AFTER THE FIRE COMES A HAPPY ENDING

Everything about our lives changed after we moved into the house my father built for us. The picture The Greenspan Company created of my loss for the Insurance Company, forced them to pay me the full value of what it was worth.  I moved back into my home feeling like a Queen and never looked back.

Georgia and I were once again happy and had a bright future to look forward to.  For me it was going back to College and finishing my Bachelors Degree in Psychology and writing my book.  For Georgia it was going to college, finding a husband and someday being a Bride.  We both made those dreams a reality.  Georgia and I graduated from college within the same week in 2001 and she married the following year.  My book was published in September of 2010 and I am at last a published author thinking of writing my second book.

My father's beautiful Art Deco, Mediterranean design.   Here is the entry and stairs leading to the living area.

The window seat at the top of the stairs with an Ocean view.

The Living room, dining room, kitchen and TV room behind the kitchen.  Stairs lead to my Master Suite.

The Master Bathroom with a fireplace, 
double sinks,Jacuzzi tub and Ocean view. 

 I never dreamed this beautiful home was in the deck of cards representing the events in my life, but by the Grace of God I was blessed beyond measure.

                                 THE END.

Thank You for following the Vintage Maybelline Docu-Blog.  Stay tuned for more Fabulous Posts next week.

AFTER THE LAGUNA BEACH FIRE THE REBUILDING PROCESS BEGINS.

The excitement, frustration, anticipation, fear and finally.....the joy of building my house from the ground up.

A year and a half after the fire my lot was cleared and prepared for building process to begin.

My dad Bill Williams, ( here with his wife Gloria,) worked with Architect Bruce Spielbuehler, to design our new Mediterranean, Art Deco home.

Georgia stands on the cleared lot.  The view is spectacular, but our neighbor's Mark and Barbara's house will eventually be rebuilt across the street. 

My dad visits the site everyday.  Acting as Boss he makes sure every detail in the blueprints are properly addressed and fires subcontractors he doesn't think are doing their job.  I could never have done this alone.

The hill had to be pushed back five feet and major retaining walls built before the first floor could go up.

Gloria directs traffic as nonstop trucks go up and down the hill. The narrow street made It nearly impossible to squeeze enough space for trucks to stop and deliver wood, dirt etc.

My dad and Gloria see the vision of his imagination

unfolding like magic before their eyes.

My full time job as owner/Builder was being at the site everyday working with the Builder, Architect and my Dad..... I put in eight hour days answering questions, picking out tile, paint, appliances  and writing checks from the insurance money. 

The garage walls go up and I can't help think the safe that was in the floor holding my Baby diamond ring.  How could it have survived the firestorm? 

My Architect Bruce Spielbuehler and Builder Randy Smith, check the blueprints after the house was framed.

Even my brother Preston, helped a great deal, doing all the wiring for the stereo and surround sound.   

Finally the most exciting moment came when my dad and I climbed the stairs to the second story and stood in my new bedroom overlooking the ocean.  Maybe I wasn't able to write my book yet, but the dream of having a second story on my home came true for me.

To be continued tomorrow.

To see the whole series I did on the Laguna Beach Fire please check under archives. 

Topics from The Maybelline Story include

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Maybelline, Cosmetics,  Great Lash Mascara, beauty, Chicago, Hollywood, Morganfield KY, Tom Lyle Williams, L’Oreal, Great Depression, Bix Beiderbecke, Marketing Strategist, History, Family Dynasty, Mabel Williams, Noel J. Williams, Preston Williams, Evelyn Williams, Eva Williams, Chester Haines, Chet Hewes

Nickelodeon, Mary Pickford, Sears Roebuck and Co, Popular Mechanics Magazine, The Mayflower Families, Mercy Hospital, Mail Order Catalogues, The Household Guest, Weeghman Park, Balaban and Katz Theatre, Charlie Chaplin, The Little Tramp, World War 1, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Boston Opera Company, Jazz-Bo, Erte’, Art Nouveau, Harry Houdini,

