Veterans Day was approaching. I had another great fundraising idea.
There is a neighborhood of Senior Citizens in our town, tidy homes and yards, all close together. What if we went door-to-door singing patriotic songs…like Christmas caroling?? We could wave little USA flags, tell them about our LA performance opportunity and accept any donation amount they would like to give us. Surely Senior Citizens would have soft hearts both for the meaning of the day and for our inspiring songs.
In theory it seemed like a great idea. Inside, I was kind of a wreck about the idea--it was way, way out of my comfort zone; but, didn't that mean that this would be a good "growing experience" for me? Maria and James were less confidant regarding the opportunity for growth, but being the great kids they are, they went along with my (forced) enthusiasm and off we went to the nice neighborhood.
Imagine the extreme trepidation we felt as I parked the car. The neighborhood was silent except for a man mowing his lawn. We walked to the first house. I kept telling myself that I was breaking free of my fears, growing to a new level. I put on a cheerful face and with my two “team members”--Maria and James-- approached the first door. My heart pounded faster than my fist knocking on the door.
Slowly the door opened a crack, its outer glass door still firmly closed. We joyfully waved our little USA flags and sang “God Bless America”. I stammered out our explanation of why we were there. A wary and surprised elderly woman stared back at us and began to close her door.
I quickly told her about our singing telegram idea and that we were raising money for our trip to sing in LA...
She said, "Well, I'm all alone here and I don't have any money.." and quickly shut the door.
My kids stared at me. I took a breath, put on a cheerful smile and surged forward to the next house, talking to the nervous voices in my head. James was muttering in frustration behind me. Next house--no one was home; next house--another very surprised grandma. I tried to just tell her about the Veterans Day singing telegram idea and didn't mention money.
She said, "Oh, that's nice." and shut the door firmly as I happily called out “Happy Veterans Day!”
So, that was is for me. My brave facade crumbled.
I looked about the silent little neighborhood, stared at my stony-eyed children, “So, I think this is a bad idea afterall…” I mumbled
We piled back in the car and drove away.
I love the USA and flag waving, I get joyful tears when I sing patriotic songs, I honor our military ; however, this Veteran's Day activity is definitely not something I will ever try again. Door-to-door singing should probably only happen at Christmastime.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Fundraising Adventures
Among the excitement of Stylists, music and acting preparation there was always an undercurrent of nagging reality---the three of us going to this event in Los Angeles required lots of money, thousands of dollars, even with me being given a free pass to attend. The JRP organization required specific payments on a rigid timeline in order for our family to move forward in this opportunity. In the detailed prep information we received from JRP regarding the iPOP event there was a lengthy section filled with fundraising.
I felt a continuous nagging sense of anxiety. How were we going to raise the thousands of dollars needed in a few short months? This was such a personal, non-traumatic activity, why would others want to financially help for our family ?
The first thing I chose to do was pray often, listen to the inspirational thoughts I felt and try to have faith. I also knew that the three of us had to feel like a team in order to make this work. I became the “idea” person of the team, Maria the money handler—she was always the best Banker when we played Monopoly…and James became the voice of reality reining me in by his very clear teenage perspective.
We had been told by JRP that one of the parents oversaw a concessions stand at Qwest field in Seattle. We could sign up to work during events there, with the proceeds of the evening being divided up among those who worked. Anyone we brought with us would be counted towards our efforts as well, the money would then be sent directly to our JRP account.
Qwest field is a mammoth sports facility where professional football and soccer games are held. Seattle is about a 2 hour drive one-way for us. To make it cost effective for us I knew that we would need to bring several friends with us each time we worked there in order for it to really pay off. Our adventures at the field will be the subject of another post.
In another approach to fundraising, I went to the director of the Chamber of Commerce in our town. Her family had also been involved in theater; lucky for me she was an avid supporter of both family and the Arts. She invited me to write a brief article for the Chamber’s monthly newsletter, which I did. This introduced our efforts to the business community. She also suggested specific businesses that might be supportive of displaying our music CD.
We made little CD display boxes and took them to a few stores that allowed us to place them on their counters. For a donation to our trip fund, patrons could take home a CD.
