There are so many things/people/places that I LOVE that I wanted to write about a couple of them.

First, The Love List, the blog by our pal, Jess Graves.  It was what actually inspired this blog.  We attended the Southern C with her and she talked about simply writing about the things she loved.  It was the impetus for giving y’all a glimpse behind the scenes as to who we are as women and why we do what we do.  (and truth be told, I’m kinda diggin’ writing this blog:).   So I LOVE The Love List.

Second, I watched my grandson Hank this weekend while his parents took a much needed trip to Asheville.  (oh and I LOVE Asheville).  I LOVE that kid.  He was a joy and a trooper.  He slept through the night and survived daylight savings time.  He put up with our rescue Lab Sophie who took to him like Nana the dog took to Wendy, John and Michael Darling.  He tolerated being given a bath with Bath & Body Works (another LOVE of mine) Vanilla Verbena Stress Relief Body Wash instead of Johnson & Johnson (a happy mistake – I think it actually made him sleep better:).  And he hung out with us while we poured Vixen at Afternoon in the Country at Serenbe (a LOVEly place).  It’s crazy to me how much I LOVE that kid and how much I LOVE his cousin, Harper and her soon to be sister.  The LOVE I have for my grandboy and grandgirl(s) is unimaginable/unexplainable/immeasurable.

I LOVE our completely screwed up modern crazy family.  I LOVE that my ex husband Eddie is the creative director of this brand.  I LOVE that while the whole husband – wife thing didn’t work out, that our partnership on Vixen Vodka was what we were meant to do.  I LOVE that his 78 year old mom texts or emails me from her iPad to give me ideas on how to market Vixen and she’s still our best publicist!  (oh and she’s a Mary Kay rep – I am now in LOVE with her TimeWise Repair Collection – the eye cream?  I die).  I LOVE that Eddie’s brother, Eric and I feel like we’re more like brother and sister, we’ve known each other that long (jeez, he even remembered that I wore a Jessica McClintock Gunne Sax dress to my senior prom – google it).  I LOVE that everyone stays with me when they come to Atlanta and we don’t think twice about it.  I LOVE that when we go to Florida we visit Phillip’s ex-sister-in-law and her husband and their newly opened Gelato Bar and she thinks of me as her sister now.  Life’s too short, y’know?

I LOVE Carrie.  She’s my partner in crime.  My (sometime – could be more) partner in health.  She’s so real, so honest, so pure.  What you see is what you get.  There is no fake anything about this girl.  And I would trust her with my life.   I would (and sometimes do) go to battle with her.  I would NOT be who I am nor would we be where we are as a brand without her vision, her planning, her insight and her instinct. We are truly Warriors in Stilettos together (hers a bit higher than mine).

Lastly, for this post at least, I FREAKIN’ LOVE my husband.  Phillip is my second and last husband.  We found each other right when we were supposed to find each other.  Yeah, yeah, he’s the behind the scenes guy / logistics supervisor / operations director / anything unsexy that needs to get done at Vixen Vodka guy.  And he is an uber talented screenwriter from whom big things are about to burst forth.    But he is also one of the smartest / deepest / most loving / most thoughtful / handiest / compassionate man I’ve ever met and an amazing father.  Lauren, Spencer & Tony are so lucky to have him as their dad.   And I did something right for him to ask me if I wanted to make it legal, and that he took my, “wait, what?” as a resounding YES.    He makes me laugh every single day and if there’s a secret to happiness, laughter is it. 

So y’all think about things you LOVE today and be sure to tell those that you LOVE how much you do. 

–LeeAnn, LOVEr of skinny vanilla lattes, Duke’s mayonnaise and Beijo bags, but that’s another blog for another time