I’ve spent six productive weeks in Lake Oswego, and now Lili (above) and I are headed for Cannon Beach--then down the coast to San Francisco, Carmel, and onto the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference. P...
I was so saddened to hear the children of Mary Kennedy suffered the immense, tragic loss of their beloved mother. They lose even more of her, and more of themselves, by inaccurate media portrayals of...
For many decades the rustic and romantic Old California charms of San Ysidro Ranch have enticed Hollywood stars, the world elite, and honeymooners--like Jack and Jackie Kennedy--pictured ab...
On a trip through Europe--my mother became enchanted with the quaint town of Quimperin Brittany, France. Soon after, she began to dream of a home on a wild coast that she would name Gull Cottage.&nbs...
Beautiful, multi-lingual, and soon to be former First Lady of France--Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has lived like the star of a novel, a film, or an Italian Opera. Hard working, focused, and with a predi...
Did you see the Disney produced Confessions of a Shopaholic film? It was based on the book by respected British author and Oxford grad whod previously published under her real name Mad...
With the anniversary of my brother’s death approaching--I took a detour from relocation to France--to Lake Oswego, Oregon where he lived and died. My goal was to recast a tragedy with a new mea...
The idea of ‘The American Dream’ arose from San Francisco’s 1849 Gold Rush feverthat turned the then settlement of 200 into a Boom Town—and made ‘The Golden State’ synonymous with instant wealth and ...
The stylish annual invitation-only Dîner en Blanc seems to be part massive Flash Mob, part artistic statement of free assembly--and totally fun. The exact location is kept hush-hush until the last mo...
Now that Facebook has dropped $1-Billion at the tiny Instagram start-up offices to purchase Kevin Systroms 551-day old, 13-employee photo-sharing hit app...wonder what other San Francisco biz has win...
Just 310-miles southwest of Paris~the ancient port city of Bordeaux on the Garonne River near the Atlantic coast of France is known as the ‘Port of the Moon.’ Wine has been produced here since the 8t...
Paris in the Spring~quaffing champagne on the terrace at Hotel Le Bristol. Strolling through charming scenes set to I Love Paris here. Twirling with a West Coast Swing flash mob at the Louvre: here P...
I opened the local ‘Carmel Pine Cone’ last Friday and was shocked to read that friend--Bruce Surtees--had suddenly died. He was the son of Robert L. Surtees who won Best Cinematography Oscars or nomi...
In 1889, Chef Raffaele Esposito--at the request of Italy’s Queen Margherita--created Pizza Margherita Pizza in her honor--using tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and fresh basil to represent the red, white...
Tucked into pine-covered hills above the turquoise Bay of Cannes…is the picture-postcard village of Théoule sur Mer—and the orange-blossom scented Tiara Yaktsa boutique hotel.Originally an elegant 1...
On the October 2011 death of tech genius and Apple CEO Steve Jobs—his 48-year old wife of twenty years, Laurene Powell Jobs—became the richest woman in the Silicon Valley with a net worth of $9 billi...
With sunny blue skies and fresh sea air along the scenic inviting pathway of Monterey Bay Coastal Trail--that stretches 30-miles from Castroville to Pebble Beach--I headed out after days of rain for ...
Once upon a time, during the Napoleonic Wars...Amsterdam was part of the French Empire. With its canals as numerous as Venice, historic architecture, and painterly gardens...its easy to forget this e...
Remember....back in the days of yore...in a far-away place a long, long time ago...when opposable thumbs had uses beyond sending texts and playing the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft? Sure you do. With...
Trayvon Martin was an accomplished youth with dreams he will now never live in this life. His parents dreams for their adored child were brutally ended by a stranger who left them with a sea of if on...
Monaco on the French Riviera is a one square mile major banking and (perhaps not ironically) gambling center of nearly 36,00 residents. Monaco boasts the planets highest GDP, life expectancy, real es...
Sara Blakely went from a $5K self-investment---to world’s youngest self-made female billionaire at age 41 in little more than a decade--by manufacturing cool undies designed to make you look très hau...
The images above are of Lake Annecy, France--one of my sons favorite places. My Saint Patricks day baby was born when I was 17. His father died when our darling son was just 16--shortly thereafter Ro...
The Paris Wine Museum is sited in ancient underground vaults of a former Monastery--in what today is the wealthy 16ème arrondissement on right bank of the River Seine. During the 13th to 18th century...
To paraphrase astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson...All life on earth came from stars that exploded their ingredients of life across the universe ...when I look up at the night sky, and I know that y...
The 14th century Château de la Treyne set amid formal gardens and private forests overlooking the Dordogne....affords the perfect ambiance to do whatever you wish. Hike, jog, play tennis, fish, relax...
First carved by the hermit Amadour, a ‘lover of rock’ or roc amator--Rocamadour attracts 1.5 million pilgrims a year. Inside the Chapelle Miraculeuse is the Tomb of Saint Amadour who spent time with ...
The sunset picture reminds me of when my son was 7 and I was 24. I bought a pristine white VW pop-top camping van--thinking, Im the mother of a son--time to cancel the Vogue subscription and learn to...
Buckminister Fuller--engineer, architect, inventor, designer, futurist, humanist, author of 30+ books, holder of dozens of patents, and hundreds of awards—was expelled from Harvard twice.By 32, he wa...
This story can be summed-up in the 1966 TV series ‘Green Acres’ theme song: here with a slight change of venue to a deserted French village, and new owners to be decided by auction. Its about a new s...
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