Tag Archives: love

Happy Birthday, Mom!

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I truly am The Luckiest.
Happy birthday to the woman -
who taught me how to be a woman,
who loved me as a little girl,
the woman at whom I would stare for hours wishing that I would one day be as beautiful as her.

Happy Birthday to the woman -
I told – and still tell to this day – all of my secrets to.
The woman to whom I would say how beautiful she was every day ad nauseam until she literally made me stop.
My teatime partner.
My margarita partner.
My cheese and Wine partner.
My partner in all things.

I hope that I am as good a daughter as the mother you’ve been to me.
And I pray that one day I’ll be half the mother that you are.
I know that you would like me to live the single life forever and live in Tuscany and Paris and such but seeing you be the mom that you were and are makes me want to be a mom one day.
You just make it look so beautiful.

You have accomplished so many exemplary achievements in your life but this one is your best.
Everything I am is because of you. And I could not imagine a minute without you in my life. I truly am the luckiest.

I love you the whole wide world and back again.

High-Low 2/3/14: Honest Turns 2 & The Bad Ones

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HIGH: Honest Turns 2

Celebrating The Honest Company's 2nd birthday with one of my besties, Lindsey

 

I’m not talking about a kiddo’s birthday party here although this celebration was all about the kids! I was honored to attend The Honest Company‘s 2nd birthday party this past Thursday at their headquarters in Santa Monica. With party planning & whimsical details from Details Details, delicious catering, yummy wine and sparkling wine from my favorite, One Hope Wine and a most-delicious cake by Cakes by Rumy, the fête was just the sweetest high of my week.

Jessica Alba with The Honest Company's 2nd birthday cake by Cakes by Rumy

Partners – Golden Globe-nominated actress and mom, Jessica Alba and former CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World & father, Christopher Gavigan – formed The Honest Company to, well, keep things honest. These dreamers-turned-doers turned their desire as consumers for a brand based on integrity into an integrity-based brand for all consumers. They say it best themselves, “We tried to think of all the qualities we would want in a dream brand – savvy style, sustainability, and extraordinary service & convenience all wrapped in a passion for social goodness, tied with a bow of integrity and sprinkled with a little cheeky fun.” That’s exactly what they have created in The Honest Company.

Champagne & cake to celebrate a magical company!

At the party, I was delighted to be treated to a mini shopping spree with a chance to try a wide range of The Honest Company‘s products. I picked up a good cross-section of their products and I can’t wait to try! In fact, I was so excited about the organic, vegan, cruelty-free bubble bath picked up that I had to take a bath with it that very night!

Goodies from my mini shopping spree at the Honest Turns 2 party!

By visiting The Honest Company‘s headquarters, getting to see the founders with their families and getting to take part in this celebration, I realized just how magical this company and its founders and family of employees are. They create good products, do good for others and are just good people. How could I not support a company like this 100%. Happy Birthday, Honest! I’m happy to know – and celebrate – you!

LOW: The Bad Ones

Low: The Bad Ones

There must have been something in the water last week because many of my extended chats with friends consisted of us being challenged by bad boys, bad friends, bad jobs, bad situations. So when I attended an Obagi brunch at Soho House last Thursday and they asked all of us to share what sin we’ve committed that we wouldn’t commit again and step into the photo booth with this admission of guilt, I realized I had to state the obvious. The sin? Bad boys. The promise? No more bad boys.

Now, hold your judgment. I have never been one of those girls who liked bad boys. I avoided the bad boys like the plague. For the most part, I have always liked the good guys. You know the ones – the ones who behave as men should. So what exactly do I mean by that? Oh, the men who are thoughtful, kind, smart, creative, considerate, that sort of thing. The kind that opens doors, keeps plans, makes you feel special and considers how their actions would make you feel. But after dating a seemingly bad boy once in my life and commiserating with girlfriends about these bad, bad boys and their actions or lack thereof, I had to ask myself and my friends this question. “Why do we pick them? Or do they pick us?”

It made me recall that quote from that glorious book/film, The Perks of Being A Wallflower: “We accept the love we think we deserve.” So does that make my girlfriends and I feel better or worse? Are we picking bad boys, bad friends, bad jobs, bad situations because we actually think that we deserve it? Gosh, I hope not. My friends are too beautiful – on the inside and out – to sell themselves so short.

