Pittsburgh

Welcome to Pennsylvania, specifically PITTSBURGH!!!

I love that from the airport you shoot out of a tunnel and see this!!!! GORGEOUS!!!! You also see the Pirates Stadium and the Stealer's Football Stadium. Pittsburgh is the city of bridges and where 3 rivers meet. Let's just say I learned A LOT from my cab driver during our 45 min chat to Monroeville!!!

Why am I in Pittsburgh!?! I came as part of the AOO events staff to work on a gala!!!

Lot's of details to come on the transformation of our event, entertainment, and floral designs!!!

October 1, 2009

I was shocked as anyone that October was upon us!!!! Now as I'm writing this, it is almost over. Where has the time gone? At this point my internship had literally just wrapped. I spent the 1st to pack for Pittsburgh, do laundry, and run errands. Then I headed out to dinner and drinks with my Images crew.
Here's the Dinner Group:
If you have been following my blog, you probably recognize Ray Thompson of Images by Lighting (on the right). On the Left is Pheadra, then Marney. These ladies are SOOO great and have become two very good friends of mine! Marney is a football fan from Texas and both of them LOVE country music, ohhh and we all share a bond of Starbucks too. The are busy ladies working at the lighting company as well as cheerleading sponsors at the local high school in their town. You may recognize them too from the HBO Post Emmy Party pictures. It's always a good time with these two!

Pheadra (My contact at Images) and I!!!

Ray and Marney!!!

Story time: for some reason my seat beat in the backseat fell off the wall...? I blame it on moving to California and I probably knocked it off with a box or something. Ray was trying to still use it, while asking me where my screwdriver was so he could fix it. We all thought he was hilarious and laughed about his "seat belt photo shoot" for hours. Then we went to a "bar" that happened to have 18 and under night after we had arrived. Let's just say...a bus load of KIDS arrived...quite the entertainment. (HS Friends: I really hope we didn't dance like them when we were there age) We really all had a great night!
CHEERS for me being Images' First Intern!!!!

Now... it was 1am and time to head to the apartment to pack. I had to be at the airport at OHHH 6AM!!!!

What's Next?

After my internship, I was brought on to assist with various projects that my companies were working on. Therefore I decided to stay in LA all of October and see what happens.

The first part of October was extremely busy. My internship ended when September was over. I had a day break then...

2-6 I traveled east to Pittsburgh for an event with AOO Events
The event ran on the 6th, but I was on a plane after rehearsal to LA, to work an event the 7 & 8 for TFS Studio.

The rest of the month was unknown :) Stay tuned to see the FABULOUS events that I worked on and how I enjoyed my time in LA!!!!

On-site Specifics

My favorite On-site Crews are....

Corporate Events: Design and Production = AOO EVENTS http://www.aooevents.com
Event Lighting Designers: Ray Thompson + Curt Stahl = IMAGES BY LIGHTING http://www.imagesbylighting.com
Social Events and Floral = TFS STUDIO + The Flower Shop http://www.tfsstudio.com

Of Course : ) Bet you wouldn't figure that out. However, I also met many vendors over the course of my internship, that offered me various advice. They include....
Justin Howard- Flaming Flowers
Gai Class- Gai Class Productions
Colin Cowie Lifestyle
Revelry
Linda Howard- Linda Howard Productions
Stacey Poras- Stacey Poras Productions
Sequoia Productions
Yifat Oren and Associates
Sarah Lowy (who's a Kappa from UCLA by the way)- Jowy Productions
Debbie Geller
Mindy Weiss - Mindy Weiss Party Consultants

My favorite on-site meeting: located in the President's Office of West Coast Music looking over Los Angeles.

First Event On-site: A famous TALL Basketball players residence : )

Favorite Memories: Every single day- at least one was made!!! Seriously, I'm telling the truth!

A few venues I worked at over August and September included:
Many residence's homes
Beverly Hills Hotel
SLS Hotel
Los Angeles Convention Center
Hillcrest Country Club
Antheneum
Four Seasons- Los Angeles
The London Hotel
Firestone Vineyard
Pelican Hill Resort
Siren Studios
Langham

Every meeting, venue, person I met, I learned from! The internship absolutely met the purpose I started with: to get my "feet wet" in the industry. Trust me, I achieved that purpose far beyond my expectation, thanks to the companies I learned from!

