I live a double life. I'm a stylist AND a project manager for Promise Tangeman Creative (PTC). I love both of my jobs because they equally serve creative industries, but play to my different skill sets.

Promise is a dear friend of mine, and a HUGE supporter of AVE Styles. She not only created my beautiful branding two years ago, but she has been one of the biggest cheerleaders since the start of my business.

This past weekend PTC got together with one of our lovely designers, Liz from Liz Designs Things, who lives out in California. We just had a girlie, nerdy, creative weekend. Coincidentally, Alyssa Yuhas from WeLikeWeLove (one of my favorite online magazines and graphic designer in her own right) happened to be visiting the beautiful desert from Canada. We were able to grab a cup of Joe with her and talk shop. Can I just say how COOL it is to connect with people in person that you've only known online!?

Of course, we HAD to throw in a fun photo shoot to document the trip. We used Prom's rad chalkboard wall in her home and stayed up until 12:00A.M. taking photos.

What I'm wearing: Long-sleeved lace t-shirt, Forever 21; Maroon knit jumper, Free People; denim jacket, J.Crew.

You can see even more on Promise's blog, and I hope you enjoyed the evidence of our creative weekend adventure.

PS - I've busted out my J.Crew 8 year old denim jacket, and I'm lovin' it!

So, I'm really excited to reveal a photo shoot that I was actually in this time. I had the privilege of being photographed for Promise Tangeman Creative by our TALENTED friend Melissa Jill. Promise and I had a blast doing her photo shoot for her website and promo photos at the end of last year, and so of course, we needed to have another girl PARTY (a.k.a. photo shoot) to kick off 2011.

As I mentioned awhile back, I've been helping out Promise Tangeman with some project management, and I'm LOVING it! She is incredibly energizing, brilliant and SO encouraging. Seriously, follow along on her blog and you'll see what I mean.

I had a blast helping to put this shoot together. It took place in downtown Phoenix - the BEST place for locations in my opinion. Color, hair and makeup were the focal points of this shoot. So, of course Promise and I had our good friend and hairstylist Kim Cornwell help us in the hair department. AND...Jack of all trades, Tina Burnham, joined us to do makeup even though she has told me she isn't a makeup artist. Well, I'm sure you guys can tell from these photos that she is UBER talented as a makeup artist in addition to being a talented photographer and hair stylist. RIGHT?!!

So, as always, we collected hair, makeup and clothing inspiration for this shoot. Promise had been wanting to do a bright eye, and I have been in love with bright lips all season long, so we went our own ways with the one condition that COLOR had to be incorporated. We even painted our nails a really bright color as shown below.

As for hair...Well, as you can tell Miss Promise has hair that is unrivaled. I mean, there is NO chance I could ever do what she does with hers. This girl gets SOOO many questions about her hair and every girl in the work wishes she could get that kind of volume. I have accepted the sad truth that I'll never have "promified" hair, so Kim and I decided we would work with what I have that is unique to me - CURLS!!!

Kim did a FANTASTIC job, no? I felt like I had just stepped off the spring runway. Remember my post on fuzzy curls? Well, she nailed it!!

As for clothes, well, with color being the requirement there was no question that my red, GAP skinny jeans would be used for this shoot. They definitely make a statement. And of course, I played up my love for retro style with my gingham oxford shirt tucked in. We had a second look for which I was struggling to find something until I did a little shopping at Buffalo Exchange and found this cute magenta skirt for $7.00!!!

Promise on the other hand, had these amazing jeans that reminded her of clouds, this sweet neon green/yellow bandeaux top, a teal shirt and this AWESOME pair Zara shoes she got in Europe. I think we nailed the color requirement. haha!