Color America in the Company of Patrick McIvor–NYC, featuring David Adams, Adrienne Rogers, Rodney Cutler and myself, was AMAZING. Attendees were treated to an amazingly special experience and I got to try out some new trick with my iPad. Most stylists just see the end product of a show, so I thought I would give an inside peek at the whirlwind of preparation that goes into prepping for a show.

I arrived Saturday afternoon with a dolly full of Matrix SoColor, Color Sync, Product Club Foils, gloves, tools and PMCS Brushes, and checked into the Marriott Downtown. After running to my room, I met Christie and Amy from the Americas Beauty Show Team and we went for a walk to the Broad Street Ballroom to do a site check. It was amazing! I have attached a video of the ballroom site where Color America was (shot with my new iPad). After our site check, I got my favorite chicken and rice dinner off the street (chicken, rice and falafel with white sauce and a little hot sauce), a bottle of wine and went to work on my new presentation that would incorporate new ideas I could share with my iPad.

On Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m., I went down to the lobby and bumped into David, Virginia and Steven (David and Virginia own redCHOCOLATE and Steven was artistic director for Trevor Sorbie when he and David worked together), and together we grabbed a cab to CUTLER. This was one of those special times when I get to hang out with people I have always admired. Life is so busy and we all travel so much, stealing moments like this are a real treat for me. After a quick ride to CUTLER SOHO, we hung out on the sidewalk and just talked. Adrienne walked up and joined us with her assistant Mercedes, then Nate jumped out of a cab, followed by Kelsey off the subway and then Rodney walking down from Houston. How often does that happen in someone's life? Wow. We were supposed to be meeting at 9:00 a.m. but we all got there early and an amazing vibe started instantly.

After a great meeting with the team, we all hung out for a bit while Rodney did his hair cuts and Adrienne started her color models—we had so much fun just visiting and being creative. After a while, David, Virginia and Steven headed out to the Aveda Institute. Sunday was so much fun and so laid back, spending time with friends, doing what we love to do, it doesn’t get better than that! By 2:00 p.m., all the models were prepped, wardrobe was done and Nate and I had also made our way over to Aveda to hang out with David and the team from redCHOCOLATE. With all the excitement and my new iPad, I ran back to the hotel and worked out a cool new interactive way to share ideas.

Monday morning began early with a 3:41 a.m. alarm. I met Nathan Rosenkranz, Adam Raymond, Lori Ciaravino and Krista Beahm from our team in the lobby to start the day. With a dolly stacked 2 deep and 3 high with Matrix Color, Product Club Tools, clothes, DVD's, PMCS brushes and all my computer stuff, it was hilarious pushing it through the streets of New York City to the Broad Street Ballroom. At 5:00 a.m. we met Christie and Amy from the Americas Beauty Show Team and the AV team from the Broad Street Ballroom and began to set up the model room. At 6:00 a.m. Adrienne Rogers, her team and her models arrived and started to prep while the rest of us busily set up to room for Color America. I started to think, this is what elves must feel like! Everything was going so well David Adams and his team arrived around 7:30 and was quickly followed by Rodney Cutler and Kelsey as the models started to trickle in.

By 8:30 a.m. prep was complete for Adrienne and everyone else was working away and thanks to my buddy Nathan Rosenkranz we were ready to go. I had some time with Frank Gironda and Joseph Cartagena from Cosmetologists Chicago before the show and we were all so excited to bring together David Adams, Rodney Cutler and Adrienne Rodgers, all on the same stage, something that only Color America in the Company of Patrick McIvor is able to do.