Something Big for my Kids and Celebrate the Small Things Early

So, I've hinted around a bit, and maybe had too many proud mama moments on facebook, but I'm finally ready to reveal a bit more here on my blog.

My daughters are going to New York City for a five day International Modeling and Talent Association competition/conference!

They auditioned and were accepted a few months ago, and since then we've been calling Seattle Talent our second home, where our daughters are taking acting and modeling classes (again, something they had to audition and interview for back in February and March).

In addition to classes that are sometimes three days a week (specifically for the competition), we've had to shop.

Now, I know what you are most of you are thinking: yay shopping, right?

Ew. I only like bookstores for shopping. My daughters know this well.

However, we did manage to have a bit of fun, and with some professional help (one of the former models who works for Seattle Talent), we did find some "high fashion" outfits for a fairly inexpensive price.

My girls also had their hair cut, styled (and in one case, highlighted) by a hair artist . . . and watching him work on my kids' hair was definitely like watching a highly trained artist/sculptor at work.

This is a foreign world to me. I'm more of a jeans, t-shirts, and cheap hair cut kind of woman. Of course, I own a number of hats (note: cheap hair cuts sometimes look bad). I wear sneakers for every day wear. I don't wear makeup, and seem to be mildly allergic to most make up and hair care products (burned scalp and major rashes, anyone?).

So . . . when my kids begged me to take them to a modeling and acting place, I wasn't super enthusiastic. It took two years for me to think about the idea, and a lot of research done my oldest daughter, to get me to bring them to their audition.

But now, several months, and several memorized monologues, scripts, and commercials later, plus learning the "model walk," and I find I'm super excited for both of them.

Oh, my kids also got me to buy a fancy(ish) dress for me for the banquet, and a few outfits that don't include jeans, so I'm ready to cheer them on from the audience.
(And I survived the shopping experience, except for some tears at an overly fancy dress shop one day - those places should be outlawed and replaced by book stores).

New York City, here we come! Countdown: 3 days.

We decided to turn our trip to New York into a big family vacation, and extend our time there. So, I won't be here for a few weeks. I might visit your blogs, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that, so I won't be posting. And prior to our departure, I'm going to be scrambling with last minute preparations.

Celebrate the Small Things (a little early):

1. Suitcases, and small toothpaste tubes. :)

2. I took my books on a mini road trip on Tuesday to deliver it to a store in the tiny town of Port Gamble where my mom-in-law grew up, and to two bookstores in Sequim, a smallish town. (pronounced "squim" - just ignored the "e" in that name and you'll fit in on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington). According to the book shop owners, they expect that they'll need to re-order from me within a month - that would be awesome, but I'm not counting on it.

3. My youngest celebrated her 12th birthday early with a wonderful group of friends at the park, and they all liked my allergy free chocolate cake, and even the melting "slushicles" that we had. Plus, they played lots of games and wore themselves out.

4. The trip we've been looking forward to for months is just around the corner.

So, what are you celebrating? And have you ever let your kids participate in something that's way outside your background and comfort zone, and then found out that it's not so bad?