So we left off with all of us in the bus – the closer we got
to Vegas, the more butterflies I felt in my stomach. I was so excited to get
the whole experience started! All of a sudden, we saw Buffalo Bills and it
became real. We were really going to Vegas and this was really happening! We
saw The Strip and I must say, the view from our bus was great. We were sitting
up pretty high so everything was right at eye level. All the resorts, hotels,
and casinos looked so close and there were people everywhere. It was about 1 pm
when we made it to the Caesar’s Palace loading dock. There were quite a few
buses parked and we could see other Future Professionals (students from Paul
Mitchell schools) making their way into the hotel.
Can we just celebrate Caesar’s Palace for a moment? That
place is spectacular! The exterior is gorgeous and it seems to go on for miles,
which it probably does. We made our way through the casino and went up to the
conference rooms where we were supposed to leave our luggage. There were
business conferences going on and we were told to contain our excitement and
our voices so we wouldn’t interrupt their meetings. We left our luggage and our
school owners, Erik and D’Ann and our staff members, Joaquin, Ashley, and Sarah
handed out our hotel room keys and badges. We were also given “I Know D’Ann”
buttons because D’Ann has a wonderful work history with John Paul Mitchell
Systems and has worked with all of the major stylists affiliated with Paul
Mitchell. That button was going to be an ice breaker and conversation starter.
After that, we all went to see the room where General
Session would be held the next day. As we walked towards the room, we spotted
John Paul DeJoria (Co-Owner of John Paul Mitchell Systems) and Robert Cromeans (Artistic
Director of John Paul Mitchell Systems) in the hallway. Some of the more
zealous Future Professionals started running towards them, but they were told
to leave them alone because they were in the middle of rehearsal. Which to me,
made perfect sense because I’m sure they weren’t expecting a grip of students
to run up on them like that in the middle of their preparation for the next day.
D’Ann told us we were free for the rest of the day and to be
in line the next morning to get into General Session (kind of like an opening
ceremony). Two of my roommates, Alyssa and Carmela, needed to visit the ladies
room, so Shannon and I waited for them in the hallway. I saw Takashi (Artistic
Director for John Paul Mitchell Systems) with his entourage coming our way. I
told Shannon, “Oh my God, Takashi is right behind you!” Shannon did not
hesitate, she said hello and asked for a picture. Takashi’s girlfriend said no
because they were in the middle of rehearsal, so we said bye and were just
happy to have seen him so close. Two seconds later, Takashi’s girlfriend called
out to us and said, “One picture.” We rushed over and took the picture. All
this not even an hour into Caper! As they were leaving, Takashi saw our “I Know
D’Ann” buttons and he said “Say hi to D’Ann for me”.
When Alyssa and Carmela came out of the bathroom, Shannon
and I were still in disbelief. We told the girls what happened and they could
not believe it. We made our way to our luggage and ran into D’Ann. We told her
about Takashi with such excitement, all she could do was laugh because we were
beside ourselves. We took our luggage to our room, and settled in. We all
called our loved ones to tell them we were in our room safe and sound. The rest
of the afternoon was up to us so we went to the Peace Love and Happiness Mall
to pick up our goodie bag and check out the merchandise. If I had been smarter,
I would have stayed and went shopping for myself right then and there. But I
think I was so caught up in the moment, I wanted to just see everything and not
stay too long in any one place.
We quickly moved along to the look and learn booths and
stayed for Rich Magaña’s makeup demonstration. Rich had visited our school last
year and I really love watching him work. He did a great beauty makeup look,
something that a celebrity would wear on television or a live appearance. I
started to feel the effects of not sleeping the night before, so I told my
roommates I needed to take a time out. I walked through the Caesar’s Palace
Forum Shops and made my way to the hotel room and slept for a little while. I
met back up with my roommates and we went back to the look and learn booths.
While we were watching the end of the men’s cut demonstration, we met Cutting
Specialist Dave Holland. He was so nice and personable. He took a group pic
with us and we said our goodbyes.
At this point, we were starving. Carmela – who was suffering
a toothache – let us know that she was calling it a night because she wanted to
be in line for General Session by 4 am to get a front row seat. Alyssa,
Shannon, and I went across the street to Margaritaville to eat dinner. I don’t
know if we were just hungry or what, but the food was awesome. The real funny
part was, this was a school trip so we were told multiple times, this is a
non-drinking, non-smoking event. So, at any restaurant, you could see the
Future Professionals looking around to see if other Future Professionals were
drinking. Needless to say, we weren’t there to drink, so we had absolutely no
worries.
We went right on back to our room after dinner and Carmela
was already asleep. So, we all started getting dressed for bed. I always watch
tv before bed, so I was happy that the girls did not object to a couple
episodes of Modern Family. We started to hear a lot of loud voices outside our
door. Alyssa went to the door to ask them to quiet down when one of them ran
into our room and jumped on Carmela in the bed, telling her to wake up.
Fortunately, Carmela knew this person and everything was ok. I was in shock just
because it was so unexpected and didn’t know who it was running into our room.
Our visitor left and the group kept it moving.
I slept better than I’ve ever slept in my life that night. I
had a plan for Tuesday. Get up early, go to the Career Connection and talk to
all the salon and beauty company representatives, and then go to General
Session. I wasn’t trying to wait in line for hours and hours. I was going to
take advantage of the fact that everyone else would be in line. General Session
was supposed to start at 11 am.
But we’ll get into General Session next time! Stay tuned!!!
