Using this space to capture memories with friends along the way. Scroll over pictures for more about the love they shared with me and my family…

Yummy dinner and wine from the Cooners on the night before first chemo.

Deborah Davis is a machine. She found out about the diagnosis, came over with more hats and scarves than I’ve ever seen in one place, and brought two dinners. AND she put up with Hampton for years as his Sunday School teacher. LOVE Deborah.

Dinner and art socks from the Muellers!

Two yummy teas and a plant I can’t kill from Hannah Smith. XO

Ellen and Valerie crawled in bed with me to navigate Instacart.

I asked Betsy Ellis to be my godmother after the twins were born and I was getting zero attention. She continually proves to be the most wonderful choice and I love my double orchids!

The night I got home from the first, traumatic chemo treatment, I was awoken by what sounded like the world was coming to an end. It was, in fact, warm cookie and cold milk delivery from Tiff’s Treats sent by Meredith Crow, Cully Bakht, Carol Deshong and Rhonda Routh. The mood in our house changed QUICKLY.

We got the bid to crash a Thanksgiving feast! Our contributions were a beef tenderloin my mom made before leaving from Tyler, a Heath Bar Crunch pie Sarah also dropped off before heading to Tyler, and a broccoli rice casserole I made with Cheez Whiz.

Beautiful, beautiful thanksgiving gift from Mari Trevino and her gracious family.

My best pal, Eliza and her pal, Rainey.

Paul dePadua who came in on his day off to help me adjust to wig life.

Eliza’s backpack with button from the Kummerers

New book from Candy Hill

LOVE my note and keychain

Art from Livi Barbin

Book from Barbara Spell

Tea from Caton & Thushara Walker (to be PARENTS in May!)

Best fuzzy slippers from Georgia and Marris

Rose from “Teenie and my friends”

Care package from Katie Clark

An assembled and lit tree, thanks to Ellen and Hamp

A guardian angel from the Katie Clark

Hydration station from neighbors John and Lindsey

Dinner and wine from the Cooners

CHERRY SOURS, books and coloring pencils from Julie Johnson Nicholson

WSJ care package from Andy & Fobby Johnson

MOMA cards and Crabtree & Evelyn lotion from Angie Anderson Ratteree

Dreamy tea from Chelsea Pillsbury

A L’Bri care package from Aunt Pam

Rose wine from Ellen

Hat from the Barbins, scarf from college roomie Melissa Miller

A WINE PURSE, that insulates white wine and comes with a corkscrew in the front pocket.

OMG, Wayne Walker, Steve Short and Evans Smith spelling out my childhood nickname CL. I died when they sent this picture from Tyler.

DELICIOUS teas from Rothko Family

Can’t believe the Basquiat purse from Georgia and Marris

A vintage book from Susan Kemmerer

Also from Susan, the patron saint of wigs and boobs candle

Your flea market/junque store finds could end up as a two year exhibition funded by the Dia Art Foundation and housed in the Menil Collection’s Byzantine Chapel. It worked for Francis Alÿs. The Belgian artist decided to craft an art collection for his home using reproductions of masterpieces found in Belgium markets; he was instead intrigued by several images of the same woman, posed the same way, in the same clothing. He bought a few and – 514 mixed media, wood, ceramic and oil pieces later – the rest is history.

Who is this historical, left-facing woman? She’s fourth-century Fabiola, the patron saint of nurses and protector of abused women. The original painting is thought to be ca. 1885 by French academician Jean-Jacques Henner. According to the Menil’s Gallery Guide:

Little noted in the ecclesiastical pantheon for centuries after her canonization in AD 537, Fabiola finally escaped from obscurity on the wave of the Catholic revival that swept late nineteenth-century Europe. According to her first advocate, the early church father Saint Jerome, she left an abusive husband and remarried, only to be widowed some years later. After converting to Christianity and making public penance for the sin of divorce, she then devoted the remainder of her life (and fortune) to charitable work, reputedly founding the first hospital for the poor on the outskirts of Rome in the late fourth century.” 

Read the Houston Chronicle‘s review here.

The original painting is nowhere to be found, but don’t miss the chance to sit in the presence of 514 Saint Fabiolas in the beautiful Byzantine Chapel designed by Francois de Menil to house 13th century frescoes acquired by his mother after she bartered with pirates. True story. Francis Alÿs: The Fabiola Project runs through May 13, 2018.