Also, I did a Google search for fundraising ideas and came upon a free site that allowed one to make a page with a photo regarding the funding need, and then it sent announcements via email to our friends; it also had a money collection point on the site. I was pretty excited about that idead. I made a neat little announcement with a pro looking photo of (heartthrob handsome) James, posted it and waited. We had a few contributors to it, but I realized that I needed to do a lot of promoting of the site to get the notice we needed.
Another good step in fundraising--I enlisted the help of an enthusiastic young woman, friend of our family, Melissa who added the needed support to our flagging spirits. She made phone calls for us and was a great sounding board, always positive that we would be successful.
We held two Yard Sales, receiving an overflow of goods from friends who wanted to help….and also discovered in an unsettling way that permits are required in our little town for Yard Sales, and there actually is a (very) dedicated Yard Sale permit checker, who doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.
Donations to our cause came in from dear friends and relatives. We sang door-to-door for Veteran’s day---also the subject of another post. We gave a free community concert at our wonderful local bookstore at Christmastime where we received donations and enthusiastic support; we had a lengthy and positive article written in our local paper about our project.
As the deadline approach for final payment we were still more than a thousand dollars away from the goal. We were discouraged, I began to have second thoughts about the whole venture, yet as I prayed about it the negative thoughts were replaced by peace. I knew this was a good choice for us at this time and I had no idea where the rest of the money would come from.
Then I received a phone call from my parents. I had not asked them for money, wanting to be independent and also not sure how they felt about our project—the child in me afraid of negative opinion. My mother asked how much more money we needed. When I told her, she said that she and my dad would like to loan us the rest, that they supported us in our dream.
Tears of gratitude welled up as I spoke with her. In my childhood she was always the one who bought the final boxes of Girl Scout cookies from me. She always bought chocolate bars or stationary at my school fundraisers, and that always surprised me because she needed neither of those things.
Gratitude, love, thankfulness…the anxiety was gone and replaced by deep emotion for family, friends and our community. We were really going to go to Los Angeles.
I felt a continuous nagging sense of anxiety. How were we going to raise the thousands of dollars needed in a few short months? This was such a personal, non-traumatic activity, why would others want to financially help for our family ?
The first thing I chose to do was pray often, listen to the inspirational thoughts I felt and try to have faith. I also knew that the three of us had to feel like a team in order to make this work. I became the “idea” person of the team, Maria the money handler—she was always the best Banker when we played Monopoly…and James became the voice of reality reining me in by his very clear teenage perspective.
We had been told by JRP that one of the parents oversaw a concessions stand at Qwest field in Seattle. We could sign up to work during events there, with the proceeds of the evening being divided up among those who worked. Anyone we brought with us would be counted towards our efforts as well, the money would then be sent directly to our JRP account.
Qwest field is a mammoth sports facility where professional football and soccer games are held. Seattle is about a 2 hour drive one-way for us. To make it cost effective for us I knew that we would need to bring several friends with us each time we worked there in order for it to really pay off. Our adventures at the field will be the subject of another post.
In another approach to fundraising, I went to the director of the Chamber of Commerce in our town. Her family had also been involved in theater; lucky for me she was an avid supporter of both family and the Arts. She invited me to write a brief article for the Chamber’s monthly newsletter, which I did. This introduced our efforts to the business community. She also suggested specific businesses that might be supportive of displaying our music CD.
We made little CD display boxes and took them to a few stores that allowed us to place them on their counters. For a donation to our trip fund, patrons could take home a CD.
Also, I did a Google search for fundraising ideas and came upon a free site that allowed one to make a page with a photo regarding the funding need, and then it sent announcements via email to our friends; it also had a money collection point on the site. I was pretty excited about that idead. I made a neat little announcement with a pro looking photo of (heartthrob handsome) James, posted it and waited. We had a few contributors to it, but I realized that I needed to do a lot of promoting of the site to get the notice we needed.
Another good step in fundraising--I enlisted the help of an enthusiastic young woman, friend of our family, Melissa who added the needed support to our flagging spirits. She made phone calls for us and was a great sounding board, always positive that we would be successful.
We held two Yard Sales, receiving an overflow of goods from friends who wanted to help….and also discovered in an unsettling way that permits are required in our little town for Yard Sales, and there actually is a (very) dedicated Yard Sale permit checker, who doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.
