TRAVEL HERE: MEADOWS MUSEUM HOSTS TREASURES FROM THE HOUSE OF ALBA – 500 YEARS OF ART & COLLECTING

Five Centuries of Art Collecting from three palaces!  Goya, Velazquez, Rembrandt and Renoir!  I couldn’t wait when I heard about the House of Alba Exhibition at Meadows Museum.  One hundred and forty objects, most of which had never left Spain before!  I was giddy with excitement!

History as it Happened

The House of Alba Exhibition starts with a history lesson.  I’m not sure why that surprised me.  We were on a college campus after all.  When you start talking “objects” to me, I’m thinking silver, porcelain, furniture and other decorative arts.  Before our visit was over, I’d seen most of those, but the “objects” in the first room of the exhibit were documents and timelines.

The family’s rise dates back to 1429 when Alvarez de Toledo was named Lord of the City of Alba de Tormes for his participation in a military campaign.  Actual documents, signed and sealed by the king, fill a case in the center of the room.  The gorgeous calligraphy with all manner of seals and ribbons is interesting, but not what I was expecting.

Placards on the wall explain the genealogy of the family and discuss the rise and fall of their fortunes and collections.  The third duke, known as the Grand Duke, is the most highly esteemed of the persons who have held the title, but the person most familiar to me was Empress Eugénie, who married Napoleon III.  She was sister-in-law and aunt to two Dukes of Alba and when she died, the House of Alba inherited her collections – which was a good thing, because the family also lost many treasures along the way.

Basically, the title and and the palaces are Spanish, but the current Duke of Alba is more closely related to Mary, Queen of Scots than he is Alvarez de Toledo, because the latest duke’s family is the Berwicks of the FitzJames Stuart lineage.  Yes, it is confusing.

To make it even more confusing, some of the highlights of the collection, like documents from the Christopher Columbus voyage to the New World entered the family by marriage, but when the Alba title moved to Berwick family there was a lot of shuffling and many of the treasures of the family did not follow the title. Other treasures have been lost as casualties of war.

Portraits, Documents & Paintings Dominate Exhibition

The story of the House of Alba is captured in the many portraits and interesting documents.  Of course, some of those portraits are by Velazquez, Goya and Rubens, so they deserve more than a cursory glance.  Other paintings by Fra Angelico, Rembrandt and Renoir exemplify the family’s penchant for collecting paintings beyond portraits of their relatives.

Included among the paintings and documents are a few of my beloved decorative arts, but not nearly as many as I’d hoped for.  Probably most spectacular is a huge pink Sevres vase, which stood almost as tall as I am. My friend, Deb, was surprised by the mirror on a large table, which allowed women to check for peeking petticoats.  There are impressive tapestries, an amazing illustrated Bible and more scattered among the paintings.

Don’t Miss It 

Imagine getting to see a hand-drawn map of the New World, penned by the man who discovered it.  (Yes, I know!  Political correctness demands we recognize land was stolen from the indigenous people and Leif Ericsson beat Columbus here by a few centuries.) I’m still impressed by the guys who floated here on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – back in 1492 on the ocean blue.

If you can’t get excited about Christopher Columbus, then think of Fra Angelico or Bruegal or El Greco.  The collection is so vast and varied, I’m sure you’ll find something to be amazed about.  The exhibit fills up the entire second floor of the museum, with the exception of one salon.  You should add these wonders to your visual catalog.

I confess, I thought I was going to see rooms full of decorative goodies transported across the water, but the items are not shown in context with the three House of Alba palaces.  Instead, they follow more of a historical theme.  That doesn’t make them any less astounding.  I found it fascinating to discover the idiosyncrasies of royal dynasties as the years and the bloodlines passed along.  When I left, I felt as if I had come to know Eugénie, Mary, James, the two Cayetanas and all their famous relatives just a little bit better.

The exhibition will be at the Medows Museum on the Campus of SMU until January 3rd, 2016.  Don’t let this one pass you by.

TRAVEL HERE: PEROT MUSEUM’S LATEST EXHIBITION LIGHTS UP THE DARK!

Can you say Bio-luminescence?  Do you have any idea what it is? Well, you and your kids can find out all about it at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  I attended their media preview for Creatures of Light  and here’s what I found out.

Science – Not Just for Nerds Anymore

I’ve got to confess.  Science is not my strong suit.  And Nature?  I love it, but I have no burning desire to know much more about it than I already do.  I like to look at it, walk around in it and take pictures of it, but I’d rather learn about it’s depiction by a particular artist than learn the scientific facts behind any given natural phenomena – that’s just me.

Unlike me, today’s kids are crazy about science.  Take Thomas Surgent’s kids for instance.  Surgent is the Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel for Highland Capital Management, a major sponsor of the exhibition.  Knowing he’d be speaking at the media preview, he asked his girls about their favorite subject at school.  The answer?  Science.  Their second favorite?  Recess!

