Happy Birthday Rachel!

My sister Rachel celebrated a milestone birthday yesterday! She was born on Father's Day that year, just three minutes after midnight. Rachel is such a creative person, she found her passion in high school in Mrs. Berger's sewing class. She's come such a long way since running over the power cord with the sewing machine when she was learning how to sew! After high school, Rachel went to Harper College to study fashion design and had the opportunity to travel to Paris more than once as a student representative of the U.S. in international fashion competitions. Once she graduated from Harper, she went on to Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and earned her bachelor's degree. Rachel is so prolific in her creativity she has been able to work consistently in her field ever since, living in New York and designing children's accessories, sleepwear and sunglasses over the years. Now she lives in a picturesque New York suburb and designs costumes for Party City.

This photo shows one of Rachel's latest creations, a beautiful summer dress she designed for an Indian wedding she attended last weekend. The fabric in the center is an amazing find, vintage Alfred Shaheen from 1957. Rachel owned the fabric for 15 years, afraid to cut into it and finally decided it was too pretty to be packed away and took the plunge. She soaked the fabric in her neighbor's bathtub for 24 hours using a combination of cleaning products and it went from dingy yellow to bright white.

There wasn't enough fabric for an entire dress so Rachel found a complimentary print from JoAnn Fabrics to complete her design. She made her phenomenal hair accessory as well which matches her current hair color perfectly!

Siblings have a special bond which cannot be matched. I've been watching The People's Court ever since it first came on the air in the '80s and Judge Marilyn has very wise expressions which she shares with her litigants, and in turn the TV audience. She always says your siblings are the only people who are with you in your life from cradle to grave and that life is too short to be at odds with them. What I add to that is your siblings are the only people where if you refer to a family member - my mother, my father, my uncle etc., those people are exactly the same for you. No matter how busy life gets, it's important to keep these special relationships in mind. Happy Birthday Rachel and all the best for a great year!