Danielle Steel's Blog, page 64

One Night Stand

Well, that caught your attention, didn't it??? I forgot to tell you what I did in San Francisco the day after I came back from Europe. Did I have a One Night Stand?……well, actually, I hate to disappoint you…..no. But I curated an art show at the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco, and the theme and title of the show was "One Night Stand"—-the owner of the gallery's idea, not mine…..but it turned out really well.

The gallery is a wonderful gallery of contemporary art, and when I closed my own art gallery a few years ago, Andrea took on several of my artists to represent them. She does a great job, and shows some wonderful work. And as we really respect and like each other, and have a similar appreciation of contemporary art, she has me curate a show for her once a year. And I love doing it. We've had some fun themes for the shows til now—-but she topped them all with the theme this year. I curated one in January in the beginning of our creative alliance, and now I do one for her every August. (Curating it means that I select the artists, usually the theme, then select the work by each artist, and decide where each piece will hang in the show. And it is a LOT of fun!!!)

We usually meet in January to decide on the theme of the show, and select the artists who will be in it, since it is a group show. We look at a ton of slides and images to decide who will be in the show. Some are artists I used to represent that she shows now, some are my old artists that she does not represent, some are her artists, and some are artists we find together, or that she has heard about. This show was figurative (not abstract work, given the theme), and once we decided whose work we liked, we reached out to those artists, and invited them to be in it. And everyone had a positive response.

We meet again in April/May to begin selecting the work of those artists, and the show begins to come together. But like any creative work (a book too), there is always a little flutter of nerves wondering how it will all fit together in the end. Hanging a group art show (work by several artists, in this case 8 of them) is a bit like putting a puzzle together, and all the pieces have to fit.

The first pieces of work we saw were a little racy, and I started to get nervous…..uh oh….and we saw some very interesting work. It's fascinating to see how different artists will interpret a theme. An artist whose work I love, Gordon Smedt, had a man and woman's shoes tossed on the floor, and it's easy to imagine what came after. It's a gorgeous piece of work that was a show stopper, as was a very large oil painting he did of a red condom wrapper. The piece is a lot of fun, and inspired me to buy a big blue crystal bowl and fill it with condoms in brightly colored wrappers, and people helped themselves to them liberally at the opening.  An artist named Donald Bradford did some beautiful pieces of rumpled sheets with discarded clothes on the floor that were subtle and also very well done. Eric Michael Corrigan did a big painting with sofas and love seats on it, which left a lot to the imagination too. There was the work of an artist called Kunkel, who did several larger pieces, and some small ones with sayings inside bottle caps, "Fidelity is an acquired taste" was one.  Sophia Harrison did works on glass, with collages of words that tell a story about sex and love and relationships. There was an interesting variety of pieces, and only one very small graphic piece by a Taiwanese artist called Pang. And the work on the walls definitely caught people's attention at the opening of the show.

I flew back from Paris via New York, to appear on a TV show there ("The View", with Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg and the other hosts, and Lady Gaga was also a guest on the show that morning and was a knockout!!!) to publicize my new book, "Happy Birthday", and I planned to fly back to San Francisco late that night, to hang the show the next day. (The curator decides where to hang the work so it works well together, and I curate these shows). But I cut it a little too close, and wound up on a plane stuck on the runway for 5 hours with a broken air conditioning system, that went nowhere, and got stuck in New York for another night. I took a 7 am flight the next morning, landed in San Francisco at l0:30am, local time, and was at the gallery at 11 am, to hang the show. That was a close one!!! And the next day there was a cocktail party for the opening, and the show was off and running. And everyone had a good time at the opening party!!! We sold several pieces of work that night, which is always a good sign. The show will be in the gallery for the month of August.

Curating shows for Andrea gives me a wonderful opportunity to keep my hand in the art business, which I love, see my old artists, meet new ones, and work with Andrea and her husband Steve Dolan, which is pure joy for me. I LOVE the art business and seeing what people create. Writing is very solitary and isolates me, and the art world is very different, and is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and see old friends.

So I had a ball with our "One Night Stand", and I guess it will keep people talking for a while!!!  For me, it was a very chaste but enormously fun one night stand!!!

Love, Danielle

Follow this link to see the article about the show:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/10/DDCM1KL8S7.DTL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (real life, not the book)

Okay, I'll admit it. Today, as I write this, is my birthday. I never share that information publicly or even privately. I have had a hatred of birthdays (my own) for most of my life. As a child, no one made much of a fuss about it, and with a mid-August birthday, everyone was always away, so it was always a non-event, and somewhat (or even very) disappointing. (We won't discuss the totally flattened chocolate cake my parents sent me when they sent me to camp at 5 and 6 years of age, and again later, and they thought the cake would arrive by mail safely and on time. It never did. It showed up, whenever, flat as a pancake, looking nothing like a birthday cake. So I wasn't very old when I decided that I really didn't like birthdays. They always disappointed me, although for several decades now, thanks to my children, they have been great. But I am leery of birthdays anyway, just on principle. Besides, now there is the age issue, which adds insult to injury. For several years now, I have been trying to convince my family to adopt a system of 2 mother's days per year instead (the official one, and one just for me in lieu of my birthday). I may be making some headway on that one since the whole family sang "Happy Mother's Day to youuuuuuuu" today instead of Happy You Know What. (Yerghk. The B word). And a friend sent me the perfect candles for my cake, which instead of saying the number, spelled out the words "Don't Ask". Perfect!!! I want those candles every year!!! (There is a far less chivalrous friend who sends me a card with my correct age on it every year. Is he kidding? Did he think I would forget??? I toss that card as fast as possible every year!!).

