Anastasia ready for the Gemini's

Anastasia sent me these pictures - just before leaving for the Gemini's.  A pre-taping before the big night.
I LOVE this dress on her.  It fit like a glove.

Ivy Lam did Anastasia's makeup and hair and as always, it is perfection.
www.ivylammakeup.com

Model Casting, The National Post and the Bell Celebrity Gala or Thursday

Chris and I on the carousel!

Thursday was a ridiculously busy day and a completely surreal one.

One of the those days when you are scheduled down to the minute and you can't afford for anything to go wrong.  Thanks to two helpful friends who came to my rescue I made it through the day!

Button run, blow out appointment, model casting with Melissa Leong from the National Post who met up with me for a piece that is coming out on show day, pick up passes from the FDCC, makeup done by Ivy Lam, pose for snaps for the Post story and then off to the Bell Celebrity Gala.  

In between, the usual things that you just have to accomplish during the day when you have a family. Anyway, madness could easily have ensued.  Thankfully, I was saved by my lovely friend Liz who gave up her appointment at Blo so that I could have clean and kempt hair and also to my other quick thinking friend Joy, who realized I had left my keys behind and tucked them into the flower pot (I guess that hiding spot is gone)

I felt a bit like I was watching the day from outside myself.  Especially as I sat in my dining room, with Ivy doing makeup, chatting with Melissa and watching Chris and the photographer setting up for the shoot, it was all very, very surreal. 

Anyway, model casting was successful, Melissa was so easy going (thank you!) and the Bell Gala in support of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health was great - there was even a carousel!  Had a brief conversation with Coco Rocha and tried to be cool with Jeanne Becker. (ha!)

Lost Footage

Not really.....Not lost, just not posted previously.
Did I ever mention that I am a veteran insomniac? There is not a time in my life that I did sleep well, even when very young. I remember good sleeps like people remember good meals. Anyway, couldn't sleep last night and didn't feel like working so I watched the September Issue. (I know! What took me so long!)

Loved, loved, loved it. Then read a ton of reviews on it. And, I think people have it wrong. Yes, Grace Coddington is absolutely brilliant and talented and has immense personality. But, Anna Wintour is not who she is because she is not also brilliant and creative. She has vision, the ability to execute and to decide. It is a collaboration, not one winning over the other.
Grace Coddinton's story seems more steeped in sadness on the outside, but I would imagine that it is Anna Wintour who struggles with acceptance and insecurity when the flashbulbs aren't going off. Parents and family have a funny way of never letting up their stranglehold on you. Even when they have forgotten the tease, you retain the ghost of it forever.

The September Issue inspired me to post some pics from behind the scenes at the Fall/Winter 2010 photo shoot. Here I am, no makeup and sporting winter weight. I think part of why I love Lady Gaga so much is that I recognize and have great affection for her nose and the fact that she hasn't done anything to it.



Me - standing in for Rachel (hence the block) while Chris does the lighting.



Natalya Willy (fellow designer and friend) and I.



Ivy Lam, makeup artist extraordinaire.