Their enthusiasm for the subject matched the eagerness I saw at a previous media event, when the museum opened up their new Tech Truck to a group of students.  The kids crawled all over it as if they’d been told Justin Beiber (or whoever has replaced him) were hiding in a cabinet aboard the vehicle.  This science thing is really gaining traction.

Creatures of Light – Science with Recess!  

Colleen Walker, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer of the Perot, was thrilled with the results of Mr. Surgent’s casual poll.  It sums up her goals for the museum exactly.  She encouraged all us media types to drop our adult inhibitions and look at the exhibit through the eyes of our inner child.

Here’s another confession, I didn’t do a good job of dropping my adult inhibitions.  The first thing I did inside the exhibit, darkened to protect fragile sealife, was try to take a picture with my phone.  I thought the flash was off, but of course it wasn’t, so in a space where we’d been warned not to use our flash, I flashed.  My sense of wonder wandered off and I didn’t see the charm of it all.

Then the real kids came in.  Many were wearing their Halloween costumes and all of them were enchanted – oooohing and aaahing their way through huge glowing models of beings, which in real life are tiny, even microscopic.  Suddenly Ms. Walkers admonition to drop our adult inhibitions made more sense.

I made my way back through the darkened exhibit and practiced my innocent wonder.  Mrs. Walker had been right.  All the exhibit needed was a little youthful enthusiasm.  My second look was so much better than the first.  With the help of the exhibit I returned to the backyards of my childhood, catching lightening bugs in a jar.  I entered a cave with glow worms, danced with tiny living luminescence and marveled at odd creatures glowing in the depths of our oceans.

Bring Your Kids or Be a Kid

The magic of bio-luminescence and florescence waits for you at the Perot.  Suspend your disbelief.  The show starts on Halloween and will be at the Perot until February 21, 2016.  There’s a sleepover for the kids on November 6th and Social Science:Glow on January 21st would be  a great date night for the more mature kids.

General admission to the museum for us large kids is $19 and an additional $7 gets you into the world of bio-luminescence.  Prices vary for kids and seniors.  As with our other museums and gardens membership makes sense.  Annual family memberships cost $110, cover your general admission and provide discounts for traveling exhibitions like Creatures of Light, as well as providing other benefits.

Thankfully the museum provided some photos, since yours truly wasn’t able to figure out how to turn off her flash.  Enjoy!

TRAVEL HERE:  ALEXANDER GORLIZKI AT THE CROW COLLECTION OF ASIAN ART IN DALLAS TX

The nice man in this picture is Andrew Gorlizki.  Products of his fertile mind populate Variable Dimensions, his exhibit  at The Crow Collection of Asian Art.  A few weeks ago I posted an article which barely grazed the surface of this artist and his works,  I promised then to give you more details.  Well, here they are.

The Artist

Alexander Gorlizki was born in London in 1967.  His family’s roots are Russian and his mother had an Asian textiles business.  At an early age he traveled to India with her and was immediately fascinated with pretty much everything, but was especially drawn to Indian miniature paintings.   He couldn’t stay away.  He was formally educated in London, but his real education was drawn from his interest in those miniature paintings, tantric drawings and textiles back in India.  Along the way he became friends with Jaipur miniature artist  Riyaz Uddin and their collaboration became the life-force of his work.  It is Alexander, with his studio in New York, that brings the imagination, but Riyaz, his apprentices and other craftsmen in India execute the designs.  Sometimes a work will pass between Jaipur and New York many times over an extended period of time before it is declared complete.

The Art of the Exhibition

When it was time for the exhibition notes to be prepared, Alexander and Riyaz were still working on bringing their concepts and designs together.  Still, exhibition notes are dirigeur.  Since Alexander couldn’t provide photos of completed works, they designed a pamphlet around his concepts.  I’ve borrowed heavily from the pamphlet to help describe the exhibit.

“An entity without fixed boundaries.  Shifting, multi-faceted experiences not reduceable to a single interpretation, imaginative worlds that can be viewed in different and occasionally contrasting terms – spiritual and prosaic, as clear as a cartoon, as elusive as a dream.”  That’s how Alexander describes “Variable Dimensions” so exactly how are you and I supposed to make sense of it?

The notes goes on to invite us to “Laugh at the absurdity of our urgency to rationalize, narrate, and interpret.” The artist “uses traditional techniques to subvert traditional expectations,” the program explains.  So let’s head down the rabbit hole with him.

The Process

Were someone to neaten it up, the inside of Alexander’s mind might look something like this.  It’s a sampling of his idea board transported to Dallas to help us understand what is happening.  Look at it carefully.  There’s a man’s suit in miniature, drawings by Alexander’s child, textiles, sketches, notes and more.  Look for connections, contrasts, whimsy, humor and colors.  Shake it together in the artist’s mind and you have “Variable Dimensions.”

