Milwaukee | Hold the Glamour

November 22, 2012

Radio City Rockettes and Magnolia Bakery

Since my last post I’ve been a very busy bee. I’ve traveled and worked in Milwaukee and Minneapolis for most of the week or so in-between. Time escapes me and before I know it, I’m in the here and now and it’s the eve before Thanksgiving. It’s probably the biggest public holiday in the U.S. of A and I am yet to get my head around hosting this traditional event. So here goes…

I did mange to squeeze some family time over the weekend however – I took Mila to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (The Rockettes in all their glory and precise splendor). It was amazing. We both loved it and it was our first time to the show for both of us. Mila and I both highly recommend it. We had orchestra seats and we saw it all before our eyes. It was fabulous.

NYC – Radio City Christmas Spectacular

The show was truly a spectacular and it was so precise and the dancers were in exact time. Mila, I and the hundreds who saw the show that session simply loved it. We were blown away.

Afterwards, we enjoyed the delicious Magnolia Bakery only blocks from where we were. Mila selected her six favourite cupcakes for her, Levi and our guests due later that day. What can I say other than yum and gone! A must on the New York City circuit. Remember the scenes in Sex and the City? If not, go back and revisit.

NYC – Rockettes Toy Soldier routine

The Toy Soldier routine was simply amazing. It took minutes for all of the dancers to fall down gracefully and rhythmically. It was one of the best choreographed routines I’ve seen ever seen and coming from an ex-dancer that’s something! I was left speechless.

Before I know it, six loads of laundry later, whilst frantically packing for my work trip, I hop on a plane from JFK for an almost three-hour flight to work. Once I arrive, I’m then privileged to a wonderful catch-up with Barbara Bricker for a few days. Whilst we were working together, one of the many things we spoke about and discussed at length was Thanksgiving dinner. Barb helped me come up with my menu and traditional dinner fare for the holiday. I was most thankful and grateful. It is my first time hosting the entire event so it was important to get it right. A work in progress I must say as I emailed my darling husband Steve the shopping list.

Minneapolis – Barbara and I

Minneapolis -Beri Smithers and the gang

After we finish our shoot, four of the six models were heading home to New York. We rushed to our cars and headed to the airport. As soon as I got in my car with Beri, I took off my make-up and called home. The picture below is me negotiating with my four and two-year olds to eat their wonderful dinner that our nanny Isabel had made for them. It’s a hard sell.

Beri, who was riding with me in the car starts laughing and takes the picture below. Her words to me were, ” From supermodel to super negotiator”. She is not wrong. Beri Smithers’ too is a supermodel and she was one of the first straight-sized models I ever met when I moved to New York. She is a rock star and I love her so.

Minneapolis – In the car on the way to the airport

I arrive home by midnight and am so tired my eyes are bloodshot. I cannot wait to get to sleep however, it takes me a very long time. I have Thanksgiving dinner to prepare and host and for that, I am geed up! My next installment will be me hosting me first ever Thanksgiving dinner… Success or failure to come!

Stay tuned.

June 1, 2012

Work, castings, boyfriend’s and family waiting

Welcome to Milwaukee airport, WI

Milwaukee – Robyn Lawley and I in the car off to the studio

Milwaukee – in the studio after lunch

As I sit at my dining table writing this post, I have three roofer’s banging away repairing our skylight ceiling that leaked oh so many weeks ago. We’ve had an enormous amount of rain these last two weeks in New York so finally they are here… Leaks and roofer’s!

This week I flew to Milwaukee again on a 6.30am flight right after the Memorial Day long weekend, with every man and his dog traveling to and fro where ever they came from. The airports were a hot mess with people traveling it seemed to all places imaginable. All flights were full, there were lines and queues from the minute you walked in to La Guardia airport.

I got in my beauty rest for the duration of my flight which was about two hours. When I disembarked, I walked over to Starbucks and was hanging for my Caffè Americano… basically, a rich, full-bodied espresso with hot water in true European style. It was a good kick-start to my morning… now I was ready for work!