Like a lot of women I am sensitive about my age. I got a head start on everything in life, I went to college at l5, finished at l9, married at l7, had my first child at l9. I also wrote my first book at l9. I have always been on some sort of fast track, shooting through the sky, in a huge rush to get to the same place as everyone else, but since I started everything so early, by now people must think I'm 146. Oh I remember her, she wrote her first book about 600 years ago, right? No, not exactly, but having started everything so early, I've been around doing things for a long time. And with 9 children, I went on having babies for years and years and years. People must think I'm a great great grandmother by now, parked in a rocking chair somewhere. Thank you very much, I'm not. Fortunately, it's not that bad, I still have one child in college, living at home. I still have dark red hair, wear leather pants and stiletto heels (without looking too ridiculous, I hope), I go to discos with my kids, still weigh barely more than 100 lbs, and haven't fallen apart too noticeably yet. But I still don't like my age, am disappointed that my marriages didn't last until 'death did us part', unfortunately divorce did instead, and in the game of musical chairs I was the one who ended up without a seat….oops….and I don't like the age on my driver's license or passport—-HOLY SH–!!!! Who is THAT??? I'm how old? You must be kidding!!! No, unfortunately not. I'm not 15 anymore, although sometimes I still feel it, and other days I feel 110. Welcome to real life. Fortunately, people stay young a lot longer than they used to, I wear clothes that my grandmother would have laughed at at the same age, and we live in a society where youth is prized, and if you're not willing to give up your life and sit in a rocking chair once your kids leave home, you can have a fun and busy life. I can't even imagine not working or going 100 mph, and I'm having fun, most of the time. (I got a very funny card from one of my kids today that said "The older you get, the better you get, unless you are a banana." Now there's a cheering thought. I'm not at the banana stage yet. I'm not sure what stage I'm at, but the leather jeans and high heels still seem to look okay. (Or at least people aren't laughing at me yet. When they do, I'll park the leather jeans).

Another reason I don't like talking about my birthday publicly is the 'horoscope' thing. I really don't want strangers writing to me telling me that their sign and mine are totally compatible, we were meant for each other, (could almost be twins), even though they've committed heinous crimes or have a screw loose in some major way. "What sign are you?" is never my favorite opening line. I don't want to be burdened with what my horoscope sign says I'm supposed to be. I'd rather just be me.

On a more serious note, this birthday was likely to be a hard one. As some of you know, my ex husband, the father of 8 of my 9 children passed away earlier this year. And despite being divorced for many, many years, we remained close and spent holidays together with the kids. And with a family this size, birthdays are a big deal. This was going to be the first one without him, and I knew it would be hard, especially for my kids. I think we were all dreading his very noticeable absence from a family event. But in life, things change, people move on, and disappear from our lives. Kids grow up. Lives get busy, new relationships form, and whether we like it or not, things change. We had a memorial for him 3 days before my birthday, which was more than likely to make things even worse. And two of my sons were not going to be able to make my birthday this year. And my youngest son was working on the actual day although he came to lunch the day before, so what we found ourselves with was a girls' weekend at the beach, where we usually spend my birthday—-all my daughters and I, and my only son in law (who was a good sport), and even though it was different, we had fun. They spoiled me rotten, and gave me thoughtful, beautiful gifts. We played Scrabble, walked on the beach, and talked about girl stuff, and a little friendly gossip. And although it was different, we all had a nice time. We felt the absences of their father and my sons….but even though it was different, it was lovely and good, in a different way. I'm not a big fan of change either, but it actually worked—–and when they sang Happy Mother's Day instead of Happy Birthday, it was great!!!!

I actually got through the day without feeling 114 years old, I didn't look in the mirror too closely so I reassured myself that things were still okay. I had a great time with my daughters, who came without their boyfriends, so it really was a girls' weekend, and I think it was a success——–despite the changes, the absences, and the people we missed. We got through it in a gentle way.

