For Every Nicks There Must Be a Buckingham...

"For Every Nicks there must be a Buckingham."                                                                                   Birdee Bow

They're the kind of couple you notice long before they enter your breathing space.  Sparklers from across the room.  Shiny, lovely, silver & bubbly.  As I jumped into the backseat of their car I immediately noticed something.  Good energy.  A feeling so beautifully calm that even the bustle of L.A.X. couldn't drown out the serenity.  Hugs from the backseat to the front, giggles of excitement & onto the freeway.  So lovely to be again with my precious friend & so amazing to see her so happy with her man.

This day was about as sunny & beautiful as a heart could imagine.

Riding the tram up to the Getty, we joked about being oblivious to the gorgeous view while looking in the opposite direction of all our fellow tram riders & expressing the oddest oohs & ahhhs to many comparatively more serious & disapproving glances.

We didn't care.  Fun was in our air.

Stepping out onto glistening outdoor granite, the stillness & awe of the renowned artisan garden forced us to take pause.  All at once as if by magic, this smoggy  Los Angeles sky began playing canvas to the most extraordinary art of a lifetime.

What a luxury to be here on this day.
Alive in this moment.
Arm wrapped in arm, whispering our latest adventures & blueprints for world takeover, we circled our way through the interior of the museum. Such an apropos place to share our hopes & passions,  among the likes of  Monet, Gauguin, Renoir & Vincent Van Gogh, the greatest dreamers of all time & I suspect the coolest.

We reminisced over our not so distant shop girl moments together & countless hours spent wrapped in fuzzy sweaters planning out California sunshine & Santa Barbara schemes while working (ok usually dancing) behind a counter filled with masquerade masks & jars of  rainbow glitter.
Now
We
Were
Here

tossing carefully chosen coins into a gorgeous maze of azaleas floating upon a wishing pond.
Separately & slowly we watched one another's toss.
Cherishing it with an unspoken certainty that they would all surely be fulfilled.

After all, how could a wish wished upon this day not come true?

May all yours too..

Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams,

Birdee Bow

Laughter, Luxury & the power of attraction...

"It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life."
                        Amy Tan

As the taxi pulled up to East Sixty Fifth Avenue I took in a huge gulp of air, along with my last sip of orange juice.  I hadn't planned on eating breakfast while bumping across Manhattan in my crisp ivory Furstenberg knockoff wrap dress & pink sweater, but morning came quicker than I had anticipated & growling stomachs never serve as good first impressions.
 There it was.  The Touraine.  A ridiculously gorgeous Residence on the Upper East Side.  The type of living space reserved for those whose touch of elegance need no explanation.  After all, it's Manhattan & addresses?  Yeh, everything.  As I stepped out onto the perfectly pristine sidewalk lined with the scent of fresh honeysuckle & gardenias, I felt a knot form in my stomach.  Was I sure I could pull this off?  Who was I kidding?  This had to be a fluke.  I mean I wasn't even qualified.  Would she like me?  Would she give me a chance to prove how amazing I could be?  One thing was for sure.. I had to start moving my suddenly immobile legs into a forward direction or I would soon be knocked over by a rolling cab.  As the taxi driver's grumbling voice jolted me back into reality, I boldly turned toward  the fabulously gold front doors.  "Just go in you goofball",  I mouthed it under my breath, but the way the doorman looked at me I'm guessing he heard it too..
Riding the elevator up to the 9th floor, I rehearsed my opening line.  "Hello Ms. Hadensen, such an immense pleasure to meet you."  Immense?  Was that good?  How about lovely. Lovely is better?  I struggled to see my lipstick in the reflection of the gold mirrored elevator buttons. Oh how I wished the elevator attendant wasn't there so I could swish my hair back & forth & check my teeth for bread crumbs. Honestly?  I need an attendant to ride?  
The buzzer was loud.  Much louder than I expected & the very sound of it made me jolt.  Like that kind of sharp shock when biting down on an aluminum foil gum wrapper.
 "Hello.  Ms. Hadensen will see you in the dining area"  A very modern style maid of sorts with the most beautiful auburn hair wrapped in the tightest bun I had ever seen motioned me to hand her my sweater.  My sweater?  Ohhhhh please don't see the croissant crumbs I thought.  Oh, well.. too late to think of all  that now.  
She entered the room in the style of dress that I could only liken to that of Eva Gabor in the opening scene of Green Acres. Long, flowing 1960's chiffon with a large chunky platinum necklace with the letter H on it. Equally golden blonde hair tousled into a tall coiffed do & shiny house slippers.  She was elegance mixed with 1970's housewife.  I thought it an odd mix, but this woman was all about personal, individualistic style & not at all about what I or anyone else thought of her.."You're a bit more preppy than I imagined from our correspondence"  Preppy?  Me??  "uhh..really?"  I said it in the sort of high pitched erratic tone that not only gave away the fact that I was intensely nervous, but also the truth of my very bipolar fashion existence. "I like your style. Nice resume, but more importantly, what is it you do for fun?"  FUN?  Wha?  Seriously, the first interview question for a personal assistant position in a high rise mansion was going to be about fun?  I hadn't thought of that one.  I hadn't planned that one out. uhhhh.. "well (I stuttered with a nervous laugh) I love to dance!"  "Dancing is divine."  She said it with the kind of laughter & slow Hungarian accent that magically slows heartbeats, but at the same time delivers a melancholy tone.  "I haven't danced in years. I think I should!" As the seconds turned into an hour & 30 minutes.  I learned a lot about Ms. H.  I learned that she had began her journey into the interior design business as a young girl with parents to support & a long list of strikes against her. I learned that her philosophy of business was that laughter is first & all other things are second because (as she put it)  "Wealthy people who buy luxury are really just looking for laughter & joy, but they don't know it.  They don't even want to hear it, but it's true. THAT my dear is the secret to my success."  
 As we wrapped our conversation, I knew I wasn't the girl for the job.  I knew I would never hear from Ms. Hadensen again & most likely never set foot into her princess style domain again.  After all,  I had absolutely no interior design experience & my dancing skills were only going to get me so far, but I was elated for the moments with her, for the peek into an extraordinary & eccentric life. 
As I made my way toward the front door, I was frozen by the breathtakingly beautiful view from her parlor window & I noticed a small placque on the entry way table which read: the power of attraction.
"Keep dancing", she said as she shook my hand goodbye
"& by God don't you ever stop laughing"  

