As you might know, I had a chance to go to NYC for the Spring/Summer 2010 Fashion Week shows. It was an tremendous opportunity, and I learned so many things as a newbie, that I thought I would share some of my knowledge with you:

• Always be nice to the people with the clipboards backstage - you never know what opportunities await you just by being polite, ie., getting to see the hairstyling, when you are only booked to see the makeup side of things.
• Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING backstage is for you - this includes any and all food products, hairstylists/makeup artists or photo crews. They are here to assist the designer, record the action of the designer's backstage just like you or to keep the model/stylists energy up, etc.
• Stylists (hair or makeup) are not there to solve your pesonal problems, ie. do NOT ask them about your blisters, etc. - they do NOT want to hear about it, let alone do anything about it, (*No, *I* did not ask about this. Eww, gross.) nor is this the time for your own personal blowout/makeup fix.
• If you give the appearance that you know exactly what you are doing, and where you are going, you can sometimes get where you shouldn't be without any questions, ie., going thru the Christian Siriano show front of house to get to the backstage area. Oops.
• If you have an iPhone, you must carry your charging cord, with wall socket adapter, with you at all times.
• Which means, you must always be on the eagle eye for an empty outlet within reasonable reach, ie, do not be too proud to crawl on the floor of the L'Oreal corp dining room to get to an outlet - it's a nescessary evil.
• Be careful when you turn corners on sets, as you never know when you will see the designer changing clothes or the models boobs. It happens.
• If you are invited to something, just know that you deserve to be there just as much as everyone else at the event, no matter how in awe you are of the other attendees. You were invited, so OWN IT!!
• You do NOT, I'm going to repeat this, too, YOU DO NOT! have to wear heels to NYFW. I mean, you can, but it is not like a requirement. They don't blatantly check your shoes when you pick up your credentials.
• Always keep your business cards handy, as you never know when you will need to hand one out , ie., on the plane out there or in the bathroom of the lounge you are visiting.
• You WILL be surprised at how many people actually "know" you - via Twitter, Facebook, etc. You will get warm fuzzies from this.
• You will realize at the end of the day, even after all the complaining about how there are too many shows that you can't make it too, how much walking you have to do or how crowded everywhere is, that you are one of the blessed few people in this world that gets to have this opportunity and it's just effin' AMAZING!

I truly did have the most amazing time that I won't easily forget. I need to say a huge thank you to some of the most amazing people who extended themselves so graciously, so that I could do some of the things I was able to do that week:

Sarah fom StyleIT Online
Dina from eye4style
Nancy from Beauty411
Diane from Beauty Alchemist
Meredith from Daily Dose of Coffee
I hope you ladies know just how much I appreciate what you did for me, sincerely.

I would also like to thank all of the lovely PR reps that I interacted with over that week. It was so great to put faces to names and to meet so many new people, too.

In addition, I would like to thank all of my great twitter followers who read me babbling on about what I was doing and cheering me on from all points. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed playing it all out.

Okay - I am *so* over this mushy stuff.  ;)