Wednesday after Superbowl

It's Wednesday and no one (and I mean, no one) has gotten anything done in this city. I mean, Sunday was Superbowl and do I need to tell you who won the Superbowl???? Do I??????? Okay, so you get the point. This entire city celebrated into the wee hours of Sunday night like it was 1999. So I've heard ... because I was home fast asleep in my cozy little white bed after my boys won the big game. I mean, I saw it, I cheered and then I went to bed. My kids go to bed early and if I'm not in bed early too, there is all hell to pay the next morning.

So then comes Monday -- kids are off from school. No, not because it's Lincoln's birthday as I later found out, but because the Saints won the superbowl and so, naturally, everyone is off from school or work. Can you imagine? Okay, then comes Tuesday. You'd think we'd be back to normal but, as I mentioned in another post, this city can find any reason to celebrate. Sooooo, the city puts on the biggest parade it has ever seen with all the Saints players, school bands, etc. Schools and offices shut down early because all streets were closed off as of 3 pm. for the parade. It was the biggest parade ever with thousands of people in attendance in 30 degree weather. So I heard... because I watched it with my hubby from the comfort of my white linen sofa on TV. I am such a loner, aren't I? Pathetic, maybe? Boring? All of the above?

So today was the first somewhat normal day. I went to the shop and spent the day taking photos of some new things I have at the store which I just posted on my Etsy shop. Troy Evans of the Saints and his pregnant wife stopped by to shop for some things for their daughters' room and that was the highlight of my day. I got to see a Saints player up and personal and in the comfort of my little shop. How's that for being spoiled?

So here is a peak at some of my treasures I posted on Etsy today:


This little vintage boudoir lamp is soooo cute and I found the antique lampshade in a flea market in Paris years ago. So sweet!

My collection of vintage european books. Perfect for any tabletop, desk or library. I love the natural bindings!

Just posted the french chippy urn that comes complete with those beautiful dried hydrangeas.

And these are my little french treasures. Original French Louis XVI dining chairs in their original blue velvet and paint. Gorgeous patina! I won't touch the fabric as it is the most beautiful shade of blue. I just love them! Here are some close-ups.

So maybe tomorrow will be a productive day??? Not. We have Valentine's on Friday and Mardi Gras this coming Tuesday. There is no hope to get anything done in this city, except to just go with the flow and celebrate until next summer.

My love affair with white

"White ... is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shinning and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black ... God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously ... as when He paints in white."

-- Gilbert Keith Chesterton [British author, 1874-1936] "A Piece of Chalk," Tremendous Trifles (1909)

I adore white. White to me is the color of all colors. When I look at a white piece, I am forced to focus on all the nuisances in texture, the various shades of white and the dimensions that a white piece may offer. White to me is calming, refreshing, pure -- it is everything I long my life to be and strive for every day.

My personal style reflects my love affair with white. My home is white. And as one of my dear neighbors ardently described to one of my clients when she asked if my house was anything like my store, "I tell you, her house is white, inside and out, and when I say white, I mean white! The floors are white, the walls are white, the kitchen is white, the furniture is white -- everything in her house is freaking white!!!" Okay, so I like white-- a lot. And it's true, my house is white but not ALL white -- I happen to have a black labrador. Geez!!

You see, when I built my house, I decided it would be a blank canvas -- a blank canvas upon which I would paint the colors and history of my life and my family's. So when I hang something on a wall, or I put a photo on a tabletop, that is where your eyes focus -- on the things that are important to me.

People ask me if decorating with white is difficult or suicidal especially when you have young kids. Frankly, I have two kids under 6 and three dogs. Yes, I do vaccuum daily (could someone have warned me that labradors shed like crazy?????), but I find that white is the most forgiving color for a young family. Something spills on the white linen sofa, I take the slipcover off and wash it in the washer (oh yes, ask me about my washable belgian linen sofa line -- it's to die for and oh, so easy to take care of). Something falls on my white painted wooden floors, I wipe it right off. That white is difficult to keep clean is an urban myth. Trust me. I adore white and I'm living proof that it works and that it is beautiful. My home is my haven and when I come home after a hectic day out in the world (back in the days when I was in the courtroom all day fighting big bullies), there is nothing more soothing, more calming or more beautiful, than walking in to a little piece of heaven.

Here are a few photos of some of my most favorite white places and things.

My shop.

Don't you love my custom white belgian linen tablecloth? I just want to put that on my bed!

This chandelier is right by my front window at the shop.



My kitchen (or at least part of it).

A peak into my family room. I got that thread bare rug for $85 in the French Quarter!




One of my bergere chairs at the shop. I love the vintage white matelasse fabric on it!!! Just pop the cushion cover in the wash and whola!

One of my favorite signature chairs. In fact, Bonjour Madame Stephanie has a pair of them in her living room which she got from me! They are sooooooo beautiful and I love the ballerina ties in the back.

