Fairies and Fairy Tale Wishes

When you have young children, you become a believer in all things make believe like you did when you were younger.  It is a Child's belief in fairies that make fairies real to everyone. Mermaids, unicorns, fairies...are all part of a happy childhood.

My daughter Zooey recently had a visit from the tooth fairy and we've had many discussions about how fairies look, sound, and smell.

With very serious thinking, my daughter has decided she will be a tooth fairy when she grows up. Zooey was in tears the night she told me of her future job and said, "Oh Mommy, I'm going to miss you so much because tooth fairies don't live at home, they live in castles." To calm my emotional little girl down I agreed to be a tooth fairy with her!

According to Zooey a tooth fairy looks like Tinkerbell, sounds like whispers and wind, lives in a beautiful pink castle in the sky, and smells like cinnamon.

When I think of fairies, Peter Pan's Tinkerbell is the first to come to mind, Abby Caddaby from Sesame Street is another fairy we are very familiar with, and my favorite ballet (Giselle) has many fairies in the magical romantic forest and mountain regions known as the Rhineland where the Wilies dance from midnight until four o'clock in the morning. I would imagine the Rhineland to be like Pixie Hollow and the Wilies to be the most beauiful of fairies.

Fairies bring joy, magic, and laughter whenever you think of them. Like butterflies... fairies are light, whimsical, and beautiful to look at; lathered in pixie dust- they are full of magic. To touch a butterfly is like being kissed by a fairy and if you're lucky enough, they will leave some of their pixie dust from their beautiful wings with you. Anything related to the touch of fairies and butterflies is laced with magic.

One of my second grade students, Emma, has a wonderful grandmother who knows of a special tree that fairies like to play in. They leave Emma little fairy treasures as small as her thumb for her to play with like a tiny journal with her name, a little fairy broom, and the smallest hair brush you've ever seen. Emma is very proud of her fairy treasures and she made other children believers when she shared them.

After all, don't we know that all the best things in life are invisible? Magic happens everyday-sometimes we just have to think of the right thing and be willing to believe in order to "see" it. Though they may not last forever, dreams do come true... Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!

Photos: One of my daughter's favorite things to play with, "My Fairy Sandbox" and a wonderful book to read when you lose a tooth, "My Tooth Fairy Tale."

Texas Fashion Collection: hosting treasures that are appreciated

You know those times when you anticipate something really exciting that you are about to do? Last week, I had one of those experiences as I walked into the Texas Fashion Collection in Scoular Hall at The University of North Texas; my expectations were exceeded past my wildest dreams. I can’t believe here in Denton, Texas (the city in which I was born and raised) were so many hidden treasures just waiting to be discovered.

Walking into to UNT’s 4,500 square foot space I was astonished of the amount of clothing that looks like it goes on for miles. The 15,000 plus collection is so nicely organized from the earliest pieces (including garments and hats from the late 1700s) to today’s contemporary fashions.  

UNT began housing the collection in 1972 but it actually began in 1938 when Stanley and Edward Marcus began preserving works of fashion that belonged to their Aunt, Carrie Marcus Neiman.  Once the collection got too vast, it moved to UNT and has been overseen by Professor Myra Walker, director and curator since 1987.

In the beginning, designers would send pieces to Stanley Marcus to build his collection. He tried to get very high end couture and eventually ran out of space. His collection was about 1000 pieces before coming to UNT.

The earliest garment, a small blue dress from 1795, looks like it would fit a twelve year old. People were smaller then due to what was typically a more meager diet than we enjoy. In the designer section, most works are represented in alphabetical order. It is fun to see how the changes in silhouette and size reveal what was going on in history.

I felt like a kid in a candy store and my candy was fashion. It felt like I was in Milan, Italy in an important fashion warehouse and every moment BIG names were jumping out at me. I thought of Patricia Field and how she must feel all the time going to work and being surrounded by beautiful things from fashion history.

My favorite piece was an Adele Simpson daytime dress from the 50’s (I would wear it today). Simpson, like Chanel, was part of the post war fashion movement and into more comfortable sportswear. She took French couture and gave it an American lady-like feel.

The Texas Fashion Collection hosts a list of designers that will make you want to stand-up and applaud! Designers like: Chanel, Dior, Scaasi, Cashin, Pucci, Trigere, Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta, Galanos…it’s enough to make your head spin!  Some stars of the collection include: Chinese bound foot slippers, intricately beaded handbags, 1890s Texas prairie dresses, silk wedding dresses from 1840s-1900s, Japanese kimonos, a blue pregnancy outfit that Jackie Kennedy wore during the campaign…

Clothing carries memories. Think about when you put on something you haven’t worn in a while, you’re clothing and accessories tell a story and they hold the feelings you had the last time you wore it.

