To Carrie... On Her Birthday!

Today is a very special day. One of the most special of allllllll the days in the year for me. Why, you ask? Because it is November 23rd... the anniversary of the "born day" of my very best friend in the entire universe. That's great you say, but how is your girl's birthday relevant to your blog?

 Well... first of all... it's MY blog... so I'll write what I want to (insert sassy voice of a 3rd grader). Secondly... my BFF, Carrie, is co-founder of this blog. How is that you ask?  Let me tell you a story....

It was a Thursday, October 6th 2011 (yup... I remember the day). Carrie and I met up for a 10 minute walk and chat to take a break from our respective desk jobs. We started talking about this personal style blog that a co-worker of her's showed her a few days before. Carrie had told me about it earlier that week and I had checked it out. It was amazing. This super-skinny, gorgeous blonde living in California wore the most fabulous designer clothes, sunglasses, and shoes and shared her style with all the women on the interwebs who cared to see it. She wrote nothing, just a title for the post and pictures. We loved it, but we loved it in that weird abstract... "I'll never look like her, or have enough money to buy the kind of clothing she is wearing" kind of way. It was fun to look at, but we couldn't really relate, per se. As we were lamenting about this, Carrie says... "Dude, YOU should totally start a style blog!". My first reaction was dismissive laughter and my first comments went a little something like this:

WHAT.... come on, dude...

• I don't look like a model.
• I don't have designer clothes.
• I'm not thin.
• Most of my clothes are from Target.
• I'm over 30.
• I hate taking a picture with just me in it. It's awkward and dumb.
• I'm not thin.
• Everyone would laugh at me, make fun of me and call me the world's largest narcissist.
• No one would care or look at it or read it.
• I'm not thin. Shit.

And... while all of those things were true at the time (and most still are), Carrie turns and  and says... "I'd read it". So... we got to thinking... maybe all of the reasons I listed above NOT to do it, are actually reasons I SHOULD do it. Right? Most women I know do NOT look like models, do NOT have designer clothes, and shop at Target. Most women are interested in what other women are wearing, but want to look anonymosly from behind a computer and they may prefer seeing it on a chick who is normal and not a friggin' supermodel with a seemingly endless bank account? Hmmmm....

By that Friday night, October 7th... I had found a blog template online, figured out how to use it just enough to be dangerous, and written my first post. Carrie was my photographer (on a cheap little camera) for the first 6-8 months (before she got preggers with her little nugget). We would meet during work for 10 minutes and sneak out...we'd meet in the dark after work... we'd meet on the weekends, etc. We were a team and although I knew there were a lot of my "so-called friends" out there talking some major shit behind my back, Carrie encouraged me to ignore the "haters" and keep it moving. It went a little something like this... "So what if people don't get it Hess, F@CK them!"

That's the story of Carrie and ModaFresca, but the truth is that she is my soul's mate. After we had one heart to heart talk back when we first met, we were in love with eachother. For real. Carrie GETS me, knows me, NEVER ever judges me, has my back at ALL times. She is the one person that I can tell anything to and NEVER worry about where it goes from there. There was a time in my life, not too many years ago, when I was going through hell. Complete and utter hell and most people had no idea that I was struggeling. I cried every.single.day. I didn't eat. I drank wine for dinner. I was scared, hurt, angry as hell, and broke. I played it off during the day, but at night I fell apart. Carrie called, texted, had 4 hour conversations with me at a time, consoled me, came ot my house almost every single day to be with me. Stayed the night with me (most of the time in my bed). Brought me wine and promised me that with time it would all get better. I am not exaggerating that I needed her every single day and every single day she was there for me, for (almost) an entire calendar year.  Oh, and when was all of this happening? During her very first year of marriage. I would argue that she spent more time picking me up off of the floor that year than she did with her new hubby. She is my once in a lifetime friend. My gift from God. My sistah from another mistah and today is her birthday.


So, Hawk... if you're reading this (which of course you are)... I love the ever-loving shit right out of you. To me... there is no one better on planet earth and I truly thank GOD for YOU... for your hubby who never held it against me that I needed you more than he did for a while there... and for your precious, beautiful baby girl. I have no doubt that you were sent to me as a gift.

Happy Birthday, Lovey!

**PIE**