Flash Mob

A little while ago I posted about starting to dance again. I have been taking class with a company, DragonFly Dance Experiment, for a couple of months. A few weeks ago, the director asked me if I would want to perform with them. I, of course, said “Yes!”, but I am (for obvious reasons) really nervous. It has been a long long time since I have been on a stage. Really my last performance was on the court. The basketball court with the Diamond Gem Dance Team. That is not exactly what I would compare to improving modern movement. But I am just going to have to get over it and jump in.

The first piece I started rehearsing with the company is a Flashmob piece. For those that do not know what a Flashmob is (I had to look it up myself) here is the Wikipedia definition:
“A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.”

So for our purpose, we come together and perform an improv and choreographed work in a public place and then go our separate ways. We did our first “performance” this past Wednesday, downtown Annapolis. This is going to be an ongoing project and I can’t wait to see how it develops. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be where we are one day...or you can watch it on youtube.

(Unfortunately, this video is cut off on the right side which is where I am standing most of the time, so you can watch it on youtube here.)

My Brother on Oprah!

If you didn’t catch it today, I hope you set your DVR! My brother is a super star! He was on Oprah this afternoon and he did amazing! (Yes, I recorded it on a VHS tape. I am old school.) I was so proud to see him so confident and witty holding his own with the Queen of day time (or any time) television. Did you see her hold his hand?!? He talked about Project Runway, his book, showed some of his new gowns and plugged his Payless Shoe line. If you haven’t seen it, check out Oprah’s website for a link to the 50% off Payless offer and see his behind the scenes video. It is pretty funny. This kid is blowing up! He is also going to have a new show on Bravo TV. I don’t have details yet, but I saw this blog on the Bravo website. (Yes, I have to google his name to find out what is going on.)

I am a very proud sister. What do we think of this, in white, for June?

Wedding Website

I am having a lot of fun starting to put together the details of our upcoming wedding. We have confirmed our venue which is the biggest step so far. Detroit, here we come! I have started a wedding website to post info for our guests and anyone who is interested in our details.

Wedding Weekend: Part 2

Unfortunately, I did not get a single picture of the bride and groom at the second “wedding” this weekend. This is the best shot I could find of Evan and the groom, our good friend, Kevin.

The second "wedding" last Saturday was actually a reception only party for our friends in Richmond who tied the knot in a private ceremony this summer. They invited friends and family to celebrate with them at a restaurant/bar, the Bank, in downtown Richmond. We drove right from the Charlottesville wedding to our hotel, dropped off our bags, I changed my shoes and we headed to the Bank (which was fortunately only two blocks away because I was wearing runway shoes). It was really nice to see all of our Richmond friends. We have kept in touch with a few of them, but hadn’t seen most of them in three years. It was nice to see who had moved and who was still in their post-college apartments, who had changed jobs and who were back in school. We fell right in to where we had left off and partied like we were in our early twenties. :) After the celebration, we headed to our hotel room and ordered Dominos, since we missed the food at both celebrations. Evan was asleep before the pizza came, but I chowed down and he had a nice pre-breakfast for his hung over self the next morning.

We dragged ourselves out of bed on Sunday both with big headaches, but we dusted ourselves off to meet more friends for brunch. When I first met Evan, he lived in a split Richmond house, one apartment on top and one below. The apartment above was Evan and his roommate Shawn and the apartment below was Fletch. Fletch is absolutely a character and those three boys had some bachelor times, most of which are unmentionable. I was so glad we were able to catch up with him and his girlfriend, Carter. We are all a little more grown up now, but I’m pretty sure we all showed up to brunch with hangovers. Richmond is just that kind of city.

Wedding Weekend: Part 1

Now that we are engaged it seems like things are all wedding all the time, but I couldn’t have planned that we would have not one, but two, weddings to attend this past weekend! I did, however, RSVP that we would attend both and Evan was along for the ride.

The first wedding was the Mapp/Bressan wedding in Charlottesville, VA. My friend, Jenn Mapp, famous for her CIBU videos on youtube, wore a Christian Siriano original gown at her outdoor ceremony at Ash Lawn Highland. She was absolutely stunning and the ceremony (although quite cold) was beautiful. We walked down a cobblestone path through a garden maze to the intimate ceremony site. (Side note: You know a bride is a fabulous woman when most of her guests are in stilettos at an outdoor wedding.)

The couple wrote their own vows, which were sincerely beautiful. The groom could hardly keep himself together when reciting his, and I think that even Evan was a little teary. The couple exchanged a romantic first kiss and we all headed to the tent for the reception. We warmed up at the cocktail hour with their signature cocktail, hot rum cider. Well, I warmed up with hot rum cider and Evan did his duty and ordered a soda since he would be driving us to our next wedding reception in Richmond, VA. We waited as long as we could for the bride and groom to make their entrance so we could get a good photo, but finally agreed we had to go if we weren’t going to be too late to the next reception. As we were leaving we ran into the bride and groom on their way back to the reception. It was perfect timing for us to get a picture and give our personal congratulations to the happy couple.

