Miss Dress Mess

I completely agree with the following cartoon...

If you haven't guessed yet, I am having a hard time finding a dress. Actually, it's not that I am having a hard time 'finding' one, I am just struggling to choose. I am buying my dress online, (Instert audience 'gasp' here). Don't worry about me. I have got it alllll under control. Right?

I have tried on a total of 25 dresses (approximately). This was suppose to help me decide on the style that will look best with my body type. It has. But there is still room for error.

New Goal: Leave the smallest margin for error possible in finding and purchasing a dress.

Miss No-Longer-Miss-For-Long...

Yep, it finally happened. I'm getting married to my best friend, Nephi Daniel Guymon, on April 14th 2011. We started dating in June and got engaged on December 26th, 2010.

I will be blogging our wedding planning process because lets face it, this is going to be the event of the year! Stay tuned and feel free to share any ideas that you have for us!

Our dating time-line from the beginning...

Miss Designer

I designed my new blog title in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator! (Yes, it is suppose to be THAT big.)

Wish List: The Adobe Suite.

Miss Catch-Up

New Year Resolution: Blog Weekly.

I have complied a list of things I have learn from being the Student Director for CenterStage...

• How to be professional in emails.
• How to make decisions, quickly.
• How to work with a team.
• How to be a leader that everyone wants to follow.
• How to inspire others.
• How to share the spirit of BYU-Idaho with ccomplete strangers.
• How to accomplish important tasks in a timely matter.
• How to set, make and complete deadlines.
• How to build in a budget using my 'best judgment.'
• How to be a people pleaser but NOT a pushover.
• How to network and market myself in a professional manner.
  
• How to be brief and punctual.

My experiences were PRICELESS, to say the least. I s t r e t c h e d constantly and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Here was the Fall 2010 line up...

Jon Schmidt: Accompanied by special guest Steven Sharp Nelson

ABBA Mania: A tribute to ABBA

Quartetto Gelato (Award winning accordionist.)
Masters of the Fiddle: Featuring Natalie MacMaster

Eric Bibb

Saxophobia: Featuring Rob Verde

Collin Raye: Accompanied by the Teton Chamber Orchestra

More pictures from the events!

Miss Dancing Queen

Performer: ABBA Mania
Venue: Hart Auditorium
Date: September 17, 2010

Q: How do I do this on my own?!
A: I don't. We took 8 volunteer students to assist me in event management, attend weekly meetings, form a marketing campaign, read a book and look for performers for next semester and receive school credit for it. (I will blog about that later.) So I had them all to help at the event but I needed an assistant that night so I had a friend come and help and I do not know how I would have done it without her!

Q: How do I feed 25 people!?
A: Bajio's! Bajio's is a local Mexican restaurant that has SUPER good food. I ordered their salad buffet and it was a hit! It went a looooong way and the performers loved it. At my events I feed the performers, my helpers and the tech crew and so making everyone happy is a little daunting. I struck up a pretty good deal and was able to feed them all for under $9/person! And they even delievered. For a "tip" I gave the cater tickets to the show. That made him really happy :) For dessert I got a big bag of Swedish Fish and put it in cups on the table. It was PERFECT because the original ABBA band is from Sweden.

Q: How do I dry a pair of leggings?!
A: With a "dryer". About 30 min before the show one of the performers ask me if we could dry a pair of her leggings..."Uhhh...I can do that." I was too busy handing out assignments to my board and putting together my intro script so I figured that we were in the Hart building (where the gym is) and told my assistant to go to the locker room and ask to use the dryer. She came back with them dry! *whew* I asked her how she got them dry and she said that they wouldn't let her use the dryer and so she went into the bathroom and used the hand-dryer! Genius. She was so helpful!




Towards the end of the show I escaped to go to the bathroom and catch some fresh air to get rid of my headache and as I headed back in I heard my name being called over the speakers. They were getting ready to play their last song and they wanted me to come up on stage to thank me!
So-this little girl name Mallory thinks they are talking about her and she goes up on the stage and so they ended up inviting all the little girls and then me and my assistant went up there and we sang and danced to "Dancing Queen". It was so fun! (See the video on my youtube channel.)

This was so a great concert! The tribute band were wonderful to work with and very appreciative of all I did. They even called me a few days after to say that they had made it safely and that they were very thankful for all I did. How gratifying?? It was worth every second.

