Beautiful Moments...

We all have a soft spot inside of us.  I believe those soft spots are where we cradle those treasures that we love.  For some, these treasures may be a new dress, an ice-cream cone on a sunny summer day, a hug from someone special, the laugh of a baby.  While this blog is largely about fashion, it is primarily about beauty and the ways in which beauty manifests itself in my life, the lives of others, or in the world in general.

For me, my soft spot is for beautiful moments, for example.  While beauty can be found almost anywhere if one has the eyes to see it, sometimes it is more difficult to detect.  Lives are busy and often we become frantic popping from one thing to the next.  In our flustered state, our minds begin to short-circuit and beautiful moments cry out to be seen, but fall on deaf ears.

In the hectic hustle and bustle of the day, it is supremely enjoyable when I am able to carve out those special beautiful moments in the day and savor them.  Occasionally, I stumble upon beautiful moments (my boss at work made me chocolate cookies this morning as a surprise, for example) but often these treasures of time must be created intentionally.

This evening was such an occasion.  

Now, it is Valentine's Day, and for many a single gal, this evening spells doom and gloom, a night spent clad in all black, wallowing in a party where the guests are Self-Pity and Woe.  Not for me.  I have been looking forward to this day for at least a week and couldn't wait for it to arrive.   Could there be a better day for an excuse to carve out a beautiful moment?

My beautiful moment this evening consisted of a steak on the stove with bacon and butter (my love of butter is the French in me), Frank Sinatra blaring, a scented candle on the table, dancing in the kitchen, and an extremely over-the-top feminine white apron with lacey frills that was a present from my mother (entirely impractical due to its white color, but what can I say?  It's my "domestic goddess apron.")  I cannot imagine having a more pleasant evening.

To my fellow single gals, please know that you are beautiful.  Singleness is not a disease from which one must have an immediate cure or it will lead to certain death.  Singleness is a time of cultivation.  a time to cultivate those hobbies in which one has an interest -- if not now, when?  A time to cultivate those skills one has always wanted to learn (cooking?  writing?  electric guitar?); a time to cultivate one's mind by the reading of quality books and music;  a time to cultivate one's personality by conversing with people from various walks of life.  Pia de Solenni said: "Let your exterior beauty be a manifestation of an interior reality."  Singleness, if used wisely, can be a time of opportunity.  Time is a friend, not an enemy.  Don't fight it.  As Dawn Eden once said: "Become a singular sensation."

But I digress, and I'm sure you are wanting to hear about my evening.  Some more!  To conclude, it could only have been improved by popping online and checking out Anthropologie's newest Bridal Line on www.bhldn.com (pronounced Bee-Hold-En) just released *today*!  

And at last, you say, she is back on track and talking about fashion again!

Here are some sneak peeks:

Did you have a pleasant evening?  What do you think of Anthro's new duds?  

I will have a few words to say, but for now I bid you bon soir!