Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. VI

(Image from ThisNext)

I don't know where I heard about Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See, but I loved it. I grabbed it one afternoon last fall in New York, and sat coffee in left hand, pages turning in right, until I finished it.

These are compelling to read because: 1. they are love letters, and 2. they are not yours.

I forgot about it for a while, then remembered while I was perusing the book selection at Anthropologie (yes, they sell something other than those bowls and assorted cardigans adorned with ribbons and bows). I bought a book that day, called For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing.

(Image from Yahoo)

It is a good resource for anyone who wants to learn something about writing memorable letters and needs a place to start. Random? Perhaps, but I'm a letter junkie. They come few and far between, but I keep basically anything handwritten I have ever received and I have recently made more of a concerted effort to send penned correspondence out into the world.

My mother found a letter and passed it my way casually a few weeks ago. "This was for you..." she said. It was a nondescript card, which when I got around to reading it I found was from my Great Aunt, said "ay-unt" not "ahhnt", I'm from Texas, remember?

What surprised me was that it was dated April 23, 1985, about three months after I was born. I read it over and over; she was excited to meet me, told me how adorable I was in pictures and that she had sent me a dress to wear during the summer when I would go to visit family in Mississippi. It was simple and full of love and I had never seen it before, in all my 23 years.

My aunt did not send the letter expecting that it would be kept for long, or knowing that 23 years later it would end up cherished by me as an indication of the loving reception I received when I came into the world. She probably didn't even think I would ever see it, but I did. It is now framed in my room.

I only speak for myself, but I don't know anyone who has ever framed an e-mail.

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."
-James Earl Jones

Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. V

I have established that I am a fan of the daily emails. As many other girls do, I e-subscribe to Daily Candy, which are cleverly written, tailored to my city (Dallas) and take literally 20-30 seconds to read.

I read an article recently on the creators of Thrillist.com, which provides a similar service as Daily Candy, only catering to men. They provide "Thrillist Nation" daily news on Food + Dining, Style, Entertainment, Travel, Bars + Nightlife and Home + Gadgets. They also send weekly emails by city.

I like feeling as though gifts I give people are thoughtful, and I have a strict no-gift cards policy, but I'm as guilty as the next girl of giving my fraternity boy brother* Polo shirts and my avid reader and golfer father** a lame tie or something irrelevant from Brookstone. This has definitely become a new resource for me for gift ideas and randomly great websites:

I like the recommendation they made for the website Forvo, which tells you how to pronounce words in any other language you can think of.

I am not the most savvy of music-listeners, but apparently Blue Tunes can load your iTunes library into its online database, so you can access it anywhere.

Who doesn't love cheap wine? Not me and definitely not you. The Accidental Wine Company looks promising.

I drive everywhere now, but this Walk Score website would be great for anyone who hits the pavement.

It is so much cheaper and more efficient to get these in your inbox (read: "gloriously free") than picking up a random copy of Men's Health or roaming aimlessly around a sporting goods store, and takes care of Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Miami on a regional basis as well.

Maybe the emails just appeal to the same side of me who also watches Entourage. I really love that show for some reason. Either way, I like being informed.

*For my brother's 22nd birthday this year I gave him black bow tie and suspenders for his tux. He had a vest and tie but that was a little too prom circa 2004. The classic James Bond look is much more sexy.
**For my dad's 51st birthday I made reservations at a nice restaurant in Dallas and took him to dinner for a change, and for some quality time.



"Enabling informed laziness since 2005. Get emails that let you read very little, yet know pretty much everything."
-Thrillist

Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. IV

I may not know much about men, but there is one thing I know for sure: they all love long hair.

To quote my friend Jane, completely out of context, "it is a truth universally acknowledged."

I was walking out of the house a few days ago, leaving to go run errands and see friends in Uptown, and my Dad casually asked about my plans. The first thing out of my mouth was that I was on my way to get a haircut then going to meet up with friends to watch a football game. He stopped abruptly, jerked his head around the corner and said "you're not cutting it all off- are you? You won't be getting it short again- right?"

"I'm just getting it trimmed and having the stylist clean up my layers... that's all."

"Oh, okay. Good. Have fun."

He never made any comments about my short hair for the years I kept it so in college, but clearly he was biding his time. I have since consulted with several other trusted males about hair length and the consensus is clear: keep it long. Got it.

Long hair is means more maintenance, and I've recently become privy to a few products that make my life much easier.

Product #1 was introduced to me at the Bumble and Bumble salon in Manhattan. I have a lot of hair, but it doesn't have a lot of body, and my stylist told me to use the Thickening Spray on my damp hair before blowing it out. It definitely adds body and makes my hair fluffy. It helps for big, soft curls.



Product #2 I found myself, while on a Target expedition for Biolage, Craisins and Clif Kids Bars (chocolate brownie). Pantene Pro-V Texture Pomade is the perfect finish for straight hair. If you live in any kind of humid climate, then frizz is always a factor. Rubbing a small amount on your fingers and running it through freshly-straightened hair gives you defined layers and smooth control without the crunch of hairspray.



Product #3 was recommended to me by a few friends who have drier hair and therefore can't wash it everyday. To keep it fresh between washes, dry shampoo works wonders. My big question was "how is this different from baby powder?" I don't like the smell of baby powder and I always think it makes me, a brunette, look a little too much like Martha Washington. I found a dry shampoo by Oscar Blandi called Pronto at Sephora, and have quickly become a fan. It has a lemony smell and takes care of those mornings when I hit my alarm more than five times.


Another good idea if you aren't great with your own hair, is scheduling appointments with a hair stylist for Saturday afternoons, that way your hair is cut and styled in time for Saturday night, and you've killed both the haircut and hairstyle birds with one stone.