Overview of My Internship

It is crazy to me that it has almost been a month since my internship ended. I am trying to get caught up on the blog, so expect lots of posts this week : )

Let's just say that I am a HUGE-HUGE-HUGE fan of shared internships after August and September. Those two months are two that I will treasure and remember FOREVER! I am still amazed I had the opportunity to do half the things I actually did! It was a "first" for all three of the companies to share an intern, hopefully I made a good impression.

Here is an overview of my Internship with AOO Events owned by David Merrell, Images By Lighting owned by Ray Thompson, and TFS Studio owned by Clifford Miller.

Over of 400+ Hours (412.5 to be exact, not that I kept up with it lol ) of administrative, on-site, and marketing experience with three industry leaders. This includes pretty much everything from hands-on activities including: making floral arrangements and boutonnieres, "gelling" par 46 uplights around a ballroom, making table arrangements come to life, cutting & tearing linens to make table runners, and sooo much more! Other tasks included: marketing promotions, assisting in RFPs, office projects, running errands, and helping out wherever was needed. In the event industry every day is different, which I absolutely love!!!

I got to witness first hand how three companies, all in the same industry but very different, are run. I was able to shadow owners to client meetings, vendor meetings, and corporate meetings all the while meeting professionals in the industry. A shared internship was a "no-brainier" for me to accept. I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to learn SOOOOO much from these companies.

The main ingredient in a shared internship program is flexibility. I was lucky that all 3 of the owners were friends and agreed to be flexible with every one's time. I in turn had to be extremely flexible, but for my own benefit. I had direct contacts at each company (Mark, Pheadra, and Brandon) who worked with me and my schedule. They wanted me gain the most from my internship therefore switched days around depending on certain events (Ex. Prime time Emmy Gov. Ball Press Preview). They all had my best interest at heart-which meant the world to me. Thank you all so much for everything you did!!!

Through work and events, I saw tons of sites and meet lots of people. My next post will talk about a few of them....

AOO party

On my last day at AOO Events they threw me a party celebrating the completion of my internship!!! It was SO sweet of them! While I was working, all of a sudden they surrounded my desk singing "Oh she's a jolly good fellow.." and had a strawberry cake! They also gave me the sweetest card, full of best wishes! It was so thoughtful of them. I truly got blessed with a terrific company to head up my shared-internship. They couldn't have been nicer and sweeter to me than they were. I really know that if I needed anything, I have these 10 "brothers" and Mrs. Carla at AOO that would help me out in a heartbeat! Thank you!!!

Here is a picture of Mark Sheldon and I. Mark is the VP of Operations at AOO and was the "ring-leader" in getting my internship planned! He is such a great person! Thank you for everything Mark!
Pictured here is Dave Merrell, President and Founder of AOO events with me. Dave is a tremendous leader in the event industry and I enjoyed getting to know him better while we were in Pittsburgh, PA (more to come on that later). He is a busy guy with designing events and attending speaking engagements across the country, so I was thrilled he was in the office on my last "intern" day! Always a pleasure working with you Dave!

This next picture makes me laugh : ) Tom and I were showing our "surprise" faces!!! Tom taught me a lot about Marketing in the event industry!!!

Here is a few of the members of the AOO team!!! Absolutely love them!!!

And I owe all of these pictures to this guy...Jahon : ) I of course didn't know we were about to have a party, and my camera was in my purse. Luckily Jahon had the camera ready! I really love the fact that Zaid and Rubin are in the background of this one!! You 3 are the BEST : )

Where's Nick? He didn't make any pictures but he is another favorite at AOO! (Hi Lover.. if you're reading this)

As you can tell, I worked with a fun group at AOO! To learn more about them, check out there website at: http://www.aooevents.com/ or Follow their blog at: http://www.designdawgs.net/ They really are one of the top leaders in this industry and do a fabulous job!

Record Release Party

While in LA, I have met several people who have been in the industry for quite sometime. One of those people is Justin Howard with Flaming Flowers. He is the premier florist that works with AOO events. On Tuesday September 29, I worked the guest check in for one of his events, Selena Gomez's record release.

