In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little obsessed with the color purple.  My website, my blog and my Twitter page are all purple.  I don’t really know why I’m obsessed with all things purple.  I just am.  Other people like pink, blue, green, grey, brown, red, orange, yellow and black.  I like purple.   I’ve loved the color purple, and anything purple (with the exception of many grape flavored things), since I was a little girl.  If I had to pinpoint my first purple memory, it’s of my father and his fraternity brothers – Omega Psi Phi.  Their colors are purple and gold (and yes, my wedding colors were purple and gold, sounds tacky but it really was quite tasteful if I do say so myself .. come on, I’m a stylist, I have an eye for combining the not-so-obvious!).  I’m a daddy’s girl, so I guess it’s not surprising that I adopted purple as my favorite color.  Oh, and my niece Jada recently informed me that her favorite color is purple – go Jada!   I’m in good company;the artist formerly known as Prince loves purple and based on the eggplant craze, apparently lots of other folks are also obsessed with this vibrant hue.  And the folks at RIM finally got it!  They’ve created a purple, yes a purple Blackberry!  A PurpleBerry!  I’m gaga.  I absolutely LOVE my gold leopard print rhinestone Blackberry cover – it’s soooo sparkly – but I may have to trade that bad boy in and trade up to a purple BlackBerry Curve 8530.  Decisions, decisions …

Advice?!?!?!

I’m happy to report that 2009 was a great year for me, but it was definitely a hectic one.  Historically, I’m a paperwhore and typically I’ve managed my life from my home datebook in tandem with my portable one (yes, I’m a little anal) but like I said 2009 was a bit hectic and I began to rely on whichever electronic device was most handy.  The beginning of my end.  It was great to type an appointment in, it wasn’t so great to have my device ring at me shortly before the appointment I’d completely forgotten about because I failed to mentally note it. Instead of going in one ear and out the other, it got typed in and then mentally deleted. After a few of these mis-haps it dawned on me that while we’re in the midst of the information age, and I gladly tote around all of these cool gadgets with their bells and whistles, I’m a paper person at heart.  I need to open my planner each morning and see what my day looks like in my own handwriting.  So, to kick-off the new year, I have refills for my desk datebook and my portable one.  I know, I want to be environmentally responsible, but I also want to be on time!  Come join me on the wild side.

Tell me – are you paper or electronic?

[images clockwise from top Filofax, Louis Vuitton, Apple, Kate Spade]

Dabbing at tears and wiping away beads of perspiration are facts of life.  How many times have you found yourself in one of these situations and not had something to properly dab or wipe with?  If you’re lucky, a loved one, a friend or a perfectly good stranger stepped in and offered you their hankie. Handkerchiefs, paper or cloth, are something one should never leave home without.

Fellas, before you walk out the door you check to make sure you have your essentials – keys, wallet, Blackberry, iPhone – is a handkerchief on your check-list?  If not, please add it.  If nothing else, having one on your person will win you big points with the ladies (those you want to impress as well as those whose respect you hope to gain).

My grandmother taught me that a lady never leaves the house without her hankie. Most days I live up to her credo – I’m lucky I have her old hankies, which are a lovely way to carry a little bit of her with me every day.  Carrying a hankie is also a little Holly Golightlyesque for me – pulling out a beautiful little piece of embroidered fabric to dab a tear or stiffle a cough usually brings a smile to my face.

Now, I’m old school.  I believe in cloth hankies – cotton or linen – embroidered with pretty flowers or initials.  I started my collection with my grandmother’s, but over the years friends and family members have helped me to amass a nice collection of my own to pass down.  But, my mother, like many of my friends who’s grannies drilled the same lesson into them, prefer the paper tissue packets — there’s something about their disposable nature and no need for ironing that makes them so appealing.  Kleenex of course, has tissue packets available in spades; guys, these are a great alternative to cotton handkerchiefs. But for you savvy stylistas, Sniff has cornered the market on the die-for tissue packets of the moment.  You’ve seen them – zebra print, leopard, denim-like and beautiful florals to boot.  Beware though these are a bit pricey. My mom has been known to dole these out judiciously (she needs to know that you really do have a runny nose) as if they were $20 bills not to be parted with lightly. Now, if you’re really special and don’t want the muss and fuss of cloth hankies, but want what you carry to be personal to you, there are all kinds of websites out there ready to personalize your tissue packets for you! Who knew, right?  Just Google “personalized tissue packs”.

And you thought Hanky Panky was just a great brand of underwear. (Bet you didnt know that the company got started when one of it’s owners gave the other a beautiful pair of underwear made out of hand embroidered vintange hankies).