The day we filmed the Creatopia infomercial was one I'll never forget. Loren and I arrived early for hair/makeup and wardrobe and were treated like queens...people were fetching us food and coffee, our stylists were veterans of the industry and kept us entertained with stories and tips (our makeup stylist was getting ready to launch her own line of brow-care products and voiced her concern about my "sparse" eyebrows - better than a uni-brow any day I say)!
They kept an eye on us throughout the day - touching up our makeup and hair (I was told I am a high maintenance make-upee because I kept touching my eyes and licking off my lipstick), pulling up our brastraps (apparently I was "droopy") and generally making sure we looked lovely. It was so weird to be so fussed over!
The shoot was SO much fun - Loren was a blast to work with, the crew was fantastic, but what thrilled me the most was meeting the "everyday crafters" who joined us for the shoot. Karin gave a hysterical play by play of how these girls got chosen, but she and Gail and Denise (who has some other great photos of the day here) blew me away with their creativity and their excitement and their love of the craft. Sometimes our industry gets so wrapped up in the ridiculousness of "scrapping celebrities" and it was such a gift to be reminded that there are INCREDIBLY talented people out in the world who just create because it brings them joy.
I would, of course, be remiss if I didn't talk about the food. If I wasn't already married I would still be stalking our craft services guy...a darling 20-something California dude who cooks better over a campfire burner than I could in a gourmet kitchen. His breakfast burritos were like manna from heaven, and anyone who will serve me chips and homemade guacamole on the same plate with bacon wrapped sausage is a rockstar in my book. Yeah, sure, there was "healthy" food like fish and salad and such for lunch, but if you look down to the end of the table you'll catch a glimpse of the homemade chocolate frosted brownie deliciousness.
As the day drew to a close and things were slowing down the wardrobe stylist and I were chatting and I asked her advice about what to wear on HSN. Apparently the joke around the office is that John (my boss) had to pay me to buy some clothes that weren't grey to wear on air (which is sort of true - but whatever). So I wanted her thoughts on what colors looked good on me, etc, and she took a long pause and then said (prepare for the humiliation):
"I feel like we've become friends over the past two days and you seem really cool so I hope this won't hurt your feelings. I will give you all the clothes on this rack AND the outfit you are wearing today for $150 if you burn the outfit you wore in here this morning."
SHAZAM!
Now - don't get me wrong...I took the clothes. In the pile were two cashmere sweaters, three pairs of pants, two dresses, four shirts, a belt, my dignity, and a variety of other goodies.
But I also took away the fact that I apparently cannot dress myself and am so far behind the fashion curve that I have to be bribed to dress right. But it makes for a good story and the trip out to LA made for a lifetime full of memories, a few wonderful new friends, and a kick-ass wardrobe that...funnily enough...is mostly grey.