As crazy as it all seems to us, his mind must at least yearn for order.  My absolute favorite piece in the exhibition is a Rolodex that rolls itself.  Each card on the Rolodex contains a motif that intrigues the artist. I didn’t have as much time as I wanted on my first visit to the exhibition, but I  really want to study the cards and then locate the motifs within the exhibit.  I’ve promised myself that I will.

By the way, that slightly scientific looking wallpaper?  Yep, he designed that also – and carpets and all the other wacky pieces around the gallery.  One of the big incongruities of the exhibit is the amount of painstaking skill that went into creating such nonsensical pieces.

Choosing one piece to represent the whole is virtually impossible.  The mere variety of objects is overwhelming. There are sculptures, paintings, architectural features, decorative arts, found objects, video and more.  I mean really.  When was the last time you saw an exhibition where even the wallpaper had been designed by the artist?  He’d even designed the fabric of the shirt he was wearing.  Leonardo di Vinci is the last guy I knew about who was so interested in so many things.

However, since it was miniature painting which set Alexander off on his artistic journey, that’s what I will show to you.  What you are looking at is a miniature painting referencing a style of photography popular in the 19th century.  Indians eagerly embraced the advent of photography and everyone wanted a family photo on their walls, but black and white was just too boring.  So they would embellish the photos with colorful enhancements, like the turbans of the men in the back of the picture.  However, the other enhancements are pure Gorlizki:  elephant heads, dancing monkeys, mythical figures and an tiger with rabbit ears.

To appreciate these paintings you will have to go to the exhibit and lean as close as you can towards them.  The fur on the animals is amazing.  The Indian artists use brushes with only one bristle to capture the exact look of the animals’ pelts.  Look closer and you will begin to appreciate the precise execution of the fabric in the turbans and the tile on the floor.

Then you must step back and look around.  Find the connections.  Where else do you see animal fur, the patterns in the cloth of the turbans, the mosaics on the floor?  Are they on the design board?  Can you find them among the cards of the Rolodex?  Are there other monkeys in the room?  Perhaps you can even find a connection to wallpaper on the wall behind the painting – perhaps.

AT HOME IN HEATH: THE MELLOW MUSHROOM FOR PIZZA 

One of the most important things that has happened in recent history happened at The Mellow Mushroom.  On a wet, cold Sunday night Bill and I stumbled into the restaurant and I got Bill to put his promise never to build a house again in writing – on a napkin at The Mellow Mushroom – and yes, I do still have that napkin!

Weird Place with Good Pizza

You know the kind of day I’m talking about.  The kind of day that only comfort food will fix.  We were very tired and very dirty after spending the day at the build, but we were also starving.

The interior of the restaurant is a throw back to those funky pizza joints you went to back in college.  There’s the slightly naughty suggestion that someone on something came up with the decor.  Odd colors, bare floors, bargain seating and tables.  Oh and big cutouts of strange things that look like they showed up during a bad acid trip.  Not your basic slick-looking, up-scale pizza joint.

When I tell you the waitstaff has a lot of tattoos and odd hairstyles, I’m not being judgmental, I’m just trying to describe the place to you.  Our second visit was actually on Mother’s Day and I had a nice conversation about mommies with the girl whose hair was purple/orange.  She had a nose ring and tattoos, to boot.  The uniform is jeans with a white t-shirt and of course, they roll up the sleeves on the t-shirt so you can see the tatts better.

Weird Crust, But Tasty

We had the Special or whatever you call the pizza with a little bit of everything on it.   I thought it was good.  Bill thought it was marvelous.  So marvelous that he asked about the crust.  We got a lesson in flours and molasses.  Truth be told, pizza doesn’t exactly fit in my South Beach Diet, so I have no business eating it.  I try to forget pizza, not cherish my memories of it.  Bill doesn’t feel the same way.  The Mellow Mushroom became his go-to pizza joint.

Above and Beyond

Even if I try to pretend that pizza does not exist in the same reality that I do, one thing I can’t overlook is service.  Bill and I have made return trips to the big MM and Bill is very intentional about telling folks to go try the delicious pizza with the molasses crust.  I just enjoy the ride whenever we go.  It’s like a short time-travel vacation that makes me want to wear go-go boots.  You do know what go-go boots are, don’t you?

On our most recent visit we were snickering over the indifference of our waiter . One thing he was not indifferent about was his hair.  It was gelled into a very exact line down the center of his head.  However, he couldn’t have cared less that the kind of beer I requested from the menu wasn’t exactly what they had in the frig.  He wasn’t abrasively indifferent.  I think indifference was the tool he used to keep rudeness at bay.