Fashion is THE best tool to study the past. When styles change it’s because the times have changed. Sometimes it happens so quickly we don’t even realize that fashion is slowly evolving.

Walking down the aisles of the TFC and observing the racks and racks of changing styles, I was able to see a clearer picture of what was happening during those times and how fashion was influenced.

I specifically think of the 1920’s (one of my favorite time periods) and also the 1960’s (because it was so drastically different from the former periods).

The 1920’s brought along an avant-garde change in fashion. Women were seen wearing bustless, waistless silhouettes. It was the beginning of the flapper style and the popular cloche hat. Coco Chanel popularized the sporty athletic look with the use of jersey knit, clean lines, and outdoor living. One of the TFC highlights includes a gorgeous 1920’s beaded flapper dresses from Paris. I was lucky enough to hold it and can tell you it was extremely heavy AND extremely fabulous!

Walking down the 1950’s rack you suddenly get hit with the drastic change from the 1960’s and can’t help but say, Whoa! Dawn Figueroa (assistant curator of the Texas Fashion Collection) explained that textiles and products from other countries played a key role in fashion. There were restrictions of the dies and fabrics designers used in the 1950’s. During this time the economy was good and TV was culturally influencing designers because people got to view the world through television. When the 1960’s came around there was a radical change; Dawn Figueroa says this about the 60’s, “It’s like you’ve only had a ten-pack of crayons then you get a four-hundred-pack of crayons and the colors go all over the place.”



Carrie Marcus Neiman's squirrel coat



One of the many wonderful things about the TFC is that it is a place to learn. Some of the pieces in the collection are designated for study and can be taken apart and turned inside out, but most of the pieces are museum garments with minimal handling. This is a unique educational fashion museum that enhances our understanding of society through the study of clothing. The archived items serve as teaching and researching tools for students, faculty, and anyone interested in fashion history. The goal of the TFC is to preserve and exhibit its ever expanding collection of clothing and accessories and make materials available for all who want to learn.

The TFC staff has the fun job this summer of opening up boxes that haven’t been opened in years to photograph and catalog the treasures that they find. Can you imagine the excitement every time they open a box?

The Texas Fashion Collection is lucky to have such generous Dallas donors like oil heiress Claudia de Osborne, Mercedes Bass, and Texan turned Parisian ballerina Nita-Carol Miskovitch.

Claudia de Osborne donated 371 pieces to the TFC (many of those were works by Spanish designer Balenciaga). It was her sense of style that put Dallas on the map for fashion in the 1950’s. She once said, “Mr. Marcus can tell you how I love clothes. It is sort of a religion with me. I am terribly happy that these things are in the hands of people who appreciate them.”

The Texas Fashion Collection is VERY special; there’s nothing like it in the entire world! Clothing from every vocation, class, and occupation from socialite, housewife, leisure, nine-to-five…you can sing Chaka Khan’s I’m every woman when you see every woman represented in the Texas Fashion Collection.

As a lover of fashion, I can relate to what Claudia de Osborne said and I wish I could tell her and Carrie Marcus Neiman just how much their clothes and all the 15,000 plus items are being appreciated at UNT’s Texas Fashion Collection.

Midnight in Paris: Let's do it, let's fall in love...



This summer if you can’t go to Paris, I have a movie recommendation that will transport you there. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (which opened the Cannes Film Festival) takes you into the nostalgic era of music, art, and writing of the 1920’s. A romantic time of pleasure, joie de vivre, art, whimsy, and enchantment.

It’s about a young engaged couple who realize they’re not meant for each other once they’re in Paris; and then there is the illusion that life in a different place and time would be better. When life is unsatisfying, it’s easy to wish you could escape into a different period by time travel, that’s why most people love fantasy.  

The beauty of going to the movies is we can be transported back in time.  We turn to movies and books to escape, Midnight in Paris is the whole package that is a pleasure to behold and then again and again.

Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard

Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson

Paris is zee world’s GREATEST city, bien sûr!  Midnight in Paris is a beautiful love letter to the divine 1920’s Paris.  Gil (Owen Wilson) thinks Paris looks best in the rain, but no matter the weather or the time, Midnight in Paris will take your breath away and leave you wanting to stay in the theatre and experience it again and again.

