Grande Dame

Thinking about people who have inspired me today...


The last time I saw my grandmother was in late January this year. After a long delayed flight from Seattle to Florida - with significant other in tow - we land in the Gulf Coast to share a long weekend with a very special woman in my life.

In true grandma style, she is late, and waiting out by her car, applying red lipstick and adjusting her larger than life sunglasses. "Larger than life" is truly the one word that I can use to describe my dear grandmother.

My gran is not the typical of grandmothers. She doesn't knit, craft, cook, have a q-tip hair do, or wear patterened sweaters. She is 6 feet tall, bleach blonde, and the most eccentric of 83 year olds you will ever meet.

Spending time with her as a child, we always went thrifting, to the library, long road trips on summer break, looking through her treasures in her bedroom, trying on her chiffon bedroom coats, smelling her perfumes in the bathroom. I was mesmerized by her. She had this unspoken glamour & eccentricity that reflected through her style, her surroundings. Naturally, she became my idol.

My grandmother and I weren't very close in my formative years..living 2,000 miles away...now I realize her impression on me was everlasting. Her fashion sense, her zest for life and travel and all things glamourous.

This blog post is dedicated to my grandmother. Thank you for inspiring me, always being yourself, and never apologizing for it. You have that Je ne sais quoi!