Burns' Night Dance...

For Burns’ Night this year, we both wore our new kilts from Edinburgh.

As always, we had a great time dancing...

...and hanging out with our friends. We were thrilled that Carlin and Kent joined us for the first time.

Dune Agency at iNDiViDUALS...

This composition shows Ashlynn with Michelle and Deirdre, Dune’s three models that walked this show.

Afterwards, the girls posed with Marjolein, the owner of Dune, and Nicky, a fashion photographer who also works as a booker at Dune. A few days later, Ashlynn and I went to watch the Dennis Diem show at the Westergasfabriek, a former gasworks built in 1902. Everything about the show was very impressive: interesting pre-show videos, a singer hanging above the audience sitting in a half moon, cool lighting and beautiful clothes. Ashlynn will really need to practice in her high heels if she ever wants to walk in a show like that.

First Fashion Show...

Just before Christmas, Ashlynn had her first “casting” (an audition for a modeling job) for a fashion show as part of Amsterdam Fashion Week. She had to try on an outfit and walk for the designers. Although she wasn’t chosen for that show, she was chosen for the iNDiViDUALS show of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. I got a sneak peak at the runway when I dropped her off in Amsterdam at 9 a.m. It was clearly going to be a long day since the show wasn’t until 6 p.m.

While I spent the day visiting museums, Ashlynn was in hair and make-up and rehearsing. She already knew a few of the other models from Model Camp and met two girls from Dune Agency. She wasn’t paid, but was at least well fed. The show wasn’t actually open to the public, but parents of the models were allowed to sit behind the fashion bloggers and magazine editors. We had a great view of Ashlynn crossing the overhead bridge (we could just see her from the side--this photo was taken by an official photographer)...

...and going down the escalator, which I thought were very cool features to incorporate into the show. In an effort not to embarrass her, I left my Nikon at home--will never do that again!

She was relieved to be in flats, especially since it was a very long runway.

Overall she felt confident, but was a little worried that she wouldn’t know where to turn around. 

The floor looked pretty cool in the professional shot; in actuality, it was merely water splashed across the tiles. Luckily none of the girls went sliding.

It was nice that there’s even a shot of Ashlynn as she exited the show. If you have the patience, you can watch the video; Ashlynn first appears at 2:17 and is on screen several times for the next 1.5 minutes and then comes back out at 13:55 for the finale.

Designing 007: 50 Years of James Bond...

When I found out that there was going to be a special exhibition in Rotterdam of artifacts from James Bond movies, I figured it would be a great couples’ outing for the AWC. The woman who plans our art activities was kind enough to handle the arrangements for the guided tour and I was in charge of making dinner reservations.

Rather than being a docent of the museum, our guide was an active member of the Dutch James Bond Fan Club. His knowledge of James Bond trivia was extensive and fascinating. For instance, in Skyfall, the latest movie, rather than destroying the Aston Martin, they made a 3D replica which could be set on fire without guilt and at a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in the exhibition itself.

Our first iPhone selfie was in front of the Aston Martin used in the 1964 movie Goldfinger. We also saw a lot of beautiful custom gowns used in movies over the years, the gold mouthpiece worn by Jaws and a variety of the crazy weapons supposedly developed by Q.

After our tour, we walked to the Hotel New York for a drink and then to Scallywags for dinner. Despite being part of a group of 20, it was nice that we somehow managed to end up with a private table with Jan and Bob.

Boy's Ski Weekend...

While Ashlynn was modelling in Amsterdam, Jimmy was enjoying the ski slopes of Innsbruck with Jim.

Jim was able to bring an extra set of snowblades (like strapping two thin snowboards to your feet) for Jimmy, who loved the maneuverability of the short skis.

The skies were blue and there was plenty of snow, which made for a great weekend.

More Cool Shots on Location...

No idea why these old tram cars are on this property, but it appears that they are actually being lived in. The occupants were away, so we took the liberty of having Ashlynn sit on the table.

Again, my photo shows more of the background...

...while Romy’s focuses on the clothes. It was a long day and Ashlynn was often cold, but she never complained. It was really a great day and I loved seeing her in action!

Some Perspective...

Since it had stopped raining, we could explore for more locations spots. The surrounding area was the former shipyards, which provided a lot of options for the grunge theme.

This photo that I took gives a bit of perspective...

...for where Ashlynn was posing in Romy’s shot.

As this photo I took also gives perspective...

for this shot of Romy’s.