Spirit of Children

As many of you know, our Spirit Halloween stores in Houston & Austin raise money through the Spirit of Children program for two hospitals. In Houston, the hospital recipient is Texas Children's Hospital. Austin's hospital is Dell Children's Medical Center. In addition to throwing Halloween parties for the children at both facilities, customers also donate money to help each hospital's Child Life program. Checks are then presented in January or February.

All of the money for both hospitals is 100 % customer donations and was collected over 60 DAYS! The staff in all of the stores work diligently to collect money for the hospitals. This year, we drove from Dallas to Austin to present their check first. Spirit was pleased to present a check for $110, 670.00 to Dell Children's.

Then it was off to Houston (after a one day detour to relax in San Antonio.) At Texas Children's, we presented a check to them for $107, 330. 

Last year, Texas Children's presented us with a Spirit Halloween bench, which was created and painted by some of their pediatric patients. 

It sits in the hallway near a window on the Child Life floor and we have been told that many of the kids enjoy sitting on it. It was an honor to take Cameron upstairs to sit on it too.

                    We look forward to another successful year, raising money for the kids!

Shabbat Shalom

Have a wonderful Shabbos! Someone tweeted this YouTube video. I love it & had to share it for Shabbat-

Sorority fun when there is no sun

Last year I blogged about rain boots that can be personalized with your monogram or sorority letters. Before I could get a pair, I learned about a great alternative that is more economical and versatile.


Sorority boot cuffs are all the rage right now. They are a great way to sport your Greek letters on a pair of boots that you already own!

The cuffs average $30 for the pair and simply slip onto the top of any rain boot. I found that the fit is better on my shorter pair of rain boots, rather than my taller Hunters or Huntress boots. 

What I like the most is that I can remove the cuffs when I want to wear plain black boots. It is a nice way to beam your sorority sunshine on a cloudy day. 

Simply charmed!

I adore charm bracelets. It was about this time last year when I talked about the wonderful vintage charm bracelet that I received from my mother. I don't wear it because I am incredibly afraid of losing it and it means too much to me! Instead, I created one of my own. 

Two of my good friends, Jana, Casey and I have similar bracelets. They are both moms and we see each other all of the time, so it is no wonder that we have a couple of charms in common. I started with my Junior League bracelet, which simply had our JL symbol on it.                                                     From there, I started building. Jana, Casey & I coincidentally have the same Chai charm from James Avery. Given that it is the Jewish symbol for "life," it is only natural for all of us to have one on our bracelets. I used to wear the Magen David charm on a necklace, but moved it to the bracelet. I liked its pairing with the Chai and Hamsa, which protects against the Evil Eye. 

Casey turned 30 this year and her sister-in-law gave her a "30" charm to add to her bracelet. Casey then convinced me to put a "40" on mine, albeit a year late. The "Cameron" silhouette I bought when I was pregnant. Cameron has never had a security blanket or an ultra favorite toy, but has had an affinity to his "bibi" (pacifier). I searched high and low for a pacifier charm that looked like the one he uses and found a vintage one a month ago. Long after his real pacifiers are gone, I will always have this reminder.

The final two charms represent my fraternity, Phi Mu. Although our official mascot is the lion, many Phi Mus have also adopted the ladybug. My husband & I found this one at an antique store a few years ago. It is gold, instead of silver and coupled with the red, provides a nice pop of color among all of the sterling silver. 

I know that I will continue to add more, but I have  a great start to a bracelet that I will one day pass along to one of my children or grandchildren. 

Happy New Year