It may not have actually been May 1st, but despite the delay the May Day celebration at Massie Heritage Center was a huge success. Just as they have since the 1850′s, school children from across Savannah came together to dance around the May pole. It was insanely cute. Fletcher’s class danced the Virginia Reel (which I remember learning when I was probably in 2nd grade myself) and the Polka. A lot of the boys looked really miserable, but I think Fletcher may have actually enjoyed dancing!
Posted in school
I will never, ever get tired of this – of the pre-performance excitement, the trying on of new costumes, the application of lip gloss and blush, the posing for pictures, the ‘secret’ buying of flowers for the star of the show. I will never get tired of recital day.
Posted in ballet
Lola Gray looks slightly terrified in the 2nd photo here . . .
Posted in uncategorized
Lola’s modeling adventure concluded last night with the simply amazing SCAD Fashion Show. Thirty graduating fashion designers, including Lola’s designer Kayley Norgan, were selected to show their works in two shows on Saturday. The process is long and difficult, and the results are shockingly professional. This is not your average student fashion show!
On Thursday Lola went for her first practice session on the runway with none other than Miss J of America’s Next Top Model fame, who flies in from Paris each year to help coach the SCAD models! Of course, Lola has no idea who Miss J is, but she had fun strutting her stuff with the other girls.
The mothers were told absolutely no cameras or videotaping of the rehearsal, which of course killed me. Miss J took the girls back stage, five minutes later the music started thumping and those little girls came tearing down the runway like they had been doing it all their lives! I have no idea what he said to them, but as each got to the end of the catwalk they struck a pose, hands on hips or arms sassily flung in the air and as I watched them I kept thinking that is just not Lola. Sure enough when it was Lo’s turn she kind of spazzed out on her pose and totally cracked me up. With each pass down the catwalk she just kept getting crazier and crazier, doing scissor kicks and arabesques or striking weird yoga-like poses. She was having sooooo much fun, but at the end she and I had a little talk about how it is really best to keep both feet on the ground for the actual show. I have to admit though, I’m really happy that her poses are a little awkward and silly – the sexy and serious thing can wait a while, thank you very much.
At the end of the practice, Miss J gathered all the little girls together for a photo – and I had left my camera at home because they said no photos!! I got a few cute pics with my phone though.
Saturday morning we showed up at 9 for a 3 hour dress rehearsal before shows at 4 and 8. It was a long and exhausting day. Raymond and I had tickets to the 4pm show and sitting in the back of the theater waiting for Lola’s collection to come out, I was suddenly overcome with nervousness for her. I’d seen her walk the runway many times in practice already, but sitting in Trustees Theater with a sold-out crowd of 1,200 people, cameras flashing on both sides of the runway and music blaring . . . the thought of my tiny girl stepping out into the middle of all that was totally overwhelming.
But she did it. And she did great.
We didn’t have tickets to the sold out 8pm show, but after a quick pizza dinner Raymond, Fletcher & I dropped Lola back at the theater and walked down the street for a drink at the Marshall House. The plan was to watch the show either on the live webcast on our iphones or on the giant projection out in front of the theater. Only that didn’t work. The webcast didn’t play, Fletcher took a terrible fall and banged up his face and knee pretty badly, I was practically in tears at not seeing Lo in the big show. But all’s well that ends well, and end well this did. Once the show was over the party started, the girls all came outside and the tape of the show was projected as the models wearing each designer’s signature piece worked the crowd and everyone snapped photos and danced.
When we got home we discovered the video of the entire 8pm show online and a photo of Lola Gray on the cover of the Savannah Morning News today!
I could not figure out how to embed the video, but in the mean time you can view it by following this link.
Posted in girls
Have you heard of Kickstarter? It is a fantastic crowd-source platform designed to promote and fund creative projects. And though I was incredibly nervous about doing so, today I launched a Kickstarter campaign for the UNSETTLEMENT project!
