Be Ready When the Luck Happens

There's a wonderful quote attributed to George Lucas: "We're all living in cages with the door wide open." That was me until I realized I had the power - and the responsibility - to set myself free. To step out of the cage of whatever I'd experienced in the past, to think for myself, and to believe in my choices.

When you're young, you marry someone who has the qualities you wish you had...As you grow older, one of two things happens. Either you start to find those difference increasingly annoying and you grow apart, or...you gradually become more like the other, even as you remain who you are".

Stand up for yourself, even when it’s hard, even when it means taking a risk. And in any endeavor, find just one person who really believes in you.

Your 20s are the time when you master what you think you're supposed to do. But in your 30s, when you've figured out what you like and don't like, and you're more confident, you can move on to what you really want to do, which might be totally different.

I concentrate on what's in front of me, and work hard, because I love what I do, and I have fun doing it; and then I leave the door open, so I'll be ready when the luck happens.

I also learned that it’s important to listen to advice and then decide if it’s true to who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish.

Slow down, they seemed to say, you can take a little twirl and still get exactly where you're going. Such a nice approach to life.

Sometimes you have to trust that the hard times, the pain and the tragedies in life have purpose. They may make no sense at the time, may bring you to your knees and you will wonder why this hell is happening and if you’ll ever get through it. But trust is your trajectory, sending you along your path, and if you listen, learn, heal and grow along the way, things will one day make sense.

But in France, these little traffic circles are a reminder that life is not about straight lines or the shortest distance between two points. Slow down, they seemed to say, you can take a little twirl and still get exactly where you’re going. Such a nice approach to life.

He was telling me that I was too smart not to do something with my life, which no one had ever said to me before.

For me, cooking wasn't the goal of entertaining; being with friends was the goal, so I wanted to make easy recipes that anyone could prepare and know their guests would be delighted.

the best deals are the ones where everyone walks away feeling as though they got exactly what they wanted.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, the person sitting next to you at a dinner party turns out to be really interesting, and you have a lively conversation that makes you think, I want to know more.

I have often thought that everyone should work in retail at some point in their lives, kind of like mandatory military service. They would understand two things—first, that serving customers all day can be a very difficult job, and second, that being kind is so much more effective than being nasty.

I’m a big believer in collaboration, in playing nicely with others. I think it makes everyone better because we can learn from each other. Business doesn’t have to be cutthroat and isolating. It’s much more fun and productive to exchange ideas, to be genuinely curious about how other people do things, to be generous, and to root for a competitor’s success.

I believe that you don’t build a brand; you just do what’s true for you every day, and then one day, you realize that you have a brand.

I concentrate on what's in front of me, and work hard, because I love what I do, and have fun doing it; and then I leave the door open, so I'll be ready when the luck happens.

This is the thing about being in Paris. I always say that you can’t be inspired sitting at home alone by yourself. You have to go out into the world and see what people are doing, and that will trigger something else in you, and then you’ll do it your way.

I think what I loved most, aside from Jeffrey’s constant company and undivided attention, was that there were no straight lines between where we were and where we wanted to be. Our route was dictated by whimsy, not logic.

Good architecture makes me want to do a better job, to live up to the promise of the space.

Why do successful women always say they’re lucky, and successful men say they got there by the force of their talent?

Even a salad like Winter Greens with Stilton & Hazelnuts

We’d go to Europe! The dollar was strong, we had no responsibilities until the fall, and we loved to travel together. Jeffrey took a long, hard look at our tiny savings account and calculated that we could stay in Europe for four months IF we kept to a budget of five dollars a day. I know that sounds insane, but there was actually a very popular book at the time, Arthur Frommer’s Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, that told us exactly how to do it.

I spent hours in my room, crying, wondering what I had done to provoke him, too young to understand that I wasn’t the problem. I kept my door closed, hoping he wouldn’t come in and scream at me. I was lonely in there, but at least I felt safe.

One thing I learned, and continue to learn every day, is that the food we enjoy most connects to our deepest memories of when we felt happy, comfortable, nurtured.

seemingly insurmountable problems not only make us who we are but can propel us to exactly the place we want to be.

I love traditional pursuits; I just want to do them my way and make my own decisions.

After all my mother's negativity, I could design the rooms, cook anything I wanted, throw parties, and make a home for us.

I remember sitting there stunned, thinking, “Oh shit! I just bought a specialty food store!

the definition of a good marriage is that each person thinks they got the better