"Are you a dresser?"

Sometimes my life makes me giggle. Upon reflection, mostly. Yesterday I planned my day around the "no hot water from 9-12" letter we had stuffed underneath our door the night prior. So, when I got home from the gym I had given them some cushion time to turn the hot water back on. I bet you can tell where this is going. Bird bath + poor shaving job attributed partially to goosebumps + shampooing head under the faucet = me on my way to participate in a fashion show with real models. My life is so glamorous (insert loud obnoxious laugh here).

Linda Carbo chaperoned me to the event. She does curbside pick-up. I've been so spoiled by her. (When I won Miss NY Paul and she came up to take a photo with me and she said, "meet your new mom and dad for the year." SO true ... and it's been such a blessing).

Anyways, she got a little fidgety and noticed they needed some help around there. Next thing I know Carbo is up and stuffing 150 gift bags. They herded us up to run through the show. We all grabbed our shoes, and as I was stuffing my foot into my shoe one of the models came up to me and said, "excuse me, are you a dresser? can you help me find my shoes?". SCREEEEECH. Wow. Apparently I looked really out of place. I don't blame her though. I was approximately 4 feet shorter than every other model there.

Then we were off to hair and makeup and this was the scene:

These people were for real! Orchestrating people to and fro in such an organized manner. Headsets and all!

After a little hurry up and wait action, we grabbed our gear and hit the red carpet. Never did I think while eating rolls of cookie dough in a scene set in the Pi Phi living room by strewn about papers, laptops, and paints - gaggling at America's Next Top Model, that I would one day be hanging out with two on the read carpet. They're both on my left. (Umm, and obviously I wasn't joking about being so much shorter than everyone ... the proof is right below)

After the red carpet we trucked backstage and changed into our gowns for the show ... I got to wear a gorgeous black Catherine Malandrino. If we didn't have to take them off immediately so they could be included in the auction I would have most likely run as fast as I could off the stage and out the door.

Backstage with Tim ...

Christian Siriano, a previous winner of Project Runway, kicked off the show with a creation he put on a model, designed by a St. Judes patient. It was gorgeous. The whole bit of it. And, then it was our turn. I must say, I was pretty nervous with going out there. I knew where Naomi Watts was sitting. Where Shannon Doherty was sitting. Yada, yada, yada. AND, Carrie Bradshaw was repeatedly falling in my head. But, off I went.

The show went very smoothly. And, the best part? No falls! Oh, and on that note, sorry for the video post with quite a few nasty expletives. I didn't realize it was riddled with all of that "trash" as Lisa would call it.

Anyhow, after the show I headed back out to boogie/hang with the boys. Scott, Tim, and Jason were all there. (If you're Tim's teacher ... this is where he was when he was skipping his first class with you) I gave a bit of a fist pump for success.

Many, many thanks to Scott for asking me to participate in this amazing event. St Judes does some truly incredible things, and I am so happy I could be involved with Design Cares 2009. Perhaps next year I will be the one sitting by the runway verbally harrassing the models (cough, cough, Scott).

PS: My brother saw a picture of me with my makeup done and this was his literal response (thank God for automatically saved g-chats):

Bryan: you look scaryoh, yeah. kind of creepy.

was this a halloween theme?

Umm, no, it wasn't Halloween ... actually inspired by the looks of the 20's. This is one of the many reasons why my feet will always remain on the ground.