The 18th cent. armoire at my shop and on Etsy. I absolutely love the hand-carved cabbage roses and the white on white is so dreamy!

Okay, Ms. FrenchBlue, where can I get my hands on this beauty? Have you all visited her blog? If you haven't, please go ..... Now! She has some gorgeous white on white creations.

And this, my dears, is one of my favorite dining rooms. Of course, I can't always convince someone to add a french settee on one side of a farm table, but doesn't it look grand?
That's how I have it at the store. Is there any other way?

So when you need a jolt of whiteness, just drop in to my little corner shop or home where white is the color du jour. I promise you, you will fall in love.

Yeah!!!!!!

Every church bell in this city is ringing right now. The Saints did march in tonight!

Introductions are in order

Before we get any further into this blogging relationship, I must confess that I have two groupies that are by far, my favorite groupies. Sorry that I have to break it to you all this way, but I believe in full disclosure before things get too intimate.

So here are my two ardent groupies who have been following me around practically all of their lives! They just won't leave me alone. I wake up in the morning and they are there. I go to sleep at night, and they are there. Do you ever get that feeling that you are being followed???? I get that all the time from these two. But, oh well, what can you do? They are kind of cute and they have grown on me. I guess I'll let them worship me.

Introducing Liam Sebastian and Roma Aida.

The Calm before the Hurricane

So I was at my store yesterday. It was a beautiful, but cold, cold day (well, as cold as it can here in New Orleans). I'm sure for you yanks up there, it was a spring day. This was my view from my desk at the shop.


So anyway, there I am doing whatever I do when I'm alone -- thinking, dreaming, freaking out about the future, wondering what I'm going to cook for dinner, etc. Suddenly, I hear drums outside. In New Orleans, you are used to expecting anything, but it was only 10 a.m. so I'm wondering what all the commotion is about outside. I step on my porch (yes, I have a porch with an iron fence and all!) and there is a small group of people second lining down the sidewalk -- already celebrating either Mardi Gras or the Super Bowl or both. I tell you, the city has gone crazy lately. I wish I had photos because then everyone started dancing on the street and clapping their hands to the beat. Everyone was dressed in black and gold and everyone was celebrating the Saints going to Miami.

I cannot tell you how living in this city is. Everything is reason to celebrate. Someone is born -- everyone celebrates. It's a nothing special Friday -- everyone celebrates. The sun comes out -- everyone celebrates. There is always a reason to open a bottle of wine and boil some crawfish. In my own little neighborhood of Lakeview (that still has many left over blighted houses from Katrina and empty lots waiting to be rebuilt), we are always outside on someone's porch talking, drinking a glass or two of wine, while the children are all playing in the front yard. We often bring the barbeque pits outside and we have one communal grill. And it's just our block!!!

New Orleans has seen so much tragedy, destruction, corruption, crime, etc., yet, the soul of the people always seems to live on. I don't know if it's in the water, but regardless of what is going on, there is a terrific faith that tomorrow will be a better day. And it usually is.

New Orleanians have followed the Saints like a religion. Frankly, being from Argentina, I am an avid soccer fan and I don't really understand football that much. But I am in awe of how everyone here, young and old, rich or poor, is rooting for the Saints. I guess in a way, it represents a belief that anything is possible. If our Saints (the world's worst team for so many years) can make it to the Superbowl, well then, dreams do in fact come true. And who does not want to believe in that?

You like me!!!! You really, really, like me!!!

I keep thinking of that acceptance speech by Sally Fields at one of the Oscars -- "You like me -- you really, really like me!!"

Well, that's exactly how I feel. I cannot believe all of the kind words of encouragement and support all of you have offered me in these past few days since I entered the world of blogdom. In just a few days, I have met and made more friends than in all my years of schooling! All 20 of them if you count graduate and post graduate degrees.

Kit Golson -- you are beautiful, inside and out and please, please show me how you reply to each comment like you do in your blog. I've tried to do that but can't figure out how to do it! Believe me. I want to thank each and every one of you and I don't know how to do it!!!!! Kit -- you and your husband are delightful and you are welcomed anytime in your hometown of New Orleans. Next time, stay longer than 15 minutes and have a glass or two of wine with me at one of my farm tables at my shop which is quickly becoming the place to hang for all my new groupies. Seriously, I have women who have become regulars at my little shop and we just sit around my 19th century farm table and chat about everything. I think I need to keep some champagne splits in my little refrigerator for those moments.

Stephanie aka Bonjour Madame -- you are my inspiration. You are the sweetest, most kind, most sincere person in this whole world and I have been honored to meet you and help you turn your house into the beautiful nest it has become.

