
Friday, July 24, 2009
August 2nd San Francisco Winemaker Dinner

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
San Ysidro Ranch~Montecito



San Ysidro Ranch is nestled in the jasmine, sage and lavender scented foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains. The 500-acre ocean view paradise is rated America's #1 hotel by Forbes Traveler.
Jack and Jackie Kennedy how to trade binary optionsthat tomorrow is another day spent part of their honeymoon in one of the resort’s luxurious bungalows. And when I lived in Montecito--long before security became tighter--I regularly jogged through The Ranch, which is a setting for scenes in my novel ‘French Heart.’
Thursday, July 9, 2009

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day best trading platform singapore and I believe in miracles." —Audrey Hepburn
Alexa & Rene's first day together~in Paris




A Few of Alexa's Favorite Things~
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Four Season George V~~Paris




The Hotel George V is located off the Champs Elysees on Avenue George V. Built by American Joel Hillman at a cost of $31 million, the 8-story, 245-room luxury hotel opened in 1928. Four Seasons Hotels became the management company in 2008. Several turning point scenes in my novel 'French Heart' take place in this gorgeous location that is near the Rue St. Dominique apartment of one of my characters, Gabrielle, and also adjacent to the Golden Triangle shops and foodie Rue Cler.
Île Saint-Honorat, Lake Como, Lake Annecy,Cannes




Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Patron Saint of France~~Joan of Arc

Mark Twain researched Joan of Arc for ten years before penning his favorite among his own books, 'Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.' He considered her to be the greatest person that ever lived, and today she stands among the Top Ten Generals in history.
Mark Twain wrote,"The character of Joan of Arc is unique. It can be measured by the standards of all times without misgiving or apprehension as to the result...it is still flawless, it is still ideally perfect; it still occupies the loftiest place possible to human attainment, a loftier one than has been reached by any other mere mortal.
"When we reflect that her century was the brutalest, the wickedest, the rottenest in history since the darkest ages, we are lost in wonder at the miracle of such a product from such a soil. The contrast between her and her century is the contrast between day and night. She was truthful when lying was the common speech of men; she was honest when honesty was become a lost virtue; she was a keeper of promises when the keeping of a promise was expected of no one; she gave her great mind to great thoughts and great purposes when other great minds wasted themselves upon pretty fancies or upon poor ambitions; she was modest, and fine, and delicate when to be loud and coarse might be said to be universal; she was full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things; she was unfailingly true to an age that was false to the core; she maintained her personal dignity unimpaired in an age of fawnings and servilities; she was of a dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of her nation; she was spotlessly pure in mind and body when society in the highest places was foul in both--she was all these things in an age when crime was the common business of lords and princes, and when the highest personages in Christendom were able to astonish even that infamous era and make it stand aghast at the spectacle of their atrocious lives black with unimaginable treacheries, butcheries, and beastialities."
Joan of Arc is my favorite person in history and I gave her a role in my book, 'French Heart.'
A Good Year~

When I first saw Russell Crow/Ridley Scott's 'A Good Year' I gasped. The look of the parts in Provence were so like the Provence part of my novel 'French Heart' that I'd written a year earlier. I loved the music and entire ambience. Click HERE.
Canon Beach Where My Brother's Spirit Lives





All Things French & The Sea~~Magic

My French Life

My son, Robbie, was born when I was 17. He went to HS for awhile in Aix-en-Provence following his father's death, and fell in love with France. He completed graduate school early in Paris in International Relations and also worked there for ABC News--and became a citizen. Aix-en-Provence is also the main setting of my novel, French Heart, and it is where my multi-lingual son, who has been in Amsterdam for the past two years for his work, would love to live again.
Grand Hotel Nord Pinus~~Arles, France





Cheers to California Winemakers!

Although California is a relative newcomer to the 8,000-year old art of winemaking, the Golden State produces 90% of all U.S. wine, and is the 4th leading wine producer in the world. California Wine is the number one finished agricultural product in retail value in the U.S. generating $125.3 billion, 875,000 jobs, and attracting twenty million wine tourists each year. Those statistics are extra impressive considering that California wineries are predominately family owned boutiques. It’s a business that requires guts, hard work, imagination, and knowledge in both the art and science of viniculture.
Winemaking is civilizing, it's ancient, it's hip, it's cool, it changes culture and it heightens the spirit and the romance of life. And for that we owe all vintners everywhere a debt of thanks.
Market Day in Provence~~From Carolina Kitchen Blog


Monday, June 15, 2009
Designing a Life in Entrepreneurial, Exponential Times
