Way back in 2008 I met someone who changed my life for the better.

Kirtsy was throwing a party with Guy Kawasaki, at his house. We had spent the past 3 days toiling in the sun, stuffing swag bags, arranging tables, organizing shuttles and managing preparations for a party that was as grand as any of our weddings. Finally we all disappeared into the hidden corners of Guy’s house to change into our party clothes. The transformation when we all emerged was glorious. Everyone was sun-kissed, flushed with excitement and beautiful. As we walked around reveling in our creation, I found myself in front of Lisa Albrecht and Adrienne Adair (Laura’s favorite art director), both of whom I had met just that day. When I complimented Lisa on her amazing earrings, I never expected what came next: she took them off and gave them to me.

Turns out her dad makes them. By the hundreds. Gorgeous, hand-blown, colorful glass discs, suspended on long, slender, silver rectangles. They are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Despite Lisa’s pleading with her dad, he won’t sell them. Instead he gives them all to her to wear. Their deal is, whenever someone compliments her on them, she gives the earrings to that person. Have you ever heard of anything that exuded such good karma? I hadn’t either.

I was so shocked that I actually accepted them.

Then, holding my own earrings in my hand, I started feeling bad. Here she is at this huge party with gorgeous earrings and now she has nothing. So I offered her mine. They paled in comparison to the candy-like drops she had given me, but it felt better. Then we went off and partied and didn’t see each other again.

Every time I wore my new earrings, which I did often, I got complimented on them. (But I never give mine away. Sorry.)

Then one day I got a box in the mail. Inside was the entire contents of the picture above, including a letterpressed Thank You note. It was from Lisa (and her father). Thanking me for giving her my earrings. Does that make any sense to you? She gives me gorgeous earrings that cause everyone who sees them to notice them, I give her an old pair of earrings that no-one even notices anymore. And she sends me a thank you present?

To this day, my heart leaps for joy whenever I see her.

And I want you to know her. In addition to giver of beautiful earrings, she is the brains and brawn behind the amazing LaundryTree, purveyor of Soap Nuts.

Don’t know about SoapNuts? Dude, they are a fruit. That gets your laundry clean. And they totally work. And they’re completely, unadornedly, all natural. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

Beautiful Lisa being painted by the lovely Katherine Center.

So go check Lisa out. And if you meet her, be sure to compliment her on her earrings. And tell her how much I adore her.

I’ve thought for weeks about the best way to ease my way into daily posting (which, even when I was blogging regularly, I never did). It seems apparent to me that many bloggers do it by way of prompts. A series of subjects to discuss, in rotation, to the extent that they become regular “features.” So I’m going to start things off with an inspiration series called muses. This will feature blogs and people who inspire me and who are my go-to reads/looks when I have a few spare seconds for reading/looking.

And who better to kick things off with than my good friend and Kirtsy partner, Gabrielle Blair of the always fantastic Design Mom. I first “met” Gabrielle through Laura and was smitten from the very first moment. In fact the first comment I left on her blog said something along the lines of, “You’re going to think I’m stalking you because I’m about to leave comments on nearly all your posts. I promise I’m not a stalker.” Luckily she believed me, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Design Mom, the blog, claims to be about the intersection of design and motherhood. What it doesn’t say that I’ll tell you is that it’s also about impeccable taste, witty writing and a generosity of spirit not often found in such abundance in one place.

Not surprisingly, Gabby herself is an amazing designer. Check out these beautiful, clever business cards she designed for a florist (back before her blog had achieved world domination):

Here are some more pictures of (and links to) things Gabrielle has showed me:

And then, as if all that (plus much much much more) weren’t enough, just try to tell me this isn’t the most fabulous family you have ever seen:

Thanks Gabby for inspiring me so often and in so many ways.