I have& I won't.
Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams,
xo
Birdee Bow

SMILERS Needed!!

"If you're reading this...
Congratulations, you're alive.
If that's not something to smile about,
then I don't know what is.” 
― Chad Sugg, Monsters Under Your Head

Smile!

It's a simple enough idea, but replace that with the word
*S M I L E *
 &  It's a whole different feeling isn't it?  Lately I've caught notice of those who really
 * S M I L E *
 as opposed to those who smile.
 And I gotta say it's earth shattering.  What is it about a human being  who really knows how  to fearlessly 

 *S M I L E*??
 Ahhhhh so beautiful. SO immense.  Joy from inside one's heart SCREAMING out of one's face.  It changes the landscape doesn't it?  It forces the very chemical particle germs within a room to shift...to become more like dancing sugar plum fairies & stardust rather than cold germs & hayfever offenders.  I'm a fan.  I want to follow suit.  I wanna get caught
*S M I L I N G* more.
  I want to go ALL IN.  No more holding back.  I want to
*S M I L E*
& laugh the kind of laughs that were made for old men with big bellies who like to talk about old times on lawnchairs in the shade.  I want to get caught up in all the JOY I can before it's too late.

So tonight I am celebrating the
 *S M I L E R S*

  Thanks for lettin it all
 Shine Out.
Please don't ever stop.

I need you.

We all do.

Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams

xo

Birdee Bow

"Ima Survivor. I'm gon' work harder"

"I'm a survivor - a living example of what people can go through and survive"                                                                                            ELIZABETH TAYLOR

My best friend from childhood is one of the most beautiful people I've ever known.  Gorgeous on the outside & equally stunning on the inside, her zest for life & knack for finding the silver lining in every aspect of existence is uncanny.  There is never a time when I call her complaining about hangnails and silly life spats when she doesn't stop me in my self absorbed Stuart Weitzman size 9 stiletto shoe tracks with this one simple answer to the question "How are you?"

  "Ahhh I'm GREAT!  I am so blessed.  Life is truly amazing. I have not ONE complaint!"
It's enough to throw even the most positive of souls right off track isn't it? Honestly how many people make those kind of all encompassing announcements right off the hip? Zero pre thought, I'm talking straight from the heart.

Ok, to know that she is a beautiful sparkler, an accomplished career woman, a wonderful wife & mother as well as a daily inspiration to not only myself but to soooo many others, is only part of the story.  You should also know that she faces health issues. Serious health issues. The type of issues which might bring most mortals to their knees.  Issues which she has triumphed over time & time again within her young life.  She continues to beat them on the daily..without hesitation.  Did I say beat them?  More like this girl pulverizes them on the daily

Without Reserve.  

Without bitterness. 

She lives in total BRAVERY.

 With TOTAL LOVE 

With EYES WIDE OPEN

Open to every beautiful thing I often choose to miss.

"Happiness is a choice"

Her cute little quirky voice echoes the sentiment ever so sweetly, so gently into my 

glued to the cellphone ear.

She is the source of so many of my smiles in this lifetime.

An immeasurable gift aren't they?  Smiles..
& there is no one whose advice I cherish more.

This 2014?  

I want to be more like her.

I want to spread the JOY & choose to NEVER bask in the bitter..

because even one millisecond of bitterness?

Is enough to ruin a girl's complexion

Not to mention her entire day.

HAPPY BRAVE NEW YEAR.

WILL THIS DAY!

Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams,
xoxo

Birdee Bow