I was doing fine throughout the day, and the girls very sweetly invited me to dinner for one more celebration of my day. At a new restaurant I've never been to, and I was looking forward to it. I tried not to focus on the things that have changed in our lives, the fact that they live in other cities now, and part of the year, so do I, that we don't see each other as often as we'd like, that tomorrow they'll all be on planes back to their own lives…..and as we talked and laughed over dinner, I was able to tell myself that nothing had really changed……until the check came. And then my fantasy of nothing changing fell apart. The waiter presented the bill to them and not to me, and all of them whipped out their credit cards and paid the bill, instead of me. That was a first. I felt very spoiled, and it suddenly told me that they are all adults—-with credit cards even!!! Credit cards? What are they doing with credit cards??? Aren't they still 6 years old? I guess not. And suddenly there was no hiding from the truth: my children are now adults. They can actually take me out to dinner, and pay for it. They aren't children anymore, and I guess things really have changed. I was shocked when we left the restaurant, and maybe felt older than I want to admit……when your kids can take you out to dinner and put it on their credit card, they really are grown up….and so am I. It may sound crazy, but it was a startling revelation……..but even with the changes that life forces us to adjust to, like it or not……some of the changes are actually very nice. I had a great birthday this year!!! What birthday was it???? As the candles on my cake said, "Don't ask". We got through another year!!! Happy Mother's Day to you too………Love,Danielle

Leaving Paris

Hi Everyone,

Well for me, in a way, the summer holiday is over. I started somewhat early, in June, when I came back to Paris for almost two months, and it has been wonderful, seeing friends, having my kids here, doing fun things, and travelling to Italy. And the lazy summer days end all too quickly. For the first time ever, many of my kids used Paris as a base this summer, and travelled from there to other places (Holland, Germany, etc.), and some stayed in Paris longer than others, and we all went on holiday in Italy together, at a hotel, and on a boat, on our  annual boat vacation with the 5 youngest  kids. Each one brings a friend or significant other on the boat trip, but their friends stay at the house too. And it's lively and busy while they're here. All together, they stayed with me in Paris longer than any other summer, and some were with me for the entire month, which was great, and now I'm sad that it's over.

It was a chilly June and July in Paris this year, which wasn't so bad, though I didn't get to wear my really summer stuff, and wore a lot of wool jackets and sweaters instead!!!!!!! I saw a lot of my friends, and enjoyed the time with my kids. And our trip to Italy was terrific, to Positano, Capri, Porto Ercole, and the fabulous day in Rome I told you about recently. We had great meals and conversations, played Scrabble, and relaxed with each other, spent time with each other and separately with our own friends.

Somehow, I am never ready to leave Paris. I love my home in San Francisco, and will be happy with another 2 or 3 weeks with my kids, each one for a few days here and there. But Paris is just a hard city to leave. It's almost deserted in August, since restaurants and businesses close for the month, and the city is nearly empty. People take holiday either in July or August, and have a full month off. The whole country goes on vacation in summer in France.

When I go back to San Francisco, I will be curating an art show for a gallery (and owners) I love, which will be a lot of fun. Seeing lawyers, accountants, and catching up on work. It won't feel like summer anymore when I go back, and SF is always cold. So I'm having a bit of nostalgia as I pack up in Paris, with the 'spoils' of summer, some things I bought to take back, mostly gifts for other people. I'm lucky I had the time off, the long visit with my children, the travel, and the time in Paris. But I'm sad to leave anyway. I wish the vacation were just starting and not ending, and it will be September before you know it. But my summer is about to end now. I hope the rest of your summer is fun!!!

Love, Danielle

Happy Birthday

Hi Everybody,

I'm very excited because I had a new book come out in hardcover about a week ago, called "Happy Birthday!". It's a fun book that I really enjoyed writing, and I am hoping you'll enjoy it too. I just got word this week that next week it will come out as #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List, which is incredibly exciting and gratifying for me. People probably think I'm blasé about being on bestseller lists, because I've been on them for a long time, but for me it's exciting every time. I write the books, I spend several years editing them, and finally they come out, and I always hold my breath, hoping that my readers will love the story as much as I did when I conceived it and wrote it (and re-wrote it, and re-wrote it and re-wrote it. I have a VERY exacting editor who makes me do a lot of re-writes, which always makes the books better. It's like writing term papers for school, and then having the teacher make you correct it and do it again and again until you get it right. It's not fun to do, but it's worth doing and tightens it up). But you never know how people will feel about the story until they read it, and buy it. Book sales are a barometer of how much people liked that particular book———-so #3 is great news to me, particularly for the opening week.  I never take my readers' reactions for granted, and I am truly grateful when a book does well. I pay close attention to detail, do a lot of research on the books, and strive to make each one different and better than the previous ones. So your reaction means the world to me. You're who I write for!!! So I am really happy that this book is doing well!!! "Family Ties" is also on the mass market (paperback) bestseller list, so that's exciting too. And e book sales on Happy Birthday are great too. Wow!!!