The table next to us was having pretzels and several pizzas and several dishes of pasta.  I was beginning to worry that their carbs were going to migrate over to my hips.  One of the tween-agers spilled her soda all over the table.  We rejoiced at our childlessness and I thought maybe the waiter’s indifference sprang from a need to deal with the craziness of tween-agers at all.  He seemed as if, in other circumstances, he might eat them for tapas.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a manager showed up with an apology.  Seems our pizza was overcooked.  I mean they figured it out before they brought it to the table and were courteous enough to let us know why things were taking awhile.  I hadn’t actually noticed that it was taking any longer than usual, but I did appreciate the cheese bread they delivered with the apology.  Of course, I could only eat a small corner I tore off, but it was gooey and on the house.

The pizza came out right behind the cheese bread.  In the meantime the tween-agers left.  The waiter was much more pleasant, so maybe I was right about the tapas.  And in chatting with him we discovered that he was the one who blew the whistle on the pizza.  I must have had him all wrong.

Should you go to The Mellow Mushroom?  Certainly!  You really need to experience the decor and waitstaff.  Bill says the pizza is wonderful – but I wouldn’t know, because pizza does not exist in my reality.

TRAVEL HERE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY FASHION SHOWS AT NORTHPARK

Last week I started sharing my experiences at NorthPark’s 50th Birthday celebration.  Now it’s time to share the fashions.  Along with the Nordstrom Beauty Trends show, I saw runway shows for Mulberry, Nordstrom, CUSP by Neiman Marcus and Elie Tahari.  Here’s the highlights.

Mulberry

Mulberry is an English company which started out making leather handbags, so it’s not surprising most of the outfits were paired with delicious looking examples of their leather craft.  Being English the ensembles looked a tad warm for the Dallas climate, but I can imagine working individual pieces in around some lighter choices.

The thing which stood out to me most was the great big clunky shoes worn with each outfit.  I’m just not ready for that, especially not a very short dress with dark socks and over-sized loafers.  I imagine my feet would look like I’d taken to wearing cement blocks if I wore some of those sturdy shoes or short boots.  There were also a number of outfits with crop pants, another of my least favorite looks.

However, I think their target audience is significantly younger than I am, so bully for them.  The colors and fabrics were delicious.   I was able to grab a video of the finale with a quick peek at many of their selections. What do you think?

Nordstrom Collectors Department

My husband attended this show with me and took over the photography.  To me, theses clothes were prettier than the Mulberry fashions, but I didn’t embrace all of them.  One look that stood out to me was the Herve Leger Bandage Dresses, but it looked more like Bondage.  Bill loved one of the Bandage dresses in Aqua and it was pretty, but I’ve seen one too many bridesmaid dresses in that shade for me to love it.  Missioni offered up several print dresses which looked to me as if they’d been drawn upon by kindergartners.  The gorgeous white dress with red roses is a Dolce & Gabbana.   I’d wear that in a minute.  Which dress do you love?

CUSP by Neiman Marcus

I love Neiman Marcus, but with a few notable exceptions, I was disappointed by their offerings.  In the Mulberry and Norstrom shows I wasn’t in love with everything I saw, but I felt as if I was looking at new, fresh and different.  The CUSP show seemed like a repetition of what I’ve been looking at for several years.

I did like the patterned hose, which I’d first noticed in the Nordstrom show. I absolutely loved that RED is back, which is great, since BOLD LIPS are making a comeback too.  Creamy dreamy winter white was there too, which I love.

I also saw some interesting outerwear choices, but like Mulberry I feared they were way too warm for most of our winter days.  Neiman’s was also the only store to include men in their show, so that was interesting.

Even though photography was challenging, I got lucky and was able to capture part of the finale on video.  Excuse the two heads in the way.  That’s what I had been trying to photograph around all through the show.

Elie Tahari

I was pretty much in love with everything in the Tahari line-up, especially when it was in blue.  They called the blue Oasis, but the shade seemed too intense for its name.  And speaking of names, the collection was called Urban Forest and the commentator pointed out the natural fabrics.

I was able to capture this finale on video also.  Doesn’t it make you want to go out and buy something?

And finally, here’s the rest of the pictures.  As I mentioned last week, they aren’t great examples of photography, but perhaps you’ll get some ideas for your winter wardrobe.

TRAVEL HERE: RORY MEYERS CHILDREN’S ADVENTURE GARDEN AT THE DALLAS ARBORETUM & BOTANICAL GARDEN

A recent Thursday was Blogger Day at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society.  I’d been to the Media Day just a couple of weeks ago so I’d seen the pumpkins, but this invitation offered me something else – entry to the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden.  I decided to go check it out.

