June 27, 2016
Today is June 24 – well not when you’re reading this, but when I wrote it. It’s always been a very special day to me. Not because of someone named Jean Baptist but my hero, Josh. It is his birthday – my first born. A child’s birthday is always emotional for a parent – all those memories, but today was packed with a lifetime of intense feelings for me and not just me,
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April 27, 2016
I am not a particularly spiritual person but I do believe that homes have a soul, a spirit. I also believe that we are just fleeting guests within the
walls of our homes whether we live there for a couple of years or a lifetime. The front door that we enter and those walls that protect us are an integral
part of the chapters of our lives.
March 18, 2016
La Dolce Debbie, the documentary series about my journey renovating an ancient property in Tuscany comes to an end this week. I have to say my heart is full. The response has been overwhelming. I’ve received thousands of emails from viewers who have shared their dreams, their joys and pain and their hopes for tomorrow. This documentary has hit a chord with so many of you.
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February 11, 2016
LA DOLCE DEBBIE airs on OWN Canada 16th Feb 2016 at 8.30 PM
I am convinced that life is just one big circle. I find it truly amazing how people and events constantly pop back into your life. In the last few weeks
I have been having conversations with childhood friends who were at my wedding 30 years ago,
December 23, 2015
“The mystery of human existence lies in not just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky
As I am saying goodbye to 2015, I would like to share what I have taken out of the turbulence and atrocities of this year. It is simplicity. The joys of a simple life.
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November 28, 2015
I have been speaking in auditoriums filled with budding entrepreneurs for years – nowadays they seem to call them ’Start Ups.’ Wikipedia says “an entrepreneur perceives a new business opportunity and often exhibits biases in her perception and subsequent decision to exploit the opportunity.” Not quite sure what this means, but what I do know is this. First and foremost,
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October 8, 2015
The intense heat of our Tuscan summer has now cooled, the leaves begin to turn, the walnuts drop continuously from their branches, the fig trees continue to fruit and our pomegranates burst open, ripe with luscious seeds. It is autumn here in Tuscany in all its splendor.
Our land is dotted with 800 olive trees, some as old at 700 years,
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September 4, 2015
The names of the workers on the massive construction site board on the perimeter of my Tuscan property have long since faded. The crane has gone, the orange
security fence has come down, and the plumbing and electrics are finished. The gravel is down outside and the furniture is in. Air-con is on, bedside
flowers picked,
June 25, 2015
Two years ago I began my Tuscan renovation. It was so very exciting as the ‘ brute’ metal and orange, plastic security fence (compulsory on building sites in Italy) was erected around the property. A portable office arrived plus of course the quintessential portable loo . Many men arrived with strange faces. Machines of every description found their home on the site and a towering,
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May 1, 2015
In seven weeks, 17 women will arrive at my villa in Tuscany. Am I ready? NO! The massively tall crane that has lorded over my reno for three years is finally gone, but there are still cement trucks, diggers, and men everywhere. Lucky me, you may say – but these men are working! There are electricians, landscapers, carpenters,
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