Happy Monday!!!

On my way to the airport to catch a flight to New York. Will report back shortly! Have a fantastic week!

(Images via Vogue+Coffee)

Happy Easter!!

I'm packing for an exciting trip to New York as I've been invited to attend the annual Anti-Counterfeiting Summit hosted by Harper's Bazaar Magazine. I will share more details next week as the keynote speaker should be quite entertaining. Happy Easter to all of you dear readers!

(Images via Bakerella, French Frosting)

Happy Friday!!!

Happy Friday! Hope you'll enjoy the long weekend  with friends and family. It's sunny today, looking forward to running a few errands and picking up a few books for some research & inspiration.

I went to see the movie Les Petits Mouchoirs (Little White Lies) with Marion Cotillard last night, it was fantastic! A feel good movie about friendship, love and those little lies we tell ourselves.  

(images via makingmagique.com and here)

Book of the week: Signs of Life

I came across this book while browsing at Borders last Sunday and it has caught my interest ( perhaps thanks to its lovely cover):

 

Twenty-four-year-old Natalie Taylor was leading a charmed life. At the age of twenty four, she had a fulfilling job as a high school English teacher, a wonderful husband, a new house and a baby on the way.  Then, while visiting her sister, she gets the news that Josh has died in a freak accident.  Four months before the birth of her son, Natalie is leveled by loss. 

What follows is an incredibly powerful emotional journey, as Natalie calls upon resources she didn’t even know she had in order to re-imagine and re-build a life for her and her son. In vivid and immediate detail, Natalie documents her life from the day of Josh’s death through the birth their son, Kai, as she struggles in her role as a new mother where everyone is watching her for signs of impending collapse.  With honesty, raw pain, and most surprising, a wicked sense of humor, Natalie recounts the agonies and unexpected joys of her new life.  There is the frustration of holidays, navigating the relationship with her in-laws, the comfort she finds and unlikely friendship she forges in support groups and the utterly breathtaking, but often overwhelming new motherhood.   When she returns to the classroom, she finds that little is more healing than the honesty and egocentricity of teenagers. 

Drawing on lessons from beloved books like The Color Purple and The Catcher in the Rye and the talk shows she suddenly can’t get enough of, from the strength of her family and friends, and from a rich fantasy life—including a saucy fairy godmother who guides her grieving—Natalie embarks on the ultimate journey of self-discovery and realizes you can sometimes find the best in yourself during the worst life has to offer.  And she delivers these lessons, in way that feels like she’s right beside you in her bathrobe and with a glass of wine--the cool, funny girlfriend you love to stay up all night with. 
 

I think I might just order a copy...

Need a little lift?

The weather is so sad today in Montreal that I decided to post lots of color to cheer myself up!  I hope it will do the same for you!

I just found out an interesting piece of fashion news:

Jane Birkin Auctioned Off Her Namesake Hermès Bag for Charity!

The worn-in purse, which Birkin decorated with stickers and talismans from her travels, fetched £100,100 on eBay this weekend—or about $162,840 at the current exchange rate, and all of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

 Who knew a bag was worth so much?

(Images via we heart it Tinywhitedaisies and Furla)

Dior Exhibit in Paris: Le Bon Marché

I just realized that I have many pictures of my recent trip to Paris that were never posted on this blog! Going back, I found these photos taken at a sublime exhibit about la Maison Dior at the gorgeous Le Bon Marché in the 6ième arrondissement. The exhibit was a successful mix of old & new, past collections created by Mr. Dior himself with more modern ones with an interesting mix of technology and film.

One interesting fact: Dior admits, in a short film, that he would have enjoyed being an architect. As a result, he "constructs" dresses with extreme precision. "The dress", said Dior, "is an ephemeral piece of architecture designed to enhance the proportions of the female body."

My visit was very timely since I refer to Dior in my second novel. (It was so inspiring, that I went back three times!) This exhibit also prompted a short scene in my book. Hope you will enjoy!

Happy Monday!!!

Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! I enjoyed a lovey dinner with friends on Saturday night and a fun day in Burlington Vermont that included brunch, shopping and a movie. I was pleased to see that the local Borders was still open as it's one of my favorite places to browse on Church Street.

Have a great week!

(Images Think Runway and Just be Splendid)