Where to begin, where to begin????

Doh..my neck, my back...my neck and my back...Ahhhhh!!

Okay, allow me to elaborate..oh CRAP my body hurts : ( This week has been very intense and I am a very intense person BUT oh my LAWD this week was B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!!

It wasn't necessarily the events and work I did that was intense but it was the quantity that was just a bit much for my petite body to handle.

This week started of seemingly normal, a few auditions a little work but nothing too different. I woke up Monday morning and headed to the city to get a few things done before my friend came into town in Tuesday from Seattle. I also had rehearsal for my play so I just decided to stay in the city and do my usual emails/submissions. That is when I stumbled upon an ad for a foot model. This week was the New York Shoe Expo coordinated by the FFANY and I already knew that because 2 weeks ago I was hired to work at a Party for Nina Shoes that would be happening Wednesday night. I was really excited to do that party especially since I knew the theme would be Burlesque but I hadn't booked anything (model/acting work) else for that week.

Well I wouldn't consider my little doggies (feet) to be cuter than anyone else, they might actually more rough than the usual from all my days of prancing around NYC in high heels BUT what I do have on my side is a size 6-6.5 foot. Lucky for me little feet = $$$ in the shoe business because I can fit sample sizes. One second I was in the hotel lobby of the Sheraton on 53rd & 7th Avenue checking emails and the next minute I was in the Executive Suite of the Hilton on 53rd & 6th Avenue trying on sample shoes for the White Mountain & Rialto Shoe brands. Call it good timing, right place right time or GOD as I know it is but in about 15 minutes I went from checking my email, responding to a casting, doing a fitting, and then being BOOKED for a 3 day shoe convention where I would get paid more in 3 days than I used to get at a week at the old plantation (MTV).

I have never been a shoe model before so I had to come in earlier to get a quick run through of what I was expected to do but I was confident that things would work out fine. I have been working all of my life and even modeling/acting pretty much all of my life so I felt things would be okay. In the Empire Suite the shoes were set up nicely on shelves/bookcases. There were four different rooms with shoes and one office in the back (the suite was HUGE). When the buyers of department stores came in, one of the sales representatives would have one of us models try on the different shoes for the buyers so they can see the new styles for the upcoming seasons. There were so many cute shoes. I don't think I have tried on that many shoes in my life. We were on our feet most of the day, all three days, doing the foot modeling which amazingly has a special little way, to be modeled (if you ever wanna see give me a holler and I will give you a demo, lol). They took really good care of us and gave us breaks when needed and the catered food in the lounge was delicious (on that like white on rice, lol).

Doing the modeling was NOT bad at all. It was the rehearsals in the evening and the entertaining of company that became challenging after a FULL day of working. The thing with rehearsal is that theoretically it should be my #1 priority if I want my role to be full of life but when I am so frazzled it is hard to stay on course. As far as my company goes April kept herself very busy taking in all that NYC had to offer and she was also able to come with me to some of my events. It was her 1st time in NYC so I knew that there would be plenty to keep her busy.

One of those crazy nights we had the Nina Party & Afterparty all in a row. This night was the HARDEST! I am not going to say it wasn't fun BUT sheesh (yes, sheesh) it isn't healthy to work those many hours in a row and do everything we did.

The Nina Party was very cute. The AMAZING stylist Sharon was on POINT! That lady knew her stuff and she had us all hooked up in a Burlesque theme that matched the party. I, along with another girl was a greeter, so when you got off the elevators onto the floor of the building we were there greeting you on our vintage couch with feathers, champagne, strawberries & grapes. The other girls were dancers, in the back rooms behind sheer sheets dancing so that you could see their silhouette. They had open bar with a champagne fountain and special Nina cocktails. They also had amazing cuisine like in the kids show rooms smoothies, candy, and mini cupcakes. Servers were floating around with deep fried potato chips with a dab of creamy sauce, coconut shrimp, chicken fingers with homemade BBQ sauce, chicken salad in tortilla cups, veal meatballs, tuna tartare, and lychee fruit with a goat cheese filling. There were also some people in attendance like Miss Universe, Miss USA & Miss Teen USA. We also got a picture with the Mother of all Moguls, Janice Combs, Puff Daddy's Mommy : ) Thank you to all of the models, stylist, make-up artist, hair stylist and Adrian the Director of Promotions of the Company TOAST who produced the event. Thank you for making the event wonderful! Cha-ching! More pictures here.

After the party is the afterparty and......... to tell you the truth I could've really gone home after that because I was TIRED but I had company in town from the Wesside and she wanted a taste of NYC nightlife. Lucky for us Nina's showroom was on 17th Street, right in Union Square and not far away on 14th street is a club called Lotus that just so happend to have DJ Jazzy Jeff as the guest DJ for that night. I was already in full make-up and wardrobe from the Nina Party so why not hit the club??? So we headed on down there and got in and our bags checked, and settled in with our lady liquids. Strawberries and Silk Vodka was our drink for the evening. By Midnight the club was CRUNK. When Jazzy Jeff came on........OMG..."What you know about that, what you know about that, I know all about that" is how he started that set and if you know that song like I know it, that bassline banging in the club sounds CRAZY!!

So pretty much it went downhill....party, dance, party....leave the club, fun times on 14th street, pizza.....& taxi back to BX. Wash face, brush teeth.....sleep....2 hours later.....alarm.... Good morning ANGELS........back to work we go!

Friday I was pretty much back to my usual work. At All My Children doing more background work (check that out on July 9, 2007) and we spent the afternoon shopping in Soho & on Fordham road in BX. You have to love NYC...........the work, the nightlife and the huslte that takes over when you are in the city the NEVER sleeps!