 The Lusitania, Lillian Gish, Birth of a Nation, Photoplay magazine, Vaseline, Victorian Era, Marshall Fields and Co., Park-Davis, Mascaro, Police Gazette, Saturday Evening Post, Gibson Girl, Coco Chanel, Powder, Rouge, Wall Street Journal, Lost Generation, Lord and Taylor, The Jazz Age, Louis Armstrong, Al Capone, Flappers, Chicago Institute of Music, Theda Bara,

 Miss America Pageant, Lake Zurich, Scabs, Cleveland, Pinkerton Agents, Mildred Davis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Cubs Park, Wrigley Field, Mayo Clinic, Charlie Chase, Viola Dana, Lefty Flynn, Beverly Hills Hotel, The Polo Lounge, Tom Mix, Miss Mixit, Will Rogers, Clara Bow, Mildred Davis, Gloria Swanson, Malibu Colony, Wings the film, 

The Jazz Singer, Argentina, gangsters, St Valentines Day Massacre, Herbert Hoover, Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Douglas Fairbanks, Roosevelt Hotel, The Circus (film), Marion Davies, Roaring Twenties, Art Deco, Ponds Cold Cream, Helena Rubenstein, Duke University, Actress Natalie Moorhead, Actress Norma Shearer,

Eastman-Kodak Camera, Tarzan of the Apes, Amos and Andy, “The Little Engine That Could,”  Jimmy Shield, William “Bill” Haines, MGM Studios, Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, The New Deal, The San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge,

 Adolf Hitler, Tower Hill Military School, Dundee Illinois, Jean Harlow, Bombshell, National Recovery Act, FDR, The Maybelline Hour, WFNT, Penthouse Serenade,

 Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, Dust Bowl, Biograph Theatre, Biograph Studio, Lady In Red, Joan Crawford, Technicolor Film, 1934 Packard Automobile, The 1934 Worlds Fair, Jake the Barber, William Randolph Hearst,

 Marion Davies, Vogue Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Max Factor, Charles Revlon, Merle Norman Cosmetics, Production Code Administration, (PCA), Hays Code, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, California, Marlene Dietrich actress, Lilly Dache’, Carmen Miranda, Laguna Beach, The Great Ziegfeld, Deanna Durban actress, Judy Garland,

 Biltmore Hotel,  Musso and Franks restaurant, Hedy Lamaar actress, Carole Lombard actress, True Confession Magazine, World War 11, Eleanor Fisher actress, Santa Anita Racetrack,
 Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby, Seabiscuit,

 Benny Goodman band leader, Alice Faye actress, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Fox Studio, The Fleishmann Hour, Times Square, Merle Oberon actress, Glenn Miller bandleader, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, King Kong, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Eleanor Powell actress, Tommy Dorsey,

 Jimmy Dorsey bandleader, Tommy Dorsey bandleader, Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchhill, Tony Martin, Daryl Zanuck, Betty Grable, Phil Harris, Shirley Temple, Jane Withers, Busby Berkeley, Gene Krupa drummer,

 Cedric Gibbons, Douglas Aircraft, Louie B. Mayer, Mickey Rooney, Jeanette MacDonald, Glamour magazine, Ronald Reagan, Combat Camera, Bette Davis, Hollywood USO, Rita Hayworth , Mocambo restaurant, Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz, Greer Garson actress, Edgar Cayce, Jitterbugging, The Palladium, Romanoff’s restaurant, Humphrey Bogart, Lana Turner, The Coast Guard, Elyse Knox pinup girl, Linda Darnell, Maria Montez Susan Hayward, Virginia Mayo, Barbara Stanwyck, Fort Riley, Fort Ord, Philippines, General Douglas MacAuthur, Lois Collier actress, Ava Gardner,

 The American Dream, Norma Christopher, 1947 Tournament of Roses, Carlyle Blackwell Jr. Photography Studio, Hess Photography, Monoplies, McCarthyism, Bel Air Fire, Baldwin Hills Flood, Tungsten, Adlai Stevenson, President Eisenhower, Walkie Talkie Dolls, Dorian Gray, Chinatown in LA, Olvera St in LA, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Rosie the Riveter, James Dean, Bill Haley and the Comets, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry Maybellene the song, Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier 111 of Monaco,

 Marilyn Monroe, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Ben Hur, Camarillo State Mental Hospital, Manic-Depressive disorder, F.W.Woolworth, Patricia Stevens Modeling School, Dream Girl, The Gong Show, The Dating Game, Plough Inc, Schering-Plough,  Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy, The Vietnam War, Neil Armstrong, Balboa Bay Club Newport Beach CA, Conway Twitty, Arson Fire In Hot Springs AK.

