Holiday Delights: My Sugared Pink Holiday House from The Dotted Line
I bought this “sugared”, sparkly holiday house at The Dotted Line in Nashville over 7 years ago and it is still one of my favorite holiday delights. It sits on top of my cream piano every Christmas and reminds me of my years spent in Nashville.
Isn’t that what Christmas is all about – recalling old memories and making new ones?
BF Asks: What decorative treasure recalls fond memories for you?
xoxo,
BF
This week was a reminder in how precious life is, how much we should celebrate our life & health every day…and how quickly it can be taken away.
HIGH
My high would have to be my birthday on Saturday.
Midnight cake, champagne & wishes. The best birthdays always begin at midnight. And so it begins...
It was a day filled with friends, food and fun! It started with a morning hike at Runyon Canyon…
A morning hike at Runyon Canyon to make me feel all 36 years alive!
Then there was a brunch with good friends & bottomless mimosas (the perfect marriage if you ask me) at Chic Wine Bar in my hood…
First, second and third apparent rules of bdays? 1) You must brunch with good friends and, well, 2) there must be bottomless mimosas and, of course, 3) you MUST wear sequins. Yep. It's a thing.
A manicure & pedicure at Polish Couture…
Now, THIS is what I call a birthday mani
And dinner and dancing with friends at The Village Idiot followed by Fubar.
Nothin' better than dinner & dancing with friends on your birthday!
LOW
Low: Remembering Paul...
As I was getting ready to leave for my birthday evening out on the town, I heard about the death of Paul Walker. I knew Paul Walker. He was one of the first people I met in Los Angeles and he dated my first roommate out here for years. I hadn’t seen him or talked to him in over a decade but those memories of that first year in LA came flooding back to me. Two Texas girls in the big city of LA ready to take on the world. And there was Paul Walker…a moviestar being a frequent face in our apartment on Holt. Eating pizza with us on our red couch. So this was LA.
I remember Paul hanging things in our new apartment when we first moved in and my mom making a joke that “If that acting thing doesn’t work out, you could be a handyman.” I wanted to die. At this point, Paul had been in Varsity Blues and had The Fast and The Furious franchise going on. This “acting thing” was workin’ out just fine for him. My mom knew this and thought it was good to keep people down to earth.
But Paul didn’t need that reminder. He was a born-and-bred Cali boy with a beautiful little daughter named Meadow who used to play at our apartment. I remember starting a diet on a Sunday and him telling me to eat some chinese food because “No one starts a diet on a Sunday. Everyone knows you start on a Monday.” I remember that I would get super annoyed that he wouldn’t buy toilet paper when he was basically living with us. I remember that he had a very cool car – and I had no idea what it was, of course – and people used to stop in front our yellow 4-plex to look at it. Cars were a passion of his. So it seems even more tragic that they led to his premature demise.
Whenever someone passes, I always say that you feel an absence whether you really knew them or not. I would never profess that Paul was a good friend or anything like that. But Paul was basically my 3rd roommate my first year in LA and I feel the loss of that memory. He was a presence in that new chapter I started in LA all those years ago and I am so sad that his story has ended much too early. My thoughts, prayers and love go out to Meadow, his family and my former roommate who loved him very much for a chapter in her life. I’m happy he was a small part of mine for the brief time he was.
xoxo,
BF
BF Asks: What was your High-Low this week?
Today. September 11th. It never gets easier.
Our recovery comes in our remembering. And our peace comes in our memories of the ones we lost. Here’s what I remember.
I remember being woken up by frantic phone calls from my mom and ex-boyfriend, Chris Telles, in Texas. It was still dark out here on the west coast and the sleep in my eyes would barely let me make out the horror that was playing out on the television. It was right before the second tower was hit. It felt like it was the acopalypse and at that age, I don’t know if I really even knew what that meant. I just remember thinking it. With these two calls, I remember feeling both loved and very, very alone.
I remember needing to get out of the house and desperately needing to be with other people. I did NOT want to be alone. It was unbearable. So I went over to Ned & Sarah Brower’s apartment on Spaulding. There, we sat in Craig Weaver’s apartment watching the footage. I realized I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be alone. And I am still so thankful for those people.
I remember LA felt like a ghost town that day. I had to go grocery shopping so I went to the Whole Foods on Fairfax and Santa Monica where I exchanged sad, gentle smiles with strangers to whom I felt instantly bonded. I don’t go back to that location very often because it will always remind me of that sad, scared, empty feeling.
I remember going to meet my new Hawkeye band members, Jeff Bell and Kalai King at their apartment with my roommate at the time, Lauren Kahner and her boyfriend – and our amazing piano player – JK Morrical. We sat there and talked for hours, listening to music and drinking wine – and I knew that I had found a family of a sort.
Hawkeye at The Roxy
James Taylor’s Fire and Rain came on and we were all silent. That song would always mean that mournful moment to me.
