One Big Holiday

"It's a great day at Bella, Katelyn speaking." I have been interning with Bella the Makeover Studio in Dublin for the past 3 months (bellamakeover.ie)... If you know me at all (which I hope you do because you're wasting your time reading about my life) then you're asking "why did you of all people work at a makeover studio and what does that even mean?" Well as photography as one of my interests from my placement interview... this is where I ended up, so quick summary (since I have it memorized from working the phones):

"A typical session at Bella is 4 hours long. We ask you to please arrive about 15 minutes before your appointment with 3-4 outfit changes, clean, dry hair and no nail varnish to assure that your session will run smoothly. You will receive a Bucks Fizz champagne reception upon arrival and you will meet your hostess for the day. She will send you into the makeup room where you will spend the first hour of your session with one of our lovely talented makeup artists, getting a mini-manicure and hand massage, a facial cleansing toning and moisturizing, a makeup application and a hair style. After you're looking amazing and feeling a little tipsy we send you up to the photographer for your 1-hour photo shoot tailored completely to you. Don't worry, our photographers will make you feel so comfortable and they'll show you everything you need to know! After your shoot you will have a little break we review your images on the computer then invite you up to our viewing room where someone from our team will show you all of the images from the day, anywhere between 60 and 80. After you have chosen your best images for the day you are free to go show yourself off on the town!"

a view of the make up room

That being said I obviously don't do makeup and I definitely didn't photograph clients in the studio, so what did I do? Everything else. I loved working at Bella because I got to try everything out. Jennifer, the owner and "bella boss" (at her ridiculous 30th birthday party a few weeks ago her best friend got her a black baseball cap with this on the back and her name on the front) spends a lot of time in the studio so I got the chance to work closely with her and learn a lot about her new business... I also went to her birthday party, and the boss knows how to throw down. She's a big supporter of the 'work hard, play hard' philosophy. So I got the chance to taste a little PR in a shopping mall and out on the streets, a little customer service as the 'front of house,' a little advertising for trade shows and facebook, sales on the phone and learned a lot about management and promotion along the way. After a couple weeks of getting used to everyones harsh sarcasm and endless American jokes, I began to really enjoy what I was doing and who I was working with. 1 Aussie, 1 Romanian, 1 Swedish, the rest Irish and a few British joined us randomly to help with PR. A perfect and hilarious mix of people. All girls and Alex, poor Alex one of the photographers.

Last week we all went out for drinks after they were done working and we had a little farewell party (I probably could've told them I got an A on a paper and that would be a good enough excuse to go out for drinks). It was a really fun (and a little dangerous) way to say goodbye.

Just when I thought the craziness was over, I went out with a couple of the girls, Jodi and Sarah one last time the other night. I can honestly say it was the most ridiculous night of my entire life. We went to a club for "vogue" night, to the after-party at a place called "the basement" with a willy wonka sized door, then just as I thought we were on our way home a man yells down from a party "come up!" I'm shaking my head no while Jodi is saying "we have to," and a nice man dressed in a suit came down to let us in. Normally this is so not ok and semi-creepy but it was a formal party so something about that gave me the notion that I would be ok. We head on up the stairs, Jodi with a smile full of excitement and me practically nauseous about the situation. It's a WEDDING party (with fully seals drinks and seemingly normal people I should add). We were wedding crashers and they loved us. We told everyone we didn't know anyone there and they laughed and either continued dancing or talked our ear off for 20 minutes. The good news is we walked home in the broad daylight at 7am. The Irish really overdo it on their wedding nights.

Jenny the bride (with a cigarette... the classiest)