I had fun with the theme of "Happy Birthday!!". It's about 3 people who turn 'landmark' ages on the same day. 60 (a woman), 50 (a man), and 30 (a woman). Potentially they are all traumatic ages, and we all read more into the numbers than we should, and identify with our chronological age. (On the other hand, those of you who saw me in whoopee cushion costume on this blog two years ago, on Halloween, know that I have an outlandish childish streak that defies 'maturity' and age. I have my juvenile moments, and hopefully always will. Some of you disapproved of the costume, others thought it was funny. I thought it was hysterical of course, but I have a terrible sense of humor, which gets me in trouble at times. I used to carry a lipstick that was actually a tiny water pistol. Now you know some of my worst traits).  In any case, in the book Happy Birthday, the 60 year old woman has a TV show, is very glamorous, and doesn't look her age—but she is outed on the radio as turning 60 on her birthday, and hates that!!! The man turning 50 in the book, a retired football star turned TV sports announcer, herniates a disk in his back during acrobatic sex with a pretty young thing the night before his 50th birthday, and the young woman turning 30, whose whole life is making her restaurant in downtown New York a success, to the exclusion of all else, makes a shocking discovery she considers anything but good news. And thus the book begins. It's a fun book to read, with some humor in it, but some serious themes too. The most important thing to come from the book for me, as I wrote it, was that as the three main characters wrestled with their unhappiness about their ages, in the end they decided to throw off the limitations of age, and open their arms, hearts and minds to ageless, exciting new ideas in a spirit of "Why not?". That theme stayed with me long after I finished the book. Instead of answering "No" to what life hands us, why not say "Why Not?" I love that idea!!! I hope you enjoy the book!!!

Love, Danielle

Roman Holiday

Every year, my 5 youngest children and I take a boat trip, we did it when I was married, and have done it in the ten years since, and although it's a stretch and a splurge, it's worth saving all year to do it!! I am addicted to boat vacations, because they give you so much freedom. It corrals everyone on the same dates (rather than people arriving late and leaving early at a rented house), and it gives you incredible freedom. If you don't like where you are in the morning, you can go just a few miles away to a prettier place, or change locations and plans entirely. It's like a movable house, and you can vacation in a bunch of places. And being on a boat is probably the only place that I really relax. It feels so removed from the pressures of real life, and is a wonderful way to spend time with my children every summer, and we all love it.

Boat vacations are not without their problems however, weather being one of them. We've had to change plans to avoid storms or bad winds, and have gotten stuck in port for several days. Last year, the owner of the boat we were on had some serious legal problems with the Italian tax authorities, and we were stopped by the French authorities, and 'stuck' on the boat for 5 days, unable to go anywhere until the problem was resolved. It messed up our itinerary, but there are worse places to get 'stuck' and we had a ball anyway, with a great crew, in a beautiful location, on a lovely boat.

This year, our nemesis on the boat was the weather. We hit an unexpected storm the first night on the boat (and fortunately we're all good sailors, but nonetheless it's unnerving to be pitching and rolling all night, and not a lot of fun). And our last day and night on the boat, we had major storm warnings, with l5 feet waves expected and 35 or 40 knot winds. That would have been nasty, and really not a lot of fun. So we agreed to leave the boat for the day and evening, and meet it again at a port near Rome. We disembarked at a tiny little port in Southern Italy called Gaeta, north of Positano, Capri and Ischia, and we drove 2 and a half hours to Rome. I hadn't been to Rome in l8 years, and it sounded like fun to all of us, for a change of scene. It wasn't the relaxed day we had hoped for on the boat, but it was going to be an adventure. And so it was.

I guess I never paid much attention to the atmosphere in Rome, since the last time I was there I was shepherding little children from the coliseum to the Sistine Chapel, admiring monuments, and getting everyone fed and finding bathrooms. This time, with adult children, I was bowled over by the charm of Rome. Wow!!! It is a knock out city, with all the monuments we all know about, a spectacularly beautiful city, and a sense of enchanting chaos, with wild drivers, handsome people, delicious food, and all the charm of the Italians. We were lucky that it was about 80 degrees in the daytime and cool in the evening. The week before it had been l07 degrees—-I'm glad we missed that. There are 500 Cathedrals in Rome, and 1,500 churches, big, small, ancient, crumbling, spectacular. We didn't go to the 'important' ones, in order to avoid long lines to get in. But in any given block, there are as many as three small beautiful churches, with frescoes, painted ceilings, and a stunning beauty that takes your breath away. We had two delicious meals, walked endlessly, dodged the crazy Roman traffic, did some shopping (sadly, the same stores as everywhere else now. Globalization has wiped out all the charming local shops in every city and location, it's all Gucci, Prada and Nike now, which I find sad, even on a tiny island like Capri). But we shopped anyway, and listened to the church bells tolling at certain times of day. We walked up the Spanish steps, gazed at the Vatican, and threw coins in the Fountain of Trevi: you have to throw in 3 coins, with your back to the fountain, one as a personal wish of any kind, the second for love, and the third as a wish to return to Rome—-I had no trouble at all making those 3 wishes, and I hope that all 3 of them come true!!!

It was an absolutely perfect day in a spectacularly beautiful exciting city, and we had to tear ourselves away after a delicious dinner to go back to the boat. They had had a tough day with heavy winds and l2 foot waves, and I'm glad we missed it!!! The day we got in Rome was a gift. I'd love to go back, and this time I won't let l8 years go by before I do. What a gorgeous city!!! It was everyone's favorite day of the trip!!!!

