April 2018 – isabel notes

Getting Paid to Go to a 5 SOS Concert (an update on my latest writing adventures)

My Dallas Observer editor gave me two free tickets to go see 5 Seconds of Summer at the House of Blues Thursday. Isn’t that crazy? And I’m getting paid for this, too!

After a lot of going back and forth with publicists and managers, my editor was able to score tickets and let me know about 4 hours before the show that I could go. So I texted my sister. She was excited.

So within a couple hours we were lining up at the House of the Blues to see one of her favorite bands. (This conveniently doubled up as an early birthday present for her.)

Some things I learned: When your editor tells you your tickets are at “will call,” that just means you’re supposed to ask the ticket booth for your tickets.

Words I actually got to say multiple times that night: “Hi, I’m with the Dallas Observer…” and “Hi, I’m here covering the concert for the Dallas Observer…” does that sound official or what? Granted, I feel like I look like this random 16 year old pretending to be a reporter, so I felt like I had to say things like that to seem more valid. I got a wrist band for “press” and everything!

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The concert was a pretty cool thing to do for “work” on a Thursday night.

I was probably the only one taking notes at a concert, so that was interesting.

My editor wanted me to get the review to her by 10am the next morning, so I stayed up until 1am to finish it so I could just sleep in until my class the next day. Got her done!

LINKS TO THE STORIES:

Click here for the 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER STORY

(Unfortunately… maybe it’s because I was tired or I’ve never written a concert review before, it looks like my editor made more changes than normal. So if it doesn’t sound like me at some points, that’s why!)

I also have two other new articles out, one about a local neon artist and one about a contestant on Lifetime’s new reality dating show! I watched one of the episodes and it’s actually really interesting, go check it out!

My Phone Call with Tyra Banks

Yes, THE Tyra Banks.

Know her?

Victoria’s Secret Angel, creator and host of America’s Next Top Model, America’s Got Talent, Eve from Life Size.

My editor from the Dallas Observer had me do what they call a “phoner.” Apparently, that’s journalism talk for a phone interview.

So, I got in contact with her people, and a time was set (4:30 pm C/T she said) for my talk with Tyra Banks.

Beforehand, my mom took me to Bird Bakery, where coincidentally, we saw a recognizable face.

Armie Hammer.

Yes, THE Armie Hammer.

His wife owns Bird Bakery, but we’ve never actually seen him there. I didn’t say anything to him, since I could tell he just wanted to enjoy coffee and pastries with a couple I’d assume were his parents. (Or grandparents? Not sure, I was too busy trying not to stare at Armie, who looks EXACTLY like he does in the movies.)

He was sitting right across from me.

After chit chatting within earshot of Armie for about an hour, I had my mom drive me back to my dorm.

Bye, Armie. I need to go talk to Tyra. Like WHAT EVEN was this day??

We were about five minutes away when it happened.

The phone rang. 15 minutes early than I expected.

Tyra’s assistant asked me if I was ready.

I SO was not. Not ready. Not. Ready.

I explained to her the miscommunication in timing and asked for a couple minutes.

“Yeah, it’s just… I have her here and she’s been going nonstop all day since 4 in the morning…” the assistant explained. “Can I call you back in 3 minutes?”

I agreed, hung up, and my mom and I freaked out.

Luckily, she was able to park. I got out my laptop, started the recording and got out my questions. My mom held up her phone as a backup recording.

I heard the ring.

The assistant asked if I was ready. I wasn’t, but I said yes anyway. I’d never freakin been on the phone with a celebrity before, I had no idea what I was doing.

“Okay hold on, let me go grab her.”

Silence. My mom turned her head away just in case Tyra could hear her breathing.

“Isabel?”

Tyra Banks knew my name.

“Hi Tyra, how are you?” I said, relieved I said her name right. (You see, all day for some psychotic reason, I had been calling her Tanya. Tanya. WHAT.

“I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m doing good! I’m Isabel from the Dallas Observer.” (Well obviously she knew that already. I was soooo awkward!!!)

We started to chit chat about the Today Show she had to get up at 4 that morning to go to, and we were off. I went into full interview mode.

Hearing the recording played back, I was SO awkward. Lots of nervous laughter, lots of accidentally interrupting her. It was… a learning experience.

Halfway through, Tanya said this:

“Oh what do you want, boo boo?”

I assumed she was talking to her kid. We weren’t at that level yet, you know?

“This is my son,” Tyra explained. “I gave my nanny Easter off so… we just had a babysitter today. Okay boo boo, what do you want? You just want mommy to get off the phone?”

Cutest voice ever: “Yeah…”

“Okay well you go talk to Nana and mommy’s going to be finished soon, okay?”

“No…”

“Mommy’s going to be finished soon!” She explained that he had come to the Today Show with them. “He had fun! He was running around…”

Our interview lasted about 10 minutes. Tyra was a super nice person, super easy to talk to and very easy to interview! She even spilled some information about Life Size 2 that I didn’t think had been released anywhere yet!

Tyra’s “people” invited me to the event she is hosting in Dallas next week, as well as gave me a copy of her new book, Perfect is Boring!

Click here for the full article!

Covering a Rooftop Yoga Party with My Bestie

Thanks to that blogger friend I mentioned, Mai Lyn, I got in to a Sunset Silent Yoga event for free! The event was hosted by the Fitness Ambassadors, a group of like-minded fitness bloggers around Dallas. I also got to bring my BFF, who just so happens to be a yoga instructor!

We felt very cool. The workout was just hard enough to be challenging, but super peaceful and amazing! They gave us light-up headphones to block out the noise of the city and the DJ timed all the songs perfectly with every movement we made.

Oh, and there was free food. And giveaways, like EOS lip balms, towels, and water bottles. Pretty sick stuff!!!

Here’s the article!