Okay, so I can finally talk about what I’ve been working on this week. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure it was a “done deal” and it now seems definite. One of my girlfriends from work spoke (on Facebook) about a contest they’re having for the Grammy Awards called, “My Grammy Moment.” They’ve had it for the past couple of years. Last year, a woman got to play her violin with THE FOO FIGHTERS, which was pretty cool.
This year it’s kind of a rip-off, because you don’t actually get to perform LIVE. You create a one-minute video singing or lip syncing to I KISSED A GIRL by Katy Perry, which will play during her performance at the Grammy Awards.
Anyway, Stacie said she wanted to do it, but thought they wouldn’t be interested in a mother of two. I told her that’s EXACTLY why she should do it, because most of the entry videos would be from tweens and teens who would be standing in their bedrooms.
I told her if she was nervous about it, I would direct her! Elsa volunteered to shoot it with her camera. The song is three minutes long and Stacie and I agreed that the last minute is the best part. I blocked (which is like choreography, but it’s movement, rather than dance) the whole portion of the song and we worked on it today. Elsa filmed us, so she could practice with the camera and Stacie did a great job. She picks things up fast and moves really well. She’s also very outgoing. She should have been a performer!
I was interested in finding the perfect location to shoot the video, so I have been “scouting locations” around San Diego for the past few days. I just knew we had to do it in an unusual spot – not inside someone’s house. I found a great place in a shopping center, using an escalator, which I thought would be so interesting, but I went to talk to the management of the mall and they said, “Absolutely not.” They were very nice about it, and I kind of knew they wouldn’t let us, so I wasn’t surprised.
I ended up finding a much better location in Hillcrest. I was driving to look at the store window of a store that I thought would be fun, because it’s a vintage store and they have gorgeous mannequins in the window, dressed in vintage clothing. As I was driving there I saw a young girl painting one of those transformer boxes. (You may remember that when Eric and I first arrived in San Diego I photographed all the transformer boxes and put them on the blog, because I was so impressed with them.)
Anyway, it was a HUGE one and she was doing a design with black and white checks with a huge red heart in the middle. In the middle of the heart was a woman’s eye, with long eyelashes. It was PERFECT!
I took a picture with my cell phone and sent it to Stacie and talked to the artist, whose name is Hillary, and I told her that I was going to shoot a video in front of her work on Sunday. She was very shy and didn’t say much, but I could see she was flattered and seemed happy. I gave her my card and told her if she was interested in seeing the video when it was done she could email me and I’d send her the link.
So, today I met Stacie and Elsa at 12:45pm and we just drove over to the parking lot where I used to park my car when I was working in the office and we put the CD into my car and rehearsed for ½ hour. Stacie has great moves, and she’s gorgeous, and I knew she’d do a great job.
I gave her a “script” which had the lyrics with all the blocking typed in, too, so she didn’t even have to write anything down. I told her she needed to rehearse it 100 times before Sunday and she said that wouldn’t be a problem.
When it’s uploaded, I will put the link here, so you can all watch it and vote for her. Wouldn’t it be AMAZING if she won and we all got to watch her video play on TV during the Grammy Awards? There are going to be three winners. If you go and watch the ones that are posted so far, they go from bad to worse. There were only 1 or 2 that I thought were “half decent.” So, I think she’s got a great chance!
She is going to wear all black with a faux leopard shawl that I lent her (it’s actually corduroy). Leopard always looks sexy, plus it’s a very vintage look, and Katy Perry is ALL about vintage. That’s why I like her so much!
After working with Stacie and Elsa I left and drove to a shopping center in La Jolla (where I found the great escalator location!). It’s right by a DSW shoe store and I had been in there a few times drooling over these purple satin platform ankle-strap shoes I REALLY wanted. Every time I went, there was just one pair of 6.5 left and I told myself if they were still there today, by golly, I was going to buy them.
I talked to Eric on the phone right as I was parking the car and I told him where I was headed. He was very happy for me and was glad I was going to purchase them and told me to call him as soon as I left, to let him know if they were still there. I actually did better than that. They were still there and I took a picture of one foot wearing the shoe and sent it to him with my cell phone. He loved it!
After that I came home and put the black ball feet on my decoupaged box. First, I went to ACE HARDWARE and bought four screws, nuts, and washers. Then, I came back home and put it all together. I used hot glue and the screws to apply the ball feet and they came out great and will never fall off. Those things are on for good! I was so proud of myself, because that is a part of the job I would always leave to Eric. He’s so handy and he can fix anything, or put anything together and he always does those kind of projects.
Now, the only step left is to line the inside with black velvet. That gives it a really finished look, and is also very luxurious! Kristin is SO excited. She can’t wait! It will probably be finished over the weekend and I can give it to her next week!
I have another project to work on. Elsa gave me some great pictures of her trip to Europe with her husband, Stephen and I’m going to make her a “photo collage.” I’m actually using a rectangular frame I have. I’ll glue all the pictures and other decorative paper to the glass and then put it back in the frame. It’s not going to be reverse decoupage, where you put the pictures on the back of the glass. I am going to glue the pictures right to the front and then varnish it, so that it will not be covered by glass when it’s done. I find that unless you have non-glare glass (and this isn’t non-glare) it doesn’t look as good to put the paper on the back as it does on the front.
I’d like to do a project for each of my girlfriends, before I leave San Diego. Then they’ll always have something to remind them of me!
Tomorrow I’m having lunch with Tifney. The office has a half day tomorrow and Monday off, so she’s meeting me here in Clairemont at 11:30am. (They always get ½ day before a day off. Isn’t that a cool perk?)
I’m not sure where I’ll take her yet, but there are at least 3-4 nice restaurants in the Clairemont Town Square, so we’ll probably go there, unless she wants to go to another neighborhood. I’m up for anything. I just love Tifney’s company!