In line for my Americano, I saw a male model I knew whose name was Gary and then I saw the beautiful Robyn Lawley. Robyn not only is a supermodel but someone I’ve known since she started her phenomenal career in Sydney a few years ago. She started shooting Sara for Ezibuy with me and we worked together for about 18 months. It’s been awhile since I saw her so we had much to catch-up on.

We shared a car ride to the studio… I felt sorry for our driver as we didn’t shut up and continued our talks throughout the day and night. Work was great. Had lingerie shots to get all sexy for… you should have seen my big Texas hair! Comical really. It was a steady day for the both of us.

A model shuttle took us back to the airport (there was five of us returning to the airport). One girl was flying to Miami the rest of us to New York. We bonded, chatted and laughed all the way in peak hour traffic to Milwaukee airport.

Once we checked in, went through security and had our wood fire oven pizza for dinner, the four of us walked over to our gate to discover our flight home was delayed by three hours. It was due to severe weather in the New York area which included Washington and Boston. There was a band of thunderstorm activity blocking our path home and the three New York airports were on lock down! No flight in or out for hours. What now?

We hung out in the lounge and found Gary waiting to get home on the same flight. The five of us bonded over ridiculous work and travel horror stories. Boy, we could have written a book. We all had our tales of woe, frustration, stress and tears at trying to get home after work was done.

We hung in there. One of us was always going up to the gate agent on a regular basis and asking what the update (if any) was. We were told an hour after our flight was scheduled to depart, that we’d have an update soon. Our update was that we would board shortly and hope for the best! If air traffic control gave us the green light, we would be lucky to land by midnight. That was the case. We were so happy to have made it home we didn’t care how late it was. Work, castings, boyfriend’s and family were waiting for us the next morning.

No one was prepared for the taxi line-up however! Unbelievable… I’ve never seen lines that long at all taxi ranks in 10 years of living in New York. Nor had my fellow models. I arrived home about 1am and had awoken by 3.45am the day before… It was a long day filled with fun, glamour, stress, frustration and relief.

Who said glamourous miracles can’t happen!

May 22, 2012

Say ‘cheese’ to the cowboys

Welcome to Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee – This was my view for three hours

Dallas – Self-portrait once hair & make-up were done

Dallas – the shoe department

Dallas – behind the scenes from our set

Airports, airports and more airports this week. Work took me to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (known for its cheese, Harley’s and beer) with another 3.45am wake-up and a 6am flight out of La Guardia airport. It’s not easy for this night-owl to be in bed and asleep by 10pm the night before however, I do try.

My beautiful friend and co-model Marquita Pring and I were on the same flight. As usual, we both slept on the flight and caught-up on some much-needed beauty rest. We were picked-up by a car service our agent had arranged for us and we went straight to the studio. I was first-up in the hair & make-up chair (there were about five of us ladies, all different shapes and sizes)… Yeah baby!

We had a great day, took some lovely shots and headed straight back to the airport for a flight home to New York. I had to wait three hours for my plane so I kept myself busy, as I’ve gotten so used to doing. Marquita and I were happy to be going home and off to sleep after another glamourous day at work.

From the yummy cheese in Wisconsin to the cowboys of Texas, I found out the afternoon before I had to fly out, that I had another job to go to in Dallas and yet another 6am flight out of La Guardia. It’s three-and-a-half hours each way and I slept pretty much the entire journey there. My driver Sam picked me up at Dallas/Fort Worth airport and we headed straight to the studio where I had a full day of work ahead of me.

Hair & make-up didn’t take too long as my client prefers the more natural look. I wore tops, jeans, swimsuits and dresses and yes, I was lingerie/swimsuit ready! It was one shot after another… The crew and I were a machine of lights, flashes, quick wardrobe changes and hair & make-up touch-ups.

At the end of my day, Sam picked me up and took me back to the airport. I spent another three-and-a-half hours on the plane and arrived home late. My sweet family was sound asleep… Just how I left them almost a day ago.

What are some of your travel stories? Do you have any advice to share? Is there glamour to your travel?

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