LA DOLFINA

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

"Gump's, San Francisco, is a California---no---an American legend. It has survived the Gold Rush, earthquakes and fires... ...Hardly your average gift and decorative accessories store, it is a combination art museum, fine antique shop, super gift and decorative accessories shop, furniture and interior design store whose decorators design the homes of the famous and/or the not so famous, just very rich." A Ch'ing Dynasty gilded wood Buddha, carved for a summer palace in Northern China, still gazes serenely over the store's first floor. It was carved in the Northern Manchurian Province of Jehol, the summer capital of the Ch'ing Emperors in the early 19th Century. The piece, the largest of its kind outside a museum, is the only item in the store that is not for sale. And now, the highly anticipated, After Christmas Sale... I couldn't afford anything at Gump's, but across the back alley, on Maiden Lane, there is a wonderful little shop by the name of Can...

I got a tweet from Paris Boutique Hotel asking, "what was your favorite vintage Christmas gift"? I replied, a vintage, french, seaweed soap display from French Blue & Co. I emailed Janet at French Blue and asked if there was a story behind my unusual seaweed soap display. She emailed me back with this story... "Walking the streets of Paris, tired and needing my vintage fix, I spotted this crazy wonderful piece in a window of a beautiful little old soap boutique. I went in through the charming doors greeted by an amazing strong scent of french soap. I dove to the window. To my disappointment, the nice lady would not sell it to me, she shook her head..."non". It was not for sale. I begged and begged. She called the owner who came to the shop who also told me, "non". I don't speak any french and it is difficult buying items that are for sale much less begging for an item that they would not sell. I would not leave. It was ab...

Now, get out there and score some deals!

One of my very favorite things about the holidays is getting Christmas cards in the mail. I must be honest...when I get one without a photo, I'm disappointed. I eagerly anticipate a new photo each Christmas from my friends and loved ones. They have become my favorite gifts. I've been saving them in albums for years, and put them out on display along with the rest of my holiday decorations. I love to sit, with a cup of tea or hot chocolate, and go through them every Christmas. It's pretty amazing, when you don't get to see most of these people day in and day out, how an annual photo really captures and documents their lives, especially when you save them from year to year.

Here it is, December 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve, usually my favorite day of the Christmas Season. It feels a little like a blue Christmas since last evening, when our son called to inform us that the car had conked out and he was stuck in the middle of the road... and just after I spent most of last week getting our broken refrigerator repaired and re-stocked. So, in the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share some blue Christmas with you. Don't worry, it's all good! A few days ago, I found myself in Walmart buying the ingredients to make "doo-dads", you know that healthy, nutritious snack food that incorporates all the chex cereals. It was something that, as kids, we eagerly anticipated at Christmas. Christmas wasn't official until the reindeer appeared in the window of the Mulvaney house and the box of "doo-dads" had arrived from my Grama Maud, in Colorado. Anyway, while shopping in Walmart, my eye caught sight of a blue Chri...