I met Toni Turbeville approximately 15 years ago in a class at the University of South Carolina. We weren’t incredibly fond of each other at first but had many of the same friends and ended up together on a regular basis.

I thought she was a big mouth; she thought I was a, well, a bitch. Eventually, all of our friends had other classes, and it was just the two of us–alone together.

The friendship stuck in a manner I never thought imaginable. We have been on hideous road trips to Union, SC (don’t ask), been through both divorces and re-marriages (and the bridesmaid dresses that go with them), co-owned a business (with a partners desk) and co-managed multiple rock bands.

We have survived the bitter ugliness of truths that cannot be unsaid. We have shared art, too much wine and enough nicotine to kill a horse. We have fought the bulge– both winning and losing depending on the year.

She is the god-mother of my child.

She is talented and funny and way off center in a delightful way. Why should you care? In addition to being a great artist, designer, and public relations maven, she has a talent for the written word. And finally, after years of stops and starts, she has published Toni’s Treehouse–a blog capturing the whimsy of childhood, the necessity of laundry, and all the vittles you can whip up in a hurry while life passes you in a blur.

Art & Art Deadlines.com is proud to be the Featured Sponsor of Toni’s Treehouse for the month of February. It is about babies and motherhood and television and cooking and everything and nothing. It brightens my day and inspires me to get off the couch…if only to put on clean pajamas. The Everyone has Garbage post almost made me wet my pants. Visit and Enjoy!