Road to Orlando: Part Two – Pushing Through and Smiling Pretty

November 6, 2013

 

Well, I wanted to write more about Orlando.  If you don’t know, I auditioned and have been selected to perform in a national talent showcase in December.  I will perform a monologue, sing a song, film a TV commercial, walk a fashion runway, and present my photographs to agents, casting directors, and producers from all over the country. 

I’ve written about the initial audition, and I’ve written about our first two workshops, which were in August and September.

October was photo-shoot month.  I spent from September 22^nd thru October 20^th putting together my outfits for my pictures.  I did procrastinate a little bit.  I don’t have a lot of really nice clothes, so this was challenging.  I was to have 3 “looks” ready; this quickly turned into emptying my entire closet, trying things on weeks ahead of time, and panicking. 

I didn’t need to panic, because, as everything else for this event so far, the clothes came to me.

Back this summer, I was browsing through clearance racks at a department store and found a couple of beautiful tops for like 2 dollars each.  They were out of season (fall wear), but I bought them anyway.  I didn’t know when I would wear them, or if they would be completely comfortable.  I ended up wearing both of these for my photo shoot. 

I was very fortunate that my friend Jodi emptied her closet for me back at the beginning of August.  The forest-green peacoat that she gave me was in the pile to go the photo-shoot.  (We were assigned to bring with us 6 possible outfits from which to choose our final three).

Also sometime in August, I made a stop at my favorite thrift store, TACOL, in Lindsborg, Kansas.  I found a really pretty top, also out of season, that I knew would look good on me.  It ended up that my photographer said, “This one; definitely this one; I love this color.”

I already had the skirt, tights, and jeans that I wore as bottoms for the shoot.

Still, it came down to the night before my photo shoot, and I still didn’t really have things paired and selected yet; I just had this giant pile of clothes that I knew were “appropriate”.  So, who do I call over, but my friend Maggie?? She lives down the street and sat in my room for 2 hours watching me try on clothes and telling me what looked good and what didn’t (I donated that Christmas-tree-green, sequined, crocheted sweater). 

The trip to KS City for the shoot was smooth.  The only thing that bothered me was that I think I over-conditioned my hair that week, in an attempt to make it smooth for the pictures, and it ended up being too heavy I think and really stubborn against holding curl.  But, I hope I made it work.

I won’t get my pictures until after December 1^st, or as soon as I finish paying off my tuition for the showcase.  The staff will select my two best pictures to display at the showcase in Orlando, while I walk the runway and introduce myself to everyone in the audience. 

After the photo shoot, I’ll admit I didn’t think too much about Orlando for about 5 days or so, and then it was time to dive right back in.  I was pretty exhausted after the photo shoot; it seemed like a lot of time, effort, and stress went into making the photo shoot happen. ( I also spoke at a women’s retreat the day before the photo shoot, so I had been preparing my speech for that at the same time as prepping for the photo shoot.)

The rest of October was spent getting money together for my Orlando payment, keeping the rest of my life in order, including keeping up with work and my other finances, and trying to get back into some form of a workout schedule.

Plus, it’s been the beginning of cold and flu season, so I think my body’s been fighting illness since the beginning of October.  I’ve been trying to use affirmations like, “I am strong, I am healthy, and I am fine” in order to convince my brain that my body is not sick.  It works for the most part.

Last week and the week before was when I was teetering on feeling feverish and achey.  But I nipped it in the bud by chugging gallons of orange juice and going to bed at 9:30 pm for a few nights.

Orlando or bust!!