Sharrie Williams will be Presenting 100 Years of Maybelline, February 22 in Santa Barbara California

P.E.O. is a philanthropic organization where women celebrate the advancement of women; educate women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans, and stewardship of Cottey College; and  motivate women to achieve their highest aspirations.

Be sure to visit my hilarious Saffrons Rule Blog at  http://saffronsrule.com/

A Stunning American Treasure Filled with Nostalgia, History and Marketing Expertise

1933 Maybelline Ad.

Maybelline founder, (1915,) Tom Lyle Williams, believed a woman’s greatest asset was her ability to capture a man’s imagination through her expressive eyes.

By the 1920's women were expressing their creativity through fashion, music, dance, modern art and writing. The film industry was exploding with new found glamour and Super Stars were born. The launch of radio in 1922 as well as newspapers, fashion and movie magazines.  Maybelline, advertised with full page glossy ads, using Hollywood Movie Queens.  the 1930's Maybelline was a household name. Women wanted beauty and Maybelline gave them beautiful eyes and the allure and confidence that went with them.

Empowered for the first time since the Victorian era, women discovered a passion for imitating stars who exuded sex appeal on the screen.

Maybelline provided an inexpensive eye beautifier that enhanced a woman's sex-appeal while movies mirrored  celluloid forgeries professing  nonconformity with old world standards.  As Movie stars became models for America's changing values, Tom Lyle threw Maybelline in the dime stores in 1933 and as little cosmetic companies fell by the wayside or were bought out by Maybelline, The Maybelline Company went on to be the undisputed giant in its field during the Great Depression.

Maybelline's Founder, Tom Lyle Williams... Pioneer and King of the Cosmetic Industry

Tom Lyle Williams, the founder of the Maybelline Company in 1915, was also known as the King of advertising, in the Cosmetic industry.

BEAUTIFUL  EYES  MAKE A  BEAUTIFUL WOMAN 

AND WITH MAYBELLINE,  ALL WOMEN CAN HAVE BEAUTIFUL EYES."

       Tom Lyle Williams, my great uncle,  propounded this universally appealing theme in mass media:  movie magazines, radio, and even the comics section of newspapers during the  1920's, 30's, and 40's.  But it wasn't until the advent of television in the 50's that the single most important selling tool was perfected.  Through Television, Tom Lyle was able to show, as well as tell and sell, exactly what the customers  could do. 

       The  consumer could now observe the fine performance of Maybelline eye beauty aids and learn just how easy it was to apply them through the technology of special effects.  With this new medium,  Maybelline was the first cosmetic company to offer real application and demonstration scenes through the magic of  instant beauty transformation magnificently communicated through  “before and after" sequences."

Buy my book and read more about Maybelline "The Wonder Company''

My Guest Blogger, Internationally renowned master cosmetic, corrective and paramedical tattoo specialist, Athena Karsant, featured on "The Doctors" Television Show

The Beauty of Coupling Permanent Makeup and Traditional Makeup: It All Started With A Mascara

by: Athena Karsant

Website-    FoolingMotherNature.com

Facebook- facebook.com/foolingmothernature

Blog -        AthenaKarsant.blogspot.com

Twitter -    @athenakarsant  

I remember, as a little girl, watching my mother get dolled up at her vanity each day. I would watch her as the beautiful bright lights surrounded her mirror and dream of the day I would be allowed to do my own makeup. I remember her giving me my very first Maybelline mascara; I must have been 13 years old. With excitement, I brought it with me everywhere I went. After that, I knew I had a love for all things beauty: makeup, hair, fashion, etc. Many years later I found what I was truly born to do: cosmetic tattooing and permanent makeup. If I had known then that I would be in the field that I am in now, I would have started my career a long time ago. I did not know that little mascara would open the door to something bigger and greater than myself. I naturally enhance my clients beauty rather than replace it. Coupling permanent makeup and traditional makeup makes daily life so much easier for all women, including those on the go, mature women, corporate women and everyone else in between. It's not only about the girly stuff; I have many male clients as well. Cosmetic tattooing can really make a man look 10 years younger.

