The STUFF Sisters

Heart of a Champion

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed.

Today we learned that one of our amazing artists – Lori Hale – passed. She battled cancer with the heart of a champion. She was inspiring to us all. We were so deeply blessed to be chosen to share her creative spirit, ideas, joy and work with the world. We will miss Lori. We will miss her little company Blue Raven. We will miss her art.

Art is life.

Life is art.

Red Skirt

I want this skirt…

I want this skirt.

Oscar de la Renta is a genius.

Sophistication

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo Da Vinci

This quote is on my bulletin board above my desk. I read it almost every day. On a trip to Atlanta recently, I was finally reading my magazines from November. I saw this ad and immediately thought of the quote.

This photo reminds me of Richard Avedon’s work. It is simply classic.

Bold Beauty

I started wearing reading glasses about a year ago. And I have noticed I have been wearing more and more jewelry at one time lately. Do you think when I grow up I can be as bold and beautiful as Iris Apfel?

I scanned this photo from the October 2009 issue of American Style Magazine.

Iris Apfel is an amazing woman that you can read more about in the New York Times here.

Indian Love Affair

I have loved saris for years. I’ve even wanted to own one …

I have loved saris for years. I’ve even wanted to own one and wear it. And for more than costume parties. I think this may be my true style. The authentic Sloane.

Tonight I went trolling on Google and Pinterest for images and was befuddled. All the women shown looked like hoochie mamas.

The woman to your left has not spent day one in India, I’m pretty sure. She’d be laughed off the continent.

Where’s the woman who was at Costco a few days ago that I followed down the main aisle totally mesmerized by her grace?

She walked at a full stride – on shorter legs than mine, which made my gait a bit crumpled as I walked behind her – and never once fussed with her clothes. She was older than me, darker skinned than me, sporting the most amazingly mixed shades of watermelon and salmon, and wearing not very attractive sandals, but I was in the throws of a full-on girl crush. I was a stalker, if only for a few minutes.

And then, tonight I found her again as she lives in my mind’s eye. Right here on my screen:

Isn’t she incredible? What’s not to love?

p.s. “Hoochie mama” is a coined phrase I lifted from my sister Casey. Make of it what you will, but know that she cracks me up. Here are a few more hoochie mamas.

Almost Stupid

I almost walked right into a grand tour down memory lane. Almost.

While our 14 year old son is off traipsing around Paris, I decided to travel right into the grand abyss that is his closet. It was packed to the gills with old costumes, rolled posters, too-small shoes, last year’s jeans, and his “keepsafe” boxes. That’s where I was almost stupid. Almost.

When he was young and still learning the finer points of the English language, he heard me mentioning his keepsake boxes. To be precise, what he heard – but not what I said – was KEEPSAFE boxes. He will still ask me to put things away in his keepsafe boxes. I have never corrected him, and I doubt I ever will. It’s just too precious to me, and there needs to be some thread to him that ties me to his babyhood.

Back to the closet. Right on top, in the uppermost keepsafe box, was the Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit I bought him in 1997 for my stepsister’s wedding. I went a little crazy in the weeks before the wedding and purchased this amazing ensemble at Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s a pima cotton placketed blouse and a navy blue velvet jumper with button closures. No tacky snaps here!! I finished it all off with white socks and leather Buster Brown ankle shoes. He was 8 months old, and that night his feet never touched the ground. He was held by many and pandered to all night. He was as happy all evening as he is in this picture.

In the box, right under this fashion statement, is the outfit we took him home from the hospital in. I can’t say what else is in that box – or the boxes it was resting on – because I stopped right there. I felt the big cry coming on, and I waltzed right around it. I went back to sorting and dusting and cleaning and ignored the memories waiting in those boxes.

I guess that, because I only have one child, I will not need to remind myself to not go cleaning out the closets of an almost high schooler while they are away. It is a treacherous and slippery slope if you are not properly prepared.

I should, however, remind myself that drying my eyes with the cotton rag in my hands that is coated in lemon Pledge and dust bunnies is almost stupid. Almost.

Rain Boots

I really, really, really want these boots. And, it is raining a bunch this week, so I think I could justify the purchase. But, I am on a very tight budget this month so I will have to put them on the April wish list instead.

Oooh…April Showers!