My friend James Baber has a new blog, I am QuasiJames’ Mind. A brilliant thinker who unabashedly says what he thinks. Rachel Ryle has a new blog with the best title ever, Once in a Ryle. Rachel spent an entire year rhyming every single one of her Tweets, so expect good stuff from her. Cali Harris has a new blog called Caligater with posts that will dance into your heart. Which is appropriate for an award-winning dancer. My former Schenkein colleague and friend Abbey O’Neal has a blog called Days Like These about living with purpose. Her writing is striking me right at the heart as it is a lot of things I am working on right now.

And…a belated shout friend to my friend Ryan Behner. Ryan committed to doing a photo a day in 2009, which he actually followed through on. And not only did he do a photo a day, they were absolutely brilliant. Before I left for my trip, Ryan was so kind as to do a photo walk with me to give me tips on photography. He is as kind as he is talented. And every time he looks at my photos, he must reflect upon how those two hours were wasted.  Fear not Ryan, when I get back I’m going to waste more of your time as I really want to get better at this.

Ryan Behner photo. (I miss home.)

I am driving you home. Ryan Behner photo.

Map Reading in Rome

Everyday I am amazed at the kindness of total strangers in helping me along my way. In Bern, a father and teenage daughter spot me reading directions and walking around aimlessly with my pack on my back. They approach me in English, walk me half way to my destination and wish me safe travels.
A women from Norway seeks me out after sitting next to me on a canal tour in Copenhagen to bear hug me and tell me, “May God bless you and your travels.” As I pace nervously outside a hotel (not my own) at 4:45 am in Reykjavik, Iceland, the hotel manager comes to check on me and informs me that the shuttle has already left. She calls a cab for me, tells me not to worry and makes me coffee with biscuits as I wait.

As me and three men are examining a map in Munich attempting to find a good local watering hole, a women stops us to ask us what we are looking for. When we tell her a local bar, she tells us the name of where she’s come from and that she’s pretty “sauced”, so we will have a good time there.

As I said in my Iceland post, pulling out and staring at a map is a universal sign to either mug me or help me find my way. Repeatedly Europeans have graciously offered a stranger help in finding her way, purchasing tickets and making sure she gets off on the right train stop. In America, we frequently hear of Southern hospitality, but European hospitality would give Southerners a run for their money.

Yes, I had my wallet stolen in Florence. Yes, some man decided to whip it out of his pants to flash me in Rome. But you can’t let a couple of bad moments color the daily acts of kindness I’ve seen from Europeans.

It has me contemplating my own kindness towards others. When people are on street corners looking at maps, literally or figuratively, am I extending basic kindness that can be so meaningful?

WaWa Treats. Photo courtesy of Foodzie.

While Europe isn’t as Americanized as I expected, globalization is alive and well in every city. Even Privas just received its first McDonalds. Nearly every city has an H&M, Starbucks and McDonalds. Rinse and repeat. Let’s be honest, it’s not that I don’t love the first two. Yet despite the wildly disparate cultures of the countries I visit, I can buy a grande latte on the way to my affordable Swedish design almost anywhere. It is tiring to see the same brands in every country.

That’s why I love what Foodzie is doing. For all my friends who don’t spend as much time on the Internet as I do, Foodzie is similar to an online farmer’s market. Meaning they help artisinal food producers build a web presence and help discerning foodies find some of the best damn food out there. Each producer is more of a regional Mom & Pop type producer with a compelling story.

What’s more is that Foodzie makes the best presents out there. I’ve been giving Foodzie as presents for more than a year, and they usually elicit a wow. The packaging is stellar, the food is incredible, the selection is unique and the prices are affordable. Typically, for this level of quality, you’d pay Godiva prices.

I met the founders of Foodzie through TechStars, which was a pro-bono client of my last agency. TechStars is a three-month program that helps tech startups accelerate their growth providing mentorship from some incredible leaders in tech. The three founders of Foodzie are in their early- to mid-twenties and took a big shift from their traditional career paths to start a company. They uprooted themselves from stable jobs and a house in North Carolina to Boulder for TechStars and then to San Francisco to host their company. I love that when I shop Foodzie, I’m not only supporting the entrepreneurship of their many producers, but twenty-somethings who took big risks rather than a traditional path.

