Sunday At Home or Creating Order Out of Chaos

Like the rest of the world, I can't stop watching the videos from Japan.
This one from the BBC shows when the tsunami first hits the land
It's truly frightening to see the unrelenting power of the tsunami.

As for the report that radiation has leaked from Japanese nuclear plants is going to cross the Pacific and hit the west cost

It is admitted that the first plant has melted down, and 6 more nuclear power plants in Japan are in danger. If they fail, this situation could get even worse. Japanese authorities are distributing potassium iodide to its population for thyroid protection.

For U.S. populations, we can hope that most of the radiation will disperse into the ocean and never reach us, however, with the U.S. West Coast in the direct path of the jet stream from Japan, it is a good precaution to stock up on potassium iodide or natural iodine from kelp, which can prevent the absorption of radioactive iodine, the most common complication from radiation poisoning.

OK, so I didn't run out and buy potassium iodide
Instead I took a clue from Faux Fuchsia and went out to brunch
which is something that I rarely do
But when life brings you circumstances that you can do nothing about
it's good to spend time with your brood

and enjoy a bloody mary
and catch up on what's going on in the lives of your children and their significant others

Since the weather was warmish we sat outside and enjoyed the sun.

Later in further FF style there was some gardening

specifically cleaning up my wildly growing mint, parsley and cilantro

and of course some cooking

with Chicken Chasseur de Ville for Sunday dinner

which was super easy to action

OK, so I admit that it wasn't real poulet chasseur because I left out the mushrooms and the cognac

but it was tasty anyway

Here are the basics

Saute some chicken ( I used organic boneless chicken thighs) in a little butter and oil

remove chicken from pan and add chopped red onion, chopped roasted red pepper, chopped garlic and cook vegetables until soft.

Add one can of chopped tomatoes (I used the no salt added kind) and some red wine and bring to a boil

Return the chicken to the pan and add some fresh parsley, basil and a bay leaf

Cover and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes

Serve with asparagus and hot baguette

There is something so calming about domestic activity

because when mother nature, who's not your friend by the way, brings you chaos

organizing your home, a reasonably achievable goal,

brings you at least some semblance of order out of chaos.

Tiger Mom Does Davos

Well once again it's that time of year....
yeah you know, the Davos World Economic Forum,
where the best and the brightest get together to ski and party discuss and debate the new world order economics and world affairs.
This year we have a Larry Summers vs. Amy Chua smackdown on parenting and education.

Ms. Chua seems to be this year's hot Davos celebrity
like Bono and Angelina Jolie have been in the past
In Davos this week, Ms. Chua shuttled busily from one klieg-lit event to another, as much in media demand as any penurious head of state or gauzy movie star. A separate publishing phenomenon might explore the reasons her thesis has chimed so loudly with Americans. My own theory is simple. The engaging Ms. Chua has captured in perfect synthesis the two things middle-age Americans now fear most—China, and their own children.
But in spite of being this year's Davos "it girl", she didn't best Mr. Summers in the debate.
Why A students become academics and C students become billionaire donors

Challenging Ms. Chua's academic achievement oriented parenting he asks
"Which two freshmen at Harvard have arguably been most transformative of the world in the last 25 years?" he asked. "You can make a reasonable case for Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, neither of whom graduated."

He goes on to explain
The A, B and C alums at Harvard in fact could be broadly characterized thus, he said: The A students became academics, B students spent their time trying to get their children into the university as legacies, and the C students—the ones who had made the money—sat on the fund-raising committee.

As I said in my previous post about Ms. Chua, I'm all for serious study.  How else do you learn?
And I agree with her that achievement leads to self esteem, not the opposite.
But I also believe that intense academics need to be blended with a healthy dose of other activity be it sports, art, or whatever.
My son just scored a 99th percentile grade on his GMAT exam
and he did it without having been raised by a Superior Chinese Tiger Mother.
Well done my son.

October Sunday Chez BHB

 

Piper Heidsieck Champagne

and 

Pumpkin Muffins
and
1500 blog posts

A Day In The Life

A lot has been going on in my life in the last 7 days....a birthday (my son's 27th), a wedding, a party, a funeral and an earthquake and yes I'm tired, but not too tired to write about jewelry...because that is what I do.

So what did I wear to the memorial service, a straightforward little black dress with pearls, of course. Out of respect for the seriousness of the occasion, and the fact that the service was held in a church, I added a black jacket to cover my arms and an Hermes scarf tucked inside the jacket to cover the decollete.

