Neha Leela

Restlessness led me to book an impromptu weekend in the city of light.  I’m armed with my journal and books for endless amounts of brasserie idling.  I maintain a continued faith that remnants of years of french might salvage my dignity at the sunday morning food markets and I continue to entertain my flea market fantasy of rummaging through bins of vintage hermes scarves.

Beyond the gourmand and the Goyard, there’s a sepia-toned simplicity, femininity and elegance to Paris that I can’t wait to be enveloped by.

(image via thefrenchmouse)

Nothing serves as stronger impetus for me to pick up the blogging slack than wedding talk.  So though I can’t promise flowery language this late in the evening, I had to share pictures of the stunning shower I just attended for my friend and Robinson-to-be, Hanna. The hostesses, her sister (Leigh from NellaPasta)  and step-mother (Lisa from Nest Millerton) combined foodie and design forces to throw a grand and somewhat gluttonous afternoon party, fit for gourmands.

Of all the events leading up to the big day, I favor the showers – a time for the women in your life to gather and wish you well.  I have an admiration for age-old traditions and superstitions that survive centuries: bridesmaids acting as scribes and the gift ribbons collected feverishly and creatively strung together for a motley makeshift bouquet for the day of the rehearsal.  There’s something feminine, lavish and energizing about the whole thing.  Even more so when its a group of wonderful, talented women,  noshing on a spring spread in Lisa’s coral grass cloth (read: amazing) dining room, at a table, set with the sweetest, elephant tealights,  swathed in glamorous crystal stemware and anchored with an ample array of peach roses, mandarin tulips, hydrangeas and hyacinth.

Made all the better, when you’re celebrating the absolutely happiest bride.   Han – Congratulations darling, hope you had a wonderful day.

To my parents, who can celebrate today that many years after beginning their adventure, they are still as, if not more so, adoring and admiring of each other.

Thank you for setting a high standard.

Love, love.

P.S.  More sweet notes like these, on sale at Linda & Harriet

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be.

Sicily, solo, sunning, silence.

image credit: camilla akrans

For a girl that does everything in her power to avoid being caught in the rain in fear of looking like a drenched cocker spaniel,  this weather is somewhat of a guilty pleasure. There’s a suburban smell that infuses the city, the brute force of the wind turns covered walkways into shared shelter for strangers and the violent swells of sound  give normally aloof city dwellers and colleagues something to bond over.

But before any of this conjures up images of me frolicking in the rain with newfound friends or as the poster child for Hunter boots, I’ll underscore that my beloved benefit to these stormy days is the bliss of excusable respite from the normal frenzy.

Theres a romantic leisure and luxe relaxation that is the true silver lining, that I’m very much looking forward to this weekend and wishing you the same.

P.S. Though the rain is soundtrack enough, I can’t get enough of Ingrid Michaelson and Joshua Radin pairing on sky.

image credit: irene suchocki

So is opting for the white rice sushi instead of depriving yourself and going for the brown.  Enjoying an ounce of dark chocolate. Or leaving your mouth in the shape its in after saying “cheez whiz”.    

These being only a few of the gems from the New York Magazine’s feature with nuggets of enlightenment from the experts on the pursuit of happiness and the simple ways to attain it.  

Some of these are effective, others more entertaining, a few are a tad excessive. But each have worked for at least one person.

image credit: hartini

Wishing you a week full of sweet surprises around every corner.  Happy Monday.

image credit: BeachBungalow8

(image and thoughts via realsimple )

The annual clamor to create resolutions has passed, but in lieu of resolutions I opted for reflection on the brightest parts of 2009.

I’m scribbling and sharing a few of the highlights here, with a new year’s wish that 2010 brings an equal amount of successes and learnings, adventure and leisure and spontanaeity and comfort.

Some of these will seem trivial, others much more fascinating, but each carried meaning and created a memory.  Cheers~

1.  Bought a house and began making it a home, on my own.

2. Strolled through the fresh markets in the south of France.

3. Cheered for the Patriots at Wembeley in London.

4. Re-started my blogging adventure after I quit the year before.

5.  Visited the Google HQ and felt instantly more intelligent.

6.  Watched one of my best friends walk down the aisle and marry the perfect person for her.

7.  Caught my first wave and surprisingly a few others during  surfing lessons.  Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

8.  Courted myself on weekly solo dates to Cafe L’Aroma.

9.  Attended my first blogger event (as a blogger).

10.  Built up my collection of old first edition books, including Vanity Fair, the Scarlet Letter and The Art of French Cooking.

11.  Overcame a fear of seafood and tried lobster, shrimp and tuna (by accident).

12.  Manned a grill for the first (and possibly last) time.

13.  Braved boeuf bourginion.

14.  Took on my first of many reupholstering projects.

15.  Asked for a stranger’s book recommendation in an airport and it changed my life (dramatic but true).

16.  Fell in love with turquoise damask wallpaper and covered my halls with it, against everyone’s reccomendation.

17.  Got a kitchen aid mixer and made more muffins than ever necessary.

18. Rode the T from one end to the other just because.

19. Survived Disney as an adult (and enjoyed it – see #6).

20. Accepted that a day spent with loved ones being lazy might be the furthest thing from unproductive.

Whether you attend midnight mass, open one present on christmas eve, top your tree with a family heirloom or travel to tropical paradise year after year, I’ve come to realize that  for those of us lucky enough, holiday is our way of rooting ourselves in the familiar.

Christmas comes at an opportune time; after a year of change and on the brink of another, we can ground ourselves for a night and a day in some sort of consistency.

My family does not do midnight mass, and the extravagant tree has been replaced as I grew older with  candles and clusters of vintage ornaments.  But every year we have the same oatmeal pancakes with Williams Sonoma vanilla bean maple syrup.  Its not about heavy indulgence, because frittatas or stratas wouldn’t suffice.  Its about the eagerness of awaiting something special that signifies something larger.

Wishing you a day marked by tradition, whether large or small.