Turning Point « Paisley Petunia

Posts Tagged ‘Turning Point’

Patisserie Party 2009

Monday, December 14th, 2009

{COOKIES! photo credit: ckm}

One of my most favorite holiday traditions growing up was our annual Cookie Day. My mom, her sister, their mom, my sister and I would set aside one whole day to do nothing but bake cookies. Literally, we would bake for 10 hours. We churned out so many types of cookies: sugar cookies, spritz cookies, fudge, brittle, divinity, thumb print cookies and on and on that our our house would be covered with bits of creamy frosting and flour for days after that. And of course, every available tin, pie pan and dish was crammed full of treats. I loved that day more than anything else we did at Christmastime.

It’s one holiday tradition that even if it changes a little, will continue forever in this family. Since I’ve lived on my own here in LA, I’ve had my own version of Cookie Day with my friends (though there will never be a substitute for the original!) It was clear after year 1 (8 years ago) I needed to do something productive with all those sweets (besides eat them!) And so, each year my friends and I bake ooodles of yum and donate the baskets to a local charity. It’s such a fun day baking, eating, drinking champagne and sharing in the holiday spirit. This year I changed our name from Cookie Day to Patisserie Party…has a nice ring don’t you think? All of my chefs came armed with their favorite recipe and off we went. 6 hours later we had huge baskets of treats for the residents of Turning Point (a shelter helping people transition from homeless to self sufficiency.) We also created little personal care bags for them with the help of my mom and some generous donors.

{Gift bags ready to go}

It was an absolute blast and I want to thank everyone who helped: Jill, Steph, Sarah (all the way from Ireland!!), Nicole, Julie, Courtney, Vanessa and Donna (and even a little help from my husband Jeff!)

{Aprons for the chefs}

{the Dream Team}

Thank you from the bottom of my sugar cookie lovin’ heart.

You guys are the best.

PS: had to share a pic of Courtney’s cute vintage shoes and fuchsia tights. She rocks the vintage look better than anyone. Check out her Etsy store, The Vintagerie here.

{Courtney's sweet style}

Tags: cookies!, holiday traditions, Turning Point
Posted in Life | 7 Comments »

The sun will come out tomorrow

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

{photo credit- christina kaye murphy}

If you follow my ramblings on Twitter you already know this but yesterday when I was driving to drop off the holiday baskets we made for Turning Point (a transitional housing shelter in Santa Monica) my mom called to tell me she was out Christmas shopping and her car was stolen from the parking lot at Target. It was full of packages and presents so that’s sad but even worse is the sense of violation she feels. I guess you never think it can happen to you. She was stranded in the rain in the parking lot and for a brief minute I was so mad I thought “Why should I sit in 45 minutes of traffic to do anything for anybody. What good does it do? Why not be a jerk like them. Gah! People suck.”

But just then, after a whole day of heavy rain, the sun started shining really bright through a patch of clouds so much that I needed my sunglasses for the glare. It was like someone was sending me a message saying Stop it! Nothing is going to make you feel better right now more than doing something nice for people who will be so grateful. Find the good and go there.

And you know what, it’s true. I slugged through the traffic, drove around forever looking for a spot and was right on the verge of a meltdown but when the residents came out to help unload the car you would have thought I was handing out bags of gold. They were so excited and grateful and kind even in the midst of great struggles in their lives. They couldn’t have been happier to stand in the rain and unload gift bags and cookies. I’m pretty sure for some of them that little bag of toiletiries and mittens will be the only gift they get this year. At that moment in the midst of my struggles (or my mom’s struggles as the case may be) I knew I had better buck up and be grateful too. Grateful she wasn’t hurt, grateful she didn’t have anything irreplaceable in the car, grateful that we are a family and when the chips are down we’ve got each other’s back.

So to the thieves who stole the car- I hope you stole it because you were desperate to sell the parts to pay for someone’s medical treatment or because you have a special needs child and lost your job and can’t afford a car to go to the doctor. And I hope it worked. I hope you paid for the transplant or made it to chemo on time or whatever you HAD to do in my mom’s little car. But, if you stole it because you are a low-life who chooses to be a criminal, who refuses to be a productive member of society, I hope someday someone does something really nice for you when your chips are down and then you feel an overwhelming, searing sense of guilt because you know you never did anything nice for anybody.

In the meantime, we’ll be fine and I have a happy little spot in my heart knowing 55 people in Santa Monica are wearing fuzzy mittens that will definitely keep their hands warm but maybe their hearts too.

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