I know that there are *a lot* of people out there who feel the same adoration and admiration for James Dean that I do. But my feelings have a sort of extra dimension to them. It all started when my family and I would take vacations down in California’s Central Valley when I was growing up. On our way to San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach we’d always stop at the James Dean Memorial erected within view of his crash site on Highway 46. I was deeply moved by it even as a young child. Years later when I fell in love with John Steinbeck I also fell in love with the fact that James Dean’s big break came in the film East of Eden (book is waaay better than the movie I must say, though it is worth every second of it to see Dean in the yellow sweater pictured above). But what really cemented the deep affinity I feel for this gorgeous and totally fascinating (that’s him in ballet class with Eartha Kitt) man was the discovery that we were born 50 years, to the day, apart. I am honored to share a birthday with such an inspiring, innovative, unconventional, creative, and beautiful person.

(Interestingly, I just discovered yesterday that another of my most inspiring heros, the herbalist Susan Weed, was also born on February 8th! As was my dear friend Lucia and the fabulous Missa from Thrift Candy).

So what did I do to celebrate? Well Graham threw me a killer party (one might even call it a rager) on Saturday night. I’ll be posting pics from that soon. But today I just had myself a little birthday photo shoot with some of my favorite recently-acquired items. They will be listed in the shop over the next few days…

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