Love Notes

Good things come in small boxes.  And sometimes with small price tags too.  Today, we're looking at little treasures.

Are you familiar with the lover's eye?

It all began in the late 1700s, when King George IV (then the rakish Prince of Wales) went to the opera and that evening fell madly in love with Maria Fitzherbert.   She was a Catholic, a widow and a commoner; he was heir to the throne.  Marriage was thrice forbidden.   While this deterred Mrs. Fitzherbert, George was relentless in his pursuit of passion, and in a gesture as secret as it was romantic, he sent her a tiny portrait of his own eye, painted in watercolor on ivory.   READ MORE

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I started out thinking today's note should be set to Ella Fitzgerald singing "Autumn in New York" ... and yet before I knew it, Nina Simone was crooning "Feeling Good" in my ear (so good!), fast forward forty minutes (which flew by) and I had created this playlist, neatly bookended by the two songbirds.  In my mind's eye, I'm picturing it as a soundtrack for a Nancy Meyers movie with you as the protagonist ... camera pans as you stroll through Central Park (or along your favorite hometown walking route) ... the director calls for a zoom in as you pause to kick a few leaf piles, and a red maple drifts up toward the clouds.  What is our lovely protagonist (YOU) thinking in that moment?  What is she longing for?  Where would her story lead, if she dared to write the next scene herself?  READ  MORE

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Autumn arrives with shorter days and brisker nights, and suddenly the comforts of home feel like treasures to be gathered close.   Perhaps it's our response to the return of a regular (perhaps even bustling) routine - following on the heels of August's dreamy la la land of seemingly endless daylight and loosened schedules.  Or maybe it's just our primordial call to bake.  Whatever the reason, fall seems to call us back to our nests.     Here are a few little indulgences to just sprinkle a little fall stardust into your world:  READ MORE

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Here we go fall.   I’ve decided that I would find September and October much more appealing if they didn’t come right after August ... say for example, if they were slotted in to follow December.   Just picture some nice golden leaves wafting outside your window, and a bonfire to look forward to, say right behind all the holiday bustle.  Doesn’t that sound nice?   I'm realizing that it’s not September or October's fault that they took summer away -  I think it's time I try to be nice to them.   READ MORE

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Last Monday, I promised to stop singing the end of summer blues, and I'm fulling intending to make good on the pledge.  In the words of that unexpected poet, Jimi Hendrix, "The blues is easy to play but hard to feel". 

How about we lean into the playing part?

Today's note is filled to the gills - oodles and oodles of new goodies to share, sprinkled with some of the best blues from the world of design.

Care for a soundtrack to kick off the new season?   I've made one for you on Spotify here - "Rock Me on the Water" ( no surprise there) and I happily promise that it doesn't include a single chord of Jimi Hendrix.  It's filled with old favorites to deliver a spring to your step, and maybe even get you singing along.  READ MORE

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