Kika's Treats. Caramelized graham crackers with pure milk chocolate. Photo courtesty of Foodzie

And if you’re looking for some suggestions for what to order, these are some of the producers I’ve given gifts from: Coco-luxe, Taza Chocolates, BonBonBars, p.o.p candy, Liz Lovely, Seth Ellis chocolates and little laura’s sweets. I’ve had dreams about Kika’s Treats previously. You can even turn them into s’mores. You’ll notice I don’t deviate from the chocolate section, so you’ll have to get non-sweet recommendations elsewhere. This Valentine’s and Easter, forgo the Schaffers and Cadbury. Your loved ones will thank you for it.

The September issue of Vogue is always the biggest and baddest of the entire season outweighing even December (which strikes me as odd as that is a make or break month for retail). It is the Bible of fashion. It is massive. The September 2007 issue of Vogue (the edition featured in the documentary) had 727 pages of advertising in it. It is one of the few magazines where commercialism is as appreciated as the ads since they’re as good as the editorials.

The star of the documentary is Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief and renowned inspiration behind The Devil Wears Prada. The scene stealer though belongs to Grace Coddington, creative director of Vogue, who pushes Anna into submission and lives to tell about it. Grace does beautiful and inspiring editorials that are heart breakingly romantic (like my favorite Vogue editorial of all time). Anna puts together a publication that has the most pages of any monthly magazine in history. A ying and yang of personalities that results in Vogue.

Anna is the dictator of the fashion world. The documentary shows how she brought back fur in the early 90s, how she convinced Miuccia Prada to change her materials to the joy of retailers, how she guilted Stefano Pilati (current designer of Yves Saint Laurent) about not using color, how she convinced Oscar de la Renta into paring down his line, how she helped make Thakoon a star. Known sometimes as Nuclear Wintour, she has an icy demeanor. One of my favorite lines in The Devil Wears Prada is when Miranda Priestly asks about a call thru, “Why is no one reeeaaadddy?” The hilarious park is when Anna Wintour asks “Is anyone coming to this run thru besides me?” Lauren Weisberger was pretty dead on in detailing Anna Wintour.

I loved Grace. She doesn’t conform. Her name isn’t Candy Pratts Price, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Marina Rust Connor or Andre Leon Talley (do we see a pattern here?). One of the chief complaints with The Devil Wears Prada is that fashion editors don’t actually dress like that and that certainly rang true for Grace. (Even Tonne Goodman always wears white jeans from the Gap, which I LOVE.) Plus, she was hilarious. She brought up budget in front of the cameraman for the haute couture shoot (a killer shoot with Raquel Zimmerman) because she knew it would force Anna’s hand. She has an artistic vision that was incredible to watch come together. I loved how she talked about always keeping your eyes open to find inspiration everywhere.

Go see it if you can. It was my favorite movie of 2009.

Caroline Trentini and the camera man from the documentary (Photo courtesy of Style)

PS – The title of the blog is the name of the song played in the documentary – Destroying Everything You Touch by Ladytron

Anyone else in fashion that you follow that you think is a must? I also love Oscar PR Girl but I have no idea who she is in real life, and thus, no pictures.

Jessica Stam - Canadian model, Marc Jacob muse and current face of Fendi Fall. Follow her at http://twitter.com/jess_stam (Photo by Justin Campbell/BuzzFoto/FilmMagic)

Byrdie Bell - Socialite, Ford Model, Actress and General Girl About Town. Follow her at http://twitter.com/ByrdieBell. (Photograph © PatrickMcMullan.com)

Euan Rellie (LEFT) - Son of a British diplomat, and he dresses like one too. Financial advisor, man about town and married to Lucy Sykes. I suspect he is also James Bond. Follow at http://twitter.com/euanrellie (Photo courtesy of Style.com)

Harley Viera Newton (left) and Julia Restoin Roitfeld (right). Harley is a hipster, Cobra Snake and Nylon Magazine subject and official DJ for Dior. Julia is the daughter of Paris Vogue editor Carine and just rocks black clothing. Follow at http://twitter.com/harleyvnewton and http://twitter.com/Julia_RR. Photo courtesy of Style.com.

Doutzen Kroes (RIGHT)- Danish model, Victoria Secret angel and my favorite model. Follow her at http://twitter.com/missdk. (Photo courtesy of Style.com)

Tory Burch - Socialite turned fashion designer. Never looks unfabulous. Ever. Follow her at http://twitter.com/TORYBURCH. (Photo courtesy of Style.com)