It IS a special week when one of my "babies" comes home from Europe to introduce me to his boyfriend. "Leopold", always fondly remembered as Jake, is here for two weeks with one of the most adorable Germans since Lilly Marlene. None of us could get his name down, but the German was astounded by my knowledge of the area and history of Hesse-Darmstadt, where he was born.

Ah.....as The countess de Lava said in "The Women", "La'mour, La'mour; tu jour, La'mour.

I love my boys.

And who shows up on The Palace steps (ESPN headquarters is just across the street), but Mike Ditka whom Brian just gushed over. Unfortunately, I have no clue about the game, always having thought it rather vulgar, too slow, and terribly middle class. At least in soccer, there was some action and something to look at.

Something I AM familiar with, Henrietta, stopped by to say she would like to hold her birthday party in our new back bar (the infamous latin room). I told her we would pull out the stops for it and it is in March. The room will be host this weekend to Countess du Barry's "Tiaras at The Palace", an event the tickets to which are now being fiercly fought over. I have had several young men approach me about it, but long ago decided to bring James, one of the most intriguing and adorable attendees to Court I can think of and someone I have held in high regard for a long time. Sometimes you just have to follow instinct in a situation like this; James is that instinct and I won't be proven wrong.