How to Combat a  Cold Virus 

The Little Missy Way!

Have internal monologues about Life With Beauty
Here we have Natasja Sadi's Cake Atelier Amsterdam floral arrangement and Victoire de Castellane's jewels for Dior.

Caviar Wishes and Champagne Dreams

For those of us old enough to remember "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" presented by the rather endearing late Robin Leach, it can be comforting to return to the 80s and 90s when things 

seemed easier but actually weren't.  Little Missy was no fan of typewriters and too lazy to learn how to use the most rudimentary computer, so I wrote by hand eight novels, two of which were published. No cell phones either, so we were forced to actually look at other people and have conversations.

New Orleans
I know I published this photo in my last Little Missy but I'm under the weather and wish we could be back in New Orleans, which has the best coffee outside my own kitchen.  I finally found a city that uniformly knows how to make real coffee.  The native New Orleanians, once they found out I was from Silicon Valley, confessed to being backwards technologically.  Funnily enough, I didn't notice any backwardness at all, I was so happy to be there.

January, 2001 before the world started to go really crazy
Yes, it's Little Missy dressed in on aura tout vu during my Fashionlines.com period, when I was spending a lot of time in Paris and had access to the best hairdressers and makeup artists in the world.
The hair and makeup is the work of Ronaldo Escobar from Brazil.  I understand the photographer vanished back to his father's rice business after family pressure to leave the Paris fashion world.

'"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" by Frederic Aranda
Happily, Freddie didn't vanish, and as his speciality is group portraits, this photograph with him in it is extra special!

Home Sweet Home
When it's all said and done, if I must be sick, at least I'm at home with my linens and pillows and scented candles and books.

Although it looks more like this because it's raining.

Christmas Amaryllis
It's a sign that everything will be OK.  My amaryllis decided to bloom yesterday!
Wishing everyone all the best in 2019, or as Robin Leach would have said,
"Champagne wishes and caviar dreams"!

First Trip to New Orleans

The French Quarter

Dear Readers:  Have you ever read about a place that was written about so well that when you finally saw it, you felt like you had been there for many years?

"America only has three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland."

I read Tennessee Williams at an impressionable age (before 20).  I imagined him in a linen suit, sitting in an interior courtyard in the French Quarter, lingering over a cafe au lait and a beignet and the newspaper, perhaps chatting with a friend, before beginning his writing.

I felt the courtyard had to look like this, except in morning.  This is the hotel in which we stayed, The Mazarin.

I received more likes for this image than any other image I have ever posted on Instagram. The palms, the old elegance, the verdant lushness--I'm not the only one who's in love with the French Quarter.

It's easy to get lost just wandering on a drizzling late December day, becoming mesmerised by an iron smith  crafting a lantern.

Bourbon Street on a sunny day is gorgeous.

Antique stores are everywhere and they specialise in French furniture.

Dining at Brennan's, easily the city's most renowned restaurant, is a must for Creole and Cajun classics.

And whether it's jazz or Cajun, you will most certainly hear great music!

And of course see the fancy ladies on Frenchmen Street.

If you can be dragged away from the French Quarter, The Garden District has beautiful old houses, filled with charm, history and mystery.

Elegance is everywhere.

It was the holiday season when we were in New Orleans, and one had the sense that the citizens really knew their decorating skills---once Christmas decor comes down, Mardi Gras goes up!

I even went to a fortune teller called Laslo on Royal Street.  I don't believe that's his real name, but I do believe he knew how to read people.  He told me it was obvious that I was a writer and had lived amongst philosophers all my life.  I became very interested.  Most of what he told me was true.  He was surprised however when I finally told him I was "in fashion". He quoted Tennessee Williams a few times. The name of the place was The Bottom of the Tea Cup.  Check out Laslo and see if he gives you an accurate reading.  It's all about mystery, elegance, amazing food, jazz and Cajun music and most of all, preserving  Creole roots. I can't wait to return.  Thank you Bruce for this amazing Christmas present!