I have a lot of great memories wrapping up my winter break, and now am getting back into college mode. I worked a good part of my break for a store in Portland called The Mercantile. They sell high fashion women’s clothing and accessories. I always miss being in a retail environment until I start working again! It really is fun though (I get to see all the neat trends as they arrive in the store), and I have continued working there on weekends. I’m getting heavily into schoolwork and finishing our next McCall’s patterns, so I’m afraid I am going to have to put retail on hold for a while.

During the break I also had the great opportunity to fly to St. Louis and work on the next season of DIYStyle vodcasts. I finally got to see where Allyce grew up…..it’s quite different from Portland! The whole experience was fast paced, entertaining, and we accomplished a lot! The first day we had a professional photo shoot with Allyce and me, pics for the website and our sponsors. I have not had “model style” pictures taken of me and it was a really a fun girly day, with the help of a stylist doing our makeup and coordinating how we dressed up! It felt like our photographer, Lance Tilford, shot hundreds of pictures. Watch for some of them to show up soon.

For the rest of the week we filmed the episodes that I was hosting and we also got to go “on site” (as they say in the film industry) meaning we went to some really neat places in St. Louis to film. We went to the famous Gateway Arch, walked around downtown, and visited a really neat historic district in St. Charles! I stayed in this great hotel that had a shopping mall right across the street, so needless to say Ally and I fit in some quality shopping time together.

I flew back to Portland on New Year’s Eve and finished off the year with family and friends. It was a great end to one of the most exiting years of my life. SO much has happened in 2007 that will never be forgotten, and I have made friendships so amazing they will surely last a lifetime! Now I know Ally and I are back to the grind stone trekking towards graduation, and it certainly cannot come soon enough! I hope everyone is as exited as we are to see what is to come in this next season of DIYStyle vodcasts. We have some great projects for you all to make, and some fabulous designers and places to visit, so stay tuned to your creative side and we will see you soon!!

Melissa