Behind the Scenes: Woman's Day February 2013 in the making

Happy Wednesday Everyone, i still can't believe it, my little man and i are in the Woman's Day Magazine, for the February Issue!

 

 

The whole thing seemed so surreal, and i am still in shock that i was featured next to my girl Paula Deen, well...maybe not next to her per se, but we are both in the same issue :) As i promised on Monday, i am going to share the behind the scenes experience, it was amazing, i don't even know where to start.

Whenever i started working on my armoire, i never, not once in a million years did i think or expect my project to appear and be featured in a woman's magazine. Yes, i blog and every home/garden  bloggers dream is to be recognized and go big in a magazine or a Nate Berkus show, right? Yes, well that has been my private fantasy for the past year, to appear in a super amazing magazine, or to be contacted by Nate, hey we would like to invite you to the show, you have amazing talent and you are designer worthy. Well, like that would ever happen right? Well, it did! Nate didn't contact me though, but guess who did? Ayn-Monique! She is the home editor of the Woman's Day Magazine, oh my gosh!!! One Thursday morning last October i was checking my email on my iphone, and i see this strange looking email with the title, magazine feature. i quickly opened it, read,


Hello:


I came across your blog and love your desk armoire project! I don't know if you've seen it, but our "Organize It" column in Woman's Day features "real" women with spaces they've done over themselves (you can find a few examples on our website here:http://www.womansday.com/home/organizing/).


I would love to consider your space for our magazine's February issue. If you're interested, then next step would be to set up an interview and photo shoot so we could turn it into a story. The only thing I have to make sure of is that your space has not been featured in a competitor magazine and that you're not affiliated with another publication.


Let me know if you are interested. Looking forward to hearing from you, and I hope so!


Best,

Ayn-Monique


What does this mean?!? so many questions poped into my head, is this for real?It has to be a scam! But there was a phone number, an email address and a NY address at the end of the email. Oh my gosh!!! I quickly called, and sure enough, it was no scam! Ayn-Monique answered the phone, we spoke for about 5 mins. She wanted to feature me on the magazine!!! I couldn't believe it, my heart was pounding so heavily, after i hung up the phone with her i quickly called my hubs to tell him the news, i was going nuts!!

2 weeks later Edmund Barr showed up at my door (he photographs a lot of the homes for BHG Magazine) I felt so honored!! Wow, an amazing photographer, and his assistant Samantha Mitchell, than comes the Makeup Artist Kathy Varga. Gee, I felt so special! They were there pretty much the whole day, a week before Halloween, and Nolan and I were being photographed for a magazine feature. It truly was surreal, my tiny living room was turned into a photo studio, we had to move my armoire because he needed enough space to shoot the armoire with the correct lighting. I made new friends, got a little taste of what goes on behind the scenes magazine features, and how much fun they are.

 

Nolan was having a blast with everyone!

 

 

Sam was soo nice, and she lives here in Utah now.

 

 

The whole experience was wonderful, it was so laid back, so relaxing, so fun, it was all about me! I was super nervous, I'm not going to lie, did I look good enough? Is my house clean enough? Are the decorations in the perfect spot? What if there isn't enough refreshments? Will they feel cramped in my tiny little basement apartment? Are they hot? cold?

Kathy was kind enough to makesure I looked good for the shoot!

Edmund is super talented, and his equipment was top notch!

Talk about a real photographer!

 

The people i got to meet were awesome!! they were all so nice, and so cool, i wish they had stayed forever! haha i am super grateful for this experience, i seriously never thought in a million years, that my dream of being in a magazine would ever come true, right away!! i mean, i'm only 24 and only been blogging for 10 months, how much better can it get?

 

 

i want to give a special thanks to Edmund Barr for his amazing photography talent, Samantha Mitchell for being a super cool still producer and new friend. Kathy Varga for doing my hair and makeup, and ironing my clothes hehe she was beautiful! Roni Martin, she is an incredible photo editor and producer, thank you for being on top of things and making sure everything turned out perfect! Sara Williams, great Creative Director, thank you for making sure all of our information got put on there correctly, and a special Thank you to Ayn-Monique, Home Editor for Woman's Day Magazine, if it wasn't for you, my biggest dream would have not come true last year and this year. Thank you for reaching out to me.

 

Well folks, there you have it, the experience of a lifetime, these amazing people made my day and my year. I also want to thank my awesome readers, thank you for following me, i hope to keep growing, and hope you grow with me. And for my soon to be readers, i welcome you, in the hopes you stay and participate, i love meeting new people. So lets be friends.

Stay tuned an awesome project reveal this weekend, plus a 1st time giveaway!

 

xoxo