Love, Danielle

Hotel Vendome

Hotel Vendome

In Stores: November 1, 2011

The hotel was old, run-down. But to Swiss-born Hugues Martin, a young, ambitious hotelier trained in the most illustrious European traditions, it is a rough diamond, tucked away on a quiet, perfectly situated Manhattan street. After begging and borrowing every penny he can scrape together, Hugues purchases the building—and transforms it into one of the world's finest luxury hotels.

Under Hugues's tireless, exacting supervision, the Hotel Vendôme is soon renowned for its elegance, its efficiency, its unparalleled service and discretion—the ideal New York refuge for the rich and famous, as well as a perfect home for Hugues's beautiful young wife and their daughter. But when his wife runs off with a notorious rock star, Hugues is suddenly a single parent to four-year-old Heloise—who will grow up happily regardless, amid a fascinating milieu of celebrities, socialites, politicians, world travelers, and the countless hotel employees who all adore her.

As the years pass, Hugues and the hotel are the center of Heloise's life, a universe of unexpected mysteries and pleasures, crises and celebrations that make every day magical. She longs to follow in her father's footsteps and one day run the Vendôme with him. New challenges mark her way: an unexpected romance for Hugues and her own journey to hotel school in Switzerland. The lessons she has learned at her father's side, in their exciting upstairs/downstairs world, will carry her through it all, as they illuminate a story no reader will forget.

Welcome to the Hotel Vendôme.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday

In Stores Now

Valerie Wyatt is the queen of gracious living and the arbiter of taste. Since her long-ago divorce, she's worked hard to reach the pinnacle of her profession and to create a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. So why is she so depressed? All the hours with her personal trainer, the careful work of New York's best hairdressers, cosmetic surgeons, and her own God-given bone structure and great looks can't fudge the truth or her lies about it: Valerie is turning sixty.

Valerie's daughter, April, has no love life, no rest, and no prospect of that changing in the foreseeable future. Her popular one-of-a-kind restaurant in downtown New York, where she is chef and owner, consumes every ounce of her attention and energy. Ready or not, though, April's life is about to change, in a tumultuous transformation that begins the morning it hits her: She's thirty. And what does she have to show for it? A restaurant, no man, no kids.

Jack Adams once threw a football like a guided missile. Twelve years after retiring from the NFL, he is the most charismatic sports analyst on TV, a man who has his pick of the most desirable twentysomething women. But after a particularly memorable Halloween party, Jack wakes up on his fiftieth birthday, his back thrown out of whack, feeling every year his age.

A terrifying act of violence, an out-of-the-blue blessing, and two extremely unlikely love affairs soon turn lives inside out and upside down. In a novel brimming with warmth and insight, beginning on one birthday and ending on another, Valerie, April, and Jack discover that life itself can be a celebration—and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise.

Chocolate Lovers

I have had a serious chocolate habit all my life. I love dark, dark bittersweet chocolate, the darker the better. My current favorite is Scharffenberger chocolate, and I keep a couple of small bars in my handbag at all times, and stashed in my desk. I can never resist a chocolate dessert, and sometimes I use the 'zip' that chocolate gives me, to work late at night. Well, tonight I went to the ultimate chocolate lovers' reunion. The Chocolate Eaters Club in Paris. Wow!!!

They meet four times a year, and this was the third time I've been invited (someone squealed about how much I love chocolate), and it's a serious 'tasting' event, like a wine tasting, only it's alllllllll chocolate. There is bread and water on the table to clear your palate. The first time I went to one of their meetings, they served several kinds of chocolate. The second time I went, we tasted 5 kinds of mousse au chocolat. And I'm not a big fan of chocolate mousse, I like plain old bittersweet chocolate. And tonight, we tasted l6 kinds of chocolate from 5 different chocolate makers in Switzerland, and the members of the club took it VERY seriously. there were raspberry flavored chocolates, one with pistachios, one with passion fruit, and another with saffron (which was kind of an interesting taste. previously, I had tasted one with red peppers, which I didn't like). And there we sat for an hour and a half, tasting different chocolates and discussing them, and after a while they all tasted the same to me, and I actually started to feel as though I was overdosing on chocolate. Can there be too much of a good thing? Well, maybe. But most of them were delicious, and even though I had promised myself to only have a tiny taste of each, I started nibbling more and more and more of what was sitting in front of me on my plate. It was kind of a funny event, instead of feeling like my chocolate was a guilty pleasure, I was expected to be serious and intelligent about it. Most of them were dark chocolate, which was all the more tempting for me.

When I finally left the club meeting, I felt as though I had eaten more chocolate than ever before in my life. I swore to myself I didn't want to see chocolate again, at least for several days, and I sincerely believed that. And by now, about to write this blog, I just popped a chocolate from my fridge into my mouth. Hard to believe. Tomorrow is another day, and I'm sure there will be chocolate in it. But tonight was quite remarkable. I felt almost drunk on chocolate. It was quite an event!!! A chocolate lover's dream……

Love, Danielle

Paris Report

Hi Everyone, it would be very hard to top my blog about the White Dinner in Paris, which was an incredibly memorable experience and a visually gorgeous event, but I thought I should share some of the more mundane events while I'm here. And after all, let's face it, how mundane can Paris be? Even after spending so much of my youth and childhood here, spending time here every year throughout my life, and now living here half the year for the past seven years,—-Paris never fails to take my breath away, just driving through the city, or to thrill me as I look at the sky, a sunset, the incredibly beautiful architecture and monuments, or just enjoy a Parisian moment walking down the street. It is a spectacular city, and even Parisians love their city and are never jaded to it. It is a beautiful place to visit or to live, with a quality of life that is irresistible. People in Europe really do stop and smell the roses more than Americans, with a sterner work ethic, and in Paris particularly. They work hard here, but they want to enjoy life too, which makes it wonderful to be here.

