Lately every time the Critter asks for a new toy or candy, I tell him that I will speak to the Easter Bunny about it. I hope someone speaks to Mr. Bunny on my behalf this year – here are some things on my wish list for spring I found on Rodeo Drive.

Y’all know how much I love it when my current life intersects with the cult iconography of the past. Today was a platinum example of how that happens.

I have very distinct memories of piling up in my college apartment with my roommate, completely freaking out at the season cliffhanger of Dynasty – you may remember the one – when Amanda Carrington’s wedding to the Prince of Moldavia is abruptly (rudely) halted by a military coup, leaving the entire royal wedding party arranged about the floor of the church in a state of unconscious that left us, the enthralled, DYING to know who would live to see the next season.

Flash to how happy I was when my dear design colleague and partner in crime Barrie moved to Malibu after being away from LA for two years. Being the irresistible character he is, he has befriended the real life Amanda Carrington, aka Catherine Oxenberg. He informed me how lovely it’s been getting to know her and her beautiful family as of late, and that she has started writing a blog. I of course raced to the blog to see what she’s been up to, and was impressed with her witty writing.

Today Barrie and Catherine met me at my “office” for a visit before I had to flee for the preschool pickup. Never back in my Dynasty viewing days could I have come up with the scenario that I would get to sit at by a rooftop pool with a view of Beverly Hills, having witty repartee with the princess herself. She was SO much fun to chat with, and about so many things! She told me that she knew not to worry whether her character would come back after the coup by how much blood the props guys put on her while she was lying in the Prince of Moldavia’s arms, and that she actually was proposed marriage by a real prince (she said no). Still radiant without the aid of a plastic surgeon’s knife, she has lived the life of an iconic beauty and royal celebrity (her mother is the Princess of Yugoslavia), yet she remains amused by it in the same way that we all are, and talking with her about it was just like catching up with an old friend.

Especially striking was that she is clearly a devoted wife and mom and loves that part of her extraordinary life better than any royal title or feature role. I could have chatted with her until cocktail time, so I was over the moon when I saw that she blogged about our visit! Thank you Barrie darling for bringing this fun slice of life to me xoxo

I just had a look at the silent auction items for the Beverly Vista Rocks Carnival coming up April 10th – some pretty awesome stuff!

This morning on the way to preschool the Critter says to me “Mom, I wanna see Stacy at Montwage at the hotel”. I thought, “I do too, sweetheart”.

I don’t know what to tell him, because every weekend is not a Montage Beverly Hills weekend. We are now completely spoiled by the pampering we received during our stay last weekend. We checked into our spacious, comfortably appointed room on Saturday morning so that we might try the Montage experience. We would spend two days and one night – the Critter was the guest of the Paintbox Studio, the activities based program for the little ones to enjoy while I took to the sanctuary of the Spa Montage. The weekend, which was originally set to be one of ski widowdom (my perfect Husband was skiing Mt Baldy) was definitely shaping up. I could have a destination weekend and stroll there from my home – no travel, no packing, yay!

After I placed the Critter in the hands of Stacy in the Paintbox Studio, the cutest little library with every kind of craft, activity and silliness you can think of, I went up to the spa. I noticed right away that Stacy is the kid whisperer. Imagine the babysitter/campdirector you always wanted: with enough energy to make children fall in love with/obey her and enough good sense and kid knowhow to make a mom feel secure in taking a break. I don’t think the Critter even noticed I was leaving.

As you know from reading this and this, my interior design career in Beverly Hills started in hotels with the impeccable Darrell Schmitt, whose fabulous work here at the Montage was comforting me with every step towards the Old World mosaic and filtered light of the Spa Montage. When I referred to it as a sanctuary, I wasn’t kidding! Heather, who is probably the nicest, not to mention most knowledgeable aesthetician I’ve met gave me a facial left me feeling much revitalized. I then moved on to my favorite part of any spa – the steam room, which was so fantastically hot it was euphoric. The steam just kept billowing out of a giant clay pot, which I thought was a really nice touch – I was so immersed in the experience I wouldn’t have been surprised if Alladin himself showed up on a flying carpet.

The next twenty four hours were that of relaxing, eating, snoozing, playing, and visiting with my very cool mom friends. I love that I got to get to know LaJolla Mom, PureNaturalDiva, TheGoToMom, Julie of FamilyFinds, and Jenn of ModernMom better. It was so much fun to to chat away with them and discuss getting to know you topics like how we all met their husbands, some of whom joined us the next day poolside for a lovely California Day.

The Critter spent part of the day Sunday with his beloved Stacy and played in the pool to the point that he made no protest when I said it was time to go home. Ten minutes later we were home napping until my Perfect Husband’s plane landed at LAX.

I have to give mention to the wonderful staff who made all the difference: our host Charles Black, and Victorio Gonzalez, both so handsome and hospitable that I felt like I was in a modern version of Aaron Spelling’s Hotel. Jason and Bo who served us poolside at the Conservatory Grill, were amazing handling the needs of a gaggle of women and kids around slippery surfaces. Danielle managed to serve a very respectable high tea in the Library to an all age crowd who kept running to play outside. I also can’t say enough nice things about my new toddler guru Stacy and my skin guru Heather. The Critter and I thank you ever so much, and we miss you already!

A few months ago, my dear friend Alfred asked me to be a member on his team as he campaigns for the Man of the Year award with the Leukemia and Lyphoma Society. Alfred and I are friends not only as Los Angelenos, but we also hail from the same home town in Mississippi. Alfred’s very characterful mother Mary died of Leukemia, and I remember being so sad at how such a beautiful, charming and talented person could be stricken – how terrible it must have been for her and her family.