It's amazing how shaping someone's lips and using a pigment that exactly matches their natural lip color can be an easy guide for women to apply their lipstick or lip liner. I can't express how many women can't wait to purchase a wardrobe of lipstick colors to apply to their newly shaped mouth after their permanent makeup procedure. I love how tattooing someones eyelash line with a fine line can open their eyes and give the illusion that theirs eyes are bigger, brighter and younger looking. Adding a touch of mascara afterwards is like the icing on the cake. Sadly, many women experience the occasional "oops! I smeared my eyebrow off!" But that never happens when they are artistically done with permanent makeup. I have had makeup artists tell me that they love when their clients have permanent makeup because their clients already have an eyebrow guideline to work with. Instead, they can spend their time on the fun things like contouring, eyeshadow, fake lashes, blush and a luscious lip color.

Cosmetic tattooing and permanent makeup have been around since the days of Cleopatra. It is an art that is has been around for thousands of years. Makeup itself has been used since practically the beginning of time. Coupling traditional makeup with any permanent makeup procedure is not necessary for every errand or outing that we do; however, not worrying if your lip shape is perfect or your eyebrows are even is a huge relief. I love makeup! While I do have my eyebrows, eyeliner and lips tattooed, I wear makeup every day to make dramatize my eyes or make my lips shiny. But, if my lipstick wears off... it's okay! It's crazy to think that the amazing career that I have started with something so small in size yet it was so powerful. It started with a Maybelline mascara.

Athena Karsant, an internationally renowned master cosmetic, corrective and paramedical tattoo specialist, is one of the few Board Certified instructors through the State of California. In 2012, Athena was featured on The Emmy-Award Winning Television Show The Doctors. Her segment highlighted her solution to thinning eyebrows. She is conveniently located in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, California.

To learn more about Athena Karsant, please visit FoolingMotherNature.com. 

I am so impressed with Athena Karsant's work, that I plan to have permanent makeup done on my eyebrows and lips. 

Athena Karsant, like my great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams..... is a Master of Before and After Perfection..... and that's what Maybelline is all about. 

Sharrie Williams is author of The Maybelline Story and a direct descendant of the Maybelline Family

Maybelline was the first to advertise Before and After Ads

Be sure to check out my new SAFFRONS RULE Blog,
taken from my 1964 High School Diary. 
/http://saffronsrule.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/told-my-history-teacher-i-lost-my-term-paper-in-the-baldwin-hills-flood/

Wasserstein Perella paid $300 Million for Maybelline in 1990, replacing Linda Carter with Christy Turlington and adding the tag line, Maybe She's Born with it, Maybe it's Maybelline

In 1991, the company adopted its current advertising slogan,
 "Maybe She's Born With It. Maybe It's Maybelline

Schering did not belong in the eye beauty business and the company found this out after abut ten years.  Maybelline was sold to an independent buyer and could not be bought for years on any stock exchange.  this independent buyer then decided to sell 51% on an IPO basis...independent public offering, and then this was was accomplished.  Maybelline in the early 90's could be bought as a "pure play" on the "Big Board."  Maybelline for the first time in history could be bought alone.  A short number of years later, the company was bought out by L'Oreal, which is a French cosmetic manufacturer and this is where Maybelline stands today.  (From a letter written by Rags Ragland Jr.)

Wasserstein Perella, updated the brand's image by replacing former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter with model Christy Turlington, 

Maybelline Whisked Away By New Suitor

By George Lazarus | June 8, 1990

Nearly in the blink of an eyelash, Schering-Plough Corp. has found a new buyer for its Maybelline operation. The new parent of Maybelline is Wasserstein Perella, one of the more prominent Manhattan wheeler-dealer firms, which plunked down $300 million for the Memphis-based cosmetics maker. That price is essentially the same as MBP Acquisition Corp., another investment group, agreed to in early April in cutting a deal for Maybelline, a firm with annual sales of about $300 million.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/keyword/wasserstein-perella/recent/5

In appreciation to Harris A. Neil Jr. for the newspaper clippings used on today's post.