I was honored that Justin asked if I would like to work this event. It was a unique one to observe production and logistics with a young-Hollywood A-list crowd. Each event is different, especially in Los Angeles. This record release was a definite success and so much fun to work : )

I even got these for free...
Lol... Oh and by the end of the night me and the security guard= Best friends! I know who to call if I need protection : )

Malibu

As you all can tell if you've been following my blog, I am a true "beach" girl : ) I really do LOVE it any chance I get to go lay out and just relax. Sunday the 27th was a great day to just do that! I was ready to regroup and get ready for the next few weeks (stay tuned, they are super packed!)

To start the day, I slept in then hit my favorite bagel place in LA: After I got my bagel, frozen lemonade, and chicken salad sandwich(dinner at the beach lol) I was ready to head north up the Pacific Coast Highway. Once I got to Malibu, I stopped on one of the side streets for these next two pics:

Then made it to my favorite spot: after I set-up my area, I went for a little walk.

Guess who I saw.... Adam Sandler......

After my walk, I simply was LAZY! Just read my magazines, books, and ate some snacks. It was a Perfect day in my book. I love this picture I got on my phone. It almost looks dark outside but let me assure you it was bright and sunny when this picture was taken!

Night on the Town...

Saturday night after the site visits, I met up with Megan and Viki! Megan is a friend from AR (we actually went to Italy together a few years ago for a UA class) and Viki is one of Megan's good friends who lives in San Fransico. She also went to AR and we became instant friends this weekend! After dinner in Venice we headed to LA to meet up with some more Arkansans who just happen to live here too.

I have discovered how small the world actually is while being out here and LOVE hanging out with my Arkansas friends! Below is a picture we got at the end of the night! Don't worry, we didn't ride too far like this : )

Such a fun night out on the town! A great dinner at Wabi Sabi followed by Happy Days!

How to Fail.

This post is one that is not related to my internship but one I felt important to write. My lovely grandmother, Meemaw, sent me a card and a newspaper clipping the other day. The newspaper article was one that I felt everyone should read. It simply stated: How to Fail.

"You will fail if you are inconsiderate of others. So many people think the world was created just for them, and they disregard the feelings of others. We must share the space on this planet with each other.

You will fail if you think anybody owes you anything because of your education. The only ones who are owed anything are those whose victories and defeats paved the way for all the opportunities available to you now. Among those might be your grandparents and great grandparents now living in nursing homes.

You will fail if you start your business life looking for a job that suits you. You must suit the job. Applying for any kind of work in a T-shirt and jeans will further enhance your chance for failure.

You will fail if you climb a corporate ladder by stepping on people. As the saying goes, “You will meet the same people when you are on your way down.”You will fail if you are intolerant of individuals with strange-sounding names and different-couloured skin. Remember, you are just as different to them.

You will fail if you do not try to right a wrong whenever possible. You will fail if you see abuse and do not speak out against it. You will fail if you see corruption and do not fight it. You will fail if you suffer bad politicians and yet do not vote.

You will experience the biggest failure of all if you believe the romantic notion that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”. Anyone who has lived long enough to retire will tell you that love means just the opposite. Love means being able to say you are sorry and mean it."

This article was written by James Jackowski. You can read the entire article at http://www.vivaconsulting.com/counselling/howtofail.html

This article is SO true and has many life lessons attached. Hope you enjoyed this post...more about the last days of my internship are coming your way!!

Last weekend of my internship

On the last weekend of my internship, I was with Images By Lighting. Saturday September 26, I met Ray in Pasadena to assist on-site at the Langham Hotel. Then met Curt in LA for the remainder of the day. We were mainly at the London Hotel lighting a Bar Mitzfah. However we made "pit-stops" at 2 other sites all which were fabulous weddings.
Here is the rooftop at the London Hotel in Hollywood...The view was amazing.... The glass shield didn't really work well with my camera (sorry). This is a view towards Beverly Hills...then below is a view of central Los Angeles. A little FYI: The Blue and Green buildings is the PDC (Pacific Design Center) where the HBO Party(see past posts) was held!!!

It definitely was a fun weekend to see several sites in LA!

One CA favorite:

It's true....Best thing EVER :) I have a new "healthy" favorite snack in California that I thought I would share with you.... Pinkberry! It really is wonderful : ) You should definitely try it if you are ever near one!

Hope Everyone has a wonderful week!!!

