New ladies' boutique offers the latest in accessorizing

THE ACCESSORY GARDEN -- Dixie Taylor's new fashion accessory boutique, located on FM 279 just west of downtown Edom, offers necklaces, earrings, purses, handbags, belts, sandals and clothing for women of all ages.

Looking for that perfect accessory?

Look no further! Dixie Taylor is back in the fashion business and has opened up her new boutique, The Accessory Garden, in the little red building located on FM 279, just west of downtown Edom, next to The Market Place. The quaint, yet stylishly decorated boutique offers necklaces, earrings, purses, handbags, belts, sandals and clothing for women of all ages.

"It's little, but that's what I wanted was a little boutique," Mrs. Taylor said. "It's doing quite well."

The Accessory Garden has quality items and affordable prices, and, since opening March 31, merchandise has been "flying off the shelves."

"I thought I had bought enough of merchandise to last a month," she said. "But only after a week open for business it's time to re-stock."

Dixie credits her 27 years experience in the fashion industry for her current success.

She opened her first shop in 1970 in Waco, Texas, and also began writing fashion col- umns for the local newspapers.

Six years later she moved back to her hometown of Brownsboro. She opened her second shop in Brownsboro in 1980, and a third in Chandler in 1981. A year later, business was booming, so she consolidated both stores in a new building in Chandler. She continued writing her fashion column in The Chandler Brownsboro Statesman.

Dixie sold the Chandler shop in 1985 and went on the road selling jewelry for Elite Fashion Accessories, of California, to dress shops and department stores. In 1987, she moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and sold jewelry in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, as well as Tennessee.

By 1989, Dixie was back in Texas with a shop in Mineola and another in Kilgore. She sold both shops in 1991 and opened a shop in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

In 1993 she opened a shop in Athens and worked there until she retired from the fashion business in 1996. That same year, after 13 years living the single life, Dixie met Bobby, her mother's neighbor, and the two tied the knot.

"He didn't want me to work so I sold my Athens shop and became a housewife, and started riding a motorcycle at the age of 60," she said.

And ride she did...with Bobby on his Honda Gold Wing motortrike...all the way around the United States...delivering food to the hungry under the name of the FUN Riders (Feeding Underprivileged Neighbors) a charity organization they formed in 2004.

The 32-state tour, took them around the circumference of the continental United States logging in 13,499 miles in 54 days, making food drops in every state along the way. The following year, the FUN Riders left their Echo Lake home, in Brownsboro, to complete their mission of visiting the remaining 48 continental states, and, counting the nine states they visited while attending motorcycle rallies and making food drops, they only had seven to go. With that mission accomplished, Dixie and Bobby began planning trips to Hawaii and Alaska to make it an even 50.

In May 2006 the FUN Riders flew to Hawaii where they rented a Harley and delivered food to the needy.

An Alaska trip is now in the works with plans to take off the end of this June for a twomonth trip, making food drops along the way.

"About six weeks ago, Bobby asked me what are we going to do to top traveling all 50 states by motorcycle," Dixie said. "I told him I didn't know but there was one thing I wanted to do before I die, and that is have another ladies fashion shop. He said that if that was really what I wanted to do then I should go for it. So here I am, six weeks later, in a brand new building in Edom, Texas, already open and already having to go to market to buy more merchandise. The shop has taken off like a rocket. I couldn't be happier."

Come on out, say "Hi" to Dixie, her daughter Suzanna Young, who works Saturdays, and Carol Blakely, and check out The Accessory Garden. Hours of business are 10am- 4pm, Monday through Saturday.

The "little red building" will also be open for business during the April in Edom event Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22.

"I have always said, `there are three things that make a business a success, and that is location, location, location,'" she said. "Of course, that's not really all it takes. It takes working hard, and, most importantly, loving what you do. I've always loved this type of work so much, I've never felt like it was work. It was always more like play for me."