Donations to our cause came in from dear friends and relatives. We sang door-to-door for Veteran’s day---also the subject of another post. We gave a free community concert at our wonderful local bookstore at Christmastime where we received donations and enthusiastic support; we had a lengthy and positive article written in our local paper about our project.
As the deadline approach for final payment we were still more than a thousand dollars away from the goal. We were discouraged, I began to have second thoughts about the whole venture, yet as I prayed about it the negative thoughts were replaced by peace. I knew this was a good choice for us at this time and I had no idea where the rest of the money would come from.
Then I received a phone call from my parents. I had not asked them for money, wanting to be independent and also not sure how they felt about our project—the child in me afraid of negative opinion. My mother asked how much more money we needed. When I told her, she said that she and my dad would like to loan us the rest, that they supported us in our dream.
Tears of gratitude welled up as I spoke with her. In my childhood she was always the one who bought the final boxes of Girl Scout cookies from me. She always bought chocolate bars or stationary at my school fundraisers, and that always surprised me because she needed neither of those things.
Gratitude, love, thankfulness…the anxiety was gone and replaced by deep emotion for family, friends and our community. We were really going to go to Los Angeles.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A New Year & A New Hair Color
Happy New Year to you; as I write this it is a few minutes before midnight, Dec. 31, 2009, here in the Northwest…my daughter in Boston has been living in 2010 for about three hours already. Our trip to
Most of the money for our trip has been raised, thanks to so many people; we have a few loans from dear relatives that we are working to pay back and we earned a great deal of cash. Now the adventure seems like a reality and we are working on the details, but they are fun details.
A few weeks ago the three of us went to get our hair styled according to the LA stylist’s evaluation. We decided to stay local and went to a highly recommended salon in our own town. The appointments were made at the same time a press release on us came out in the paper, luckily…the stylists were so very excited for us that they gave us deep discounts.
Maria’s hair grows fast, however it grows at different rates depending on the hair section. As I mentioned in a previous post her hair had been left rather “chunky” when she had me cut it for a “Locks of Love” donation this past summer. Now it was looking more uneven as it grew. The woman at the salon did a marvelous job of trimming the ends so that they blended in together. Now Maria’s long hair looks nicely layered.
James, after I told him the stylist wanted him to grow out his hair, cut his hair. His hair was “bugging” him so he decided to just buzz it all off. He figured it would grow back before January. I just smiled, I figured he was right, well, HOPED, he was right.
He actually looks great with short hair; he was blessed with a nice-shaped head and great cheek bones. His hair did eventually grow a bit, though not as quickly as Maria’s. At our hair appointment the stylist just trimmed around the edges for him. His hair is about 3/4” on top now….and it is starting to “bother” him again. I showed him photos of what the stylists were hoping to do with his hair—Google images for David Archuleta, Rob Pattinson, Taylor Lautner—longish hair.
James sighed a little, and agreed to wait until after January for more self-haircuts.
I am the one that had the major stuff done. I showed my stylist photos of my “assigned” hair style and color. She did a great job blending two colors together to make a deep warm brown color, then cut my hair so it brushes my shoulder and has long sweeping side bangs. I was so happy; shiny hair, it is so easy to style. We really had a great time, so remember “Shop Local”..at least it worked for us.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Brady Bunch & Acting
We’re reaping the benefits of our fundraising already—we have our own acting coach, her fee is part of the cost of the iPOP convention. What do you think of when you hear the title, “acting coach”?
That first day we sat in our classroom waiting for the coach. Anticipation. I really hoped that it would be an experienced actor/teacher.
A small, exuberant woman with a bleached blonde, asymmetrical hair cut blew into the room talking non-stop. Her energy was astounding, and her animated facial expressions seemed almost, well…cartoon-like.
She immediately thrust out a colorful soft-cover book, “Look my book has just been published!” She flipped through pages, “See, this is a photo of me, and in this group photo I am here…” She rapidly described her experience decades ago as a singer and dancer on a weekly, TV variety show featuring cast members from the Brady Bunch show.
I looked at Maria and James, the three of us wide-eyed and speechless. Clearly, she had an interesting and varied show-business past. I wondered how this learning experience was going to play out for us as acting students.
