December’s normally about the time that things slow down for me, but not this year! This year, December’s my most insane month of 2014. I was in Louisiana last week for the Three Nails workshop, today I’m heading out for New York, and then Friday I’ll be heading up to New York again, followed by a short trip to Roanoke. Phew! It’s the best kind of insanity, though, because I’m doing what I love to do! I just need a liiiitle bit more caffeine this week than usual :).

So yesterday was the best day ever. Aside from recovering from recovering from a seriously nasty bout of the flu on Saturday (which was even worse because I was traveling home from Louisiana), we had dinner at Ted’s Bulletin before heading to the Kennedy Center for The Nutcracker! So, last December I mentioned to Matt how I’d really love to go to the ballet with him. He kept that in mind and come November of this year, he bought tickets for this year’s birthday! Ballet West’s party scene was the best I’ve ever seen- it was so playful and fun! Definitely recommend seeing them if they’re in town again next year :).

As always, lessons learned/events that transpired over the past week:

• I tried crawfish while in Louisiana- maybe they’re better when they’re in-season, because the ones I had just tasted like shrimp that’d been dropped in dirt. Or is that pretty typical of crawfish?
• K, so you know how Popeyes’ commercials end with the “Looosiana faaast” jingle? I though that’s how people in LA pronounced their state- “Loosiana” instead of “Lou-wee-siana.” Nope, not at all- and when I said it like the Popeyes commercial, I was corrected REAL fast by a fellow workshop attendee who thought I was making fun of her state. Oops.
• Things I do not recommend doing the night before you wake up with the flu: eating a box of Hot Tamales cinnamon candy. Without getting too graphic, I became very, VERY concerned that I was bleeding internally for a second when all that red came back up the following morning.
• You can’t say enough about a flight attendant who goes out of her way to serve you well. I’ve had issues with Delta in the past, but after a flight attendant on Saturday’s trip went out of her way to make sure I had ginger ale and a blanket before the plane even took off, I’m sold. She even sent me off the plane with another can of Canada Dry for my layover in Atlanta!

Here’s a look at the styled shoot portion of the workshop from last week. Way different than my usual fare but it was so good to be challenged to step out of my comfort zone! Also, my mind is totally blown that Hunter styled this entire thing by himself, including hair and make-up. Talk about multi-faceted.