I love hotel bars. Not all of them, obviously. Some hotel bars appear to have been designed specifically for exhausted salespeople to eat club sandwiches while staring sadly at their laptops. I mean beautiful hotel bars. The kind with low lighting, velvet chairs, polished brass, absurd flower arrangements and bartenders who somehow know that your [...]

There is a particular moment when a trip becomes romantic. It isn't when you make the reservation. It isn't when the plane takes off. It isn't even when you arrive at the hotel. For me, it's usually when I walk into the room, see two robes hanging beside each other, and realize: Oh. We're really [...]

There are qualities that photograph well. Height. A beautiful smile. A good suit. Shoulders. I am not pretending these things have no effect on me. I am still a woman with functioning eyesight. But the quality that tends to become more attractive the longer I know someone is curiosity. Real curiosity. Not interrogation. Not the [...]

I have always loved getting dressed. Not merely putting clothes on. That is a biological necessity in most jurisdictions. I mean getting dressed. Choosing who I want to be for the evening. There is something almost theatrical about it. A black dress says one thing. A soft sweater says another. A pair of heels can [...]

I am very good at several things. This is fortunate because I am absolutely terrible at many others. I recommend this arrangement. Being competent is useful. Being incompetent is interesting. There is a strange point in adulthood when people begin avoiding activities they are not already good at. Children do not behave this way. Give [...]

I love beautiful things. This is not a secret. I like wonderful hotels. Excellent restaurants. Champagne served in thin glasses. Fresh flowers. Soft sheets. Beautiful clothes. A car arriving exactly when it is supposed to arrive. All of civilization, really, can be measured by whether someone has figured out how to make an experience more [...]

I sometimes suspect dogs understand life better than we do. Not everything. My dog has, on occasion, barked furiously at a plastic bag. So I am not proposing canine governance. But dogs seem to have solved several problems humans continue making unnecessarily complicated. For example: They are excellent at joy. Completely shameless about it. If [...]

Some cities are beautiful. Some cities are interesting. And then there are cities that flirt with you. You know the difference almost immediately. You can admire a place without wanting to have an affair with it. You can appreciate the architecture, visit the museums, eat a respectable dinner, take photographs, and leave thinking, Well, that [...]

I love convenience. I would like to establish this immediately before anyone decides I am about to advocate churning butter. I enjoy having food appear at my door. I enjoy knowing where the car is on an app. I enjoy buying an airplane ticket without telephoning a human being and spelling my name six times. [...]

I like manners. This apparently makes me sound approximately 97 years old. So be it. I do not mean elaborate etiquette involving twelve forks and anxiety about which direction the asparagus should face. I mean the little gestures that tell another person: I noticed you. There is something deeply attractive about a man who moves [...]