Now, it has been many weeks since that day. It turns out that our teacher is a veteran in acting instruction, she also did years of study at the
Our class is small, made up of the “out-of-town” students. (All the other participants live much closer and meet on a different day.) We three live two hours away, three others students travel about 6 hours one-way from the eastern part of the state to participate. The six of us are getting great personal coaching in such a small classroom setting.
We each have two assigned commercials to memorize. We deliver it to a video camera and watch the playback for practice. We each also have a monologue to act-out. It is like a dialogue between two people, but the other person is “imaginary” so the actor speaks and reacts in a way that is, hopefully, entertaining and that reveals to the audience the events of the scene.
It has been so much fun to be in this group with my son, James, and daughter, Maria. Things are going great, I am remembering how to memorize scripts once again—it’s been awhile; and having fun bringing out nuances in my acting.
The monologues are funny, and Maria and James do them well. They laugh when I perform mine, thankfully mine is also a comedic script and they are not just laughing in embarrassment at their mother. Okay, pretty sure they’re not…
Soon to come, we will be assigned acting partners for a “scene”, oh, and James and I went to a recording studio. I’ll share that with you soon.
I’ve added this blog to Digg.com, you can search under “Densley” or use the link in this sentence. If you “recommend” this blog on Digg.com it will help us pass this on to more people. Thanks for all of you who have donated to our trip; we are still using Paypal for that. Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
I Made a Movie!!
Wow, I figured out how to make a movie on my computer!!! Okay, so it's only 29 seconds, and it has a cluttered background, and simple sound...but it gets the message across. This is a video of me after returning home from a performance with my swing band, wearing a vintage fur coat. It was actually pretty cold tonight.
Our band played at the annual "Fantasy Forest" gala that is a fundraiser for our local hospital. Since my reinnervation surgery in May my voice has been getting much better. I had such a good time singing tonight and actually using my voice creatively. Hurray!! Hurray!!!
Ask your friends to help us get to LA. All the funds are due in just a few weeks. They can send us cash or checks or use a credit card at PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com Even $5 helps!
As Long As Im Singing AndreaNov2009.wmv
Click on the link to see the video
Our band played at the annual "Fantasy Forest" gala that is a fundraiser for our local hospital. Since my reinnervation surgery in May my voice has been getting much better. I had such a good time singing tonight and actually using my voice creatively. Hurray!! Hurray!!!
Ask your friends to help us get to LA. All the funds are due in just a few weeks. They can send us cash or checks or use a credit card at PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com Even $5 helps!
As Long As Im Singing AndreaNov2009.wmvClick on the link to see the video
Thursday, November 5, 2009
August 21, 2009 LA Stylist Guy!!
So---Maria and I went up to Seattle for our appointment with the stylist from Los Angeles which is one of the “perks” that our trip fee is going towards. James couldn’t be with us, he is the drumline captain of the high school marching band and he was at a required performance.
On the drive up I was thinking that this would be another way to judge the quality of the program; will the presentation be “flaky” or real? And what would a "stylist" from Los Angeles be like anyway?? I've only seen them as characters in chick flicks, or briefly on TV's "Project Runway" in the show's hair salon....It was a long drive; I had quite a bit of thinking time.
I was also feeling a bit nervous, a little insecure. It is not a comfortable thought knowing that you are going to stand in front of a “professional” and have them critique how you look. I don’t know how those reality show people can do it. I wore a dress; I wanted to look “nice”. Traffic was bad; we were almost ten minutes late. We parked, hurried through "beautiful downtown Macys"; waited for the elevator to arrive, took it to the 7th floor, rushed past the larger-than-life photos of Jackie K and Princess Grace and friends (all former JRP students), and strolled into the JRP offices trying to breath slowly and look calm.
Maria and I walked through the open door to the meeting room; all eyes turned towards us, and I was relieved to see that the guy standing there holding a clipboard was smiling at us. So far so good.
The room had mirrored walls like a dance studio and a nice wooden floor. There were two rows of metal chairs and parents with kids of all ages. Pretty sure my child (at age 26) is the oldest…. Okay, the corollary to that is, yes, pretty sure I am the oldest parent.
We arrived in the midst of introductory remarks. It turns out that the “guy with the clipboard” is a local Seattle stylist assisting the “L.A.” stylist who was delivering his energetic intro for this procedure.
