Just Shoot Me

When the afternoon begins with a professional hair and makeup artist and a photographer at the front door, you know it’s going to be a fun day.

It all began yesterday at noon when über talented hair and makeup artist Mandy McKenna showed up with her 100 pound magic kit.

You would not even believe the amount of makeup required to cover the wear and tear two toddlers and a husband can have on a 31-year-old woman.

And I should probably give some credit to Diet Coke, French fries and hormones for the amount of concealer the lovely Ms. McKenna had to use on my forehead.

Just keeping it real, y’all.

I found Mandy through the most trusted source I know in Kansas City:  Google. And while my expectations were pretty high—I have friends and family members who are FANTASTIC hairstylists and makeup artists—Mandy far exceeded my expectations with her talent and professionalism.

She’s so good Barry Manilow should write a song about her.

(You’re going to hate me when you’re still singing it three hours from now.)

After Mandy worked her magic, Kansas City commercial photographer Gary Rohman arrived around 1:30 p.m. to snap some photos of me for the blog as well as some general head shots.

Once again, Google did not let me down. I searched online through dozens of Kansas City photographers’ sites until I found a true professional whose style and skill was evident in every single image.

Even I can get lucky sometimes with my Nikon DSLR camera. But it takes a true artist to see foreground, background, lighting, focus, placement, expression, emotion, and general “feel” in a split second. It is evident from the photos on his website that he doesn’t just get lucky or spend hours in Photoshop correcting what he failed to see during the shoot.

This guy is the real deal.

I could not have been more pleased with the work both Gary and Mandy did yesterday, and I can’t wait to show you the final results. But I’ll have to leave you in suspense until I can choose which photos I’d like for Gary to edit. I’m not exactly a purist when it comes to photo editing. I say, if you know how to use Photoshop, then be my guest.

Cellulite and stretch marks begone!

Also, Gary will need time to filter out all the faces that put off a more “constipated” vibe than a “natural” one. It is alarming how unnatural I can look when someone asks me to look natural. Can’t be done. It’s like when someone says, “just don’t think about giraffes.” See? You can’t do it either.

Y’all, Tyra Banks is so right. This whole modelling thing is way harder than it looks. We don’t give models enough credit.

I know, I’m laughing too.

Since I paid to have Mandy fix me up like a celebrity, Brian and I decided we should make it a full day and go on a date after the shoot. Gary recommended a restaurant in Kansas City called Bluestem, and OH. MY. GOODNESS was it delicious. What you see here are garlic potato fries with shaved Parmesan cheese and five scrumptious dipping sauces.

I was *this* close to calling Mandy this morning to bring over some concealer.