Oh wait. And so am I.

I love it when a lesson plays a trick on you like that.

 

xoxo,
BF

 

 

High-Low 11/11/13: Boudoir & Boundaries

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I’m constantly amazed by how much your life can change in a week! I had tons of work to complete and over 8 events last week to attend (3 in one night on two nights) so there were a ton of “highs” to choose from and not too many lows, thankfully. But this “high” really took the cake and the “low” – as always – taught me a hard lesson that made me stronger.
HIGH: Boudoir Shoot with Unbuttoned Photography

Getting Primped before our first look by Emma Willis of Contour Fossa Makeup & Hair. Photo credit: Sherry Lewis & Claire Pearce, Unbuttoned Photography

It’s not every day a girl does a boudoir shoot. On a Sunday. In her home. On a day that a lunar eclipse is ending and a solar eclipse is beginning. A day on which my pilates teacher informed me that we’re destined to break patterns we’ve had for the past 19 years. (Gosh, that just sounded really LA, didn’t it?)

Especially not a girl raised in Dallas by professor parents and a southern baptist grandmother. But through this seemingly “stripping” experience, I gained so much more than I shed.

A behind-the-scenes selfie between shots for my shoot with Claire Pearce of Unbuttoned Boudoir Photography. Hair & makeup by Emma Willis of Contour Fossa Makeup & Hair

 

Here’s the thing. I’ve always been a girl. Girly-to-the-max with the spirit of a child and the responsibilities of a woman. Much of my childhood was spent being very grown up so perhaps I have held on to childhood a little longer than most. Not in a bad way at all – I’m just a bit more wide-eyed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than some folks my age and I sometimes see the world through rose-colored glasses. So I guess I really can’t complain.

Cupcakes and Pigtails - Behind The Scenes with Unbuttoned Boudoir Photography & Emma Willis

When I decided to do a boudoir shoot with Claire Pearce and Unbuttoned Photography, a few things came to mind. The first being that it was important that I do this. See, I turn 36 this month. For most of my life, I’ve had this feeling that 36 would be a critical year for me. It’s a weird feeling but it’s one that I trust. And it’s shaping up already to be an interesting one. My friends have complained forever that they want to see the sexy side of me more often. See, publicly, I embrace the girl – but the woman? Not so much. Well, this shoot helped me bring out the woman. And, y’all, she came out in spades.

Behind-the-scenes selfie at my Unbuttoned Boudoir Photography Shoot with Claire Pearce of Unbuttoned Boudoir Photography; Hair & makeup by Emma Willis of Contour Fossa Makeup & Hair

 

I was beyond at ease and sexy thanks to Claire’s soothing presence, Emma Willis of Contour Fossa Makeup & Hair’s beyond-gorgeous hair and makeup looks and a great team of assistants. I felt like a butterfly emerging out of a silky cocoon – thanks to lingerie and hosiery from In Bloom by Jonquil, Victoria’s Secret and Jet Rag vintage – while Robin Thicke, Meiko & D’Angelo played seductively in the background. Since it was at my house, it was a comfortable environment and I felt safe. I can’t recommend it highly enough for every woman out there.

*If you’re in LA, Unbuttoned Boudoir Photography has a special running right now for $745 for 14 images, hair and makeup! Um, can you say perfect holiday gift for the honey or yourself?

Sneak peak at the shoot - and a great deal for you!

**There’ll be more coming over the next few weeks with the actual shots from Unbuttoned Photography and more thoughts on my experience but I hope you enjoy these behind-the-scenes looks for now!

LOW: Boundaries

LOW: Boundaries

So if my high was the boudoir shoot, my low would have to be the opposite of that: boundaries. Ironic, huh? That these would be in the same week? Here’s the thing.

I friggin’ love people. Like so much that when someone asked me the other day what my passion was, I said “people”. I love making people feel good, making people feel better about themselves, making them feel loved and making them feel deliciously satisfied with homemade cucpakes.

