Cutting Fashion [Part 1]: Backstage

I suppose I should start blogging about the Cutting Fashion show, considering it happened over a week ago and I don't want to get behind like I often do. It's kind of a daunting thing to think about blogging about it all, because there was so much! There's also probably a little part of me that doesn't want to blog about it because then that means it's over, and that's a little sad. But anyway...here goes!

The morning of the show, I was so SO excited. I woke up a little later than planned and had butterflies in my stomach (the good, excited kind, not the nervous kind) pretty much the whole day. Everything that I needed to bring to the show I got ready the night before so that I wouldn't be stressed in the morning. I got ready and made myself look cute and then went a little early before call time to set up my booth for the meet and greet after the show. Call time was at noon, so all my models got there a little bit before then. We had a quick run-through with all the designers and models to make sure the music was right and that everyone had a good idea of what the runway would look like. When I got there that morning, I was already so excited to see the runway up and in place and all the chairs set up around it.

sorry this photo came from my phone, so it doesn't have super great quality

My models and I went and found a room in the building to go and practice on our own before we got ready because they just wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing and had everything exactly right. After that it was time for hair and makeup! We were so lucky to have the Paul Mitchell school come in and help us out with hair and makeup so we didn't have to do it. All the girls had fun hanging out and getting all prettied up. :) For makeup I had my models in a dramatic smokey eye and then for hair we did braided back ponytails that looked pretty cool. I wanted a sleek look and I wanted everyone to look the same so it worked out great.

After hair and makeup it was time to get dressed and put jewelry on! Before the second show, we obviously had a little more time so that consisted of being silly and dancing to Justin Bieber. So classy, I know :)

And then once everyone was all ready, we took a few pictures before it was time to go on (I apologize in advance for any blurry photos..sometimes I don't understand my camera haha).

definitely one of my favorite pictures!!

About my models...let me just say how much I totally adore these girls! For one, they were the best models I could have asked for. They were able to make it to the rehearsal, the photoshoot, and were on time for the show. They were also totally available and easy to schedule with when I did fittings with them. When I told them what I wanted them to do on the runway, they did it so easily and walked with power like they were at NY Fashion Week. They were also so fun to be around. We had so much fun together and got to be great friends. I'm pretty confident that I had the best models in the whole show. You'll see more photos of them on the runway in the next post, but for now I just want to say to Ellen, Katie, Sahara, Kimberly, Emily, Carina, and Breanna...thank you for being the most amazing models, sweetest girls, and the greatest friends! I totally love these girls :)

Next post will be the runway rundown! Get excited! If you want to read more about Cutting Fashion stuff though, you can just click on this link and it'll take you to the Cutting Fashion label.

[to see photos from part 2, the runway show, click here]

Ants

For a few weeks now, our apartment has had some sort of ant infestation. Now before you go and start judging my roommates and me, I will have you know that for the most part, we are clean individuals. We sleep the floors, do our dishes, throw away bad food, do our laundry, etc. So there is NO REASON why we should have ants consistently crawling along our walls. And yet, they are everywhere. They love to crawl behind the sink (and then I get cups of water and pour them down the sink, the little buggers), on the walls in our kitchen and living room, and today I found one crawling on my bedroom wall (and my bedroom is actually the furthest one from the kitchen, which means they are now migrating through the house or have found another entrance in my bedroom--heaven forbid, PLEASE NO). With the one in my bedroom, I smashed it with my shoe and as I was carrying my shoe to the garbage, the ant fell off and is now located somewhere on my floor. There is a dead ant on my floor somewhere. Nononononoooooooooo.

I am the girliest girl that I know. I hate bugs--they really freak me out, and I can't kill them because I get too scared or grossed out. I can smash a bug with a shoe, but then someone else has to pick it up with a tissue for me because I just can't. I cannot. So gross. Imagine my fright and horror of living in a house infested with ants. We were keeping tally for a while but that stopped because the numbers got out of hand (let's just say they went past the 50s, and that tally ended a week ago..I shudder at the thought). We got some ant traps and have set them up around the apartment and we also put vinegar on the walls, but they are still here. We thought we were seeing less of them but after this week, I'm convinced that's definitely not true.

