Florals. Growing up in Texas, my mind naturally reverts to a sort of eighties country red-white-and-blue-long-live-the-republic sort of aesthetic. Yet, why? Florals in decor have been around since at least the Renaissance, appearing in everything from manor tapestries to rosebud gown embroidery. In every...

The dinner party. That private and personalized French-flavored venue for socializing over fine fare, whether the guests be your firm's partners or your old college roomies. This setting can intimidate even the most veteran of hosts without planning (and, yes, practice). The intimidation of the dinner...

When recently visiting The Broadmoor Hotel for a girl's weekend with my mother, and spending pleasant evenings before dinner in the small and classy bar, I thought how pleasant it would be to have a modest version of the room. A bar service. A collection of small round tables. Couches for lounging in...

One of the most classic (and classiest) color combinations, blue and gold have supplied a regal aesthetic from palace decor to royal navies to universities to the Boy Scouts. Though the classic take on the combo (in the form of navy and a warmer glossy gold) will always endure, the variations one can...

From Alexa Chung chatting it up about denim in the British Vogue to recent runway show displays like Stella McCartney's tank dress to full-window shop dressings, denim is in the current fashion spotlight. And no wonder: ever classic, ever the hint of casual Americana, denim never fades away. As always,...

I can be aesthetically schizophrenic. On one hand, I need order and organization before I literally start to emotionally break down. I need systems. I need to not trip on shoes and sit on lego pieces or wonder where I set my phone. I love this orderly and hopeful time of year. I clean out closets for...

Having just returned from The Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs, CO, where I spent a spa weekend with my mother, I'm left (with relaxed muscles, yes, but also with real life poking me in the back) wondering where that euphoric spa zen went. One who has experienced a spa of course enters back into real...