I remember that I loved Ryan Adams’ Gold that fall and his song, “New York, New York” will always give me chills and take me right back to that sad season. Songs are powerful elixirs like that.
I remember that after that evening, I didn’t feel alone anymore.
These are my memories and they are as vivid today as yesterday and I didn’t even lose anyone.
Blessings, love and healing to all of those remembering their loved ones today.
xoxo,
BF
BF Asks: Where were you on the day the world stopped turning?
Tomorrow I’m hosting a bridal shower for my best friend of 23 years, Suzanne, with my oldest friend of 25 years, Allison. I had to share this quote with you today because it makes me think of both of them and the many, giggle-filled Friday nights we spent in our hometown of Dallas together. They are so precious to me.
Memories may get fuzzy but friendship never fades.
xoxo,
BF
Friends never fade...
“Years from now, I won’t remember every Friday night – or the things that made us laugh so hard that our stomachs hurt, but I will always remember that you were the ones who were there.”
(Unknown)
A myriad of memories...One of my MANY collages over the years...
Recently, I had a nice, long talk with a friend about the power of memories. We agreed that some days, a memory can burn brighter than the sunshine in any modern moment.
And that, my friends, can be deceptive.
We build up the past in hopes of it taking away the pain of the present. Or the boredom. Or the troubles. Or simply the routine. It’s our escape into something that’s familiar while being just foreign and different enough from our current situation.
After many questions, a few tears, a couple glasses of wine and a goodbye, this is what I emailed my friend.
The past is precious because that’s exactly what it is.
I used to watch Mystic Pizza a lot.
Before I graduated high school, I imagined that the summer before college would feel like how the movie felt. And, you know what, it did.
I found this quote the other day, in one of my homemade quote books, as I was leaving for my hometown of Dallas to attend one of my high school best friend’s, Jenny’s, wedding.
Reading it again, after 16 years, it took on an entirely different meaning. But it’s no less moving than it was all those years ago.
And, as graduation is upon us, I ask you to remember this: Enjoy this moment. And remember these times because you’ll look back one day and remember them with a smile.
BF QOD: Mystic Pizza
When I think of moms, I think of my Mom baking brownies when we were growing up. I think of “getting to clean” the beaters from the mixer, licking the spatula, my mom taking a big finger’s worth of buttery brownie batter and my eyes widening in delight as I savored the gooey goodness. YUMMY!
So, on Sunday, when I couldn’t find my Mom’s brownie recipe (which she originally got from her dear friend, Judy Rainey), I decided to make up my own! I tried something out and it just worked beautifully! I love it when that happens. So here are my CCC Brownies. Why CCC? Because the key ingredients are cocoa and cream cheese! And butter, of course! Now, you can share my buttery, brownie recipe with your kids!! May their memories be as sweet as mine looking back on it one day! Happy Mother’s Day!
And, Mom, thanks to you and Nanny for giving me the baking bug! I am forever grateful.
xoxo,
BF
BeautyFrosting's CCC Brownies
CCC Brownies (Cocoa Cream Cheese)
Ready for the oven!
Yummylicious!! CCC Brownies
It’s that time of year again. Time to tell your Mom, or wife or grandmother, etc.- how much you love and value her.
Uh-oh. What to say?
KISS! Keep it simple sweetheart!
Many moms would prefer a few, heartfelt, sweet words than all of the diamonds in the world!
Here are some tips and tricks to get those heartfelt diamond words just rolling off the tongue!
1) Make her a card. Freshen up on that penmanship Mom always loved! Emails & texts are nice…for every day. Not for a holiday and certainly not for the special lady in your life on her special day! Write a card, use personal stationery, draw a picture. But just make sure it comes directly from your heart to the pen to the paper to her heart. It will mean much more to her than a text or email ever could. And, by the way, who doesn’t love getting mail?
David "Davy" and Mom and me
2) Recall a favorite memory with Mom. Write it up, as you remember it, and include it in a sweet card or – better yet – make a card yourself by choosing a personal family photo to accompany it. Maybe a pic of you and Mom coming home from the hospital? Graduation? Wedding? You and Santa?
Mom and me and Great Grandmother, Delaney
Use an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet/cardstock and double-stick tape or glue the photo at the top. Underneath, include the moving memory. Whether it be sweet, funny or sad, it will take Mom on that long-needed walk down Memory Lane.
Mom and me and my big brother, David in Destin
4) Find a poem online that tells her how you feel. Pinterest is great for this. Also , google “mom quotes” or “mom poems” or look at my quotes this week here on BeautyFrosting. If you’re coming up dry, please email me and I’ll help you out!
Also, check out yesterday’s Mother’s Day Gift-Giving Guide: Long on Love, Short on Time & Money for thoughtful gifting tips for the Mom in your life!
xoxo,
BF
BF Asks: What’s your favorite quote about moms?