oh, pretty woman

Because Yardley of London knew exactly who they were marketing to in the 60's, it's not surprising that so many of their commercials ended up airing during "The Monkees" tv show which ran from 1966 to 1968. I was a huge Monkee fan but my love for Yardley cosmetics way outlasted my love for Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike. Sorry, guys. I'm the fickle sort.

I recently came across these two old Yardley commercials from that time period -- they will give some of you a happy trip down memory lane and they will give some of you a little insight into what the hullaballoo was all about.

Note the British accents of the voice-overs and keep in mind that this was at the height of the so-called "British invasion." We were suckers for anything (and anyone) from across the Big Pond.

Enjoy!

(they call it) puppy love

In 1960, I was in second grade and living in Dayton, Ohio when my Mom took me to see a brand new Disney movie called "Pollyanna," starring British child actress Hayley Mills. My childhood would never be the same.

I fell in love with Hayley the same fan-girly way little girls fall in love with Miley Cyrus today. This was eons before anyone had even dreamed of videotape so instead of watching her movies over and over and over again, I listened to the soundtrack recordings on my record player. I could -- and did (much to my family and friends' chagrin) -- recite huge amounts of dialogue at the drop of a hat. "The Parent Trap," "Summer Magic," "The Moon-Spinners," and "The Chalk Garden" -- I saw and loved them all.

One of my strongest memories about my Hayley obsession was repeatedly telling my Mom that if I ever had a daughter, I would name her "Hayley" because I loved the name -- and the actress -- so much.

Well, I did give birth to three daughters and their names are Erin, Megan, and Molly .... nary a Hayley in the bunch. Not my fault, though. With every pregnancy, the very first girl's name I suggested to my husband was "Hayley" and he simply could not be coerced into considering it. I dearly love the names we gave our daughters but it would not be a lie to say that I still have an itsy bitsy teensy weensy smidgen of disappointment that Hayley never made it into the line-up.

cherish

This is me at the age of three with my Mom and my Dad's mother -- it is absolutely one of my favorite pictures.

It was about this time that my grandmother learned that she had leukemia and had only a few years to live. I was her only grandchild at the time and I've been told that one of the things that upset her the most about her prognosis was that she would pass away before I was old enough to have strong memories of her. To that end, she set out to spend a lot of time with me -- and spoiled me in every imaginable way -- and although she died when I was only five years old, I almost feel as though I had her for my entire childhood -- she made me feel that loved and cherished. Mission accomplished, Grandma!

One of my biggest regrets is that my younger sister, Heather, never had the opportunity to know our grandmother and be on the receiving end of her love and generosity of spirit.

My own Mom passed away in 1990 and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of her and miss her. If I started talking about all of the incredible and amazing things about her, I would be here for hours so let me sum it up this simply:

I'm eternally grateful that she was mine and I was hers.

Happy Mother's Day, ladies. I love you and miss you both.

happy halloween

Oh, how I adore Halloween! This photo was taken at my Halloween party in 1964 during a rolicking game of Bite the Apple. That's my Dad grinning in the background -- I think he had almost as much fun as us kids.

"sleeping beauty" done kid-style 1958

As promised, I'm posting a photo of our kid-produced and kid-performed neighborhood version of "Sleeping Beauty." I'm in the pink dress and my Prince Charming is in the blue next to me (no, he didn't really kiss me when he woke me up .... yuck!). All in all, it was a pretty impressive effort on the part of a bunch of kids. Our parents got together and threw a big neighborhood barbeque post-performance and told us over and over again how wonderful we were.

the sleeping beauty sheet

One of the earliest pop culture influences on my life was the Disney film "Sleeping Beauty." I first saw it when I was five years old and somehow convinced all of the other kids in my South Carolina neighborhood that it would be real nifty if we put on our own "Sleeping Beauty" play for our parents. I was going to be "Sleeping Beauty," of course -- after all, the whole thing had been my idea -- and I needed a costume. So early one morning while my parents were still slumbering, I got into the linen closet and pulled out a sheet to create my costume. My mother caught me right after I had cut the sheet up and had started coloring it with crayons. She wasn't impressed .... or amused.
We did produce the play and it was a big hit with our parents. I've got pictures somewhere and I'll post them when I come across them.