Day one of three completed.

It was a long day of hard work (don't laugh, I'm serious) and my feet hurt, but I'm feeling very satisfied and thankful.

I get to stay with my friend Lois, who is also modeling at the Bridal Market, who lives literally a couple of minutes' walk from the Merchandise Mart where the show is. What a huge blessing: the ease & convenience of that is incredible, and Lois and I are having a great time together.

I did my five runway shows today. They went great. It's fun-happy-flirty-smiley runway, which is super-easy. In a show, which lasts about 45 minutes, six of us models rotate through about 15 dresses each (that's almost a hundred dresses in 45 minutes). It's constant, fast-paced walk-change-walk-change. I'm working with a few of the same Maggie Sottero people from last fall, which is cool, and then a lot of new people. Always meeting new people in this business. Lois, Ashley D., and I ended the day with a relaxing visit to Starbucks.

Last night on my Amtrak ride up here, I sat in the cafe car and talked the entire trip to this precious, little, old Japanese lady who was on her first leg of a trip back to Japan for her sister's funeral. Words cannot describe the experience. It was so unique and wonderful. She is a practicing Buddhist, which led to engaging conversations about our faiths and life stories. She shared great wisdom from her life experience. We both had an amazing time listening to each other and both were very fascinated and impressed by each other. She lives in a small town near Macomb (she married a GI during the Vietnam years) and we exchanged contact info in hopes of getting together again.