Newsletter Archive

Simple and Summer go together like peas in a pod! Nothing is better than the taste of summer. Endless gifts from nature are ripe and ready, especially in August. Short on time?  Just serve a few slices of ripe tomato, drizzle of olive oil and a few basil leaves on top. So heavenly! And, in the same breath, nothing can top a summer BLT with Bibb lettuce, farm stand tomatoes and crisp bacon. My Virginia friends stress that only Duke’s mayonnaise will do, while my Connecticut friends swear by Hellman’s! Or, how about local corn on the cob, shucked, sprinkled with salt and pepper and some butter, and fresh herbs, wrapped in foil, and grilled outdoors? A simple lobster roll with a buttered grilled bun? Dreamy! With my grandchildren visiting us from Berlin, Germany, I was inspired to make my secret recipe for strawberry shortcake with my granddaughter, Felicity, for

There certainly is cachet to cachepots! When my daughter received a cachepot as a wedding gift, she asked me what to call it for her thank-you note.  “A planter?” she inquired.  I told her it was a cachepot.  I’ll never forget the dumbfounded look on her face.  “A what? Mummy, is that one of your old-school southern terms?  Looks like a planter to me!”  Well, she is correct in the sense that it does hold plants!   The correct term is the French word, cachepot (pronounced as cash-poe), which translates to “hide a pot” and, in particular, a flower pot. A cachepot beautifully enhances plants and flowers and is displayed inside a house versus outside, as cachepots do not have any drainage holes.  A pretty porcelain cachepot will instantly transform a ho-hum plant, cut flowers, or even flowering bulbs into an elegant adornment for any room in your house.  The

Every week, it is a delight to receive your thoughtful comments and a few questions as well.  I thought you may enjoy reading these three VERY insightful remarks below, along with a few questions that were posed! I was parentally instructed 50 or so years ago not to swivel when the bride and her father walk down the aisle. To this day I don’t do it.  I think the purpose of the old rule was to prevent gawking: surely an affront to “lovely living.”  But amid so many other modern affronts, I fear that battle is lost. Just before my daughter was going to walk down the aisle, I looked at my daughter’s “attending friend” who was doing a reading.  I asked if she had the verse handy to read and she responded that she was JUST GOING TO READ IT FROM HER PHONE!!  I looked her in the eye

What clothing store can you expect to find on just about every charming Main Street in over 140 towns across America? J. McLaughlin! It was founded in 1977 by Kevin and Jay McLaughlin and excels at offering classic clothes with current relevance. When I walk my Jack Russell, Miss Zsa Zsa in Palm Beach, I enjoy passing by their Worth Avenue store. One morning, as I was admiring the cheerful clothes in the window, I was inspired to learn more about Barbara McLaughlin, the wife of CEO Kevin. I thought you would too. As the saying goes, “Behind every successful man is a great woman!” When you married Kevin, did you know you would be in the fashion business? I did not, but I knew of J. McLaughlin in Minnesota because I worked in a similar store. The owner used to talk about J.McLaughlin a lot!  I moved to NYC,

How charming it was to receive such lovely remarks from many of you about the no-no’s to know as a wedding guest. Here are a few more that I thought you may want to add to the list! No-No: To not promptly reply to the wedding reception invitation. What is done:  Responses to any invitation should ultimately be made within 48 hours of receiving it. Mail your reply card as soon as possible! Numerous Mothers-of-the-Brides have shared with me how disconcerting it is to have to reach out two weeks in advance of the wedding to guests (who should know better), to find out if they will be attending the reception. No-No: To ask to bring a guest (someone other than who is indicated on the invitation envelope) to the reception with you. What is done: Honor and respect who is indicated on the envelope of an invitation.  If your children

It’s “wedding season,” and after the Covid hiatus, there are joyful wedding receptions galore!  A recent bride spoke to me about a wedding guest, and how she wished a few of her younger guests knew the no-no’s to know!  So, here we go!  Pass it on…. No-no: To arrive at the church at the stated time on the invitation for the ceremony. What is done:  Plan to arrive up to 20 minutes before the appointed time on the invitation, or earlier if you know the church will be overflowing with guests. Stand up when the bride enters the aisle of the church. No-no: To wear sunglasses for the ceremony, and also at the reception. What is done:  Sunglasses are removed before entering the church.  Even if the reception is outside, try to refrain from wearing sunglasses, because when the wedding couple fondly look back at the photographs of their wedding