A Garden of Gardens

The Dallas Arboretum (DABS) is actually two different places under one umbrella.  There’s the Arboretum we all know and love.  The one with the DeGolyer House, Cool Thursday Concerts, Autumn at the Arboretum, Blooms and Holiday at the Arboretum.  Then there’s a whole ‘nother garden that you may or may not even realize is there.  Or if your age is still in single digits, you may think the garden with the DeGolyer House is the OTHER garden, because you’re all about the Children’s Adventure Garden.

See back in 2013 DABS introduced the Rory Meyer’s Children’s Adventure Garden to the world.  I just happened to be at the garden that weekend and wandered in.  It was late in the day and I gave it a cursory once over.  Since I don’t have kids I didn’t return, especially since there’s an additional entry charge for it, but I had a sneaky suspicion that I might be missing something.

Was I ever!  On Blogger Day I had the opportunity to tour the garden with Caelie Dunn, MEd, Children’s Garden Public Program Manager.  If you have kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews or just small people you enjoy, then you need to get to this garden.  It’s a Disney-esque adventure into gardening for kids of all ages.

As Caelie took me through the garden all I could think of was my Dad.  I lost him before the garden opened, but his favorite part of Epcot was Living With the Land.  He would have loved the Children’s Adventure Garden, because it’s a lot bigger and more hands-on.  You will, too, so come along with me.

Welcome to Blogger Day

After five years of blogging, I’m finally on the map.  There are all kinds of stories out there about people who start a blog one day and suddenly find themselves thrust upon on the world stage.  That wasn’t me and it’s not most bloggers.  Most of us have a circle of friends in the double digits who enjoy reading our posts.  Here’s a secret, most of us write because we can’t help ourselves – the readers are a bonus.  Here’s another secret, most of the readers of blogs are other bloggers.  I still remember when my followers reached the three digit mark.  (Throws confetti!)  Nowadays about twenty people a day drop by my blog and that’s enough to keep me going.  It’s also enough to get on the map.  I’m what they call an influencer.

With the rise of social media it’s not enough for an organization to have great advertising.  They also need a substantial social media network.  They build that network by connecting with other people in social media – people like me who connect with people like you.  (For an even better connection, you should checkout my contest for a pair of free tickets to the Arboretum.  Click here!)

So, the Arboretum invited me to come take a look at the gardens and as a bonus they threw in free admission.  Since I’m a member, that wasn’t a draw for me, but the offer of getting some first hand information on a part of the garden I’m unfamiliar with?  Well, I blocked out the morning and made my reservation.

Old Home Week at DABS

I’ve only been blogging for a few years, but I’ve been loving Dallas for decades.  I once belonged to several young professionals groups supporting the arts, like The PM League at the Dallas Museum of Art and Voce Forte of The Dallas Opera.  Nowadays I’m closer to senior citizens discounts than meeting the age qualifications for young professional groups, but I still love the DMA and the Opera.

I was welcomed to Blogger Day by Terry Lendecker, Vice President of Advertising and Promotions.  I seemed familiar to her, so we played the where-do-I-know-you-from game.  We made the Voce Forte connection pretty quickly.  The sparkling eyes and bright smile reminded me of all the fun I used to have behind-the-scenes at TDO.  Terry led Voce Forte for awhile before I left for my sojourn in California and it’s good to know the Arboretum is in such competent hands.

Terry introduced me to Caelie.  My love affair with the Rory Meyer’s Children’s Adventure Garden was about to begin.

Love is Infectious 

I’m already predisposed to loving everything at DABS.  My wonderful mother was devoted to it with all her heart, clocking hundreds of volunteer hours every year for at least two decades.  I caught my affection for the gardens from her.  With a pre-existing heart condition related to the Arboretum, it didn’t take long for Caelie’s love of the Children’s Adventure Garden to rub off on me.

As we strolled from the entry area to the children’s garden it was easy to tell we shard a bond.  We chatted about the pumpkins and commented on the Christmas gazebos going up.  We were soon discussing how important volunteers are to the gardens.  Our first stop was the koi pond in the Lay Family Garden, where I discovered Fridays are feeding days and quite popular with the kiddos.

The Rory Meyer’s Children’s Adventure Garden

After the obligatory picture of the entryway sporting pumpkins on its spirals we headed over to The First Adventure.  It’s not only the first area you come to, it’s designed as an educational entry point for the youngest of visitors.  Educator-led activities scaled down to toddlers and pre-schoolers allow them to get their fingers dirty with crafts and other hands-on activities.  There’s a petting garden – yes I said petting garden – for exploring the garden by touch.  A fountain offers a refreshing splash on warm days.  All around are things to climb on, in, over and around.  There’s even a kiosk of computer screens to keep big brothers and sisters busy while the youngest ones explore their own glade.

As we continued through the garden one thing made a huge impression on me.  This garden is designed for engagement.  Touch here, feel this, smell that, climb up, slide down, dive in!  Every sense is encouraged to participate.  The garden is also sneaky.  While the kiddos (of whatever age) think they are just having fun, volumes of knowledge about our world trickles down to that place where you never forget the first time you touched the seeds in a pod of okra or watched something blow up in a lab or stood in a wind tunnel.