The deeper we get into this project the more I become aware of just how much financing it is going to take to do this the right way. I am so lucky to have the SCAD Fellowship for Professional Development and my amazing sponsor at Signatour Campers, but we are still coming up short. We are hoping to raise at least $2,000 on Kickstarter to help round out our funding. If you are able, please make a pledge. Every $5 is another gallon of gas and a few more miles down the road. And in exchange for your pledge of support, we are offering some wonderful rewards!
The thing about Kickstarter is that it is all or nothing. If we meet (or exceed!) our $2,000 goal then the project will be fully funded and you will receive your fun and fabulous rewards (see below.) However, if we do not meet our goal then your credit card will not be charged and the project will not receive any of the money pledged. YOU are an integral part of the success of this project, so please help spread the word. Tell your friends, your family, share the link on Facebook and Twitter. Every donation, big or small, gets us another mile down the road! This is one big party and the more the merrier!
So please, follow the link, view my campaign, and pledge your support if you can. Thank you!!
Pledge $5 or more: Every $5 is another gallon of gas and a few more miles down the road! In exchange for your donation you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you and a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page of unsettlement.com
Pledge $25 or more: For your donation of $25 or more you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you, a 5″ x 7″ photograph from the UNSETTLEMENT series, and a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page unsettlement.com.
Pledge $50 or more: For your donation of $50 or more you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you, a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page of unsettlement.com, and an 8″ x 10″ photograph from the UNSETTLEMENT series.
Pledge $75 or more: For your donation of $75 or more you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you, a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page of unsettlement.com, and a signed copy of the UNSETTLEMENT exhibition catalog.
Pledge $100 or more: For your donation of $100 or more you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you, a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page of unsettlement.com, an 8″ x10″ photograph and a signed copy of the UNSETTLEMENT exhibition catalog including personal acknowledgment of your sponsorship printed in the back of the book.
Pledge $200 or more: For your donation of $200 or more you will receive a postcard from the road as a personal thank you, a note of acknowledgement on the sponsors page of unsettlement.com, a signed copy of the UNSETTLEMENT exhibition catalog including personal acknowledgment of your sponsorship printed in the back of the book and an 11″ x 14″ photograph from the UNSETTLEMENT series.
Posted in uncategorized
We spent Mother’s Day weekend this year camping at Disney’s Fort Wilderness while I took my first shot at photos for the UNSETTLEMENT project. I’m totally in love with this campground. Not only was it super fun taking photos but there were plenty of fun things to keep us occupied all weekend even without venturing into the theme parks.
The pool had a great water slide that was just the right size to be a slightly thrilling without tipping over into scary, and we had to drag the kids away from it. When we weren’t swimming we were petting ponies at the barn, eating ice cream and watching boats on the lake, playing tether ball, riding scooters or watching movies at the nightly campfire show.
Mother’s Day morning brought sweet cards from my babies, a personalized coupon book from Fletcher which I can trade in for things like having him cook dinner (PB&J anyone?) or a free Pokemon card, and from Lola a band-aid box full of sand and shells so I can dig anytime I want to. She sang this sweet song to me when she gave me the box. Am I a lucky Mommy or what?
Lola Gray had a fashion photo shoot yesterday for the SCAD student she is working with, so of course I had to lurk behind the scenes with my iphone camera. I think Lola is enjoying being a model. The shoot took a long time, as they photographed each girl individually and then all 6 of them together. But in the end Lo walked away with the pink balloon she had been coveting all afternoon, so all was well.
We still don’t know if the collection will walk the runway for the big SCAD fashion show next week, but we are keeping our fingers crossed!
Posted in girls, photography
Savannah played host to 13 amazing tall ships this past weekend, and we were lucky enough that NayNay and Grandaddy were here to tour them with us! It was boiling hot down by the river, with very little shade and not a cloud in the sky, but when the breeze kicked up you could almost imagine sailing off in one of those incerdible vessels. Maybe next time.
Posted in uncategorized
Fletcher had his second AAYO concert with the Debut Strings Ensemble on Sunday, and he wasn’t nearly as nervous this time around. These kids just continue to impress me each and every time I hear them play!
Discover the wonder of nature the UNSETTLEMENT project Playborhood
