Had a Great Time in Austin - Art Bra Show was Awesome

THURSDAY, MAY 01, 2008 09:50 PM

Blake and Audra (Pink Ribbon Cowgirl co-founder) with me and Kevin before the show started.
Matt and Lindsey with me and Kevin during the show.
This is my oncologis in Austin, Dr Hellerstedt. She rocks.
Here are some of the art bras that were displayed.
This is one of my favorite art bras made by my friend, Amy. It's made completely of bike parts, All the black is tire.


Graphic Art Bra Show….GREAT SUCCESS!!!! (As Borat would say)
Holy Crap. This show was awesome this year. It almost went by too fast for me. For one, I LOVED seeing all the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls. Makes me miss them even more though.
I got there a little early to set up my booth to sell my necklaces at. All the models (who were Pink Ribbon Cowgirls) showed up early to do a rehearsal of the runway. Carabas was awesome again and catered with free food (desert too) About 500 tickets were sold for the event. There were a lot of people there. I was so excited that so many of my good friends were there to support me. Kevin, Angela, Kasey, Michele, Tim, Matt, Lindsey, Mottaghi, Brianna, Darin, April, Cindy Scott, Chuck, Kristin, Rhonda, Becky, and Sally were all there. Thank you all for being there to support me and the event. I hope you all had a great time.

What was also cool is that this year we were able to get our doctors out to the event. I am proud to say that my oncologist, Dr. Hellerstedt, showed up and also my surgeon, Dr. Martinez, were there.

I had a hard time walking in front of so many people I knew in a bra, but it was all good. It helped that my friend Kim made the bra and I thought it was so cute. All the models had their hair and makeup done for the show. I hid from the makeup people though. Guess I have a hard time having too much makeup on. Anyway, I was calm and cool, and I did the runway show for the good of the BCRC.

The necklaces were a complete hit. Yeah! I sold about 32 at the event and my friend Cindy sold a bunch too. We had the most popular booth there. Finally, I have broken even on my cost of supplies. It was really cool to see so many people like my necklaces. Guess I am good.
The rest of my trip was great. I was happy to see Kevin. We had a great party at Angela and Kasey’s Friday night before the show. Kevin got to play poker with all the guys like he used to.
Sunday we grilled at Angela’s again and hung out before Kevin went back.

Monday Angela and I hung out all day and shopped and hung out by the pool. And my last day I got to meet up with some of the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls for lunch to hang out one more time since everyone is so busy at the art bra show. From there I went to a local photographer’s studio to do some pictures for his book. So, before I write my own book, I will be in his book. It’s called A Smile Never Fades. He already did one book and is doing his second that will focus on caregivers as well. He got Kevin in a shot at the art show. The format of the book will be 50 breast cancer survivors, professional pictures of them followed by a short summary of their story. He says he expects it to be out in October. I will let everyone know when it is and I’ll give you his website so you could order one if you wanted. His name is Bill Bastas. You might have seen him on the News8 interview I did in Austin. His story followed mine and Kevin’s. His wife died from Breast Cancer and he did the book in honor of her. He also does a lot of fundraising for the BCRC.


I had a great dinner at one of my favorite places in Austin, Z-tejas, with Matt, Lindsey, Michele, Tim, Shannon Ferguson and Brain Scates. Good time. Nice way to wrap up the trip with some good friends and good food. And Big Sticks for them. : ) (Austin people know what I am talking about)


One of my favorite times I had was when Angela and I would just sit around and make necklaces. I taught her how to do it and man does she have the creativity for it. She made some great necklaces. When we were sitting there, I asked Kasey if he thought we looked like old ladies sitting around doing arts and crafts. He laughed and said “Kind of.” Maybe if we had some margaritas while we were doing it, we would seem younger. Either way, I had a lot of fun just doing that.

As I walked into the airport, I kept looking back at Angela like a little kid walking forward but not looking at where they are going. We kept waving in a cheesy way, but I think we were both pretty sad. I liked living with them for two weeks. It was very easy going. I got to know Kasey a lot better and he cracks me up. I never knew how funny he was until I lived with him.

Anyway, I am on my way home waiting to get on the plane. Guess it is cold in Detroit right now. It’s okay though because I leave for West Palm Beach Sunday. I’ll be packing and unpacking while I am home. I’m excited to see the tulips that have come up in front of our house that Kevin told me about. The Austin trip was great though. I started feeling like I was living there again.

I loved everyone’s love list. Nice work people. I’m also glad everyone liked Karl’s story. I enjoyed it too. Okay, it’s too early and I have no creative juices right now. Talk to everyone soon.
Lots of love (I miss you Austin and everyone in Austin)
Shannon

Quick note – I’m back in Michigan and getting infusion Avastin and Zomeda. Just thought I would pass along a little word of advice to everyone. If someone gets on the plane early and sits in your seat and falls asleep before you get on the plane, do not feel bad making him move to his real seat. I was being nice and I told him I would sit in his seat instead. So, I gave up my 9D window seat for a 19B aisle seat right by the bathroom. So, the entire flight I had people walking past me or standing next to me waiting to go to the bathroom which smells very bad. Not fun. Even the stewardess hit my knees with the beverage cart. Then again, I sat by a really cool guy from Michigan who now lives in Austin and is a huge sports fan. Once I finished my good book (Thanks Angela), I was able to have some nice conversation about Detroit sports with this guy. Guess things happen for a reason.
Go Pistons, Go Red Wings, Go Tigers!!!