has been a crazy week, and I looked at apartments with two of my daughters last week. » read more »

Filed Under Kids, Music, Writing | 1 Comment

April Fool!!!

Posted on April 1, 2013

If I really had a sense of humor I would of course leave this page blank…..April Fool!!!

Instead I always reminisce about what a hideous day that is in our family. I am blessed or cursed with children with a sense of humor, who think that April Fool is a perfect opportunity to terrorize me, and still think it is a hysterical event. The family favorites over the years have been “Hi, Mom, I’m in jail, can you come and get me” and “Mom, I’m pregnant!!”.  Worse yet, I ALWAYS believe them.  » read more »

Filed Under Holidays, Kids | 3 Comments

Running Around

Posted on February 27, 2013

 

Hi Everyone,

Busy days for me, I’ve been in 2 countries and 3 cities in the past 5 days, flying between the cities where I live or visit, seeing my kids, and working. I am working on books in various phases, editing, re-writing, some fresh writing, and working on outlines. It’s still winter time, and this is when I do a LOT of writing. But I take time out to travel to see my children too!!

And speaking of wintertime—-no sign of Spring anywhere that I live. It has been bitter cold in Northern California, freezing cold in Paris, and snowing, and snowing and also freezing in New York. With some sleet thrown in for good measure. It has been bitter cold everywhere I’ve been. I am definitely ready for Spring and some warm weather. I’m tired of wearing layers of clothes and being cold wherever I go. Come on, Spring!!!

I’ve had some lovely time with my children, fun dinners with my youngest son, some good time with my youngest daughter (although she’s very busy), and some great time with my three next oldest daughters, some of it one-on-one, which is always very precious to me. Two of my girls and I are going to spend 10 days together. I can’t wait!!!! The greatest joy in my life is always my children, and then my work. And I am currently enjoying both!!!

Today I had a special thrill going to see a friend’s new baby. Without a tiny baby in your life, you forget how little they are, how sweet when they’re brand new, and how fascinating to watch. He was a week old when I saw him, as he looked around, listening to the sounds around him, looking peaceful in my arms. It’s a sweet feeling, and his parents were thrilled and in awe of him. It was nice to share a moment with them.

I have nothing new and exciting to report at the moment, but will have more to tell you next week. I just wanted to check in and say hi, and tell you that I’m thinking of you, as I fly from one city to another, and in between hunker down at my desk to work. Talk to you next week.

Love,  Danielle

Filed Under Kids, Travel, Writing | 3 Comments

Winter Daze

Posted on February 18, 2013

Hi Everyone,

As I’ve mentioned to you before, winter is heavy writing time for me. I work on outlines for new books, write a new book, and read research for books I’m working on for the future, and do a LOT of editing, as always. As I write this, I am waiting for a manuscript to arrive, with comments from my editor, which I was going to work on today, and it’s stuck in a blizzard somewhere in the East. (Which gives me a day off today, which is rare for me this time of year!!!) It’s a good time of year to write, it’s cold everywhere I live, the weather is usually lousy, snowy, rainy, cold, and I’m happy staying indoors to work, with the occasional break, having dinner with one of my kids, in whichever city I’m in. We celebrated my youngest son’s birthday last week, which was fun, and I’m enjoying spending time with whichever one is available and willing to share a meal with me, and the rest of the time I work. » read more »

Filed Under Fashion, Kids, Writing | 14 Comments

The Many Faces of New Year’s Eve

Posted on December 31, 2012

When my children were small, my husband John and I would let them ‘stay up til midnight’, which was Big excitement for them!! What they didn’t know was that we set our clocks ahead, and ‘midnight’ was really about 9 pm, when we would serve them ginger ale when they were really young, and later non-alcoholic champagne. They would blow horns and rattle noise-makers, jump around and ‘celebrate’, and by 10 pm (for real, although they thought it was 1 am), we would get them all in bed, and then he and I would happily fall into bed in our pajamas, eat popcorn and watch old movies on TV, and finish off the ginger ale (neither of us drank alcohol).  I had absolutely no desire to get dressed up, go out, or dance the new year in. I was totally happy at home with my husband and kids. New Year’s had never been a night that particularly appealed to me. With drunk drivers on the roads, rowdy people partying, it just never seemed like much fun to me, and I was much happier at home. » read more »

