How to French Kiss Your Thanksgiving

Prefer to listen? Click below. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, along with Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and let’s not forget my birthday. As you can see, I’m all for any reason to get all gussied up, connect with friends and family over delicious food and divine wine […]

3 Areas That Deserve Your Daily Attention

Prefer to listen? Click below. Every fall, I take the most fabulous group of ladies to Paris for an indulgent retreat on femininity, style, confidence and luxurious living. The intention: to French Kiss Life with every ounce of our beings. Every woman comes back changed.  But, it’s not because we’re sitting around writing out our 5-year vision […]

The Beautiful Things

I just spent a week in Paris, and I’m now sitting by the French Riviera. My senses have been overloaded with beautiful things — the aromas of lavender at the market, the taste of fresh pressed olive oils, a street violinist,  the breathtaking view of the Seine at sunset. It’s easy to see beauty when […]

Are Your Standards Too Low?

Prefer to listen? Click below. Letting anyone who breathed be a part of my inner circleApologizing for taking up too much space.A messy financial world. Eating stale donuts because I was bored. Dressing like a homeless person at home. These are just a few of the many ways I had set the bar way too low in my […]

Ease Does Not Mean Easy

Prefer to listen? Click below. I feel virtuous because my soul is at ease. Women will often confess to me, “I want an easy life.” And, I always challenge them that they’d be miserable if they chose that route. The human soul is designed for growth, which is rarely easy. But, what I do believe women […]

Are You a Princess or Queen?

Prefer to listen? Click below. Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness. Growing up, I dreamed of being a Princess. It’s cute when you’re a kid, but not when you’re a grown woman. Yet, my princess mentality stayed with me — after graduating from college, […]

Guess Where I Saw God?

Prefer to listen? Click below. It is a luxury to do something that serves no practical purpose: the luxury of civilization. I walked in and saw God.He wasn’t wearing a turban or meditating in the shoe department. He wasn’t passing out flyers or chanting om. He didn’t come down the heavens (or escalator) in a grand […]

A Sexy Question to Ask Yourself Every Morning

Prefer to listen? Click below. Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love. Steve Jobs suggested, “Live each day as if it was your last.” Well, that sounds all fine and dandy, but if I knew that it was my last day, honestly, I’d be a wreck — crying and snotting all over […]

It’s About More Than the Purchase

Prefer to listen? Click below. Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity. A few weeks ago, I hit State Street in Santa Barbara with some friends on a mission: to find something beautiful to buy that delighted my heart.  I tried on shoes, sniffed […]

Want to French Kiss Your Money?

Prefer to listen? Click below. Wealth is the ability to fully experience life. A reader recently asked, “How does the French Kiss Life-style apply to money?”  I thought this was such a fabulous question, and one that I don’t talk about often. Honestly, I’d rather talk about life, love and Paris. It’s not that I’m […]