Ms. A la Parisienne (aka Mandy) -- thank you for the countless of hours you've spent making this blog so beautiful and thank you for the patience in teaching me how to navigate through it. For everyone who has absolutely no clue how to blog (yes, come on, you know who you are), Mandy is your girl. She can make a blank screen light up with magic and ooooze with all things french.

Claudia Strasser --- Ms. Paris Apartment -- as I mentioned yesterday, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship. You have a gift and you are willing to share that gift with so many of us. Thank you for being accessible to us novices.

Anya Caliendo -- Ms. Absolutely OMG Stunning Milliner of Milliners!!!! Your hats make me want to go back in time. As God is my witness, I will get your "Confidante" hat if it's the last thing I do ... and I shall never be hungry again. For all your hat freaks (and I am one of them, trust me), I have never seen hats more beautiful and more elegant and more Ooo La La than Anya's. Please visit her website. And not just to look at her amazing creations, but also to see the touching tribute to her Russian grandmother.

To everyone, thank you. I am humbled by everyone's comments. Please keep them coming. I was/am the nerd in high school that no one ever considered a popular girl. I was the valedictorian for Christ's sake. No one was supposed to be my friend.

I was the nerd who couldn't afford any sororities in college and so I spent my saturday nights studying at the library.

So to me, this is amazing. To think that there are people out there who want to hear my story and actually get my love for my furnishings. Wow.

I feel as though I've won the Oscar afterall.

The Plunge

Someone once told me that if you jump, the net shall appear. Well, if you are anything like me, I need to see the net first. There is no way in hell that I will jump unless I know for darn sure, absolutely one hundred percent, no chance of any marginal error, that a safety net exists. So show me the net!

But I found out that life is not always about safety or predictability. As an immigrant (yes, I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I will tell you all about that chapter in my life later), I was used to starting over. So in a way, I was somewhat prepared for the complete and utter loss that Hurricane Katrina brought upon me and my family and the rest of us who call New Orleans "home." When I tell you we were left with nothing, I am not exaggerating. We evacuated just 30 miles from New Orleans to the country (a little house in the middle of nowhere that my father in law had the foresight to buy as his little "getaway" from the city). My entire family -- mother, blind father, brother, two sisters, their spouses, my two babies (then 4 months and 18 months), my sister's inlaws, and 17 cats and dogs -- all evacuated to a 3 bedroom cottage in Nowhere, USA, just outside of New Orleans. We rode out Katrina and lost all power and connection to the outside world. We heard through a crank up radio that the levees had breached and New Orleans was underwater. Little did I know that out of all of us, my house was right where the levees broke and I had lost everything. We had an overnight bag with a couple of changes of underwear and socks and that was our entire inventory. I remember being in Austin, TX in the weeks after the storm where one of my husband's friends was kind enough to offer us his guest room and going into a Gap and looking around like a dazed homeless person. When the sweet, bubbly, teenage clerk came up to me to ask if there was anything she could find for me, I broke down crying. I mean, where do you start? "I need everything," I told her, sobbing. I have no clothes, no shoes (except for these old tennis shoes), no nothing!!!!

But we had our health, and our jobs (at least, we hoped we still did), and a bank account (albeit in a back submerged in 10 ft of mucky water, and each other. And that was more than 99% of most people in this world.

So we started over. From scratch. And we commuted every day with 2 small kids in the back of my station wagon from the little country house to my office in downtown New Orleans for 1 1/2 hours each way. It was miserable. The months after Katrina. Going back and forth to a city that looked like the napon bomb had exploded. Not knowing where to start, how to rebuild, where to begin.

But we did. One step at a time. Baby steps at times. And slowly, the fear started leaving me and it was replaced by a strength and determination that I didn't know I had. And I worked the long hours, and then some more at home in the evenings, so that we could rebuild and I could put my husband through accounting school (he had lost his job and it was difficult to be employed unless you were a professional) and keep the family going. I worked very hard at giving my children the stability they needed in a world that wasn't stable anymore. And throughout all those years that it took to come back home (three and a half before we rebuilt and moved back here), I realized that it was during my most desperate moments -- during those times when I felt so alone and so miserable and so scared and lost -- there was a net holding me, holding us. It may not always have been so obvious (trust me), but we made it through safely.

So it is now, as I take a step into the unknown, leaping from the stability and certainty and safety of my legal profession (which made me so stressed and tired and worn out for so long) into the uncertainty and insecurity of something that I absolutely adore (which is to fill my life with beauty and bring that beauty to others), that I must remind myself that the net is all around me, even at the times when financially, it seems like I made a huge, huge mistake for me and my family. But I'm leaping and I'm leaping because in this life, nothing is certain and you may wake up one day and find yourself with nothing but the clothes on your back. But a net is always there, waiting to catch you so long as you are not afraid to free fall for a while.

This is my net. My new shop in beautiful, rebuilt New Orleans.