Mailbag - February 2016

Longtime friends Tali Blumrosen (at left) and Sallie Alcorn hold a dress from Alcorn’s newly organized rack of evening dresses. Alcorn arranges colors from dark to light. In contrast, Blumrosen says, “I keep my clothes in the same general area, but organizing by color is a bit much for me!” (Photo: lawellphoto.com)

A new year, a new closet

What a surprise it was for Sallie Alcorn and me to see our faces and closets front and center on your pages [Tidying Up: Sparking joy with less clutter, January 2016]! While we always dreamed of our 15 minutes of fame, neither one of us ever thought it would come from “coming out of our closets” – literally! Jennifer Oakley did a really nice job of weaving our closet makeovers into something that, surprisingly, hit a chord with so many. Both of us have chuckled at how many people in our respective neighborhoods, gyms, grocery stores, work establishments, etc. have stopped us to say we “inspired them!” Us? Seriously? A word to the wise….decluttering is not as hard as it sounds. It just takes that first step and the rest, well, it’s up to the individual from there. I encourage your readers to give Marie Kondo’s book a try – Sallie followed it to the letter, while I customized my approach. In the words of a great marketing tag line, doesn’t matter how you go about it – JUST DO IT! No regrets. Happy New Year!

Tali Blumrosen

No need to deal with dementia alone

Thank you so much for the beautiful article you wrote about Amazing Place and the four individuals you featured [Amazing Place: When memories fade, by Cheryl Ursin, November 2015]. You did a magnificent job capturing the challenges of dementia and the amazing things that happen here to support those who are touched by this disease. By sharing this important resource, you gave us a gift, as well as the community. I trust this will go a long way to help others who may be dealing with the disease in silence or are afraid to talk about it. One of our goals is to destigmatize this disease, which is becoming more and more prevalent, so more will be able to be open and honest about sharing their challenges and accepting help.

Suzy LaForge, Amazing Place

Editor’s note: Amazing Place offers free presentations to groups about brain-health matters, including Brain Healthy Nutrition, When to Worry about Your Memory and Seven Habits for Healthy Aging. See amazingplacehouston.org or call Susan Giles at 713-552-0420.

Everybody loves Thistle Downe

We had such an overwhelming response to Cheryl Ursin’s article in The Buzz on our miniature twig house, Thistle Downe and our book by the same name (thistledownebook.com)! A tremendous amount of interest and enthusiasm was expressed by readers in all four areas where your magazine is published. Cheryl tuned in to the joy of the little house and its residents and brought it to life in your pages [Creating Thistle Downe: Home for fairies and trolls, photos by Nikky LaWell, January 2016]. One funny story we forgot to mention was when we found sawdust on the porch of the little library. Our Terminix man was coming the next day, so we requested a consultation. Sure enough, there were termites in Thistle Downe. He treated the little house for the pests, which led us to suggest this slogan for his company – No job too big; no house too small. Thank you, The Buzz, for a wonderful experience!

Molly and Gary Whitney

Editor’s note: Thank you for sharing the delightful Thistle Downe with us. Readers, if you missed it, you can find this story and search for any others we have printed, plus online extras, at thebuzzmagazines.com.

Lunch was a nice bonus

As a member of The Junior League of Houston, Inc., I appreciate the great partnership that it has with The Buzz Magazines. I was flattered to represent Bellaire in the magazine’s December 2015 issue [Season of Style: Fashion savvy from your neighbors], and I enjoyed working with Jennifer Oakley, a current League sustainer and Buzz writer, to answer her fashion-advice questions. Jennifer was very responsive and helpful when it came to scheduling the photo shoot. The whole Buzz team was so considerate of everyone’s time and even provided lunch for those who took off during the work day to participate in the photo shoot. Thank you for such a wonderful experience. I enjoyed making new neighborhood friends in the process and loved the article. Well done!  

Ashley Sloan

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