So now I ask you, in this moment of desperation and tears (this seriously is awful...I don't want to live in a place with ants everywhere), what do I do? Any tips on getting rid of ants other than what we've already done? We also talked to the landlords but they don't seem to be willing to help us any time soon, although I think we might need to get an exterminator if the ants don't go away.

Seriously though...HELP ME!!!!

(And obviously this has nothing to do with this post, but Happy Valentine's Day! May it be ant-less and filled with love, whether its from a significant other, a friend, your parents, or from me! Have a wonderful day!)

love this song

Listen to this song and tell me you don't love it.


That's right, you can't. Now you can tell me thank you in the comment section. :)
(Okay and if you really don't love it, that's fine, but I think this song is great. I love the beat and the style of music.)

Post Fashion Show Thoughts

The show was amazing. Oh my goodness. Right now I'm kind of on this rush of inspiration and happiness that I hope never goes away.

It was all so fun and so exciting. There were twelve collections there, thirteen designers, over 80 models, and about 1500 people combined from both audiences. It was awesome to see everyone else's collections and see how different and unique everything was. Getting ready for hair and makeup with all the models was so fun and made me feel like I was on Project Runway or at Fashion Week. Waiting backstage with my models dancing to crazy music and having girl talk was so fun. I seriously was insanely lucky with the models I got. They were all gorgeous girls, which is one of the reasons I picked them to be my models, but they have even prettier personalities. So fun. Giving them a little pep talk right before they went on about how gorgeous they were felt so exhilarating and so real. And seeing my models walk out there, in my clothes...clothes I made and designed myself, walking out there on the runway to music and lights with a whole audience there...it was surreal. Walking out there on stage at the end with all my models seeing all my friends and family in the audience cheering me on felt so good. I felt such a rush. I was so happy.

And now I know, this is what following your dream is like. It's just the beginning, and while in the whole scheme of things it's not a very big deal, it's the start and that feels so huge to me.

I feel so inspired, and already I can't wait to start designing more. I want to do fashion shows all the time and I want to follow my dream, because nothing has ever made me happier than this. Before Saturday, I would always say that the best day of my life was my first Carrie Underwood concert. After Saturday, I will always say that the best day of my life was my first fashion show. I am so happy and I can't believe that it's over already. It went by so fast and so wonderfully that I almost wish I could do the whole thing over again. Everytime I think about, I about start crying because I am so happy from it all.  Thankfully, we have another show at a mall this next Saturday, so I still have a little more to look forward to.

Let me just say this: follow your dream and do what makes you happy. We hear that from people all the time, right? And we hear it because it's totally and completely true. I'll second that statement 100%. I have never been happier and have never felt more successful, and all I've done so far was a school fashion show! Whatever it is you want to do, go for it, no matter what. Seriously, it's the best. :)

Thanks to everyone who came and supported me...I love you guys and appreciate you so so much! You literally have no idea how grateful I am to you. I am a lucky and a happy girl.

Me with my models...haha definitely one of my favorite pictures from the night :)

[Pictures to come soon! I just had to write all my thoughts down while I felt this happiness. :)]

Grand Canyon Video

So you might remember a post I wrote about a roadtrip my friends I took to the Grand Canyon back in April (here's the post). If you didn't read it, you totally should because it was such a fun trip! Anyway, in addition to taking a gazillion photos, I also took a gazillion and one videos while we were there. And then did nothing with them. Okay, well that's actually not true. Back in May one night I was working on compiling them into one video and I finished the whole thing on Windows Movie Maker and was just about to save when...it crashed. :( And since I hadn't been saving the whole thing throughout the way, all my work was totally gone. Obviously by that point I was super frustrated and was like, "fine I'll just make it again later. Grrr." But I never did make it again and those videos have sat in a folder gathering cyberdust. I couldn't just do nothing with them though, so last night I finally buckled down and made a video (making sure to save very frequently) of our grand canyon trip. I don't claim to be any sort of videographer, but here is the video. Enjoy!

Now that it's all said and done, I'm super happy that I took those videos. Videos can capture so much more than pictures sometimes, ya know? Anyway, I hope you liked it!

P.S. NY Fashion Week starts TODAY!! So wish I were there. But I suppose I will be happy do my own fashion show on Saturday (it's in TWO days, can you believe it?!).