October 5, 2012
September 22, 2012
August 24, 2012
August 14, 2012
The U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team! According to The Wall Street Journal, during their first-place competition, our girls shared 55 individual hugs with teammates and coaches and five group hugs—more than any other team. They also freely hugged competitors who were feeling crestfallen after their performances, and those who had done well. Most of us can’t even walk on a balance beam without wobbling, much less doing acrobatics, but we can all show each other that kind of support. I especially enjoyed watching the Olympics this year since I’ve spend so much time living in London. It was a terrific host city. If any girls are still there and want to know where to go to have a high time, just ask. There’s something for everyone.
August 2, 2012
We only have one scene left to film for my music video. It’s romantic, with just Rob and me. Only problem…Rob has to go out of town. His brother, who looks incredibly like him, is willing to stand in, but we’ll wait for the real McCoy to return:)
I’ve been so grateful to have fantastic cast and crew members who have donated their time and been willing to film whenever we could around everyone’s busy schedules, and when venues would slip us in…over weekends, during lunch breaks, and even in the middle of the night. Someone brought chocolate chip cookies at 4 a.m. so that made up for it!
We’ve shot in six different locations with MANY breaks in between when one of us was called out of town—so we’re really excited to see the final product coming together. We all hope you like it!
July 30, 2012
July 14, 2012
July 6, 2012
It seems like something funny always happens when we’re filming. We came straight from other obligations to this venue. Katie works in finance. She didn’t think it would be appropriate to wear her performance makeup to the office that day, so on the way to the filming, she pulled over on a side street to do her makeup in the rearview mirror. Since she didn’t have much time, she didn’t pay attention to what establishment she had parked in front of. When she noticed people stopping and staring at her, she looked up and saw that it was a strip club! Everyone thought she was getting ready for “work.” It was just another day in the making of a music video:)
June 30, 2012
June 28, 2012
June 19, 2012
Holly asked what it’s like working with my music video co-stars. If I had searched the world, I couldn’t have found better ones. We have a ton of fun together. After our last rehearsal, Denise said, “That was productive. We spent half the time chatting and half the time practicing!”
Denise brought her camera to our music video practice so we snapped this before our
post-rehearsal ritual of grabbing smoothies. People say that you find out juicy insights about your friends over drinks. The same goes for smoothies.
My leading man and I moved our rehearsal from a dance studio to a nightclub. I go dancing a lot and can honestly say that this was one of the most enjoyable evenings ever. I think Rob and I made up our own steps, but rules are overrated on the dance floor!
June 16, 2012
Filming for my music video is officially underway. Here are pictures from the beginning scenes. My girlfriends and I portray insecure nerds landing in Europe. At this point in the storyline, my leading man doesn’t even know I exist─but never fear, revenge is on the way! We find a copy of The Single Girl’s Guide to Meeting European Men. It injects us with a seriously needed dose of self-confidence and man-attracting tips. One of the crew members said the bumbling nerd role came easy to me, and joked that maybe the storyline was autobiographical. Was he right?! You decide;)
Chatting with Rob, my leading man, before I got nerdified for filming.
In one of the takes, I accidentally dropped my suitcase down the stairs as I admired Rob, aka “Mr. Handsome.” Everyone thought it was funny, so I added it to the storyboard. That’s how I was crowned “Bumbling Nerd.”
Katie is the “Hilarious Nerd.” I can’t wait for you to see the funny faces she makes in the video. Too bad you can’t hear her comments during practice and filming. She could be a stand-up comic! Denise is the “Feisty Nerd.” She’s a lovable spitfire both in real life and in the video!
Ryan, our Director of Photography, prepping the scene where Rob ignores me. Since Denise, Katie, and I aren’t actors, during this scene, Denise commented that it wasn’t fair how we had to do what she called “serious acting” while Rob just had to sit there and look pretty. Katie joked, “If we looked like Rob all we’d ever have to do is sit there and look pretty!”
We find the book! There’s one of Katie’s awesome expressions.
We transform into confident girls…about time!
June 9, 2012
Elisa Benson, of Cosmopolitan magazine, and I teamed up with body language expert Janine Driver to reveal sneaky signs that tell you whether your guy is looking for a summer fling or something more. A tipoff that you have a fling-man on your hands is what I call the Law of Hot Tubs. If a guy asks you to go hot tubbing at his apartment right after meeting you, it’s generally a code for a hookup session. Basically, he figures your bikini is just an accessory—a very optional one! A man interested in a relationship often goes slower and focuses on getting to know you…all of you, not just your body.
For more insights, see the article at Cosmo.
It was so much fun reuniting with Elisa again after working together on summer romance and superflirt articles for Seventeen magazine.
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June 1, 2012
This is the title of the following Amazon customer review of my book, The Single Girl’s Guide to Meeting European Men: “After reading this book, all I have to say is THANK YOU MS. CAHOON! This book was a fast and easy read, but mostly it was insightful and I CANNOT wait to study abroad next semester! I am at the University of Kentucky and one of my sorority sisters recommended it to me after she studied abroad. She said this book changed her experience in Europe. There is a character for everyone in this book! Best of luck, and to any curious mothers, sisters, aunts, etc. out there, this was the BEST gift I have received in a long time!”
Thanks Chelsea! Feedback from college students always means a lot to me. I love it that many of my readers take my book when they study abroad. I want all of them to return with fabulous experiences!
May 21, 2012
I’ve been inundated with music video mania! The project officially got rolling when I paired up with the fabulous composer, Todd Schwartzman, who opens for the likes of Brad Paisley and David Archuleta. We instantly clicked. I remember my first conversation with him. It went something like this, “I’m Katherine. I’ve heard such wonderful comments about your work and would love you to compose a song for my music video. The only problem is this isn’t even a low budget project…it’s a no budget.” When he asked who was storyboarding, directing, and editing the video, the answer was always, “Me.” When he asked why, I explained that I was free and you couldn’t get a better price than that:) I was pretty nervous because I thought he would turn me down, but he said, “Let’s do it!”
From the moment Todd said “yes,” he has been one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. I sent him a storyboard outline of my video, a copy of my book, The Single Girl’s Guide to Meeting European Men, and the style of music I wanted to have. He read my book and instantly grasped the theme. He composed the song following that and my outline. We went back and forth doing about twenty rewrites. I called us the “Vampire Buddies” because we always collaborated at night after our other work was done. One-to-two AM was our typical time to go over the music.
Todd persuaded Amy Whitcomb, the popular lead soloist on NBC’s 2011 The Sing-Off, to be our vocalist. With her kickass acoustics, we knew we couldn’t go wrong! The song is called But I Do. What exactly is it that I do in the music video? You’ll see!
