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On Black Friday I ended the day with a vintage diamond and platinum vintage wristwatch, a ruby ring, a Louis Vuitton pouch and a diamond solitaire.  And I did not spend a dime. Instead, I cleaned out my closets and drawers and digging a little deeper than usual found buried treasures that I thought I had lost. The diamond wristwatch took the cake. Until this post I could never speak to anyone but my husband David about the sadness of having lost a treasured piece of jewelry that belonged to my grandmother Rose (I called her Mimi). I only wore it once to a black tie event

I grew up an only child with alot of time on my hands and a full imagination.  Learning to play by myself, work alone, and live as a single adult until my 40s is my DNA and what makes me an independent thinker and spirit. With no brothers and sisters, very few aunts and uncles, nieces or nephews the holidays were always a strange mishmash of “orphan”  dinners. You never knew who would be around the table. It was always an assortment of friends, newcomers in town with nowhere to go and – gasp- usually a single, eligible male hand-picked by my mother to meet her then-single daughter.  There were few actual

Hurricane Sandy struck the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast the evening of October 29th.  What happened in my New York City in the aftermath could be called A Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times in some areas and the worst of times in others. Below 30th Street Manhattan turned into a dark desert island. Power was out; streets were flooded; people were walking around in a daze. All night flashing police cars patrolled the streets in the eerie dark. After the force of storm ended, the wind blew softly, and a light drizzle fell off and on. Inside my apartment it was dark

In the last several weeks I have traveled by plane, bus, train, car, 4 wheel drive and camel to exotic and bustling Marrakech, the calm toast -colored sands of the Sahara, a piercingly sunny, calm day in London, a chilly St. Louis, MO., sultry and humid Miami, the traffic jammed streets of Atlanta, colorful Asheville, N.C. near the Smoky Mountains and back the Hudson Valley just in time to witness the last of the Fall foliage. I’ve awakened to a brilliant sunrise, the sounds of songbirds, horns, kids playing, roosters crowing, dogs barking and the call to prayer.  Every place and every day has been unique. Yet, there are similarities. The people

On September 11, 2012, I woke up, went to the gym, took a train to a client, coordinated a few interviews,edited some materialsand worked on two events coming up in the following week. It was an average day for me, nothing spectacular. I presided over a Les Dames d’Escoffier board meeting that night and joined my husband for dinner at Eataly with a visiting colleague from South Carolina. My cell phone had one text message from a wine industry colleague. The message said “Peace be with you.” I responded “Thank you! How are you today?” He responded “ALIVE!” The message

Last night, August 31st, was a Blue Moon. By definition, a Blue Moon is an extrafull moon in a season. Usually there are three full moons, anda Blue Moon makes four. It is an astronomical rarity that happens about 2.7 years apart. The last Blue Moon was December 31, 2009, and I was oblivious to it since I wasin the throes of chemotherapy, a rare and hopefully one-time occurance that certainly made me blue and moon-faced withthe pallorof wax and wan.The next Blue Moon will take place July 31, 2015, too far into the futureto think about. So last night,

Much has been written about the legacy of Julia Child, who would have turned 100 years old thisweek. Many of her colleagues and admirers have posted their Julia recollections and tributesonline. In my role as president of Les Dames d’Escoffier New YorkI have responded to a number of questions on what she meant to the food and beverage industry and to women who work in the field, which is significant. People have shared their favorite recipes from her cookbooks, most notably Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But as someonewith both a palate andpassion for good food who professesto beneither

“Happy are those who have dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true.” This was my senior year quote in our high school year book and it is my mantra for how I try to live.  I truly believe anyone can take an idea and develop it into something if they work hard at it. The key is to have a vision of what you want to do, a mission statement on how it will work and how it will impact others, a plan  and timeline to make it happen and a passion to give it your all. I

Serendipity. It’s a wordI have beenthinking about alot,and for good reason. Sometimes, I truly believe that things happen in life due to serendipity. We can all be captains of our ships to a point but, like avessel on the sea, when naturestirs things up in a maelstrom, you have to change your course. This past weekendI attended a “Woodstock Wedding.” It did not take place in the town of Woodstock in the Hudson Valley. It took place at the site of the originalWoodstock back in 1969 in Bethel Woods near White Lake, NY. The bride and groom met through –

I just spent the last several daysawashin SpanishTempranillo. Two days aftersaying goodbye to Chance, I boarded an airplane for Madrid tojoin a small group ofwine industry professionals on a four day excursion to the fairly remote, hot, dry and historic wine region of Toro, two and half hours away from Spain’s refined capital. It was like going from Chicago to the Midwest wheatfields but with better food and wineand a seemingly endless nightlifeat the final destination. I cried on my overnight flight,listenedto music and drank more glassesof Spanish Tempranillo than I should to ease the waves of grief that came

I have been thinking alot about the term “letting go” lately. This week I madethe difficult decision of letting go of my preciousChance. He was in pain and his mind and body greatly diminished from a nasal tumor that was slowingtaking over hisbrain. I wrestled with the idea of euthanasia and did not realize how much I truly hate the idea ofletting go ofa life, particuarly his. The doctors said it was my choice but to think of it as a gift to give him peace and protect him from more pain. In the end I relented. Chance diedquietly in

The animal world taught me alot about taking chances and making choices this week. In life, many of us only have one chance to do something and a short amount of time to make a choice about it. Chance, by definition is either a probability, an opportunity, a fortuitous situation or a risk.  Chances tend to pop up and then dissolve. We all face them in our lives and we all have to make choices around them that can make a small or large impact depending on the circumstance. This week, I’ll Have Another faced the chance to win the Triple Crown and