Shameless.

...is the life of an intern as she changes from high heels to flats in the middle of Duane Reed pharmacy. And in the middle of the street. And in the lobby at work. I told Steve, the doorman who greets me in the building where Alison Brod is, not to judge me, as I shoved my sore arches into shiny gold stilettos. He said if he did, I'd pass with flying colors. He's a pal.

So the whirlwind of my first week is over...exhausting and exciting. This lifestyle is going to look great on me. Alison Brod is a daily fashion runway, a blur of sequins, 6 inch pumps, blonde hair extensions, and women who could all make a living in modeling. I showed up my first day in formal business attire. My mentor who I will be working with the most, showed up in a leather mini skirt. Wardrobe update pronto.

My first day I packed up boxes for TIGI to ship back. While that's not super glam, getting to take home whatever I wanted out of those boxes is. Hello hundreds of dollars of hair products and makeup. Awesome.

This past week my biggest project was working on media lists, as ABPR is trying to take on a L’Oreal Hispanic hair care line. I talked to different magazine and newspaper editors on the phone, updating contact info... some in Spanish. Thank you Madrid. Granted, I began talking to one editor in Spanish and he immediately handed the phone to his English-speaking supervisor. (Need to work on my accento?)Thank you dropping my Spanish minor immediately after studying in Spain.

Each Christmas break, I watch the entire season of Gossip Girl. Fab show, I'm fanatical, and living on the Upper East Side someday would be a dream. So when Kelly Rutherford, the mother (plays Lily) of the show's main star, Blake Lively (plays Serena Van der Woodson), walked into ABPR the second day of my internship, I was beside myself with joy. Really just pure joy. Did I make the intern rookie mistake of asking for her autograph? No (regret??). But I did move my computer into ABPR’s main showroom, which is lined with clothes, jewelry, shoes, jars of pink candy, and couches with colorful pillows, so I could discreetly glance up at the actress with what probably was an expression of “star-struck.” Rutherford most likely came into the office for samples of various products of our clients that we carry on-hand. ABPR can pay celebs to wear our clients’ shoes, jewelry, dresses etc. to land good publicity.

One of this work week’s highlights for me was a brain storming session on wigs.  ABPR is taking on three new lines of hair pieces, extensions, and wigs and some gals piled onto couches to discuss what could be done to market wigs to make them more daily-wearable for the typical woman. The goal is to climb over the thought of “I’m wearing a wig, this is weird” obstacle and turn hair pieces into a daily accessory. They also discussed planning a getaway weekend in Mexico that would take a week after to become sober again. I’m pretty excited to start making new friends.

…including a magazine editor on the subway. She lives in my building, and we walked to the subway together after her 15 month old blue-eyed son was “flirting” with me in the elevator. She gave me her card, and offered me a potential babysitting job. I’m already broke, so this could be a GREAT thing…and a fantastic contact. She has worked at a wine tasting magazine and is currently a senior editor at Parents Magazine.

I work with seven or eight other interns and am enjoying getting to know them via lunch dates. This one gal is from Barnard College and interned with Opah’s magazine last semester. While she never was able to sit and chat with the woman, she said Oprah smells wonderful? Other gals are from Florida State University, Iona College, South Carolina…….

Fridays I have off from my Mon-Thurs internship. Jordan, a gal in our group, is interning at 30 Rock for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and so we went with her to watch Jimmy’s monologue before he begins filming for the actual show. Fallon tests out jokes and decides what to use based on crowd reaction. I was laughing so hard the whole time, especially during a Newt Gingrich/Susan Boyle comparison. The studio he films in is the same studio Johnny Carson and Jack Paar had their Tonight shows in back in the day. The Roots were there as well and had their own comedic contributions as they played soft music while Fallon read thank you notes. “Thank you people that wear flip-flops with socks. You demonstrate that you don’t know how to use either of those things.”

MANAMANA!!

Saturday we had a class trip to the Museum of Motion Pictures where we sat in on a talk with movie director, David Cronenberg, and afterwards watched his film, The History of Violence. Cronenberg is mostly known as being one of the originators of the venereal horror genre. That was blatantly apparent after his movie about a mobster killer creating a separate identity after wanting an out from his previous life of violence. Also in the museum are the original muppets and an exhibit of their genius creator, Jim Henson. Pretty cool to see Miss Piggy in the flesh (cloth?). In class (Topics of Contemporary Cinema) this week we analyzed a muppet clip with Manamana. Theme song of the trip--people shout "Manamana" at random times and everyone chimes, "do, dooo, da, do do."

The Baylor group I'm here with is AWESOME. "I love us" is an overly used phrase, and the past week has been filled with bonding. We're in this together. These people are my future contacts, and I think great relationships will come out of this program of 17. Saturday night we went out to a Greek restaurant, Uncle George's, for a family dinner. A man that my roommate Audrey and I had met on the subway the day before told us about it, and ironically and hilariously we ran into him and his girlfriend there. Small world New York.

Chinatown

Nightlife is fantastic. Friday included flaming bottle toppers, drummers onstage, a trail of Cheetos and many Persians. Saturday men were dancing on a bar countertop in wigs and robot helmets resembling LMFAO's "I'm sexy and I know it" music video. A gal at work said her first months out of college in the meatpacking district took years off of her life. I don't want to get old anyways (OH! Kidding mom).
Today was kind of lazy day. Audrey and I ventured into Chinatown and Little Italy, and even though my aunt Kim will disown me for buying a Gucci purse from canal street, it's pretty!

First week down!!