My Date With Ruven Afanador

Posing with Gabe for Ruven Afanador in my 50's Suzy Perette dress .

Heidi, Diane and Margot watch the action in Xtabay dresses....

The stylists see how many hats they can pile on Olga's head...

Ruven directs the scene while Gabe begs for treats...

Gabe and Ruven: BFF's....

Serious hair tower. 

 What an exciting week at Xtabay. Tuesday evening I got an email from Conde Nast Traveller magazine saying they were coming on Thursday to do a feature on Portland, Oregon and wanted to photograph Xtabay.  As if that wasn't thrilling enough they told me the photographer was Ruven Afanador and he wanted me to wear something BOLD... I immediately googled Ruven and became a tad bit intimidated when I clicked on his website and saw photographs he'd taken of Heidi Klum.

I tore apart my closet searching for something bold and settled on a late 50's black and gold brocade cocktail dress by Suzy Perette. I called my friend Laura who owns Bliss Salon and Day Spa and arranged for her to handle my hair and make-up. Fortunately, when Ruven and his entourage ( a good 15 people!) arrived they were happy with the look we'd created--however, Ruven wanted BIG hair and turned my elegant little chignon into a towering inferno of blond madness. You know what they say....the higher the hair, the closer to God.

Jeff (my forever Fiance') was on hand and took a few shots with his iPhone to capture the excitement. Gabe as usual stole the show and won over Ruven's heart. The crew had a model on hand and dressed her up in the yellow fur kimenetta coat, a long Givenchy maxi dress and about 12 hats...
My ladies helped out and looked beautiful in Xtabay dresses. It was kind of the best day ever...

 Xtabay will appear in the September issue of Conde' Nast Traveller. Maybe it's not quite as fabulous as being in the September issue of Vogue but it's pretty darn close!

Thanks for looking!