When I arrived a couple of weeks ago, the weather was awful, cold, chilly, rainy, gray. I must have brought that weather with me, since I froze in San Francisco until I left in June, ran into the same grim gray wet weather in New York, and ran into it here too. And yesterday, it began to change, and by the end of the day, it was warmer and the sun peeked through. I had dinner at a sidewalk cafe, people watching, and today it is a gorgeous, warm, sunny summer day. And I'm planning to have lunch with friends in their garden just outside the city. A nice way to spend a Sunday, with good friends, on a brilliantly sunny day. And I can FINALLY put my winter clothes away. At last!!!

Since Paris is coming home for me, I usually get to do the same mundane things here that everyone else does at home, fix things that are broken, go to the hardware and grocery stores, take clothes to the dry cleaner, and get my life here up and running again. And a big part of my life here is seeing family and friends, which is an essential part of my life here. One thing I really appreciate about life here is that I think friends see each other more than they do in the States. People are much more focused on an intense work life in American cities, sometimes to the exclusion of all else. I see my kids doing that in their lives too, working in LA, San Francisco, and New York. And I do it myself. I get so submerged by my work, and writing can be pretty intense and very solitary, that sometimes I do nothing else, in fact a lot of the time. I have a handful of beloved friends I see in San Francisco, but I never see them enough. They're busy, I am too, time drifts by, and sometimes I don't see my good friends for a month or two, or even many months. That just doesn't happen here. Friends here invite you over often, we go to each others' homes. No more than a week, or at most two, goes by without seeing good friends, and we talk to each other more often. People make a real effort here to have a social life too, not just work. It makes for a warmer, happier life. And as a person alone, it makes for a busier, much less lonely life here. I never seem to have a day with nothing to do, or without contact with one or several of my friends. Here, sometimes it's hard to fit it all in, which is a lot more fun. I think people in Europe make a much bigger effort to see each other, make contact, invite each other over, and even spend time with family. I really appreciate that aspect of life here, and miss it in the States. Sometimes I feel like my whole life is virtual in California, conducted by email and text. There seems to be more human contact here, and just more time dedicated to seeing people, and talking to them. I love that part of my life here.

So I've been out to dinner a lot with friends. Sometimes at their homes, or at tiny bistros with typical French food. I had a really fun lunch with a bunch of my women friends. And I think people are willing to make more effort to entertain here, even if they have no help to do so. People are shyer about entertaining in the States, or just don't have the time. One woman I know here just gave a dinner party for 8 people in her very small apartment, she cooked it herself, served it beautifully, had everything organized from a rolling cart, remained part of the conversation at the table all night, and was a one man band doing everything, and we all had a great time. Even if people have small homes, no help, little money, or aren't particularly good cooks, thy invited you to dinner anyway, they reciprocate invitations and initiate new ones, and it really keeps the social ball rolling, and constantly brings new people into your life, with those you meet at someone's house. I love that!!! And I will confess that I make far less effort myself to be social in California than I do here. Here, everyone invites you to their place in a very short time, there everyone promises to call each other for lunch, and rarely actually follow through. No time, no time, no time…..I am guilty of it too!!!

I usually give a beginning of summer party here and I did last week. Forty friends came over for a casual buffet dinner, perched on the arms of couches, or sat on the floor, lots of food, good friends, and some musicians and we danced to everything from Lady Gaga to Motown to some old favorites. A very young girl I know came over and sang (and Wow!!! What a voice!!). She is recording her first 'single' next week and is very excited about it. Her name is Marie Ophelie, and I think she'll go far (and she'd like me to help her with some lyrics for songs, which would be really fun. I've never done that before, although my son Nick was a musician, singer and terrific lyricist. I'm not sure I have his talent for lyrics, but I might try.). Meanwhile, she's happy to sing while we dance. The last guest left just before 2 am, on a week night, which is something I love here too. People stay up late, even if they have work the next day. Somehow they manage to do it, and I'm such a night owl that I love that. The musicians and Marie Ophelie hung around for another hour after the guests left, til 3am, and played and sang. I had a ball!!!

The sales began in Paris yesterday, which is a major event. Prices slashed by 40 to 70% in every store, and you can get some fabulous deals. It happens twice a year in January and July, and people come from all over France to check out the sales in the Paris stores. The city is mobbed, the traffic is awful, and the shopping is great!!!

