Again, I can tell y’all how fancy I am just by saying that I had to Google how to spell Benz.  I mean, I had a guess…which is better than I can say for when I was trying to spell Louis Vuitton a few posts ago.

So the big event I hinted at in my last post was (obvs now) Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Panamá 2015!!!  This is just like Fashion Week in Paris, London or NY, but with a little Latin flavor.  Super fun.

I knew FW was coming up, but I had no idea how to get tickets.  Oddly, they didn’t make it easy for any Tom, Dick or Julie off the street to get in.  I’ll spare you the details, but it took phone calls to a model friend and a fashion designer acquaintance, plus a lot of googling to find out how to get tickets.  I ended up managing to win two free tickets via the Facebook page of a local publication for tourists called The Visitor/El Visitante (it’s published in English and Spanish).  Sweet!  Turns out the office was just a few minutes away from our house, so I ran over and picked them up first thing on Monday morning.

That night, my Swedish neighbor, Stella, came over with her brother, his wife, and their daughter.  The family was in town for a visit and Stella wanted to give them a chance to meet Addie, as they recently lost their dog.  And maybe she wanted them to meet me too.  You never know…Addie’s always been more popular than I am.  I’m okay with that.  So as we were talking out on the balcony, Stella’s sister-in-law prompted Stella to tell me her big news…she was going to be walking in two of the runway shows on Wednesday night!  HUGE!  Turns out she had been approached by a modeling agency nearly 8 months ago (sounds like it was the second she stepped off the plane…I’m not surprised.  She’s gorgeous!) but had never heard anything from them.  They contacted her on Sunday – 3 days before the show – to see if she would come in and walk for them.  And they booked her!  I was so excited for her and glad that I had happened to get my tickets for the same night when she would be walking.

On Tuesday night, I went to a friend’s bday party (Jessie – the girl from DC) in Casco Viejo and ended up running into her friend Marcus, from Maryland.  He has been back and forth between Panamá and MD all year doing some sort of research down here.  Anyway, Eric had been hoping that I would find someone to take the second ticket to FW so he wouldn’t have to go, and Marcus was all in.  Fun.

Then came Wednesday, the morning before the shows.  Stella had also won free tickets via Facebook for her family to see her that night.  HOWEVER…when she went to pick them up she realized that they were only for entrance to the fair portion, not to the runway shows!!!  In the fair, several designers and companies would have stalls set up, some would be giving away free stuff and others selling clothing and accessories.  Still fun, but not what I had been planning on!  Not only that, but the tickets to get in for the catwalk were $130 or $160!  I was really disappointed…but I decided that wouldn’t be the end of my quest to get in.  How often do you get to go to Fashion Week?!  No way is anyone in NY, London, or Paris ever going to let me in even if I happen to be there during their Fashion Week, so I knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

I texted Marcus to tell him the bad news.  He said he was probably still up for the fair part.  I took a nap, a little grumpy, but still excited for the part we’d get to be a part of.  When I woke up, I texted Marcus again.  “I’m going to try to sneak into the runway shows.  You down?”  His response:  “Hellz yeah!”  It was on.

I met up with Marcus at the Atlapa Convention Center, where he immediately told me he’s horrible at being sneaky.  Great.  That made two of us.  Most of you know that sneaking into stuff and really, getting away with stuff in general, is not my strong suit.  Right, Mom?  I always get caught.  I don’t have the confidence to pull this stuff off when I KNOW I don’t belong somewhere.  This time was different though.

I knew I had to channel my inner Jennifer (my sister).  She’s the one who pulls this stuff off.  I remember being in London with her 14 years ago and being completely convinced she was going to get me arrested for sneaking into some palace and for both of us using the same all-you-can-ride Tube pass all week.  In those situations, I either had to follow along or get left alone somewhere in London, so I held my breath and followed her.

So upon arriving, we immediately discover that they were giving out different color bracelets depending on the areas to which your ticket gives you access.  Shoot.  We needed a pink bracelet, but we got white.  Marcus’s big idea was to rip up pieces of the schedule, printed on pink paper, and wrap them around the bracelet.  I decided that, though clever, it was a Plan C type idea.  We scoped out the guy at the door to the catwalk.  We waited until no other employees were around him, then I told Marcus to put on his game face and to follow me.