I tried to remain clinical and neutral about his presentation, however, he was an interesting speaker and I felt a bit excited to be in this unusual situation. I was impressed by his obvious passion for what he does and his business-like manner. He was humorous, not arrogant, not “outrageous” in his mannerisms or dress--but he was direct. Referring to the preparation for the up-coming convention and auditions he told the youngsters: “You are not just a kid in the Mall anymore; you have to be serious about this. It’s going to be fun, but you will have to be disciplined.”
I liked that he told the kids that they were going to have to give up some “treats” or “extras” like the latest Wii game, in order to help budget for the cost of professional hair cuts/colors and styling. It implies this is a shared financial responsibility with the kids & their parent.
He will be the head of a team of stylists at the convention in Los Angeles. Our JRP group will have our hair styled and makeup done by these pros each day we are there and prior to each audition and performance. Okay, yeah, that brings out the 16-year-old in me—all my hair and make-up dilemmas turned over to pros. Nice.
He began calling names from his list. I panicked a little, not wanting to go first. When called up, the procedure was to stand in front of him, and “stand still”. Do not comment, or give explanations.
He directed, "Input is not required or solicited. I really don’t care what you think.”
His smile took the sting of his words away, but it was obvious to everyone that he was a professional. It was interesting to watch as each person stood before him. He walked in a slow circle around each student, feeling the texture and length of the hair, concentrating like an artist examining his easel. Then quickly he gave rapid-fire instructions to the assistant regarding inches to cut off, or color streaks to add, flipping through hair color samples, judging which would be best when the stage lights hit the hair. The "guy with the clipboard” took copious notes.
Maria and I were called up last. I “encouraged” Maria to go first. What could he say about her hair anyway? It is a gorgeous, natural copper/gold/orange. I’ll admit that the hair cut could use some help--I’m the one that cut her hair last.
Her hair is fairly thick, and used to be waist length. It grows fast, so periodically she cuts and sends the hair lengths to “Locks of Love” as a donation to wigs for cancer patients. A few months prior to this she had donated her hair, asking me to cut it off in measured 12” chunks. Now, her hair barely brushed her shoulders, and at that moment looked pretty uneven to my eye.
The stylist loved the hair color. He suggested a few “color slices” be added to the under layers to “give it some depth”. He held up a dark copper color swatch that was the identical color of the shadowed layers of her hair. I was relieved that he didn’t choose some drastic color. Maria would never have gone for the change anyway, but it was nice to avoid the tension.
Next, he flipped through a book and showed Maria the hair cut he chose for her. It was sleek, curved and just below the ears. She and I looked at each other; I was trying to read her eyes. I could see that her feelings weren’t neutral… and they also weren’t excited. It was a pretty cute hair cut, and yet, it wasn’t “Maria” at that point in her life. But, then again, maybe it would be a great change.
The other good thing about this stylist is he was not forceful. He told everyone that he was going to give his professional opinion and then it was up to each person to follow through or not, reminding us all to reflect on how serious we were about taking career advice from someone experienced in the entertainment industry.
So, lastly, my turn. I took a breath and stepped into the “decision spot”.
I was relieved that no critiquing of makeup techniques or “face structure” was going to be done. I know I look okay; it’s just intimidating to be scrutinized. My hair is pretty thin. It is a dark ash blonde with some lighter gold hair streaks added, and they are growing out. I have always been conscious of my high, broad forehead, so I generally have a few bangs as camouflage.
He showed me a color swatch proposed for my hair that was a deeper shade dark blonde, nearly brunette. I liked it. Then he showed me a photo of “my” proposed hair style, told me to grow my bangs out until December, and then have my hair cut.
I commented. “But my forehead…its so---"
“Don’t cut your bangs!” He glowered.
I closed my lips and stared back with insecurity.
Clipboard guy smiled, “Really, its going to look fine.”
The style in the photo was classy. It was shoulder length, a precise cut with long chin-length bangs curving around the face. The clipboard guy was happily writing down color numbers and hair length measurements.
A young woman sat in the corner scheduling hair appointments for everyone. We didn’t book an appointment, offering various plausible reasons, but I knew that the real reason was I needed some time to just think about the plan for a bit. And the cost. My color and cut will be about $200. Probably a typical price, but out of my “comfort level”.
