A few pics from the Fly Five Event photographed by Danielle Finney.
Words cannot truly express the experience I had last Thursday evening at Anthropologie where Fly celebrated five years with a roomful of beautiful people. It was a magical event; one hundred twenty guests came through to mix and mingle in the glowing atmosphere of creative energy.
Let me give you a brief rundown of how it went down from my perspective:
I have to admit, after a long day of teaching and wrapping up some things for the party on my end, by the time I got to Anthropologie I was pretty exhausted; but when I arrived that evening and saw the pretty set-up of cupcakes from Brown Betty, the cookie sliders from MANA Everyday, and the little "photo-booth" with a "Fly" inspired background I was instantly revived. It was time to get the party started and I couldn't wait to see how the evening would pan out.
Then six o'clock rolls around, you just finished wiping my car down — sorry that's not what happened, got totally distracted with that bar from the Fresh Prince's "Summertime." But yes, six o'clock did come and the event had officially begun. Guests started trickling in and I instantly began chatting it up with guests. Some had stopped by to say hi while taking a break from studying for finals (shout out to a lot of Howard University readers/guests). I had a chance to meet a fly girl, nine months pregnant, who came down from Bmore to support the event (thanks lady!!). Then I met a young lady named Princess who made me the cutest Fly anniversary hat to rock during the party. So fun!
I continue walking around chatting and smiling because I am soooo incredibly excited and at some point, maybe around 6:45, I looked up and realized the entire space was packed! It was incredible. I stopped for a quick second to look and take it all in. I saw people laughing, smiling, engaging in conversation, eating cupcakes, walking around with armfuls of clothes to try on, posing for pictures, and just having a good time. It was exactly what I wanted to see.
Then...Rakia, my amazing friend, who came down from Philly to join in the celebration said, "you have to do a speech." And I did (reluctantly, despite the fact that I speak in front of students everyday I wouldn't say public speaking is my strong suit). As I stood there facing a semicircle of guests I was in awe and definitely feeling emotional.
Here's what I saw; one hundred twenty beautiful young women (and four guys!) who were smiling and stylish and glowing. There were local fashion and jewelry designers, artists, friends from middle school to new friends made this year, readers who've been there from the start, to a young woman who just started reading Fly that day. Also, college students and ladies who stopped by on their way home from a long day at work. All these amazing women (and four guys) with their diverse stories, backgrounds, creative interests, dreams, and ideas, found a connection through Fly. Somehow in my not so amazing speech (ha!), along with my thank yous I tried to say that very thing — that I always wanted the site to be a source of inspiration for creativity and a place where we could all connect in some way. Seeing that gathering of people made me feel that the site is doing just that.
After pictures were taken, the last mason jar of sangria was put away, and the last guest waved good-bye I traded my little red suede pumps for some orange flats and prepared to end my night with a dinner with friends allowing me to process everything that just happened. From that conversation I realized two things: I want to do more gatherings and that I am excited to continue working on Fly.
I am truly thankful to all who came through to support the event. It was lovely and magically fantastical because of you. For those who couldn't make it, thank you for all the wonderful words of support and well wishes, you were with us in spirit.
Cheers to many more years. Thank you!
Because I think I'm superwoman, I planned a party during the last few weeks of my first full-time semester. Which is cray, but somehow managed to pull it off seamlessly because of the amazing people in my life. Thank you.
A big shout out to Brown Betty for making customized cupcakes for the special event, and MANA Everyday, who rocked it with those yummy cookie sliders (so I'm told, I didn't get to have any **sad face**). Shout out to Big Pip (my mom) for her help making goodies and transporting things — thank you.
Thank you Skai Blue Media for your media support and making sure people knew what was going down. Thank you Danielle Finney and Bruce of DFinney Photography for all your hard work photographing the event, I'm sure it was a challenge getting around so many people and capturing them all. Thanks, Shish Boom BaH, for the awesome music mix. And of course a BIG thank you to Anthropologie for opening it's doors to Fly and all the Fly guests. Thank you for your support and for making the event beautiful.
More pictures to come. If you took pictures send them over or email a link to your post about the event: flygirlblog[at]aol[dot]com.