Filed Under Family, Holidays, Kids | 11 Comments

Happy Merry

Posted on December 24, 2012

Christmas. Just the word evokes so many memories. Good ones, sad ones, the excitement of Christmas as a child. Maybe more than any other, it is a word that evokes something different for each of us. The Christmas cards and snow scenes look the same, but the memories don’t. There are as many interpretations of the holidays as there are people in the world. For some, it was a magical time in their childhood and youth, and still is as adults. For others, it was bitterly disappointing as children, but has improved. For some it is the loneliest time of the year, and for others the time they most look forward to, when their family gets together.   A friend of mine remarried several years ago, she had children and so did her new husband, but their traditions were completely different, she had always overdone Christmas with lots of fun and decorations, their new family’s style was more austere, with few gifts and almost no decorations. They tried to compromise and find a middle ground on their first Christmas together, and she called me to report that all the children, his and hers, had wound up crying on Christmas Day, as one of them said in a wail, “Can’t we have a NORMAL Christmas?”  A “Normal” Christmas, or holiday, is different to each of us. Even in the same family, people have different ideas about how it should be. » read more »

Filed Under Family, Holidays, Kids | 6 Comments

BOO!!!!!

Posted on October 29, 2012

Ah YESSS!!! Here comes one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. It’s such a great holiday, dedicated to fun, the acquisition of industrial quantities of candy (even if you are too old to trick or treat, you can stand there with an enormous bowl of it, to hand it out, and eat half of it yourself….just checking it out!!!). Kids get to wear silly costumes, so do adults, the whole thing has always seemed like so much fun to me. And as I’ve told you, we’ve had some memorable costumes in the family. One of my favorites was my oldest daughter’s orange dyed face (she was a pumpkin that year), which wouldn’t wash off for 2 weeks (and she had to explain at work, since she was in her 20’s by then). » read more »

Filed Under Holidays, Kids, Paris | 1 Comment

Life, In Real Time

Posted on May 14, 2012

Hi Everybody!

It’s still rainy, cold and gray in Paris—-what kind of May is this? People write love songs and have dreams about spring in Paris, and none of them include long-johns and umbrellas!!! And either there is some kind of worldwide lousy weather thing happening, or I’m cursed, since I arrived from the same kind of unseasonable weather in New York, Los Angeles before that (pouring rain and freezing cold), and 3 weeks of miserable cold weather in San Francisco. And to top it off, I’m going to New York in 2 days, checked the weather, sure it would be balmy and warm with spring in full swing, and discovered that the weather in New York is more of the same. Yerghk!!! I hope it warms up and dries out somewhere that I am soon, since I’m heading off on my usual rounds to see the kids. » read more »

Filed Under Family, Kids | 1 Comment

Proud Mom

Posted on January 30, 2012

Hi Everyone,

A bit of family news here, my college senior daughter has been going to every concert she can get to for the last ten years. She knows more about the young music scene than anyone I know. And in the last few years she goes to a ‘show’ or concert every night of the week, and sometimes two shows. And she has decided to share the experience, and her expertise, with others, —she just started a blog called “Zscrossing”, telling those who read her blog about the shows she goes to. If there is someone in your family who enjoys the same kind of music she does (loud!!! and a lot younger than what i listen to!!), check out zscrossing. I’m very proud of her!!!  She wants to embark on a career in music production after she graduates, and might like to become a sound engineer or sound technician, after some more studies. Very exciting stuff!!! Take a look at her blog!!! www.zcrossing.com

Love, Danielle

Filed Under Family, Kids | 5 Comments

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (real life, not the book)

Posted on August 15, 2011

Okay, I’ll admit it. Today, as I write this, is my birthday. I never share that information publicly or even privately. I have had a hatred of birthdays (my own) for most of my life. As a child, no one made much of a fuss about it, and with a mid-August birthday, everyone was always away, so it was always a non-event, and somewhat (or even very) disappointing. (We won’t discuss the totally flattened chocolate cake my parents sent me when they sent me to camp at 5 and 6 years of age, and again later, and they thought the cake would arrive by mail safely and on time. It never did. It showed up, whenever, flat as a pancake, looking nothing like a birthday cake. So I wasn’t very old when I decided that I really didn’t like birthdays. They always disappointed me, although for several decades now, thanks to my children, they have been great. But I am leery of birthdays anyway, just on principle. Besides, now there is the age issue, which adds insult to injury. For several years now, I have been trying to convince my family to adopt a system of 2 mother’s days per year instead (the official one, and one just for me in lieu of my birthday). I may be making some headway on that one since the whole family sang “Happy Mother’s Day to youuuuuuuu” today instead of Happy You Know What. (Yerghk. The B word). And a friend sent me the perfect candles for my cake, which instead of saying the number, spelled out the words “Don’t Ask”. Perfect!!! I want those candles every year!!! (There is a far less chivalrous friend who sends me a card with my correct age on it every year. Is he kidding? Did he think I would forget??? I toss that card as fast as possible every year!!). » read more »

Filed Under Family, Kids | 20 Comments

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