Engagement Party - Part 3: The Dress

My little brother is the best brother in the entire world. He has really taken care of me and mom in the fashion department since he hit it big. Our party weekend, he sent me beautiful white roses, provided drinks for all our guests with blue champagne glasses and gave us two wonderful engagement gifts. The only uh-oh moment was when we realized the dress he had for me to wear wasn’t coming. Here is a quick refresh from my previous post about the dresses I tried on for his most recent fashion show:

“I tried on two dresses, the one I wore (to the fashion show) and another strapless short party dress, both in the red print. I was in love with both dresses but went with the halter style since the strapless was on hold for another celeb. The strapless dress may end up in my closet eventually since no one ended up wearing it.”

This strapless dress was to be my party dress for our engagement party. I had been planning on this since the day after his runway show. He had his assistant priority mail my dress, but unfortunately she forgot to put “Saturday Delivery” on the box. I’m sure her life/job is crazy, so I don’t blame her at all. But you bet I was having a panic moment at 2pm the day before the party when we realized, I had nothing to wear!! Fortunately, I was able to find a dress that I liked at Martin + Osa (a new favorite store of mine) and everything turned out fine.

My party dress came perfectly packed the Monday after the party along with a winter jacket with a sticky note on it that read, "Do Not Sell, Shannon's Jacket". I really can't complain, I am one lucky sister. I will just have to find another party for my party dress, or make Evan take me on a hot date.

Engagement Party - Part 2: My Sidekick

I have a four year old niece who is the daughter of my stepsister, Melody. She really likes Evan and me because Evan almost always has a present for her when we see her and I give her ballet lessons in the living room. She was my sidekick for most of the engagement party. She followed me while I mingled with guests and posed for pictures. She sat with me while I attempted to eat and helped me pick out which dessert I should try first. she told all the guests, "what are we going to do with all these babies?" since there were three babies under the age of 1 year also in attendance. I really loved her company, but her mother was worried that she was bothering me. For a little break, we asked her if she could "guard" the presents. My niece took this task very seriously and "helped" by taking all of the cards and organizing them in a nice neat pile on the coffee table. That's right folks. All the cards were pulled off their gifts and put in a pile! We were able to figure out where most of the gifts came from, with the exception of a couple bottles of wine. Melody suggested that we address our cards, "Thank you for the lovely gift." for those who we weren't sure about. I appreciate that my little partner took her job so seriously. She can do no wrong in my book.

Our First Wedding Gift

Our wedding is not until next summer, but Evan and I got an early start on our registry because it is just plain fun to start a registry. I really didn’t expect to receive any gifts for a quite a while, so I was super surprised when two huge Crate and Barrel boxes showed up at our apartment the beginning of last week. Evan and I so excited to open our first wedding gifts barely got them up the stairs before popping open the tape. To our immense surprise the card read…

“Congratulations on your engagement! May your life together be full of many reasons to celebrate. Wishing you the best: LuAnn, Eran & Payless Team”

Amazing! The Payless people are so incredibly thoughtful. They keep me and my mother stocked on shoes from each season. And now, they have gone out of their way to find our registry and send beautiful gifts. They sent a punch bowl and a cake display that we used at our engagement party this weekend! Every time we see them at my brother’s runway shows they are always so friendly and nice. This is such a thoughtful gesture I just had to share the excitement.

Engagement Party

This Sunday, my mother hosted a brunch at her house in Annapolis to celebrate our Engagement. It was a party we had been planning for months and I was so excited how things came together. My father flew in from Florida, my brother came down from New York and Evan’s parents traveled all the way from Michigan. All of my bridesmaids, family friends, coworkers and neighbors were there to celebrate with us. It was a perfect day.

My mother opened her home and prepared the food: She did a wonderful job putting together egg casseroles, honey hams, cooked vegetables and fruit along with appetizers of tomato and cheese and raw veggies. Mom’s friend, Candy, prepared a delicious Italian sausage bite in a baked wonton cup. The house and yard looked absolutely beautiful.

My father and I made the desserts: We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning, baking up a storm. He made an almond cheesecake, chocolate marble and Oreo bunt cake, peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes and spice cake cupcakes. I made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and two batches of my strawberry frosted, white cake cupcakes. Evan’s father, Bob, and our friend Shawn helped frost the day of the party. Yes, we have some sweet lovers in the family.

Evan’s parents provided the flowers: Jane and I made a stop at Whole Foods the morning of the party and picked out some flowers to go on each table. Jane (with the help of our friends from Richmond) put together absolutely beautiful arrangements.

My brother supplied Champagne: He knows what makes a party (for obvious reasons) and searched online to find the perfect party champagne glasses. He ordered these beautiful blue (plastic) Champagne glasses that went perfectly with our Bluebird theme I had posted on my blog months ago. He also made sure we would have enough Champagne for many many mimosas.

Evan and Michael did the yard work: For weeks leading up to the party, my mother planted grass, Michael trimmed and mulched. Evan help mulch arranged mums and put down pavers. The yard looked more beautiful then ever before.

The whole day was truly a family affair. The party was absolutely beautiful and I was so excited to get everyone together to celebrate with us.

Book Signing

I have been a bad bad blogger lately. I will post wedding, weekend and other updates this week. I promise…

If you haven’t already bought your copy of Fierce Style: How to be Your Most Fabulous Self, it is in stores now! I had the pleasure of catching up with the author this past weekend at a signing at Borders in downtown DC. He even posed for a picture with me. :)