What do I hate in France? Going to department stores, particularly the practical ones. There is a store in Paris where you can get everything imaginable for the home, from kitchen towels to hardware to make repairs, sheets, beds, rugs, you name it they have it. And all department stores work on the same system here. Items are not grouped by type of object: like all towels or bed linens in one location, or all cooking pots. They are grouped by brand, and each 'brand' has a 'stand' usually with one sales person to help you with that brand (and if that one sales person is out to lunch, and just left, you have to wait an hour to buying anything from that brand. grrrrrrr). What that means is that if you want a vacuum cleaner, you cant go to the vacuum cleaner section, you have to go to every 'stand' that sells vacuum cleaners. Or cooking pots. And if you buy 4 cooking pots from 4 manufacturers, you go to 4 stands, look for 4 sales people (whom you can never find), and go to the cash register 4 times. Okay, I will confess. I go nuts in stores like that. I become hysterical, homicidal, French is my first language so that's not the problem, but having to run all over the store to find what I want, and stand in line at the cash register five to ten times just about drives me nuts. I went to one of those stores this week with a friend who laughed at how upset I got, how much I complained, and how much I hate that system here. I was steaming by the time I left with dish towels, 2 pillows, and a new tea kettle, all of which took me nearly 3 hours to find, and pay for. Department stores are a whole lot more organized in the States. But France has other charms. My idea of hell would be being trapped for eternity in one of those stores!!! I try to go as seldom as I can, and then complain about it for months!!!

I was on a radio show here, to publicize my latest book in France, and that was fun. I'm always very shy on radio or TV, it's not something I do easily, and I find it stressful, but it went well.

And a week from now the Haute Couture fashion shows will begin. I will be going to the Chanel show with some of my daughters and will tell you about that.

And that's about it for now. I'm off to have a picnic lunch in the garden of friends outside the city, and spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with them. And tomorrow a friend is taking me to her 'Chocolate Club', where people compare different chocolates to decide which one is best, the friend who is taking me owns a restaurant and it's a fun event, I've been before. It's a fantastic excuse to overdose on chocolate, an opportunity I cant resist. I hope that all is going well for all of you, and that your summer is off to a good start.

Love, Danielle

Paris Magic…..White Magic…..

I've just spent one of the most wonderful, incredible, and magical evenings of my life, and wanted to share it with you. Tonight I went to something called "The White Dinner" in Paris, I've heard about it for years, but never quite understood what it was. Some people I mentioned it to just brushed it off as some kind of weird outdoor summer event, others pooh-poohed it, and a few said it was great. But I didn't really understand how it worked or what it was. And a good friend of mine in Paris has invited me to it for the last 2 years, and this year, in a spirit of adventure, I accepted and decided to go. He explained it as an evening where two people take a folding table (like a card table), folding chairs, plates, cutlery, and food, they dress in white, go to a location that is announced at the last minute, and they all have dinner outside. What the hell, I thought, it sounded like fun, and he had organized a group to go. Each of us were to take our own supplies of course, for every pair. I then had to scrounge for a card table, folding chairs, and figure out something white to wear. The locations he mentioned in the past had been the spectacular Place de la Concorde in Paris, and in front of the Louvre museum. It all sounded very intriguing, and like it could be fun (despite the skepticism of my children who didn't think it sounded cool, and even friends I mentioned it to earlier today, who assured me it would rain—-it didn't, and it was very, very, very, very 'cool'. Unforgettably so. And of course the location was to be kept secret until 8:30 pm, and the dinner was to start shortly after. It all sounded very mysterious to me, but I was committed to being a good sport.

Several days ago, a letter came by email, and it became apparent that this was not some casual event, there were implicit directions and strict rules. Your card tables had to be covered by a linen (or fabric anyway) white table cloth, you had to bring REAL plates and glasses, candles, cutlery (no plastic picnic stuff here), AND you had to be dressed head to foot in snow white—not 'off white' as the email said, SNOW white (no cheating), and even the food had to be white (it turned out that no one paid attention to that about the food, but they did to everything else. And you had to look nice, this was no sloppy, casual picnic dinner, this was an 'elegant' event, promised to be in a beautiful public place, and we were strongly advised to take all our garbage with us when we left, we were not to leave a shred of debris in our wake. I learned that places for our card tables were assigned, and 4 or 5,000 people would attend, and you couldn't just plop your table down where you felt like it, there would be long well organized rows of our tables, and you were assigned a specific spot. In theory, that many people congregating in a public place is illegal, but The White Dinner happens every year, is impeccably organized and exquisitely neat, so the police turn a blind eye (hence the warning not to leave a shred of litter, which people take seriously). In my mind, it was still some kind of picnic, and although I packed real white plates, and some forks and knives with white handles, I snuck in plastic cups, and didn't take anything to decorate the table, and the friend I took with me organized the food (not white food, but a nice cold dinner that would be easy to serve and eat). This event has a long history, apparently it has existed for 24 years and was started by a naval officer (in his summer whites) who wanted to celebrate his anniversary with his wife, in a beautiful public place (and Paris has plenty of them!!), and he invited a few friends to join them. They invited a few more friends each year, and over the years it grew and grew and grew, last year there were 10,000 people. This year they divided them into two groups in two different locations, and it happens on the same date in June every year. So armed with a folding table, 2 chairs, and a rolling grocery cart (which the French call a 'caddy'), off we went, all dressed in white. We picked up our friends on the way, similarly equipped, and we were to go to a location (Place Dauphine), where the final dinner location was to be announced—-it is always close to the meeting point, so speculation was high as to which of Paris' beautiful monuments would be the site for dinner this year. We parked our van, and walked to the Place Dauphine, and all around us were hundreds of people dressed in white, carrying card tables and folding chairs, pulling their 'caddies' full of dinner utensils and food. There was a festive atmosphere as people chatted excitedly with each other, and the look was one of casual (white) chic. I wore a white lace coat, white jeans and shirt, and flat white lace shoes in case we had to do a lot of walking (which we didn't). People wore hats, and dresses, or festive pretty summer outfits, all in snow white, men wore shirts and jeans, or white linen suits. Everyone had clearly tried to look 'nice'. And they really did.