It was not as awkward a session as I envisioned, even so, I felt very relieved to be heading back out to the parking garage. **We still need your help to get to the convention...and get the haircut :) Please click on our Donate link above, we need to turn in the funds by Nov. 25th**
On the drive up I was thinking that this would be another way to judge the quality of the program; will the presentation be “flaky” or real? And what would a "stylist" from Los Angeles be like anyway?? I've only seen them as characters in chick flicks, or briefly on TV's "Project Runway" in the show's hair salon....It was a long drive; I had quite a bit of thinking time.
I was also feeling a bit nervous, a little insecure. It is not a comfortable thought knowing that you are going to stand in front of a “professional” and have them critique how you look. I don’t know how those reality show people can do it. I wore a dress; I wanted to look “nice”. Traffic was bad; we were almost ten minutes late. We parked, hurried through "beautiful downtown Macys"; waited for the elevator to arrive, took it to the 7th floor, rushed past the larger-than-life photos of Jackie K and Princess Grace and friends (all former JRP students), and strolled into the JRP offices trying to breath slowly and look calm.
Maria and I walked through the open door to the meeting room; all eyes turned towards us, and I was relieved to see that the guy standing there holding a clipboard was smiling at us. So far so good.
The room had mirrored walls like a dance studio and a nice wooden floor. There were two rows of metal chairs and parents with kids of all ages. Pretty sure my child (at age 26) is the oldest…. Okay, the corollary to that is, yes, pretty sure I am the oldest parent.
We arrived in the midst of introductory remarks. It turns out that the “guy with the clipboard” is a local Seattle stylist assisting the “L.A.” stylist who was delivering his energetic intro for this procedure.
I tried to remain clinical and neutral about his presentation, however, he was an interesting speaker and I felt a bit excited to be in this unusual situation. I was impressed by his obvious passion for what he does and his business-like manner. He was humorous, not arrogant, not “outrageous” in his mannerisms or dress--but he was direct. Referring to the preparation for the up-coming convention and auditions he told the youngsters: “You are not just a kid in the Mall anymore; you have to be serious about this. It’s going to be fun, but you will have to be disciplined.”
I liked that he told the kids that they were going to have to give up some “treats” or “extras” like the latest Wii game, in order to help budget for the cost of professional hair cuts/colors and styling. It implies this is a shared financial responsibility with the kids & their parent.
He will be the head of a team of stylists at the convention in Los Angeles. Our JRP group will have our hair styled and makeup done by these pros each day we are there and prior to each audition and performance. Okay, yeah, that brings out the 16-year-old in me—all my hair and make-up dilemmas turned over to pros. Nice.
He began calling names from his list. I panicked a little, not wanting to go first. When called up, the procedure was to stand in front of him, and “stand still”. Do not comment, or give explanations.
He directed, "Input is not required or solicited. I really don’t care what you think.”
His smile took the sting of his words away, but it was obvious to everyone that he was a professional. It was interesting to watch as each person stood before him. He walked in a slow circle around each student, feeling the texture and length of the hair, concentrating like an artist examining his easel. Then quickly he gave rapid-fire instructions to the assistant regarding inches to cut off, or color streaks to add, flipping through hair color samples, judging which would be best when the stage lights hit the hair. The "guy with the clipboard” took copious notes.
Maria and I were called up last. I “encouraged” Maria to go first. What could he say about her hair anyway? It is a gorgeous, natural copper/gold/orange. I’ll admit that the hair cut could use some help--I’m the one that cut her hair last.
Her hair is fairly thick, and used to be waist length. It grows fast, so periodically she cuts and sends the hair lengths to “Locks of Love” as a donation to wigs for cancer patients. A few months prior to this she had donated her hair, asking me to cut it off in measured 12” chunks. Now, her hair barely brushed her shoulders, and at that moment looked pretty uneven to my eye.
The stylist loved the hair color. He suggested a few “color slices” be added to the under layers to “give it some depth”. He held up a dark copper color swatch that was the identical color of the shadowed layers of her hair. I was relieved that he didn’t choose some drastic color. Maria would never have gone for the change anyway, but it was nice to avoid the tension.