In a world full of wishes that are easily granted, Gil (a discouraged TV writer) dreams of becoming an expatriate writer. His fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams) wants Gil to keep doing what he does best so she can keep enjoying his credit cards. Gil and Inez meet up with Inez’s old flame Paul (Michael Sheen) who is an arrogant intellectual arguing with the museum guide of Musée Rodin who happens to be Carla Bruni (model, singer, first lady of France, now actress).

We later learn from Gertrude Stein that Gil’s novel may not be half bad. This gives Gil hope.

It is a fantasy of mine to become an expat writer and live in Tuscany like Frances Mayes. I totally get Gil!

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald

The fun begins when Gil (who is a little drunk) goes for a late-night stroll and gets lost. At midnight a gorgeous antique Peugeot pulls up with happy socialites drinking champagne. He does the right thing and gets in to join the party. He finds himself at a club where Cole Porter is playing the piano and he’s introduced to F. Scott Fitzgerald and his beautiful southern belle wife, Zelda (my favorite character).



Hemingway



 I remember the summer I took a Hemingway to Fitzgerald English class at the University of Alabama. It was the perfect place to learn about Zelda because she was from Montgomery, Alabama. Alison Pill, who plays Zelda, lights up the screen and has a spot on southern accent that is fun to hear in Paris (especially when she says s'il vous plait)!

Gil befriends the ultra masculine Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), Gertrude Stein (the fabulous Kathy Bates), fashion designer ingénue Adriana (Marion Cotillard), Picasso, Matisse… Each time Gil meets one of his golden era heroes his mouth falls to the floor.

Adriana (Marion Cotillard) has to be the world’s most beautiful woman past and present. She’s been Picasso’s, Braque’s, and Modigliani’s lover. I guess you could call her an art groupie.  

Woody Allen’s always witty dialogue is sharp and hilarious. Some of my favorite Woody Allen movies I love because they satisfy my “I want to travel to Europe now” bug. Hop aboard the Woody Allen European tour: Match Point (England), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Spain), Mighty Aphrodite (Greece), Midnight in Paris (France)… As much as I adore a European backdrop, I think Woody Allen could turn a place that is not known for being romantic like Tuscaloosa, Alabama into a city of magic. Woody has that je ne sais quoi that works well in any place.

Do you ever feel like you should have been born in another time? I think this often because I like to read and escape into a fantasy. I also crave culture like water and Midnight in Paris satisfies my craving and puts me in a happy place.

Midnight in Paris reminds me of a Merchant and Ivory film because it has that international flair, beauty, and intelligence that those films produce but also the romance of the movies like Before Sunrise and After Sunset which put you in a love bubble.

In the end, Gil realizes that no time is idyllic and he can find happiness in the present. He decides to make the best of life in our own time and the ending is the REAL fairy tale, walking off in Paris in the rain with a beautiful Parisian. As they walk away I imagine they’re both singing Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love.  Merci Woody!

To get you in the “American in Paris” mood, enjoy these quotes then watch the trailer to the best movie you will have seen in a long, long time.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. Hemingway

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. Gertrude Stein

History takes time. History makes memory. It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself. Gertrude Stein

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. F. Scott Fitzgerald

You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say. F. Scott Fitzgerald

Happiness is...

Americans like to smile; we like to be happy! It’s a good thing we are a culture with the best dental hygiene because smiling is something we do well. I think of the French who are not big into smiles (or teeth). Luc Tessier in the movie French Kiss says, When people tell me they are happy, my ass begins to twitch. This makes me laugh and want to smile even more! When Americans are not happy we are very good at fixing it and if you don’t want to fix it, well people will just assume you are French!

I think there’s a recipe for happiness just like your grandmother’s cookies, they’re not that hard to bake and when you make them, everyone’s glad!

All recipes begin with the ingredients; the same is true for happiness. A recipe for happiness might go something like this...add a heaping cup of family and friends, a cup full of meaningful work, a dash of optimism, a sprinkle of gratefulness, plenty of forgiveness, a generous amount of giving, and two hands full of spirituality. You can’t find these ingredients in your pantry or buy them at the store, but you do have them at your fingertips should you choose to use them.

It seems that the happiest people surround themselves with family and friends; this is a sure-fire way to find happiness and to feel fully alive. Happy people don’t spend very much time alone; they like to be around the ones they love. Someone who is cheerful probably tends to have strong relationships with those who share their joy, sorrow, and stress…It’s a wonderful thing to invest in relationships with your friends, it’s a bonus if your friends are naturally happy people.  