Here's the detail shot (yikes!) with a South Sea pearl strand paired with South Sea pearl "orbit" earrings with yellow sapphires .  I also wore a vintage Piaget diamond watch and a South Sea pearl and diamond rings. (I'm laughing at myself in this photo because it is just so difficult to take a picture of myself from this angle)

Since the memorial for my step-daughter's son was at the same church where the memorial service was held for my husband 16 years ago...the whole experience was more than just a little surreal.  It was also the church where I was married, a lifetime ago, when I was a mere child bride.  I might add that my step-daughter is only about  4 years younger than I am, so yeah, it's one of those kind of families.
But I digress,
As expected it was a very touching service with some poignant eulogies and music. The church was packed with well heeled white shoe types from the investment business, and families from John Thomas Dye and the Brentwood School,  including the wife of the Governor and her children.  You can't see from this photo but there were so many people who attended that some people had to stand on the sides and at the back of the church. There were even kids sitting on the floor of the middle aisle. 

After the service I skipped the reception at the beach club and went back to my office to wait for my tech guy to make my computer user friendly again...and to feel a rolling 5.4 earthquake.  After my computer finally showed me the love again I walked over to Thomas Keller's Bouchon restaurant at the Montage Hotel for and early dinner with my brother.

We sat on the terrace with the view which was pleasant because it was heated...god knows that there is no heat wave in Southern California.  This could be the coldest July on record.  But with the warmth from the heat lamp behind my chair I was very happy to wind down the day with simple bistro style food.

and Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Now today, plenty to do at the office and another event to attend tonight.  I can't wait for the weekend.

Thank You

Thank you everyone  for your kind comments about my post about my step-grandson's death this past week. Of course no one  is ever prepared for a random tragedy like this, but these situations have the ability to bring families together and to bring out the best in people.  I'm very proud of how my two twenty something year old children stepped up and became helpful and responsible in ways that had never been required of them before, from the big things like calling the coroner's office and LA Metro during the search to the small things like helping with the younger children while the parents and older aunts and uncles grieved.  All the drama will all be over next week after the memorial service, but I will always remember having seen an enduring transformation in my children.

The Unbearable Shortness Of Being

When my husband died he was in his mid fifties and I was in my early thirties.  At that time I thought that the age of fifty something was unfathomably old.  Naturally my perspective on the matter has changed greatly. At least, when he died, I could say that he had lived a rich and full life. Strangely knowing that he had five decades to live up to his potential, including having two marriages, five children, a successful business and a multitude of friends, made his death less traumatic.

But how does anyone deal with the death of a young adult.  There is no way to put an ameliorating layer of "he lived a full life" on the comprehension of death.  The death of the young is so very sad because it is also the death of potential.  Who would this young man have become if he had lived out his life?  What would he have brought to the world?

In this particular situation there are even more questions about how a strapping young man of 20 could disappear on his way home from a friend's house in Bel Air a mile away from his home in Brentwood.  How the police and coroner could mistake the identity of a hit and run victim for two days after the family had filed a missing persons report, searched the neighborhoods and trails of western Bel Air by foot, hired a private investigator and searched by bloodhound and helicopter.

A rather amazing thing came out of the senselessness of this situation.  Through the use of Facebook and Twitter, the news of his disappearance spread quickly and many more people than just the immediate family and friends could be on the lookout for him.  Unfortunately, by then it was too late but it was an important reminder of how technology can help in times of crisis. 

Jamie O'Connell, had your grandfather lived to have seen the fine young man that you became, he would have been very proud.  
Jamie O'Connell, R.I.P.

My Birthday Girl

Young Miss de Ville turns 25 today!
How quickly that quarter of a century went by.

Dress Whites - Rota Command Change 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

I would love to spend time with ma mere today
but she is off on vacation comme d'hab

in this pretty place

Happy Mother's Day maman!

Hanging Out With Lady G

Alex and the lovely Laura are in Coachella this weekend for the mother of all music festivals. When you are 26 I can see why a weekend concert would be fun, but at my age, I can't imagine having to going there just because I wanted to see Julian Casablancas, Faith No More and MGMT.
Happily, I'm not at the concert and I get to take care of Alex and Laura's miniature dachshund, Lady G, aka "the ween".

Here's a photo of Laura holding Lady G. For some reason the dogs eyes always turn turquoise in photos. It's a little like a demon dog, don't you think?
I've always been a big dog person, dobermans, labs, golden retrievers, newfoundlands, ridgebacks, etc...but I'm starting to see the fun in having a little dog.

