Love Notes

Dec 07, 2025 • #dinner party #recipe

String of Pearls 11/11/25

Cecil Beaton took this photograph - what do you notice? All but one of these Swans (that being the tiny ingénue in the center) has chosen to wear her pearls. There's a reason for that.

"The pearl is the gem of queens and the queen of gems."

Grace Kelly

Try this the next time you're getting dressed: put a pearl earring on one ear, and an earring without a pearl - a diamond, gold, whatever is your favorite - on the other. Then turn your head from side to side, gazing at your lovely reflection in the mirror. The pearl lights up your face, right? Something about the way it ties together the whites of your eyes and your smile - it just give you an extra little glow. And for a turbo shot, add a pearl choker. READ MORE

Dec 07, 2025 • #fall #gold

Golden Hour 11/3/25

“At one magical instant in your early morning or late afternoon, you will see the light - light so extraordinary that it seems to have come from another world.”

author unknown

There’s a hush that falls when the day turns the corner toward evening and the light becomes golden - that fleeting hour when a ray of sun slips through the window as if carrying a secret message. Beyond the glass, it softens everything it touches: the lapping waves on a New England rocky coast, a small Virginia garden gone quiet, a strand of pearls on my studio table catching the glow.

Photographers call it the magic hour - that post sunrise or late afternoon sun that illuminates a subject, almost as if a glow were lit from within. READ MORE

Nov 01, 2025 • #mary tyler moore

The Girl Next Door 10/27/25

She isn't the one in a mink coat or on magazine cover. She's the one who smiles and waves while pulling in the garbage cans, who listens intently, who shows up, who makes the most of what she has. She's Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat in the air, a little uncertain, a little brave, and completely herself.

The girl next door is the gold standard, not because she shines the brightest, but because her light is real. She is warmth. She too sometimes has wobbly mornings, but she draws a breath, adjusts her shoulders, and steps forward anyway.

And Mary Tyler Moore remains, for many of us, the gold standard of the girl next door. (Before her, it was Antonia Shimerda, in this writer's opinion). READ MORE

Nov 01, 2025 • #art #cocktail #fall

Little Treasures 10/20/25

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

Oct 19, 2025

Party Time 10/13/25

Welcome my loves, to the *Love Note* party, where together each Monday, we celebrate little drops of beauty ... in flowers, food, fashion and fun (and travel too). And today, it's party time!

We have another birthday to celebrate (which I actually missed, it was September 28th) ... drumroll please... the Love Note just turned 5! I can hardly believe it - and its all thanks to YOU. What if I had tried pilates with the same commitment five years ago? What if - what if - what if?! But the point is, I kept at it - this weekly writing thing, and YOU supported me, and it all took flight. See for yourself how far we've come, here - ouch ouch ouch that first note was downright pitiful, and I'm embarrassed to share it, but that's exactly my point. We've come a long way baby. Just for balance, here are a few of my favorite notes - here and here. READ MORE