I kept thinking, this is not only Disney-up-close-and-personal; this is better than Disney!

Traveling to Walt Disney World is an amazing adventure, but its way over in Florida, costs a fortune and chances are kids walk away with their memory of Mickey Mouse overshadowing what they may have learned along the way.  I love me some Walt Disney World, but I’m amazed that right here in my own city we have an attraction that runs off and leaves Mickey in the dust.

One day of Mickey for one child costs $97 and that’s after you’ve paid to get there and for someplace to stay. Let’s not even get into food and souvenirs.  A year of DABS and the Children’s Adventure Garden for up to six people (including parking!) is only $175.  New math, old math or counting on your fingers and toes, this is a bargain.  What’s more your kids will love it over and over again, because each day is full of new and exciting adventures.  Here’s the schedule the day I was there.  Please excuse the wrinkles.

Time for Me to Go

I’ve overstayed my welcome today, but with blogger day, running into an old friend and making a new one, I had a lot to tell you.  Keep coming by, there’s always a lot to see and do.  Before you go, here’s a few more photos I took around the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden.

AT HOME IN HEATH: THANKS LOREE LA PORTE, NOTHING BEATS GOOD HAIR

Good hair has been hard to find and I hate that.  I remember hair that grew out the color I wanted it to be, did what I wanted it to do and really didn’t take much work at all.  Most of my life my hair has been short, because that’s the way my mom liked it.  A few years ago I decided to let it grow.  That would have been a very bad idea if it weren’t for Loree La Porte.

The Season of Bad Hair

It’s been a while since I loved my hair.  In fact, I’ve been coloring it for about two decades now and I’ve really hated the hassle of it – nor have I really loved the color I’ve had to settle for.  My real color was on the black side of brown with an undertone of red.  They say as we age we need to soften our hair color, so I went really brown and threw in a few highlights to make it look natural.

After Mom was gone, the stress of the previous five years, bad hair decisions and some medical situations left me with a mess.  Short was too severe looking and longer was wild.  One of my bad hair decisions was going red, because my husband hated it, but every time I came home from a new color appointment where we were supposed to get the red out, my color-blind husband claimed it still looked red.

And Then We Started Building a House in Heath

We sold our Dallas house and were going to move to Heath via Wylie.  No way I was going to go through the hassle of finding a temporary stylist in Wylie.  I wanted no roots in that suburbs (excuse the pun).  So I turned my eyes to Rockwall.  We were going to the lot almost daily and every day I passed a Day Spa along the way.

Maybe I’m weird, but I was praying about my hair, because I was so over it.  It might not be spiritually correct to say you pray about your hair, but that’s exactly what I was doing.  And I got an answer – “look at the Day Spas website”.  When I did that it was like a huge red heavenly arrow was pointing at Loree La Porte.

I Love Me Some Loree!

From the very first time Loree did my hair I knew she got the wild hot mess on my head. She banished the red on her first try.  She coached me through growing out the 500 million layers that had been cut into my hair over the years.  She introduced me to Moroccan Oil.

There’s not a darned thing she can do about the fact that my hair doesn’t grow out right anymore. Nor can she keep a humid day from turning me into Diana Ross, the solo years.  (You know the 2007 ‘fro I’m talking about!)  However, she’s found a color that works for me and she’s taught me all kinds of tricks to tame my mane.

She’s also become my friend.  During the build I would blow into her salon like the eruption of Krakatoa.  I’d rage and stew the whole time I was there.  She’d make the appropriate noises and get the outside of my head straightened out while I emptied the inside.  Somebody give that girl an award.

When I was younger, everyone noticed my hair for all the right reasons.  Everyone wanted to get their hair done wherever I got my hair done because it always looked so good.  I thought those days were over.  In recent weeks two friends wanted to know who did my hair so they could go see her.  Thanks Loree!  I really appreciate all these good hair days!

You can get Loree to tame your main, find your cut and fix your color, too.  Just give her a call at 805-404-9782.

TRAVEL HERE: FASHION SHOWS CELEBRATE NORTHPARK’S 50 FABULOUS YEARS

NorthPark threw itself such an exciting birthday party that this is my third post about it.  Tuesday we looked at beauty trends, now let’s talk about the runway shows!  NorthPark did a great job of making the event something I won’t forget.  I felt lucky to be there.

The Fashion Show Drill

As I said on Monday, NorthPark e-mailed invitations to the faithful so we could RSVP spots at the fashion shows.  I figured the free events would create mayhem, but the morning shows were only slightly madcap.  For the Nordstrom Beauty Trend presentation I was able to get right up on the front row and the audience was sparse, so those were some of the the best pictures I got all day.

