Weekend Chaos

It's been a while since I've had time to post something on my site - hi readers!  The weekend is here and since the last few weeks for me and my colleagues were filled with so much chaos - good chaos, if there is such a thing, we kick-started a long weekend by taking today off.  Here's a shot that I took in SOHO during our week of events.  To me this shot tells the story of the multi-layered week that we had - I LOVE the expression on the face of the woman in the lower left corner.  

Now that the weekend is here however, I will slow down considerably and unwind by:

Slipping into my fave clothes

Watching a swanky movie - in spite of the reviews:) & getting the soundtrack...

Eating something yummy

Drinking some Lambrusco

Most importantly - meditating, relaxing!!

Have a great weekend!

Fantasia Wins!

The great thing about Fantasia, is that she never gives up.  She has certainly seen more than her fair share of life's challenges and has remarkably continued to pursue her life's passion - which fortunately for us is singing and acting.  Her latest, I predict hit, is Lose to Win, and even though she presents it as a song about a love gone awry, in life, sometimes you have to lose in order to learn life's valuable lessons.  From being raped and dropping out if High School, losing a baby, attempting suicide - she has always managed to turn things around by earning her degree, having another baby, being cast as Mahalia Jackson for a hopefully back in production film, and now her latest song.  This is just a quick overview of her life which I know if far more rich than I can write here - but, what I can say is, it's great to see Fantasia winning again - she deserves to!

❥

Edun

On a recent visit to Macy's I came across these beautiful hand-woven baskets from Africa  where a portion of the proceeds were going back to Rwanda.  The beauty of doing business this way is ten-fold, one, the people of Rwanda get to participate in the fair trade laws that seem to have eluded Africans for some time; we get to enjoy the beauty of wonderfully crafted designs from various countries on the continent;  and hopefully the money gained from doing business this way will help Africans prosper and improve their living conditions and build greater communities.  Edun is a company that has been doing business in Africa since 2005, with the goal of increasing trade and as of this year will be producing 40% of its collection there to create long term sustainability and manufacturing opportunities for the people of Africa. If most businesses operated with this sense of responsibility, it would be amazing to see how we could, through good business practices, change the world for the better.    

Chi-City

This week I returned from Chicago where I had an instant love for the architecture.  Although years ago the great fire destroyed many of Chicago's grand architecture, the city has certainly rebuilt itself quite remarkably. Aside from quickly visiting some of their beautiful sites, including Millenium Park and Cloud Gate, aka, the bean, by international artist Anish Kapoor, it was Frank Gehry's Pritzker Bandshell that has me yearning to return during the warmer months for an outdoor concert.   In addition to the grand architecture, Chicago is a food town.  There are far too many great restaurants to choose from, especially those from Top Chef's -  Rick Bayless' Frontera, Stephanie Izard's Girl On The Goat, and Graham Elliot's GEB, where I had the best veal that I have had in a while - not to mention the delicious cocktails.  Of course, then there is the deep dish pizza debate which in Chicago, seems to be ongoing.  Whether it's Giordano's, Gino East, Uno's, or Lou Malnati's - you will have plenty of options to decide what your favorite is - mine was Lou's - apologies to those of you who disagree.  Although Gino's was delish, I just couldn't eat it all.  As far as night life is concerned, there are so many great places to hang out -  any of the many cool Jazz joints - we went touristy and dropped into Andy's, or undoubtedly one of the trendiest places in Wicker Park - The Bedford, located in a former bank vault (my friends loved it!). Chicago is alive at night, which is a perfect time to walk along the river - it was beyond beautiful!  Just imagine taking one of their boat tours at night - how romantic. Especially if you are a night owl - speaking of owls, the owl cornices on the corners of the famous Harold Washington Library, were the grand view from my hotel room.  On my next visit, I know what I will be filling my hotel room closet with - after all,  a girl needs a great wardrobe for a visit to a great city.

Naeem Khan & Tracy Reese

Brunello Cucinelli 

                                          Tracy Reese

   
                                                                 

    

Good English

❦

So much has happened in the past week but a couple of the events seemed to happen at Todd English restaurants - with lunch at Ça Va & last Sunday, we celebrated my dear Jordan's birthday at The Plaza.  Now, the last time that we were in The Plaza Hotel, was a couple of years, ago again with Jordan - seems to be her place, and she's only 12.  We had planted ourselves in the Eloise shop for what began to feel more like a visit for the adults, since Jordan was ready to leave so 2 hours ago.  But my, what a difference a couple of years makes in NY - Todd English's once small restaurant in the Plaza has expanded into a vast eatery - and its good.    

The Todd English Food Hall is an answer to a trend that's popping up more frequently lately with top chefs - Mario Batali/Joe Bastianich's Eataly, which I wrote about a while back, is in line with famous food halls in Harrod's in London & Tokyo.  Like Eataly, it was busy, noisy and smelled divine.  Let's face it though, as great as it is to have so many food options, and here there are many ( Ocean Grill, Pizza, Cheese & Chacuterie/Raw Bar/Pizza/Noodles & Rice?Sushi/The Grill/Taqueria/Pasta/Salads), you'll pay a little more for the experience - and location.  But the experience was fun and not to mention all of the little shops surrounding the eatery that were far too tempting to shy away from.   

So, if you happen to be in that area shopping at say, oh, any or all of the "B" stores - Bergdorf, Bendels, Barney's, Bloomies - then I would recommend popping in and checking Todd's place out. 

Oh, and even though we dined upstairs in the overly priced and overly stuffy and overly lavish dining room, Jordan would accept nothing else, (next year she'll want the George Cinq in Paris for her 13th and sadly we'll oblige!), we did snag some cupcakes and gelato downstairs and it made for a delicious afternoon.  Great company, great conversation and good food - as it should be.  

Happy Weekending!

❦

James Blake or Black?

James Blake is yet another amazing artist to come out of the UK.  When his first album dropped in 2011, I thought that he was a black artist - not that white people don't have soul, it's just that those coming out of the UK have embraced Black American soul and are expressing themselves brilliantly in this genre of music - the sounds have definitely become blurred.  On April 8th, James Blake will release his second album with a single "Retrograde" that is sure to be a hit.    He'll be performing in NY in May at Terminal 5 - a concert not to be missed!  Thanks Mateo for introducing me to yet another great artist.