Golden Days Photobooth

TWENTY SIX BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENT TRIOS JUST DROPPED IN THE SHOP! Link in bio or goldendaysphotobooth.com. All handmade, one-of-a-kind trios, crafted from vintage and secondhand jewelry.

Part Two:

From iPhone Notes 9/16/20 1:15am
I’m lying in bed thinking about my Nanny’s life. The whole thing. She LIVED. She traveled the world... like, a lot of it. She saw more places than people dream of in a lifetime (I got that from her). Maybe she traveled because she could NOT sit still. Well, she could sit still but only if the Mavericks or the Cowboys were playing.

She had a till-death-do-us-part love. Made children that gave her grandchildren that gave her great grandchildren. Like, a LOT of them. She spoiled us like I’ve never known a grandmother to spoil a grandchild. She lived for it. Shopping with her, even in middle school, was one of my absolute favorite things to do with her. And not because she’d buy me entire outfits, but because she had STYLE. I started borrowing clothes from her as soon as I could fit into them. Every single photo we flipped through tonight made me covet another of her outfits.

She loved so big. “Come see Nanny. Gimme some sugar.” She was absolutely in love with all of her “babies”. If a great grandchild was in the room, not much else existed.

At 4:25pm today, I like to believe that a very dapper gentleman, that adored her in this lifetime with everything he had, got to hold her again. She was ready for that.

Part One:

The summer that Golden Days was conceived, I had a three hour phone call with this beautiful woman. My Nanny and Papa had started a successful business in the 60s and I had QUESTIONS. I wanted to know everything. I needed to hear that she had to be brave and bold. They had to step out of their comfort zones. I had obviously known of and was privileged to benefit from the fruits of this company for my whole life. Yet... I had never heard these stories before.

Without her, and this specific conversation, I don’t know if I would have been able to follow through with Golden Days. It was hardly more than a twinkle in my eye at that time. But her honest, candid tales of humble beginnings impacted me. And... she believed in it. She believed in ME. Like, really believed in me. Because she had no problem telling you if she thought you were off your rocker. 😂

On September 13th, preluded by a hell of a year, my cousin’s name popped up on my phone. My heart dropped. I knew bad news was coming. Heather told me that Nanny may not make it through the night. If we wanted to say goodbye, we had to come fast. Joey and I didn’t hesitate. It was 7pm on a Sunday, he was calling his boss and we were throwing Fay and anything we might need for who knows how long, into the car.
After 11+ hours from Atlanta to Sulphur Springs, TX (both of my parents home town), we arrived and I went straight to my nanny’s bedroom. For the next twelve hours I had the one-in-a-billion opportunity to lay with my cousins and siblings in bed with our dying Nanny. We took turns one-on-one with her at times, other times we’d be piled on top of each other like it was the last day we’d ever have with her.

And it was.

This is Fay. She was “hiding” like this for quite some time yesterday. With food all over her pants.

Why does this feel SO relatable? I think this is my vibe going into the holidays in 2020.
Attempting to hide... in plain sight. Who has the energy to find a good hiding place right now? This will do. If I can’t see them, they can’t see me, right?

This also happens to be a great illustration for Golden Days 2020.

When I mapped out this company in 2018, my projections for this year looked MUCH different than it has all unfolded. I think I’m still in shock from when the cancellations came flooding in the third week of March. Every single one was expected by that time. And every single one was equally as devastating. This truly put me in a rough mental state for quite some time. As the months FLEW by (like a high-speed rail/bullet train!!), I watched companies, restaurants, artists, even people reinvent themselves. I’ve watched in absolute awe as the creatives, that we’ve always needed in a way, have become absolutely necessary. We’ve needed music and movies and art like NEVER before. We’ve needed hope and light and beauty. We’ve needed grace and space and voices. We’ve needed ingenuity and rule-breaking and out-of-the-box ideas. DAMN have the makers of the world made this year something to see light in. At a time where seeing light, feeling light, is far and few.

I’m so thankful and would not have made it through this year without the creativity that has saturated this season of our lives.
But still, I wondered- where were my ideas? Where was my ingenuity? I’d have ideas and squash them so so quickly. Or I’d begin a plan and not follow through. Not just because covid greatly effected the event industry, but I have had a lot of loss and hurt in my personal life as well.

This week on my feed and stories, I will be sharing about the most pivotal part of MY personal year. And how after eight months in captivity, my creativity has been set FREE!