For the second show, I was also given a front row seat, but the crowd was building so my picture taking efforts had to fit into a smaller space.  The rest of the day I was lucky to have a seat at all and the quality of my photos shows it, so forgive me for the blurriness and odd angles.  I was shooting with my phone and often from several rows back, but I wanted to share the fun with you.

At least I had a seat.  There was no tent to hide the shows, so onlookers gawked at the spectacle.  As the day progressed the gawkers planted themselves around the perimeter of the show and all around the second level looking down.  It created a fishbowl effect and the audience was as much on exhibit as the fashions.  On a solemn note, I noticed there was a definite police presence.  I also noticed they were oblivious to the fashion show, but were constantly scanning the crowds, looking for anything suspicious.  I have to admit that I am grateful they were there and taking my safety so seriously.

The procedure for seating was very regimented.  You showed your ticket and would be given a seat assignment.  Each chair would have a swag bag on it.  Some shows the bag would be full of magazines and coupons.  Sometimes there would be samples and/or coupons.  Sometimes it was a paper shopping bag and sometimes it was a cool tote bag.  Even though there was a lot of repetition in the goodies, I hoarded every item offered and then shared the swag between several of my buddies.  This meant I made several trips to the car to unload my treasures, but my friends were ever so grateful.

At the beginning of the day, it was mostly women in the audience.  A few husbands sheepishly sat next to their wives/girlfriends looking as if they wished to disappear into the uncomfortable plastic chairs.  As the crowds grew (and the paying customers started enjoying their champagne) there were more men and they seemed a lot happier than that those first comers.  Later I figured out what they were happy about.

Bill joined me for one of the shows and when I asked him what he thought about it, he went on and on about the models.  When I asked him about the clothes, he said,”Oh I liked some and some I didn’t,” then he went back to critiquing the models.  That proved an opinion to me.  Girls, we’re dressing for each other.  The guys don’t care.

After the show was over you couldn’t just stay and wait for the next show.  You had to leave so they could set up the swag bags.  Of course, they encouraged you to hurry down and try on the fashions you’d just seen, but I resisted that suggestion.  There were many outfits I truly loved, but I knew the price tags would be far beyond my budget.  I found other ways to entertain myself, like the Art Meets Fashion exhibition and Auntie Annie’s pretzels – well that and hustling to the car with my swag bags.

That’s the overview.  Keep coming back, because over the next week or so, I’ll post articles about the various fashions in between my regular features.  You’re going to love these fashions!

TRAVEL HERE:  WHAT’S OLD AND NEW AT NORTHPARK

NorthPark is celebrating her 50th birthday and I helped.  During a day long feast of fashion shows I discovered what was on the forecast for fall and winter.  The day began with beauty trends from Nordstrom.  Here’s my picks for a fashionable face.

The Bold Mouth

The biggest news was the bold mouth – especially in shades of red.  That was good news for me.  I never figured out how to create the smoky eye look, but bold mouth?  That’s me – and I’m not talking about the volume of my words or their tartness.  I talking RED LIPSTICK.  It’s a look I love.

Red lipstick I didn’t need but I hurried down to Nordstrom’s after the show to pick up a couple of items.  One was from Hourglass and it’s called No. 28 Lip Treatment Oil.  Ladies of a certain age start getting little puckers around their puckerer and if you put this on your mouth and around your lips as you sleep, things should plump up, making those little lines go away.  We’ll see about that.

The other must-have for this little old lady was Guerlain’s Kiss Kiss Lip Lift.  Hourglass wanted me to use No.28 as my primer also, but Guerlain said all the right things about Kiss Kiss and I had to have some.  Between sleeping with No. 28 and priming with Kiss Kiss, I should look mahvahlus dahlink!

Strobing

Contouring, a la the Kardashians, is oh so yesterday.  Of course, one must still contour but now we must also strobe.  Strobing is creating a highlight wherever light would naturally hit your face.  So cheekbones, forehead, nose and chin should be zapped with something like Hourglass’ Ambient Light Edit which will “give you the complete Ambient® Lighting wardrobe” including  handmade powders, blushes, bronzers and the all important strober.  Here’s what you have to know: shimmer is completely out.  These powders are scientifically designed with photo luminescence.  You go around with glitter in your blusher Girl and the fashion police will be after you.

Beyond the Brow 

At the show I was informed that Anastascia of Beverly Hills “put brows on the map.”  I’m not sure which map, but I’m still fascinated by the perfectly trimmed man that came out to tell me all about it.  I swear I have never seen anyone in my life with more precisely trimmed eyebrows, mustache and hair.  He was all about contouring on this particular day and instructed us  to trot down to Nordstrom and get our Contour Kit, because it was the “best contouring palette” in the world.  He also called it Spanx for the face – use it and you immediately look five pounds thinner.