But, y’see..there’s this little thing called boundaries that sometimes I forget about. I get a little too generous with someone who maybe doesn’t warrant it or I get a little too involved in helping someone I don’t know that well. And, well, all you’re left with is lost time and a feeling of being let down when it goes unappreciated. My low this week was realizing this trait in myself. And realizing that you’ve gotta have boundaries…even when you’re the cupcake queen… Perhaps ESPECIALLY when you’re the cupcake queen and live in a place called The Cupcake Palace. My heart and head are gonna be a lot better with a few boundaries In place. Don’t worry, though, I’ll still have cupcakes for ya…if you’re reaaaaal good.

The Best Gift I Ever Received from my Mom: After A While…

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Just in time for graduation, I want to share this with you.

The best gift I ever received was from my mother.

 

Clarice McCoy, my Mother

It was Christmas Day 1995. My senior year of high school.

I was sitting on the stairs of our new townhouse that she had bought following a long-overdue divorce, from my father, after 29 years of marriage.

We were depleted emotionally, physically and spiritually; and, yet, we were also strangely renewed.

When I unwrapped the gift and laid the pretty paper aside, I saw in my hands, a bubblegum-pink tome of a book, “Miss Manners: A Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior”.

I laughed. If you know me, you understand! I immediately loved it!
I mean it was pink! DING! Bubblegum pink at that! DING DING!!

Aaaaand it was a 745 page book about good manners, being nice and being a lady.

DING DING DING!!!

Miss Manners by Judith Martin

I ran over to Mom and hugged & kissed her. I felt so proud of, and for, this woman who had recently recovered from the aforementioned divorce AND raising a daughter and son lovingly while living with Interconnective Tissue Disease (a hateful combo disease of Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis).

My Nanny (my mom’s mom and the other beloved matriarch in my life) was there too. I remember that there was such a peace to her that Christmas – like, “Okay, now my baby girl is happy and on her own and all is good in the world. Thank you, God.”

Unbeknownst to us, at the time, it would be her last Christmas.

As I was hugging my Mom, she asked me, “Did you look inside?”
I shook my head no. She told me, “You really want to look inside.”
Inside was the best present I have ever been given.

See, years before – when I was 13 – I had found a quote in a Dear Abby column during our morning newspaper reads at La Madeleine. A small piece of prose that I had just fallen in love with. I had torn out the piece from the paper, recorded it in my quote book and kept it on my bulletin board for YEARS.

I just knew, at the time, that these words would give me great comfort in life. It was a quote-soulmate, if you will. Here ’tis:

After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.

Wow. I was hooked.
At that time, I had told my Mom, “If you ever find the poet or whole poem that this belongs to, please buy it or cut it out of the periodical for me. Pretty please!”
I said that knowing that the request would be lost in time. And I too forgot…after a while.

Now, 5 years later, that very poem, in its entirety, was written HERE in my Mother’s beautiful cursive handwriting on the inside front PINK pages of this book that would become one of my most prized possessions.
She had inscribed:

To Dawn, My Southern Sweetheart and My Southern Belle, here is everything you need to know about “Correct Behavior”. May all your dreams come true! You’re already the most gracious Southern Lady I know. Love and Kisses, Mom (Christmas 95)

Then on the second page was this treasure:

“After A While” by Veronica A. Shofstall

After A While 

(Veronica A. Shoffstall, copyright 1971)

After a while, you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul. and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t always mean security.

And you begin to learn
that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.

 

After a while, you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure,
you really are strong,
you really do have worth,
and you learn,
and you learn - 
with every goodbye, you learn…

Love you the whole wide world
and back again,
Mom

Well, as I had predicted at 13, I came to rely on these words very much over the years.

Deaths of loved ones that I could’t bear to live without,

friendships that seemed like they’d never end…that ended,

love that was lovely but wasn’t meant to last forever (“kisses aren’t contracts”),

and plans, of a future, that definitely have a way of “falling down in mid-flight”.

But, you know what?
I learned.

I have learned and learned and continue to learn so much every day.

And I am so grateful. I am a better woman, daughter, sister, friend, girlfriend, and, (perhaps, one day) wife and mother because of these difficult lessons learned.

Sometimes you learn things you never even knew you needed to learn! With every goodbye, I did learn. But with every hello, I do, too.

And I would never take any one of those lessons back.