The announcement was then made, we would be having dinner in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the most beautiful landmarks in Paris, only a few blocks away, and we got there easily within minutes as the crowd grew, all of them in a good mood. At any other event, four thousand people gathering could have had an undercurrent of tension or hostility, party crashers could have tried to join the event but didn't. It is by invitation only, and it is free, there is no charge for being part of it, and clearly people respected the 'invitation only', at no time in the evening did I see someone who didn't belong there, although there was no one supervising it. The two words that come to mind to describe the atmosphere at the beginning of the evening were fun and respect. Everyone was ready to have a good time, and respectful of each other.

Once in the square in front of Notre Dame, people looked for their assigned spaces, set up their card tables, opened their folding chairs, and got down to business. Every table had a table cloth, white plates were set down and cutlery, and suddenly white flowers appeared on every table, candles were lit, food was set out, linen napkins were used, and people sat down to an elegant dinner right in front of Notre Dame, which is a spectacularly beautiful church. And at 9 pm, it was still daylight, and we watched the sunset reflected on the church, as people chatted, talked, laughed, met up with friends, talked to strangers. It was a sea of people in white in a breathtakingly beautiful location, eating an elegant dinner. Everything was orderly, no one argued about their spot, everyone was in a good mood and thrilled with the location. And as night fell, the candles on every table lit the square with a warm glow. Wines were poured, delicious food was eaten (ours was good too, mozzarella, cold chicken, salad, a fresh baguette, and a delicious meringue dessert. some of the others had even fancier fare, but ours was very good. The atmosphere only grew warmer and friendlier as the evening wore on, and shortly before 11 pm, the church bells began to toll, and enthused by the crowd gathered outside so respectfully, a priest appeared on a balcony and blessed the crowd as the bells of Notre Dame continued to toll, and then sparklers came out and the entire square was lit with dazzling lights held aloft by people in white, people in nearby buildings stood on their balconies and watched, and by then Notre Dame itself was beautifully illuminated, and there was a fall moon overhead. As the sparklers began to fizzle out, white balloons drifted into the sky, and Chinese lanterns with lights in them flew upward toward the Heavens, just as a band began to play, and those who wanted to danced, and others sat at their tables, finished their meals, and talked to those around them. It was magical. If you planned a wedding for four thousand, in front of Notre Dame yet, I don't think it could be as beautiful as that. I chatted with people I knew, and some I didn't. People shared chocolates and cookies and little desserts, and offered wine to new friends. And the evening just rolled on. It was the most magical evening I have ever spent, the warmth and happiness of the people there just filled the square with good feelings, and for me, the blessing from the priest on the balcony was an added touch that warmed my heart and made it special for me. How lucky we all were to be there tonight, how fantastic to be able to share that with strangers and friends. People talked long into the night, and around one thirty and two am, people did as they had promised, picked up every scrap of garbage, empty bottles, left over food, and put it in their caddies with their flowers, candles and linens, and rolled it all away. It reminded me a little bit of the old movie Brigadoon, of a town in Scotland that appeared once every hundred years. In this case, the White Dinner happens once a year, and it has a magic all its own.

We were among the last to leave the square at 2 am, Notre Dame stood proudly watching us, still all lit up, with the full moon overhead, and a beautiful Paris night sky (pooh to the people who said it would rain!!!). And as promised, not a shred of anything was left on the ground, we all took our garbage to our cars, or even into cabs. And if I live to be l00 years old, any time I drive by Notre Dame, I will always remember the magic of tonight, the sparklers held by four thousand hands, the smiles and the laughter, the music and the full moon, as the bells of Notre Dame chimed, and the priest gave us his blessing. It was one of those incredible, memorable moments that I know I will never forget, shared with good friends, good food, in an atmosphere of elegance and friendship like no other I have experienced. It was a truly unforgettable night. And probably will stand out forever as one of the most beautiful, fun, warm, thrilling nights of my life. It was truly magic (I hope I get invited back next year!!!).

Love, Danielle