My wild summer came to an end as I was leaving for Atlanta to chase my dreams. My internship started with 
a day on the lake at 2 foot to celebrate our Independence and fireworks on the river in downtown Nashville...
followed by packing up the car and some good bye kisses to my sweet sweet man....Then I was on my 4 hour journey to the land unknown!! I could feel the ex
citement building as I got closer to Atlanta. This was finally happening....
everything that I had set out to do in school, all my goals were so much closer than I had imagined....I could see the city lights as I approached Atlanta...it was late but I was so close...When I arrived to my new place of residence for the next 2 months I unloaded the car... and laid out my clothes for the next morning to start my first day.The next morning was great! I w
oke up refreshed and ready to see what this was going to be like for me, and then it hit me....LOL Atlanta traffic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ewwww it sucked so bad! LOL but I didn't care. I parked my car in the garage at Americasmart and made my confident, elegant walk across the high rise bridge walks looking down at Peachtree street, 
and straight to Starbucks :) First thing was a conference meeting for market that week on 22 (that's the floor our offices were on, at the very top, and what we called it) it felt so OFFICIAL!! I was issued a notebook, with all materials needed for market and a cellphone etc...And this is where I met April! 
She was like my mentor, and Katie the other girl I was interning with. Katie and I worked on different floors for our first week, but had made time to meet for lunch. 
Once market started it was soo surreal...I was in heaven! All the people and the chaos...it was exactly how I had imagined it would be like. One of my favorite exhibitors was HINT MINT! they are based out of LA and they were showing for the first time in Atlanta.... Their mints btw are simply amazing!!!!Once market was over we left our temporary offices on the show floors and went back to 22.
Then the planning started....I was assigned to manage the models for all the showrooms and the Fashion show in August. It was so much fun and stressful. We held go-sees everyday, a large runway audition, and I was booking models left and right, and making sure that they showed up for the fittings. I also sold space for the fashion show. 
In one of our board meetings leading up to the weeks very close to the show, we had accounted for over 500 gowns that were to be shown by various designers that were at the apparel market that August. The girls in the office were so nice and welcoming....I really enjoyed working with them...we even tried to attend a Braves game up in the suites, but it was rained out so we just had dinner and drinks there. That was a great night!
We also attended other fashion show charity events around Atlanta while we were there that varied from Bridal to Urban wear. One of my favorite shows was the Urban Chic Atlanta show..it benefited the AID awareness in Atlanta. This show was held at FOX Theatre on July 21, 2008...
and it represented all of the top urban boutiques around Atlanta. One of my favorite models from the Mart was working the show too!
Freya, I remembered hiring her for the fashion show we were going to have...she was so beautiful and intelligent. We definitely had a great time backstage at this show. If all of you are wondering what goes on backstage let me just tell you!! There are racks and racks of clothes, the theatre where the shows are held, depends on the space to change....Waiting on hair and make up is soooo boring, but we made it fun, because we got to walk around and see what was happening in the lobby, which was a lot!! They had a silent auction where all 
the proceeds went to AID, and they had MAC makeup artists doing body paint on a male and female model. Its so funny, because yes being a model means you need to be able to openly strip down in front of strangers as quick as you can say YOUR NEXT! And as a dresser we have to make sure they are PRESENTABLE with clothes on and jewelry in that amount of time...The event turned out to be huge! Annnnddd the clothes and styles were amazing! I couldn't have asked for anything better! 
As the weeks went by, I traveled home on some of the weekends, because I couldn't stand to be away from Trae...when I hadn't seen him for 2 1/2 weeks, I realized how much he meant to me. 
It was like I had everything I ever wanted in life at the time...When I made the first drive home I had the hugest butterflies in my stomach. I was so excited to see him, it felt like it had been months not weeks. Just those 2 days home was enough for me to know that I was in love with this man. 
My last weekend trip home, we had such a great time because his brother was in town...but it was so hard to leave him again, I packed my bag, and walked down the driveway...as he walked beside me carrying my overnight bag, I could feel the tears coming...I was so nervous and shaking when I wrapped my arms around him to kiss him good bye one last time...but as I got in my car and turned the corner headed back to Atlanta...the tears came running down my face...
I was so torn between the 2 things that I loved most in my life. But this was it....the end, I had made it through it all, and allowed myself to open up completely to him. I was in Love with him he was the one, and it took me leaving to "chase my dreams" to know that he was part of them.When I arrived back in Atlanta it was full force Fashion Market week. I had a few friends stop in town to hang out, but I was running like crazy, checking on models, booking last minute models for exhibitors who decided they needed one once they got there.
It was PURE CHAOS!!! But I LOVEEEED it! The Fashion show that I helped coordinate had 55 girls, 550 gowns and 40 hrs of work in 2 1/2 days.... collecting and tagging all the gowns was insaneee...
I worked 20 hrs that day...but when it was all said and done it turned out so awesome!! I was so relieved and ready to head home. I gained a tremendous amount of experience those 2 months of my life. I was sad to say good bye but I knew I had another chapter of my life waiting on me back home. All good things came to a beginning for me that summer...and I felt truly blessed to be back in Nashville..:XOXO TMARIE:.