Next, he flipped through a book and showed Maria the hair cut he chose for her. It was sleek, curved and just below the ears. She and I looked at each other; I was trying to read her eyes. I could see that her feelings weren’t neutral… and they also weren’t excited. It was a pretty cute hair cut, and yet, it wasn’t “Maria” at that point in her life. But, then again, maybe it would be a great change.
The other good thing about this stylist is he was not forceful. He told everyone that he was going to give his professional opinion and then it was up to each person to follow through or not, reminding us all to reflect on how serious we were about taking career advice from someone experienced in the entertainment industry.
So, lastly, my turn. I took a breath and stepped into the “decision spot”.
I was relieved that no critiquing of makeup techniques or “face structure” was going to be done. I know I look okay; it’s just intimidating to be scrutinized. My hair is pretty thin. It is a dark ash blonde with some lighter gold hair streaks added, and they are growing out. I have always been conscious of my high, broad forehead, so I generally have a few bangs as camouflage.
He showed me a color swatch proposed for my hair that was a deeper shade dark blonde, nearly brunette. I liked it. Then he showed me a photo of “my” proposed hair style, told me to grow my bangs out until December, and then have my hair cut.
I commented. “But my forehead…its so---"
“Don’t cut your bangs!” He glowered.
I closed my lips and stared back with insecurity.
Clipboard guy smiled, “Really, its going to look fine.”
The style in the photo was classy. It was shoulder length, a precise cut with long chin-length bangs curving around the face. The clipboard guy was happily writing down color numbers and hair length measurements.
A young woman sat in the corner scheduling hair appointments for everyone. We didn’t book an appointment, offering various plausible reasons, but I knew that the real reason was I needed some time to just think about the plan for a bit. And the cost. My color and cut will be about $200. Probably a typical price, but out of my “comfort level”.
It was not as awkward a session as I envisioned, even so, I felt very relieved to be heading back out to the parking garage. **We still need your help to get to the convention...and get the haircut :) Please click on our Donate link above, we need to turn in the funds by Nov. 25th**
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
July 30, 2009 Gumball Snakes and other Ideas
Brainstorming has always been more like brain-flooding for me. James and Maria and I got together and listed every idea we could think of to raise money for the iPOP convention expenses. My first thought—crazy as it sounds, was gumball snakes; past experience showed me they could be popular. (Another story…)
We bought a prepackaged row of big colorful gumballs, put a cotton ball on for a head, encased it all in plastic wrap, tied on a ribbon and it became “Sammy the Snake of Success”. We each took permanent markers and drew cartoony faces on them. So, the idea is to offer them in trade for small donations. When I figure out how to add photos to this blog I’ll let you see them.
Soon after we had made a bunch of them, my college son, Aaron came home for a visit. He saw the happy little snake collection and really, really wanted one….Yes, I ended up giving him one. This is my downfall with the fundraising thing; I just want to give people things. It is so hard for me to hold a garage sale, if I see the longing in a tired mommy’s face and her big-eyed children I just want to lower my prices, or give the item away. This money-raising will be a challenge.
I also made very cool bracelets of chocolate brown hemp with three small brass beads entwined. They represent the three of us committed to our trip to LA. These are for people who donate more than just minimal “snake” money. And then we have a wonderful 11 track CD of recordings from most of our kids, some original songs, some covers of songs. We are a family of musicians—jazz, Broadway, Inspirational, Pop, Standards, and “Veggie Tales” songs are among the genre we all enjoy. Beethoven is just as welcome in our home as Bing Crosby.
Here is “The List” of expenses for our trip. Happily, we get the “pay for two and one goes free” arrangement. Each performer’s package cost includes travel (airline, hotel and ground transportation)--$1,000; registration for the convention itself (classes, rehearsal techs, banquet ticket)--$1,500; the weeks of training with our acting coach at the JRP school prior to the convention and school admin fees--$1,100; Hair and makeup consult and services prior to and daily at the event--$250 (wait till you hear what our consult with a “real” LA stylist was like….); Guest speakers and weekend workshops in Seattle prior to the event--$250; Gala Awards Dinner and Showcase performance--$300; Convention dance party and dinner--$300, Miscellaneous--$300 includes trip staffing, merchant fees, taxes, staff hotel and travel.