HBO

Saturday night, we finished up around 1am on the light check. Then I found out that Curt was able to get me a ticket for the HBO Emmy Post Party since I was on site for set-up!!!! I was SUPER excited. So as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I headed to the party as the Governor's Ball was wrapping up. Here is a picture of the party....As I arrived through the "regular" guest entrance, I was able to get my hair and make-up touched up in this hallway : ) I was really excited to go to this event as a guest, because two of my Images By Lighting co-workers, Marney and Pheadra (see pic below) were attending as well. As soon as I got there, we all met up at the make-up area to get "touched" up by Laura Mercier's staff. Then, they informed me about the "vampire's kiss" drink...you can probably guess where we headed from the make-up counter : )

Love these two!!!!

Once we got our drinks, I tested out the food, then we met up with Curt and hit the dance floor!!! We enjoyed a great night of "working".....excuse me... PLAYING!!!
Curt and I at the HBO party!!! Thank you AGAIN, I had an absolute blast!!!

Sunday Recap: This day definitely topped one of the most exciting days of my life!!! It was so funny on my way home from this party I was thinking "who in a million years thought I would attend events with all of the winners of the Emmy's, and some of my favorite actresses and actors...Not I!" I was so honored to be able to attend and work (yes I did work most of the day) with Images By Lighting. The lighting was fantastic at both parties! Check out there website http://www.imagesbylighting.com to learn more about them! They work at events all across the country! LOVE THEM!!!

HBO Set-up

Turns out the Emmy weekend was a big one for Images By Lighting. Not only did I get to attend and work the Governor's Ball, I was able to go on-site and assist in the set-up for the HBO Post Emmy Party. It was held outdoors in Hollywood. The theme: RED! Those of you who know me well, know that is one of my FAVORITE colors : ) well...there was PLENTY of red to see!!! Here are a few pics during set-up....If you look closely you can see the lights attached to the palm trees...don't they blend in well! Aww before the chandelier was raised : )
The "red" lights that were painted just for this event!!!! Of course to blend in with the red tent and all....Behind the scenes...The middle "stage area's" main platform lowered and raised each time the band switched...

Light check time...Saturday night the band had a run-through and we did a massive light check of the area.

A look from the top of the PDC, where the event was held.
Set-up continues under the tent...

Lights go down on the red carpet VIP entrance.

Sunday September 20: Primetime Emmy's

Sunday was such a fun and exciting day for me as an intern. Throughout my internship I had the privilege to tag along with Images By Lighting owner and creative lighting designer, Ray Thompson to meetings with Sequoia productions regarding the Primetime Emmy's Governors Ball. I was thrilled that I would get to work at the largest sit down dinner in the nation, plus get to see some important people!! Never did I imagine coming from Arkansas to LA that I would get the opportunity to work at two events of this caliber. I truly am blessed to work with the companies I am with! As I was getting ready to go on set this day, I realized what I actually was attending. An awards show that I always watch, I am attending the dinner and a post party immediately following the airing. WOW. How did this happen?

Now back to the night...
After set-up was complete, all of the lighting crew changed and got ready for the event to start. Here is Ray and I in front of the main stage. A closer look at the stage, with some amazing lighting if I do say so myself : ) View of the stage from the tech. booth!

The Grey Goose Ice Bar....LOVED THIS!!!
Beside the Grey Goose Bars, were lounge furniture groupings. Check out this Gold grouping....

A few pictures of the tables and the actual arrangements....

A picture of me at the actual event!

It really was so much fun seeing this event come to life. I stayed at the Governors Ball until about 10pm then headed to another event by Images By Lighting. Check in tomorrow to hear all about the HBO Post Emmy Party!!! Once again, I might just go into depression once my internship is over. lol

First Dodger Game!

September 15 was such a fun day! Work at AOO followed by Ellen and listening to the Dave Mathews Band live, then straight to watch the Dodgers Play the Pirates!!! I love the view of Los Angeles from the stadium, it is amazing!I went with my friend Brett and some other Boeing employees. Being from AR it was both of our first trips to see the Dodgers Play...And they WON in the 13th inning by a 2 run home run!!! Of course I had to wait it out to see if who won in extra innings : ) My Dad's love of sports rubbed off on me!

Scoreboard and Celebration after the game!!!

Such a fun "First" Dodger game to go to! I'm sure I will make it to some more : ) Ohh and YES I did have a "Dodger Dog!"