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“Now I don't want any candles on my cake” exclaimed Rebecca Wells’ Viviane Joan Abbott Walker, “It'll look like the burnin’ of Atlanta!”
Frankly, as I enter the last year of my EARLY thirties, I can sympathize. My birthday is, and has always been, a week-long, tiara-wearing, fancy-schmancy licka drink imbibing, cause for general fanfare and frolic. But falling on the 23 of November, it has also been (for me) something else as well. It’s a time to celebrate the people that I love. I’m reminded by its proximity to Turkey Day, how thankful I am . . . for the friends & loved ones whose devotion and support mean so much to me. This year, I decided that they needed a little pampering. And that I would include fellow members of the Junior League, Rotary & Toast of the Townies as well.
The Grande Celebration was held at The Vineville Spa & Salon where guests were treated to some of my favorites! Canapé of (Fountain of Juice) jalapeno pimento cheese & (Georgia Bob’s) chicken salad, Petite Cornbread, Itty Bitty Almond Joy cupcakes and Bananas Foster Cake. A Toast (of the White Cosmopolitans “Audrey Hepburn” served us) to the Evans for the best yard-strutter salad in the whole wide world. And a double swig Toast to Natasha & Company for all the rest! That cake was the most exquisite slice of decadence I have ever tasted. Order one immediately! And it set the indulgent tone of the evening just beautifully.
Each of one of my guests was treated to a microderm, a make-up & hair consultation, a brow & lip waxing, a paraffin hand treatment, a nail buff & polish, and a massage. The Salon’s masseuse has a little secret treat that you MUST experience as soon as possible. And our palm reader was quite the hit as well. I can’t say that I’ve ever enjoyed myself so much in one evening. And to be surrounded by such amazing women . . . Little Miss Walden, Leigh, Lauren Summers, Tracy Benton, Portia, Kristi, Vicki . . . who brought me some of the most beautiful presents I’ve ever been showered with. The inscription on “The Cracker Queen” made me giggle, a gorgeous painting of a Peach “for a peach” made me blush, wine bottles and candles made me glow.
My favorite present, from the Sanders/Hatcher/Bridges girls, was a glass locket that now holds a ticket from “Coco: Before Chanel” at the Paris Theatre and a sterling silver cake pull from Ginny Sweet’s bridal luncheon. And it delicately swings from a necklace that my “Boppa” once gave my “Honey.” Even the regrets were darling. Kathryn, Elizabeth, Adriane, Beth, Deidra . . . and snaps on the invitation from my favorite (little) arbiter of style, Lillie Sweet. But the highlight of the evening came in a rather unorthodox package – when I heard some of the girls talking about me behind my back.
Now I’ve never been a fan of this type of activity. So before you get the wrong idea, I must explain that this was different. You see, my eyes welled up with happy tears when I heard the things they were saying in my absence. Yes, the presents were amazing. But the Gift, the greatest Gift was a glimpse that I caught of myself through their eyes. Edith Wharton once said “there are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.” A TOAST . . . to my friends . . . who are both. They are the candles whose light inspires me to be the woman that I am. They are the mirrors in which that reflection sparkles. And my WISH is to remain devoted, for the rest of my life, to being both for all of them.
aS
Doctor Turvy Suggests
Mmm! Homemade Eggnog Season Is Here!!!
(Ooh Girl It Is SOOO) Hot This Week . . .
Party Photos By Leah Yetter
The Man Who Came To Dinner
First Friday
Flyin' South
Sugarplum Party
