Tagged: I was a Shoe Model & An Ugly Betty: 5 (TMI) Things You Don't Know About Me

A fun game of tag has been going on at www.PFblogs.org. When tagged by another blogger, you are it and it's your turn to offer "5 Things You Don't Know About Me." Thanks to Millionaire Artist (great blog: pretty to look at, wonderful to read) for tagging me.

So Here's My T.M.I. (Too Much Information) List:

1. I was a shoe model. When I first moved to New York in 1984, I worked at a small family-owned (non-fashion) publishing company that paid a salary, that should have come with food stamps and Section 8 housing subsidies.

To pay my rent, I worked at a restaurant with lots of wannabe actresses. One struggling actress told me I had sample feet (size 6) and suggested I become a shoe model. She gave me the name of her agent, who sent me on go-sees.

Ultimately, I worked for a California-based shoe manufacturer, who hired me to model shoes at tradeshows. Good money, but it was weird having shoe buyers from major retailers study and touch my feet.

Then I was saved by Wall Street. Found a job writing about stocks and bonds, which paid a decent salary. I love capitalism!


2. I was married in Central Park. Here's the clip from the New York Times. I wore a second-hand dress and paid for a park permit for Shakespeare's Garden in Central Park. It was a fun, frugal wedding that still cost as much as a downpayment on a home.

3. I ran one year of track (a sprinter) at Georgetown University. I was a total non-athlete. Then I was hit by a broken heart during my junior year. The object of my affection was a runner. I started running to impress him.

Surprise: I was a darn good runner. Fast, really fast. And long after I stopped chasing him, I held onto my running shoes. I got over him, but I still love my Nikes.


4. I am an Ugly Betty. I know where she lives. She's me when I first moved to New York and tried to break into the fashion magazine scene. That sisterhood of fashion magazines plucked out my heart as if I were an overgrown eyebrow. (line borrowed from Ugly Betty.) It was like a sorority that I couldn't join. It was the worst of High School all over again.

I felt like a total geek: a tiny girl (five-foot), in the world where beauty is measured in inches and heels.

Ugly Betty is my vindication and besides, if you look closer, she's really cute.


5. Roland Flint is my favorite poet and the former Poet Laureate for the State of Maryland. He was my favorite professor at Georgetown. I used to email him a lot. He passed away a few years ago.

Here's a snippet of my favorite Roland Flint poem: It's Say It, from his book by that same name.

"Then Thank a mystery that speaks your name
thank every trick in your ear, and listen."
--Roland Flint
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Tagged:
And if she has not been tagged already, I tag Sally (another poet) from Through a Glass Darkly

and I also tag Domestik Goddess.
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The Frugal Duchess Boutique