The Apricot Door

✂️ VOLUNTEERS WANTED 🧡

Licensed hairstylists & barbers… I need your hands and your hearts!

I’m looking for a few amazing humans to join me at Rio as we team up with other community volunteers to help kids head back to school with fresh haircuts, backpacks, and school supplies.

If you’ve got a few hours to give, I’d love to have you there. ✂️

DM me if you’re interested, and share this with your favorite stylist or barber! 🫶

I know it’s weird… but I missed the smell of hair color. 👃🧡

Summer Break 2026 ☀️

Somewhere between chasing wild horses, getting emotionally attached to growing loofahs, wandering through little mountain towns, celebrating another trip around the sun, laughing until my face hurt, and finding every excuse possible to be outside, I remembered something I’d been forgetting. Life isn’t measured by how much I can fit into a calendar—it’s measured by how present I am while I’m living it. This break reminded me to slow down, listen to my body, protect my peace, and make room for the people, places, and causes that make my soul feel at home. It also reminded me that this next chapter of The Apricot Door isn’t just about doing beautiful hair anymore…it’s about creating beautiful experiences, building community, and leaving people better than I found them. My cup is full, my heart is steady, and tomorrow I get to unlock the door again. 🧡

✌️💖Peace out, babes.
The hot pink phone is officially off the hook because I’m entering my June feral era.

From June 5th–July 6th I am gloriously unavailable.
No appointments. No chaos. No “quick question.”
Just creek water, sunshine, mountain air, and pretending it’s 1996.

If you need me… respectfully, you do not.🌼

I went out there for the horses.
The wild ones. The kind that make you feel small in the best possible way… like you’ve stepped into something ancient and untouched.

And they were everything I imagine, powerful, raw, honest.
No filters. No performance. Just presence.

But what I didn’t expect…
was her.

Diana Palmer

Somehow, in a meadow full of these breathtaking, untamed beings… she’s the one who stopped me in my tracks.

We sat at a worn wooden table in the middle of all that green, and she began to speak. Not just about the horses, but to them, through her understanding of them. Translating a language I didn’t even know existed. Every movement, every glance, every shift in energy… suddenly it all meant something.

And just like that, I wasn’t just watching horses anymore.
I was seeing them.

But more than that… I was seeing her.

Over 40 years out there.
Day in, day out.
A woman holding space, protecting, observing, learning, loving… without needing recognition, without needing applause.

The kind of strength that doesn’t announce itself,
it just is.

I found myself watching her as much as the horses… hanging on every word, every story, every piece of history she carries in her bones. The kind of wisdom you don’t read in books, you earn it, slowly, over a lifetime of showing up.

I went out there thinking this was about crossing something off my list…
“The year of the fire horse,” I told myself.
Time to learn. Time to try. Time to ride.

But this… this was something else.

This lit something in me I don’t even have words for yet.

A reminder that there are still people out there living deeply, purposefully, in rhythm with something real.
That there are still places where time slows down enough for you to actually feel it.

And maybe that’s the real magic.

Not just the horses
but the ones who choose to dedicate their lives to them.

Thank you, Diana…
for letting me step into your world, even just for a moment.

I won’t forget it.

🦴 Got toys?
Shelter pups need enrichment toys!
📍 9925 Rosedale Highway
🚪 Apricot Door

✨ The Quest Begins ✨

This Friday, Brittany and I are setting out on a little fairytale journey through Bakersfield in search of local businesses with a bit of magic to spare…

Our creative teams are ready, the vision is clear, and now we’re gathering the details that turn ideas into something unforgettable. We’re searching for thrifted treasures, costume magic, craft curiosities, and repurposed gems to help bring Once Upon a Runway to life in support of Kern Down Syndrome Network.

If you know a business we should visit or one we absolutely must meet — tag them below 👇
Every great story starts with a brave first step…

✨ March 21 | Legends
🎟️ Tickets on sale now