Principle #1: Ask for HELP! Having others help you and delegating is a great way to BE a leader.
Principle #2: Leave everything you do better than you found it. I want to set new standards of hospitality and management for the CenterStage program and leave it better than I found it.

Miss Bob the Builder

My blog is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Yep. Don't judge its current state because I have just been pressing buttons for the past hour.

I want to make it super personalized but very professional and applicable to it's purpose, which is to display the events that I have planned and projects I am currently working on. I need help. Please leave comments with any instructions, ideas, websites, or criticisms (if they are nice).

I am also willing to let someone go in and work on it if they please...

Let me know. I am a desperate woman and I have goals to meet with this thing!

Thanks.

Miss Novice

Performers: Jon Schmidt with cellist Steven Sharp Nelson
Venue: BYU-Idaho; Kirkham Auditorium
Date: September 10th-11th

I couldn't have asked for a better first event to host. Working with Jon and Steven was a blast! They were so funny and easy to please and the performance was awesome. Both shows were sold out!

I started prep at 2 pm after my classes and I went until 1 am that night...It was crazy.

Hospitality Requirements:

• Dinner (2 nights)
  
• Meet & Greet
• Merchandise Sales
• Hotel (2 nights)
• Transportation

Solutions:

• Friday Dinner: We fed the performers and tech crew New Fongs (local Chinese Restaurant). I got a variety of meats and rices and was able to negotiate down to $100 for 13 people! For dessert we got pumpkin and raspberry lemon bread from Great Harvest. Kind of random but everyone loved the combination and I will be made fun of for life because of it I am sure. I filled up a cooler with soda and water. Saturday Dinner: Rumor has it that Jon loves Wingers sticky finger salad. I thought it would be a simple solution for dinner. I ordered 2 hours before pick up and asked if it was possible to get a salad and 2 platters of wraps. They said it would be fine and I said I would be there at 6 because I had to be somewhere by 6:15....by 6:45 I had the food and I was STEAMING! I will NEVER use them for catering ever again. AND, they didn't even apologize. Sorry to bash Wingers in Rexburg, but you are kind of lame.

(Ps-I have NOT been given a budget. I asked and he said, 'use your best judgment...' Good thing I know how to get more for less! People love when you go to them for catering. They will do anything for you! You bring in the biggest chunk of money they will see all day. Negotiate... )

• For meet & greet and merchandise sales we set up the room next to the venue with tables in a 3 sided square. People entered through one end of the room and followed the tables to pass by the merchandise and then see Jon and Steven. I had volunteers help me with sales and the ticket office with the event coordinators (my previous job) help me with crowd control. The concert ended around 9:30 and we were there till almost 12 on Friday...it was crazy! These fans LOVE Jon and Steven.
  
• We booked them a hotel at the Marriot Springhill Suites for Friday and Saturday. Jon was staying in Pocatello because he had to get to his sons football game in the morning so he wanted to get a head start. I offered to take them out to eat (on CenterStage of course) and we went to Applebee's with a few people and Steven and the tech guy, Garrin. Too bad I got terribly sick or else I could have enjoyed it better :( That is a whole other story which I don't consider 'blog worh
  
• As for transportation, I ended up having to do a little hosting on Saturday. I felt better waking up in the morning and we went to a movie and to lunch in Idaho Falls and had a blast! Then I got them back so they could get ready, took them to sound checks and then I ran around Rexburg and got ready in and hour and 1/2 time. Whew. That was a miracle.

I worked 10 hours each day and slept really good on Sunday....so worth it! The shows were FABULOUS and they loved their crowd. I wonder how we could control or increase the chances of another crowd like that? ...

PUBLICITY+AMAZING PERFORMERS=ENERGY!
Principle #1: Observe. The guy who had my job last semester came to the show on Saturday to help me out and I told him that I just needed him once and then I would be good to go. I WAS! I observed everything he did and asked a lot of questions. On Saturday night I felt completely confident. This job is interesting because I am not really being regulated much. I decided many things and I am able to make decisions and do much of the actually event management. It is such a dream!

Principle #2: Make it your own! So I decided to add my little touch on my events and get them cupcakes from The Coca Bean here in Rexburg with a little thank you note attached. Jon and Steven were very grateful and I had quite the experience.