Happy New Year!!

A year ago today, if someone had told me I would be head over heels in handbags, I would have laughed haughtily in his face. I rang in the early hours of 2008 with my mother, my grandmother and my best friend at the Pearl River Casino and Resort in Philadelphia, Mississippi. While we tried unsuccessfully to break the bank, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the great new things that 2008 would bring. This was the year I was going to finally be recognized at my job with more than just the usual congratulatory company-wide email for the project delivered on time and under budget. This was also the year I was going to be the break-out literary darling when my debut novel hit the bestseller list. I was going to finally clean out my closet, practice my double spins for Salsa dancing and start saving some money for the proverbial rainy day.

Here we are, in the last hours of 2008 and my closet still looks like Dick did when Dock died, I still get tangled up in my feet if I attempt a double spin and I have saved not one thin dime. But for all of its disappointments, 2008 managed to deliver some lovely unexpected gifts. My notoriously anti-academic baby brother finally said yes to the learning and enrolled in college. America elected its first African-American president. My mother, Andria and I are having the time of our lives designing and sewing handbags under our own designer label.

I haven’t scaled back any of my usual ambitious New Year’s Resolutions. We are planning an Atlanta debut in January, several fabulous designs for Spring 2009, and lots of special surprises. May 2009 offer you all the gifts you were expecting and some wonderful gifts you weren’t even looking for.