High Power Job

When I go to a restaurant, I seldom order off the menu. My mother is the type that will order but then completely change every aspect of the meal-- add this, change that; this on the side. My dad hates it-- I roll my eyes, but I am the exact same way. 

My mother and I  are two peas in a pod (my dad always says this). We see things and know they could be even more fabulous is they were altered. We are the "outside of the hatbox" thinkers.

   
Some people have a knack for breathing new life into old things-- there's a certain peace that comes with the energy that exudes from making something an "original". I see things now, more than ever, not just how they are, but what they could potentially be. 

The eye for colour, fashion, staging and decorating I get from my mother. The British fashionista who is a mix between  Elizabeth Taylor ,  Sophia Loren , Goldie Hawn and Martha Stewart. A woman whose home is more pristine than the Smithsonian, and closet is better staged than Harrods but cannot figure out how to program her own daughter's number into her cell phone.  Despite her technological handicap, she  has a gift when it comes to creativity and, well, she 'get it from her mama'.She taught me to be kind to everyone, be DIFFERENT,  decadent at all times and fashion forward. She taught me that there is no such thing as casual... no such thing as over-dressed, and no such thing as over the top. 

Still dressing up and posing with big dogs.

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She instilled in me the rule of threes, calls frantically to discuss the latest wedding gowns on TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress" and mails me massive bows to hang on my shabby chic barn, wedding veils as decor and vintage gloves as "home accents". 

They say you have to love what you do and do what you love. Typically, my generation views success as high-power jobs with high power salaries to match. I am at fault for falling for this misinterpretation of life, as well, until I (luckily) burst my own bubble.

 My job has high-power, in a far different way-- deep down. I believe that life is about moments- big or small and the good ones, I am stacking them up.

 I get tears when a bride gets tears, my jaw drops when the grooms does. When I help a bride find her dress, and her momma starts crying, I always get teary-eyed. Those moments, that interaction, that moment she'll never forget... that doesn't get old to me. I get to be a part of her biggest moment. This is what I love and what moves me. That is powerful in and of itself. 

Jean's Bridal is where Yes is said to the dress daily in my life!( Jean's Bridal! ) There are moments I want to rename our beautiful bridal boutique Hitches to Bitches.

 But my sanity in a crazy world of lace, bedazzle, MOBs and 30083574375 bridesmaids comes in the form of the 3 girls I work with.

 I know...... take a moment to take THAT shocker in... 4 young women, working together in bridezilla land, and we GET ALONG!! There is something eerie and also beautiful about the way we all came together and get along. 

Our patriots Red White and Blue Coordinated outfits for Memorial Day!

They are my eclectic breaths of fresh air who share my obsession with organza, Lazaro and life.   

At a wedding, I notice everything. . Every angle I step back and assess; every bead in the brides dress... every smile, tear, laugh. To me, I can brush by a certain piece of   Silk Shantung or Dupioni Silk and get a rush of excitement. I live by textures, fabrics, colors and design. 

 Outside of Jean's Bridal, I get the pleasure to stage and create southern weddings. I guess what they say about teachers holds true for us gown slingers: those who don't marry, plan.

My work gets to live on which is so inspiring to me. It reflects and echoes in each picture and memory from the wedding from I Do on. 

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”- M. Scott Peck.