Dear Reader:

Mollie came to town yesterday and we had a girl’s day out…it has been a long time since we have had a chance to hang together…we had lunch at Five Loaves, went to several boutiques and gift shops and just imagined what a dream home would look like… if we could build homes using boutiques and gifts shops as the foundation. Ah…the wonderful world of imagination. ( I could fill up at least half my dream home with products from Marigolds!)

 One of the shops I took Mollie to was FLY (Modern Apparel) on E. Richardson Avenue. The first time I went there was with Kaitlyn one day last February. It is definitely for the young and young at heart…I put myself in the latter category since you also have to be able to fit into these rather fitted clothing attire selections…and that, my friends, at the age I am… takes more courage than heart. (I stuck to looking at jewelry and it was fun and enticing with a wide diversity of colors and styles!)

As Mollie looked around I started talking to Tammy Hutto (nicest sales clerk ever!) and I casually asked her how the name of the boutique originated. Was FLY an acronym for something?

 She pointed to a piece of artwork on the wall behind the counter (which Mollie took a picture of with her IPhone) and said that the message in it was part of the story. She admitted that there was a personal story behind the concept of a complete  “package of beauty” to make women feel good about themselves…a walk-in and walk-out new woman make-over.

“What if I fall, Oh my darling! What if you FLY?”

The owner, Margie Sutton, had dreamed of owning a place where women could go and literally be “transformed from hair, make-up and fashion.” It took 30 years (and a mixture of trepidation and anticipation) but in 2014 she opened up MOD Beaute Studio and the following year (2015) she opened up FLY Modern Apparel (right next door.)

Tammy said Margie kept the faith during that entire time she was building her dream… believing she could “fly” and would not “fall.” Psalm 46:5 says it best:

“God is within her, she will not fall…”

It really is the one shop (two-in-one) place to go for all hopeful Cinderellas. A series of fairy Godmothers are there, willing and ready, to turn one and all into our own unique Cinderellas…and who among us doesn’t deserve to be one (at least once) in her lifetime?

A special day that transforms us into someone or something we have only imagined about in fairy tales and dreams is certainly justified. Taking time to do something good for ourselves (contrary to southern sayin’s) doesn’t mean we are gittin’ too “big for our breeches”…it simply means everyone deserves a little special me time as we go through life…after all God thinks we are pretty special…and sometimes we need to do something to help ourselves see and think this too.

(Or as my little two year-old grandson Jakie says, ‘I am prez-shous.’)

Every store has a story in Summerville and Fashion Boutique (FLY) and MOD Beaute Studio’s story is all about flying without the fear of falling.

So until tomorrow: Psalm 17: …“I am the apple of His eye.” (FLY and Mod just help put a little polish and shine on that “apple”)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh