We’re back from vacation, and I’ve got so many fun things to share with you in the coming weeks. But first, we’re busy unpacking, doing laundry, answering emails, and settling back into our work routine. When we go on vacation, I carry a practical leather backpack – it serves as my travel purse. I wrote about it last year. It felt great to come home and shed the old black bag in favor of my best-loved purse:

Do you like it?

When my husband, father, brother, and sister-in-law saw it for the first time, they all told me it was U-G-L-Y! They couldn’t understand why I would want to carry such a thing. But, I was in love with my oil cloth bag by Nanette Lepore, one of my all-time favorite designers. (The interior is lime green silk with her gorgeous label stitched onto the pocket). I love Nanette’s glamorous-pin-up-girl-meets-bohemian-gypsy-style, and I long for the days when I have several Nanette Lepore pieces in my wardrobe. Her playful, feminine clothes with fun details are my definition of great style. But until my clothing budget increases (and my dress size decreases), I content myself with wearing her delicious perfume and her ultra-cool accessories like my rare ebay.com find.

"Don’t worry", I replied to my fashion-conservative family members: "Those who are in the know will KNOW that this bag is an ultra-cool designer original." And sure, enough, they do.

When I carried the purse while delivering bon bons to the costume department at the film studios, the costume designers went crazy over my bag. One woman even took a picture! Wanna, owner of Gigi’s Shoe Boutique ( 1051 Military Cutoff Road, Wilmington ) admires it every time she sees me. I even got a compliment once from a fashion-forward cashier at the Market Street Wal-Mart. I didn’t need anyone’s validation to wear the bag proudly, but I do have a good time sharing these compliments with my incredulous family. Pascal has been with me a few times when my purse has become the object of someone’s admiration, and he just shakes his head in disbelief! I suppose beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I’ve carried this bag so much and enjoyed its beauty for so long, that even I must admit it’s beginning to look more shabby than chic. But rest assured that this beholder will keep searching for her next Lepore-inspired beauty!

I’m very future-focused. Usually, I’m so busy planning for whatever is going to happen next, I don’t take the time to appreciate what’s actually happening now. Living in the moment is something I try to do better, but I’m often unsuccessful. Pascal is more skilled at staying centered in the "now", which is one of the reasons I fell in love with him. It’s also why I love to travel. I get so wrapped up in discovering a different place and absorbing the new sensory experiences, I don’t even have to think about staying in the present. I’m there, fully focused on the moment. That’s when I really "get" it, the cliché about the present being a gift. 

Yesterday, we closed South ‘n France (June 19-June 29) for our first vacation together since starting the business three years ago. We are traveling to upstate New York for my little brother’s wedding and then on to Quebec City, Quebec. For the next ten days, I’ll be sure to unwrap each day as a precious, golden gift. Until I return, I leave you with this poem I found tucked in the pages of one of our recipe books last week. I copied it from a "Poetry In Motion" sign on a New York City subway train about five years ago. It now resides on my desk as a reminder of the lesson I’ve forgotten so many times since then:

Our pink house is featured in the current issue (May/June) of Wilmington Magazine. You can pick up a copy and check it out for yourselves at these locations. Or, visit our press page for a sneak peek. Seeing our home in print, as photographed by the talented Leslie Koehn, was both gratifying and motivating. One of my long-term desires has been to have a home that is featured in a national shelter publication like Country Home or Country Living magazine, so it was exciting to view this article as a harbinger of even bigger things to come. A definite high! My Mom was so proud she sent copies to dozens of our relatives and family friends.

But my vision of what this building can become is far from complete. I keep an extensive list of goals and desires, and many of them home-improvement based. Consequently, I viewed our house photos with a critical eye, making note of all of the projects we still have to complete. Realizing how far we are from achieving the true potential of this space has me hankering for a hardware-store shopping spree.

When I give tours of our home, I often tell visitors about my desire to have French doors in our bedroom that look out onto our "secret garden" space. I half-jokingly say: "The day you see us on the Food Network, you will know that I have French doors in my bedroom."  Here are just a few more of the home-improvement goals on my current desires list:

- Adding Crown moulding to our bedroom and to the small sitting room at the back of the house.

- Finding a way to mount the unusual headboard that I bought at an antique store more than a year ago. It’s a massive, heavy piece that will look perfect in our Master bedroom – once we find a solution to display it. This is such a challenge, three different professionals have refused to take on the project. I’m not giving up, though!

- Restoring the old dresser in our powder room and painting it a shiny, ebony black.

- Building a library wall in the sitting room.

- Finding and framing old photographs of the building, from its days as a luncheonette.
- Framing the sepia photo of my favorite Parisian boulangerie (I want to frame it with wood that looks like the charred planks used to bake bread in the wood-burning oven this particular boulangerie still used).

- Installing goldenrod-yellow gingham roman shades that will offset the plaid curtains in the sitting room.

- Creating an outdoor room at the back of our house, reminiscent of those found in old French farmhouses or villas.

- Repainting the ceilings in every room but one.

- Moving our fence to match our property line.

And there’s more – so much more – but I’d like to end this blog post now as I’m off on yet another trip to Lowe’s…

[Images: Leslie Koehn for Wilmington Magazine]

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
We love how Bret Fetzer described this movie: "Everything you expect from a Hollywood blockbuster - romance, violence, humor, sorrow, strong personalities in conflict – is here in spades, except that the heroes and heroines have bright red and green feathers."  The film follows Mark Bittner, a homeless musician, as he befriends, feeds, and names the members of a wild flock of parrots that live in the green niches of San Francisco. The parrots seem to have been cast perfectly: a hero, a clown, two lovers, a ladies’ man, a villain, and the villain’s daughter. Who knew that a film about birds could be packed with comedy and a surprise ending that "makes you feel like you could fly out of the theater" (San Jose Mercury News)? The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill reminds us how wondrously similar the human and animal worlds can be.

Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?
When brash trailer park resident Teri Horton bought a secondhand painting for five bucks, little did she know it could be a genuine Jackson Pollock worth millions. This film documents Horton’s volatile 15-year journey into the heart of the art world’s elitist establishment to have the painting authenticated. The clash between stuffy art dealers and the cussin’, beer-drinkin’ Horton is funny, eye-opening and utterly unforgettable. One of the most interesting (and surprising) documentaries we’ve seen.

The Hobart Shakespeareans
The Hobart Shakespeareans is about one phenomenal teacher (Rafe Esquith), his eager students, and the power of real education. Esquith turns the Asian-American and Latino children of a violence-stricken Los Angeles neighborhood on to the wonders of Mark Twain, Shakespearean plays, and mathematics. These "below average" fifth-graders can rattle off the names of Shakespeare’s thirty-seven plays and do rapid-fire arithmetic in their heads. You may think you’re smarter than a fifth-grader, but there’s no way you’re smarter than Rafe’s fifth-graders! Quick – can you name the six states that border Iowa? These kids can. It’s a story that looks at the failures of education in the United States, while simultaneously offering hope and inspiration…

My Date with Drew
This is a feel-good documentary for the dreamers, believers and optimists of the world. 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker, Brian Herzlinger, wins $1,100 on a game show (where the winning answer happened to be "Drew Barrymore"), and decides to use the money to make a film about pursuing his dream of asking Barrymore out on a date. It’s not easy for an ordinary guy to get face time with a busy star. Herzlinger has to make his way through Barrymore’s entourage of publicists, agents, producers and assistants (without appearing like a stalker), so he can get near the object of his lifelong crush.