Show of hands, did you watch the Rachel Zoe Project? Well, I did. And the reason this week has been fairly dramatic is because today I sort of lived it.
Let’s back up a little, shall we?
A couple of weeks ago I got an amazing email telling me that the great folks behind the Scholastic Book Fair had asked to feature me and CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY on their promotional video that they send out to all of the schools hosting the fairs.
I was super excited.
Then I started doing some research and I watched a few of the current videos.
And I started freaking out!
They want to come here (picture me pointing at my filthy house) and film me (picture me pointing to my yoga pants with the bleach stains on them) doing this (picture me pointing to a computer…that’s it…just a computer)!
Needless to say, these were not soothing thoughts.
So that was the beginning of what I like to call The Ally Carter Project in which I proceeded to annoy anyone who would listen about what I was going to wear, say and do.
Step 1. Drag sister shopping for non-bleach-stained clothes.
Step 2. Enlist help of sister’s personal shopper.
Step 3. Go to the BIG mall (you know, the one I never go to because traffic is so bad)
Step 4. Hire someone to do hair and makeup because, let’s face it, not everyone is born with the cosmetology gene and I have the kind of eyelashes that sometimes people look at me like “oh my gosh, that woman DOESN’T HAVE ANY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Step 5. Clean house.
Step 6. Go buy fresh flowers to place strategically around house to give the impression that I’m someone whose life is full of fresh flowers and NOT bleach-stained yoga pants.
See flowers. And Halloween candy. And camera stuff.
Step 7. Clean house again.
Step 8. Figure out how to make the light on the garage door opener work (not that this is relevant to the general storyline, but it happened during the time frame of The Ally Carter Project, and it was a big relief, so I’m mentioning it anyway).
Step 9. Scout locations that might possibly look like the Gallagher Academy so that we could perhaps do something fun with that.
Gallagher Academy Stand-In
Step 10. Start the “I don’t think this is a good idea” email to publicist and agent at least a dozen times but never, ever send it.
Well, today was the day.
Suzy, hair and makeup goddess, arrived at 8:00 a.m. and told me I had nice skin. This was very good news since I spent 7:10-7:25 exfoliating.
She also did something fun with a straightening iron that I will not be able to duplicate ever–something about smoothing–but keeping–my natural curls? Anyway, I can’t do it to save my life.
Then Larry, Jeff, and Shauna arrived with all the film stuff and we headed off to the University of Tulsa where we did some stuff that will either be totally awesome or sickeningly cheesy.
You know you’re on The Ally Carter Project when someone holds a big reflector thing on you while you talk about spy gadgetry.
Really, I’m okay with either.
Then we came back here where we filmed a little bit of me talking about the books in my office that is never that clean, organized, or flower-filled.
Fresh flowers, wardrobe changes, and microphones…
just another day at the office.
And then it was over. The Ally Carter Project was over.
And I went and put on my yoga pants.
–Ally
ps…I’m not sure when they’ll have the finished version, but they’ve promised me a copy and I’ll be sure to post it when it’s up.