Just Another Easter Dinner At Home

I woke up early today to the sound of rain. So unusual for this time of year. It fit my mood.

Yesterday an earthquake that I didn't feel. The day spent preparing for an early Easter dinner with Stephanie, Alex and his girlfriend, the lovely Laura. Listening to quiet music all day while cooking and cleaning, The Magnetic Fields, Zero 7, Air, Belle and Sebastian, Interpol, Beirut, etc.

A fun dinner with amusing conversation that you can only have with a table of twenty-something year olds. Conversation about law, politics and finance, the California elections, piigs, brics, the end of Mexico and the coming collapse of the euro. None of these topics optimistic but we laughed anyway.

Then the big news...Alex wants to move to New York.
Even though his office is a block from mine, and he lives close to where I live, I don't actually see him that often. But it comforts me to know that he is nearby. But to be 26 years old and in the investment business, he needs to have experience in NY working on a trading desk, or something like that. I understand it, but I'm not happy about it.

Friends, Aquaintances and Closets - LA Style

I have been trying to write this post for three days but little overtaxed brain doesn't seem to be able to put into words the point I am trying to make.
But here's the gist of it.
In Los Angeles, a huge city in terms of population and geographic area, certain demographic clusters exist. One of these clusters is what I call the privileged west side private school/private club demographic. My son falls on the fringe into this demographic and through some weird 'six degrees of separation' he has this huge network of friends and acquaintances, many of whom I would describe as members of LA's young and entitled.

So on with my story
Last Sunday afternoon my son and his girlfriend hosted their first family barbecue at his recently purchased townhouse in Brentwood. Here's a photo of his living room.

Here he is at the barbecue demonstrating his grilling techniques to his grandfather.

You can see from this photo that my son is pretty much a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. He has suits and some dressier clothes appropriate for his work, but in his off time he mostly dresses like a skater boy.

He is very diligent, getting up at 5:00-5:30 every morning to work New York hours. In the afternoons he goes to the gym or rides his skateboard for exercise, and at night he studies. His girlfriend, the lovely lawyer, is equally hard working and puts in 10 hour days at her family law practice.

They are a no nonsense kind of couple who do real things to get ahead in their lives.

Recently, as a result of the recession (and probably some bad behavior), one of my son's friends lost his job in high end residential real estate. This young man needed a place to stay part time and store some stuff and my son generously offered him the guest suite on the 4th floor of his townhouse.

This friend/house guest is now "working" for another friend who happens to be some guy named Spencer Pratt...and he is getting paid in clothes, specifically in Spencer Pratt's discarded wardrobe from last season.

So of course I just had to get the grand tour of the closet.

What you can not see here is that the clothes have barely been worn...most are new with the tags still on them.

The dresser not only holds shoes, the drawers are full of sweaters, ties and belts. And what these photos don't show are that the labels are Prada, Loro Piana, Alexander McQueen, Rag & Bone and more.

Here's a pair of never been worn Louis Vuitton white leather driving mocs with the golden LV logo....because you know, every 20 something year old man needs a pair or two. Amazing how they match the white parka with the 22 karat gold snaps and zipper with the $7,500 price tag hanging from it.

Then we have the suits, lots of them by Dolce & Gabanna, Armani and Gucci.

And silly me, I had like no clue who this Spencer Pratt person was.

But apparently everyone in America under the age of 30 does.

Here is Spencer 'the clotheshorse' Pratt with his wife Heidi Montag

Yes, that Heidi Montag, who is not only on 'The Hills' reality show

she is now infamous for being addicted to plastic surgery at the age of 23

Spencer, who grew up in the west side private school/private club milieu, thus is part of my son's network of acquaintances, is now married to Heidi. He "manages" her "career" which mainly consists of her showing up making public appearances here and there. Mostly, he makes money by selling her photos to the tabloids and gossip magazines.

In other words the two of them are young professional celebrities,

famous just for being famous.
Only in LA could a couple like this get paid for being themselves.

I was curious about how a young man like Pratt, who went to the chi-chi Crossroads School and later USC, ended up with this lifestyle so I asked my son. Apparently, Pratt sold a photo to the tabloids of one of the Olsen twins drinking at a party when he still in high school and then realized that it was an easy way to make a lot money. So instead of choosing to become a doctor, lawyer, portfolio manager or whatever, he chose to attach himself to the LA demi monde and feed the celebrity machine.

I wonder, how long does a career like this last?