Lovely how sophisticated Houston femmes are so adept at turning a very worthy cause into a cause to celebrate. Case in point, last week's tour de Paris by a fashionable clutch of Houstonians who waltzed through the City of Light on behalf of the American Hospital of Paris Foundation.

With foundation president Donna Chapman in the lead, the Houston Ambassadors, as hospital supporters are known, savored a week of activities aimed at raising awareness and funds for the non-profit. Chapman and her husband, Max Chapman, hosted the group and members of the foundation board of governors to a trés fancy cocktail reception at the palatial Club Cercle d L'Union Interalliee.

The itinerary included an evening dinner cruise on the Seine, a tour of Coco Chanel's Rue Cambon apartment, a specially-prepared dinner by chef Philippe Excoffier and a luncheon at the U.S. Ambassador's residence with official welcome by Ambassador Charles Rivkin and wife Susan Tolson.

The H-Town contingent included AHPF board members Diane Lokey Farb and Linda F. Barrett, accompanied by her husband John Barrett, and Ambassadors Coco Blaffer, Alice and Philip Burguieres, Anna Dean and Barbara van Postman. Anne Mendelsohn joined the group while her husband, Dr. John Mendelsohn, attended a medical conference on personalized cancer research.

Joining the Houston Ambassadors throughout the week were board of governors from around the world including former U.S. Ambassador to France Howard Leach.

One foot in Santa Fe

That would be gallery owner Wade Wilson, who launched Wade Wilson Art on famed Canyon Road (at 409, to be exact) with an opening party Friday night attended by oodles of Houston fans and guests from around the country. "Hoping this will give me a tremendous reach collectively into a larger community of collectors," he emailed from Santa Fe.

Wilson plans on spending most of the summer in the New Mexico art mecca but will be in Houston next week for Art Houston. Beginning in September, he'll be dividing his time equally between Santa Fe and Houston. We are soooooo jealous.

Artists joining him at the launch included Ellen Orseck with husband Paul, Tomas Glass, Floyd Newsum, Lucinda Cobley, Cheryl Schubert, Justin Garcia, Nicola Parente and Aaron Courtland. The party crowd included Vincent Meyers, Elise Hollingsworth, Gerald Smith, Jim Hurst, Greg Jeu, Kim Jessup and Wade Wilson gallery directors — Ken General for Houston and Ana Gonzales Biele for Santa Fe.

On his Facebook page, Wilson exalted in the opening: "When a man's dreams become reality after years of working, planning and hoping, it leaves one filled with such gratitude for the blessings and gifts of this life."

It's all about friends

And there was a passel of them on hand to help singer Bubba McNeely celebrate his birthday at The Red Room on Friday. This rocking party included flowing bubbly, music and dancing.

Before they headed to Colorado and other cool climes for the Fourth, the party people included Melissa Mithoff, Debbie Festari, Greg Fourticq, Suzy Simons, Tena Faust, Tama Lundquist, Shannon Hall, Mauney Mafrige, Marcy de Luna, Michael Kemper, Jared Lang, Don Mafrige and Sharron Melton.

Feeding the children

Physician, author and philosopher Deepak Chopra shares his wisdom and his personal philanthropy with Houstonians this fall when he headlines a fundraiser for the Akshaya Patra Foundation USA, of which he is an advisory board member. The foundation works to provide food for school children across India.

The dinner event, sponsored by the foundation's Houston chapter, is chaired by Philamena and Arthur Baird, Anuradha and Mani Subramanian, Nidhika and Pershant Mehta and Leena and Ash Shah.