We're thrilled to be catching up with Anna Morton, co-founder of our favorite tea company, Leaves and Flowers, 

Permanent Collection: Anna, name the one thing you most identify with your personal 'Permanent Collection.'

Anna Morton: Last year a newer friend and jewelry designer, Alexa de la Cruz, gifted me a silver bracelet from her collection. I don’t wear much jewelry, but the pieces I do have I wear almost daily. The bracelet is a wide sterling silver cuff with a silver heart fixed in the middle.

P.C.: It's so sweet! What else is it about this piece that makes it so special?

A.M.: Alexa didn’t know it, but she gifted me this bracelet in the midst of a very difficult time in my life. A moment when I truly had “my heart on my sleeve.” Her kindness in giving it to me buoyed me up, and the bracelet immediately became a deeply personal and symbolic adornment. If not on my wrist, the bracelet lives on a marble dish in my bathroom, but it's generally with me daily!
 
P.C.: It feels like this bracelet might be a contender, but is there another gift you would describe as "the best gift you've ever been given"? 

A.M.: There are so many special gifts I’ve received in my life, but what comes to mind now is a gift—or really tradition—with my grandfather. The last few years for my birthday, my grandfather flies to San Francisco to take me to dinner. We get dressed up and make it special. I cherish these intimate moments with him, just the two of us.

P.C. Tell me about your trustiest thrift shop.

A.M.: Turnabout Thrift Shop in El Cerrito is a favorite but I also love The Humane Society Thrift Shop in my hometown of Sisters Oregon.

P.C.: Do you have a favorite museum or gallery? 

A.M.: I love the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Located in the 16th arrondissement, it features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 painting, Sunrise. It is the largest collection of his works and a beautiful building.

P.C.: Tell us, is there a food dish in my "forever repertoire"?

A.M.: It would have to be a Caesar Salad! When I first moved to San Francisco I worked as a personal assistant to a chef. She cooked beautiful food for people all day long and would often tell me how much she craved a Caesar Salad at the end of it all. She made one for me once. The dressing was exquisite—lemony, creamy, pungent. The salad so fresh and satisfying. I set out to perfect my own version and it has remained a favorite dish ever since.