There are some people who manage to always look on the bright side. We may not all be as sunny and optimistic as the famous Pollyanna character but we can find her same enthusiasm for life if we can play the ‘glad game’ every now and then. Think about something you’re grateful for and voila, you’re smiling!

Grateful people are happy people. To me, gratitude is best expressed in writing letters, journaling, or even an email or a text to tell someone you love them, this can make you and that person feel better in an instant.

I find when I get really into a project or activity, I lose all track of time, stop worrying and just enjoy the moment. This is when I think busy schedules are a good thing; life’s many activities bring great satisfaction. I find this happens to me when doing enjoyable daily tasks too…dancing, playing with my children, writing, reading are all things I can lose myself in. Taking time away from other important things like work is good for our soul.

People feel happiest when they’re doing what they do best…work or play. I think you will agree with me that we should all have more fun and less stress. If you love your work and it’s meaningful, that plays a huge factor, but equal parts play and work are what equals happiness. I’m sure Freud would agree when he said, Love and work…work and love, that’s all there is.

There’s a bigger chance that you will be happier if you don’t spend too much time alone. It’s a good thing to accept social invitations, initiate social get-togethers, have face-to-face time rather than online time, and hug your family and friends. Nurture your relationships; having tons of friends could never compare to those few very close friendships that consistently make you happy. When I’m having a bad day, I like to relive a good memory spent with friends and family. 

Another way to get happy is to forgive. It may be extremely hard to do and take some time but once we forgive those who have hurt us, our hearts are happier.

Spirituality contributes to our happiness, believing in something higher gives us direction and purpose and it just feels right.

A few weeks ago, most of the world watched the Royal Wedding with great joy. This one wedding made people all over the world so happy and gave us optimism and a reason to celebrate with the world. I think most people look forward to the next big celebration that brings us all together like the Olympics.

Quotes to inspire and make you feel happy:

The best way to cheer yourself up, is to try and cheer somebody else up. Mark Twain

Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies. Gene Hill

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.  Anonymous

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust

Questions to ponder… When have you been the happiest? To get you thinking here’s some food for thought with three top five happy lists from my husband, my daughter, and me. Can you guess which list belongs to whom?

1.       a to do list that’s already been done

2.       the feeling after an intense work out

3.       bedtime rituals with our children

4.       a night without doing dishes

5.       seeing the lights turn on in our children

1.       birthday cake

2.       balloons

3.       kites

4.       Hello Kitty

5.       parties

1.       the beach

2.       hugs

3.       pink peonies

4.       the sound of music and laughter

5.       being skin to skin with my babies

What’s on your happy list?



Champagne Wishes and Summer Dreams

Marlene Dietrich said, “Champagne makes you feel like its Sunday and better days are just around the corner. I love Sundays and summertime (and summer is just around the corner), add champagne to that and I’m as happy as a clam.

Summer drinks call for something cool, fruity, effervescent, zippy, and pink! My favorite beverage is champagne! I absolutely adore bubbles…give me ice cold Prosecco, sparkling wine, and Champagne for a hot Texas summer and I can transport myself to France, Italy, or California in a single sip.

It seems all the world associates champagne with good times and friendship. Think about celebrating weddings, baptisms, a new home, launching ships, ringing in the New Year…I like to drink the bubbly to ring in the summer. The joyous mist of champagne bubbles don’t have to be savored only on special occasions, you can drink those pretty stars to celebrate the little things in life too.

I’m attracted to all things feminine, unique, and pink, so when I saw Francis Ford Coppola’s Sofia (made for his famous daughter) I just had to try it. The packaging is glamorous in a hexagon box filled with a four pack of cans with pink little bendy straws. Sofia tastes refreshingly delicious like apples and pears with a hint of citrus and honey. Sofia mini Blanc de Blancs is the perfect wine to take with you to the beach, pool, or outside party. It’s a crisp and refreshing sparkling wine meant for summer. My friend Jen and I enjoyed some Sofia minis as a prelude to watching the movie Bridesmaids this past weekend and it definitely made for an extra fun and special girls night. Add a bubbly drink to two bubbly girls and you have enhanced the likelihood of laughter.

Another refreshing bubbly drink to cool you down in the summer is the Italian Prosecco, a sparkling wine that’s light, lemony, and fun. Like Sofia, Prosecco has overtones of citrus and honey. It’s a perfect summer wine. Try combining it with peach juice for the famous Italian cocktail, the Bellini.