Before we even reached the guy, he had spotted our white bracelets and begun to shake his head at us.  So I started my sob story.  I explained to him that I found out at the last minute that my sister was going to be in one of the shows, and we needed to get in to see her.  He shook his head again.  Okay, Plan B.  I flashed him a $20 and asked if there was anything we could do to resolve this.  He hesitated a minute, then asked us to stand aside for a minute (while he waited until the coast was clear).  At this point I reminded Marcus to please cover up his offensive white bracelet.  Then I shook hands with the doorman and passed him the money.  We were in!  I think the best thing about it was Marcus’s reaction!  He was so impressed.  Honestly, I was too.  If you had asked me to do that when we first got here, I never would’ve even tried.

We watched the first set of 4 or so runway shows, then the whole audience had to leave the room since different tickets had been issued for the second set of shows.  Uh oh.  We hadn’t seen Stella yet!  She was in the second set of shows!  I talked my way past one guard to get to the door guy that had let us in so I could see where we stood.  I explained to him that she was actually in the next set of shows and I had been confused.  He frowned at me and said something along the lines of “but you’ve already seen this set.”  Now, however, I knew my next move.  Okay, okay, so does $20 change things?  Yes.  Yes it does.

We took advantage of the break to walk around, drink free champagne while admiring the Mercedes(es?  What’s the plural?), and take pictures.  When it was time to go back in, I glanced over at the guy to see if it was a good time, and he gave me a subtle shake of the head.  Not now.  Wait a minute.  Marcus took the opportunity to stand in line for a free coffee at one of the stands.  Right then, the doorman signaled to me that we should come on in.  I told Marcus who immediately told the coffee guy “Olvídalo!” (“Forget it!”) and hurried after me.  Again we did the sly exchange of money and walked right in.

The shows were incredible.  After watching America’s Next Top Model for years, I was thrilled to be there.  The clothing designs were amazing – from Spanish looking ruched skirts to sparkly dresses to ridiculous outfits that made a few poor girls look like pineapples.  Marcus admitted to watching both ANTM and What Not to Wear, so I knew he was enjoying it too.  Not to mention the occasional scantily clad model that kept things interesting.  “That’s my new favorite dress” quickly became Marcus’s key phrase.

Then came Stella!  She is a tall, skinny but toned and athletic blonde Swede with a gorgeous face and confident presence.  I was so proud of her.  She absolutely slayed the catwalk – first in a bikini, then in a gorgeous suit with intensely high heels.  Absolutely stunning!  Her partner Elliott happened to be in England this month, so unfortunately he wasn’t able to see her.  We did the best we could with our camera phones for him though…Marcus filmed her while I took stills.  I was longing for my real camera, but had consciously decided to leave it at home since I knew we’d need to make a stealth entry.

All in all, a hugely successful night.

Last night was capoeira training and I finally felt decent enough to try out my wrist!  We worked on headstands, which I have never successfully done before.  After so many weeks of being right-side-up and off the floor though, I was determined to do one.  I’m sure my face was hilarious when I made it happen because it took all my strength to slowly extend from that tripod position they taught you back in elementary school gym up to a full (and relatively steady!) headstand!  I kept doing it because I was so proud of myself.  It is also one of those things like rock climbing where it’s so satisfying because you are using every bit of energy and muscle you can muster.  Another big milestone for me.

I also had a much better time in small roda that a few of us participated in after practice.  At least until I pushed a little too far.  I went into a puente (a bridge/backbend) and for some reason, my right arm (the good one) just plain gave out on me when I was completely upside-down.  My head smacked into the concrete really hard.  People told me how loud a sound it made – not that I hadn’t heard it myself!  I also landed on my shoulder pretty hard, so that has made a nice bruise.

All my sweet friends checked me out and made sure I was okay.  Darío, whose capoeira name is Doctor, did his version of a thorough head examination (how many fingers am I holding up, follow my finger with your eyes, etc.) and then kept hovering over me and checking on me throughout the next 20 min or so while I sat and watched the others.  Two others offered to, and nearly insisted on, walking me home.  I was a little dizzy still and definitely hurting, but I made it home just fine on my own.

Eric wasn’t a fan of my joking when he asked me to answer simple questions to make sure he didn’t need to take me to the hospital.  He asked me to promise that I would start all my jokes by saying “I’m joking when I say this, but…” until he was sure that I was okay.

We buy extra frozen veggies because I so frequently use them like this.

Feeling pretty good this morning.  Small headache, but nothing like my migraines.

Oh, one more thing – I got my first paid translation job this week!  It’s a freelance thing, so who knows how often I’ll actually have work, but I was very glad to receive and complete my first assignment.  Translating legal contracts about stock purchases isn’t easy, but I feel much more confident after getting through it.

Happy Friday!!!  And enjoy your Halloween!!!