Quintessence - My New Daily Beauty Ritual

To the dismay of my Mother Joan,  despite all her gentle tutoring, my thumb remains brown, in fact, it is acid etched.  Whenever she visits, she re-pots, prunes and waters  my plants and orchids, trying to will them back to life...to no avail.  Some years back, I received a gorgeous tome on orchids.  The cover was certainly lovely, so I plopped it on top of some of the decorative books that are nestled under a coffee table in my living room.  Last weekend, we went through our usual ritual.  When I noticed her rapture, reading the orchid book, I insisted she take it home... where it belongs.

Next up on the pile, was a book I purchased in April of 1987  at Sotheby's. I had the good fortune to attend one of the preview parties, for the extraordinary auction of the Dutchess of Windsor's  jewels.  I  sat mesmerized leafing through this spectacular catalog of avant-garde jewels and objects, that chronicled the love affair of the Duke and Duchess. This uniquely beautiful collection  reflected the best of quality and design from both Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.  The French it seems,  always appreciated style and welcomed the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, as if they were their own.  All of this is a round about way, of telling you about a gorgeous Lifestyle Blog called Quintessence-Living with Style and Substance,  written by Stacey Bewkes, who I recently had the pleasure of meeting through my friend Linda Levy.

Stacey's Blog Quintessence is a daily feast for the senses. I didn't know it, but 20 pieces from the last auction of the Dutchess of Windsor's jewels will be up for auction, again at Sotheby's on November 30th.  True to form, Stacey was reporting on it, highlighting some of her favorite pieces that will again go under the gavel, like the infamous Flamingo:

Everyday,  Stacey takes us on a new tour of beauty, focusing on whatever strikes her fancy in the world of art, architecture, design, travel, food, wine, books, and fashion and always includes photographs that literally take my breath away and have even elicited a few tears.  Her eye and ear are infallible.

I finally realized, this is one daily beauty ritual I can't do without and subscribed to Quintessence so I won't ever have to miss it...This is photograph from Wednesday's  Blog about festive Thanksgiving Tabletops.  Below is a photo from a book,  that happens to be one of my favorites too, At Home with Carolyn Roehm:

There is no doubt in my mind that Stacey's table will be not one iota less beautiful!   I know for a fact that you would never see a link to Awful Plastic Surgery on Stacey's Blog, like you will on DivaDebbi, but hey, no one is perfect...except maybe Stacey Bewkes.

xox,

DD