Happy Mother's Day

Here are the three women that have shaped my life the most. Starting from the right, my mom, Tunt Aida, and Tunt Leila. They have challenged me, inspired me, taught me, nursed me back to health, and guided me my entire life. I love them and miss them so much today.

Southern Skies

I'm in Dallas now and have given my camera a brief vacation, so it's just words today. The weather has been incredibly warm, and the wind is kicking up today for a rainstorm that will no doubt hit right when we step outside. I've been working on the growth charts, in between catch-up sessions of Project Runway with my sister and brother-in-law. The kids are gone this week, so we're spending a lot of time re-organizing and cleaning up. By "we" I mean my brother-in-law and myself, with my sister directing us from the couch as she's recovering from some major surgery. They are about to put their house on the market, so it's been fun and challenging to come up with staging ideas and ways to hide the kid's toys.

Growing up Deco

Growing up, my parents had a beautiful deco bedroom set that now resides in my sister's guest room. I spent many hours running around this set, banging it up and putting Rainbow Brite stickers on the vanity mirror when no one was looking. A novice gumshoe could narrow down the list of suspects for that crime quite easily. My sister knew better, plus her sticker choice would have been NKOTB at the time.

My mother kept her winter coats and fancy frocks hanging in the left door of this armoire. Whenever we played hide-and-seek, I could always be found nestled in this space, with my face pressed up against my mom's fox fur. When I open the door now, it seems so small I can't imagine how I fit, until my 4-yr old niece jumps inside and shows me her secret spot.

Tomorrow I head to Dallas to visit family and this furniture for the next five days. See you next week!

What a week

Here stands the largest wooden roller coaster in the world, the Texas Giant. Because it's made of wood, the entire structure shakes and rattles as you fly across it, giving the illusion of collapse and egging on your fears of death. I first rode this when I was 12, with my sister who was 16 at the time. When the safety bar came down to secure us in our seats, there was a very large gap between my skinny frame and that padded metal bar. My sister held me down for the full 5-minute ride as we screamed our heads off and were thrown about the cart. I loved it.

My apologies for being totally awol for the last week. I got hit, or should I say knocked over the head, with a case of bronchitis, and I am just now emerging from the weight of it. Lots of sorting through papers and catching up on e-mails and orders now.

My mother at 22 & 12

These photos are from fashion designer Alexandra Groover's black label collection. This model is a spitting image of my mother when she was in her early twenties (first photo) and when she was 12 (second photo). I just chopped off my hair this week, so I was thinking about this image. Now, my mom was much more glamorous looking than this model, who's styled in a rather harsh, modernist way. In her photo at 22, she has amazing sixties eyeliner and these perfect short curls and cute earrings. I tend to gravitate towards harsh modernism, so this would be my reinterpretation.