I immediately said yes, that I would help. Around this same time I was approached by a new place on the internet to buy discounted deals on exclusive services, called WinWinLiving to help promote their deals. What puts WinWin above the other deal sites is that they give a portion of THEIR proceeds from the sales of these deals to charity automatically. Eureka! I can promote our “Team Mary” efforts, and my friends can experience some Beverly Hills indulgences for great prices. I can even donate all the earnings of BeverlyHillsMom at WinWin, and double the money that LLS can accumulate – it’s a WinWin deal (sorry for pointing out the obvious).

How it works: Click here. When you click “buy now” to purchase a deal, you’ll see “We give back, you choose to whom”. Team Mary will greatly appreciate your choosing LLS.

If you wish to donate directly to LLS, you can do so here. Please feel free to do so with gusto!

As you may have inferred from my raves over her last event— Jayneoni Moore‘s events are THE chic spot to find out what the latest trends in the posh celebrity baby and toddler market. I arrived in time to dodge paparazzi surrounding Joey Fatone, Angie Everhart, Rachael Zoe, Joelly Fisher, and Tisha Campbell. A great rundown of the celebrities in attendance can be found on fabulous baby and maternity photographer Julie Rollins’s blog post about her experience at the event.

…knowing how much I wanted Nancy Krasne to remain in charge of the Council. I Finding it out via this video made it a little less painful, but I really can’t say why. The Courier is really going big with this duo.

*comments greatly encouraged on this one

I wrote to the City Council today, hoping to help overturn their vote of 3-2 in favor of allowing the owner at 9936 Durant Drive to demo the building. That is one of the beautiful Hollywood Regency apartment buildings that caused me to fall in love with the neighborhood. There will be a meeting of the City Council tomorrow night and I am reaching out to ask residents of Beverly Hills to attend the meeting that starts at 7:00pm at City Hall and speak out against destroying this wonderful piece of architectural history. If you can’t make it, write or call the Council to state your opinion.

Thanks so much for your help!

We all love to have a proper tea in the afternoon sometimes – it’s one of the most civilized ways to socialize on the planet. Whenever I’m asked where to find a proper English tea, I always say go to The Living Room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills. It’s one of the loveliest places to sit and relax with friends, and now you can support education while you sip! The Peninsula is offering The Beverly Hills Education Foundation tea for the months of February and March, with proceeds benefitting the foundation. Upon ordering the BHEF tea, you will be served a full tea not only including the Apple Tarte and Champagne shown in the invitation, but the you’ll also enjoy an assortment of fresh pastries, scones and tea sandwiches, all to die for. And there’s more – the folks at the Living Room will send you home with the wonderful Peninsula Pageboy Cap Cake and a gift certificate to shop at the very fabulous Jill Roberts Beverly Hills! With all the holidays, awards events, and spring approaching, use that special occasion to have a wonderful afternoon and support our schools!

UPDATE – January 17, 2013: Nancy is running for City Council again on March 5th!

Here’s a story that was originally published on January 13, 2011, watch Nancy’s Facebook page for updates on meet and greets and to volunteer support – I have updated the links with election info too!

I remember sitting in a meeting with all the members of the various committees of the General Plan of the City of Beverly Hills. We were all gathered together in the auditorium at Beverly High for an update of some sort. I had only lived in Beverly Hills for about two years at that time, and I had signed on to take part in the Commercial Standards Committee. This bimonthly evening committee meeting would, in spite of my being woefully behind in local history and politics, prove to be a real education in both. My joke to friends was that I always felt like Mary Tyler Moore in a room full of Lou Grants. This meeting at Beverly High was different because I got to see and visit with all the folks in the other committees, and there was one lady sitting behind me who had everyone smiling around her, and she was so charming, I thought to myself that this would be a great lady to know. I had to run off to a client meeting and didn’t have time to introduce myself.

Flash to a couple of months later I had discovered this sparkling personality was Nancy Krasne, and called her on the phone. I told her that I was basically the new kid in town and had an interior design business and was very invested in being part of the community I had come to love. She couldn’t have been more wonderful; she came for lunch at my studio, regaled me with great stories of her life in Beverly Hills. She hired me to plan her new kitchen in her fabulous ultra contemporary “Jewish Hawaiian”(she calls it) home in the hills, and that’s how it all started.

Since then we have remained friends. She has always been very generous with her time and knowledge and has been the one I call when I need advice from someone wiser than I. She has now served what I hope will be the first of two terms on the City Council, the first of which I campaigned fervently while pregnant with the Critter. I was thrilled to find that she put her hat in the ring for the second, and hope that the citizens of Beverly Hills realize how lucky they are to have a person watching the village who has no agenda other than to keep Beverly Hills as fabulous as it’s always been.

Eighteen years as a teacher in the LA School system and raising two sons gives her a very real point of view when it comes to the issues at hand, and she’s quite sharp at fiscal issues to boot. When I talk to her about hot issues like the metro rail, or the now cooled Hilton project, she has always thought the entire project through to the end, has read and comprehended every word of every report, and is always trying to get to the bottoms of things. It’s rare that something she says at the Council meetings doesn’t cause thunderous applause for sheer common sense. One of my favorite things she says is “Sunshine is the best disinfectant” – this can mean SO many things, including shedding light on politics.

I hope you’ll join my fellow Nancy fans, because I think the principles of her vision for the city are so bright. Election day is March 5, and if you haven’t yet, the deadline to register to vote is February 21. Oh, and by the way – we still haven’t gotten around to redoing that fabulous kitchen we have planned. Nancy’s too busy making sure it’s nice for the rest of us.