"i'd have called maisie fantaisie"

Year: 1950. Location: California. Headline: Homosexuality is a growing social problem.

Check that year. 59 years later and yesterday’s supreme court ruling in California to ban same sex marriage could easily be a headline from a 50’s newspaper. This is the country that took us to the moon, developed the micro chip and voted for a black president.

And yet it seems that the most culturally diverse state in America fell asleep in the 50’s and needs a bit of a shake.

2009: WAKE UP! California…..you’ve been dreaming that the world hates gays, and for homosexuals it’s turning into a nightmare. See, we’ve all moved on.

Marriages and partnerships are about love, commitment, contentment and trust. and banning the legal recognition of a partnership between two people who love each other is simply wrong.

I have worked in the wedding industry for 10 years and was thrilled when at last in December 2005 Civil partnerships in England and Wales became available for same sex couples. The bill was passed and immediately I was inundated with orders for Christmas Civil partnership wedding cakes. I met with a lovely couple the other day, Matt and Stuart, who are planning their wedding cake for a June celebration. They’re so excited and can’t wait for their big day.

Meanwhile for thousands of homosexuals in California ‘all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey’.

This is an interesting article written by the actor Alec Baldwin:
Alec Baldwin - Why Childless Straight Couples Make the Case for Gay Marriage

Recently my husband told me that the radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, television took 13 years, the internet 4 years and facebook 2 years. Spreading the word about your business or music or blogging about your life and interests is easier than it ever was and sometimes It feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day and that life is rushing away from us faster than we can keep up.

So where does the time go?

When it comes to blogging, I’m a newbie. I’ve been reading some past posts from my blog and I’ve been thinking how lovely my life sounds. I always seem to be either popping around a friends house for tea and cake, or buying some special ingredient for a new recipe or deciding which dress to wear to tonight’s party.

I’ve noticed that I don’t seem to have the time to mention how busy i am. Why?

I often work more than 10 hours a day including weekends and there is a stream of constant duties to perform including administration, staff management, ordering supplies, sketching designs, meetings and consultations, or arranging deliveries and collections. While at the same time I am writing a book and marketing and promoting my company. I am running a thriving business and the cost is my time but I’ve noticed that I don’t blog the stress.

The other night we were invited by friends to share a bottle of wine and to watch our favourite TV series ‘Lost’ at their house. When we arrived my husband found a book in their kitchen called ‘The dummies guide to cognitive behavioral therapy’… according to this book ‘You are what you think’. This is so true.

Focusing on all the positive aspects in my life and work has been really beneficial to me and everyone around me. Yes, i have lots of duties to perform and things to do that I’d rather not - but I also have so many things that I cherish and enjoy.

This is what my blog is about. It is about freedom.

Starting my own wedding cake company was the second best thing i ever did (the first was marrying my wonderful husband!). I now own my time. There is no one here to tell me when I can eat lunch or who decides what I wear or who I can talk to. I have real job security too. If my company goes under it’s my fault not some anonymous board of directors. So, if you are a hobbyist or an amateur sugar-crafter then my advice to you is to start your own business. In the current climate it’s a perfect solution to redundancies and job losses and though it’s very demanding, it’s also so much fun. So if time is rushing by and you’re stuck in a job that you don’t like then defrost your passion and pop a cake in the oven.

In the meantime I’m going to waffle on about all the wonderful things that I love in my life..incidentally one of them being waffles with maple syrup!

I recently designed a Grace Kelly inspired wedding cake and whilst browsing the internet I came across an article about MGM’s designer costume designer Helen Rose. I read that Helen had been Grace Kelly’s wedding dress designer. Helen Rose was hired by Twentieth century fox in 1942 to work on their musicals. By 1956 she had designed the clothes for the stars of more than ninety films. Of these films four were for Grace Kelly, including one of my all time favourite musicals ‘High Society’. While working on the film Helen received the assignment to design Grace’s wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco and their starting point was one of the ball gowns worn in the movie. MGM studios made every resource available to Helen and the gown took six weeks to prepare and involved 35 MGM craftspeople who all worked to make the dress to be a masterpiece.

Grace’s wedding gown was the most expensive design that Helen Rose had ever made. It used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta and one hundred yards of silk net. Its 125-year-old rose point lace was purchased from a museum and thousants of tiny pearls were sewn on the veil. Grace was 26 years old.

The 600 wedding guests included Hollywood stars David Niven and his wife, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner, the Aga Khan, and Conrad Hilton. Queen Elizabeth flatly refused to attend on the grounds of there being “too many movie stars.” The ceremony was watched on television by an estimated 30 million people!

I just love the glamour of iconic weddings. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, Elvis and Priscilla and here, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.

Married On May 21, 1945, their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio.

It was the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, a close friend of Bogart. The wedding was held in the Big House. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45…lucky fella!

I’m not too sure about the wedding cake though? What do you think?