Magic Cream

Now all this boldness, strobing and contouring are for naught if your skin looks tired, but they had an answer for that too.  Charlotte Tilbury has finally released her Magic Cream.  According to their video, Charlotte has been whipping up this elixir in her kitchen for top celebrities for years, but has finally made it available to mere peons like you and I.  It comes in a jar and holds a little over 1.5 ounces, but for a C note it better be magic.  I guess I’m going to have to depend on plenty of sleep and healthy eating.

And For Your Hair

No use having a gorgeous face if it’s not a good hair day.  Two products from Aveda will help perfect your look.  First, Invanti Scalp Revitilizer.  This product is supposed to be a miraculous thickening tonic, and I’m sure it’s wonderful but the one I want first is Shampure.  Since I’ve been wearing my hair longer there are just these days when I really need to wash my hair, but since it’s such a force of nature I’m not always up for the battle.  Enter Shampure, the non-aerosol dry shampoo with “25 pure flower and plant essences.”  This stuff not only revives your hair, it instantly revives your senses while it’s at it.  Now that sounds pretty good to me.

So that’s the beauty line up from Nordstrom.  Armed with all this good advice for getting your face made up, you must now be ready to get dressed, but let’s put that off until another day.  For now, enjoy the pictures and then rush to Nordstrom.  You’re probably dying to get some Magic Cream and Kiss Kiss right now!

TRAVEL HERE: DALLAS’ NORTHPARK CELEBRATES FIFTY YEARS OF WONDERFUL

NorthPark is one of my favorite places in the world.  Sure, I like to shop, but that’s only a fraction of the attraction.  I just like to be there.  When I visit NorthPark I feel cooler, sleeker and more hip than I do anywhere else.  They are celebrating their fiftieth birthday with several weekends of fun.  Let me tell you about it.

Love in My Inbox

The first thing I do every morning is check my Gmail inbox.  Most of what’s there is deleted before I even look at it.  I really hate how many companies think they need to contact me daily.  NorthPark sends me a love note about once a week but I never delete their emails.  Instead, I pore over their communication carefully, looking for a reason – any reason- to visit my favorite place.

A couple of weeks ago the love note invited me to come celebrate NorthPark’s Fiftieth Anniversary.  My head was immediately filled with happy images:

• BLT sandwiches at the Woolworth lunch counter with my mom
• the baby blue pantsuit with a pirate blouse from JC Penney’s that might still be the favorite outfit I’ve ever owned
• working part-time at Lord & Taylor where I met my very best friend
• the sound of the wooden floor inside The Carriage Shop
• Jambon Moutarde Crepes at the Magic Pan

That’s just a sample from a very long list of pleasant memories I associate with NorthPark.  You won’t find any of those things at Northpark any longer, but they live on inside my head.  When it first opened, NorthPark only had 3 anchor stores, the movie theater was separate from the mall and food courts were unheard of.  It’s evolved over time, but I loved it from my first visit back in 1966.  We’d just moved to Texas and the mall, one of the nation’s first enclosed malls, had been open for about a year.

Focus on Fashion

My email love note informed me the first weekend of NorthPark’s celebration would be all about fashion.  The North Court would be turned into a venue for two days of fashion shows, one right after the other.  Well, this was just too exciting!  What was even more exciting was free admission.  Well, you could pay, which would guarantee a prime seat and a split of champagne, but I’m very into free.  I started reserving my seats immediately.

I’m fortunate to have a wonderful stable of friends.  They help me enjoy most of my adventures, but last weekend was a busy one and everyone had something going on.  I considered blowing off the whole thing and doing something like attending to my ever lengthening to-do list, but only for a moment.  NorthPark was celebrating her 50th birthday and I was going to celebrate with her.

The Celebration Isn’t Over 

I’ll tell you all about the fashion shows soon, but first I want you to know they were just the beginning of the celebration.  The fun is going to continue this weekend.  On Saturday there will be a free concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Ryan Anthony and Dallas Black Dance Theatre.  It’s a picnic on the grounds kind of thing and you bring your own blanket and picnic.  Then Sunday will be Artrocks, an art festival focused on hands-on activities for kids, featuring a concert by Gravity Feed and a return of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre.  How much fun is that?

While you’re there, check out Art Meets Fashion on Level One, between Neiman’s and Nordstrum’s.  The exhibit has gorgeous examples of fashion which connect the art world with the world of fashion.  There’s everything from the iconic Campbell-soup-can paper dress to splendid evening dresses covered in bling.  That blue pantsuit with the taupe lace is my favorite.  They can just wrap it up and send it to me.  Then all I’d need would be an event to wear it to.  It’s a little more than I’d need when I’m headed to the grocery store.

I’ve got lots more fun to share, so keep coming back!  Soon I’ll fill you in on all the fashion tips and trends I picked up at the fashion shows.