Tea for Four

So I've been a bit busy. Since my last post, I've been to L.A. twice, Miami once, and in my office about 80 hours a week. It's been a bit crazy. In good times, everyone wants to say they have a publicist; in bad times, they realize they need one. At least for now.

My thought has been to do a few recaps of my travels, as there have been some pretty exciting developments...

I was thinking about the fact that no matter what, I needed and wanted to write something. And somehow, while wandering and thinking, I made a left, and randomly found myself at tea with four people: one was a friend that I happened to be looking for, one was the legendary china designer Anna Weatherly.

She is just a gem and a half. And the amazing sweet potato petits fours were to die for.

Back in the day, I was quite the craftsperson: my first real job was for a craft publishing company, where you'd walk into the lunchroom and there would be a person knitting on the couch, a tableful of paints sprawled about (and me usually doing calligraphy on my lunch hour for extra money since my salary was a whopping $8.50 an hour).

Anyhoo, through her thick Hungarian accent, she enchanted us with some pretty great DC gossip, and then told us about what she sees as truly the end of the era of craftsmanship. Waterford is going under, Buccelatti Silver is seeing the last of their tradespeople (no machines there: it's a room full of men in their seventies, each with 50 years of experience under their belts, hammering away at each piece, inch by inch)-and did you see the article in today's Post about how brides don't think china is a necessity anymore? That can't be good for business.

So if you have a chance to see her, as she does a few personal appearances around town from time to time, definitely go, as she is a rare find in a world that's becoming less about art and more about just survival.