Or you become friends with me and coerce me into coming over to fix your hair for you. That's what my friends do.

"Hair is the richest ornament of women."
-Martin Luther

Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. III

Everyone has their standby, no-brainer list of good restaurants. They are always a safe bet and while you may not be surprised, you know you won't be disappointed.

Soon after moving to Dallas, I discovered that my friend CC had a list, multiple pages long, of restaurants to try on her Mac, complete with recommendations, how she had heard of the place, price ranges and ambiance. This was not really a surprise, coming from the same friend who gave me my quote book and who is a master of all things organizational.

Her list has yet to produce a bad evening of dining out, so this weekend should not have been a surprise. CC's recommendation for Saturday night was a restaurant called Rise No. 1, in Inwood Village. I had read about it before, and then in one ear out the other, I forgot about it until she mentioned the name.

I should start keeping a list or something.

Our other friends KS, MG and BF were all game to try it, and after piling in MG's car together we found ourselves in Inwood Village... decked out for Christmas. Evidently retailers order all of their Christmas decor early in the year, which was prior to the crumbling of the economy, so they're now in a panic to get rid of it. Anyway, we meandered around outside for a while; waiting for the one table of five in the restaurant to vacate, and managed to squeeze onto the same bench in front while we chatted.

Once seated, we decided to try a French, pear-flavored cider that the waiter recommended. Not Ace Pear, for the record. It was less acidic and there were no playing cards on the label (aka totally classy). He brought water to our table in old, label-less wine bottles, which we drank like camels, and also freshly baked baguette and butter, which didn't last long either.

The restaurant, we had heard, was known for their souffles, so we each ordered salads to start and three souffles to share- creamed spinach, jambon and gruyere (ham and cheese, but so much fancier) and a sun-dried tomato and pesto chevre. They were all delicious, but none compared to dessert.

The chocolate souffle. Oh the chocolate souffle. We were a captivated audience as a waitress set the dish squarely in the middle of our table, a puffy cloud covered in powdered sugar. She wielded, in her other hand, a pot of melted dark chocolate to pour over the top. I don't think we even heard her say "enjoy" because we were too busy killing it. It was like sword-fighting with spoons.

The restaurant itself was comfortable; warm and inviting with bookshelves and wine racks lining the walls. It seems like an aspiring writer influenced the details; there were novels on the shelves, Scrabble pieces on the table and when we left, we discovered a Bingo-looking wheel that held not mints, not matches but quotes. Like a fortune cookie, but better.

And who needs a cookie when there's chocolate syrup to be finished?

"You will wait on your souffle, but your souffle will not wait on you."
-Rise No. 1 menu

Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. II

Among the many things I e-subscribe to, I recently came across a fun little weekly email from PinkMemo.

For the fashion-savvy ladies of Dallas and New York City, this is a great source of style news. It has comprehensive shopping guides, store events and shows in each city, the scoop on where to find what and scene coverage for the socially-inclined. They also keep a blog, for anyone who craves a daily dose of the finer things in life.

Well-Kept Secrets, Vol. I

For anyone who ever looks forward to their Daily Candies or Dictionary.com Word of the Day emails (nerd), this is for you. I am a big fan of blogs who do little once-weekly or every once in a while entries that you can count on. You know they'll be there, ready to report nuggets of wisdom or dole out interesting advice and helpful ideas.

The first I ever became attached to was The Pioneer Woman, who began over a year ago retelling the story of how she met and fell in love with her husband. I also read Fashion Fridays by Big Mama, This Week in God on Anne & May, Meeting Notes on Working Girl, Pop Quizzes on BagSnob and YumSugar's Weekly Recaps. My favorite, though, would be the Tuesday morning recaps of Gossip Girl on New York Mag's Daily Intel. (Whenever I meet someone who watches the show, I immediately ask them if they've ever read this blog because it's pure genius). I've run across a few good recaps of The Bachelor/Bachelorette as well, but those are more of a seasonal thing.

So now I've decided to join the ranks of the weeklies, with my own version.

My freshman year of college, my friend MG, who I didn't know very well at the time, gave me one of the best compliments anyone has ever given me. We were hanging out in the hallway outside her dorm room chatting with some of our friends and she said "you, my friend, are a well-kept secret". I loved that.

So now, my friends, I give you my Well-Kept Secrets. We're not getting super-personal here, I won't be divulging my crushes from years past or revealing the initiation secrets of my sorority. Nothing like that. This is more of a guide, some suggestions or, hopefully, things that will make you think "I would never have thought of that" or "I never even knew that was there". That's the goal, anyway.

This week, I'd like to introduce you to Tallulah Belle, not a Southern debutante, but a boutique tucked away off of Abrams in the Lakewood neighborhood of Dallas (no Google-able website, either). My friend CC and I wandered in over a month ago for the first time, after going to church and then to brunch at a restaurant two doors down. We found it to be a haven of adorable gifts with books, jewelry, candles and bath products, all with labels we didn't immediately recognize from the usual places we shop. In the back, however, we found a well-chosen selection of girly clothes- ruffled blouses, party dresses; long tunics and baby doll tops (perfect with leggings for fall), all of which don't scream "I got this at Northpark! You know because you saw it there yesterday!"

We went in yesterday, for the second time, and found them freshly stocked for the fall/winter. They carry Matty M, 213, and MM Couture, and good quote books (who doesn't love quote books?) by Kobi Yamada. There were also great options for bridal gifts, which are sometimes difficult to get creative with when it comes to bachelorette parties and lingerie showers. The best part was that it was all very affordable, making us all the more prone to model every other item in the store.

"Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".
-Norman MacEwan