Hi Everyone,

I usually go back to Paris after spending the holidays in San Francisco with my children. I stick around for a week or two after they leave, do some work, and then head back to Paris, to enjoy some more of the winter there. January is kind of a dull month everywhere, the weather is lousy unless you live in a tropical country—it’s miserable everywhere else, people are tired after the holidays, partied out, broke after buying presents, and nothing very exciting is going on. For me, it’s a great time to work. I work hard all year, especially in winter, so I can take time off in the summer to be with my kids.  But as wintry places go, Paris is a nice place to be in January. Often, it snows, which I love, the big sales are on, which is fun if you want to find a bargain, and the big Haute Couture fashion shows are at the end of January. Many of the big designers have closed and no longer do Haute Couture, and there are only 2 houses left that do couture, Chanel and Dior, other than some new designers that have appeared. And I go to the Chanel Haute Couture shows twice a year in Paris, so I’ll be going to that and am looking forward to it. They’ll be showing their summer clothes in January. And I love » read more »

I have had a serious chocolate habit all my life. I love dark, dark bittersweet chocolate, the darker the better. My current favorite is Scharffenberger chocolate, and I keep a couple of small bars in my handbag at all times, and stashed in my desk. I can never resist a chocolate dessert, and sometimes I use the ‘zip’ that chocolate gives me, to work late at night. Well, tonight I went to the ultimate chocolate lovers’ reunion. The Chocolate Eaters Club in Paris. Wow!!! » read more »

I’ve just spent one of the most wonderful, incredible, and magical evenings of my life, and wanted to share it with you. Tonight I went to something called “The White Dinner” in Paris, I’ve heard about it for years, but never quite understood what it was. Some people I mentioned it to just brushed it off as some kind of weird outdoor summer event, others pooh-poohed it, and a few said it was great. But I didn’t really understand how it worked or what it was. And a good friend of mine in Paris has invited me to it for the last 2 years, and this year, in a spirit of adventure, I accepted and decided to go. He explained it as an evening where » read more »