Both Sofia and Prosecco are more affordable sparkling wines compared to Champagne but for those special occasions, I turn to the Widow (Veuve Clicquot). Being the ultra girly girl that I am, it’s just got to be pink. Veuve Cliquot Rose is my ultimate drink. It has a fruity charm and style and is lively and fresh for summer.

Cheers to all who make an effort to celebrate those better days that are just around the corner for you!

Easy as Pie

The expression, “Easy as pie” is so true because pie IS easy! I’m a pie person. I’d choose pie over cake any day. It’s because there’s more love put into a pie. You also have to use your hands more when making it that’s why it’s one of those foods that allow you to really taste the love that goes into it. Homemade pies are not only delicious but also comforting and nurturing. Pies do for the belly what a child’s blankie does for their feelings; pie makes you feel warm, safe, cozy, and loved. 

I vividly remember going to my grandma’s house and seeing an apple pie cooling on the counter when we arrived at her house in Midland.  I have a similar recollection at my Louisiana grandmother’s home.  It’s a comforting and happy food that makes memories with your smell and taste senses forever.

I think of pie as a southern dessert. I even like to say “pi” and accent the long “i” sound like a real southerner. A pie is not as elegant as a tart; you see the real handy work, flaws, and finger markings in a pie as opposed to a tart which is more elegant and not near as rustic. I also love the free form shape of a gallette, the most rustic of all pies. It’s fun to think outside the circle and make a free-formed pie.

Every season is pie season but my favorite time for pie is right now; fresh fruits are in abundance and they are ripe and just begging to be picked and baked.  Most people have pie making staples already in their pantry: flour, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, coconut, lemon, chocolate…

There are many good reasons to bake a pie. I was inspired just this week by a rumbling Texas storm. I was reading one of my favorite books by Patricia Polacco, Thunder Cake, to my second grade class when I knew I had to go home and bake a pie. Thunder Cake is one of those stories that prove just how therapeutic baking is. It teaches us that once you truly emerce yourself in a project all those negative thoughts (in this case it was a little girl afraid of thunder) just vanish.

I have noticed many really good pie makers often have old fashioned names like Daisy, Honey, and Evelyn. This makes me think they were named after their mother’s mother and probably follow the same recipe that they used way back when...I very much want to be that grandmother whose house smells warm and inviting with a pie on the counter. Who knows, maybe my grandmother name will be Honey!   

I have three favorite pie recipes that I use all the time: almond crumb crust, my grandmother’s recipe for basic pie crust, and the French pie crust, pate brisee.

Almond Crumb Crust

1 ½ C flour

A heaping C of toasted finely ground almonds

½ C sugar

¼ t salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (at room temperature and cut into small pieces)

Mix dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse. Cover and chill until ready to use.

Pate Brisee

2 C flour

½ C cornmeal

1 t salt

1 T sugar

2 sticks of cold unsalted butter

½ C ice water

Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse, then add butter and process about ten seconds.  Divide in half, wrap, and refrigerate at least an hour.

My Grandmother Dodo’s Pie Crust

3 C flour

1 egg

1 1/3 C shortening (butter flavored)

4 T water

1 T apple cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

Mix in a food processor. Cut in half and roll. Makes two crusts.

My Mom’s Three Berry Pie

1 C sugar

1/3 C flour

2 eggs

1 ½ C sour cream

1 C blueberries

1 C blackberries

1 C raspberries

Topping

1/3 C flour

1/3 C brown sugar

1/3 C nuts of your choice

3 T butter

Whipped cream

Combine sugar, flour, eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a bowl. Gradually fold in fruit. Spoon into unbaked pastry shell and bake 350 for 40-45 minutes.

*Try one of the pie crusts above. My favorite for this pie is my grandmother’s crust.

Ashley’s Fruit Galette

1 pint strawberries

1 pint blueberries

1 pint blackberries

1 stalk of rhubarb

½ C sugar

Juice of one lemon

2 T cornstarch

Pinch of salt

Lavender flowers

1 egg

Roll out cornmeal pate brisee to about 14-inch round and transfer to a baking sheet with a sill pad. Preheat oven to 375. Toss together fruit, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt. Arrange fruit mixture on top of the dough in the center. Fold border over the fruit overlapping and pressing down gently. Brush edges with egg and sprinkle with sugar and lavender flowers. Bake about 1 hour.

A book for your wish list is, Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies. I read Mrs. Rowe goes through about 35,000 pies a year and customers order their pie before dinner because her pies are so quick to run out. That’s got to be a REALLY good pie!

When the moon hits your eye like a big “southern pie” that’s amore!!