The total price for each performer is $5,000. Perspective is everything, I suppose. My initial reaction of that amount was “GASP!!”; however, when I described it to both our Chamber of Commerce Director and another friend in the financial planning field, they each said, “Oh, that’s do-able”. They have more experience in fundraising than I. However, I do understand that this is a business for everyone involved, the school isn’t just acting out of charity, neither is the airline that will fly us there nor the hotel that is giving us shelter. I have seen that the JRP school does have a commitment to excellence and professionalism, and offers many opportunities for the performers to get all the extra assistance they need to give them an “edge” at the competition.
So, yeah, that’s a lot of “Sammy, the gumball snake” donation trades. Though, I would easily trade one for a $1,000 donation if you wanted to speed up the process for us. That fortunate snake would have a lovely hand-drawn face with long eyelashes, ruby lips and a golden, curly ribbon. Hmmm, I could probably even give it a cute little faux pearl necklace. Any takers??
Donations can be sent to PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com , you can use a credit card. Let us know if you’d like a snake, bracelet or CD. With a $100 donation you will also get your name, or your company’s name, in the convention booklet.
More info to follow…..thanks for reading!!
We bought a prepackaged row of big colorful gumballs, put a cotton ball on for a head, encased it all in plastic wrap, tied on a ribbon and it became “Sammy the Snake of Success”. We each took permanent markers and drew cartoony faces on them. So, the idea is to offer them in trade for small donations. When I figure out how to add photos to this blog I’ll let you see them.
Soon after we had made a bunch of them, my college son, Aaron came home for a visit. He saw the happy little snake collection and really, really wanted one….Yes, I ended up giving him one. This is my downfall with the fundraising thing; I just want to give people things. It is so hard for me to hold a garage sale, if I see the longing in a tired mommy’s face and her big-eyed children I just want to lower my prices, or give the item away. This money-raising will be a challenge.
I also made very cool bracelets of chocolate brown hemp with three small brass beads entwined. They represent the three of us committed to our trip to LA. These are for people who donate more than just minimal “snake” money. And then we have a wonderful 11 track CD of recordings from most of our kids, some original songs, some covers of songs. We are a family of musicians—jazz, Broadway, Inspirational, Pop, Standards, and “Veggie Tales” songs are among the genre we all enjoy. Beethoven is just as welcome in our home as Bing Crosby.
Here is “The List” of expenses for our trip. Happily, we get the “pay for two and one goes free” arrangement. Each performer’s package cost includes travel (airline, hotel and ground transportation)--$1,000; registration for the convention itself (classes, rehearsal techs, banquet ticket)--$1,500; the weeks of training with our acting coach at the JRP school prior to the convention and school admin fees--$1,100; Hair and makeup consult and services prior to and daily at the event--$250 (wait till you hear what our consult with a “real” LA stylist was like….); Guest speakers and weekend workshops in Seattle prior to the event--$250; Gala Awards Dinner and Showcase performance--$300; Convention dance party and dinner--$300, Miscellaneous--$300 includes trip staffing, merchant fees, taxes, staff hotel and travel.
The total price for each performer is $5,000. Perspective is everything, I suppose. My initial reaction of that amount was “GASP!!”; however, when I described it to both our Chamber of Commerce Director and another friend in the financial planning field, they each said, “Oh, that’s do-able”. They have more experience in fundraising than I. However, I do understand that this is a business for everyone involved, the school isn’t just acting out of charity, neither is the airline that will fly us there nor the hotel that is giving us shelter. I have seen that the JRP school does have a commitment to excellence and professionalism, and offers many opportunities for the performers to get all the extra assistance they need to give them an “edge” at the competition.
So, yeah, that’s a lot of “Sammy, the gumball snake” donation trades. Though, I would easily trade one for a $1,000 donation if you wanted to speed up the process for us. That fortunate snake would have a lovely hand-drawn face with long eyelashes, ruby lips and a golden, curly ribbon. Hmmm, I could probably even give it a cute little faux pearl necklace. Any takers??
Donations can be sent to PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com , you can use a credit card. Let us know if you’d like a snake, bracelet or CD. With a $100 donation you will also get your name, or your company’s name, in the convention booklet.
More info to follow…..thanks for reading!!
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