I planted my own garden and tend to it as best I can every day, continue to decorate my own soul (and house and this blog and…), and, well, I’ve learned that with every goodbye you do learn, that you really can endure, you really are strong and you really do have worth.

So, THANK YOU MOM, for remembering my little 13-year old heart’s wish and giving me the grace of a woman at such a young age.

I love YOU the whole wide world and back again.

 

xoxo,

BF

BF Suggests: Share this with your daughter, or mom, or friend. It truly is a gift!

 

 

Love, Patience & Understanding

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This past October, I was invited to experience one of the greatest showings of love I’ve ever witnessed.
It was a moment alive with honesty, humor, tears, laughter, enthusiasm, comfort, family, friends and home. And dancing. Lots of dancing.
I count it as one of the single most magical experiences of my life.
It was the wedding of my dear friends, Michael and Gabe.

Gay, straight, what have you. Literally, the best vows I've ever been invited to witness. My favorite quote was from Michael in his vows to Gabe: "I used to look forward to leaving my house every day. Now, with you, I can't wait to come home." Home is where the heart is.

Yes, a “gay wedding”. But do we really need to call it that?
A wedding is simply a celebration of marriage. So while it may have been gay in the sense that it was indeed a very happy affair, why must we refer to it as that? We don’t call other weddings “straight weddings”, do we?
So why must we be voting on this basic human right at this point in our history?

Listen, I truly cling to the belief that everyone is entitled to their own politics and religion.
I really do. I’m a big proponent of american politics like that.
I truly embrace those American values.
I do.

But until you’ve witnessed two of the best men you know saying “I Do” and joining into a forever-partnership, you might want to withhold your unkind words.
These vows do nothing to you.
They don’t break any bond.
They don’t sever the relationship that marriage represents.
They don’t “teach a lesson” about the modern degradation of values.
And they don’t have an impact on you or this country.
They’re just 2 people getting married and starting their own family.
Yep, it’s that simple.

How would you feel if you weren’t legally able to marry the love of your life?
Maybe this doesn’t look like your love…but it’s their love and it’s love, nonetheless.
And, be honest here, folks. How many of you have been questioned at some point for your taste in love?
I sure have. We all have. It’s not a good feeling. And unless your love is being questioned because you’re truly marrying a bad person, it’s not helpful either.

I know a lot of people who oppose same-sex marriage and they are good people. Smart people. Kind people. So now I speak to them and to those of you on the fence.

Think with your head.
But feel…and empathize…with your heart.
And let it go.
It’s not YOUR fight.
It is their lives.
As someone once told me, when I was 16 and espousing my belief about no sex before marriage (it didn’t last), “You don’t ‘believe in it? It’s happening. It’s not a matter of belief.”
Believe what you want but it’s going on. It’s happening, people.

Any union of two loving souls connecting makes me believe in love, have faith in humanity and – as a single gal -hopefully gives me a little hope.
But above all that, it gives me patience with people and love. Because right now, that’s what my friends are having to do, too.
Here’s to hoping that they don’t have to be patient much longer.

xoxo,
Dawn

FREEday Friday: Mally Love Yourself Valentine’s Gorgeous Giveaway!

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It’s time!
Time for another goooooorgeous giveaway!
This time it’s being sponsored from the marvelous Mally Beauty!

So whatcha’ get if you win?

 

Love yourself with Mally's Perfect Red Lip Kit & Evercolor Shadow Stick in Saddle!!

Mally’s Perfect Red Lip Kit and her Evercolor Shadow Stick in Saddle!!!!!

Perfect for keeping the romance of Valentine’s Day alive!

 Whatcha’ Gotta Do to Win?

2 steps!

1) Follow BF on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest and tweet/post/pin “Win #BeautyFrosting #Mally #LOVEYOURSELF giveaway!” and reply in the comments below with:

“I’m following BF on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. This year for Valentine’s Day, I’m celebrating my love for myself by (fill in the blank).“

That’s it!
The winner will be announced next Friday, February 15th!

May the force be with you!

xoxo,
BF

BF Asks: What are you doing to celebrate your love for YOURSELF this year? 

I’ll be telling you what I’ll be doing next week!

Quote Book: Friday 12/21/12 – Mister Rogers knows best

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Mister Rogers TRULY knows best...

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”

(Mister Rogers)